Many sales people have come up through the ranks and have been trained to “always be closing.”

You know what I mean.

• These are the sales reps that seem to be following a script barely taking the time or effort to really listen to what you / the prospect is saying.

• These are the sales reps that are hell bent on making the sale, regardless of whether or not the sale SHOULD be made.

•  These are the sales reps that start off their telephone call with “I’m going to be in your area so I’d like to stop by.”

• These are the sales reps that go for the close before they have even presented the benefits.

And so on.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of sales reps that still believe in their ABC’s.

Now I don’t mean to imply that closing isn’t important or that you should put it entirely out of your mind. Of course not.  Closing is important and if you, the salesperson, don’t attend to that aspect of the sale, then who is going to do so?  Really, it’s YOUR responsibility. BUT, if you do so incorrectly you will lose your opportunity to win the business.

For instance, are you:

• Attempting to close too soon in the conversation well before the prospect is ready to make a decision about much of anything.

• Attempting to close too soon before the prospect has been able to ask questions, formulate ideas, etc.

•  Attempting to close too soon before you have learned and responded to the prospect’s hesitancies.

• Attempting to close too soon thereby jumping over the many “natural” steps that must be taken before the deal is sealed.

Your best strategy is to strategically move towards getting a decision after:

• Presenting benefits and matching them to your prospect’s situation
• Responding to hesitancies.
• Demonstrating how your solution equates to an improvement in the prospect’s situation.
• Overcoming objections

And then, only then, is it the right time to close.

Of course it’s always a wise idea to do a “gut check” and “trial close” the prospect at varying stages of the conversation. But remember this gut check is to take the pulse of the prospect and see what still needs to be addressed in the conversation before you jump in and go for the close, only to find out that there are still some red flags that need attention.

So forget your ABC’s, be patient and strategic, and you just might end up winning more business.