Category Archives: Sales

Do You Have Closing Anxiety?

They Want You To Ask

The hardest part of the sale is asking for the order.

The reason why is pretty interesting, even if you aren’t in sales, or don’t ever plan to be.

Imagine a salesperson, who knows his or her product very well.

They talk to the customers, find out what they want, and show them that the product is a perfect match.

Only when it comes time to seal the deal, they get nervous.

It’s kind of the same when meeting somebody socially, who you might think may make a decent relationship partner.

So when it comes time to seal the deal (ask for the number, lean in for the kiss, whatever) that same feeling of anxiety pops up.

You might call this “closing anxiety.” Many salespeople are fantastic at greeting customers, creating rapport, but when it comes to talk turkey, they freeze up.

Guys do the same thing. They approach a girl, get her laughing and feeling good, but for some reason they have a hard time asking for the number.

The problem is the same for both cases.

The fear of rejection runs very deep. It was built into our brains BEFORE we learned any words, so it only exists as a feeling. A raw sense of insecurity.

Here’s one trick that can help. Next time you’re going to “seal the deal,” whatever that means to you, think of it as an actual object.

Some imaginary “thing” that you’re holding off to the side. An idea that’s floating out in space.

So if they “reject” that “thing” they’re not rejecting you, just an idea that’s kind of floating off to the side.

If you’re getting somebody’s number, instead of saying, “Can I have your number,” or something similar, actually hold your phone off to the side, and say something like, “Why don’t you put your number in here so we can hang out later.”

Same with a sales situation. Have the contract or the information on a piece of paper, off to the side. Look at your clients, and motion “over there” to the idea of buying the product. “Well, I think this looks pretty good, what do you think?”

Another way to think about this is that person you are talking to, whether it’s for sales or romance WANTS the conversation to end with the sale or the number.

Nobody likes going home empty handed, shoppers or otherwise. Nobody likes going from shop to shop only to find out that they can’t find what they want.

They WANT to come to an agreement with you. They WANT you to have the product they want, or you to be the person of their dreams.

Nobody goes shopping with the hopes of rejecting a bunch of salespeople!

When you understand the true meaning of money, and that people LOVE buying things they need and want, it will be much easier.

Learn How:

Money Love

The Nine Cupholder Strategy

Party In The MiniVan

I used to know this guy who was ULTRA excited.

Not about anything in particular, just about life itself.

He had a job selling cars, and even though he didn’t know so much about cars, he could sell them. Really, really well.

Once he told me a story about a minivan he sold. The only thing he knew about it was that it had 9 cupholders.

He kept referring to this over and over and over again, with EXTREME excitement. “It’s got a great engine, it’s super safe, cause it’s got all these airbags and stuff, and did I mention it’s got NINE cupholders? Everywhere you go, PARTY in the minivan, people!”

Maybe this guy had some genetic defect or something, or he had a super reserve of adrenalin somewhere most of us don’t. He was also a chain-smoking heavy drinker, so maybe he was always trying to overcompensate his hyperness.

When people sell stuff, it’s common to think you’ve always got to be so over the top all the time.

After all, most people are taught in order to sell, you’ve got to push push push on “features and benefits.”

I read this book once on linguistics, by Stephen Pinker (I’m a HUGE fan, he’s got a few TED talks).

He said that all language is persuasive. Meaning whenever we talk, we have SOME kind of outcome in mind, even if it’s to cheer up our friend, or get them to meet us down at the pub for a couple.

Dale Carnegie taught decades ago that the easiest way to get somebody to do something is to simply get them thinking it was their idea.

He also said that everybody is always wondering, “What’s in it for me?”

So when you first are going to say ANYTHING, first ask yourself, “How is the OTHER person going to benefit by what I say?”

Compare this to the strategy most people use:

“Me, me, me, me, and oh, by the way, me.”

Even if you don’t really know the person, you can kind of guess what they want, based on who they are, and what they are doing.

Like if you’re talking to somebody cute in the grocery story, just take a few seconds to come up with a reasonable assumption about THEIR model of the world before you open your yap.

Everybody wants validation and to be recognized for who they are.

If you do this FIRST, before you talk about what YOU want, you’ll be pretty amazed.

Then again, maybe you won’t. Maybe this is something you ALREADY know.

This is the outer game that makes everything EASY.

If you want to boost your INNER game, to make it even easier, check these out:

Mind Persuasion

The Happy Popcorn Seller

People Want To Give You Money

When I was in high school I had a lot of retail jobs, usually related to some kind of food.

Selling popcorn at the movies, selling pizzas at a pizza shop, working the counter in various fast food places.

I always liked the fast pace, but what I enjoyed most was interacting with people.

Everybody’s happy when they’re about to eat something. They’re happy to be paying for something that’s going make them feel good.

Especially when I worked at the movies. People buying popcorn on a Friday or Saturday night before seeing the latest blockbuster were always in a good mood.

The conversation was just long enough to exchange smiles, a couple of “thank you’s” and then on to the next person.

This is the kind of transaction people overlook when they say “money is evil.”

Money is just energy. It’s how you use it that can be evil. It certainly doesn’t have to be.

Nor does wanting more money, regardless of how much you’ve got.

Storing up potential energy for the future is a good thing. It’s even programmed into animals who hibernate.

When they are in “collection mode,” they don’t get angry at each other.

“Hey! Look at that greedy squirrel! Doesn’t he have ENOUGH nuts already? Sheesh! The nerve of some rodents!”

They are too busy getting as much as they can, to survive the long cold winter.

Humans are the same way. We have ZERO idea what future will be like. Yet we have this unique capacity to look out into the future and plan for what we think might happen.

So we store up as much “energy” as we can, which is our case, is money.

The more we have, the better we feel about being able to handle ANYTHING that comes our way.

There’s nothing wrong with this. Nothing evil about it. It’s only evil if you do evil things to get money.

So long as you get it “correctly,” there’s nothing to worry about.

How do you do that?

By providing value, real value to others. Just like selling popcorn at the movies.

Provide value that they’ll be happy to pay for.

The more you can do that, the more you’ll get paid.

Right now, you have an incredible amount of learning capacity. There are literally endless amounts of skills and methods you can discover that will help you deliver MORE value to others, and get paid MORE in the process.

The world is huge, and people’s needs are endless.

No matter WHAT you are capable of now, there’s people out there that need it. And are willing to pay for it.

And the more you increase what you’re capable of delivering, the more you’ll receive.

Get Started:

Prosperity Generator