For years, I mean for almost the entire existence of sales as a profession, the ability to "close" a deal has been the holy grail. We embraced with glee and admiration the Alec Baldwin character from Glen Garry Glenross and his ABC of sales. Always Be Closing. It sounded great, we attributed it to great sales people and we've perpetuated this myth for decades.
We've swallowed this silly narrative, hook, line, and sinker. We hired salespeople based on their ability to close. We bought sales books with the promise of becoming a top-notch closer. We bragged about how we "closed" our most lucrative deals under the most trying of circumstances. All of this, all of this bravado and celebration of the close has been for not, because the truth is, there is no such thing as a closing skill. Closing isn't something that magically happens at the end of the sale. There is no moment in the sale where everything comes to a point, where a "close" is required and some people are good at it and others aren't. In B2B selling, the idea of the "close" or closing the deal is a myth and it's time we accept it.
I've been arguing this for years and blogged about it in 2012 Good Closers are Bad Sales People and in 2016 here: How to Close in the 21st Century. Closing isn't a step or moment in the sales process, but rather a journey you bring the prospect or buyer on and that journey starts at the very beginning. Put another way, closing isn't what you do in the end, it's what you do in the beginning and carry throughout the selling process. Closing isn't a stage or an event, it's a journey.
What excites me most today is that Gong.io just released some powerful data that bears out my thesis. In their research Gong.io listened to 42,945 closing sales calls, those being the last call before the deal was closed. You know, the big moment when you show what you're worth and close the prospect. What Gong.io learned was the slick closing skills many of us run around touting are useless. Closing isn't a thing. What the data actually said was that deals are truly won or lost at the beginning of the sales cycles, not the end.
I've argued this for years and talk about it my new book out in Sept. Gap Selling. The discovery process is the most critical and important part of the sale. It all starts and ends with the information you get from discovery.
Notice the difference in talk time during the discovery of successful sales calls, those that end in wins, vs. unsuccessful, those that end in a loss. It's substantial. Also, notice there is almost no difference in the closing call talk time between successful and unsuccessful deals.
To amplify the importance of discovery over closing, check this out.
The more discovery questions you ask, the higher probability you will close the deal. This correlation does not play out during the "closing" call. In fact, there is little correlation between the number of questions asked and the probability of closing. It doesn't make a difference.
The research is pretty clear, we've been focusing on the wrong end of the sales cycle too long. The idea of "closing" as an integral part of selling is a misnomer. I argue it has caused the selling world billions of dollars and millions of deals.
The idea that any sales transaction consisting of more than on meeting would come down to the last meeting and the sales reps ability to close is silly. A sales process is a journey for a reason. Buyer decision making is complex, requiring lots of information, context, insight, emotions and more. To believe a salesperson could influence that complexity in a single, final meeting is crazy. It doesn't work that way and it's time we stop perpetuating the myth.
Good closers become good closers because they were bad salespeople. They didn't know how to do an appropriate discovery. They didn't find out the customers intrinsic motivations. They didn't accurately convey the value of the product early. So in order to get the sale, they had to cram an entire sales process into a single call and pressure the hell out of the buyer. That's not selling. That's high-pressure tactics.
Good salespeople don't have to "close." They are closing the deal, little-by-little throughout the entire sales process so when the buyer is ready, they simply say; "Where do I sign?"
To see the complete Gong.io data on closing go here.
