From walking prospects through a demo to handling their concerns, salespeople spend a lot of time trying to close a deal. It all looks easy on paper: do your homework, show up, give your pitch, answer questions, and ask for a sale. If done right, you get a yes. But in reality, not all salespeople are the same. The formula is the same for everyone, but these nine habits separate winners from losers.
1. Don't focus on the close
Many salespeople focus on which tactics to use to seal a deal. What to say at the end? Should they slide the contract across the desk or ask straight-up for the deal? But the actions at the close are not as important as the things that lead up to it.
If you start strong, you provide value upfront. When you understand the prospect's problems better than anyone else, they think you're someone they can work with. What really matters is what happens at the start. If everything is handled at the beginning, fancy tricks at the end aren't needed.
To close more sales, stop focusing on the close. Put energy into what happens before. At Wonit, we follow this approach. Our AI creates beautiful, personalized proposals in seconds that start strong and close deals faster. You can customize everything, add pricing tables, timelines, and professional designs, then let prospects sign right there in the proposal.
2. Stop sounding desperate
When prospects smell desperation, they back away. In sales, this is called sales breath. Once they smell it, potential clients will shrink away fast. Being desperate in a sales meeting is like being desperate on a first date. When someone is too eager from the start, you naturally pull back.
To master sales closing, present yourself as confident and financially stable. Most importantly, don't look desperate to close the deal. With practice, this mindset becomes your most powerful sales tool.
3. Find your IPPs
IPP means Ideal Prospect Profile. Focus time and energy on selling to a smaller group of ideal prospects who have the budget and problems that your product solves. These prospects can become repeat customers and are the best way to learn sales closing.
Define ideal customers clearly. These are people you can communicate with easily, without proving anything. Your product is the perfect solution to their problems. Also determine who not to sell to. Even the best salespeople cannot constantly deal with people who are not a good fit.
4. Abandon the pitch
Many sales managers say their team needs a better pitch to close more sales. But that thinking is wrong. The job is not to create brilliant presentations that convince people to buy. When you pitch, you assume prospects are stupid and need a show to convince them.
Prospects are smart and well-informed. They don't need a sales pitch. Research shows that 57% of people think buyers depend less on salespeople than they did a few years ago. They need a conversation that helps them decide if your business is right for them. Drop the old-school pitch.
5. Disqualify
Once mastered, disqualification becomes your biggest asset in closing sales. Most salespeople try to persuade and convince everyone. But you don't need to convince anyone. Just determine if the prospect is a good fit for what you offer.
Ask questions to see if there's a good fit. When done right, prospects see the value in your offer. If they're a good fit for you, you're likely a good fit for them. Today, prospects have already seen your marketing materials. They have enough information to decide if they're interested. Your job is to decide if they're qualified. Don't waste time on tire-kickers.
6. Answer questions with questions
Prospects ask many questions. Traditional salespeople answer with a pitch. But today's professional salespeople seek to understand why the prospect is asking in the first place. It's about determining what's most important to them.
Instead of eagerly answering questions, find out why they want to know. If a prospect asks about service, instead of listing features, ask what made them ask that question. Now the prospect explains why they care about service. Maybe their last vendor had terrible service. Maybe there was no service at all. Learning these details is more important than giving a speech about how great your service is.
A prospect's question is like an iceberg. Most salespeople never discover what's beneath the surface. You need to look underneath to close the sale.
7. Insist on the next steps
To learn how to close sales, understand the importance of next steps. Salespeople complain that sales cycles are too long and prospects take weeks or months to close. What are they missing? Next steps.
Most salespeople put themselves in a position where they have to follow up later. This kills deals. Always schedule your next step with a prospect right then and there. Schedule the next step before ending the conversation. Do this and you will never have to follow up on a prospect again.
If a prospect won't schedule the next step, it's a signal the sale has gone wrong. Scheduling next steps is both a great indicator of where you stand and a means of holding the sale together.
8. Solve problems
Instead of presenting or pitching, focus on solving. Your purpose in a meeting is to demonstrate that your product can solve the prospect's problems. If you've done disqualification right, you already have insight into what's happening in their world. When you learn their challenges, you discover what they really need. Then show them how to solve the issues they mentioned.
Think of it as helping prospects cross a wide river. The middle has the strongest rapids they want to avoid. But they're on one side and need to get to the other. They need a bridge. Your offering is that bridge. Since they can't get there on their own, show them how you provide a safe bridge to get them from one bank to another.
9. Keep getting better
The biggest problem in closing sales is in your head. When you don't close a deal, you're hard on yourself. You blame yourself when the deal goes bad and take this baggage to the next conversation.
To become a master of sales, learn to let that burden go. When a sale doesn't happen, remind yourself that not all things are meant to be. There are many reasons why sales go south. At the same time, learn from every sales opportunity. Especially the ones that don't go as planned. Any sale you don't close is a great chance to learn from. Think about what you can do better next time, then move on. Forgive yourself and take the lessons for the next opportunity.
Conclusion
Closing a sale is like proposing marriage. If you're worried about the answer, you're probably doing it too early. If you're not sure the client will buy, it's too early to close. You need to do more work from the beginning. Remember, it's not about the close itself. It's about everything you do before the close. And when the prospect is ready, you better be ready too.
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