Closing happens all the way through
If you want to close more sales, the last five minutes of the last meeting aren't where to start. By then the deal is usually decided. The buyer either has a reason to go ahead, or they don't.
The pages that rank for this search mostly list closing techniques: the assumptive close, the scale close, the Benjamin Franklin. A few lines are worth having, and there are some below. But a clever close on a deal that was never going to happen doesn't make it happen.
Closing more comes from five habits earlier in the sale, plus knowing which step you lose the most deals at. That's what this post covers.
1. Qualify out early
The easiest way to lift your close rate is to stop spending weeks on deals that were never going to close. Every hour on a poor fit is an hour not spent on a good one.
In the first real conversation, find out four things:
- Is there a problem they want solved, in their words?
- Does it matter enough to spend money on it this year?
- Who else decides, and will you get to speak to them?
- Is there a date that makes it matter, like a launch or a busy season?
If two or more are missing and can't be found, say so kindly and move on. Qualifying frameworks like MEDDIC are the formal version of the same idea.
From what you've said, it sounds like this isn't a priority this year, which is completely fair. Shall I check back in [month], when you're planning next year?
This feels like losing a deal. It's actually keeping your pipeline honest.
2. Agree a next step on every call
A call that ends with "I'll send you something" and no date is how most stalled deals begin, so before every call ends, agree what happens next and when.
So the next step is [what]. Shall we put 20 minutes in on [day] at [time] to go through it?
A booked meeting is better than a promise to "touch base next week". If the buyer won't agree to any next step, that tells you where the deal really stands.
3. Send proposals fast
A proposal sent the same day or the next reads as keen and organised. A proposal sent a week later lands after the buyer's interest has cooled and a competitor has been in.
- Keep a proposal template ready, so each one takes an hour to fill in instead of an afternoon to write.
- Put the buyer's problem, in their words, on the first page.
- Give options where it makes sense, so the decision is "which one" rather than "yes or no".
- Book the call to go through it before you send it. Don't email a proposal into silence.
4. Ask for the decision
Many reps never ask. They present, answer questions, and wait for the buyer to say yes on their own. Most buyers won't. Asking is not pushy when you've done the steps before it.
Based on everything we've talked about, does this look like the right fit for you?
Is there anything stopping us from getting started on [date]?
Of the two options, which one feels closer to what you need?
If they hesitate, ask what's in the way, then answer that. The common sales objections post covers what the usual answers mean and what to say back.
5. Follow up on dated days
Deals that aren't lost to a no are usually lost to silence. The buyer got busy, you waited to be polite, and three weeks went by.
Decide your follow-up rhythm before you send the proposal: for example, day 2, day 5 and day 10, each with something new to say. Put each date on your list the moment the proposal goes. If there's no reply after the last one, ask plainly whether to close the file. That question gets more answers than any "just checking in".
If the buyer likes the offer but won't commit, the problem is often urgency rather than follow-up. How to create urgency in sales covers finding the buyer's own cost of waiting.
Find the step you lose the most deals at
The five habits help everyone. But your biggest gain is at the one step where your deals drop out most often. To find it, count how many deals reach each step, over the last three months or the last 30 deals, whichever gives you more.
Made-up example: a rep selling payroll software to small firms counts her last quarter.
- First meetings held: 60
- Demos given: 30 (half of first meetings)
- Proposals sent: 24 (8 in 10 demos)
- Deals won: 6 (1 in 4 proposals)
The big drop is between proposal and win, where only 1 in 4 proposals closes. Demos turn into proposals at a healthy rate. First meeting to demo is lower, but her notes show most of those buyers weren't a fit, so that step is doing its job.
She looks at the 18 proposals that didn't close. For 11 of them, the proposal was emailed with no call booked to go through it, and the buyer went quiet. So for the next month she changes one thing: no proposal goes out without a review call booked.
A month later, 7 proposals are out and 3 have closed. That's early, and a small number, so she keeps the change and checks again at the end of the quarter.
Your drop will be somewhere different, and the gain comes from fixing that one step before you touch the others. If the leak is at first meeting to demo, work on qualifying and discovery. If it's proposal to win, work on the review call, the ask and the follow-up.
To see your rate across all deals, the win rate calculator works it out from deals won, lost and gone quiet. The win rate glossary entry explains why the same quarter can give three different figures depending on what you count as a loss.
The fastest way to close more is fixing the step you lose most at. ActivityTracker shows your conversion rate at every step, from appointment to signed deal, counted from what you already log, and names the weakest step with a fix.
What doesn't work
- Memorising closing lines. They help at the end of a well-run sale, but they can't rescue one that went wrong three meetings earlier.
- Discounting to close. It teaches buyers that waiting gets a better price, and it shrinks every deal after this one.
- Chasing every deal to the end. Some deals should be closed out as "no", early, so you have time for the ones that can close.
- Pushing harder on a buyer who's said no clearly. Take it, ask what would change their mind, and note a date to try again.