A friend ask me that question recently. You don’t, I said. Once you focus on closing, closing is what you’ll always have to do (and you might as well sell used cars then). My best clients – best in the sense of long-term, repeat business – became my clients without the close. We talked and then we shook hands, skipping the close entirely. It just happened, naturally, like becoming friends. If you focus on cultivating long-term relationships, relationships is what you’ll have. And you want those with your clients, don’t you?

Marketing and sales have often been compared to dating: you need to woo your customer to give you the love of their business. To extend the analogy, the close is akin to the moment of the first kiss. You just know it’s time, you just know it’s happening. You’ve focused not on reaching the moment, but on getting to know the other person, on starting a relationship, and the kiss takes place without planning.

Focus on the relationship. Get to know the potential client. Better still, don’t think of them as a prospect at all. Talk to the person, not the company. Ask questions, be curious, learn as much as you can, about their business and them as an individual and member of the community. Carry a conversation, start a relationship. When you focus on relationships not sales, you’ll never have to worry about closing sales again.

How do you close a sale?

Peter Korchnak , Sustainable Marketing blog

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