The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the Ten Commitments That Drive Sales

by Anthony Iannarino

Overview

“Always be closing!” —Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992
“Never Be Closing!” —a sales book title, 2014
“?????” —salespeople everywhere, 2017

For decades, sales managers, coaches, and authors talked about closing as the most essential, most difficult phase of selling. They invented pushy tricks for the final ask, from the “take delivery” close to the “now or never” close.
 
But these tactics often alienated customers, leading to fads for the “soft” close or even abandoning the idea of closing altogether. It sounded great in theory, but the results were often mixed or poor. That left a generation of salespeople wondering how they should think about closing, and what strategies would lead to the best possible outcomes.
 
Anthony Iannarino has a different approach geared to the new technological and social realities of our time. In The Lost Art of Closing, he proves that the final commitment can actually be one of the easiest parts of the sales process—if you’ve set it up properly with other commitments that have to happen long before the close. The key is to lead customers through a series of necessary steps designed to prevent a purchase stall.
 
Iannarino addressed this in a chapter of The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need—which he thought would be his only book about selling. But he discovered so much hunger for guidance about closing that he’s back with a new book full of proven tactics and useful examples. The Lost Art of Closing will help you win customer commitment at ten essential points along the purchase journey. For instance, you’ll discover how to:

·  Compete on value, not price, by securing a Commitment to Invest early in the process.
 
·  Ask for a Commitment to Build Consensus within the client’s organization, ensuring that your solution has early buy-in from all stakeholders.
 
·  Prevent the possibility of the sale falling through at the last minute by proactively securing a Commitment to Resolve Concerns.

The Lost Art of Closing will forever change the way you think about closing, and your clients will appreciate your ability to help them achieve real change and real results.\

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735211698
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/08/2017
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	401,105
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Anthony Iannarino is the bestselling author of The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need and the founder of The Sales Blog. He leads a high-performing sales team, speaks to sales organizations nationwide, and teaches part time at the Capital University's Capital School of Management and Leadership.

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "The Lost Art of Closing"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Anthony Iannarino.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Foreword Brent Adamson Nicholas Toman ix

Prologue: A Sort of Apology to the Reader xiii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 A New Philosophy of Commitment Gaining 17

Chapter 2 Control the Commitments and Control the Process 27

Chapter 3 Trading Value 41

Chapter 4 The Commitment for Time 51

Chapter 5 The Commitment to Explore 65

Chapter 6 The Commitment to Change 81

Chapter 7 The Commitment to Collaborate 93

Chapter 8 The Commitment to Build Consensus 103

Chapter 9 The Commitment to Invest 115

Chapter 10 The Commitment to Review 129

Chapter 11 The Commitment to Resolve Concerns 139

Chapter 12 The Commitment to Decide 153

Chapter 13 The Commitment to Execute 165

Chapter 14 Guidelines for Closing 175

Chapter 15 Transformational Conversations and Fearing the Wrong Dangers 187

Chapter 16 Managing Commitments 197

Chapter 17 In closing 207

With Gratitude 215

Index 217

Editorial Reviews

06/19/2017
Iannarino (The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need) devotes this energetic guide to mapping a softer, gentler path to effective selling for B2B salespeople. As he reminds readers, salespeople have traditionally focused on the aggressive “final ask” as the hardest part of selling and the technique most worth honing. However, over the last 20 years, sales techniques have shifted—online shopping has empowered consumers and they have become much less receptive to aggressive closing tactics. Iannarino believes that salespeople have gone too far in the opposite direction, passively waiting for customers to make a decision. Seeking to help sales professionals avoid this pitfall, he breaks down the selling process into its component parts, and rather than depending on a single ask, suggests working to gain a series of 10 commitments which guide the process through to a sale: “commit to change,” “commit to building consensus,” “commit to decide,” etc. The breakdown of tactics—“use natural language,” “stop treating concerns as objections,” and so on—is helpful, as is the author’s focus on the customer’s needs, rather than on earning a commission. Iannarino is very much a character in his own book, and readers who can get past the cocky tone will find solid advice within. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"In the footsteps of greats like Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, and Tom Hopkins, Iannarino has delivered a masterpiece for our age and a classic that will teach generations to come to achieve greatness."
—JEB BLOUNT, author of Fanatical Prospecting and Sales EQ

"The Lost Art of Closing belongs on the shelf of every sales professional in every industry."
—DANIEL H. PINK, author of To Sell Is Human and Drive

“Iannarino blows apart the long-held beliefs about what it means to close by showing you that closing happens at each step of the sale. This is a book you’ll not just read but one you’ll be using to rebuild your sales process.”
—MARK HUNTER, “The Sales Hunter,” author of High-Profit Prospecting

"This is the best content I've read on closing. My number one go-to sales guru Anthony Iannarino shows sellers exactly how to gain the commitments they need at each stage of the sales process... with language they can actually use to advance sales opportunities."
—MIKE WEINBERG, author of New Sales. Simplified. and Sales Management. Simplified.

"What you have been taught about closing is no longer going to help you win deals. You need to think and act differently. The ten commitments explained in THe Lost Art of Closing are necessary and will provide you with a blueprint for winning your dream clients now."
—ALICE HEIMAN, sales strategist

"Too often your focus as a salespeerson is on 'getting the order'. In the process, you forget to guide the customer on their buying journey, derailing yourself and eroding the value you create for them. The Lost Art of Closing is an indispensable roadmap for using commitments to stay on that journey with the customer, keeping you and your client in lockstep through a successful close."
—DAVID A. BROCK, author of Sales Manager Survival Guide

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