Closing Techniques for Sales

My client fired their entire SDR team on Tuesday By Friday, their pipeline had grown by 60% This sounds impossible It's not After auditing 50 B2B sales organizations over 10 years, I've uncovered the most expensive myth in modern selling: → The belief that MORE activity at the TOP of your funnel will fix conversion problems at the BOTTOM Let me share what actually happened: This mid-market software company was spending $350,000 annually on their 4-person SDR team - 100+ cold calls per rep daily - 17 meetings booked weekly - "Incredible metrics" according to leadership - But their close rate? A devastating 1.2% The VP of Sales was convinced they needed MORE outreach, MORE automation, MORE top-of-funnel I suggested something different: pause all prospecting for 7 days Instead, we had their account executives do something radical - engage with the 215 prospects already in their pipeline who'd gone cold after initial meetings Using a framework we developed: - 65 prospects responded within 24 hours - 41 booked follow-up meetings - 23 re-entered active buying cycles - 6 closed within 14 days (total value: $212K) The shocking revelation? - Their pipeline wasn't empty - It was overflowing with neglected opportunity. This company didn't have a lead generation problem. They had a lead nurturing catastrophe. By reallocating resources from mindless prospecting to strategic engagement, they've now: - Reduced CAC by 60% - Shortened sales cycles by 30% - 2x their close rate The counterintuitive truth: Sometimes the fastest path to growth is to stop chasing new opportunities and start converting the ones you've already earned. What percentage of your marketing and sales budget is focused on prospects who've already shown interest vs those who haven't? That ratio reveals everything about your future growth trajectory P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message

I recently closed a six-figure deal with an enterprise client. While most deals this size take 6-8 months, I closed this one in under 60 days. Here's exactly how I did it: When selling to an enterprise company, it's easy to get trapped in long deal cycles. To avoid this from always happening, here are the 4 steps I take to expedite my enterprise closing process: 1. Subject Matter Expertise Plays    Most sellers pitch products. We pitch proven expertise in their space. This shifted the entire conversation from "vendor" to "expert." • Pitched as an industry expert, not influencer • Showed proven processes from our team  • Focused on vertical expertise vs following Expertise beats influence every time. 2. Multi-Threading     Instead of focusing on one champion, I built relationships across the organization. Each stakeholder had different things that made this a win for them. • Built relationships with seven key stakeholders • Sent a recap email to each buying department so everyone knew what was going on • Had notes for each department's goals and why they wanted to win Throughout the deal, I always asked who would feel left out if they weren't involved. Every time I found a new person, I made it a point to meet them. That means more allies for the deal to sell internally. 3. Weekly Momentum Building    Most deals need more momentum. That's why I keep the energy high. • Sent weekly videos to keep my POC informed • Highlighted each stakeholder's priorities • Highlighted work we were doing along the way Momentum beats perfection. 4. Procurement Fast Track This is where deals typically go to die. Not today my friends. This is where the party starts. As soon as I get introduced to procurement, I ask for a quick 15-minute call so I can quickly text edits as my lawyer goes back and forth. • Asked for concerns up front • Built solutions into proposal • Asked what do you people typically redline when they approach you Being proactive beats being reactive every time. Because doing the little things well will always yield great results. P.S. Have a favorite step?

I've taken 500+ sales calls with a 40% close rate. Here's how: 1. We Only Talk to Qualified Prospects All our clients come from inbound leads and referrals. When someone reaches out to us, they already know who we are and what we do. When someone gets referred to us, they've been pre-sold by a trusted source. This eliminates 90% of objections before the call even starts. 2. The CLOSER Framework Got this from Alex Hormozi and have been using it since day one: C - Clarify why they're there "What made you want to book this call today?" L - Label their problem "So you're struggling with consistent content that actually drives revenue?" O - Overview past pain "How long has this been an issue? What have you tried before?" S - Sell the solution "Here's exactly how we solve this..." E - Explain away concerns Address every objection before they voice it. R - Reinforce their decision "You're making the right choice. Here's what happens next." 3. We've Become the Obvious Choice When people think "content marketing on X and LinkedIn," they think of us. We're not competing on price or features. We're the go-to agency in this space. When you're the obvious choice, closing becomes 10x easier. There is no better option. 4. Authority-Based Selling Our prospects have already seen our results through: • Client case studies we post • Testimonials from their peers • Our own content that proves we know what we're doing After that’s taken care of, they just want to know the logistics. 5. No Desperate Energy When 80% of your business comes from referrals, you're not chasing deals. You're qualifying whether someone is a good fit. Prospects can sense when you need the sale vs when you're selective about who you work with. The Result: Most "sales calls" aren't really sales calls. They're strategy sessions with people who are already sold on working with us. When you build authority and only talk to pre-qualified leads, closing becomes natural. The framework helps, but the real secret is becoming so good at what you do that people seek you out instead of you chasing them. What's your close rate right now? Let me know below.

Most AEs lose deals because they can't build urgency. They find pain. They demo features. They quote price. But they never answer the million-dollar question: "What happens if we do nothing?" Here's how to build the cost of inaction (and close more deals): 1. Find a metric that's suffering. Pain without numbers is just complaining. You need something measurable: • Revenue lost per month • Time wasted per week • Customers churning per quarter If they can't give you a number? Ask who can. 2. Reverse-engineer the cost of waiting. I once had a VP of Sales want $10K off a $50K deal. He said: "We'll wait until January when hiring ramps up." So I asked: "How many reps are you hiring in January?" "10 reps." "How long to ramp them?" "4 months." "What's each rep worth when ramped?" "$40K ARR." 3. Do the math out loud. "So if you're one month late on those 10 hires... That's 10 reps × $40K = $400K knocked off your annual plan. You want $10K off. But waiting costs you $400K. Which sounds more expensive?" He signed at full price. 4. Make the invisible visible. Customers aren't thinking about compound costs. Your job? Bring the horse to water and make them drink. Show them what "doing nothing" actually costs. 5. Use this exact question: "What metric is suffering as a result of that problem?" If they can't answer, ask: "Who would know that number?" Now you're opening doors to power. The cost of inaction drives your timeline. Not discounts. Not "budget cycles." The fear of losing $400K while trying to save $10K. 💡 What's the biggest "cost of inaction" you've ever built? P.S. These 7 strategies will help you CLOSE more deals in a GTM crisis: https://lnkd.in/d_DkYTSH

Here’s the proposal template that helped me close over $100 million in enterprise sales: It’s also helped my clients close more than 50% of their deals when they use it. And until now, I’ve never shared it publicly. Most sellers are great at pitching features. But the ones who consistently win big deals? They know how to tell a great story. The truth is, executives don’t buy products - they buy confidence. They buy vision. They buy a story they want to be part of. If you want to sell like a top 1% seller, you need a proposal that doesn’t just inform… it moves people. Here’s how I do it 👇 The Story Mountain Framework for Sales Proposals: 1. Exposition – Introduce the characters and setting. Start with them: → “You’re trying to expand into new markets… to grow revenue… to unify your tech stack…” Set the vision. Make them the hero. 2. Rising Action – Lay out the challenges and obstacles. → “But growth stalled. Competitors moved faster. Customer churn increased.” Quote discovery calls. Surface real pain. Build emotional tension. 3. Climax – Introduce your solution. → “Then you found a better way…” Now show how your solution helps them overcome the exact obstacles you outlined. 4. Falling Action – Ease the tension. → “Here’s our implementation plan. Here’s the ROI. Here’s how others in your industry succeeded.” Give them confidence that this won’t just work—it will work for them. 5. Resolution – End with clarity. → “Here’s our mutual action plan. Let’s get started.” Lock in buy-in, next steps, and forward momentum. This structure has helped me close some of the biggest deals of my career—including an $8-figure enterprise deal at Salesforce where I used this exact approach. I broke it all down in this week’s training—and for the first time ever, I show you the actual proposal I used AND tell you how to access my Killer Proposal Template for free. 👀 Watch the full training here: https://lnkd.in/gPY_cvv5 No more boring product pitches. No more ghosting after the readout. Just proposals that close.

If you are in high ticket lead generation and looking for new clients, then here is the most overlooked principle. Time delay. As I said in the video, in high ticket leadgen scenarios, it takes in average between 60-120 days until an average lead becomes a client.  If we calculate the time between first impression and conversion into a lead,  the process is even longer. Ironically, the more you spent, the longer the cycle becomes. Yes. There will be always between 0.5 % - 3 %, depending on the quality of your funnel, which will buy immediately. But the majority doesn’t.  Too many make the mistake of treating leadgen like an e-commerce purchase. And here’s why it's wrong: Cognitive Load Theory: High-ticket decisions create cognitive overload. This automatically leads to procrastination as a default.  Neuroeconomics Research: Studies show that high-price purchases activate the pain centers in the brain (anterior insula) before the reward centers. This means that pain acknowledgment and reframing must precede benefit presentation in high-ticket offers. Like I said earlier, if you understand your audience and this reflects your in funnel, it has a major impact on the time delay. Up to 3 % immediately and between 10-30% of potential prospects within the next 60-120 days. Example for enterprise sales: the responsible decision maker worries more about the successful implementation of an AI solution and his look in front of the board than all the benefits of the solution for the company he’s working for. Mirror Neuron Activation: Detailed success stories activate mirror neurons, allowing prospects to "experience" the transformation before purchasing. This neurological hijacking is more powerful than logical argument for high-ticket justification. The importance lies in understanding, that not everything happens in one day, one week or one month. But that your target audience needs to observe over time different dimensions of your brand which helps them in making their decision. The truth is: in high ticket leadgen we have to engineer the right psychological journey that mirrors their decision process. We need to engineer a new reality for the target audience.  Where they can see themselves winning.  Hence, why I call this process reality engineering. Your understanding of marketing and psychology plays the most important role here. Why? Simply because it reduces the possible failure points. More failure points -> longer time delays and future opportunity costs. That’s why an individual look at a creative on a daily basis is the wrong metric. It doesn’t matter at all. Performance can be fluctuating. What matters is a 2-4 week period. And the lead quality. This approach is how we built multiple high ticket businesses from very low 7- to multiple 8-figure revenue. With 50-70% profit margin. While keeping lead costs steady and stable. Stop thinking about marketing and start thinking in reality engineering.

I warmed up a prospect for 3 months on LinkedIn before our first call. They signed a £75K deal in 3 days. Modern selling demands a new approach: cold outreach fails, warm relationships win. Think about it... That prospect had consumed 47 of my posts. Watched my videos. Read my articles. Engaged with my content. By the time we jumped on that first call? They already trusted me. They already knew my approach. They already understood the value. I didn't have to sell them. They'd already sold themselves. Here's my framework for turning content into closed deals: 👇 1. Build trust at scale BEFORE the pitch Stop spraying and praying with cold messages. Start building relationships through value. Each post builds trust. Your insights mark credibility. Stories create connection. Your content is doing the heavy lifting while you sleep. 2. Let buyers self-educate on THEIR timeline Modern buyers don't want to be sold to. They want to discover solutions themselves. ↳ 70% of the buying journey happens before they talk to sales ↳ They're researching you before you even know they exist ↳ Your content is either attracting or repelling them Give them what they need to make informed decisions. 3. Recognize the REAL buying signals Forget MQLs and SQLs. Think about PQLs (product qualified leads) Here's what actually matters: - Multiple engagements across different posts - Bringing colleagues into the conversation - Asking specific, detailed questions - Moving from public comments to private messages These aren't leads. These are pre-qualified buyers. 4. Keep momentum BETWEEN meetings Here's where most deals die: The 167 hours between your calls. While you're chasing other prospects, your buyer is: ↳ Getting cold feet ↳ Talking to competitors ↳ Forgetting why they were excited Smart sellers stay present even when they're not there. This is where tools like Consensus come in. They let buyers explore demos on their own time. Answer their questions at 10 PM. Share materials with their team. Stay engaged between touchpoints. It's how you keep social selling momentum right through the demo stage. https://lnkd.in/ePVWw-Bi 5. Close with confidence, not pressure When trust is already built? When value is already proven? When buyers are already educated? Closing feels natural, not like a battle. The best deals I've ever closed felt inevitable. Because the relationship started months before the opportunity. Here's what this approach delivers (in my experience): ✓ Significantly faster sales cycles ✓ Much higher close rates ✓ Bigger deal sizes (pre-sold = less negotiation) ✓ Happier customers (they chose you, not the other way around) Stop thinking of social selling as "nice to have." Start treating it as your primary sales strategy. Your next big deal isn't in your CRM. They're scrolling LinkedIn right now. What content are you creating to catch them? #ConsensusPartner

I’ll never forget this moment. A Sales VP — sharp suit, polished slides, years of experience — walked into a high-stakes pitch. The kind of meeting where you can feel your heartbeat in your throat. The client sat across the table. A long wooden table that suddenly felt too wide, too cold. He leaned back. Arms folded tightly, like a shield. His eyes didn’t meet the VP’s. They wandered across the room, occasionally landing on the watch on his wrist. His fingers drummed softly against the table — tap, tap, tap — the sound of disconnection. The VP didn’t notice. Or maybe he did, but brushed it off. He clicked to the next slide, voice firm: “Let me show you how this solution will change your numbers.” But the client’s silence was louder than the pitch. He tilted his head slightly, lips pressed into a thin line. Inside his mind, an invisible wall had gone up. When the meeting ended, the VP thought he had done “enough.” But the client’s words hit harder than any objection: “He didn’t listen. He only sold.” That one sentence cut deeper than a lost deal. Because it wasn’t about the product. It was about presence. ⸻ Weeks later, in our training, we unpacked that moment piece by piece. I asked the VP: ✨ “What did the room feel like?” He paused. “Heavy. Like I was talking into a void.” ✨ “What did you see?” He thought again. “Arms folded. Eyes drifting. But I thought I could win him with data.” ✨ “What did you hear?” “Silence,” he admitted. “But I mistook it for listening. It was actually disengagement.” That’s when the truth landed. He had been selling to the client’s ears — but not to his heart. We practiced something different. Not just pitching. But noticing. Noticing the breath, the posture, the micro-expressions. Noticing when someone is leaning in — or leaning away. Noticing when silence is interest… and when it’s resistance. ⸻ A month later, he walked into another meeting with the same client. This time, no slides first. He asked a question. He paused. He listened. The client leaned forward, arms open on the table, voice softer: “Now you’re listening. Yes.” That deal wasn’t won by data. It was won by presence. People decide with emotions first, logic second. Body language speaks before words. And sometimes, the loudest “No” is not spoken. It’s folded in arms, hidden in silence, carved in the space between two people. #bodylangauge #communicationskills

I've analyzed 10,000+ sales calls and discovered something shocking… Elite closers NEVER discount when asked, "Can I get a better price?" While most reps panic and immediately cave, the top 1% have a completely different playbook 👇 Instead, they have a systematic approach that PRESERVES margins while CLOSING more deals. When you're quick to discount, you communicate TWO things that DESTROY trust: 1️⃣ "YOU CAN'T TRUST ME". They'll think: "Why didn't they give me the best price initially?" This makes them suspicious of everything else you've said. 2️⃣ "MY PRODUCT ISN'T WORTH IT". You're telling them you don't believe in your own value. If YOU don't believe it, why should THEY? Before using any strategy, run the objection through my H.E.A.R.T. framework: - H-ear them: "Cari, I appreciate the ask." - E-laborate: "Help me understand why you're asking?" - A-side: “Aside from the pricing, is anything else giving you pause?" - R-eclarify value: "What did you like most about our solution?" - T-ransition: Now use one of these 5 strategies... ➡️STRATEGY #1. THE REDUCTION CLOSE "Let's review everything in your package and remove what's 'nice-to-have' versus 'must-have.' Then we'll recalculate." You're NOT giving a discount. You're reducing what they're buying. Most prospects realize they want everything and end up paying full price anyway. ➡️STRATEGY #2. THE SUBSTITUTE CLOSE "I know we discussed Option X. Another option is Y, it does things 1, 2, and 3 but doesn't have 4, 5, or 6. However, it's $XXX less." Again, NO discount. Just a lower-priced alternative that creates value comparison. When they see what they lose, they often stick with the premium solution. ➡️STRATEGY #3. THE UPSELL VALUE GIVE "I can't discount, but I CAN include Premium Support for 30 days. Normally reserved for our highest tier and costs 30% more." The magic? They often upgrade after experiencing the premium feature! This is my personal favorite with the highest conversion. ➡️STRATEGY #4. THE 3 OPTION CLOSE Present good/better/best options BEFORE the price objection happens. When they ask for a discount, guide them to the lower option. This makes THEM decide between features vs. price. Instead of YOU deciding between discount or no deal. ➡️STRATEGY #5. FLEXIBLE PAYMENT TERMS Instead of cutting price, adjust WHEN and HOW they pay: → Half now, half in 30 days → Payments over 3 months → Net-30 instead of Net-15 One Fortune 500 client increased close rates 32% with this approach alone. ➡️THE LAST RESORT: GIVE TO GET If you absolutely MUST discount, NEVER give without getting something in return: "I can do 10% off if we add 5 more licenses." OR "I can do 10% off if you introduce me to 5 other business owners who could use our solution." You're conditioning how you do business AND maximizing value. — Hey sales pros, want to handle objections better? Go here: https://lnkd.in/g-uJ7ECX

Was on a call with the fine people at HubSpot this week and they shared some interesting data across their customer base that leaders should see: - Deal volume: down year-over-year. - Close rates: up. - Net pipeline: holding steady. Think about what that means. Your buyers are doing all their homework before they ever raise their hand. They're running your product through ChatGPT. They're watching your competitor's demos on 2x speed. They're reading G2 reviews at 11pm on a Sunday. And if they decide you're not a fit? You never even know they existed. By the time someone actually takes a meeting with you, they've already eliminated three of your competitors and confirmed you're in their budget range. They're actually test driving vs kicking tires now. Meanwhile, lots of orgs are staffed for volume in a world that's moved to velocity. Here's what you need to change: 1. Redefine what "qualified" means. Stop using 2019 qualification frameworks. If someone takes a meeting with you in 2025, they're already qualified by default. They wouldn't waste 30 minutes if they hadn't already: - Researched your product. - Confirmed budget alignment. - Narrowed you to their shortlist. 2. Shift your headcount model If you're getting fewer opps but closing more of them, you don't need more SDRs. You need fewer, BETTER AEs. Bust out your TI-82 and run this math: - Old model: 10 AEs, 100 opps each, 20% close rate = 200 deals. - New model: 7 AEs, 80 opps each, 35% close rate = 196 deals. Same output. 30% less headcount cost. Higher ACVs because you're hiring (or developing) senior talent. 3. Change how you measure productivity. Stop tracking: - Calls per day. - Emails sent. - Activities logged. Start tracking: - Time from first call to close (should be dropping). - Number of discovery calls that advance to demo (should be 80%+). - Multi-threading velocity (how fast are you mapping the buying committee). If your reps are still doing 50 discovery calls to get 10 demos, you're optimized for the wrong funnel. 4. Rewrite your comp plans. Plans shouldn’t be rewarding reps for volume behaviors when you need velocity behaviors. Try this: - Base commission: 10% on closed revenue. - Velocity bonus: +3% if deal closes in under [X] days. - Quality bonus: +2% if customer hits success milestone in first 90 days. This forces reps to focus on deal quality and speed. 5. Train your reps differently. Your reps need different skills now: - Advanced storytelling (buyers are already educated, you need to be compelling). - Business case co-creation (help them sell internally). - Political navigation (they're further along, which means more stakeholders). Stop teaching BANT and start teaching executive presence. Three years from now, many B2B sales orgs will look like this: leaner, senior, and more velocity-focused. You can get there ahead of the curve or you can get dragged there by your board after missing four straight quarters.