The author being yelled at by a prominent sales leader with bad advice.
Don’t sell past the close!!!!!!!!11!!!
This phrase was screamed at me a few years ago, during a sales meeting, right in front of the customer we were with. I immediately laughed, because, what sort of person lacks the self control necessary to know that maybe that wasn’t the best possible time to give feedback?
It was a ridiculous experience, but it’s also just bad advice
The advice, as far as I could tell after wiping the spittle off my face, was that selling is transactional, and once you get a “yes”, don’t spend even a second “over-selling” someone. Move on to the next lead. A win is a win. Close it and keep going.
Selling should not start or end with a deal closing
The goal of a profit-seeking business is to sell a product people want to buy. For software companies, this essentially means finding the right kinds of customers, matching them to the right package, convincing them of the value this product will bring, selling them some software, ensuring they’re successful in getting the anticipated value, and increasing that value over time through increased usage and demand. Simple, right?
The “close” is just a milestone
Selling is product. Selling is marketing. Selling is community. Selling is consultative. Selling is deal structure. Selling is value creation. Selling is making customers successful. Selling is maintaining great relationships. Selling is adaptive to changing markets. Selling is growing value over time with a better and better product. Selling is negative churn.
Selling. Doesn’t. Stop. Customers, and the perceived value you deliver, are yours to lose.
So go ahead, sell past the close. Sell before the close. Stop thinking about transactions. Listen. Learn. Deliver something valuable. Listen some more.
Treat your customers like an ATM and they’ll treat you the same.