As sales people, we have all heard the famous line uttered by Alec Baldwin in the wonderful movie Glengarry Glen Ross...

"A always, B be, C closing. Always be closing...ALWAYS BE CLOSING!"

And although entertaining, and perhaps true back in the 70's and 80's, this approach is not only a terrible philosophy, it will kill your sales.

Why?

Because it takes the focus away from the customer and puts it squarely on you, the selfish, commission-breathed salesperson.

You see, if you are focused solely on SELLING the prospect, you won't sell very much at all, because not only will the prospect feel it and sense it, you will also fulfill the expectation they had going into the sales conversation - that all salespeople suck and are in it for themselves.

So instead of ABC - always be closing, I use the same acronym, but with a different C.

ABC, for me, stands for

𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗕𝗘 𝘾𝙃𝙀𝘾𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂

Instead of always focusing on "closing" the customer, getting them to say yes with silly objection-handling techniques and high-pressure tactics, your focus should be on "checking" in with the prospect throughout the sales call.

Not closing.

𝘾𝙃𝙀𝘾𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂.

Asking open-ended, thoughtful questions throughout your conversation will make the customer not only feel heard, but will also feel like you are understanding what they want, or need, without coming across as salesy.

It will give them the feeling that you are "checking" in on them, on how they're doing during this sales interaction, rather than the feeling that you are simply selling (or closing) them.

Simple questions like these, sprinkled throughout, are game-changers:

"𝐒𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫?"

"𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭?"
(NOT - Do you have any questions?)

"𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭?"

"𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?" (NOT, Did you like that?)

You get the point...hopefully.

So stop CLOSING and start CHECKING instead.

Your prospects, and your bank account, will thank you.