Can You Train Someone How To Close A Deal?

As we ramp up our sales staff one of the things we find quite often in the interview process are people with great marketing knowledge, personality, and even business knowledge but sometimes are missing something that can, at times, be hard to determine in the interview process. Something a bit more intangible. The ability to close the deal when the customer is ready to buy or more importantly at the deciding point.

Being around various sales teams for years I can typically tell within 5 to 10 minutes if a person has the ability to get the deal done, it seems to be a pure personality trait that you can pick up on. People do not like to make decisions based purely in intangibles like that but more and more I think that you can tell by personality if a person has that capability.

At that point it really comes down to if they have the knowledge of the industry or general marketing and business sense to match the product or industry they are going to be selling in.

So, before I even get the the question in the title of this post, let me say, I do not think you can train someone to close a deal, some people just do not have the personality to ask someone for money even if they are giving something of high value in return. After many years thinking people were trainable in this regard I just do not think so. I think people may have minor levels of success but the time to train could be better spent using their skills elsewhere where they are more apt to excel.

That said, I think there are many people that have the ability to sell and close a deal but they are not recognized as sales people because they are in the wrong group in a company. I think it is much easier to train someone who has the natural ability to ask and close a deal to sell than it is to train someone who may have all the business knowledge but just does not have the personality to get it done.

The techniques can be taught to those who have the natural ability to hone their skill even further, but when you are starting with someone who does not innately have the skills to close the deal you are fighting against everything their psyche is telling them.

Do you think people can be taught to close? Or do you think good sales people just have the natural talent?

Closing The Deal

One of the biggest hurdles people have when selling any product is the ability to actually ask for the close, or as I always say, ask for the check. Whether you are selling domain names or selling encyclopedias door to door it really does not matter you still have to close the deal.

The problem many people have is confusing the ability to get someone interested in your product with actually closing the deal. At one point in my career I was the same way, I could get them interested, just waiting for me to ask to close the deal, but I just could not get past the stigma of asking someone for money (and that is where alot of this comes from, it is ingrained in most people not to feel comfortable asking someone for money). But when you are selling a product (domain name) you have to close the deal, you have to take the money or it does not matter.

In many cases this is confidence as well, you have to believe in your product to get to the closing process, but you really have to have confidence to actually ask them to write you the check, wire you the money, or Paypal you.

Many people mistake having a great personality and being able to talk well in front of people with being a good salesperson. Unfortunately that is not the case, I know alot of really great people that are a blast to hang around, people love to listen to them, but they cannot actually close the deal. This is the biggest problem I have when people refer sales people to me. I can tell in 5 minutes if they are going to be comfortable with closing the deal.

When it comes to domain sales I think the real reason a lot of people try to do it through email is that there is no verbal communication or personal connection to overcome to ask for the close. If you are not from a sales background and have top domain real estate it is likely a good idea to use a domain brokerage service if you want to get the top value out of your top properties. They are not afraid to ask and they know how to stick to their guns to get the most value.

So, next time you are selling a domain name or website keep in mind you are selling a product, they are getting something in return, do not be afraid to ask for payment. It is the only way business gets done.