Ever notice that the upper 20 percent of salespeople tend to close more than 80 percent of the sales? Since 1940, Secrets of Closing Saleshas helped thousands of salespeople rise to the top. Now in its seventh revised edition, this classic bestseller has been updated to meet the challenges of today’s competitive and changing sales environment. With detailed coverage of new selling methods, innovative strategies, and a treasury of real-life examples, this book will teach you, step by step, how to: • Read a prospect’s unspoken signals • Combat objections such as I’ll think it over” or Your price is too high” • Ask for more than you really need—and get it • Uncover your buyer’s hidden weakness—and overcome it Highlighted by actual case histories that demonstrate these successful selling strategies and techniques, Secrets of Closing Salesis the one tool that sales professionals—whether veterans or newcomers—need to double or even triple their current income.

Roy Alexander heads his own consulting firm in New York City and is particularly noted for his sales and communications consultations in energy- related fields.

Charles B. Roth is deceased.

Foreword: how secrets build revenues and profits Why has Secrets of Closing Salesbecome required equipment for successful selling? Because it focuses on the close. Without the close there is no advancement and no reward. How soul-destroying to invest hours in prospecting, appointment setting, and customer research only to watch it all evaporate. Thus, constant adding of sophisticated ways to close sales is standard with top salesmen and saleswomen the world over.This seventh edition of Secretsis organized so you can immediately access closing techniques when you need them. Closing Labs make you say: ?I?ve got just that problem. I?ll put that secret in practice today!? In this seventh edition you?ll approach selling as consultative and conversational, empathetic group persuasion, CEO to CEO, unorthodox closing, reverse closing, win-win sign-ups, sweet spot detection, and other ways to penetrate the buyer?s mind and then capitalize on that deeper knowledge of the buyer. You?ll learn: ? How the decision to buy is first made in the mind of the salesperson. ? When to let others do the closing for you. ? How to craft the correct story for the right prospect. ? When to assume the no-minded customer doesn?t understand and how to rephrase on another track. ? When to use the shock treatment (don?t just stand there). ? How to close when you?ve forgotten your story and need to improvise (think Robin Williams). ? How to make people-savvy closes. ? How to handle ?I?ll think it over? and ?Gotta check with my man? and ?I?ll mull it over.? ? How to use the Echo to block objections. ? How to flow with attitude shifts that lead to sign-ups. Are you handling a difficult buyer? The Clam, the Chatterbox, the Money-Mad, the Contrarian, the On-the-Fencer, the Doubting Thomas? Make calls with close masters to learn: ? A famous saleswoman?s enduring secret. ? The Poker principle that profits. (H. L. Mencken said, ?One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective, it is also vastly more intelligent.?) ? Sometimes audacity works; you can ask for a large order and get it. (In one case a closer failed to do this and almost lost a $4 million transaction!)Armed with this new edition, you?ll be prepared with consistently tested strategies. In this era, photographing Mars is routine, bioengineering produces spare body parts, and information can be obtained several times faster than the speed of light. Salespeople must think anew and plan in a whole new world. ?Roy Alexander Preface: push ?em uphill?today and tomorrow Closing sales is without a doubt the great skill of all time. The process enables you to persuade and influence, and then walk away with the listener?s agreement. That?s why closing sales has been the measuring stick for personal and business success through the ages. People do not buy products or services, however. They buy benefits from your products and services. This structure has pushed Secrets of Closing Salesinto seven editions. Experts in this book are at your service. Recall the sage who said, ?It?s easier to go down a hill, but the rewards come from getting to the top.? In West Cornwall, Connecticut, I live on a historic hill called Push-?Em-Up. The name traces back to the War of 1812. Getting American cannons and ammo up Push-?Em-Up Hill was a job for American infantry. The hills gave Americans the advantage, but they had to push ?em up first. View life as hills to conquer. No one thought about it at the time, but this hill was also the founder of America?s selling pioneer: the Yankee peddler. The transition from ?push ?em up? to pushcart peddlers was a natural. Hardworking eighteenth- and nineteenth-century salesfolk sold everything from pots and pans