Six Simple Tips for Opening Doors and Closing Deals (Kopie)

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Posted on September 14th, 2010 by Keith Ferrazzi
Everyone could use a few tried-and-true sales tips, right? I asked Dylan Conroy, my head of West Coast Sales for Relationship Masters Academy, to give us some of his best tips. Enjoy!

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Dylan's top tips:

1. Generosity First: To get a meeting, offer money - that is, the meal's on you. Instead of “Can we meet for lunch sometime?”, say “I’d like to buy you lunch sometime.”

2. Connect Creatively: Invite them to something other than the standard office visit, coffee, lunch, dinner drink. Find out their hobbies or passions. An event with some type of personal enrichment takes them out of their defensive "this guy's trying to sell me something" mode.

3. Be Specific: Lock the meeting down to a specific time. If they say “next week,” tell them “I’ll call you on Monday.”

4. Have a Sense of Humor. Always open someone up on a front call. For example: 'Bob, the hardest working man at Cisco' or 'Joe, the man the myth the legend'. Sounds tacky but you absolutely HAVE to open up with humor and get someone off their guard. If you open up with, "Hey Bob, how are you doing today, this is Dylan Conroy from Ferrazzi Greenlight," you might as well hang up.

5. Be Polite. Always send a follow-up note after a meeting.

6. Don't Fear the Close: This is the way to approach a customer who’s on the fence about buying. Don't forget to ask for the deal EVERY time you talk to them. No one respects a weak close. Add value every phone call and always be closing. And if it's not going your way, then take the offer off the table. The more you try and sell them something the more they will lock up, but if you take it away from them, they'll want it more.