Closing Techniques for Sales

Sales are simple when you understand this secret: The moment you start selling, you've lost. I used to be terrified of sales calls. Now my team and I close without ever feeling like we're "selling." Using a proven system I call “Pitch OS”. I've taught this exact system to founders who went from struggling to book calls to closing 30-50% of their prospects. Here's the 6-step sales system: 1. Lead With Curiosity Most salespeople start by talking about themselves. Big mistake. Instead, ask open-ended questions: • "What are you looking to achieve?" • "Tell me about your current situation" • "What made you book this call today?" Then shut up and listen. 2. Clarify Their Challenges You can’t help your prospect if you don’t truly understand their situation. Some great follow-up questions I use: • "Tell me more about that" • "Why is that important to you?" • "What impact does that have on your life?” Care about what they say here. The key is to dig deeper: • "How long has this been an issue?" • "What happens if this doesn't get solved?" Their answers become your roadmap. 3. Co-Create Their Ideal Outcome Once you understand their challenges, help them paint a picture of what success looks like: • "What's the ultimate goal here?" • "What would this allow you to do?" This creates a vision they're emotionally invested in. 4. Contrast Cost of Inaction vs. Investment Most people aren't afraid of the cost of your solution. They're afraid of making a change. Ask them: "If nothing changes, where will you be in 6 months?" Help them see what inaction will cost them. 5. Present Your Solution As The Bridge After successfully going through steps 1-4, I transition into the bridge: "Based on what you've shared, I think I can help because of my experience in [solving their problem]. Here's how we'd get you to [their ideal outcome]." I structure my solution around 3-4 clear pillars that directly address their challenges: "The first thing we'll do is build out what I call [Pillar 1], which will solve [Challenge 1 they mentioned]." Then, I’d go through each one in detail, following the same format. 6. No Manipulation I never use: • Fake scarcity ("only 2 spots left!") • False urgency ("price doubles tomorrow!") Instead, I'm radically honest about what my solution can & cannot do. Sales don't have to feel gross. Remember: Trust is built before the call, not during it. That's why my Content GPS makes sales effortless: • Monthly workshops with immense value • Weekly newsletter building a true relationship • Daily content on social media solving real problems By the time someone books a call, they're pre-sold on your expertise. __ Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Matt Gray for more. Want to learn how to build a sustainable founder-led brand that sells even when you’re not around? Join my free newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/eMB4fWuy

If you are in high ticket lead generation and looking for new clients, then here is the most overlooked principle. Time delay. As I said in the video, in high ticket leadgen scenarios, it takes in average between 60-120 days until an average lead becomes a client.  If we calculate the time between first impression and conversion into a lead,  the process is even longer. Ironically, the more you spent, the longer the cycle becomes. Yes. There will be always between 0.5 % - 3 %, depending on the quality of your funnel, which will buy immediately. But the majority doesn’t.  Too many make the mistake of treating leadgen like an e-commerce purchase. And here’s why it's wrong: Cognitive Load Theory: High-ticket decisions create cognitive overload. This automatically leads to procrastination as a default.  Neuroeconomics Research: Studies show that high-price purchases activate the pain centers in the brain (anterior insula) before the reward centers. This means that pain acknowledgment and reframing must precede benefit presentation in high-ticket offers. Like I said earlier, if you understand your audience and this reflects your in funnel, it has a major impact on the time delay. Up to 3 % immediately and between 10-30% of potential prospects within the next 60-120 days. Example for enterprise sales: the responsible decision maker worries more about the successful implementation of an AI solution and his look in front of the board than all the benefits of the solution for the company he’s working for. Mirror Neuron Activation: Detailed success stories activate mirror neurons, allowing prospects to "experience" the transformation before purchasing. This neurological hijacking is more powerful than logical argument for high-ticket justification. The importance lies in understanding, that not everything happens in one day, one week or one month. But that your target audience needs to observe over time different dimensions of your brand which helps them in making their decision. The truth is: in high ticket leadgen we have to engineer the right psychological journey that mirrors their decision process. We need to engineer a new reality for the target audience.  Where they can see themselves winning.  Hence, why I call this process reality engineering. Your understanding of marketing and psychology plays the most important role here. Why? Simply because it reduces the possible failure points. More failure points -> longer time delays and future opportunity costs. That’s why an individual look at a creative on a daily basis is the wrong metric. It doesn’t matter at all. Performance can be fluctuating. What matters is a 2-4 week period. And the lead quality. This approach is how we built multiple high ticket businesses from very low 7- to multiple 8-figure revenue. With 50-70% profit margin. While keeping lead costs steady and stable. Stop thinking about marketing and start thinking in reality engineering.

Most AEs lose deals because they can't build urgency. They find pain. They demo features. They quote price. But they never answer the million-dollar question: "What happens if we do nothing?" Here's how to build the cost of inaction (and close more deals): 1. Find a metric that's suffering. Pain without numbers is just complaining. You need something measurable: • Revenue lost per month • Time wasted per week • Customers churning per quarter If they can't give you a number? Ask who can. 2. Reverse-engineer the cost of waiting. I once had a VP of Sales want $10K off a $50K deal. He said: "We'll wait until January when hiring ramps up." So I asked: "How many reps are you hiring in January?" "10 reps." "How long to ramp them?" "4 months." "What's each rep worth when ramped?" "$40K ARR." 3. Do the math out loud. "So if you're one month late on those 10 hires... That's 10 reps × $40K = $400K knocked off your annual plan. You want $10K off. But waiting costs you $400K. Which sounds more expensive?" He signed at full price. 4. Make the invisible visible. Customers aren't thinking about compound costs. Your job? Bring the horse to water and make them drink. Show them what "doing nothing" actually costs. 5. Use this exact question: "What metric is suffering as a result of that problem?" If they can't answer, ask: "Who would know that number?" Now you're opening doors to power. The cost of inaction drives your timeline. Not discounts. Not "budget cycles." The fear of losing $400K while trying to save $10K. 💡 What's the biggest "cost of inaction" you've ever built? P.S. These 7 strategies will help you CLOSE more deals in a GTM crisis: https://lnkd.in/d_DkYTSH

"Let me know if you have any questions." "Happy to discuss further." "Looking forward to your thoughts." Every time you end a follow-up with these wimpy closes, you're asking busy executives to do work they won't do. They're not going to think of questions. They're not going to schedule a follow-up call. They're not going to send you their thoughts. They're going to delete your email and move on with their actual job. The fix is making the next step so easy that a drunk executive could do it. Instead of "let me know if you have questions," embed your calendar link directly in the email. One click to book time. Instead of "happy to discuss further," Create a simple yes/no decision box: "Ready to see the ROI calculation? Yes | No" Instead of hoping they'll respond with their availability, give them three specific time slots to choose from. The most powerful follow-up technique? Use their exact words from your call. When Jessica said she's "bleeding money on software licenses," don't paraphrase it. Quote it exactly. Reference her Thursday board meeting. Add one insight she didn't know. There's nothing more impossible to ignore than hearing your own words reflected back with new value attached. Your generic templates sound like every other vendor they're ghosting. But your personalized follow-ups that reference specific moments from your conversation get responses. Stop making prospects do the work of figuring out next steps. Start making it obvious how they move forward. Every follow-up is life or death for your deal. Most AEs are committing suicide with their own emails. Don’t be like most AEs.

Urgency is not something sellers force. It is something they uncover. That shift matters. Because when technical sellers hear “create urgency,” many of them think it means pushing harder. They imagine pressure. Closing tricks.  Artificial timelines.  Scarcity language.  Sales tactics that do not feel like them. So they avoid it. They explain the solution. They answer the questions.  They stay helpful.  They send the follow-up.  They wait for the buyer to decide. But urgency does not come from the seller waiting. It comes from the buyer seeing the problem more clearly. What is happening now? What is it costing? Who is affected? What gets worse if nothing changes? What decision needs to happen next? That is why urgency starts with diagnosis. Not pressure. The seller has to help the buyer connect the current pain to the future consequence. That is what creates movement. Not because the seller pushed. Because the buyer understood the cost of staying the same. Technical sellers do not need to become aggressive. They need to become clearer. Clearer about the problem. Clearer about the impact. Clearer about the risk. Clearer about the decision. That is how urgency becomes useful instead of pushy. What question helps your buyers see the cost of inaction more clearly? 

Most sellers misuse discounts. They drop them too late. Talk to the wrong person. Add pressure. Miss their number. I’ve taught 1,000s of reps how to do it right. Here are 7 ways to use incentives without looking desperate: I’m not anti-incentives. I’m anti-commission breath. And that’s exactly what shows up when sellers drop a 30% discount on the 29th of the month…only to find out their champion still needs two more approvals and a legal review. It doesn’t close the deal. It just creates pressure. On you and your buyer. Here’s a better way. 1. Incentives are not discounts Don’t pitch 30% off like a used car dealer. Offer something valuable with a story behind it: → A month free → Preferred pricing → Bonus feature access It has to be legit—and tied to a reason (like quarter-end, new logo program, etc). 2. Talk to the decision maker If your buyer can’t actually sign, an incentive won’t help. You need someone who can say yes—or who can push it through. 3. Ask about their process first “What’s your timeline for getting this done?” If it’s next quarter, ask if an incentive would help them pull it forward. If they say yes, you might have a deal to accelerate. 4. Don’t offer anything if the timing isn’t natural You’re not trying to force urgency. So say: “I don’t want to show you this if it’s not something that’s realistic for you.” Let them opt in. 5. Always qualify timing “If we were able to offer something strong, do you think you’d be able to move forward this month?” You want buy-in before they see price. Not after. 6. Map the path to signature Lay out the mutual action plan: - Who needs to review the proposal? - When does legal need it? - How long does procurement take? If it’s not doable, don’t offer it yet. 7. Bring it up early in the month Waiting until the end will kill the deal. Even motivated buyers run out of time. So if you’re going to offer an incentive—do it with 2–3 weeks to spare. Not 2–3 days. TAKEAWAY Discounts don’t create urgency. Timing does. Know their process. Earn the yes. Stay out of panic mode. Close without pressure. Sell with trust.

Top reps ask 4x more implication questions than average ones. Here’s why SPIN Selling still works. Most reps jump straight into pitch mode. They ask a few surface questions, then start talking features. That’s not selling. That’s presenting. SPIN flips the script. It gets the buyer to sell themselves. Start with Situation questions. Learn their current state, but keep it short. Experienced reps ask fewer of these than you’d expect. Move to Problem questions. Uncover what’s not working. Where they’re stuck. What’s costing them time or money. This is where small deals get won. But for complex sales, you need more. That’s where Implication questions come in. Show the consequences of inaction. What does this problem cost them? How does it affect other areas? What’s the revenue impact? Top performers ask these 4x more than average reps. They build urgency without being pushy. Finally, Need-Payoff questions. Let the buyer articulate the value. How would solving this help? What would the impact be? Why is this important? When they say it, they believe it. Here’s the key insight: Buyers don’t just want you to solve their problems. They want to understand why solving them matters. SPIN gives you the framework to guide that conversation. Not through charm. Not through pitch decks. But through the right questions in the right order. Save this framework. Use it on your next discovery call. Watch how fast urgency builds.

The Biggest Threat to Your Deals? It’s not the competition. It’s not the price. It’s how you show up.   How do I know? For the past 20 years, I’ve helped professional speakers, consultants, coaches, and authors craft brands that open doors and sales strategies that turn them into clients. Here’s what’s killing your deals: ❌ Chasing the wrong contact: If they don't have the authority to say yes, they never will. ❌ Random follow-ups: “Just checking in” isn’t a strategy. It’s noise. ❌ Sending unsolicited material: If they didn’t ask, they won’t open it. Don’t spam. ❌ Selling instead of listening: You can’t solve what you don’t understand. ❌ Pitching before you’ve earned trust: Connection before conversion. ❌ Talking features, not outcomes: Nobody buys a tool. They buy what it does for them. ❌ Ignoring silence: No response is a response. Learn from it. ❌ Rushing the close: If you’re more urgent than they are, you’re losing. ❌ Not being relevant: If your offer doesn’t fit their now, it won’t fit their next. ❌ Not building a brand that sells before you do: If they don't know why you matter, you’re just another pitch. Want to close more deals? ✅ Find the decision-maker. ✅ Follow up with value, not reminders. ✅ Show up with insight, not pressure. ✅ Listen so well they’ll say, “You get it.” ✅ Show up, show care. Trust is earned over time, not in a pitch. ✅ Focus on their outcomes, not your offering. ✅ Handle silence with curiosity. ✅ Match their pace, not yours. ✅ Care more about their problem than your solution. ✅ Build a brand that makes your name open doors before your pitch does. People don’t buy from scripts. They buy from people who care and are known for it. #leadership #entrepreneurship #personalbranding

I'm watching salespeople leave money on the table every day. The data doesn't lie. B2B deals require 6.8 stakeholders to reach consensus. Yet most reps focus on ONE relationship. This single threading approach is why deals: = Go dark without warning = Disappear when priorities shift = Get cut first when budgets tighten = Take 2X longer to close than necessary After coaching 500+ AEs who've collectively closed $750M+ in revenue, I've found the solution hiding in plain sight. It's Account Mapping in LinkedIn Sales Navigator. But not just basic mapping. Strategic multi-threading. Here’s the play: 1. Pull up your target account in Sales Navigator 2. Click "View Account Map" (shockingly, most reps don't know this exists) 3. Identify key players in the buying committee 4. Assign roles: Decision-Maker, Champion, Influencer, User, etc. 5. Develop personalized outreach for EACH stakeholder When you deploy this strategy, something magical happens: One stakeholder goes dark? You have 5 other active relationships Technical objection arises? Your champion in Engineering addresses it internally Budget concerns surface? Your Finance contact provides insider perspective Decision-maker changes? You're already connected to their peer group Here’s a real world example: Last month, my client was working a $500K deal that seemed solid. Their single point of contact suddenly stopped responding for 3 weeks. Dead deal? Not quite. We implemented the multi-threading approach, mapped the account, and connected with 4 additional stakeholders. Turns out, their champion was on medical leave but the team was still evaluating solutions. Deal closed 40% faster than their average cycle. By the way… my favorite question to get me multi-threading from the get go? During discovery calls, I teach reps to ask: "Besides yourself, who else will be involved in evaluating this solution?" Then follow up with: "And who else might influence this decision, even indirectly?" “Who else?” Map these names immediately in Sales Navigator. Look for connections between them. Identify potential champions at EACH level of the organization. While your competition waits for ghosted emails, you're having productive conversations with multiple stakeholders. All moving toward consensus. The biggest deals CANNOT be won through a single relationship. Stop leaving commissions on the table. Start multi-threading today. Check out my Sales Navigator deep dive video (and how to use AI with it). : https://lnkd.in/gtE-FWax

I used to destroy my own deals when I started out. BANT done. Moved to a demo. And then silence. Fact is, I did not react well when the prospects gave good indicators --- Here's a list of good indicators and the best next lines to help you out in your next discovery: 1️⃣ Positive Buying Signals 🔸Questions About Features/Functionality “Does your solution integrate with X platform?” ✅ “It does. Can you share how that integration will help your team’s workflow? I’d love to understand your process better.” --- 🔸Mentioning Deadlines “We’re aiming to implement this by next quarter.” ✅ “Why this quarter and not the next?" — 🔸Talking About Budget “What’s the cost of this for a team of 20?” ✅ “I can provide the pricing. But before that, can you share how you’ve budgeted for similar solutions in the past?” --- 🔸Involving Stakeholders “I’ll bring this up with my VP of Operations.” ✅ “Perfect. Would it be helpful to schedule a follow-up meeting with your VP to address their priorities directly?” --- 🔸Case Studies / Reference Request “Do you have examples of other companies in our industry who’ve used this?” ✅ “I can share some examples. Can you tell me which specific results or use cases would be most relevant to your team?” --- 2️⃣ Hesitations or Objections 🔸Pushback on Pricing “This is outside of our budget.” ✅ “I understand. Can we explore which aspects of the solution are most critical to you so we can align on value?” --- 🔸Asking Questions Without Depth “What exactly does your product do?” ✅ “I’ll explain but could you share what’s driving your interest in exploring this type of solution?” --- 🔸Minimal Engagement During Calls “I’ll have to think about this more.” ✅ “Of course. Before we wrap, is there a specific area or question I can address to help with your decision?” --- 🔸Redirecting the Conversation “We’re not ready for this just yet.” ✅ “No problem - what would need to happen internally to make this a priority for your team?” --- 3️⃣ Neutral or Exploratory Signals 🔸Gathering Information “Can you send me a brochure or some documentation?” ✅ “I’ll send it over. Out of curiosity, which specific details would help you most in deciding next steps?” --- 🔸Asking About Competitors “How do you compare to [competitor]?” ✅ “That’s a great question. May I ask what stood out to you about their solution, so I can highlight how we differ?” --- 🔸Discussing General Problems “We’re struggling to manage X efficiently.” ✅ “I hear this often. Can you walk me through what’s causing the most friction right now?” --- 4️⃣ Noncommittal Timelines “We’re exploring solutions for the future.” ✅ “Got it. What does your ideal timeline look like for implementing a solution when the time is right?” --- Listen and react accordingly with the right questions. Go deeper to understand - not faster - unless you want to destroy your deals like I did. Do you have a favorite question to dig deeper?