How Snowboarding Taught Me to Ask Better Closing Questions

You can read about closing techniques in my book, Closing 2.0. You can join me at the Closing 2.0 Academy. And there is always YouTube.

But on top of all those amazing resource, there is one more high-impact method of perfecting your closing technique: Teach Yourself.

The fact is that too many salespeople struggle in their closing attempts because they are not analyzing and reinventing their own approach. If you want to get better at asking closing questions, the best thing you can do is get into the mindset of constant improvement.

Lessons from the Slopes

When my youngest daughter turned 16 I took her up to Tahoe, where we would both attempt snowboarding for the first time. I didn’t have the patience to take a half-day lesson, but no matter – I had downloaded and read through a blog I found online entitled, “How to snowboard.”

That might sound stupid (I mean, can you really learn how to snowboard by reading a blog), but it served its purpose. I learned enough of the basics to self-train.

The learning process was all about failure. I told my daughter, “When we fall (not if, when) we will not be one of those pathetic saps that sit in the snow feeling sorry for themselves. When we fall, we will immediately get back on our feet.”

And that is exactly what we did. By getting up right away, I found that I could quickly analyze what went wrong and make immediate adjustments.

I was on the intermediate slopes by lunchtime.

The Process of Improvement

The process is about reflecting on every sales conversation and asking yourself some pointed (and often uncomfortable) questions:

  • I didn’t get that sale. Was the closing question itself ineffective, or was it the way I asked it?
  • If I change the wording, could I improve my chances of success?
  • How was the closing question received by my customer? Did it help them to make a good decision?
  • Was the closing question consistent with the tone of the entire conversation? Was it relational, comfortable, and helpful?

All too often, we finish a sales presentation and go right back to the last task we were working on. That is such a wasted opportunity.

Why not take 30 seconds to review exactly what happened in the sales presentation? Take the opportunity to re-think what transpired, and then ask how you could do it better.

It requires analyzing failure, which is never particularly easy. But it sure beats sucking for an even longer time!

They say experience is the toughest teacher because you get the test first and the lesson later. That’s true, and it’s good news. It means that if you can learn from your experiences, especially your mistakes, you will greatly enhance your closing aptitude.

So, yes, be sure to join me at the Closing 2.0 Academy in Dallas, TX in June, and follow my YouTube channel. But until then, remember to OWN IT on a personal level and start teaching yourself along the way!

 


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About the Author: Jeff Shore

Jeff Shore is the Founder and CEO of Shore Consulting, Inc. a company specializing in psychology-based sales training programs. Using these modern, game-changing techniques, Jeff Shore’s clients delivered over 145,000 new homes generating $54 billion in revenue last year.