Closing Sales is Easy. Tom Hopkins

       The single most critical instruction in selling

      This very next tactic I’m going to cover is critical. I'm going to give you the eight most important words in the art of closing. These are the most powerful words spoken on the complex, demanding, and well-paid art of closing. Here they are:

       Whenever you ask a closing question, shut up!

      The important words are “shut up.” That is why my mentor, the late J. Douglas Edwards used to shout them at his audiences. I was sitting in the front row at his sales training seminar the first time I heard this. I was already jumpy from the excitement of the program. When Doug shouted "SHUT UP,” I dove for cover. That memory is deeply etched into my mind, along with those words.

      Those eight words were the most important element in turning my disastrous sales career into the record-breaking success it soon became. The first time after that training that I tried to ask a closing question and then keep quiet, I was prepared for the prospect's reaction. I expected them to stay silent.

      What I hadn't prepared for was the intensity of my own feelings: The silence felt like wet sand being piled on my chest. My insides were churning, I had to bite the inside of my lip, and concentrate on remaining as still as possible. I was acutely aware of every nerve ending in my body. Finally, the client did decide to invest and I never again dreaded that awful silence after asking a closing question.