The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the Ten Commitments That Drive Sales

For decades, sales managers, coaches, and authors talked about closing as the most essential, most difficult phase of selling. They invented pushy tricks for the final ask, from the “take delivery” close to the "now or never" close.

But these tactics often alienated customers, leading to fads for the "soft" close or even abandoning the idea of closing altogether. It sounded great in theory, but the results were often mixed or poor. That left a generation of salespeople wondering how they should think about closing, and what strategies would lead to the best possible outcomes.

Anthony Iannarino has a different approach geared to the new technological and social realities of our time. In The Lost Art of Closing, he proves that the final commitment can actually be one of the easiest parts of the sales process - if you’ve set it up properly with other commitments that have to happen long before the close. The key is to lead customers through a series of necessary steps designed to prevent a purchase stall.