The Benjamin Franklin Close (also known as “The Balance Sheet Close”) is one of the classic old time sales tactics used to “close a sale.” Never heard of it? Shame on you – not enough sales training.
The scenario is this: You’ve made your presentation, but the prospect is on the fence, and won’t make up his or her mind. You’ve tried everything, but can’t get them to budge.
Then you say, “You know Benjamin Franklin was one of our wisest citizens, wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Johnson?” (Get prospect’s agreement) “Whenever he was faced with a decision — and he had some pretty big ones back then – he would take a plain piece of paper, draw a line down the middle and put a plus (+) on one half, and a minus (-) on the other.”
“In his genius he discovered that by listing all the positive elements on the plus side of the paper, and the negative things on the minus side, the decision would become obvious – pretty sound concept, agreed?” (Get prospect’s agreement)
“Let me show you how it works. Since you’re having a tough time deciding, let’s list the benefits – some of the reasons you may want to purchase. Then we’ll list the negatives. Fair enough?” (Get prospect’s agreement)
Now you list every good thing about your product or service. Get the prospect to say most of them. What the prospect says will be the main points of interest to him. Take your time to develop a complete list. THEN YOU SAY – OK, let’s list the negatives, and hand the pen to the prospect, and push the list towards him. Don’t say a word. Usually the prospect can only think of responses having to do with price or affordability.
In theory this sounds like a good way to close a sale.
The big problem with the Benjamin Franklin Close – it’s old world selling that not only doesn’t work, it annoys the prospective buyer. Try that close on someone who has ever taken a sales course, and it’s an insult.
The reality of the sale is – the prospect has already made up his mind – he’s just not telling you.
So, should you just forget it and never use the Ben Franklin Close. Heck no – just use the Ben Franklin principle in a different way. Do what Ben would have done – figure out a new way and a better way, and use it.
Here’s a powerful new way to re-use the classic Ben Franklin Close close:
Use it on yourself – before you make the sales call.
Use it as a preparation tool.
Use it as a strategizing device.
Use it to get ready to make a big sale.
Get a plain piece of paper (or your laptop), and draw a line down the middle of the page.
on the plus side…
List the prospect’s main needs.
List the questions you want to ask.
List the benefits and main points you want to be sure to cover.
List one or two ideas you’re bringing to discuss.
List one or two personal things in common to discuss.
List the decision makers.
List why you believe they will buy.
on the minus side…
List the reasons why the prospect may not buy – and your responses.
List the obstacles you may have to overcome.
Now you’re ready to make the sale, and Ben helped you.
If you use the Ben Franklin Close on yourself, before you go in to make the sale, then you can ask the buyer intelligent closing questions. For example, questions that might lead with the phrases – What are the major obstacles…? Or, What would prevent you from…? Or, Is there any reason not to proceed with…?
That’s a Ben Franklin close that Ben would be proud of – the one you prepare for yourself. You close yourself before you make the sale. Wow!
Try this new version of an old classic. Ben would be proud of you. So would your boss.
I think it was Franklin who said, “A close in time saves nine – objections,” but history has distorted it for the people who knit. Pity.
Free GitBit – If you would like a few famous Ben Franklin quotes that will inspire you, motivate you and help you see the obvious in a new way go to www.gitomer.com and enter BEN FRANKLIN SELLS in the GitBit box.
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].
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When I was growing up, I spent many joyful Sundays watching football with my father. At the end of every down, we relished critiquing the coach’s play calling – if it had failed – by boldly claiming we knew the plays that would have saved the day. We reenacted this ritual every week and even carried “our” game’s analysis through Monday morning breakfast. By the time we finished our discussion, we were self-acknowledged geniuses who, unquestionably, deserved a coaching spot on any National Football League roster. Unfortunately, since that’s not how play calling works, we found ourselves relegated to the role of “sage” after the fact.
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Bill Bartlett is author of The Sales Coach’s Playbook: Breaking the Performance Code (Sandler Training / 2016). Bartlett is an experienced Sandler trainer who plays an important role in Sandler’s worldwide organization and is recognized as a business development expert specializing in executive sales training and sales productivity training. He currently heads a Sandler training center in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, IL.
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Great leaders pattern themselves after (drumroll, please) themselves. As stated by Jim Rohn, noted business philosopher, “all great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective.”
Yet a significant amount of the billions of dollars we spend each year on leadership training is not about working on ourselves but patterning our leadership on some other leader’s life, leadership model, or leadership principles.
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Author, change agent and leadership trainer, Greg Wallace is CEO of The Wallace Group which consults organizations and leaders to implement change and transformation which produce results that meet the leader’s definition of success. Learn more about developing a personal model of leadership in his second book, “Transformation: the Power of Leading from Identity”.
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Effective performance measurement systems consist of high-quality individual measures associated with a strongly interrelated framework. Using this deliberately developed framework, leaders ascertain organizational performance quickly and accurately. The system itself should be economic to maintain and provide readily available updates typically necessitating a degree of automation. Quality systems present the same view of performance to a broad number of individuals within the organization concurrently. To achieve all of these qualities, each measure must be well thought-out and developed individually and then integrated into the collective system.
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Additional information on the individual characteristics of quality performance measures and their construction can be found in the following StrategyDriven articles and documents:
Organizational Performance Measures – Construction
About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
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I can’t help it. I read some bad sales advice today and I gotta say something. I’ll try to keep it positive, but my tongue is already bleeding from biting it.
The title read: When sales calls stall.
Every salesperson has experienced that barrier in one form or another, so I wondered what this “expert” had to say.
NOTE WELL: I try not to read current sales material because I don’t want to copy, or be accused of copying someone else’s work or ideas.
It started with the usual sales dialog: you have a meeting with a prospective customer, they’re hot, hot, hot, for your product or service, they ask for a proposal, you quickly oblige, and a week later you call the hot customer, and they have evaporated. Won’t return your calls or emails.
What to do?
Get ready – here comes this guy’s (name withheld) expert advice:
He recommends every manipulative “sales technique” from implying urgency, buy today or the deal goes away, to getting creative (whatever that means – no explanation or examples given), to use intrigue, to connect (no explanation or examples given). He advises: be prepared like a boy scout, appeal to a higher authority, assume all is well and they are just busy, use the admin as an ally, and a bunch of sales talk mumbo jumbo that any seasoned executive or their assistant would smell like a skunk that hasn’t bathed, and laugh at you. And oh by-the-way, NEVER take your call again, let alone buy from you.
This is why this type of approach to a reluctant or otherwise busy buyer will NEVER work…
FIRST: The prospect is not returning your calls for a reason. Wouldn’t it be important to find out why? If you could discover that, it would help your next 1,000 sales calls.
SECOND: Why did you ever offer a proposal without making a firm face-to-face follow-up sales appointment in the first place? This is one of the most powerful – yet mostly overlooked – elements of the sales cycle.
THIRD: Stop trying to sell. Stop trying to be cute. Stop trying to be manipulative.
FOURTH: For goodness sake, stop trying to butter up the admin or executive assistant. These people are smarter than your lingo and loyal to their employers, not you.
FIFTH: The salesperson (not you of course) did a lousy job in the presentation, left some holes, never discovered the prospects real motive to purchase, was subjected (relegated) to a proposal/bidding process, never followed relationship-based strategies, was more hungry for the sale and the commission than to uncover what would build a relationship. You didn’t connect – you didn’t engage. Why are you blaming the prospect for not calling you? Why don’t you take responsibility for doing a poor job, and taking a lesson? Not a just a sales lesson, a relationship lesson.
POINT FIVE CAUTION: Maybe their daddy decides, and you never met daddy let alone know who he is. Maybe someone else higher up the ladder told your prospect “NO,” and your prospect is embarrassed, or doesn’t care, to tell you.
SALES REALITY CHECK: In sales you have ONE CHANCE. One chance to engage, one chance to build rapport, one chance to connect, one chance to be believable, one chance to be trustworthy, and one chance to meet with the real decision-maker. One chance to differentiate yourself, one chance to prove your value, and one chance to ask for (or better, confirm) the sale.
BAD NEWS: If you miss your chance, or blow your chance, recovery chances are slim. OK, none.
Not being able to reconnect with a prospect is not a problem, it’s a symptom. And it’s a report card on how well you’re doing. Or not doing. How well the relationship is going. Or not going.
GOOD NEWS: Lost sales and sales gone wrong are the BEST places to learn.
BETER NEWS: If you make a firm commitment to meet a few days later – not by phone – to meet face-to-face, you have a better chance of discovering the truth,
BEST NEWS: Once you get to TRUTH, you have a chance at SALE. Or better stated, you will have created the atmosphere where someone wants to BUY from you.
Sales techniques are increasingly becoming passé. So are the people that stress using them, rather than emphasizing the relationship and value based side.
I grew up selling, and I grew out of it.
If you have lost a connection, or if a hot prospect evaporates, or refuses to call you back or respond to you, the WORST thing you can do is try a sales technique. Why don’t you try something new? Try being honest. No, not just with the customer, with yourself.
I promise that a harsh self-discovery lesson may not help you reconnect with who you lost, but it’s connection insurance for the next thousand. Take a chance. It’s the best one you’ve got.
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].
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What would Ben Franklin think of the Ben Franklin close?
/in Marketing & Sales/by Jeffrey GitomerThe Benjamin Franklin Close (also known as “The Balance Sheet Close”) is one of the classic old time sales tactics used to “close a sale.” Never heard of it? Shame on you – not enough sales training.
The scenario is this: You’ve made your presentation, but the prospect is on the fence, and won’t make up his or her mind. You’ve tried everything, but can’t get them to budge.
Then you say, “You know Benjamin Franklin was one of our wisest citizens, wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Johnson?” (Get prospect’s agreement) “Whenever he was faced with a decision — and he had some pretty big ones back then – he would take a plain piece of paper, draw a line down the middle and put a plus (+) on one half, and a minus (-) on the other.”
“In his genius he discovered that by listing all the positive elements on the plus side of the paper, and the negative things on the minus side, the decision would become obvious – pretty sound concept, agreed?” (Get prospect’s agreement)
“Let me show you how it works. Since you’re having a tough time deciding, let’s list the benefits – some of the reasons you may want to purchase. Then we’ll list the negatives. Fair enough?” (Get prospect’s agreement)
Now you list every good thing about your product or service. Get the prospect to say most of them. What the prospect says will be the main points of interest to him. Take your time to develop a complete list. THEN YOU SAY – OK, let’s list the negatives, and hand the pen to the prospect, and push the list towards him. Don’t say a word. Usually the prospect can only think of responses having to do with price or affordability.
In theory this sounds like a good way to close a sale.
The big problem with the Benjamin Franklin Close – it’s old world selling that not only doesn’t work, it annoys the prospective buyer. Try that close on someone who has ever taken a sales course, and it’s an insult.
The reality of the sale is – the prospect has already made up his mind – he’s just not telling you.
So, should you just forget it and never use the Ben Franklin Close. Heck no – just use the Ben Franklin principle in a different way. Do what Ben would have done – figure out a new way and a better way, and use it.
Here’s a powerful new way to re-use the classic Ben Franklin Close close:
Use it on yourself – before you make the sales call.
Get a plain piece of paper (or your laptop), and draw a line down the middle of the page.
on the plus side…
on the minus side…
Now you’re ready to make the sale, and Ben helped you.
If you use the Ben Franklin Close on yourself, before you go in to make the sale, then you can ask the buyer intelligent closing questions. For example, questions that might lead with the phrases – What are the major obstacles…? Or, What would prevent you from…? Or, Is there any reason not to proceed with…?
That’s a Ben Franklin close that Ben would be proud of – the one you prepare for yourself. You close yourself before you make the sale. Wow!
Try this new version of an old classic. Ben would be proud of you. So would your boss.
I think it was Franklin who said, “A close in time saves nine – objections,” but history has distorted it for the people who knit. Pity.
Free GitBit – If you would like a few famous Ben Franklin quotes that will inspire you, motivate you and help you see the obvious in a new way go to www.gitomer.com and enter BEN FRANKLIN SELLS in the GitBit box.
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author
Are You a Monday Morning Quarterback?
/in Marketing & Sales, Practices for Professionals/by Bill BartlettWhen I was growing up, I spent many joyful Sundays watching football with my father. At the end of every down, we relished critiquing the coach’s play calling – if it had failed – by boldly claiming we knew the plays that would have saved the day. We reenacted this ritual every week and even carried “our” game’s analysis through Monday morning breakfast. By the time we finished our discussion, we were self-acknowledged geniuses who, unquestionably, deserved a coaching spot on any National Football League roster. Unfortunately, since that’s not how play calling works, we found ourselves relegated to the role of “sage” after the fact.
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Subscribing to the Self Guided Program - It's Free!
About the Author
For more information, please visit https://www.sandler.com/resources/sandler-books/coaching.
Five Benefits from Leading Out of Our Own Identity
/in Practices for Professionals/by Greg WallaceGreat leaders pattern themselves after (drumroll, please) themselves. As stated by Jim Rohn, noted business philosopher, “all great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective.”
Yet a significant amount of the billions of dollars we spend each year on leadership training is not about working on ourselves but patterning our leadership on some other leader’s life, leadership model, or leadership principles.
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About the Author
Performance Measure Development Sheets
/in Organizational Performance Measures, Premium/by Nathan IvesHi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.
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Additional Information
Additional information on the individual characteristics of quality performance measures and their construction can be found in the following StrategyDriven articles and documents:
Articles
Documents
About the Author
I’d rather have no advice than bad advice.
/in Marketing & Sales/by Jeffrey GitomerI can’t help it. I read some bad sales advice today and I gotta say something. I’ll try to keep it positive, but my tongue is already bleeding from biting it.
The title read: When sales calls stall.
Every salesperson has experienced that barrier in one form or another, so I wondered what this “expert” had to say.
NOTE WELL: I try not to read current sales material because I don’t want to copy, or be accused of copying someone else’s work or ideas.
It started with the usual sales dialog: you have a meeting with a prospective customer, they’re hot, hot, hot, for your product or service, they ask for a proposal, you quickly oblige, and a week later you call the hot customer, and they have evaporated. Won’t return your calls or emails.
What to do?
Get ready – here comes this guy’s (name withheld) expert advice:
He recommends every manipulative “sales technique” from implying urgency, buy today or the deal goes away, to getting creative (whatever that means – no explanation or examples given), to use intrigue, to connect (no explanation or examples given). He advises: be prepared like a boy scout, appeal to a higher authority, assume all is well and they are just busy, use the admin as an ally, and a bunch of sales talk mumbo jumbo that any seasoned executive or their assistant would smell like a skunk that hasn’t bathed, and laugh at you. And oh by-the-way, NEVER take your call again, let alone buy from you.
This is why this type of approach to a reluctant or otherwise busy buyer will NEVER work…
FIRST: The prospect is not returning your calls for a reason. Wouldn’t it be important to find out why? If you could discover that, it would help your next 1,000 sales calls.
SECOND: Why did you ever offer a proposal without making a firm face-to-face follow-up sales appointment in the first place? This is one of the most powerful – yet mostly overlooked – elements of the sales cycle.
THIRD: Stop trying to sell. Stop trying to be cute. Stop trying to be manipulative.
FOURTH: For goodness sake, stop trying to butter up the admin or executive assistant. These people are smarter than your lingo and loyal to their employers, not you.
FIFTH: The salesperson (not you of course) did a lousy job in the presentation, left some holes, never discovered the prospects real motive to purchase, was subjected (relegated) to a proposal/bidding process, never followed relationship-based strategies, was more hungry for the sale and the commission than to uncover what would build a relationship. You didn’t connect – you didn’t engage. Why are you blaming the prospect for not calling you? Why don’t you take responsibility for doing a poor job, and taking a lesson? Not a just a sales lesson, a relationship lesson.
POINT FIVE CAUTION: Maybe their daddy decides, and you never met daddy let alone know who he is. Maybe someone else higher up the ladder told your prospect “NO,” and your prospect is embarrassed, or doesn’t care, to tell you.
SALES REALITY CHECK: In sales you have ONE CHANCE. One chance to engage, one chance to build rapport, one chance to connect, one chance to be believable, one chance to be trustworthy, and one chance to meet with the real decision-maker. One chance to differentiate yourself, one chance to prove your value, and one chance to ask for (or better, confirm) the sale.
BAD NEWS: If you miss your chance, or blow your chance, recovery chances are slim. OK, none.
Not being able to reconnect with a prospect is not a problem, it’s a symptom. And it’s a report card on how well you’re doing. Or not doing. How well the relationship is going. Or not going.
GOOD NEWS: Lost sales and sales gone wrong are the BEST places to learn.
BETER NEWS: If you make a firm commitment to meet a few days later – not by phone – to meet face-to-face, you have a better chance of discovering the truth,
BEST NEWS: Once you get to TRUTH, you have a chance at SALE. Or better stated, you will have created the atmosphere where someone wants to BUY from you.
Sales techniques are increasingly becoming passé. So are the people that stress using them, rather than emphasizing the relationship and value based side.
I grew up selling, and I grew out of it.
If you have lost a connection, or if a hot prospect evaporates, or refuses to call you back or respond to you, the WORST thing you can do is try a sales technique. Why don’t you try something new? Try being honest. No, not just with the customer, with yourself.
I promise that a harsh self-discovery lesson may not help you reconnect with who you lost, but it’s connection insurance for the next thousand. Take a chance. It’s the best one you’ve got.
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author