Run the reason close

1. When closes are used

The closes are designed for one moment: after the prospect says no. How much work that moment takes depends on what came before it. The better your marketing, the more concerns have been settled ahead of time. With weaker marketing, your sales team and your process have to be more thorough.

What the prospect is blaming, and how to sort it, is SOP 99 — Classify an objection. This page is the response.

2. Set up every close: repeat back, then agree

Two rules come before any close.

When in doubt, repeat back what they said. It gives you a moment to think about what to say next, and it is active listening at the same time. This does not mean parroting them. But too few salespeople listen at all, so it is good practice in general for most.

Acknowledge or agree; never disagree. The moment you disagree, the prospect becomes more likely to turn hostile, so avoid it. Instead, buy yourself time in two moves:

1. Repeat back the last thing they said, and nod.
2. Say something like one of these, as the bridge into your close:
   • Totally agree.
   • Totally understand.
   • That's a great point.
   • Thank you for bringing that up.
   • You're totally right, I forgot to mention…

Every close and response should be a reframe, another way to think about the problem. Never a disagreement.

3. The general closes

Some closes work no matter what the prospect blames. If you commit one set of closes to memory, make it these. They are called the 80/20 closes: the 20 percent of closes that work 80 percent of the time. That ratio is stated, not measured here.

The closes for each specific kind of blame come after them, and those work well when a prospect brings the same obstacle back up. The general ones do something different. They cut through a lot of smoke and mirrors and force the prospect to wake up and decide, or to name a real obstacle that you can then overcome. You can use them in response to any objection that is not a yes. They are credited with making a great deal of money, with a warning attached: use them responsibly.

The reason close is one of them. The others are SOP 101 — Run the general closes.

4. The reason close

The idea. The thing holding the prospect back is typically the very reason they need to act.

The worked lines. Each takes one thing the prospect is blaming and hands it back as the reason to act.

They blame	What you say, in your own words
Money	How long do you want "I can't afford this" to stay on your list of problems in life? Then: the fact that you don't have money is the very reason you need to do this.
Time	Not having time is the very reason to act.
Authority	The fact that you are so dependent on your spouse is the reason you need to take this decision and own it.
Avoidance	The fact that you are not sure about the person you want to be is the very reason we are going to help you get into this program.

The lines cover all three categories on SOP 99: money and time are circumstances, authority belongs to other people, and avoidance belongs to self.

The reason offered for why it works. Whatever the reason is, the biggest chain the prospect is holding on to is usually the thing they are enslaving themselves to: the thing they are handing their power to. Break that chain and the power comes back to them. The very reason they are holding themselves back is typically the very reason they need to do it.

How to run it.

• Hear the objection and repeat it back (section 2).
• Agree with it. The close does not argue that the problem is not real.
• Turn it around: the problem they named is the reason to act.
• Ask for the decision.

The first two steps are the rules in section 2. The third is the close. The close itself does not script that last line. Not established on this page.

Put together, a money objection runs like this. The prospect says they can't afford it. You repeat it back: you can't afford it right now. You bridge: totally understand. Then the close: how long do you want "I can't afford this" to stay on your list of problems? Not having the money is the very reason you need to do this. Each piece is from this page; the order is sections 2 and 4.

5. Stack, understand, choose, nudge

More rules shape how you use this close and every other.

Learn to stack closes. If one close works well, often a second works better. You can stack several together. Sometimes one close is not enough on its own, so come at the point from another angle or with another analogy. Each one takes you a step closer to a sale.

Understand; do not memorize. When you understand the logic behind the closes, you can use them in your own words to help people decide. Understanding the reasoning behind them also lets you move between them smoothly.

You only need a few closes per obstacle. You do not need to use them all. Know two or three that you like for each main obstacle.

Use nudges when someone is right on the edge. A nudge is a one-liner that tips a deal over the edge. Nudges are woven into many of the closes.

The same advice comes with the closes themselves: use what feels right to you. Closing is about understanding how blame robs people of their power to decide; once that clicks, you will say this in your own words, on the fly, quickly. Every close offered is reported to have been used with success by one practitioner with many thousands of closes. The point is to get good at closing, not to become an encyclopedia of closes. So commit to learning the ones you like, and really commit.

Flag: learn by heart, or by logic. This section says to understand the closes rather than memorize them. SOP 249, section 3 says to learn three or four closes that fit any objection by heart and know them cold. Memorizing ties you to a few fixed lines; understanding lets you move between closes in your own words, with no set wording to lean on. This page does not settle which reading is right.

6. Flag: one or two, or two or three

The advice with the closes says you only need one or two ways to respond to each obstacle. The rule on the number of closes says two or three per obstacle. This page does not settle which reading is right.

7. What this page does not decide for you

• What to say if the reason close does not land. The stacking rule says try another angle or analogy; which close to stack is not given. Not established on this page.
• The other general closes. They are SOP 101 — Run the general closes.

8. The checklist

Step	What you do
Before any close	Repeat back what they said, nod, agree
Never	Disagree
The reason close	Hand their reason back as the reason to act
Money	How long do you want this on your list of problems?
Time	Not having time is the very reason to act
Authority	Depending on your spouse is the reason to own this decision
Avoidance	Not being sure who you want to be is the reason we will help you
If one close is not enough	Stack another from a new angle or analogy
How many to learn	One or two, or two or three, per main obstacle that you like (the flag in section 6)
Someone on the edge	Use a nudge

9. What this page does not cover

Sorting the objection first is SOP 99; asking permission before saying something blunt is SOP 97 — Get permission before getting real; answering a discount request is SOP 96 — Answer a discount request and capture payment. Specific closes for time, money and partners are SOP 102 to SOP 105.