When you’re selling high-ticket services, it’s crucial to engineer every aspect of your sales process:

• Qualification

• Tech & systems

• Talk tracks & scripts

But after auditing thousands of sales calls and turning around numerous sales teams, I’ve discovered that one thing determines your sales performance more than anything else.

And that’s your (or your salesperson’s) ability to close.

By close, I mean your ability to lead the prospect to make a decision—whether it’s to do business with you or not.

This requires confidently asking for the sale, inviting objections, addressing them head-on, and getting a decisive ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

And this is the part that scares most people.

But here’s what I’ve learned.

Anyone can sell to someone who shows up ready to buy. I call them order takers.

Some people can run a decent process. They ask the standard discovery questions and present their solution well. I call them professional presenters.

But very few people are closers—those who effectively challenge their prospects to make good decisions.

This is why the top ‘opportunity status’ in CRMs is often ‘follow-up,’ which really means, “I couldn’t get a decision.”

When I listen to sales calls from clients and people in our mastermind community, I typically see:

• Strong presence to start

• Good rapport building early on

• Effective discovery questions

• Decent pitch and presentation of services

But when it comes time to ask for the money:

• Body language gets shifty, like they’re guilty of something.

• Voice inflection changes, rising a full octave or two.

• Weak language and a general sense of inferiority to the prospect

And you know what, I get it. I’m an introvert by nature, and believe me, sales didn’t come naturally to me.

In my first professional sales job, I picked the cubicle furthest away from everyone so no one could hear me get rejected over and over again.

But that was before I really understood what sales was all about.

I used to think selling—especially closing—was something shady. Think used car salesman, using slick techniques to get you to part ways with your hard-earned money while he hands you a lemon that’ll break down as soon as you round the corner.

But I had it all wrong. And if you think closing is something to be afraid of, you probably do too.

Here’s how I look at closing today:

My job is to lead prospects to make the decisions in their best interest.

When I’m confident that what I’m selling will make their life better, I have an obligation to close the deal. Because if I don’t, I’m not just missing a sale—I’m allowing them to keep struggling when I could’ve helped, all because of my insecurities.

In other words, learning how to be a stronger closer allows me to help more people.

If you want to level up your closing skills, here are 3 ways to get started:

1: Sell From Your Soul

I trust you’re not selling snake oil.

But let me ask you this: When people give you their hard-earned money, do you believe that you’re improving their life?

I mean deep down, in your heart of hearts, do you truly believe you’re improving people’s lives by accepting their payment in exchange for your product or service?

If not, sell something else. And if you’re the business owner, create a better product or service.

Because sales is all about transferring your energy, enthusiasm, and emotion to your prospect. And you can’t transfer a feeling of confidence and conviction that you don’t have.

2: Invite The Objections

When a prospect offers up objections, it creates tension. Which is why so many salespeople try to avoid them and watch deal after deal fall into the ‘follow-up’ stage.

As a closer, you want to invite objections. The more, the better.

By airing them all out on the sales call, you can dig in for context, ask follow-ups, and understand what’s happening below the surface to handle their real concerns.

Avoiding them doesn’t make them go away. It just leads to indecision—or a competitor closing the opportunity you opened.

That’s why actively looking for signs of objections, like body language and word choice, and getting them out in the open is essential for closing deals.

3: Listen To Your Calls

No one likes listening to themselves on recordings. It’s awkward, right? But trust me, this is the fastest way to level up your game—and also why so few people are great at closing deals.

If you want to improve, record your next five sales calls.

Go back and review them for the following:

• Word Choice: Transcribe the close and note any weak language, like ‘maybe,’ ‘think,’ or ‘kind of.’ Scratch them from your next close.

• Tonality: Listen to a section where you’re most confident, like discovery, then compare it to the section where you ask for the money. Note any changes.

• Hidden Objections: Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and listen to what the prospect says after you ask for the sale. Are there any clues to hidden objections?

Make changes, then rinse and repeat.

(Pro tip: I share how to use AI to coach yourself with sales calls, too here.)

In Closing

Closing deals is a skill that can be learned.

It’s about having real conviction in what you sell, understanding human psychology, mastering your own mindset, and being willing to embrace some healthy tension with prospects.

Few skills will boost your marketing ROI and income like mastering the art of closing.

Next week, I’ll be offering personalized coaching and feedback on sales calls to members of my mastermind community. If you’re ready to sharpen your closing skills, don’t miss this opportunity—details below.