My wife and I just returned home from a trip to Italy. In the walled city of Pisa, home of the leaning tower, we were repeatedly approached by an army of peddlers, offering great deals on counterfeit watches, handbags, belts and sunglasses. Most of their attempts to close were very transparent and ineffective.

I gave them credit though, for hanging in with a very hostile group. When tourists said “no” they were immediately asked “why not?” When tourists actually responded instead of walking away the peddlers were successful because they continued asking simple questions and refused to take “no” for an answer. After all, primitive as their selling was, they knew that this would be their only closing opportunity.

When your closing opportunity comes, are you fully equipped to take advantage of it? When prospects don’t immediately buy are you intimidated? Rejected? Feel pressure? Do you retreat? Do you resort to selling features and benefits?

Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball, provides simple yet powerful tips for asking better questions, taking advantage of the closing opportunity at hand and overcoming the insecurities that salespeople face along the way. Read the chapter on Scoring for more help on this topic.