In my previous post, I lambasted trick closes like “buy now and I'll give you 15 percent off.” I knew that post would be controversial because I was well aware that some sales pros like and use trick closes on a daily basis. To those sales pros, the notion that a trick close is ineffective seems blasphemous.

But saying something is ineffective isn’t the same thing as saying it doesn’t work. A trick close can definitely generate a sale. Hey, if that weren’t true, sales pros (who are the most practical people on earth) simply wouldn’t use them. The reason trick closes are ineffective is that they’re insulting to the customer and destructive to the long-term customer relationship. Here’s why:

If a customer has already decided to buy, then a trick close (by definition) isn’t necessary. The only reason to use a trick close is if the customer has not yet decided to buy, hence the need to trick the customer into making a decision. With the trick close, you’ve forced the customer to buy something that he doesn’t yet want.

Now, it’s perfectly true that the customer may really need your offering and after delivery be satisfied (even delighted) with what it does for him, but at some level or another he will always know that you tricked him into buying before he was ready. And that’s the best case scenario. If the customer doesn’t really need your offering, and only bought because you tricked him (and he didn’t know how to gracefully get out of the deal), that’s going to create massive resentment.

It seems to me that opinions about trick closes are directly based on how people define selling. If you think of selling in terms of persuading and convincing, you’re probably going to think that trick closes make sense. On the other hand, if you define selling in terms of helping and advising, you’ll probably think (as I do) trick closes are stupid.

Since this blog deals with sales strategies and tactics – and is going to debunk some very popular ones – I think we all need to put our cards on the table. So here’s my question:

HOW DO YOU DEFINE SELLING?

All comments are welcome. 

The photo?  An actual snake oil salesman, courtesy of Farl, a photographer in the Philippines. 

Original post by Geoffrey James