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Always Be Closing Is Dead
Article

Always Be Closing Is Dead

How to Always Be Helping in 2018

Hubspot, 2018

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

In 1983, a swaggering, swearing Alec Baldwin – playing the role of Blake in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross – exhorted a boiler-room salesforce to “always be closing.” The high-pressure tactics galvanized generations of salespeople. But in 2018, these techniques have grown as outdated as Blake’s suit. They might have succeeded in the 1980s, but they don’t anymore – not with today’s informed, empowered buyers. HubSpot sales director Dan Tyre advocates a sales philosophy based on helping prospects – not closing them. getAbstract recommends Tyre’s inspiring outline of the essential arguments and strategies for buyer-centric selling.

Summary

The paradigm for selling has changed. In the 1980s, standard sales tactics depended on pressure and intimidation. Salespeople often ignored prospects’ real needs for the sake of closing deals in a “cookie-cutter sales process.” The mantra “always be closing” – popularized in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross – epitomizes this seller-centric approach. But in 2018, “force-feeding prospects a product they don’t want and don’t need” doesn’t work. Today, sales reps have to “give up control” and allow prospects to guide the sales process...

About the Author

Dan Tyre is sales director at HubSpot, a producer of sales and marketing software for inbound marketing.