I assume that many, if not most, rAVe readers have at least some sales background, even if that’s not their main job role today.

Then again, if I were a career technician writing for rAVe, I’d assume most readers were technicians, so that’s probably just my confirmation bias talking.

There’s some social baggage that comes with being in sales — and not undeservedly. We’ve all had negative interactions with salespeople who were pushy or demanding.

Being a “closer” has some negative pop culture connotations. Consider the stereotype of the crass used car salesman or the characters in the film “Glengarry Glen Ross” (1992).

People who’ve been in sales a long time make jokes about that movie or reference it:

• “Coffee is for closers.”
• “Do you see this watch?”
• “The leads aren’t weak, YOU’RE weak!”

And so on.

When I was in retail, there was a rival regional chain of AV stores called International Stereo. They had a well-deserved reputation for being hard-sell and ABC: Always Be Closing.

They eventually collapsed under the weight of financial fraud, a couple of lawsuits and a criminal investigation. It was fun watching them implode back in the day.

Later, talking with people who worked there, I got the inside scoop on how it all went down. It was quite a sordid tale.

But that’s not where I’m going with this.

Way back then, I loved competing with International Stereo. Yeah, they were the apex of sleazy salespeople — comically so, even.

But that was great for my business. Why, you ask?

Because customers who walked into an International Stereo store went one of two ways:
They either got closed on the spot and bought something,
or
They were enraged by how they’d been treated and stormed out, vowing to shop anywhere but there.

And that was good news for me.

When a customer walked into my store, I knew on sight if they’d set foot in International Stereo — they were vibrating with rage and immediately hostile toward salespeople.

My strategy to handle that was simple: be the exact opposite of their last experience in a stereo store.

I was soft-spoken, kind, asked lots of open-ended questions to get to know the customer better and wasn’t pushy at all.

Once the person I was talking to realized I wasn’t like the last jerk they’d dealt with, their defenses would come down. We’d have a real dialogue, make a connection, and once I’d done my job properly and shown them some options, I’d get a sale.

If they weren’t ready to buy that day, they’d come back the next day or the following weekend. That’s how I learned the importance of gently but persistently following up.

It was easy — like shooting fish in a barrel.

Being nice and not pushy paid for my first house.

I was a closer; I just wasn’t a stereotypical, pushy closer. I asked for the sale when I had checked off all the boxes on the client’s needs and wants.

Like lots of things in life, there’s more than one way to do it.

Which brings me to my story.

I’ve been through countless sales training seminars as a student, and I’ve presented quite a few as a trainer.

And I’m sure everyone knows there are many ways to close a sale. Just like actual tools in a toolbox, the metaphorical sales tools in your metaphorical toolbox are context dependent — you pick the right tool for the task at hand.

Everyone has their favorites that they rely on more than others.

We’re not going to type out a comprehensive list of closing techniques here — we don’t have time. If any of you want to hire me as a trainer, we can take that offline.

I want to single out one closing technique. It’s not pushy, and it can work, but I generally avoid it personally.

It’s called “the puppy dog close.”

Simply put, you’ve already checked off most or all of the boxes of the client’s wants and needs, but they’re not quite there yet.

What do you do now? Offer to let them take it for a test drive.

“Well, why don’t you take it home for the weekend and try it out? Monday morning, if it’s just not for you, bring it back to me.”

The hope is that, just like a fat, happy little puppy, the client will fall in love with it and want to keep it.

Does it work? Sometimes.
Should you always use it? No, of course not. The right tool for the job is context dependent.

When I worked at Sony, one of my co-workers — we’ll call him Don — was notorious for doing this. I swear it was the only sales technique he knew.

With every single client, regardless of whether it was a small or large purchase, if Don couldn’t get the client to “yes,” he’d fall back to, “Hey, just take this camcorder home for a week and take it for a spin.”

It worked for Don — but only about 30% of the time.

Now, if a baseball player can hit the ball 30% of the time, they’ll be paid huge sums of money. And I suppose closing 30% of your prospects is OK, actually. It’s better than zero.

The real-world consequence of Don’s reliance on puppy-dogging every customer was that our store inventory had many repacks.

In retail parlance, a “repack” is a product whose box has been opened; it’s no longer factory sealed.

In retail electronics, customers are often suspicious of repacks, asking, “If someone returned it, what’s wrong with it?” That means having to discount it — often steeply — to sell it.

Don was a middle-tier sales guy — not great, not terrible. But his habit of doing this impacted everyone else’s sales, since we had to take a margin hit to clear out Don’s repacks.

That didn’t endear him to his co-workers, like me, or our sales manager.