A friend of mine dropped me a note to say hello and that they realized that they don't have any skills in closing a sale. Would I, over a wonderful dinner at an exclusive club, give some pointers on closing?
It made me think that this is such great blog material.
This relates to one of the "Seven Deadly Sins In Selling" - "It's never a CLOSING problem - it's always a QUALIFYING problem", Period. End of story - details to the story but that is the whole enchilada.
Focus on who you are calling on, and what is their business pain. If you qualify them as you go along, from the beginning of the handshake, your closing will become a normal part of the discussion. Notice that the term is "closing" which is a noun, rather than "closed" which is what you DO to someone - a verb.
Also you need to understand that not everyone is a current prospect for you. Find those who have a higher probabillity of partnering with you rather than those who seem to need some "convincing" -