r/SalesCoachingBushido

not because the question is dumb. because of what it does.

“does that make sense” hands the prospect an exit. they say yes, you keep talking, nothing actually moved. it feels like progress. it’s not.

compare it to “what’s still unclear.” that one has teeth. it assumes something IS unclear, and it forces them to either name it or admit there’s nothing left to object to.

one question protects their ego. the other protects your pipeline.

small swap. bigger effect than most of the “closing techniques” content out there.

Not even a big one. Just some random Tuesday it pops back into my head, the exact moment I know now I said the wrong thing, and I still can’t let it go.

Wonder if that’s just part of doing this long enough. You remember the losses in more detail than the wins.

What’s the one that still visits you sometimes?

Heard this pushback a lot when I say it, but hear me out.

Most reps spend the first 3 to 5 minutes on small talk because they were taught rapport comes before business. In reality, most prospects can smell forced rapport instantly, and it actually delays the moment they start trusting you, because trust in a sales context comes from competence and respect, not shared weekend plans.

The best calls I’ve had skipped the small talk almost entirely and got straight into a sharp, respectful opener. The rapport built itself once they realized I wasn’t wasting their time.

Curious if people actually disagree with this or if “build rapport first” is just something everyone repeats without testing it.

Been thinking about this since a few conversations last week. The best closes I’ve had didn’t feel like closing at all. No pivot, no “so what do you think,” no moment where the energy shifted into ask mode.

The deal just kept moving because every question before that point had already answered the one that actually mattered. By the time we got to numbers, there was nothing left to close, just details to confirm.

I think a lot of reps chase the close as its own skill because that’s what gets taught. Objection handling, closing techniques, tie-downs. Meanwhile the actual leverage point was three questions earlier, whether the prospect actually believed the cost of staying the same was higher than the cost of changing.

If you have to “close” someone, something got skipped earlier. Curious if people actually disagree with this or if everyone secretly knows it and just doesn’t say it out loud.