ABC - or ABQ

Alec Baldwin is infamous for so many reasons that I won’t try to list them all here, but I will key in on his infamous role as Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross, which left an indelible mark on the sales world. The classic lines just flowed: “Coffee is for closers”, “Third prize is you’re fired”, “Mitch and Murray paid good money for those leads”, “AIDA – Attention, Interest, Decision, Action” and, of course, “ABC – Always Be Closing”. 

Always Be Closing, Trial Close, Ben Franklin Close, Puppy Dog Close, Over the Head Close (ask me sometime) – I’ve heard them all throughout my career and am here to tell you that, at worst, they’re all wrong, and, at best, they’re the hard way to sell.

Much more effective and much easier than ABC is ABQ: Always Be Qualifying.  Qualification is too often treated as a ‘Stage’ in the sales process – an event that needs to be completed; a box that needs to be checked.  Instead, Qualification is, IMHO, integral to the entire sales process.  Every engagement with a prospect is an opportunity to qualify their interest, their intent to buy, their readiness to buy, their ability to buy.  This ongoing qualification helps the seller and buyer zero in on the outstanding issues and to-dos needed to get to an agreement.  ABQ – qualifying throughout the sales process, his makes the ‘close’ so much easier.

Too often, salespeople fall into the trap of continuing conversations with prospects that could or should have been disqualified early. Why?  Variations on FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) like FOAWF (Fear of a Weak Funnel) or FOTNTP (Fear of Need to Prospect More) or FOUPR (Fear of Upcoming Pipeline Review). Sales Management needs to eradicate the Alec Baldwin/Blake style of management by intimidation and encourage qualification/disqualification.  A fast no is better than a long maybe, so I encourage all salespeople and teams to Qualify/Disqualify early and often!