This is the final post in our series exploring key insights from Frank Bettger’s “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling.” This segment focuses on effective closing techniques and developing the resilience needed for long-term sales success.
Introduction
Even the best preparation, questioning techniques, and relationship building can fall short without effective closing skills and the resilience to handle rejection. In this final segment, we’ll explore Frank Bettger’s proven methods for guiding prospects to decisions and maintaining the mental toughness required for sales success.
The Art of Closing
Closing isn’t about high-pressure tactics or manipulative techniques. As Bettger discovered, it’s about helping prospects make decisions that genuinely benefit them. He notes that “one of the greatest services one man can render another is to help him come to an intelligent decision.”
This perspective transforms closing from something we do to prospects into something we do for them.
The Four-Step Sales Process
Bettger outlines a straightforward framework for successful sales conversations:
- Attention: Capture interest with a relevant opening
- Interest: Build engagement through questions and insights
- Desire: Create genuine want for your solution
- Close: Guide the prospect to a decision
With this structure in mind, let’s explore specific closing techniques that work:
1. Summarize Effectively
Bettger emphasizes that “a good summary affords the best basis for climax in selling.” A clear summary brings together the key points that resonate most with the prospect.
Action step: Create a concise summary template with these elements:
- The prospect’s main challenges (from your earlier questioning)
- The specific solutions your product/service provides
- The primary benefits to the prospect
- The logical next steps
What makes this particularly powerful? Whenever possible, Bettger recommends letting the prospect summarize. He suggests saying: “Will you write these down?” This active participation helps the prospect internalize the value proposition.
2. Ask the Magic Question
After presenting your solution and summarizing the benefits, Bettger suggests a simple but powerful question: “How do you like it?” He calls this “magic” because it naturally invites the prospect to express their thoughts, often revealing their level of interest or remaining concerns.
Action step: Practice incorporating this question naturally into your closing sequence. Rather than rushing to fill silence after asking it, wait patiently for the prospect’s response, which will guide your next steps.
3. Welcome Objections
Many salespeople fear objections, but Bettger discovered that “the best prospects are the ones who object.” He was “surprised when [he] learned that many of the objections which had been getting rid of [him] were really buying signals.”
Action step: Create an objection response framework:
- When you hear an objection, welcome it with “I appreciate you bringing that up”
- Ask “Why do you feel that way?” to understand the deeper concern
- Follow up with “In addition to that, is there anything else?” to uncover the real issue
- Address the core concern specifically
4. Focus on the Key Issue
Sales discussions can get derailed by multiple minor objections. Bettger advises finding the “most vulnerable point” and concentrating “everything on that one point alone—the key issue.” He learned that it’s sometimes necessary to “give the opposing attorney six points in order to gain the seventh—if the seventh was the most important.”
Action step: When faced with multiple objections, list them all, then ask: “Which of these concerns you most?” This helps identify the real blocking issue that needs addressing.
5. Get the Prospect to Take Action
Bettger found that physical action creates momentum toward a decision. His practical approach includes:
- Having the order form ready with the prospect’s name already filled in
- Marking an “X” where they need to sign
- Placing the form directly in front of them
- Saying simply, “Is that right, Mr. [Name]?”
He notes that “the ball is now down on his one-yard line. Momentum is with you!”
Action step: Review your closing materials and process. Are you making it physically simple for prospects to say yes? Prepare your paperwork or digital forms in advance and practice a smooth transition to the signing moment.
6. Ask for Payment
Bettger discovered that “asking for cash with the order is one of the most powerful factors in closing the sale.” He notes, “When a prospect has time to review and debate alone, he sometimes decides to postpone action, but I’ve never had a man cancel an order when he’s paid something on account.”
Action step: If appropriate for your product or service, incorporate payment into your closing process. Practice asking confidently for initial payment, deposit, or complete payment depending on your offering.
Building Sales Resilience
Even with perfect technique, sales involves rejection. Bettger’s insights on maintaining mental toughness are as valuable as his tactical advice.
1. Embrace the Law of Averages
Bettger compares selling to baseball, noting how Babe Ruth became “baseball’s greatest slugger” despite also holding the strike-out record. Ruth’s “unshakable faith in making the law of averages work for him enabled [him] to accept his bad breaks and failures with a smile.”
Action step: Calculate your own “batting average”—your conversion rate from prospect to customer. Once you know this number, you can calculate exactly how many prospects you need to meet to reach your goals. This transforms rejection from personal failure into a necessary part of the process.
2. Develop Healthy Detachment
Bettger quotes Elbert Hubbard’s advice to “cultivate a little the don’t-care habit; don’t worry about what people may think.” This isn’t about being callous but about maintaining perspective when faced with rejection.
Action step: After each rejection, practice this mental reset:
- Write down one thing you learned from the interaction
- Remind yourself that rejection is about the fit of your offer, not about you personally
- Immediately prepare for your next prospect interaction
3. View Failure as Temporary
“Failures mean nothing at all if success comes eventually,” Bettger writes. He quotes Abraham Lincoln: “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
Action step: Maintain a “success journal” where you record:
- Challenges you’ve overcome
- Skills you’ve developed
- Progress you’ve made
- Successes, no matter how small
Review this regularly, especially after difficult days.
4. Focus on One Improvement at a Time
Rather than trying to perfect everything simultaneously, Bettger recommends Benjamin Franklin’s approach: “Take one thing at a time, and give a week’s strict attention to that one thing, leaving all the others to their ordinary chance.”
He suggests selecting thirteen aspects of your sales approach to improve, then focusing on one each week. “By concentrating on one thing at a time, you will get farther with it in one week than you otherwise would in a year.”
Action step: Create your own 13-week improvement plan:
- Identify 13 specific aspects of your sales approach to improve
- Schedule one focus area per week
- Concentrate intensely on that single aspect for the entire week
- Record your progress and learnings before moving to the next focus area
5. Maintain Disciplined Activity
Bettger quotes insurance executive Bill Hunt: “In this world, we either discipline ourselves, or we are disciplined by the world. I prefer to discipline myself.” Regular, consistent activity—particularly making enough sales calls—creates its own momentum and resilience.
Action step: Set non-negotiable daily activity goals:
- Number of calls/outreach attempts
- Number of meetings/presentations
- Number of follow-ups
- Track these metrics rigorously and hold yourself accountable
Bettger notes that “when a salesman stops making enough calls, frequently the real reason is that he has lost interest and enthusiasm for his own sales story.” Regular activity not only generates results but also maintains your enthusiasm.
Key Takeaways
- Effective closing focuses on helping prospects make good decisions, not pressuring them.
- The four-step sales process—Attention, Interest, Desire, Close—provides a structured approach to guiding prospects toward decisions.
- Summarizing effectively and inviting prospect participation creates momentum toward closing.
- Objections are often buying signals that reveal the prospect’s true interests and concerns.
- Focusing on the key issue helps move past multiple minor objections to address what truly matters.
- Asking for payment is a powerful closing technique that increases commitment.
- Sales resilience comes from embracing the law of averages, maintaining healthy detachment, and viewing failure as temporary.
- Focusing on one improvement at a time builds skills more effectively than trying to fix everything at once.
Action Plan
- Create a closing checklist that includes: effective summary, the “How do you like it?” question, prepared responses to common objections, and clear next steps.
- Prepare your paperwork in advance with the prospect’s name already filled in and “X” marks where signatures are needed.
- Calculate your current conversion rates to understand how many prospects you need to reach your goals.
- Establish a personal 13-week improvement program, focusing on one sales skill each week.
- Set and track daily non-negotiable activity goals for calls, meetings, and follow-ups.
Reflection Questions
- Which part of the sales process do you find most challenging—opening, questioning, presenting, or closing? What specific improvement in that area would have the biggest impact?
- How do you currently handle objections? Do you see them as problems or as buying signals that help reveal the prospect’s true concerns?
- What’s your personal “batting average” in sales? Knowing this number, how many prospects would you need to meet to achieve your goals?
- How do you typically respond to rejection? What mental habits could you develop to bounce back more quickly?
- If you were to focus intensely on improving just one aspect of your sales approach for a week, which would you choose first?
Series Conclusion
Throughout this series, we’ve explored Frank Bettger’s time-tested principles for sales success. From the power of enthusiasm to mastering customer needs through questioning, from building trust to effective closing and developing resilience—these core principles remain as relevant today as when Bettger first discovered them.
The beauty of Bettger’s approach is its focus on genuine value. By finding what people truly want and helping them get it, by deserving and earning trust, and by guiding prospects to decisions that benefit them, you transform selling from a transaction into a service.
As you implement these principles, remember Bettger’s observation that “selling is the easiest job in the world if you work it hard—but the hardest job in the world if you try to work it easy.” Success requires enthusiasm, preparation, knowledge, consistent activity, and resilience—but the rewards, both financial and personal, make it well worth the effort.
What principle will you implement first? What aspect of your sales approach could most benefit from Bettger’s wisdom? The journey from failure to success begins with a single step—take yours today.
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This content represents my own analysis and interpretation of concepts from Frank Bettger’s _How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling. For the complete experience and the full depth of these ideas, I highly recommend purchasing and reading the original book.