Today I received a cold call from a telemarketer to sell me a newspaper subscription. I found his sales script quite amusing. Here's how it went:

"Good morning Mr. Buntic, I'm calling from the Toronto Star. Today I would like to ask you, when you start your new subscription to the Toronto Star would you prefer it delivered to the front door or the back door?"

My reply:

"Hmmm, the Toronto Star? Never heard of it. Tell me more about your newspaper."

Of course I was kidding. Anybody that lives in Toronto knows what the Toronto Star is. It is one of the two major Toronto dailies. This telemarketer from the newspaper decided to use sales closes and trial closing questions right off the bat so in return I played around with him. People that use sales closing techniques assume that they can outsmart the prospect. Really, that's all that sales closes are, a way to try to outsmart your target. Thats what this telemarketer believed he could do to me.

Reading this, you can see how absurd this telemarketer's techniques were. So, if you are a salesperson, would you use these techniques? Would it not worry you that your prospect might see through you just like you see through this telemarketer? Do you think its possible that your prospect may think youre just absurd as you think this telemarketer is?

Assume that the prospects you sell to know the exact same techniques that you use. Would you use these techniques then? Since all of the sales closing techniques that you know probably come from a bestselling sales book that millions of other business professionals have read, then it's quite likely that they will know exactly what youre trying to do and your techniques will be rendered meaningless.

So, if you are in sales, don't try to outsmart your prospects. Trial closing questions and sales closes are meaningless.

By the way, who gets their paper delivered to the back door? Whats that all about?