Chapter 8: A Few Insights Into Critical Insights

I’m fascinated by sales closing techniques, usually one more ludicrous than the next. Take for instance the Puppy Dog Close, or the Ben Franklin Close, the Columbo Close, the Beartrap, the Sharp Angle, the Now or Never Close, and the Takeaway Close. Really? If Columbo has a close, why wouldn’t there be a Kojak Close, perhaps the Who Loves Ya’ Baby Close.

No matter how and when you close a deal, the one constant among the laughable is that you better be insightful, which means you better have some important industry insights in your front and back pockets because there isn’t any sales research that supports any effective selling other than by sharing your insights, and that is sharing you wisdom, and that is my revolutionary Critical Insight Selling technique.

And here’s an insight that’s absolutely wild now that I’ve played the Kojak Card, which is really the Telly Savalas Card. The actor was maybe a better singer than actor. In fact, he had the Number 1 hit in the UK for his cover of the Bread song If as in…

If a picture paints a thousand words
Then why can’t I paint you?
The words will never show
The you I’ve come to know. 

Well, the you I’ve come to know is a thought leader (we all have that inside us). And part of the reason you’re a thought leader, or will become one, is because you have insights into many important aspects of the human condition, and that my friends is the you we’ve all come to know.