The Reality is Sales Training
Welcome to The Reality is Sales Training, the podcast that demystifies sales training and reveals how it drives real business success.
With over 20 years of global sales training experience, Bob Morrell & Jeremy Blake have helped businesses of all sizes transform their sales teams. Whether you’re a sales professional, manager, or business leader, this podcast will challenge your thinking, sharpen your skills, and show you what it really takes to sell more effectively.
What You’ll Learn:
❓ Does sales training really work? (Spoiler: Yes, and we’ll show you why.)
📈 What’s the ROI of great sales training? (Hint: Higher conversions & better results.)
🛑 What sales myths need busting? (We’ll challenge outdated ideas & bad habits.)
🔑 Which sales skills drive success today? (Master the techniques that top performers use.)
From consumer sales to B2B deals, Bob & Jeremy break down the realities of selling, offering practical strategies to help you sell smarter, close better, and stay ahead in the ever-changing world of sales.
🎵 Original music by Charlie Morrell.
🔗 Learn more about Reality Training & how we help businesses sell better: www.realitytraining.com
📣 Enjoying the show? Leave a rating & review - we’d love to hear from you!
🚀 Listen now & take your sales skills to the next level!
The Reality is Sales Training
Mastering the Close: How to Seal the Deal with Confidence
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Ever had a sale slip through your fingers just as you thought you had it in the bag?
Maybe the customer seemed interested but hesitated at the last moment and you weren’t sure what to say next. Closing can be the trickiest part of a sale – so how do you do it well without feeling pushy?
In this episode, we’re discussing the art of closing with confidence. We’ll break down some of the most effective techniques, like the Elmer Wheeler Close, which helps you respond instantly to customer queries, and the Puppy Dog Close, which taps into emotional connection to make a sale feel like a natural step. We’ll also explore why trust is key – because when customers feel like they’re making the right decision for them, closing isn’t a battle, it’s a smooth transition.
So, if you’ve ever found yourself stuck at the final hurdle, wondering how to turn interest into action, this episode’s for you. Tune in now and learn how to close deals in a way that feels good for both you and your customers!
Explore resources, insights, and tools tailored to support your team's success and strategic growth at realitytraining.com.
welcome back to a new episode of the reality is sales training. That is the reality is, bob, isn't it?
Speaker 2people need sales training would you like it to be the reality of sales training? I would, yes. Okay, well, good for you, because that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1Ask me another question this car that I've just test driven, that parcel shelf looks very fixed. Am I able to remove that parcel shelf and increase the boot size?
Speaker 2Would you like to buy it with a removable parcel shelf?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I think I would actually Great you're buying this car. Ask me another question.
Speaker 1As you know, my wife, who's outside now smoking, has that problem. This hotel looks very nice, but does our room come with a balcony so she can go out and smoke?
Speaker 2Would you like to book a room with a balcony?
Speaker 1Yes, I would. Yes, I would.
Speaker 2Yes, I would, yeah. Now these are all examples of what we call the Elmer Wheeler close. Elmer Wheeler, the great sales trainer of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, who studied how people buy and sell things, and the technical term for this type of close is that it's a reflexive close and it's something that you would use towards the end of a conversation when things are going really well, and then the customer will say something like oh, does it come with such and such or do I get this with it? Now the answer is yes, but that doesn't close the sale. So what you do is you reflex back their question and say would you like to buy it with that, would you like to book it with that? And if they say yes, they are buying that product or service with that thing that they've had. So it's a really good thing to listen out for. It's a beauty when you get it, because you go, ah, I can use the reflexive Elmer Wheeler clothes and you know you've got a sale.
Speaker 1Does you know you've got?
Speaker 2a sale. Does the flooring quote that you've given me come with full installation? Would you like to have your flooring fully installed and included in the price? Yeah, ka-ching, it does.
Speaker 1Brilliant, it's all good fun. Does this phone come with a free charger?
Speaker 2Would you like to buy it with a charger included? Yeah, I would please. Now you can play around with this all day. The temptation is to use it quite early, so let's imagine that jeremy's walked into my shop and he's gonna what are you? Selling, I'm selling beautiful cheese. He walks into my cheese shop and he says good morning hi, I'm having a little dinner party on friday do you? Have any stinking bishop, would you like to buy some stinking bishop?
Speaker 1Yeah, but I need to see the amount and the weight and what you're charging, please.
Speaker 2Would you like to buy an amount once I've shown you the weight and told you how much I charge for it?
Speaker 1Is everything okay. Are you on day?
Speaker 2release. Would you like to be served by somebody who isn't on day release?
Speaker 1Yes, do you have a colleague, brilliant? Yeah, a little too early on the stage, a little too early, so don't use it too early.
Speaker 2It's something that happens towards the end. So if you have a product or service that has a natural accessory, that would come along with it anyway, and the customer asks you if it is included and the answer is yes, would you like to buy it with? That is your natural response. So that's one to practice Now. We're now going to move on to another example. So let's imagine that Jeremy is going to book an all-inclusive holiday. It's exactly the type of holiday he likes. We're going to use a really nice, simple, easy-to-understand example. Now, Jeremy, I know you've longed, longed to go for a lovely family holiday to Benidorm.
Speaker 2Oh very much so, and we've been looking at these four-star hotels which are about 500 yards back from the sea. So they're in nice, nice areas and you've got a little walk down to the front where there's all the lovely beach and the cafe and all that sort of thing. Now you've made it very clear to me that you want all-inclusive.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2And we're looking at two hotels here. They're actually not far from each other, right? One of them is one of our most popular family hotels in benidorm. It's four star is that the mermaid.
Speaker 2The mermaid it has four different restaurants, which allows you to have cuisine from four different places, and not even food cuisine and you can shop and change as you like and it's all included within the price and that's a really lovely feature. The other hotel, just down the road, is again all inclusive. It's a little less to book, which is good news. However, I think most mealtimes you're going to find yourself queuing for sausages. So of those two, which one do you think is going to find yourself queuing for sausages? So of those two, which ones you think is going to be more appealing for you?
Speaker 1well, I yeah, I think the the four different types of cuisine yeah, I think that's.
Speaker 2That's probably the best one to go for.
Speaker 1Yeah I'm actually going to charge me a little more for that one.
Speaker 2Yeah, of course now this is the leading comparison. I'm leading my customer to make a comparison between the two options, but I'm clearly spending more time and effort to big up the better option and I'm not being untruthful. I'm clearly showing him that by spending a little bit more money maybe a fair amount of money more it's actually going to be worth it. So that's something to think about.
Speaker 1Do the comparison for the customer be transparent, but just tip the scales to the better option.
Speaker 2So, whatever it is you're selling you could be selling. Would you like this option, which includes boom, boom, boom and all these nice features, but clearly costs a bit more? Or this more standard, basic, simple option, which costs less but clearly costs a bit more, or this more standard, basic, simple option, which costs less but clearly has a disadvantage as a result? So that's a nice way of giving them an alternative.
Speaker 3This episode of the Reality of Sales Training is brought to you by Reality Training. If you're finding it tough to meet sales targets, you're not alone, but we're here to help. Our training solutions are designed to address your pain points and turn them into strengths.
Speaker 2Explore our resources and start improving your sales outcomes today at realitytrainingcom right close number three the puppy dog close bob is in a in a little rescue center here ah, before we go down that road, jeremy, let's give them the other example, and the example is that jeremy was going into john lewis to look for a stereo system because he was having a party and he wanted a particular model and the chap officiously sort of came and said well, the model you're looking at on display is the last model.
Speaker 1We don't have any at the back. And I said, well, that's okay, I'll just just put this in a box.
Speaker 2I'll buy this we can't sell you that because that's a display model and we have a policy where we never sell the display model. I'm looking at it. It looks fine to me, it's working. I'm afraid we can't let you have that stereo At the same time. The one next door to it is a step up. It has a few more features that the one you're looking at doesn't quite have. Look, you're having a party. You need a stereo. I do. Take this one now, okay, and and we've got it ready to go and you can put it straight in your car have your party. If you don't like this stereo, you can just bring it back and we'll refund you sounds good to me.
Speaker 1All right, darling, yeah, good, yeah, we'll do that. Thanks, is he going to take the stereo after the party, actually here in the corner of my office? Now, you've still got it.
Speaker 2Still got it is he really going to put that thing back in the box and bring it all the way back to john lewis? Of course he's not. Now, the puppy dog close is essentially a cancellation clause. Now, compliance and other departments get very worried about these sorts of closes because they think, well, if you give people to the opportunity to cancel when they make an order, they will do now, yes, some will. A tiny percentage of people.
Speaker 2When given the opportunity to cancel when they make an order, they will do. Now, yes, some will. A tiny percentage of people, when given the opportunity to cancel will. However, statistically, if you've actually made that commitment and, in Jeremy's case, taken the stereo back to his home, set it up and had his party, a tiny percentage would go to the trouble of putting it all back together and bringing it back to the shop. Most people would just say what the hell, we'll just keep it now. You can do that with all sorts of things, and the reason it's called the puppy dog clothes is because of the example jeremy's about to give so imagine, dear listener, that you are in the market for a rescue cat or rescue dog.
Speaker 1And imagine you're bob and I've met bob. Hi, bob, how's it going? You've been walking around the, around the rescue center on your own.
Speaker 2So many lovely doggies here. They're all so beautiful, aren't they? I wish I could take them all home you know well, that would be amazing.
Speaker 1But it's lovely that you've made the choice to get a dog, but it's still a big decision. Now you've walked back and forward. I have watched you two or three times near this interesting sort of lurcher creature we've got called Margot.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, she's very friendly, isn't she? She's absolutely lovely yeah.
Speaker 1And again I can tell there's a slight apprehension, isn't it? Because it's a big commitment to make.
Speaker 2Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1Well, what I would say to you at this juncture is look, I've got a dog basket big enough easily to fit Margo in. God, it better be, it's better be massive. I noticed your sort of executive four by four outside. Um, you can take Margo home, see how she fits in with the family, and if Margo is wrong then you must just bring her back to us, okay, um, let me help, let me help you now. All right, here we go.
Trust-Based Sales Closing Techniques
Speaker 2Let's get her out, let's put her in okay, now, after a night with margo in my home, am I really going to force her back in the box and take her back to the rescue center? Of course I'm not, so that's why it's called the puppy dog clothes, so you can extend that to any cancellation clause that you will be offering customers.
Speaker 1Possibly the most famous, is written about in scientific advertising, claude C Hopkins. He talks about a gentleman who wanted a horse to go from east to west across the United States and he went to see a horse trader and the horse trader said, well, I'll need $200 for this horse. And he went wow, that's a fortune for a horse. He said, well, you know, that's what this horse costs. He said, well, I'm going to get another quote. Went to see another horse dealer and he said, well, no, no, similar, absolutely. That is about the right price.
Speaker 1But do you know what? Take the horse across America, I'll see you in six months and, um, you know, if the horse has been worth it, give me two hundred dollars, and if the horse hasn't, I'll just take it back. And the bloke took the horse across america and came back and gave him two hundred dollars. Sounds good, doesn't it? Yeah, that's the sort of most famous trust-based clothes, you know. Get the product into the customer's mindset, if not their actual business premises or their home, and the ownership takes over it's, it's becoming theirs, they want it it ain't coming back.
Speaker 2Three more, three more closes for you. We've got the elmer wheeler reflexive close. Would you like to buy it? With that, we've got the leading comparison. So you can have this one with all the lovely bits and pieces, or this one, or the puppy dog clothes. Take this. If it's wrong you can bring it back now. Be careful with the third one. Think about the kind of the realistic application of that. But statistically it's a good one. For some organizations it might be nice to use that as a last resort clothes, but even so it's. Uh, it's a good one to try now. We'll be doing more podcasts on closing in the future, but in the meantime, see how you get on with those, take care.
