Comments on: 10 Essentials: Closer vs. Opener

By: Top Ten Most Popular Posts of 2009

Top Ten Most Popular Posts of 2009 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:04:37 +0000

[...] 10 Essentials: Opener vs. Closer The hands down most viewed winner. It isn’t even really close. I know why this one resonates [...]

By: Getting the Sale Started May Be More Important than Closing | Aged Lead Strategies

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:22:16 +0000

[...] We have all heard the infamous sales mantra–ABC, Always Be Closing. But what about Openings? This is the essential question Anthony Iannarino, of The Sales Blog asks, what’s more important the opener or the closer? [...]

By: March Was Alright!

March Was Alright! — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:16:58 +0000

[...] need to have 12 at the top of the pipe now if you are going to close your quota of four in March. Opening is related to closing. So while it may seem a bit far away, if you have a three month sales cycle you should be able to [...]

By: S. Anthony Iannarino

S. Anthony Iannarino — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:57:02 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Tibor.

What? Prospecting getting in the way of selling? That IS the first sale, the first commitment you have to gain as a salesperson.

I agree with your advice to management: the opening metric is critical. Very few people lose sight of what they can close . . . they neglect what they could open.

Here is the link to Tony’s article: http://blog.tonyjohnston.biz/?p=1695

By: Tibor Shanto

Tibor Shanto — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:40:22 +0000

Anthony I think you make a great point about openers and the importance of opening in general. While I have great respect for Neil Rackham’s work and the importance of SPIN, i do believe that in addition to what you say about closing the other potential downside to Rackham’s SPIN, it that it does completely overlook prospecting, and may be responsible for the almost naive notion that prospects are to be found everywhere, they just need to be sold. This as you highlight is far from true, too many sales people tell me that “just get me in front of the prospect and I can sell them”, not realizing that prospecting is part of selling; I have heard sales people say they don’t mind prospecting it just that it gets in the way of selling, go figure.

I always tell managers that every time they ask their reps “what are you going to close this week?”, they should also enquire as to what they will “open”.

It would be worth taking a read of Tony Johnston’s Cold Calling: Pain or Raw Business S&M? over at Biz Money Matters blog, for an interesting view on lead gen and prospecting.

Thanks,
Tibor

By: victor

victor — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:04:24 +0000

Great post. The harder skill to find is openers. I have had sales people good at one or the other and all ended up struggling. There needs to be a balance in order to be successful.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:02:16 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by iannarino: Are you a closer? Should you be an opener instead? http://bit.ly/8IoXv2 #sales #salestip…

By: bizsugar.com

bizsugar.com — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:26:37 +0000

Closer vs. Opener…

The second in a series ten posts on sales effectiveness describing the 10 essential attributes B2B sales reps must possess in order to succeed and the 10 opposing ideas that are also essential to success. This post focuses on Closer vs. Opener….