How many times has somebody been selling to you, and you're ready to go, ready to buy, you may even have your wallet in your hand, but the salesperson doesn't ask you for the business. So they leave your office without the sale. If only they would have asked, you would have bought. But they didn't. So you didn't.

We don't ask for the business regularly for the same reasons we don't pick up the phone: fear.

We don't want to be rejected.

And we don't want to offend.

But now that you know how good you are and how happy your customers are, and now that you understand the incredibly important role of confidence and boldness and optimism, it's time to start asking for the business every time you talk to somebody.

I'm asking you to pivot to the sale with every customer and prospect you talk to—even those who call in to place an order. Whether you call them or they call you, pivot to the sale.

The customer is spending time on the phone with you. They're interested in buying from you. You're interested in selling to them.

Ask for the business.

The worst that can happen is that they say no, and you're precisely where you were when you started the conversation. Nothing got worse.

There are two categories of pivots to the sale:

1. If you are talking to a customer or prospect about purchasing a new product or service, ask for the business.
2. If you have a longer sales cycle, or you feel the customer is truly not yet ready to buy, then pivot not to the business, but to the next commitment. The next phone call, or the next meeting or the next communication. Agree on the date and time that it will happen.

Here is the language.

But if the customer is not yet ready to buy, you can pivot to the next commitment instead of the sale. This should probably always include a date and time.

That's 30 closing questions and seven pivots to the next commitment, all supplied by my clients when we do this exercise in client workshops. I go around the entire room and everybody contributes a closing question. So all of the preceding pivots came from salespeople like you. Also: my clients have successfully implemented these pivots. Which means they are used and we know they work.

Don't use them all.

Pick your favorite few.

Or create your own.

Then, go to your weekly “One‐Page Sales Planner” and write out (or type out, if you're doing it digitally) your favorite pivot questions.

This way, they are in front of you.

Use them throughout your week.

Try them, test them, edit them. Make them comfortable for you.

Keep the ones that work, and ask them frequently.

If you have pivots on your planner that don't work, get them out, and replace them. Or not.

Focus on what's comfortable for you.