Who Closes The Sale?

Jim Fariss was the name I chose for the lead character in my book, The Unexpected Tour Guide.

Jim Fariss was also the name of my stepfather.

Jim was a good man with a great sense of humor.  I can still remember the sound of his laugh and the sound of his sneeze. Both were quite loud and if you were caught off guard could scare the living daylights out of you!

I loved to listen to the banter between Jim and my mother.  He would keep a straight face while telling some story as if it were true, and my mother would get pulled into the joke like a fish on a hook.  I do that quite often myself.  I think I learned it from Jim.

Jim had an old antique plow that hadn’t been used in decades – and would never be used again.  My mother hated that plow and asked Jim many times to get rid of it.  Jim smiled and said, “No.  I kind of like the way it looks right there.”

A friend of Jim’s was visiting once and had interest in the plow.  He asked Jim, “How much would you take for that plow?”

My mother overheard the conversation and immediately got excited about the prospect.

Jim replied, “Well Bill, that plow is not for sale.”  Then he looked at my mother out of the corner of his eye, smiled and said, “But if you can replace it with something that would look similar, and take up about the same amount of space – I would trade you for it.”

My mother threw a towel and hit Jim!

Jim looked at Bill and said, “Sold.”

“closing the sale is a collaborative effort between all stakeholders”

 

Who actually closes the sale?  In the case of Jim’s plow – my mother closed the sale, I suppose.

However, in the sales process, who really closes the sale?

The answer to that question is that the sales person leads the closing process – but when it is done properly closing the sale is a collaborative effort between all stakeholders.

We will talk about that process as this week progresses.

In the meantime, is anyone interested in buying an old plow?

QUESTION:

What is your favorite story of closing a sale?