All posts by BreadFix Staff Member

Always be closing?

It’s a tense and iconic scene.

The lives of four deceptive Chicago real estate salesmen are thrown into chaos when sales manager Blake (Alec Baldwin), the literal angel of death, is sent in by his bosses, Mitch and Murray, to execute a special evening sales meeting, an intervention and final warning for the losers at Premiere Properties. Only Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) is lighting up the sales board because he’s the top closer (or is he?).

The entire meeting consists of the highly offensive Blake unleashing a torrent of abusive epithets and threats if the loser salesmen don’t start closing sales. When the laggards complain the leads are weak, he merely engages in more humiliation, name calling and threats. “The leads are weak? You’re weak!”

Weakness, and one’s innate ability to spot it and profit from it, is a major theme of the story.

The good leads, the Glengarry leads, like the office coffee, he coolly explains, are for closers. “Only one thing counts in this life! Get them to sign on the line which is dotted!” he says, and then follows with the existential credo, “A-B-C. A-Always. B-Be. C-Closing. Always be closing!”

If you’ve ever had a sales job, you have undoubtedly had to endure some ham-handed, second-rate sales manager attempting to fire up the troops by quoting liberally from Baldwin’s scene-stealing oratory in Glengarry Glen Ross, but to address his assertion that you should always be closing, should you?

I maintain that a solid business developer should switch from an A-B-C mindset to an N-B-C mindset: N-B-C.

N-Never.  B-Be.  C-Closing.  Never be closing!

“Wait, how can I get sales if I don’t close?” you may ask.

If you’ve researched your chosen niche, and if you’ve qualified your prospect who resides in the niche, if you ask powerful questions that elicit heartfelt answers about their wants and needs, and if you create small agreements along the way as you travel down the initial path of relationship building, if you did all that correctly, then you will never have to close. 

Easy, right?

No.

Deception has no place in coaching.

Manipulation has no place in coaching. 

Why is Ricky Roma the top closer at Premiere Properties? Because he isn’t closing at all. Roma is a predator. He sizes up a room and then stalks the weakest mark. Closing techniques.? Leave them for the losers.

Look at what he did with prospect/prey James Lingk (actor Jonathan Pryce).

Roma harnesses the power of his own preternatural instincts to snare his prey, who reveals his weakness, a deep seated inferiority complex. And then Roma pounces so smoothly that Lingk never saw him coming.  Roma exploited the man’s insecurities, and got him to sign on the line which is dotted.

Every scene between Roma and Lingk is a masterclass in deception and predatory behavior (and acting). I won’t say anything more about this multi-award-winning David Mamet stage play-turned-film, because I would spoil the joy of seeing it for yourself, and if you haven’t, rent it immediately. Glengarry Glen Ross... | Blended coffee, Coffee humor, Art pictures

Like Roma, a great coach understands how to find what makes their clients tick, but in an honest and caring way. She makes it her business to know what gets them out of bed in the morning, what makes them want to repeatedly face the world’s challenges every day. But a strong coach, it should go without saying, is never digging deep just to get a sale.

Deception has no place in coaching. Manipulation has no place in coaching. 

Genuinely wanting to help someone get to a better place is the only goal of establishing a professional coaching relationship. Money coaching is a world where sales manipulations and closing techniques will out your prospective coach as just another charlatan, someone just in it for the money. 

So, some tips to my professional coaching colleagues:

Never be closing.

Always be caring.

Always be listening.

Always be asking powerful questions.

Always be the person who can help your client change their future.

 

28Aug/21

Retirement Downsizing: Myths, Rules of Thumb, Common Sense and Financial Planning

Money Skills, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

One of the biggest myths around is that you will be spending less money after you retire. Sure, it’s possible, but think about it. Your income will likely be lower and pricesRead More…

What is a Money Coach?

Money coaches are not investment brokers, but they could be!

Money coaches are not financial planners, but they could be!

Money coaches are not necessarily already in the financial services business, but they could be!

So what the heck is a money coach?

Before we seek a definition, let’s first contemplate the human condition for a moment, and consider what people really want in terms of a happy life.  

We know that money doesn’t equal happiness, but when we think about money, we generally want to know a few things: how can I make more, how can I keep from losing it, how can I be a better investor, and how can I best manage my life, financial and otherwise, so that my family and I can live a healthy, worry-free life.

Face it, living life means learning how to deal with risk. Catastrophes and mistakes have a price tag. Everybody’s price tag is different. Most of us don’t sit around worrying about things like stock picking and market volatility. We think about what hazards might come our way that could make our lives more volatile. The health and safety of our spouses and children, losing our jobs, getting a serious illness, dying too soon, and yes, even living too long, all of it, costs money.

On top of all those things, add in the need to plan for a secure retirement, a plan to send the kids to college, a plan to insure the risks of getting sick, dying too soon and living too long, bulging credit card debt, not having enough cash to deal with an emergency, living within a budget…whew! Now that’s a pretty full plate.

And if that were not enough to make us cry uncle, we’re often fighting a war. With ourselves. That’s right, we all have the potential to be our own worst enemy. Low financial literacy, bad habits and wonky behavior will kill even the best laid plans. 

So, most people aren’t looking for a better stockbroker; they’re looking for help and guidance to better deal with both the risks and opportunities ahead, which means getting a better handle on their emotions, their behaviors, their money biases, their knowledge and their skill.

A money coach is less a teacher and mentor, and more a guide, helping his or her client find the answers within, and helping them move toward reaching their most significant goals in life, and then holding them accountable to achieving them.

That’s what a money coach is.

Never. Lose. Money.