☕Coffee Club for Closers

"Coffee is for closers."

If you haven’t seen Glengarry Glen Ross🎬, stop what you’re doing and watch it now.

Alec Baldwin’s epic rant? Iconic. But let’s skip the yelling and dive into the lesson: chatting isn’t enough—closing is the name of the game.

🎙️Tune In For Sales Gold!

This week on Sales Unplugged, Robert Lock dives into the art of the close—no fluff, just actionable strategies. Grab your headphones and prepare for some serious sales wisdom.

🎧 Watch the full interview now

💡Got your dose of Robert’s brilliance? 
Perfect—now let’s get back and tackle the rest of your sales glow-up.

❓️To the mailbag…

📩 Dear Elana and Ryan,

I have no problem getting prospects to like me.

We vibe, we connect, they nod enthusiastically—and then... nothing but crickets.

Whenever it’s time to shift into “Let’s make this official,” I panic, stall, or just awkwardly hope they bring it up first.

How do I get better at actually closing without feeling like I’m ruining the party?

Cherry L., Midwestern Business Development Representative.

Cherry, you’re onto something. 🍒

Some of us are great at connecting but not so hot at closing.🤝❌ It’s easy to understand why.

There’s little pressure involved in chatting up your local barista or server.

Likewise, it’s easy to be friendly and engaging when you’re shooting the s&^% with your neighbor.🏡

(Unless that neighbor happens to be Ned Flanders, Kimmy Kibbler, or Steve Urkel. 😄You’re welcome for all those 90s pop cultural references!🎧✨)

The real trick is to shift gears from connection to conversion. 🔄Luckily, you have your friendly (digital) neighbors to break this down.💼📈

🌟The Real Reason You’re Not Closing

First things first, your problem isn’t that you’re not good enough. Based on what you wrote, your prospects clearly like you and the value you bring. 

The real problem is this: somewhere along the line, “closing the deal” got lumped in with the equivalent of crossing “the friend zone.” 🤝➡️❌

You’ve convinced yourself inviting someone to work with you will change that vibe. 😬

But here’s the truth: Clarity is your friend. 🕶️✨

When a prospect walks away from an awesome conversation not knowing what’s next, they don’t think: Wow! That Cherry is so nice. I sure hope we can keep chatting like this forever.💭🤷‍♀️

More likely, they’re wondering: Will we work together? What are the next steps? And how come Cherry knows so many clever 90s references?😅🎤📺

Okay, maybe not that last one. 😉

The point is, they’re confused.😵‍💫 And confused people won’t close.🚪❌

At least not with you.🙅‍♀️

🤔From Charming to Converting

A mindset shift is needed here.💡

One trick Elana picked up early in her career is to stop viewing sales as the end of something. Closing needn’t mean ending the fun neighborly vibe you’ve cultivated with your prospect. 🤝✨

It’s extending it. ➡️

And I happen to concur with that viewpoint.🙌

“You’re not shutting a door.🚪❌ You’re opening one—to a future relationship.” 🌟To put it another way—all that good energy needn’t flip from fun to flat just because money is involved. 💸😌

The good times can keep right on rolling. 🎶 

Especially when you project confidence in both yourself💪and what you’re selling. Now let’s discuss three ways to leap from conversing to closing.

3 Tips to Close Without Cringing 🏆

Tip 1: Maintain Signal Alignment 📶

Keep the good vibes rolling with affirmations:

• “It sounds like we’re totally aligned on your goals.”

• “I love what you’re doing—this is the kind of work I get excited about.”

• “Already, I feel like there’s a good fit here.”

This type of level-setting signals you're about to move into next-steps mode without being too obvious about getting down to brass tacks. 

Tip 2: Offer a Path 🛤️

Ambiguity is no friend to a salesperson or their prospect. Both parties want to know where things are going. Eliminate guesswork by saying something like:

• “Want me to go through how I typically work with clients?”

• “If you’re open to it, I’d love to tell you about some next steps.”

• “Here’s how we could move forward.”

The key is you’re not selling—you’re inviting. And who doesn’t like to be invited to something?

Tip 3: Create the Container 📦

Once you have their mental buy-in, guide your prospect to action. Here’s where you can make the chat more concrete. Say something like:

• “I’ll send over a proposal, and we can discuss it afterwards.”

• “Would you like to get started with a [specific date or deliverable]?”

• “How about we look at times to kick off this week or next?”

Importantly, you’re not saying, “Can I please have your business?” You’re proceeding from confidence and familiarity, moving the ball down the field.

💎Your Sales Glow-Up

Talk about a strong close! Keep those burning sales questions coming—we’re here to help you sell smarter and glow brighter.

• Share this newsletter.

• Spread the love.

• Let’s keep growing and closing together.

THAT’S A WRAP

We’ll be back before you know it 😉

To your sales success, 🚀

-Elana & Ryan
Find Elana On LinkedIn 
Find Ryan On LinkedIn

P.S. Don’t ghost us — vote below or drop a quick reply. We really wanna know!

Ways we can work together…

1. Get to know Elana and Ryan. We even made a silly video for you a few months ago.

2. We not only teach recruiting, we also fancy ourselves as the best sales recruiting firm on the planet (we joke a lot, but not about Talent Harbor).

We also believe that 30% commission is ransom, not recruiting. So if you’d like to learn more (or just trade sea stories), here’s a link directly to my calendar.

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