Hello Pavemanpro’s! I trust you all had a pleasant and relaxing holiday. I wanted to respond to an email i received dealing with a sales rep. that is having difficulty in “closing the sale.” Well, Today modern psychology teaches us that it really takes courage to close the sale. We all have, to varying degrees, the need for ego protection and ego gratification. If your need for ego protection is greater than your need for ego gratification, you will find yourself avoiding asking for the order. Your fear of being turned down will hamper your sales effort. If you want the sale you MUST ask for it. did you know the letter “C” in the word CLOSE stands for confidence. Without the letter “C” the word would read “LOSE”. You must develop the confidence to ASK for the order. If you fail to ASK for the order after giving your sales presentation, then you have WASTED your time, your companies time, and your PROSPECTS time. I hope this will show you how to control your SALES EGO which all great salespeople have. Ask for the sale and move on. After you ask for the sale you have forced the prospect to make a decision. Now you will know where you stand on the bid. Yes or no, but, you now know where you stand so you can either modify your sales approach to him and modify your bid then and there to further your chances for success. I want to thank-you for the great question. Well Pavemanpro’s, will be writing again soon.