The secret of “closing” when you’re raising money.

Raising money is very similar to selling . . . anything.  That’s why I recommend you become a master salesperson if you want to become a money raising superstar and fund all your shows with ease.

Recently, a consulting client of mine who I’m helping raise $2mm asked me if there was a trick or two that he could use when he was going in for the kill close to make his potential investors write the check.

The answer is . . . no.

There’s no magic bullet phrase or text that will hypnotize your investing lead into saying yes, just like there was no magic way of getting a certain popular girl to go to the Prom with me in 1989.

But, if I was nice to her for months, helped with her homework, etc. she’d be much more likely to say yes when I actually got the nerve up to ask.

The close is the culmination of all your hard work.  And if you do everything before it right, it will be the easiest part.

Consider this quote from Charles Mears and his classic book Salesmanship For the New Era.

Nothing in this world is a detached phenomenon. Everything in this world is the result of some precedent causes. Therefore, if a salesman has done his work well, adequately building up in the mind of the prospect that desire which should normally culminate in a sale, the actual work of closing, far from being difficult, should be the easiest part of the whole procedure, as plucking ripe apples is the easiest part of fruit growing. Making a sale is not a trick that causes the prospect suddenly to reach one big decision to buy. Rather, it is a series of small decisions, just as climbing a flight of steps isn’t one jump from the bottom to top but a succession of easy steps.

So during your raise, don’t focus on the close, focus on everything that comes before.  And then you can focus on cashing all those checks.

If you want more tips like this on how to raise money, click here.

 

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