IME the key to closing a sale is to open it in a way that makes the buyer comfortable saying no. If you get them to commit up front to the idea that no is accep

IME the key to closing a sale is to open it in a way that makes the buyer comfortable saying no. If you get them to commit up front to the idea that no is acceptable, even desirable, and that "maybe" is a waste of time (and really just a polite way of saying "no"), the "yes" will be obvious. Example: [At beginning of sales meeting] "I'm going to show you my product and I hope it's a good fit for you. But our product isn't a fit for everyone. So, if you decide that we are not a good fit, are you comfortable telling me no?" [At end of meeting] "Now that you've seen my product, on a scale of 1-10 how good a fit do you think we are?" If it's less than a 7, you can either explore their problem more deeply and see if there's something you missed, or just say: "So it sounds like that's a no. Am I right? I know we're not a fit for everyone, so it's okay if the answer is no." I learned this (and a lot of other stuff) via Sandler Sales Institute several years ago and have found it's very effective in all kinds of situations, not just sales. It's easy to hate on sales as being full of manipulative, pushy people. But there are good, authentic techniques that work better than just showing up and giving a demo.