Closing: 5 Sales Skills for Achieving Win-Win Outcomes

What differentiates top sales professionals from average sales professionals? Experienced sales coaches Craig Christensen, Sean Frontz, and Dennis Susa suggest that it is the intent to help clients succeed coupled with an ability to enable clients to make good decisions. By applying a key mindset and five essential skills to the closing process, salespeople at any level can learn how to increase their win rate more frequently and predictably.

About the Authors

A committed long-distance runner and father of six, Craig Christensen knows all about endurance. Since earning his M.B.A. at Harvard, Craig’s career has included previous responsibilities as a Wall Street banker, commercial developer, and leading organizational consultant. He is a cofounder of Ninety Five 5—a sales transformation practice on the “Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America” list—which was acquired by FranklinCovey in 2013. He is now Global Practice Leader of FranklinCovey’s Sales Performance Practice. Craig helps clients succeed by winning more profitable business, combining the best of leadership development, behavior change, and sales management into measurable results.

Sean Frontz has taught leaders and managers worldwide in the principles of effectiveness since earning his master’s degree in psychology from Loyola University in 1996. Over the past seven years, he has specialized in understanding what makes the best salespeople the best. As a Senior Consultant in FranklinCovey’s Sales Performance Practice, Sean has helped design practical tools and pragmatic systems that both sales professionals and leaders use to increase their sales performance. Father to five children, Sean lives in Charleston, South Carolina, where his family enjoys boating and outdoor activities.

Dennis Susa has played nearly every role in the areas of sales, consulting, and field marketing. A writer, outdoorsman, amateur archeologist, and married father of three boys, his personal interests are as wide-ranging as his professional background. He earned a B.A. at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Prior to joining FranklinCovey’s Sales Performance Practice, Dennis held a number of sales leadership positions for over two decades with IBM and Microsoft. Today, having developed and delivered sales transformation programs across a wide spectrum of enterprises and industries, Dennis’s core expertise is building, coaching, and managing sales and consulting teams in complex selling situations.