Sales 101 Textbook
Learn how a sale actually works, then learn how to find out what is true about your own. A complete sales conversation, from booking to the day after the yes, plus the audit that tells you which part of it is costing you money. No borrowed statistics, on purpose.
No industry close rate. No talk-to-listen ratio. No touch count. Part 16 explains why, and Part 2 gives you the method for producing your own.
20 parts plus the quote chapter. 40+ scripts. 18 worksheets you fill in.
Read it cover to cover once. Then run the 5-day sprint in Part 12 with the book open next to your phone.
PART 1The Ask Is The Sale
Split any sales call down the middle. The first half is questions. Nobody says no to a question, so you can practise every word of it alone, in the car, at no risk. Everybody does.
The second half is asking. The price, the next step, "does Thursday at 10 work?" Every part of it can be refused, out loud, to your face. You cannot practise that alone, because it needs somebody who might say no. So it is the half almost nobody rehearses.
And it is where the decision gets made. Chapter 1 gives you the sentence for it:
"Here's what I'd suggest as the next step. [SPECIFIC THING], [DAY] at [TIME]. Does that work?"
3 requirements, and all 3 are load-bearing. A specific thing, not "I'll follow up." A day and a time, not "next week." A question at the end, so they answer out loud. Drop one and you have not proposed a next step. You have made a noise that sounds like one.
Before you use it, chapter 1 has you count your last 10 calls, write down your guess first, and find the gap. That count is your baseline. Then you run the sentence on your next 5 calls and compare.
What you will notice on the first call
- It will feel pushy and it will not sound pushy. Listen back to one recording. The gap between those two is the whole reason this sentence goes missing.
- They answer out loud, and the answer is information. A yes is a commitment with a date on it. A no is a real answer you can act on. A hedge tells you which objection you never surfaced.
- You get clearer noes. A clean no today beats a maybe you chase for 3 weeks.
PART 5The 5-Stage Close
The book's hypothesis is simple, and it is stated so you can test it: your first half is probably fine, your ending probably is not, and improving the first half will not fix the ending. Part 2 shows you how to check that against 20 of your own calls. If your calls disagree, the book tells you to believe your calls.
Stage 1: OPEN. Say out loud how the call is going to end, in minute 1. And ask who else has a say, before it becomes an objection at the end.
Stage 2: DIAGNOSE. 6 questions, in order. Situation, history, attempts, cost, trajectory, solved. Budget and timing asked here, before any price. Write down the answer to the last one word for word, because you are going to quote it back.
Stage 3: PRESENT. Play it back first and wait for "that's right." Then recommend 3 items at most. Then the price, once, flat, with nothing after it.
Stage 4: CLOSE. 2 beats, and owners do the first. Surface the doubt with "what's the biggest hesitation you've got right now?" Handle it. Then propose the step. This is the stage you have had the least practice at, so it gets its own part.
Stage 5: FOLLOW. Ask how it will happen, get the same agreement 3 ways, let them write the date, and reinforce the decision the same day. Then 4 messages whose only job is protecting the step you agreed.
PART 9Sample: 2 Objection Responses
Part 9 covers 8 responses to the objections most service businesses hear, and every one of them ends in an ask, because an objection answered into silence is a deal you argued your way out of. Part 11 has the log that tells you which 3 or 4 of the 8 you actually get. Here are 2 in full.
Why it works: "Let me think about it" is rarely about thinking. It is usually one specific thing they have not said. Naming the 3 usual candidates makes it easy for them to pick one. Handle what they name, then ask again.
Why it works: It turns a feeling into a number you can work with. If they name a figure, you have a real comparison. If they do not, it was a reaction rather than an objection. Never discount on the first flinch.
BONUS10 Call-Review Prompts For An AI Assistant
10 copy-paste prompts that review your calls against the book, in any AI chat assistant. They ship in the worksheets. 3 previewed below. Remove customer names and numbers from any transcript first.
The other 7 (play-back builder, what is under the objection, the cold quote, discovery check, scorecard, talking after the ask, why people buy) ship in the worksheets.
PART 14Metrics That Matter
One sheet, every Friday, 10 minutes. And no targets from the book: your first 30 days is your baseline, and that is your benchmark.
The textbook gives you the definition and the diagnostic for each number, and the arithmetic in Part 13 to put a dollar figure on the asks you are not making. It does not give you an industry benchmark for any of them. A number from somebody else's business cannot tell you what to change in yours.
3 of the 9 Common Mistakes
"I'll send something over." A good call with no date in it. It feels generous and it avoids a no. The fix: nothing gets sent without a date attached. The sending is not the step. The Thursday is.
Meeting the second decision-maker at the end. "I'll run it past my partner." "Sure, let me know." The fix: ask who decides at booking and in the first 2 minutes, and if they are not there, get 15 minutes with you both.
Counting a yes as a commitment. A full calendar of booked steps and a lot of no-shows. The fix: ask how it will happen, get the same agreement 3 ways, and let them write the date.
Do This Today
On your next sales call, change the ending and nothing else. Before you hang up, say a specific next step with a day and a time in it, and end on a question. Then stop talking and count to 10.
Run it on 5 calls this week. Write down what happens. Then come back for the rest of the book.
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