This article, written by Napoleon Hill in the 1930s, focuses on the crucial problem of determining the right moment to close. Hill’s suggestions include using all your senses to “test the waters” and close a minimum of one prospect in five. To develop your best moment to close, read on.

Much has been said about closing sales at the psychological moment, but experience has shown that the majority of salespeople do not know when the psychological moment is. The psychological moment is the time when the salesperson feels that the prospect is ready to close. There is such a moment in every sale, whether it be consummated or not.

One of the major differences between a professional salesperson and a mediocre one is the professional salesperson’s ability to sense what is in the prospect’s mind, aside from what the buyer has expressed in actual words. When you sense the psychological moment for closing, name the amount involved in the purchase and proceed to close the transaction right then. A delay of a few minutes – and often even a few seconds – may give the prospect a chance to change his or her mind. If you find that you have misjudged the psychological moment, go back over your sales presentation again, bringing in new closing arguments that you have saved for just such an emergency. You will need quite a stock of emergency arguments if you are to be placed in the category of professional salesperson.

No professional salesperson ever uses all his or her trump cards unless forced to do so, and even then not all at one time. The professional holds some back in case a secondary sales presentation is necessary to get the order.

There are times when the closing moment is obvious, judging by either the prospect’s statements or facial expression. But the salesperson whose mind is negative or who is lacking in self-confidence often misses the feel of the psychological moment for closing, mistaking his or her own state of mind for that of the prospect.

On the other hand, this principle works in another way that is very advantageous to the salesperson: the prospective buyer often mistakes for his or her own the salesperson’s positive mind, self-confidence, and assurance of a willingness to buy, and the prospect acts accordingly if the salesperson insists upon closing the sale. If a salesperson can transmit a negative thought to the prospective buyer (which can and will happen if the salesperson is not a professional), then a positive thought can also be transmitted.

Eagerness to close a sale hurriedly, if observed by the prospective buyer, is generally fatal, because it is always accompanied by a lack of confidence on the part of the salesperson, who transmits the thought to the mind of the prospect. In fact, the salesperson may have already disclosed his or her state of mind by words and facial expression.

If the prospect gets the impression (no matter how) that the salesperson is eager to make a sale because he or she needs the profit from the sale, the chance of making the sale is usually spoiled. A salesperson who carries an air of prosperity and nonchalance, which reflects itself in his or her personal appearance and tone of voice, is usually a successful closer.

A professional salesperson seldom asks the prospect if he or she is ready to close. The salesperson goes right ahead and at the psychological moment makes out the order, conducting him- or herself in every way as if the question of the sale were settled. Asking prospects if they are ready to close is the equivalent of expressing doubt that they are. But making out the order and handing it to the prospective buyer leaves no doubt as to the salesperson’s state of mind on this subject. The buyer usually acts favorably upon such a positive suggestion, provided that the sales presentation has been properly made and the desire to buy has been planted in the prospect’s mind.

Remember that a salesperson first closes a sale in his or her own mind. The whole world stands aside and makes room for the professional salespeople who know exactly what they want and have made up their minds to have just that. Let a person hesitate and by that hesitation express lack of confidence, and the crowd will walk all over that salesperson’s toes. When the closing time comes, the doubters may as well not ask for the order; they are almost certain to meet with refusal. This is the way the human mind works!

While working for Brown-Russell Pontiac, I made the cardinal sin that most salespeople make: late one afternoon, just before closing time (the five o’clock variety), a young couple walked into the salesroom and told me that they were interested in a car. Knowing that it was my turn to wait on the next customer, and since I had already prejudged them as owing more money on their old car than it would bring, I hurriedly excused myself in order to catch the next customer. Did they buy? Not only one but two cars! I later learned that her dad was a banker, and he had promised them a new car for Christmas. Her car was paid for, so the salesperson quickly suggested they buy two cars. This settled the matter. Never again was I to prejudge a prospect.

Some time ago, I sent out word to several real estate agents that I was in the market for property in the country and described in detail the sort of place I wanted. Salespeople came by the score. That they were all hungry for business was plainly indicated by their eagerness to “put me on the spot.”

I said that scores of “salespeople” came. Perhaps it would be more in keeping with the facts if I said that a salesperson came, for out of the entire lot there was but one who understood the psychology of closing. Most of them described their property by showing me maps and the like. Some of them handed me printed literature and asked me to look it over and let them know when I was ready to see the property. How did they know I was not then ready? Not one of them had the initiative to invite me out to see their property, with the exception of the one salesperson who came.

This man said, “We have just the place your letter described. We have been holding it for you a long time [winking to show that he was taking a slight liberty with my credulity]. Jump in my car and we will run out and see your property. If it is not exactly what you want, I will buy you the best dinner upon return. When you see this place,” he continued, “you will look no further. I am sure it is just what you want.”

By that time I had begun to believe he knew what I wanted. He had caused me to do something I had not intended to do, namely, to inspect the property that day. His whole demeanor was so positive and assured that I found myself in his car before I had a chance to think of a good reason not to go. If he had hesitated in his approach, I could have put him off until the following day, but it was his business to strike while the iron was hot, so I was on my way in less time than it takes to tell the story.

On the way, this salesperson described the place so accurately and pleasingly that I almost felt myself the owner of it before I had seen it. Frankly, I would have been greatly disappointed to find anything wrong with it, because the salesperson had planted the seed of desire in my mind so deeply that I was like putty in his hands.

The salesperson took a contract with him and got my name on the dotted line before we left the property. It was one of the smoothest pieces of salesmanship I have ever observed. The moment this salesperson sensed that I was ready to sign, he took out his contract and handed it to me with his pen. Seeing that I had nothing on which to rest the contract while signing, he rushed to his car and pulled out a briefcase, saying, “Here, use this for a table, general!”

Now, I am not a general, but the title was slipped to me so unobtrusively that I did not resent it. And I signed! This salesperson handed me no literature to read over. He handed me the property instead. Professional salespeople always do something like that.

Some of the other “salespeople” still send me printed literature through the mail. Now, if a country place was ever sold by printed literature alone, I should like to hear about it. The salesperson who turned the trick must have been a miracle worker.

A few days ago, one of these “salespeople” came in to see me. He wanted to know if I had made up my mind about that country place I was looking for some time ago.

“Bless your life, yes,” I replied. “Perhaps I should say, however, that I did not make up my mind to buy it. A very able salesperson made it up for me the same day that you first came to see me and made the sale that very day.”

“That’s too bad!” the “salesperson” exclaimed.

“No,” I replied, “it is only one bad. It may be bad for you, but it was fine for me, because I got just the place I was looking for.”

With a look on his face that indicated his vague suspicion that I might be kidding him, this dilatory “salesperson” turned and walked away without saying good-bye. He was obviously disgusted at my sense of humor or my credulity in buying a place the first time I saw it.

You cannot tell how far a frog can jump by counting the warts on his back. No more can you tell by merely looking at a prospect whether you can sell that person your product. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt, and give every prospect the works before registering a no sale in your own mind. It is the safest plan!

I once trained a sales army of 2,500 men and women for a Dallas firm. Efficiency had to be the watchword. We inaugurated a system from which I learned much about the possibilities of persistence! Before any salesperson was permitted to become permanently allied with the organization, it was necessary for each one to sell one out of the first five prospective buyers called upon. The instructions were to stick to these five prospects until a sale had been made.

I recall that one salesperson called on one of his prospects 18 times before he made a sale. The prospect succumbed on the eighteenth visit and made a purchase out of self-defense. In the group of 2,500 salespeople, only 113 failed to qualify for permanent positions, because they could not make a sale to the first five prospects called on. We taught these people that “no” seldom need be taken seriously. Moreover, we proved it!

It was also apparent that confidence must be manifested by the salesperson, as well as by the prospect, before a sale can be effected. To make sure that our salespeople acquired confidence, we resorted to a very unique plan at the outset, that of setting up dummy offices, maintained by the company and managed by company employees. When we felt sure that a green salesperson lacked only the quality of confidence in him- or herself, we included in the list of the first five prospects the name of one of these dummy managers, who was instructed to give the salesperson a hard battle but to let him or her win by making a sale. These sales went through and commissions were paid on them. The effect was astounding, especially in the cases of salespeople who had never tried to sell before.

We usually had the salesperson call on the dummy buyer last, after the four legitimate prospects had been called on. We found, too, by experimenting, that after making the sale to the dummy, the effect was so encouraging that we could then send the salesperson back over the list of the four who had not been sold, with the result that, in some instances, all four of them were sold, despite the fact that the salesperson had previously failed.

From this experimentation, we discovered that the salesperson’s state of mind has more to do with determining whether a sale is made than the state of mind of the prospective buyer. It is an important discovery, as true today as when it was made.

When do you close, at the start, in the middle, or at the finish? All three are right, for the close should be a smooth, uninterrupted sequence, chosen by the prospect by giving you buying signals.

Were I asked to give a summation to these varied and often detailed examinations of the subject of selling, I believe I could do it in one word. There is a word that should stand out upon the horizon of every salesperson’s vision, like Mars blazing at eventide…always there to be seen, challenging, beckoning, urging, inspiring, commanding. The word denotes that thing which dominates all great and able salespeople everywhere, and it is a word that Edward Bok declared was the greatest in the English language. It is service.

If you are successful, remember that somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a lift or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.