This is NOT the Way You Close a Deal

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Sometimes intelligent people surprise me with their lack of business acumen, marketing savvy and just even common sense. A Pastor friend of mine had been in dialogue with a service provider who came highly recommended to him. According to his sources, this business owner went to an Ivy League school and was running a service business helping Pastors with their message research. Negotiations were going well until my friend received the following text message:


First I thought it was a joke, but he assured me this was for real. He didn’t know what to say in reply but he knew he was not going to do business with the man for sure– Ivy League pedigree or not.

Incensed, I helped craft the following reply:


Am I overly sensitive or is this one of the worst attempts at closing a deal you’ve ever seen?

  • Wow. sounds like he needs to learn from the Best Brazilian Businessman I know. If I were you I would call the ivy leager and close a deal on you coaching him to have a little business common sense.How would you have addressed the client?

  • Guy,I would've sent him a text that said "I hope you're well. Do you have any questions on the proposal? When can we connect and talk through it?" Again, guilt and pressure doesn't even work with your children, much less potential new clients.

  • Jan

    It's a)rude and b)manipulative. The language is offensive as well. It's a huge turn off. What happened to sincerity and being polite?

  • His business is probably booming, and he probably needs to gauge who is being nice and who is serious, but this is a conversation best had on the phone or face-to-face – not in a text message.Maurilio, I think your reply exacerbated his situation. You didn't close, which was what he was looking for. I would have matched his "enthusiasm" and let him know that no matter where you were before this message, he just lost the business because of the tone and delivery method of the message.

  • Officially, "Chirp. Chirp."Really horrible PR skills. This man comes off very cocky in this message. AND he's marketing his skills to pastors.Hard to believe that someone would try to 'close a deal' with a pastor this way, let alone anyone else."Maurilio, I don't need your business. You need me. I don't want your business (obviously). I would be a huge gift to your business. You are losing out on the GREATEST opportunity ever. I don't care. I'm swamped anyway. Oh and please call my bluff, I NEED to get some money soon. I can't seem to keep my current clients. Don't know why."Chirp. Chirp.Thank you for sharing this. Sure seems like the Golden Rule applies in ALL situations for business.Jeff (theCRICKETtoy®) Anderson

  • It reminds me of the movie we saw at New Years – "Up in The Air" Remember the highly skilled young lady in the movie wanted to do things that needed a personal touch, using a form of social media – didn't go so well for her. Remember her boy friend broke up with her using a text, she quit using a text and the termination they did via computer was a miserable failure.I communicate with my clients through social media, e-mail, text – but always with the same professional speak I would use in person. This guy could use a good marketing person – are you for real and available…we don't want to cause him hassle.

  • I may have added one more line to my reply. "From the tone of your reply, it is clear that you don't need my business."

  • Um – WOW. WOW. WOW.My thought – this guy didn't want your friend as a client. There is no way in heck I would ever speak to a prospect in that manner!!!!In fact, we have one right now who received our proposal in early October for the entire year of 2010. They have yet to make a decision. She prefers email communication because of the odd hours she works. So my latest follow up was to congratulate her on their busy holiday season (her excuse for not contacting earlier) and simply asked if we were still being considered for the project and if there were any questions we could address.I really don't see how successful professionals could do it with less respect – just appalls me!

  • Scott and John I had to delete my first reply to this guy because it was coming from my pastor friend's phone. I was not going to be as polite with my response; I had very colorful language in my original reply attempt.

  • You did the right thing.

  • Nice content. Thank you for your information.

  • I find it amazing that you always find the time to write about things like this. I like your blog, so I hope that my post will inspire you to post some more good things!

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