1 Unassuming Strategy to Close More Deals

👋 Happy New Year CREW! Let’s dive in! 🚀

1 Unassuming Strategy to Close More Deals

(And Do the Right Thing)

Most sales advice focuses on closing tactics, negotiation tricks, or pipeline hacks.

Here's something simpler that actually works: be honest about what won't work for them.

I’ve seen this work on a personal level. But it’s also data-backed.

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that companies prioritizing honesty see a 20% increase in retention. AND, 81% of buyers say trusting a brand to do what is right plays a big part in their purchase decision.

It’s pretty straightforward. During sales conversations, actively point out something that goes against your immediate interests. This builds trust, does the right thing, and positions your actual recommendation as genuinely fit-for-purpose.

📦 Real World Example

A guy on our team was speaking to a well-known SaaS company about a performance-focused campaign across 2-3 media properties. Three potential properties were mentioned and genuinely good fits. The biggest one, although an okay fit, we knew wouldn't hit their KPIs.

So he led the proposal with: "I won't be including XYZ in this proposal, as I don't think it can hit your goals."

This isn't just correct, it primes the following proposal as something we absolutely know should perform. It's not a silver bullet, but it for sure helps deals close.

🎯 The Single-Property Version

If you don't have multiple media properties, apply the same principle to ad formats or timing.

"December hasn't delivered the best performance for our B2B SaaS partners, so I'd suggest looking at January onwards."

Small, true, effective.

It helps if the thing you're discouraging them from buying isn't the cheapest option, otherwise this may backfire. You want to demonstrate you're turning down revenue because it's the right call.

⏰ Another Ad Sales (ish) Example

From running Ad Sales as a Service, our agency. We discovered our services are only properly valuable for creators and businesses doing at least $10k/month in direct ads already, with inventory to scale to $20k+ easily.

While we could accept smaller clients and take the short-term revenue, it's better for everyone to politely tell them they're too early.

When I've done this, if the newsletter or podcast has grown enough, restarting the sales conversation happens from a place of real honesty. And they’re often a done deal.

The key is it needs to be genuine. Buyers can smell manufactured objection handling from a mile away. This only works if you're actually turning down revenue because it's not the right fit. For example.

Most ad salespeople worry that steering clients away from options will kill deals. When you demonstrate you care more about their success than your target CPMs. You've stopped being a vendor and become a trusted advisor.

P.S. Need help selling more sponsorships? My agency Ad Sales as a Service helps media companies do just that.