The Hard Close: How to Destroy a Sale in 20 Minutes
A few weeks ago, I happened upon an Instagram post that resonated with me.
I signed up for the webinar.
Honestly? It was a bit over the top. The offering seemed to fit a problem I was trying to solve, but the personality of the webinar didn’t align with the post that got me there. It was part directive, part cheerleader.
Perhaps I’ve spent too much of my life in Europe, but too much hype and my brain immediately goes: fake, fake, fake.
Still, I continued on the journey and booked a 1:1 appointment.
The appointment was with an entirely different personality: a woman 10–20 years my senior, based in the Netherlands, with what appeared to be a strong background in coaching.
The conversation was insightful. Occasionally the feedback was a little too neat, like an AI-generated LinkedIn message: “I saw the triangle on your website. Very introspective.”
Great. You took five seconds to glance at my site. Should I be flattered?
Nevertheless, by the end of the conversation, I was interested.
The question was cost.
Then came the manipulation
A small piece of advice: if someone has a certificate in Negotiation Mastery from Harvard Business School and you claim to have studied their profile, perhaps don't try to manipulate them on pricing.
I was presented with a five-figure programme, immediately discounted to four figures if I signed that day.
That alone wasn't going to work.
I've spent a couple of decades around enterprise sales and marketing. Whatever the product, whatever the price, I'm going to compare it with alternatives before making a significant purchase.
But this is where the sales process really fell apart.
For the next 20 minutes or so, I found myself trapped in variations of:
“You said you wanted X. We have X. Why aren't you committing?”
“What happens if you don't solve this?”
“You're going back on what you said you wanted.”
There was absolutely nothing this person could have said at that point that would have made me commit on the spot.
But she persisted.
And then became increasingly disrespectful and, frankly, desperate.
Something interesting happened.
I stopped being the prospect.
My sales brain took over and I started analysing the process playing out in front of me.
This was a programme aimed at women entrepreneurs, and I remember thinking: Please don't tell me this is what you're teaching women to do.
Then, just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it did.
“Do you want to pull up your finances and I can help you see how you can make this investment work?”
By the way, the call was being recorded.
You might imagine alarm bells were going off in my head. Mostly, I was thinking: This sales process is dire.
Think about the journey.
Marketing got my attention.
The webinar created some hesitation, but enough interest remained for me to book a call.
The person on the call rebuilt that interest.
The service appeared relevant.
And then, in a matter of minutes, the closing process drained every bit of goodwill out of the experience.
That is extraordinary value destruction.
Maybe this is why I've never thought of myself as a “salesperson”
I identify problems and solve for them.
And now, in the middle of someone else's sales process, my brain no longer cared about what she was selling. I was wondering what kind of pressure she was under that made her believe this was the way to close a deal.
Eventually, I interrupted.
I concisely explained that if she were my client, I could tell her exactly where the sales process had broken.
She gave up and asked to book a follow-up.
I disconnected, disappointed.
Then curiosity got the better of me.
I did some more research into the programme.
Reddit came through.
There I found someone describing almost exactly the experience I'd just had.
So it wasn't a one-off.
Then it got stranger
While I was away with my son, I received an email apologising for the call.
The explanation was that there had been some issues within the team.
But then the email mentioned something else.
They had seen a comment on Reddit describing a similar experience and wondered whether it was me.
It was.
At that point, my decision was easy.
In the end, I'm glad they played the aggressive sales card because it saved me from spending the money.
But that's not really why I'm writing this.
Your sales process is part of your customer experience
I've spent enough time in enterprise sales to hear clients complain about companies I've worked for, competitors, vendors and partners.
And one lesson keeps repeating:
People will walk away even when your service is right.
They will walk away when the price is right.
They will walk away knowing that finding an alternative will take more time.
Because the way you sell is evidence of what it will be like to work with you.
Break trust during the sales process and you've introduced doubt about the entire relationship.
Worse, sometimes the hard close actually works.
You get the signature.
But now you've created a customer who enters the relationship feeling pressured rather than confident. They're more sceptical. Less trusting. More demanding. Your team spends more time reassuring them and defending decisions.
And when the initial SOW ends, why would they expand the relationship?
That's the problem with measuring sales effectiveness by whether somebody signed and how quickly.
A signature isn't necessarily evidence of a good sales process.
Consultative salespeople are a superpower. They diagnose. They challenge. They create clarity. They help someone make a good decision, including occasionally deciding not to buy.
Manipulative salespeople optimise for the transaction.
They're short-term, coin-operated sales machines.
And eventually, the customer can tell the difference.
Wondering where your sales process is creating friction instead of confidence?
I help teams find the moments that cost them customers, and fix them.
