I love making deals.  I know that in my adult professional and personal lives, I find I have always been happiest when I incorporate a component of selling and/or negotiating into whatever I am doing.  My wife even jokes that we seem to get new cars not because we need a newer model – it’s because I need to find someone willing to negotiate a deal with me at the time.

I’m sure many of you who get our newsletter can identify.  Selling and dealmaking taps into a competitive side of us that both loves to win and hates to lose (I actually find that I am more motivated by my hate for the agony of defeat more than my love for the thrill of victory).  I also particularly enjoy the creative side of making deals. With a little bit of information gathering, probing and ingenuity, one can transform what seems to be a dead end or impasse into a mutually agreeable result.

Ah, the close….No matter how smart, creative, or competitive you are, you cannot make a deal without knowing how to effectively guide it to a conclusion.  And no matter how much you hope, it never just happens on it’s own.  Paperwork never gets signed, hands don’t get shaken, and your family doesn’t get the shiny new car unless you know how to take everything you have learned on your journey, clear away all obstacles and objections, stop talking and actually focus to get it done.  You cannot be a great dealmaker without being a closer.  From my experience, the best closers are honey badgers. The best closers always get the coffee.

By the way, I have found that you don’t necessarily have be in sales or love to make deals to be a good closer.  The people who get things done, no matter how much they have on their plates, are closers.  They don’t complain or make it someone else’s problem.  They don’t convince themselves that things will work themselves out.  Closers set a goal, chart their course to complete it, focus on doing the work and they get the job done. Quite simply, they close.

So when you find yourself with a lot of stuff on your plate, don’t get overwhelmed.  Just remind yourself that coffee is for closers.  And when you are done, reward yourself with pat on the back and a trip to Starbucks (I’ve been finding myself going there a lot lately).  Just don’t ever get the unicorn frappuccino….trust me, it’s disgusting.