Always Be Closing

My son leaned over to me and whispered, “Always Be Closing, Dad.”

I laughed and said, “Coffee is for closers.”  But I couldn’t have been more proud of the boy.

We were selling my book Fried Chicken & Wine for Cover to Cover Books at the Holiday Bazaar & Merry Marketplace in Natchez. (Later in the day, we were signing at the Jingle Bell Market at Trustmark Park.)

My kid really got into it. He asked questions and engaged customers. When we were at Pearl, he made change, explained the book to customers and restocked books. As we left, two ladies in the booth behind us complimented him and gave him a candy cane.

Always be closing.  He had seen a Saturday Night Live skit parodying the great Glengarry Glenn Ross scene with Alec Baldwin.  (I later showed him the scene on YouTube.)  Today, we talked sales techniques.  How to engage a customer.  How sales is about relationships. I explained wholesale versus retail. We tallied our day’s sales. Sure, he’s ten, but the kid is a sales natural. Just like his grandfather and my cousin.

I patted him on the back and said, “I’m proud of you, boy.”

He earned a set of steak knives.