INTRODUCTION: Many sales trainers suggest holding sales meetings on Tuesdays or Fridays, but your store’s reality will obviously determine the best time for your meetings. Your weekly meeting can last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 60 minutes.
Week 14 (Apr 6-12): Team Selling Mastery — 12 Ways to Triple Closing
OPENING SEQUENCE (5-7 minutes)
Minutes 1-2: Recognition & Praise
- Start with specific wins from yesterday/this week
- Point out behaviors you want repeated
- Examples: “Sarah’s perfect use of the T.O. technique” or “Mike’s follow-up that brought a $5,000 sale”
- Make it sincere and specific
Minutes 3-4: Numbers Check & Store Updates
- Yesterday’s sales highlights (what sold, who sold it)
- Today’s appointments and special situations
- Rush repairs ready for pickup
- Items no longer in cases
- Quick progress check on weekly/monthly goals
- This week’s spiff: “A Buck a Try-On”
Minutes 5-7: Team Connection
- Inspirational quote (rotate who selects)
- Check current gold prices (market awareness)
- Any personal celebrations to acknowledge
- Set positive energy for the day
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CORE TRAINING SECTION (20-45 minutes)
FEATURED SUBJECT
Team Selling Mastery — 12 Ways to Triple Closing
Training resources for this lesson — Shane Decker’s columns in April 2016, April 2018, and April 2013.
The Big Idea
Last week you learned the foundations of team selling — why it matters, the difference between an assist and a T.O., and how to read the clues. This week is the playbook. Here are 12 specific ways to make team selling a daily habit instead of a last resort.
The 12 Ways
1. Know everyone’s sales profile. Shane identifies three types: serpentines (70% of salespeople — conversational, relationship-builders), missiles (20% — direct, get-to-the-point closers), and sneaks (10% — chameleons who mirror the client). When you T.O., turn over to someone as opposite as possible. A serpentine who can’t close should hand off to a missile, not another serpentine.
2. Set up T.O. teams. Don’t leave pairings to chance. Before the floor opens, know who complements whom. When you’re on the floor, your T.O. partner should be on the floor too.
3. Know each teammate’s strengths. Shane says every team member should know who has the most diamond knowledge, the most patience, the best closing skills, the best objection handling, and the strongest add-on instincts. When you need help, call in the right strength — not just the nearest body.
4. T.O. early, not late. The moment you know you’ve lost the client — not 10 minutes later. By the time they’ve folded their arms, the sale may already be dead.
5. Master the 15-second handoff. You covered this in Week 13. Keep practicing it. Name, occasion, spouse’s name, what they want, the price you just quoted. That’s it — 15 seconds, then the incoming salesperson takes the lead.
6. Get on the right side. When you’re called in, stand on the client’s right side (right is positive, left is negative), on the same side of the case. Face the client, not your coworker. These positioning details matter more than you think.
7. Use the owner or manager as a closer. The owner walking out and saying, “That’s one of my favorites — your wife is going to love wearing that” carries enormous weight. It’s a vote of confidence that no salesperson can replicate. Managers, stay available for this.
8. Never camp out on an assist. When you’re called in for product knowledge or to grab a tool, share what’s needed and leave. Don’t linger. The client should feel like the team is serving them, not crowding them.
9. Eliminate the “customer hog.” Some salespeople would rather let a client walk than share the commission. Shane is blunt: anyone who creates an every-person-for-themselves atmosphere should change or be terminated. One selfish closer can poison an entire team.
10. Track team-sold tickets. Count how many of each person’s tickets are team-sold over a week. If someone closed 30 tickets alone but added 10 team-sold tickets, their effective closing ratio just jumped significantly. Make this visible so the team sees the payoff.
11. Practice T.O.’s with each other before trying them with clients. Shane says the handoff has to look and feel professionally done — that means rehearsed. Role-play the 15-second introduction, the positioning, and the opening line until it’s seamless. If you practice on clients, you’ll screw it up.
12. Sell profile-correct. Don’t borrow closes that work for someone else but sound wrong coming from you. A serpentine using a missile’s direct close sounds pushy. A missile using a serpentine’s compliment close sounds hokey. Write out 10 closes that feel natural to you, memorize them, and use those. Shane did this exercise every night for a year and went from a 25% to a 60% closing ratio.
Practice Exercise
This week’s challenge: Identify your own sales profile (serpentine, missile, or sneak) and your T.O. partner’s profile. Practice one T.O. handoff per day — even if you don’t need one, do it as a drill. By Friday, the 15-second handoff should feel automatic.
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CLOSING SEQUENCE (5-8 minutes)
Option A – Team Member Presentation (twice monthly)
- 5-minute presentation by assigned staff
- Topics can include:
- Book Report: 5-10 key takeaways from a business book
- Customer Experience Report: What other retailers do well
- Mystery Shop Report: Insights from visiting competitors
- Learning Summary: Online course or training completed
Option B – Action Planning (alternate weeks)
- Review “wow” opportunities for the day
- Assign follow-up calls
- Preview upcoming store events
- Set individual daily goals
- Quick round: “What’s one thing you’ll implement today?”
FINAL MINUTE
- Restate the main learning point: “Team selling isn’t a backup plan — it’s how you close the 7 out of 10 clients who would otherwise walk.”
- Team energy boost (high-five, cheer, or affirmation)
- “Let’s make today count!”
- Open doors ready to excel
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