When selling complex solutions or services you will do well to remember the phrase "Never Be Closing" (in case you need a handy acronym - "NBC").

This is precisely the opposite of the advice that everybody has heard about sales ("Always Be Closing").  Well in my experience of selling high ticket technology solutions you are way better off with "NBC" than "ABC".

Why? When you are selling high ticket items you are inevitably involved in a solution selling process.  The goal of a sales meeting in solution selling is to discover the prospect's needs by asking questions then work with the prospect to "design" their "ideal solution" together. 

Once you design a joint solution to the prospect's problem you should map your products and services into this "ideal solution".  If your product does not fit, tell the prospect and walk away (for now)!  If your offering does fit well, guess what happens?  The prospect will often start closing the deal for you (usually by asking about the next step or giving you strong "buying signals")!

Nowhere in this process do you attempt to "trial close" the prospect. You ask questions and listen to the prospect to find out what they really need.  Only when it is really clear that your product or service is a good fit do you need to ask if it is worth moving to the next step in the sales process (and only if the prospect has not already done this for you).

Michael McLaughlin gives a great example of how badly "Always Be Closing" works for professional services in his article Closing a Sale May Be Harmful to Your Success

So next time you are on a sales call remember to "tune" to "NBC" not "ABC"