For those of you that can remember back to your school days, when you were learning about Adam Smith and the invisible hand of a free market economy, you will know that the best products are supposed to rise to the ‘top’, enjoy growth and profitability, and the weaker ones are meant to flail, and eventually go out of business.

But this is the thing. The economics of a free market system are not quite that simple, and businesses with the best product are sometimes beaten by businesses with a lesser product. It seems unfair, like the rodent surviving while the intelligent monkey dies, but it is (for the most part), the way things are and as fair as we are going to get.
 
If you have a great business and you want to ensure survival, remember it is about more than just creating a superior service or product. It is about lots of things from operating costs, to marketing, to price point, to accessibility—all of which need strategic thought and potentially ‘evolution’ to something more competitive.
 
It is also about something very simple: closing a sale. Most businesses, let's say in the telecoms sector for example, aren’t a million miles away from each other in price, or branding, or accessibility. A quality business phone costs what it costs, as does wholesale line rental, and accessibility is virtually the same in that you can call any business phone company and speak to someone immediately about getting service installed. The difference between those who are getting eaten and those who are eating others, comes down to the ability to close a sale. Let’s imagine that a potential customer narrows it down to two business phone providers, and one company has a slick, practised, systematic methodology for closing the deal, the other is just trusting that the prospect will see that their service is superior based on their website and proposal. Ten times out of ten the latter loses.
 
Here are 5 steps for closing a sale and (ultimately) staying alive.