“The Box Close” at the Beginning of My Sales Career That Is Still Relevant Today

Before I got into technology, I was a commodity futures retail broker.? It was a commission-only job that was a game of dialing for dollars by calling on prospects who had responded to advertisements for information on commodity futures markets.? It was not a “boiler room” per se, as the office I worked out of was on the 15th floor next to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).? But it was sparsely outfitted with only 40 desks, each with a phone, in one big open room with no cubicles or dividers.? A giant whiteboard with two columns was on one of the two walls that were not floor-to-ceiling windows.? In the left column on the whiteboard was the name of each broker listed in the highest-to-lowest order based on the total amount of money each broker brought in the prior month.? In the right column is the total amount of money each broker has brought in the current month.

Here is how the game was played. To win (or rather not to lose), I had to come in early to start calling East Coast phone numbers at 7 AM CT.? We called off a stack of postcards the leads had mailed to the CBOT or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) requesting information on the commodity futures markets they found as advertisements in various trading publications.? I would furiously dial until 9 PM CT (7 PM on the West Coast), making 100-200 calls daily.

When I got through and spoke to a lead, the goal of the first call was to introduce myself and my firm, qualify their interest and ability to open a trading account, outline at a high level a hot market opportunity, confirm the lead's address to FedEx information, and schedule a follow-up call the next day to review the market opportunity in more detail.? The first call would last no more than ten minutes, and the goal was to get at least five FedEx’s out daily (for which I had to pay out of my pocket).? We would send a CBOT or CME brochure on whatever market we pitched, printed price charts, account forms, and a return FedEx shipping label and envelope.??

How do I score in the game? If I succeeded in getting five FedEx out the prior day, I should have five scheduled calls to close. That’s right—it was a second-call close. To make it fun and exciting, the brokerage's general manager had several timers around the office, and as soon as someone started a closing call, he would start a 60-minute timer.?? We would have just over 60 minutes to pitch the market opportunity, walk the lead through filling out the account forms, have the lead write a check for at least $10,000, and schedule FedEx to make a pickup.? If a broker did not start filling out the account forms by the end of 60 minutes, the general manager would walk by and end the call.

How did I win or get paid in this game? Out of five scheduled closes per day, I could expect 2 to 3 to occur and to close at least one account per day.? Most accounts opened with $10,000, so given at least 20 days per month, the monthly goal was at least $200,000.? Generally speaking, at least 10% of the account would go to commissions split 50-50 with the house.? Earning $10,000+ per month was pretty good for someone in their mid-20s in the mid-90s.?

And so, what was the point of the whiteboard?? The way you lost in this game was if you were at the bottom of the list two months in a row.? If that were to happen, you would be kicked out of the brokerage, and the desk would be freed up for someone new and better to come in.? This ensured a healthy competition that kept everyone at the top of their game.

But this story isn’t about the good ol’ days of the hustling Chicago retail commodity brokerage industry.? It is a story about closing.? What is closing?? Closing is asking (or demanding) an order.

“Go grab those account forms and your checkbook – I’ll wait until you come back”

“Go to the first page of the account forms and start with your full legal name and address.? Do it now and let me know when you are finished… Next, go to the account type section and….”

“Make the check out for $10,000 payable to _________________.”

“Put the completed and signed account forms and the signed check into the FedEx envelope I provided.? Now give me a minute to call FedEx on the other line to schedule a pickup.”

It was that easy, right?? Well, not quite.? The lead would only follow my directions to open an account if I had first succeeded in selling and closing him on four aspects known as “The Box Close.”

The first side of the box was me.? I had to be likable, professional, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.? I would pitch a little about myself and my past trading successes, but I mainly demonstrated these characteristics in conducting myself.? But here is the critical part… I had to close this side of the box.

“Mr. Lead, am I the right broker for you?”

And then I wait for an answer.? If I don’t get a yes, then I probe for his concern or objection and try to address it and ask again

If I don’t get an answer, I ask again and maybe rephrase.

“Do you see yourself working with me?? Are you comfortable with my knowledge and how I have explained the markets and this opportunity?

Again, I wait and don’t move on until I get an affirmative answer.? When I do, I have closed one side of the box, and then it is time to move on to the next one – my company.

“Mr. Lead, are you comfortable working with my firm, a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) licensed to hold your funds in a customer-segregated account and execute trades only upon your explicit instruction?”

Once again, I wait for an affirmative answer.? If I don’t get it, I probe for concerns or objections, handle them, ask again, and only move on once I get it.? At that point, I continued to the third side of the box – the market.

“Mr. Lead, do you understand that with a $10,000 margin account, we can control 10 CBOT corn futures contracts, or 50,000 bushels of corn in total?”

Finally, after waiting for an affirmative answer, I close the fourth side of the box—the opportunity.

“Mr. Lead, do you see how if the hot and dry weather continues through the critical pollination phase of the corn plant’s development in July, yields can be severely reduced, thereby slashing the size of the corn harvest and sending corn prices higher by at least $1 - $2 per bushel thereby doubling or tripling your $10,000?”

“Great—now grab those account forms and your checkbook so we can position you in the market before prices take off!” That was how the box close was skillfully executed.?

Over the years that I worked as a broker, technology slowly at first and then suddenly, towards the end, disrupted the industry, resulting in commission rates crashing by 80-90%.? Feeling confident in my sales skills and, more importantly, my closing abilities, I sought a new sales career in a new field.? I soon realized that technology would likely be as disruptive to every field, so I decided that I would rather be a disruptor than a disruptee.?

When I landed my first technology sales role, I immediately adapted what I had learned as a broker to my new field of technology, which was very different. The most significant difference was that a technology sale was not a two-call close but a multi-step sales process usually involving more than one decision maker or influencer.

As I engaged with my technology prospects in the sales process, I was always mindful of the box close, and that all four sides must be closed for a successful sale.? The first side of the box is always me.? I need to make a good first impression to keep the prospect on the phone.? I must ask engaging, insightful questions that provide a compelling reason to continue the conversation.? I need to be an active listener so the prospect finds value in the time spent talking with me.? Instead of asking if I am the right broker, I ask if I can schedule another call, an in-person meeting, or an introduction to his superior.

The next side of the box is my company. I need to make sure the prospect understands and, more importantly, appreciates my company’s capabilities, experience, expertise, and relevance to the prospect’s situation.? Instead of asking if my company is the right company, I ask if we can schedule a technical deep dive with engineering resources from my company and his team.

The third side of the box is the problem. I need to identify the prospect's problem and ensure that the prospect also sees and understands the problem and its negative impact on him and his organization.? Instead of asking if he understands the mechanics of the futures market, I ask if the problem is significant enough for him and his company to fund and pursue a solution.

Lastly, the fourth side of the box is my company’s solution. Once I get an affirmative to the prior question, closing the third side of the box, I present a solution. Instead of asking the prospect if he understands how he can double or triple his money with a futures market opportunity, I ask if our solution to his company’s problem is compelling enough to move forward. If he says yes, I then ask if he is ready and able to sign the contract today.

Here’s the lesson from this story: I need to close all four sides of the box to close a deal. ?I will never close a deal if the prospect does not like me, does not respect my company’s capabilities, disagrees that there is a problem to solve, and does not believe my company’s solution is the best to solve the problem.? Suppose I do not get the affirmative answers to my closing questions. In that case, I must handle objections until I get the affirmative answers, regroup to look for another problem to solve or walk away.?

But here’s the problem. Often, I used to get a yes and think I closed the last side of the box, but then my prospect went into hiding, or many excuses started to surface for delays and their inability to act and move forward. Why? One more variable is needed to guarantee a sale, which will be the topic of my next article.