Assessment On: Closing Customers Faster by Slowing Down by Andy Elliott

Welcome to Your Assessment Test

Topic: 10-Sales Training // Closing Customers Faster by Slowing Down by Andy Elliott

This assessment is designed to evaluate your understanding of the key concepts covered in Closing Customers Faster by Slowing Down by Andy Elliott. Topics include the distinction between advancing a sale and closing a sale, identifying the true cause of objections using the binary objection diagnostic, and understanding why slowing down communication at critical moments can increase trust, clarity, and commitment.

The assessment also covers effective closing strategies such as the sniper versus machine gun principle of communication, the Google-it close, the commitment evidence close, the third-party close technique, and methods for helping prospects gain the confidence needed to make decisions they are already inclined to make. These concepts are designed to improve closing effectiveness while reducing resistance and pressure during the sales process.

Assessment Instructions

The assessment consists of 10 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).
Each question carries 1 mark.
Only one option is correct for each question.
There are no negative marks for incorrect answers.
Questions skipped or left unanswered will be considered as 0 marks.
Retakes are not permitted once the assessment has been submitted.
The total duration of the assessment is 15 minutes.
The timer will start automatically once you enter your Name and Email Address and click on "Start Test".
Ensure you have a stable internet connection and complete the assessment within the allotted time.
Read each question carefully and submit your responses before the timer expires.

All the best!

Name

Andy says 'I don't think we have a product problem — we have a people problem.' What specific investment does this diagnosis require from a telecaller who accepts it as true?

Invest in better lead lists and CRM technology

Invest in a mentor who will provide better scripts and frameworks

Focus on qualifying prospects more strictly to avoid difficult conversations

Accept that performance improvements must come from personal skill development — communication mastery closing technique emotional intelligence belief in self — rather than from product improvements better scripts or more leads. The constraint is the person not the tools which means the only path to better results is becoming a better version of yourself

Andy says 'every word is dangerous' when you slow down and become precise. What does he mean by a word being 'dangerous' and how should a telecaller calibrate which words to slow down on and which to deliver at normal pace?

Dangerous words are emotionally charged words that might offend the prospect

Every word should be delivered at the same slow pace for consistency

A dangerous word is one that carries enough weight to shift the prospect's emotional state — to create doubt desire urgency or certainty. Slowing down on these words amplifies their impact because the prospect's attention is fully on them. Normal-pace words carry the conversational load; dangerous words carry the emotional payload. A telecaller should identify the one or two words per sentence that contain the most emotional charge and deliver those with deliberate pace allowing the rest of the sentence to flow naturally

Dangerous words should be avoided because they trigger fight-or-flight

What is the 'how did that feel?' technique according to Andy?

Asking how it felt when a competitor let them down

Asking the prospect how they feel about the price

Asking the prospect to recall a time in the past when they had the result they currently want — feeling fit confident successful — so they emotionally reconnect with that state and feel motivated to get it back

Asking the prospect how they feel about your product presentation

According to Andy what does 'thought is instantaneous' mean in the context of the think-it-over objection?

Actual thought happens in an instant — if they need to 'think about it' they actually need more information not more time. The objection is really an information gap in disguise

Salespeople should respond to objections instantly without pausing

Prospects decide whether to buy in the first 30 seconds of a call

People think too slowly to make good decisions in a sales environment

According to Andy what does 'people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care' mean for a telecaller?

Caring is shown by offering the lowest possible price

Technical knowledge about the product is irrelevant to the close

Caring means agreeing with everything the prospect says

Before a prospect will receive your expertise or believe your solution they must feel that you genuinely care about their outcome — not just your commission. Care must be established before knowledge can land

Andy distinguishes between advancing the sale and closing the client. This distinction implies that every stage of a conversation has a specific limited objective. How does misidentifying the objective at any stage — attempting to close when you should advance or advancing when you should close — damage the overall trajectory of the sale?

Attempting to close before the prospect has enough information and emotional investment triggers premature resistance that becomes increasingly difficult to dissolve — the prospect's objection at stage two becomes more entrenched than it would have been at stage four. Conversely continuing to advance when the prospect is ready to close creates unnecessary delay that can cool their emotional momentum and introduce new doubts. Stage misidentification is therefore not just inefficient — it actively damages conversion probability by triggering resistance at the wrong moment or missing readiness windows

The distinction only applies to face-to-face sales — on calls everything happens in one stage

Stage misidentification only matters in high-ticket sales where the process is longer

Attempting to close too early wastes time but has no other impact

Andy's binary diagnostic — 'it's usually one of two things' — narrows the think-it-over objection to either the product or the numbers. Why does narrowing to two specific options produce more actionable information than asking an open-ended 'what's on your mind?'

Open-ended questions take too long to answer in a closing context

Binary questions are more polite than open-ended questions

An open-ended question allows the prospect to give a vague or deflecting answer — 'I just need time' — that gives the salesperson nothing to work with. A binary diagnostic forces the prospect to commit to one of two specific categories either of which reveals exactly what objection to address. Precision in the question produces precision in the answer

Narrowing to two options reduces the likelihood of the prospect revealing an unworkable objection

Andy's father story in the third party close is specifically designed to work when a prospect is wavering rather than firmly objecting. What is the precise emotional mechanism that makes a personal story more effective than a logical argument at the moment of wavering?

Personal stories work because prospects are more likely to verify anecdotes than statistics

At the moment of wavering the prospect is not in a logical state — they are in an emotional one. They want to say yes but something is holding them back. A logical argument engages the part of the brain that is already resistant. A personal story bypasses rational resistance entirely and speaks directly to the emotional system — the prospect does not evaluate the story for logical validity they feel it. Andy's father story produces empathy hope and identification — all emotional states that dissolve the wavering and replace it with courage

Personal stories take the pressure off the salesperson allowing them to close indirectly

Personal stories are more memorable than logical arguments

Andy says the commitment evidence close — 'you wouldn't have made the call if you weren't willing to make a decision' — reframes the purchase as following through rather than deciding. Why is following through psychologically easier than deciding for most prospects?

Deciding feels like a new risk with uncertain outcomes — the brain's loss aversion system resists it. Following through on an existing commitment feels like honoring something already chosen — consistency not risk. By showing the prospect they already made the commitment when they clicked the ad or filled out the form Andy shifts the frame from 'should I do this?' to 'I already decided — I'm just completing it' which removes the primary source of resistance

Following through requires less information than deciding

Following through is easier because the financial commitment is already made

Following through only works when the prospect is already in a positive emotional state

According to Andy what does 'do you know why I do this?' accomplish at the start of a personal story close?

It signals that the call is about to end

It is a compliance technique to get the prospect to say yes before the story

It creates a pattern interrupt — the prospect was not expecting the salesperson to reveal something personal — which lowers their guard and shifts the dynamic from sales pitch to genuine human connection making them more receptive to what follows

It signals that the salesperson is about to give their professional credentials