---
title: You're Closing Too Hard, Too Soon and All Wrong (Alice Kemper)
description: Selling can be natural, fun, and comfortable for the prospect and you. In fact, it should be and needs to be. Hear how Alice Kemper helps you sell.
image: https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hubfs/Blog_Featured_Images/pexels-8051962.jpg
---
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Sep 15, 2014
# You're Closing Too Hard, Too Soon and All Wrong (Alice Kemper)
 [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer)
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## About Today's Guest on [The Sales Podcast](https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/podcast)
**Alice Kemper** doubled her income the first day of getting into sales. (She was a public school teacher.) She went into sales for American Greeting Cards and Harte Hanks as a “token woman.” (Out of 800+ salespeople she was the 9th woman hired.)
She became a student of selling because after her two weeks of sales training with the company she was on her own. She knew as a teacher you “can’t wing it," so 31 years ago launched Sales Training Consultants. (Not a big difference teaching 6th graders and salespeople! Doh!)
She's been building her business by helping others build theirs ever since.
#### **Rubber-Meets-The-Road Sales Tip**
- Preparation is key to sales success. It’s the most overlooked action salespeople mess up on.
- They express needs and desire to do something about it.
- “How will I launch this conversation?”
- There is no more time anymore.
- They don’t want to know about you.
- No 3-martini lunches.
- You have to prepare more than “in your head.”
- You need to write it down and practice it.
> Preparation is key to sales success. It’s the most overlooked action salespeople mess up on"
- Buyer. Seller. Observer.
- salespeople never get up in front of the room in her training.
- Everyone brings a sales challenge to work on and the training is done in context.
- Her clients must agree to work with her for a minimum of three months with weekly 90-minute, interactive calls to reinforce.
- That’s how she can guarantee a 5% to 35% increase.
- Many sales managers are not naturals with innate sales management skills so Alice created “30 Minute Sales Meetings.”
> Your sales training must be done in context"
- Past Prospecting failures can cause pain that keeps you from doing more prospecting.
- You have to learn from your mistakes, conduct better research, prepare your words and prospecting processes more thoroughly and continue to grow.
- “The close is the easiest part of the conversation…if you do all of the steps leading up to it properly. Establish yourself as a strategic partner. They don’t need another vendor. Business people need strategic business partners.”
- Ask the right questions. Remove barriers.
> Ask the right questions. Remove barriers."
#### Links Mentioned
- [Follow Alice Kemper on Twitter](https://twitter.com/BestSalesTips)
#### Tools To Thrive
- **[Make Your Marketing Magnetic](https://www.charm-offensive.co.uk/ref/63/)**: This is where it all began for me. You can attract qualified, eager buyers like clockwork when you master the concepts in [this valuable program](https://www.charm-offensive.co.uk/ref/63/).
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.
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## [A Little Mistake That Cost A Salesman All Of His Commission](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/a-little-mistake-that-cost-a-salesman-all-of-his-commission)
 [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer)
Jun 13, 2025
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[](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/ian-atlman)
[The Sales Podcast](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/the-sales-podcast)
## [Ian Altman Shows You Same Side Selling](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/ian-atlman)
 [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer)
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[Read more](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/ian-atlman)
[](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/you-get-what-you-pay-for-america)
[custom AI solution development](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/custom-ai-solution-development), [Sales Training](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/sales-training), [ROI of AI](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/roi-of-ai)
## [You Get What You Pay For, America](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/you-get-what-you-pay-for-america)
 [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer)
Jun 13, 2025
(I posted this on my Facebook profile on Feb 28, 2020. The things that are happening around us are...
[Read more](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/you-get-what-you-pay-for-america)
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