The Toilet Paper Salesman® Podcast · 2026-04-07 · 12 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
27 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Mike Mirarchi challenges the myth that successful closing requires elaborate closing techniques or matching other salespeople's styles. Drawing on his experience attending Zig Ziglar seminars, Mirarchi explains that effective closing is fundamentally about consistency, credibility, and solving customer problems - not flashy tactics. He breaks down what makes a successful salesperson: 50% showing up and following up, 25% being likable and credible, and only 25% advanced sales skills. The core insight is that closing starts from initial contact and proceeds through singles - small agreements like scheduling meetings, providing samples, or getting pricing - rather than one-time home runs. Mirarchi emphasizes asking quality questions to understand the customer's business, then applying solutions that directly address their needs. He also stresses the importance of silence after asking closing questions, allowing customers to speak first, and digging deeper when objections arise to uncover the real reasons behind hesitation. The episode concludes with the philosophy that opening an account is really the beginning of a relationship, one that requires maintaining gratitude for customer trust and willingness to have difficult conversations about payment and performance.
Closing a sale is simply getting an agreement to move forward, which happens throughout the sales process whenever a prospect agrees to meet, requests samples, asks for pricing, or schedules another meeting - not just at the final moment.
Showing up and following up accounts for 50% of sales success, and most salespeople fail to do it consistently, making it the single biggest lever for improvement.
You can only be effective selling like yourself because your personality, credibility, and style are unique; instead of copying others' techniques, take one useful idea from trainers and apply it to your own approach.
Remain completely silent and let the customer speak first; if you fill the silence by talking again, you reset the negotiation and have to start over.
Price is often a smokescreen - ask 'Is there anything else beyond price?' to uncover the true concerns, such as timing, trust, or fit, which you can then address.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode contains some useful, practitioner-grounded advice (showing up/following up as 50% of success, the importance of silence after asking closing questions, uncovering hidden objections beyond price), but much of it is either self-evident (consistency builds trust, ask good questions) or restated multiple times without new depth. The core ideas - closing as incremental steps, building relationships, gratitude - are repeated throughout rather than layered with novel insights.
Closing is a step-by-step process
If you show up and follow up, you're 50% of the way there
The advice relies entirely on well-worn sales canon: Zig Ziglar references, the idea that closing is relational rather than transactional, building trust through consistency, and asking good questions. The host explicitly acknowledges he learned this from trainers and books. There is no contrarian angle, first-principles rethinking, or challenge to conventional B2B sales wisdom; it is straightforward execution of familiar frameworks.
I went to see Zig Ziggler
singles that you hit along the way in the process
This is a solo host episode with no guest. Mike Mirarchi is the only speaker, and no external operator or practitioner is brought in to provide alternative perspective, challenge assumptions, or add credibility through scale of experience. The episode is a monologue, which disqualifies it on this dimension.
Welcome to the Toilet Paper Salesman Podcast. My name's Mike Mirarchi, and I'm really glad you're with us today.
The episode is almost entirely free of concrete data, named examples, specific company references, or measurable metrics. The host mentions his own 30% growth rate once in passing but provides no context, timeline, company size, or industry detail. The 50/25/25 breakdown is stated as fact without source or supporting evidence. Anecdotes about Zig Ziglar and generic customer interactions lack specificity; no real customer names, deal sizes, or outcomes are provided.
I was growing 30% a year
50% is showing up and following up
There is no conversational craft here - the episode is a monologue with no guest to question, no pushback, and no dynamic dialogue. The host asks rhetorical questions to himself rather than engaging in genuine back-and-forth. There is no one to challenge his claims, probe his assumptions, or dig deeper into the reasoning. This is a lecture format, not a conversation, which fundamentally limits the ability to demonstrate sharp questioning or productive tension.
So when I was a younger rep, I was having a lot of success
What is closing the sale anyway?
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Send us Fan Mail Most people treat closing like a finish line. In this episode, we break down a simple, repeatable way to move deals forward without pressure tactics or canned “power closes,” and I share the moments that taught me to sell like myself instead of chasing someone else’s style. Start by reframing closing as any agreement to move forward - setting a meeting, asking for samples, requesting pricing - and why “singles” beat home runs in relationship-driven B2B sales. Then I walk through the 50-25-25 framework: How showing up and following up is half the battle; adding likability and credibility gets you to 75 percent; applying sales skills, product knowledge, and soft skills help you to finish strong. You’ll hear how consistency creates confidence, confidence becomes trust, and trust opens relationships that last. From purpose to practice, staying focused on the buyer’s world: asking grounded questions, diagnosing real problems, and applying solutions that matter to their outcomes. We dig into one high-leverage behavior - ask for the next step, then stay silent - and show how that one habit exposes timelines, real objections, and true intent.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Welcome to the Toilet Paper Salesman Podcast. My name's Mike Mirarchi, and I'm really glad you're with us today. We're going to be talking today about closing the sale. Now, closing the sale is something that creates in some sales reps, especially new ones, some anxiety.
I guess I'll start off by asking a question. What is closing the sale anyway? What is it that is about closing the sale? And in my opinion, closing the sale is simply just an agreement to move forward.
In the sales process, anytime you get an agreement to move forward, you're closing. So if you contact somebody, they agree to meet with you, they need pricing, they want samples, they want another meeting. That's closed. Closing is a step-by-step process, and we're going to talk more about that process today and what it takes to close sales.
So when I was a younger rep, I was having a lot of success and I was really into self-improvement and still am. I went to see Zig Ziggler. Now, Zig Ziggler, if you don't know him, was an iconic sales trainer, very successful sales professional, one of the top sales trainers out there in the day. And I went to see Zig live.
So I'm watching Zig, and Zig is talking about all these fancy closes that he has and everything. And boy, I felt pretty terrible because I didn't close that way. It wasn't, I just couldn't do it like Zig. And now I know the reason why I couldn't do it like Zig is because I wasn't Zig, and Zig did things the way he does them, and I am the way I am.
And you know, as I thought about it, I said to myself, wow, I can't close like Zig. And feeling bad about myself, I realized that, you know what, I'm growing 30% a year. I'm opening accounts left and right. And I had been doing that for a while.
I must be doing something right. The goal is in any of these trainings, in my podcast episodes, when you go see a sales trainer, you can never do it like them. Don't get down on yourself. You can only do it like you.
But if you can take one thing out of that presentation, if you can take one story or one tip or trick and take it and apply it to your business, then it's going to make a difference. And that's really what I've learned through the years is anytime I read a book, anytime I listen to a motivational speaker, anytime I listen to a sales trainer, no matter what, I'm always looking for one thing I could take and apply to my business. And that's how you learn and grow and progress in your business.
Don't feel bad about yourself that you can't close away, or if the way that I'm talking about closing, if you can't close the way I close, of course, because you're not me, you're yourself and you have to find your own style. And the only way you can do that is by experimenting and trying different things and taking the things that you learn and applying them to your business. When does a close start? A close starts from the moment you contact a prospect, whether it's by email, whether it's on social media, whether it's by a phone call.
The closing process starts from the beginning. So it's not this big thing at the end, it's not a big home run. It's singles that you hit along the way in the process that you follow that take you to the close. Let's think about, so let's talk about what makes a successful salesperson.
50% is showing up and following up. If you show up and follow up, you're 50% of the way there. Most salespeople don't do that. If you're likable and credible, that's like another 25%.
So now show up, follow-up, likable, credible, 75% of the way there. The final 25% is your sales skills, your product knowledge, you know, all the other intangible soft skills that you bring to the table. It's a very simple thing. Show up, follow-up, likable, credible, and you will get sales.
That you will be able to take them down the process of opening a deal or closing a deal and getting sales. That really all depends on building relationships. And I have a podcast episode that talks deeper about this. And you build relationships based off of consistency.
Consistency is the number one key in getting someone from point A to point B. If you call in a new account, you've got to be consistent because consistency creates confidence. Confidence turns into trust, and trust turns into a relationship. You can't get to a relationship until you have consistency.
You build consistency through the sales process. And as you're building that consistency, then you're gaining the confidence and the trust of that person, and then you get to build a relationship. The other key thing is when you're thinking about closing the sales, what's your purpose anyway? What are you doing?
Why are you even getting up in the morning to sell what you're selling? The answer to that question has to be in their world, not in your world. The purpose in my world is to help my customers be successful, whatever that is for them. And if that's my goal, which it is, is to help my customers be successful, what does that look like?
And it looks like me trying to understand their business, trying to understand where they need help, taking the tool belt that I have and taking and applying that to their business. That all starts with asking good questions, being more interested in the business. That way you're able to gain the right information so that you can apply the solution to help them. And that's ultimately what leads you to a sale.
If you're able to ask good questions, understand the business, apply a solution, then customer will automatically move forward because you're solving a problem for them. It's really very simple when you look at it that way. So the key is closing and closing a sale, it's consistency. Singles, single, single, single, single, and then you'll get the sale.
Home runs don't happen very often. It's very rare that you're going to walk into a customer who's going to shovel all this business over to you. As a matter of fact, if that happens, you need to be concerned because there's probably a reason why they would want to do that. Most times, business is built step by step through a process of building trust and confidence and a relationship.
It's not built by them shoveling all their business over to you in one fell swoop. Unless you're selling something like real estate or cars, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about business-to-business sales. We're talking about a relationship-based sales process.
When you do ask the question, hey, when can we get started here? What does this look like for you? What's your timeline? That question, when you ask it, the most important thing is to remain silent once you ask that question.
If you are a salesperson, and this has happened many times to many salespeople, most of us who are in the business, you ask a question, you stay silent for a little bit, and then you speak first. Now you have to start all over again. If you allow the silence to continue and you allow the customer to answer the question or not answer the question, either way, they've got to be the first one to speak at that point because then you'll find out. Yeah, sure.
Um, you know, two weeks I'll probably get started. Why don't you give me a call in a week and we'll put everything together or send me the credit application, we'll get started and we'll go from there. Uh, or they'll say, I just don't think I'm interested right now. Now, if if that happens and they say, I'm not interested right now, one of the key things that you want to do is to ask them a question.
Other than what you're telling me, whether it's price objection, or first question would be, why are you not interested in buying from me? And then whatever reason they give you, what you want to do is understand, other than what you're telling me, my price is too high. Is there anything else I'm missing? Is there anything else you would like to meet address?
Are there any other concerns that you have beyond the price? Because that's the real reason. Sometimes they'll throw a price objection at you, but there's another reason why they're not buying from you that they're not telling you about. So it's important to understand a full reason as to why a customer wouldn't buy, and then you're able to address that concern.
And once you address that concern, then again, you're back to the, hey, what does it look like? When can we get started? Or using a different way, open that relationship because you might call it closing sale, but it actually is the start of a relationship. You're opening a relationship.
When you open a relationship, you want to make sure that you're always in gratitude to the customer. You always want to be grateful for their business, grateful that they put their trust in you, grateful that they're giving you the opportunity, because that is the key. Once you start taking for granted a customer's business, that's your first foot out the door. Never, ever, ever take a customer's business for granted.
You've always have to maintain a mindset of gratitude for that customer because every time that customer places an order with you, they're trusting that you're going to be able to deliver to them and you're going to be able to give them the service that they need in order to be a successful business. Now that works both ways. The customer also has to keep up their end of the bargain and pay their bill. If they're not paying their bill, if they're not being a good customer, then you, as the owner of your business, as the salesperson, have to go in and talk to that customer and talk them through that.
Say, hey, we're holding up our end of the bargain. We're doing everything that we're supposed to do. How do we get you to pay your bill on time? Very important conversation.
In order to have a long-term relationship with a customer, you have to be able to have those types of conversations. It's all about gratitude. It's all about hitting singles. It's all about developing strong relationships throughout the organization.
If you're doing those and you're following the steps and you're being consistent, those are the keys to you opening business and maintaining significant relationships. That's all I've got for today. I hope this helped. Who says selling toilet paper isn't glamorous?
Thanks a lot and have a great day.
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