The Lost Art of Closing is Anthony Iannarino’s argument that the traditional concept of “closing” is broken. Most salespeople think of closing as the final ask at the end of a long process, which creates a high-pressure moment that both parties dread. Iannarino’s alternative is to think of the entire sales process as a series of ten commitments, each of which needs to be earned before moving to the next.
The ten commitments are: the commitment for time (getting the first meeting), the commitment to explore (agreeing to examine the current situation), the commitment to change (acknowledging that the status quo isn’t working), the commitment to collaborate (working together on a solution), the commitment to build consensus (getting all stakeholders aligned), the commitment to invest (agreeing on the resources needed), the commitment to review (evaluating the proposed solution), the commitment to resolve concerns (addressing objections directly), the commitment to decide (making the final choice), and the commitment to execute (following through after the sale).
By breaking the sale into these discrete steps, Iannarino gives salespeople a map for where they are in the process and what they need to do next. Most stalled deals, he argues, are stuck because the salesperson skipped one of the earlier commitments. You can’t get a commitment to invest if you haven’t first gotten a commitment to change. You can’t get a commitment to decide if you haven’t resolved all concerns.
For founders selling to businesses, the ten-commitment framework is useful because it makes the complexity of B2B sales feel manageable. Enterprise deals involve multiple stakeholders, long timelines, and many points where things can stall. Having a clear sequence of commitments to work through, and knowing which one you’re on, prevents the common mistake of jumping to the close before the groundwork is laid.
The writing is practical and organized. Iannarino draws from his own sales career and from coaching other salespeople. Each commitment gets its own chapter with specific language, common mistakes, and advice for what to do when the buyer pushes back. The book is more structured than most sales books and reads like a process guide rather than a motivational pep talk.
