The Benjamin Franklin Close

• Difficulty: Accessible
• Estimated effectiveness: Moderate to high on undecided parties
• Time to implement: Medium: the time to draw up the columns
• Fields of application: Sales, Decision support, Management, Mediation
• Synonyms: Pro/con assessment, Balance sheet close, Moral algebra
• Tags: closing, Benjamin Franklin, pros and cons, decision support, asymmetry

The Franklin close gives the undecided person a rational framework and the feeling of deciding for themselves, which lifts the paralysis of choice. Its real power comes from the asymmetry of assistance: the seller carries the advantages column while the buyer faces the reservations alone. The visual imbalance makes the conclusion appear obvious. Its weakness is symmetrical: it requires genuine advantages, failing which the "for" column stays short and works against the seller.

Reserve it for rational undecideds who want to weigh things up before deciding, and when the real advantages are numerous. Avoid it if the offer has few concrete benefits (the column would stay short), when facing an analytical buyer who will restore the balance, or as an over-insistent device: forcing the table on someone who does not want it comes across as a schoolroom, pressuring manoeuvre that harms the sale.

Recognise it: you are invited to list pros/cons, with abundant help on the "pros" and left alone on the "cons". Neutralise it: weight each line (a deal-breaking drawback counts more than ten minor advantages) and demand symmetrical assistance on the risks. Turn it around: build a substantial "against" column yourself (hidden costs, alternatives, dependency) to rebalance the scales.

The Franklin close tips into manipulation when the asymmetry of assistance becomes a falsification: artificially inflating the advantages, minimising or concealing the real risks, or presenting a biased table as neutral support. Ethics require fair information on both columns and respect for the right of withdrawal. The risk of pressure through false objectivity is real when dealing with people who grant "paper" an unearned authority.

It is a form of the decisional balance pro/con. It combines with the Summary close (the "for" column recaps the agreed benefits) and with the Trial close. A cousin of the weighted decision matrix, its rigorous version. It stands opposed to emotional closes and to closing under pressure, betting instead on the appearance of rationality.

• Benjamin Franklin, "Letter to Joseph Priestley" (the "moral algebra" method), 1772.
• Frank Bettger, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling, 1947.
• Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling, 1982.

• Help an undecided counterpart out of decisional paralysis by making the whole set of arguments for and against visible and comparable, on a single medium.
• Steer the decision towards "yes" by having a more amply co-built "advantages" column than the "drawbacks" column, the visual imbalance serving as apparent proof.
• Surface hidden objections: the "cons" the customer writes themselves reveal the real barriers to address before closing.
• Engage the counterpart through writing and active participation (commitment effect): what they have listed themselves is harder to disown afterwards.
• Give the decision an appearance of rationality and method, which reduces post-purchase remorse and secures the agreement over time.

Everyday life · Franklin's letter to Joseph Priestley (1772): The origin of the technique is authentically documented: on 19 September 1772, Benjamin Franklin replies to the chemist Joseph Priestley, who is hesitating over whether to accept a post with Lord Shelburne. Franklin describes to him his method of "moral or prudential algebra": divide a sheet into two columns (For / Against), record the arguments over several days, then cross out arguments of equivalent weight on each side until it becomes clear which way the balance tips. Franklin notes that the point is not mathematical precision, but having the whole set of considerations before one's eyes at the same time, which prevents changes of mind due to selective memory. It is this letter, real and preserved, that twentieth-century American sales schools turned into a closing technique.

Commercial · Representative scenario: the car salesman and the two-column sheet: Typical scenario (representative, unattributed): at the end of a meeting, a customer is hesitating over a vehicle. The salesman takes out a sheet, draws two columns and suggests: "Let's do as Benjamin Franklin did: let's list together the reasons for and the reasons against." He actively helps the customer fill in the "For" column (fuel consumption, warranty, resale value, a convincing test drive, and so on), which quickly reaches eight or ten lines, then falls silent while the customer looks for the "Against" reasons alone, finding only two or three. The salesman concludes: "The answer seems to speak for itself, doesn't it?" The strength of the device lies in the asymmetric visual; its weakness is that the customer may perceive the manipulation if the salesman feeds one column and not the other too visibly.

• Ostentatiously feeding the "For" column while staying silent on the "Against": as soon as the asymmetry is perceived, the technique looks like a sleight of hand and destroys trust.
• Brushing aside or minimising the objections the customer enters in the "Against" column instead of treating them seriously: an unaddressed objection resurfaces after signing (buyer's remorse, withdrawal).
• Producing the sheet too early, before completing a full needs discovery: the list of "Pros" then rings hollow because it does not reflect the customer's real criteria.
• Confusing the number and the weight of arguments: ten anecdotal "Pros" do not outweigh a single major "Con" (budget exceeded, spouse's veto); Franklin himself crossed out arguments by equivalence of weight, not by counting them.
• Using the device mechanically and datedly ("the old car-salesman trick") with a savvy buyer or in sophisticated B2B, where it is better reframed as a cost/benefit analysis or a shared decision matrix.

• Benjamin Franklin (1772) Letter to Joseph Priestley of 19 September 1772 ("moral or prudential algebra") The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 19, Yale University Press (1975 ed.); available on franklinpapers.org
• Zig Ziglar (1984) Secrets of Closing the Sale Revell / Berkley Books, chapter devoted to the "Ben Franklin close" (balance sheet close), a classic reference of American selling
• Robert B. Cialdini (1984) Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion William Morrow, the commitment and consistency principle, the psychological mechanism underlying the list co-written by the customer