Episode 35. Tips for Your Next Sales Call
Cheryl Lau
Podcaster | Coaching entrepreneurs to build a substantial and compelling body of work
Note: This episode was released on June 1, 2021
In This Episode:
P.S. You can tune into the full episode of the Side Hustle Club Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or online HERE
What Happens When You Make The Sales Process About Yourself, Instead Of Helping Your Prospective Clients
This sort of anxiety will usually happen because you’re making the sales process about you, rather than you genuinely wanting to help the other person achieve their goals and change their life.?
When you’re so focused on trying to sign a paying client, that’s usually stemming from your own self-focused desire to hit a?5k or 10k month .?
Or so you can show off that you have a new client on Instagram.
When you’re focused on these self-serving thoughts, what energy do you think it gives off? Especially on a sales call?
More specifically, when you go into a sales call with that goal in mind, what type of energy do you think the prospective client gets from you??
How can you expect them to feel like you genuinely care about their situation and helping them achieve results?
Likewise, how can you expect yourself to listen attentively on a sales call when you’re so focused on self-serving motivations??
As a coach, one big part of your job is to listen closely to the client so you can identify what’s actually going on and keep them from moving forward towards their goals.?
It doesn’t matter if it’s an actual client call or a sales call. Both require you to be fully present so you can analyze what the other person is telling you and identify any gaps that are holding them back. Then offer something else for them to consider or a possible solution for them to act upon.?
If you’re clearly showing signs that you’re distracted or desperately trying to close a sale, and overall not listening as a coach should, how can the other person trust that you will be fully present for them if they were to work with you?
Another common issue that comes up for coaches and entrepreneurs is that they’re worried about coming off as salesy or pushy.?
This problem is due to how many of us have had negative experiences where the seller was trying really hard to get us to buy something, and it made us feel super uncomfortable. Irrespective of whether it was something we wanted.
Because the salesperson made us feel so uncomfortable, we didn’t even want to buy the product even if we wanted to.
It’s really important to remember that we, as consumers, really like to buy things that improve our lives and make us feel good.?
It doesn’t matter if it’s a necessity or not.?
If we want something, we want something.?
As long as it benefits our life in some way, shape or form.?
Or maybe it’s something that eliminates a pain point or helps us achieve a desired result, it doesn’t matter.?
If we want it, we’re willing to buy it.
So, what does this mean in the context of your business?
It means that the prospective client gets to decide for themselves whether they want your coaching program or the transformation you offer.?
The way you can help them make that decision is first through your content, which articulates the value of your offer.
Second, through your sales call, where you answer questions and address any potential objections that they may have, especially if they genuinely want to work with you but have some hesitations.?
How To Avoid Coming Off As Desperate Or Salesy
If you give off desperate or pushy energy in your content or sales call, then it doesn’t matter whether they want to join your program.?
Because they are sensing that energy from you, and that’s a turn off for them.?
This is exactly why it’s so important to work on your own thoughts and mindset from the very beginning, so that you stop focusing on trying to close the sale.
Instead focus on what actually matters aka giving value via your content or being fully present on the sales call.
What can you do to be fully present on a call??
First it’s important to remember that the reason someone hopped on a sales call with you in the first place is because you provided value through your content.?
They recognize the value of your offer or the value of working with you.?
That’s why they even agreed to hop on a sales call in the first place.?
Remember that they genuinely are thinking about working with you.?
However, when your mind is so focused on, “Omg, I need to sign this client.”. That energy is clear to the other person.
The second thing to keep in mind is that your goal on this sales call isn’t to push.?
It’s not to convince or sell.?
Instead, your only goal is to serve.
Now, when I say serve, I don’t mean giving them personalized advice and strategy on their unique situation.?
Instead, I will coach on the sales call.?
Meaning we’ll coach on their thoughts.?
So, if I am sensing any discrepancies in what they’re telling me and what they’re doing, I will bring it to their attention.?
If there are any misconceptions that are holding them back, I will call their attention to it.?
If there are any limiting beliefs that are clearly keeping them from moving forward, I will call them out on it.?
That’s what I mean by coaching on the sales call.?
However, what I will not do is provide personalized strategy to their business because I do not have sufficient information from a single 45-minute call alone.?
If I were to provide advice about strategy, that would be doing them a disservice because it would give the impression that this is all the advice they need to move forward, when in fact I don’t even know yet the full picture of their business to give my best feedback.
Allow For A Coaching Conversation To Happen
I will offer coaching on my sales call if it comes up, but I will refrain from touching on their business strategy.?
When it comes to coaching on sales calls, the thing to keep in mind is that when a prospect tells you what they’re struggling with, there’s likely an underlying root cause that’s causing their current struggle.?
The reason they gave you on the surface is more likely than not the actual reason why they’re not getting the results that they want.?
For example, a common thing I hear from prospects who are struggling with selling their offer and signing clients is that they are really worried about their prospects saying no to them, which in turn leads them to feel pressured to be a certain way or to say certain things like follow a sales script on sales calls.?
Instead of really listening attentively on the sales call and trying to understand the prospect.?
For people who share this with me on the sales call, I’d ask them, “Why is it that you feel like you have to rely on a sales script or you have to say the right things?”.?
Usually, they will say it’s because they want to sign the client.?
Then, I’d ask, “Why do you want to sign that client?”.?
I’d keep asking why again, and again and again, until we get to the root cause, which is generally something related to their thoughts or limiting beliefs about themselves.?
When we get to that point, that’s when we’re truly able to diagnose the problem and start coaching them through it on the call.?
Now they’re able to see that and they go, “You know what, now that I see an alternative way of looking at this situation, I see what’s possible for me on the other side.”.
This is why being able to listen closely and diagnose the prospect’s current situation and problems is really important.?
Because that’s when you can coach them through that block and also demonstrate your skills as a coach and help them see what’s possible for them now that they have this newfound awareness.
When you open the opportunities to allow for a coaching conversation to happen, this also allows you to see whether this is someone you want to work with.?
Because at the end of the day, a sales call isn’t just for them to make a decision about working with you, but it’s also for you to make a decision about working with them.?
For example, I’ve had several instances where I actually turned down the client either during or after the call because I realized this isn’t someone who I could truly support and provide the best coaching experience for.?
Whether it’s because of a misalignment in energy and personality, or maybe because their business goals or values just aren’t aligned with my own.?
It happens, and it’s totally fine.
Ultimately it’s important to stay in integrity in your business, and this will also reduce any potential friction that may occur when you start working together but realize it wasn’t a good fit to begin with.
Pricing Your Offer
Now let’s talk about pricing.?
You may have a lot of thoughts about your own pricing.?
More likely than not, you think your prices are too high.?
First of all, if the transformation you’re offering has a very low price for a high value transformation, people may associate your offer with lower quality compared to others who are selling a similar offer but at a higher price point.
This is because there’s a discrepancy in the price and the value you’re promising.?
The price isn’t reflective of the value you’re promising, and it makes people skeptical about the value you’re actually going to deliver.?
If you’re discounting from your original price, what happens is that people will perceive this as your lack of confidence in your offer.?
Because the thing is, if you know you can give value and help them achieve a transformation, it doesn’t look good when you discount your pricing.
It can definitely affect the way people perceive the value of your offer.?
And it could actually be detrimental to how people perceive your offer.?
Pricing, in a way, connotes value.
So if you know you’re offering a transformation that is of value, then I’d argue that you need to have a price that reflects that value.?
If you were truly confident in your offer, you wouldn’t discount it.
Another thing about discounting is that when you break your offer into smaller pieces, you’re not helping them achieve the full transformation with your full process.??
In the end, they aren’t gonna get the best results possible from working with you and later, they will have to piece together everything else.?
This means you’re doing the client a disservice by only giving them either mediocre results or incomplete results, simply because you were afraid of rejection or feel like you can’t overcome the objection on the sales call.?
This is really important to keep in mind if you’re ever thinking of discounting your program by offering a smaller offer.
领英推荐
Secondly, price is a neutral number which we attach meaning to.?
Seriously.?
It’s just a number, and many people are making it mean all sorts of things.?
Such as making assumptions about other people’s financial capacity.?
One of the things I always tell my clients is to not make assumptions about whether someone will buy or not.?
And definitely do not make assumptions about whether someone can pay for it or not.?
It’s not up to you to make judgments and assumptions about someone else and their financial situation.
Third, if you do come across a price related objection on a sales call, it’s important to?empower them to make their own decisions.?
But don’t automatically just empathize with their price objection or agree with their objections.?
When you do so, you’re contributing to their limiting belief that it’s not possible for them to get a return on their investment.?
Instead, focus on the possibilities and the transformation that’s possible from working with you.?
Because for every objection people have, there’s someone else doing it.?
Don’t believe their stories.?
You need to remind them that you got them and you fully believe that you can help.?
Ultimately, empower them to decide for themselves.?
Don’t limit the prospect with your own limiting beliefs.?
See the potential in the prospect and help them see the potential in themselves and see what’s possible for them.?
That’s the energy I want you to go into the sales call with and leave the sales call with.
Your Belief In The Value Of Your Offer And Why That Matters
When it comes to selling your offer with confidence, no matter the price point of your offer, you first need to be selling a quality offer or experience through your coaching or services.?
That’s a given.?
You need to sell an offer that actually offers a high value transformation for your clients, and a transformation that your ideal clients will find tremendous value from.?
Because when you know this is exactly what your specific ideal clients need, then it’s easier to show up with confidence and enthusiasm when you talk about your offer and articulate the value of it to your specific ideal clients.
Now, let’s think about why you as a consumer buy.?
For example, what is something you’d really like to buy? Why is buying important to you??
How would you treat this thing differently if you were to invest money into it versus if you were to have gotten it for free?
Let’s take for example, a really nice bag. Or a nice car. Or even a nice paper planner.?
It doesn’t matter what it is, to be honest.?
But just imagine something really nice and is considered an investment, especially when there are supposedly cheaper alternatives on the market.?
When you invest in this particular item, chances are, you’re gonna take more care of this item to preserve the quality and longevity of it.?
Because you literally invested in it.?
On the other hand, if you were to get a mediocre quality bag or car or paper planner, the result at the end of the next three or six months would probably look different.?
For example, maybe you stop using the item, or maybe you don’t take care of it and its condition gets noticeably worn down.
This applies to your coaching or services.?
If people tried to do something on their own, six months later their results are very different than if they had gotten help and invested in your offer, which would have offered the exact transformation that they were looking for.?
When your clients are invested, they are also committed to creating the results themselves.?
They don’t merely want the transformation you offer but they’re committed to creating the transformation and making sure it happens.?
Whereas if they hadn’t invested, they might try something, but they do it half-heartedly.?
And when the results don’t match up with their expectations because they weren’t even showing up fully in the first place, they’re more likely to quit and never get the results in the end.??
Your role as a coach, for example, is to literally push your client out of their comfort zone, even if they want to give up.?
That’s how you help your clients get results.
You hold them to their highest standard and don’t baby them or pat them on the head.
You actually hold them accountable to their own goals.
Growth is ultimately uncomfortable, and clients will have to go through uncomfortable things to get to the results they want.?
Otherwise, if it wasn’t uncomfortable, they would have gotten the results a long time ago.
More often than not, you can only push yourself to be uncomfortable to a certain extent.
That’s why when they invest their money in your coaching program, for example, the client is investing in their own commitment to their results.
They’re investing in a compressed timeline towards their results because you’re providing them a personalized solution instead of them wasting time trying to do it on their own and giving up in the end.
They’re also investing in the support, resilience, and consistency that’s necessary for their growth.?
Because without these, they’ll once again give up simply when things get even remotely uncomfortable.
Now, I want you to think of reasons why you yourself buy or why your clients buy because once you know the value of what you’re offering, then it’s easier to communicate the value of your offer to your audience and ideal clients.?
This helps you feel more assured in what you’re selling and more confidence in how you can help, which ultimately influences the energy in which you show up when you sell.?
People will spend money when they see the value, so you need to show them the value and articulate it in an energy that backs up what you’re saying.?
Because when you don’t believe in what you’re selling or why people should invest in your program, you aren’t going to show up in an energy that compels people to learn more about what you’re offering.?
This self belief and energy piece do matter.?
Ultimately, people just want to know how you can help, what’s possible after they work with you, and whether you genuinely believe in what you’re selling.?
When those pieces are in the place, the right people will say yes to working with you.
How To Show Up In Your Best Energy And Mindset Even If Prospective Clients Say “No.”
Even though growing your business and signing clients 100% does matter for your business, something I want to challenge you to think about is: How can you show up in your best energy and best mindset, even if they don’t buy??
How can you still show up as the best version of yourself on a sales call, no matter what the outcome is??
How can you detach from the outcome?
This is the energy I want you to go into all your sales calls with.?
Because the truth is, you’re selling an amazing offer.?
You know the value of your offer.?
If so, show up in a way that reflects it.?
The energy behind your words and behaviors matter.?
It can come off as honest and genuine, or super desperate and uncertain.?
I want you to always show up as your best self and give value on the sales call, no matter the outcome.?
Remember: Sales comes from giving value, meaning you have to give value before others sign on to work with you.?
Have confidence in yourself irrespective of whether the prospect says yes or no.?
Have full belief and confidence in your own abilities to get results for clients once they work with you.?
Get really clear on this before any sales call or even before selling on Instagram.?
This is important because, otherwise, the lack of confidence and belief will show up as you feeling like you’re selling something people don’t want.?
But the thing is – you wouldn’t sell something that you know isn’t of value in the first place!
Remember that people will say no to the wrong offer.?
If it’s not the right offer for them today, you still need to keep showing up so that one day, when the offer is right for someone, they’ll say yes.?
Keep showing up and keep giving value.?
There’s nothing wrong with you or your offer.?
In fact, your offer isn’t just something nice to have.?
It matters for the long run because of the transformation you’ll help clients achieve.?
The changes you provide to your clients are long term.?
Your offer is not optional for your ideal clients and audience.?
There’s an urgent pain point you solve for them.?
You’re helping them through your process so they can sustainably do it for themselves for the long term. It’s not a short term solution.
You’re providing the tools and resources that will sustain through time.?
So keep showing up, keep giving value, and keep selling your offer.
Sounds good? Awesome. Let's get to work.
Thought Leadership Strategy Audit
- Audit the 9 parts of your thought leadership strategy
- Identify the specific areas you can improve on to build a substantial and compelling body of work
Get the free audit here: https://cheryltheory.com/audit