You don't need a sales pitch. You need a Sales Process.

Whenever I ask language teachers about their sales process things get a little bit fuzzy.

"I guess a video call or email, find out what they want, their budget and then proposal/quote"...or something along those lines.

I used to be in that exact same boat making the same mistake so many keep on doing:

either don’t have a sales process OR rely on tactics and mind game to close a sale.

I was coasting on about 95% hope and 5% strategy, and I probably closed about 5% of the people I spoke to...

It was super stressful, and made my business feel very precarious.

A process like the one above might work with a word of mouth lead - as they already know who you are and trust you to deliver results. ??

When it comes to cold leads...

If it’s just a matter of “find out what they want + quote”, a LOT of these leads won’t turn into clients….

…..and when they do, probably not at the price point you really want.

Now there are a number of reasons leads typically don’t turn into clients:

• They might not be ready for what you’re offering at this point in time.
• They might not have a budget.

But if they need you and DO have the budget then something else is going wrong.

?? Either they don’t trust you to deliver the results they need,

OR

?? They can’t connect the price you’re charging with the value your work will create for their businesses.

Don’t stress at the minute if all of this sounds eerily familiar, and you’re often getting potential clients drop off, ghost on price, say they have no budget, or saying no to your proposals.

There are ways to deal with all of these scenarios without being salesy or pitching - simply by having a clear process in place that efficiently qualifies, educates and nurtures leads as they come in. ??

Now, I’m not a sales goorooo or approaching sales mastery (yet), but using these methods I increased my sales close rate by roughly 400% in less than 3 weeks, and now close over 40% of cold leads at a premium price point.

Most teachers aren’t doing this yet and are still falling back on old methods of pitching that are:

?? Outdated and salesy mind games

??All come down to price

??Or fall back on the quality of appearances/personality (i.e. if they like my style then they’ll choose me).?

So by putting in place a process like this you’ll instantly differentiate yourself from others in your field and land more students, more consistently.

Anyway, here’re 7 tips to help you easily turn more leads and enquiries into paying clients at higher price points without really ‘selling’ at all.?

Tip 1: Whenever a lead or enquiry message comes in. Respond with a video straight away. ???

I use Loom, which is probably my fave Chrome extension to do this as it let’s you record your screen and camera at the same time.

I open up their email/message (wherever the enquiry or response came from) on my browser, and send them a lil video message saying: “hey NAME, thanks a lot for your interest, this sounds like a really exciting project, would love to have a chat to see if I’d be a good fit to help you!” Then email them the link + a short written message.?

They get to see your face, you build trust straight away, and they’ll be WAY more inclined to get on a call with you and discuss things.?

Tip 2: Book in a face to face IMMEDIATELY. ??

Do not, I repeat DO NOT get into a text-based back and forth to find out info and discuss needs etc...you’ll be wasting time and make this opportunity more unlikely to convert.?

ALL selling, especially price delivery, should happen face to face, but we’ll get to that later.?

Text-based conversations are very likely to drop off, extremely inefficient time wise, and you miss a huge opportunity to build trust and to qualify prospective clients.?

Tip 3: Don’t sell on the first interaction. ???

Most people come into a sales call scenario expecting to be pitched and sold to. Not getting into a sales discussion on this first meeting is really powerful, and builds a huge amount of trust with prospective clients.?

The very first call should be a 10 minute qualifying call. Find out why they’re there, what their most pressing needs are, what they wanna achieve, and if they want to achieve it now.

If they say it’s a later thing then there’s no need to go beyond this qualifying stage. ??

You can also use this qualifying call to get a flavour for budget. There are a number of ways to go about this, but the important thing is you want to get a flavour for if they have the ca$h to afford you at this early stage to save you pitching a Penniless Peter later on.?

Pitching to people who can’t afford you is bad for your mindset and eats up your time, which is valuable af, so screen them off at the outset.??

If they also have a fixed budget in mind - this is the time to find out.

Before getting off the first call, make sure to book in a longer consultation 24-48 hours out (if they qualify of course). Before you leave any interaction, if the person seems a good fit, have another touch point booked in. It’s on you to set deadlines and keep momentum going!

Tip 4: Use the time between calls to educate and nurture the lead.?

This is MASSIVE and where most of the magic happens. ??♂??

So after the lead has qualified themselves to work with you (they need what you offer, they have money or a budget you can work with, and are ready to move forward if you have the right solution), book in a second longer appointment to go in depth on their needs and work out the solution you can offer them.

Between calls, I send them a questionnaire for them to fill out, I also give them videos to watch that educate them about the services I provide, and the kind of clients I work with.

I also educate them on why things are priced the way they are, so while they don’t know what I’m gonna charge them specifically yet, they’ll have a sense of the logic behind what I charge before we even get to a quote.?

Along with the educational videos, there are also testimonial videos for them to watch before our first proper ‘consultation’. This will increase the amount of trust 10000000 fold and get them very warm to what you offer before your sales call.

If you have a Facebook group, email list, or other channels, get them to join/like/subscribe at this stage too, so they are totally immersed in your world and ecosystem.

P.s: This is mine, in case you want to join our community and get Live Training:

TIP 5: Use your consultation time to listen and diagnose. ??

The power of listening in a sales environment is huge. Avoid talking about yourself, just ask questions, let them speak, and see if you can help.?

In terms of questions, you want to find out:

? where they’re currently at,?

? where they want to get to,?

? what they feel they need, and why they feel they need it?

? any challenges they’re currently experiencing.?

Only when you know where they’re at atm, any roadblocks, and what they want to achieve, will you be able to offer them the right solution to get them there.?

Once you have all of that info, show them an example of someone who you helped achieve similar results to the ones they want + offer them a choice of 2 options, and give them either an exact quote or a ballpark figure for each.

Tell them you’ll send them over a summary of the quote/proposal, and BOOK IN A FOLLOW UP WITHIN THE NEXT 24-48 HOURS TO GO OVER ANY QUESTIONS.

Make sure this follow up isn’t positioned as getting a yes or no from them. You want to completely take the pressure off it, and frame it as a chance to discuss the proposal.?

Don’t leave it too long either - make sure the call is 24-48 hours away, or the minimum acceptable time frame, they need to reach a decision. They shouldn’t need weeks to decide if you’re a good choice for them, so just get it done.

The reason we wanna give them a choice of options is that it moves the question away from “do I want to work with this person: yes or no?” to “which option is best for me at the moment?” This is a game changer, as people love to have choices that aren’t just straight yes’s and no’s.

This doesn’t have to be two different service options, it could be a paid in full or instalment plan, retainer or upfront, etc… the point is, give them things to choose from, rather than just a yes or no.

If you’re able to give an exact quote at this stage, because of the trust you’ve built, many people will be ready to move forward without moving to a follow up call. ???

Others will need time to go over things (particularly if you are selling at a high price point). This is fine - give them all the info and let them make an informed decision.

TIP 6: Use the time between calls to nurture all over again.?

Send them a basic breakdown of what you’re offering as a pdf AND record a video walkthrough on Loom. Trust me, it will help.

You can and should also use this opportunity to nurture them further, and keep the momentum going.?

Set them action items, for example, to watch more testimonial videos or some other relevant material, and to begin completing an onboarding activity for you (being presumptuous here is fine - treat it like it’s already a yes.)

Tip 7: Use the follow up call to get a yes, no, or book in another follow up within the minimum acceptable timeframe. DO NOT LEAVE THINGS HANGING.

I typically start my final call by asking them if they made it through the materials OK, and asking if they had any questions about my proposal. Then I?ask them what they think the next steps should be.

Usually by this stage it’s a no brainer. They’ll give a yes, tell you which option they wanna move forward with, and you take full payment or a deposit, however you go about things.???

If they need more time to discuss with someone they haven’t been able to reach for example, then book in another follow up before you get off the call.?

If they have a lot of questions here and you give them a lot more to think on, then booking in another follow up is totally fine too.

But, anyone serious about working with you should be willing to move forward at this stage, and the ones that aren’t, will likely be very warm to you and consider working with you in future.

Now if you’ve got this far I hope you’ve found a HEAP of value and simple tweaks that will make a BIG difference to your current sales process. ??

As always, if you have any questions/feedback leave them below, happy to connect and help.

If you did find value here, please leave some love in the comments and let me know... Standardly took me aaaaaaages :)

Hope that helps you create an language/education business that is financially viable, sustainable and fulfilling.

As always, thank you for reading this, and let’s all go close more sales!

Cheers! Gydion ????

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