Is Your Sales Methodology Hurting You?

"Prospect, qualify, close..."

That's what I was taught when I first started sales. Unfortunately, I didn't know it at the time, but it's a lie.

So 20 years ago, filled with vigor and excitement to do a good job, off I went into my magical cubicle with a manufacturers directory of all the companies in my surrounding area to start "making sales".

Since I was greener than a lizard in the Amazon jungle, I picked up the phone and started dialing the first number I came across.

I had no plan on how to "prospect".

I thought I'd just pick up the phone and dial and see what happened.

First call...

"Hello... HEI Medical Device Manufacturing company, my I help you?"

"Hey, this is Sean, is Jon there?" I asked politely.

"Could I ask who's calling please?" the receptionist asked.

"Yes of course, this is Sean Malone. I'd like to speak with Jon."

"What company are you with?"

"Global Sourcing Solutions." I said.

"He's not in." she barked (probably assuming I was a sales guy of sorts)

"Ok, when would I be able to reach him?" I asked.

"What's the call about?"

"Well, I'd like to learn if we may be a good fit to supply you with sheet metal."

Click.

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Not discouraged yet, I continued making more calls.

40 calls per day.

For several weeks.

But every time I would connect it was a convo very close to this...

Terrible results. No appointments. And no sales.

Plain and simple... I SUCKED at selling.

It wasn't until my boss came to me and threatened to fire me unless I figured it out that I started getting nervous.

I'd never been fired before, so it was new territory for me.

And the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I went home and consulted my dad who gave me some really sound advice...

"Go to the library and read a book."

So I did.

And it was that discovery of sales systems, sales coaching, and sales training that I eventually found a way to make more sales more often and create an experience that's completely "not salesy".

That's when I learned that re-setting my mental game before each sales call is the key to closing more sales and sounding less salesy and is attainable only through adopting a dis-qualification method.

You're probably thinking, how is this different from everything else I've seen?

See, most sales people are taught to qualify prospects and if they qualify then try to close them.

Using a "dis-qualification" method alters the mental state of the sales person and transforms the energy on the sales call into a magnetic connection of caring and problem solving instead of feeling salesy.

Learning to do this will force any sales pro to start from a place of "calm confidence" because they will approach every sales call as if each prospect they speak with is the 'perfect fit' to work for them, instead of assuming people are not a fit from the beginning and trying to qualify them is like climbing Mt. Everest with shorts and a tee-shirt on.

However, it wasn't until I discovered a couple professional corporate training companies had adopted this methodology many years ago and after learning it for myself, I used it to close more than $50M in deals over my career.

Since then, we've helped dozens of the best online entrepreneurs to adopt it and 2x or even 3x their revenue.

The biggest issue I've encountered is that many people have a challenging time un-learning the "qualification" method of selling and stumble through the transition.

Similar to learning a new language it takes much longer to un-learn bad habits than it does to acquire good new ones.

Unfortunately, there are only a select few of the industry giants that have adopted the 'dis-qualification' methodology and train it into their organizations.

This means there are limited resources for the average hungry b2b business owner to source true experts in the topic.

With the pandemic changing the landscape of business forever, learning to sell has become more relevant now than it's ever been before.

Over the past 20 years we've taken this 'dis-qualification' methodology and integrated it with one of the most robust selling systems on the planet.

With all our high ticket clients we've had a 100% success rate using it to grow sales, increase revenues, grow strong sales teams, and develop a culture of non-salesly professional salesmanship.

As most things are on earth, incorporating this 'dis-qualification' method into a business is way easier said than done.

THE CONCEPT:

The concept works as follows:

1. Setup a filtering criteria to build a list of 'suspects' that you believe are a fit to work with your organization.
2. Start the initial outreach process by connecting in a casual conversation and seeing if they have interest in joining your tribe (into a group) or getting on a phone call.
3. Once you have a new appointment, the suspect has changed to a prospect. And with this change, you will need to adjust your thinking to believe that the person you're about to get on the phone with is a perfect client who desperately needs your services. They will exhibit all the symptoms you search for in a call and they will have the budget to afford your services. They will also be able to pull the trigger on the next steps in moving forward with you.
4. As you enter the call, stay present and start looking for the symptoms. If you can't find them, it's the first strike towards disqualification. I personally deploy a "3 strikes and your out" policy with the call. If I find 3 things that don't fit my criteria, I stop the sales convo about my stuff. Typically I share the clarity of the actual problem they have - if it's not a sales or a prospecting problem. Then I work to either provide a referral, connect them someone that can help them solve the problem we discovered during the call, or if they have a truly unique value that could serve my tribe of Sales Ascenders, I invite them to be a guest speaker on our platform as a 'featured member spotlight'. I've found creating relationships using a "dis-qualification" method ALWAYS leads to more business and more revenue because I constantly receive abundant referral opportunities, or the prospect solves the problem they have and comes back to work with us.

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HOW TO START BUILDING A "DIS-QUALIFICATION" SYSTEM:

Getting started down this path is easy.

Grab a sticky note, and write the word "D.Q." on it and stick it next to your computer.

Right before you start your next sales conversation, remember that the person you're about to speak to is a perfect fit and it's your moral obligation to be a detective and to prove yourself wrong.

Then start the call.

You'll be amazed at how easy the convo flows off your tongue and how instantly you'll build rapport.

If you truly wanna master this style, then I'll happily invite you into our Inner Circle.

We only allow hungry b2b biz owners that may struggle with finding the right opportunities and have a desire to put a system in place that automatically floods the calendar with perfectly qualified prospects and want to master closing more deals and having way more fulfilling sales convos.

I usually find that people have a lot of interest in wanting to become a sales pro but only the hungry ones put the time in to actually learn it and get good at it.

And yes, it's work.

And yes, it's frustrating.

But I challenge you to examine the results of your business.

Perhaps you have a sales team that you know deep down you aren't getting the most out of them that you could.

Perhaps you do all the sales, and because you don't have a robust sales process or selling system to follow you get frustrated all day which leads very quickly into burnout.

Imagine if you had a "dis-qualification" method in your selling system...

After I installed it in our businesses and taught it to all of our sales force, we saw an increase of 27% more closes.

So here's the final thought about this...

Let's say you currently close around 15% of the deals you have in front of you.

What if you could increase your closes to 35%.

How many less calls would you have to take?

How much more revenue could you generate?

What would your world look like?

I can share that the dozens of high profile online entrepreneurs and b2b biz owners we've trained in this method have seen massive gains and very little loss.

So the question really becomes... what do you have to lose?

CONCLUSION:

You're probably agreeing that there isn't much of a downside potential with testing this method, right?

That's exactly how I felt when I first learned of this method. It's a continuous effort to stay the course, but the results are out of this world...

What I found throughout coaching all the Sales Ascenders in our tribe is that it usually only takes a few small tweaks to make a big difference.

If you want the fast track... here's your invite to join our fam. CLICK HERE.

Ciao for now,

-sean ??

Go. ????. Fight. ??. Win. ??.