Transcript / MP3
Oftentimes you probably end up as, call it like the nice guy where you leave the prospect feeling like, wow, you were so generous with your time with me that I actually feel like I don’t even need you right now.For three years, my agency built funnels and automation systems for the biggest names in marketing today. Since then, I’ve transformed that agency into a hyper profitable training and consulting business. While everyone is out there talking about scale like it’s some sort of destination. We’ll be asking the real question, how do you transform your business into a more scalable model using the knowledge, skills, and expertise that you already have? This podcast is here to give you the answer. Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share the strategies I’m using to build my multimillion-dollar business. My name is Greg Hickman and welcome to Scalable. What’s going on guys? So like I said, I wanted to pop in here. I’m kind of prepping for a day full of coaching calls and something that I know I’ve been working on personally is sales. And I know a handful of you are making your way through the training right now and diving into the consultative close. And those of you that are probably are noticing that the style of closing is probably a little bit different than you’re likely used to coming from the agency world and or to service provider world where you have multiple calls, you do audits and you’re, you actually do work before you even sign the deal. Then you go back and forth in the proposal process and it can kind of be a little bit lengthy and oftentimes you probably end up as call it like the nice guy where you leave the prospect feeling like, wow, yeah, you were so generous with your time with me that I actually feel like I don’t even need you right now. I can do it myself. And in many ways, because you gave away too much on in the call and the sales conversation, they probably undervalue you. And I don’t know if that’s been you in the sales conversation, but when you get to the consultative close, you’re going to see something probably that is new to you. And, uh, I want to kind of take you through a couple of things that I think are really, really important as you guys start having sales conversations and even if you’ve had a hundred sales conversations, something that you need to keep in mind as you have more. And this is coming from a place for me in that, uh, you know, about a year ago we had brought on a sales person. He was selling for us for a long story short, it didn’t work out for a handful of reasons. Um, and I’m right now back on the phone and I’m going through my own sales training. I actually hired a sales coach and I’m going through a training with him and really uncovering a lot of different principles, a lot of little tweaks to things that I’ve already taught you in the consultative close, the things that we’ll introduce in, um, you know, foundations 3.0 and that rolls out later this year. But the, the thing that I really want to cover is this notion of leadership based selling. And I’ve talked about, you know, how you need to be a leader on these calls often, but I think it’s very easy for, for us, uh, as a, as agency owners, as service providers too, get into a state where all we can think about is needing the sale. And that obviously shows up on the call, uh, and probably pushes you into some of the possible types of sales styles that maybe aren’t what you normally would like to be possibly the pushy car salesman type person. Um, and, or using really sleazy sales tactics, um, that you might have come across across the interwebs. But the thing is, if you guys, you know, think back to when you were on the call with me, how you felt and the conversation that we had. And I know many of you have, uh, also commented on how that was a different style of conversation than you’re used to. And you know, you felt like we actually cared because we do and asked a lot of questions and uncovered some things. And the reason that I’ve kind of really wanted to share this today specifically is I had a sales call yesterday with a prospect that submitted an application and you know, based on how we read applications, which is something I’m not going into in in this video, is that normally I would have not gotten on the call with him, but there were a few things that kind of spoke to me about his application and it I felt called to speak with this person and, and lead him. And this leads me into leadership based selling and the style and approach that you guys need to have when you get on the call so that you can really close deals without proposals. Uh, in many cases. Now I know some of you are in, um, niches and markets and industries that is all still have to send proposals, but you’ll be able to dramatically streamline the sales process, shorten the sales cycles, et cetera, by following this process and your prospects will actually feel taken care of. And that’s really treating your prospects like their clients. And that’s a part of where this leadership based selling component comes in is really understanding, you know, what actually is the problem that they have and identifying can you even help? And I know as agency owners, the reason many of you guys are here is because you would keep offering new services or adding new services to the plate just to get the client. And that is not something that you’re going to be doing moving forward as you dial in your productized offering in your signature services dialed in. And so what I really want to cover is a few things. One, I jumped on this call very well knowing that this person was not a fit based on the application. Uh, but long story short, I felt like I need to get on the phone with him based on the things that he shared in the application to make sure he wasn’t going to get burned in the future by someone else that was going to be sleazy and or whatever. So I got into the call. And the first thing I think that’s really important for all of you to understand is you need to go into all of these calls disconnecting from the fact that you’re trying to close them. I know that sounds hard, but you are not there to sell. You are there to lead and once you can get that mindset through and adopt it, you will show up as an entirely different person on these conversations and you’ll actually be a value. And when you’re a value you will be able to guide them to the best decision. So there are really three rules. Anyway, I’ll come back to this story, but the three rules of sales that I’ve learned through working with coaches and mentors really rang true in, really rang true in all of my conversations and many of my conversations with you, many of you that are in the program now, if you can think back to our our sales conversation is the first thing is that it is your job to do what ever is in the prospect’s best interest. And again, if you’re thinking like the prospect is like your client, then think of it like you’re actually coaching them or you’re serving them. You need to do on that call, whatever is in their best interest. Interesting, right? That means that it might mean not closing them or not enrolling them on that first call or maybe even for a few months based on what you uncover in the sales conversation. So one, you have to disconnect from the sale, but really the, which is going to have you show up like a true leader, but the first rule, the first real rule of the sales conversation is it is your job to do whatever is in the prospect’s best interest. Now, the second rule is whatever is in their best interest is almost always outside of their comfort zone. Thus, in many cases, enrolling your program or hiring you for your services, we’ll be outside of their comfort zone. Maybe they’re on the cusp of having enough money or a, it’s something different than they’ve ever done before. As you guys start selling done with you, you will see this. It’s something that many of the prospects you speak with might not fully grasp at first. So when you’re having these conversations, your first job is to do whatever is in their best interest. But you also need to know that the second rule is that whatever, what they’re, what is in their best interest is likely going to be outside their comfort zone. And then the third thing is that they will fight tooth and nail practically to the death to stay inside of their comfort zone. So that creates an interesting situation for the co for the call, right? Um, which is why you need to follow the, the current consultative close process that we have in the training. But you really need to diagnose the problem, uncover why solving this problem is important to them. Identify the cost. And I’m not going to go into all of those things because it’s in the training. Um, and we’re going to be adding new layers to this training here, uh, by the end of the year. But the, the key here is that you have to understand that your job is to do what’s in their best interest. And it is likely outside of their comfort zone and they will fight tooth and nail to stay inside their comfort zone. So some of you, I won’t call out your name specifically knew that you needed to be in this program yet you wanted to sleep on it and a few of you, I did not let off the hook to go sleep on it. I wasn’t sleazy. I did lean into it a little bit. Right? And you actually came back and thanked me afterwards for doing it. Now some of you actually, you did need to go sleep on it because you needed to go talk to someone else and you actually had a legitimate reason and I felt like to push you in that moment would have not been in your best interest. Right? So it’s unique every single time. And that’s why you need to really pay attention on these calls is understanding what is in their best interest. Because if it is in their best interest for you to essentially enroll them in that conversation and get them to move forward in that moment, it’s going to be outside their comfort zone. But it is in their best interest. Right. Also, sometimes it might be saying, Hey, I’m like my call yesterday. Hey, here’s what I think you should do and I don’t think you should be spending any money on coaching programs or anything right now. I think you need to get your revenue up to this because of your current situation. Um, or else you’re probably going to have to go get a full time job and you’ve already told me you don’t want to do that, which is also an option. But if you can do these things, you should be able to get to the point where you’d be able to get in this program. And the person was extremely thankful and for that I went in knowing that one from when I read the app that I wasn’t, I was already disconnected from the sale. I just wanted to lead this person to the best path for them so they could be comfortable with feeling that. Like they knew what they needed to do and they were equipped to do it versus having to go invest money that they didn’t have in order to pull it off. And I can guarantee you that at some point this person will come back into our world in possibly early as two weeks if they actually do what I shared. I’m probably ready to enroll because it would have worked. Um, maybe it’ll take, take them a little bit longer, but I would, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this person showed back up, um, you know, within the next 90 days and became a client B because I deferred and didn’t let him in now because it wasn’t in his best interest to sign up. Right. So the moral of the story here is, I know many of you are hungry for sales, we all are. But at the end of the day, you need to show up as a leader in your business, a leader to your clients and a leader to your prospects because that is what will ultimately lead to the correct expectations set for when they come into work with you. And into your products, your programs and your services. And it all starts from the sales conversation, right? If they felt taken care of there and that you added value but you led them to what was best for them, they can be a lifelong client for sure. But if you use sleazy sales tactics and you push them because that’s what you were taught because you have to get the sale, I think you’re going to lose a lot of opportunities and you’re probably going to become someone that you actually don’t like. So I’m not saying you shouldn’t close people. What I’m saying is you need to do what’s in their best interest. What is in their best interest is going to be outside their comfort zone and they will fight tooth and nail. Now as you diagnose on the con, on these conversations, using the process we teach in the training, you’ll need to really uncover if this person should be in the program right now and that is the best solution for them. If it is not the best solution, you do not enroll them. And that is leadership based selling. So that’s what I wanted to share with you today. Um, it was kind of hot on my mind from some of the conversations I’ve been having recently, some of which I’ve had with you guys. And I know as you get into selling more of these programs, this is a skill that like all skills you will need to work on and put in the reps. repetition, repetition, repetition. I had three conversations yesterday and all three of them after I did my kind of self reflection, I saw opportunities where I messed up and I could improve some calls. I’m great. Some calls I’m like, man, I’ve got to go back and work on some of those fundamentals. And I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of calls at this point. I don’t know how many sales calls you’ve done in your past in your history, but if this is a new style of sales conversation for you, one, I think it’s going to feel a lot different and feel a lot better. But to know that it’s going to take many, many reps to get it right, but the reps are going to help you become a better leader and also enroll more clients that are going to be the perfect fit for your products and services. So hope you found this helpful. If you’re enjoying this, if you liked it, please leave a comment. Give it a like, uh, and I will talk to you guys later. If I give you five to 10 new clients, would you or your agency break if so, your current agency model is broken? I struggle with this too, until I found a better way. By adding online programs, training, and coaching to our agency, we doubled profits without adding more hours. If you want to work directly with me and my team to transform your agency, visit myscalablebusiness.com to learn more.
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