- Systems for Business Newsletter
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- SFB Newsletter #18
Hey 👋,
Yesterday I send you an edition of the newsletter diving deep into Sales.
Inside that edition I shared how to 'pre-handle’ objections before you have a sales call.
The reason being it’s simply a much more effective way of operating. I also spoke on the
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read it…
This edition of the Systems for Business Newsletter is sponsored by my ‘LeadFLOW Implementation Program.’ For the next 29 hours I’m running an offer that give you 60% off the price of admission. The link below runs you through the offer.
In this edition we’ll talk about the call itself, and first a quick reminder of where your sales call fits into your system.
The sales system in your business is a HOT offer.
It’s not something you offer to cold leads.
It fits into your LeadFLOW in position # 4.
Not sooner.
A basic LeadFLOW might look like this.
ICE - Run a Social Media Ad to a Lead Magnet. (Guide/Resource/Cheatsheet etc)
COLD - Give Away the Resource and Collect the Email.
WARM - Newsletter.
HOT - Call Booking Application.
If you try and make a HOT OFFER to a COLD or an ICE COLD mindset - it will simply fall flat and you won’t book in many calls.
I spoke extensively about the application process yesterday… If you’ve not done so I’m really encouraging you to take the time and read it - and in fact all of the the newsletters I publish are full of the actual systems I use to build 7 figure businesses.
It’s like a business scaling book you can read for free. 🙂
Anyways - below is the system I’ve used since 2016 to close sales. I’ve used it thousands of times over the years - safe to say I’ve tested it extensively and combined with my ‘pre-handling’ strategy it’s helped me to close ~65% of sales appointments that have come into my business.
Thought of in terms of what this system is worth to me… Over a million dollars per year, and I expect the compound interest to only increase in the years to come.
On the Y axis I have energy and on the X axis I have time.
Let’s cover time on the Y axis first because it’s easier.
If you’re selling something for more than $1,000 USD with an application process you will want your sales system to be in between 45-90minutes depending on the complexity of what you sell. Throughout my testing I’ve found that to be the optimal range with 60 minutes being perfect for me.
If it’s below $1,000 you can experiment with trying to get it below 45 minutes or even automate it completely - but that’s a conversation for another day.
Let’s assume you’re selling something for more than $1,000.
If you’re doing 20-30 minute consultations/calls - double your length. I'd be certain your closing percentage will increase.
Now there’s also an issue of going too long… If you’re getting closer to 2 hours. I’ve historically seen clients who are doing this half self image problems - and they struggle to ‘close the sale.’
Test 60 minutes and optimise from there.
On the X axis I have energy - ‘not money.’
Throughout your time on the sales call your goal should be to raise the energy and my 5 step process does a great job at this…
You see - when you pitch the energy will drop off. Whenever you ask someone for money the energy will dip - the real question is - have the raised the energy between you high and the prospect high enough to still create an agreement.
The essence of sales is this. People don’t gain energy hearing about you. They gain energy when they talk about themselves.
Spend 80% of your time asking questions and 20% of your time diagnosing the problem and sharing the solution.
The 5 Sections of a Sales Appointment.
I’m not a fan of sales scripts - I’m an advocate of having a structure.
This to me is the different between being a body builder who might look good on the outside but isn’t mobile enough to wipe their own ass…
Vs…
Being a martial artist who is flexible, mobile, strong and poised enough to adapt to the situation.
Scripts are rigid - they read rigid and they don’t allow the call to flow very well.
My Structure on the other hand has just 5 basic goals - I walk through those objectives and tick them off one by one. I’m not in a rush and I’m not rigid, which allows me to flow with what’s happening on the call and build much more of a connection.
Second to this - it’s also much more enjoyable this way.
The Introduction.
The optimal length for a call introduction is anything less than 5 minutes - but Ideally 2 minutes.
In the introduction I like to do two things.
I like to confirm the context that we both have for the call. I’ll ask the client where they came from, how well they know the materials etc… I’ll also also ask where they’re from, purely because I’m interested in where people are in the world…
From there I tell them what will happen…
Something like this…
‘Ok, so we have 60 minutes together here on the call - first I want to understand more about your business and what’s going on for you now - then I want to understand your goals, where do you want to go? Once I have those two things we can spend the rest of the call building the bridge together and talking about how to get there… Sound good?’
Swap out ‘business’ for for your industry and you have my blessing to steal this simple yet insightful and authority building transition moment from the intro into the probe.
The Probe.
In my opinion the probe is the most important part of the call. This is where you do everything in your power to understand what is happening for your client right now.
This section is 100% questions.
You’re not giving advice or feedback. You’re asking questions - saying ok - then asking the next one.
The goal is to understand where the client is in their life, and what the problem may be that’s caused them to be on the phone with you.
Before every call I do - I prepare a base line of questions I want to know.
On the call itself I’ll create new ones as they come up.
This is the exact template I currently use for this;
> LINK >
At this point of the call you’ll be at least 20 minutes into the call.
Build the Picture of the Future.
Next I want to know…
What are the goals of the prospect?
Where do they want to go in their life / business…
Dan Sullivan has a great question for this that I love…
‘Let’s imagine that you and I were sitting together in 12 months time having a coffee/ a dinner / or a beer - and you’ve had an amazing year and you’ve achieved all of your goals - what are you and I celebrating?’
Again this is something you can use ‘verbatim’ in your process.
Test it.
The next thing I want to understand is the blockages…
What’s holding the client back from ‘already living the picture of the future?’
Once you know what the blockages you can spend the rest of the call removing the blockages and showing them how to achieve their goals.
At this point in the call you’ll be at least 30 minutes into the call.
The Breakthoughs.
Next we’ll work to build the bridge…
When I first started in sales - I prepared my Breakthroughs and had then ready before the call.
Today I use the suite of over 100+ Systems of Business Models, Templates, Exercises and Systems. I simply pull them up on a screen share and speak on how they could help the client to solve their problem.
Surely you’ll know by now - I’m a big advocate of developing intellectual property.
This is the best moment in your business to use it.
How do you produce results for your clients?
Develop a model and share it here. It will not only help the client to have a breakthrough but it will also build your authority at the same time.
The breakthroughs in your business will be unique to you. You have to spend time to figure out what they are.
In regards to sales this is one of the key things I help my clients to create. I can’t simply give you the answer here in the newsletter because it will be different for every client.
Now at this point - I’d like you to imagine you’ve been on the call for at least 45 minutes.
You’ve set the scene in the introduction
You’ve spent ~20 minutes asking great questions and understood where the client is in their lives.
You’ve understood their goals and what’s holding them back.
Then you’ve helped them build the bridge from where they are now to where they want to go.
This builds a lot of energy.
The simple transition point into the pitch is…
‘Do you want help with this?’
If the answer is yes you can move to the pitch. If the answer is no - you probably fucked something up at some point.
Best not to push here - Best to figure out what that is and fix it.
The Pitch
The idea behind everything we’ve been speaking about in the last two emails is to position the pitch in such a way that it’s unlikely to be rejected.
I’ve heard of countless different ways people have suggested to do this throughout the years - and in fact the majority of ‘sales education’ is based on this, which speaks to the weakness of those systems.
If you need to ‘pitch hard’ you’ve not run the process effectively.
So here is the system again for reference…
There’s a few more things I’ll share in time.
But for now.
For now there are two ways I can help you to install these systems into your business to ensure you get your sales conversion up to 50%, and simply close more sales.
This week I’m running a ridiculous offer on my ‘LeadFLOW Implementation Program:’ this is my 6 month group mentoring program.
For the next 48 hours you can claim it for 60% off. After this weekend I’m hiking this price back to the original price and I promise you - you will NEVER again see my mentoring program this cheap.
Here is the link to learn about this offer >
If your still trying to get proof of concept with your online business, if you want to grow an audience of at least 20,000 people for your business or if you want to make an extra $10-50K / month this year… this is the best place to go ^If you’re a bit more established in your business and you and/or your sales team are not closing more than 50% of your calls.
I can help you to do that inside the next 45 days.
In fact I guarantee it. I’ve now helped hundreds of my clients to get their sales conversion %’s beyond 50% and I’d love to help you too.
The cool thing about sales is that it’s so strategic - you can change things now - and benefit from it on your next call. It’s the fastest of the 6 pillars to solve problems in.
If you’re over $20K/Month in your business and you know that a 50% sales conversion would add serious cash to your business - let’s work together to up level your systems.
Talk soon,