Hello ladies, gents, cartoon animals, and others.
Do you remember your first sales call?
Recently had a discussion with a few guys sharing laughs about how terrible it is when you don’t have enough of the experience. You should already know that getting experience is the easy part of sales. Enduring the “shame” and putting your ego aside is a different story.
Based on that recent conversation we got into. Decided to throw a little outline and framework on how one should navigate sales calls. The article, in general, is oriented more towards rookies but can serve as a quick reminder in case you have sales experience already.
Before we continue, we will not go into specific details here.
On how should you play your status card or handle objections. Instead, take a more general approach and provide a high-level overview/framework of what you should pay attention to.
Keep in mind the sales process is not the same for the high tickets, agency model, or someone working as an Enterprise rep. Better said it’s completely different.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t go into each model separately since it would require “specific rules” for each. But the general idea here should give you more than enough to get down the most important frameworks.
Better said tailor them towards your needs.
Pre Call
The space where you are taking calls must be on point. Read the article below.
Make sure to record calls
Pen and paper near you
Payment processor setup in one of the background tabs (For my WiFi money makers and agency owners)
Look presentable. Read the article below.
Be comfortable with silence during sales calls
Pay attention to your body language
No ego
Intro
Where are you calling from? (Easy to build upon). Creates a “bond” and relationship with a prospect if done correctly
Personalization line based on the research could also be done (could be messed up if done poorly)
Forbbiden to say “Thanks for joining the call”
No weather talk
Taking A Lead (Agenda)
The key in this section is to “warm up” your prospect
“What are you planning to happen by the end of this call?”
Another option would be to ask: “What should be the main takeaway from this meeting?”
The frame will start “showing” here - who has a real power
Make sure you lead the prospect toward the next steps
The goal should be to build to the “important part of sales meeting”
Don’t be scared to throw in a soft disqualifier
Pain Detection And What They Need
Your detective skills should start coming up
Use your pen and paper to take notes (if you are not taking notes we have problems)
Learning to ask the right questions
Questions could be categorized into a few categories, such as technical questions, outcome ones, pain ones…
Learn to flip questions back
The doctor-patient-like conversation is not a bad framework that you could utilize
Don’t forget you are still leading the conversation
Creating the big picture (in your head) based on the prospect’s output
Learn to ask open-ended questions
Focus on finding pain that is worth resolving
Determining how much that pain costs them is a good thing to remember. Don’t be scared to push for the figure.
Discovery And Budget
You should have all of your pain information based on responses
Get to know their desired outcome
Before pitching any offer you need to see the big picture in prospects’ heads
Identify if they can pay for your solution with an open like type of question
Don’t be afraid of disqualifying
Identify process timeline
Directly ask prospect
Completely different results based on what industry/niche you are selling to.
If you are doing enterprise software sales or any other bigger type of sales, you could wrap up your discovery here. Push it for a demo with other members of your team. If you plan to finish strong and with status play hard to get a little bit.
Example?
Even if you are not busy, don’t go with their first suggestion of a meeting time play you - small details add up to one big picture.
But since we are keeping this “general” let’s add another part of the sales call process to the article.
Pitching Them The Offer
Doing the demo call? Reference back to the discovery short notes you prepared earlier. Give them a good rundown of the situation that is going on.
Everything above should already be covered before you even get to this part
Remember: they have problems → they want to fix those problems → they have money to fix those problems
Make sure you understand their needs and goals. Never promise something you will not be able to deliver. Especially guys chasing WiFi money.
Good storywriting helps when it comes to pitching
Painting pictures in their head, developing a story that is connected with the “idea you are selling”
Once done with the showcase/demo ask for a few minutes to discuss the next steps
Closing
After you mention the price/show pricelist just shut up
Should be pretty easy at this point in case you did good discovery and demo
In case they start full blast on you with objections there is a possibility you did something wrong in the previous phases
In case they are unsure make sure to remind them about pain and how they will solve it by implementing your solution
Depending on the industry it would be possible sending out invoices during this phase of the call in case prospects decided to move forward
Sometimes even making your prospect pay on the call itself
Things To Keep In Mind
You got to be efficient during sales calls
Understand specifics based on the company you are dealing with (timeline is a good example)
Don’t be scared to talk about money
Be natural
No robot-like sequence, especially when it comes to detecting prospect pain. This part is easy to mess up since you will be asking a lot of questions to detect the bigger picture that is going on in the background
Dont assume instead ask
Win over prospects with reframes
Remember, when it comes to human nature and sales - the “most logical” ideas are usually not the ones that are the most effective. Learn to use your status, operate in frame, and push away when needed.
Trying to find email addresses for your cold outreach? Findymail - affiliate
Trying to break into Tech Sales? Break Into SaaS - affiliate