ARE YOU MAKING YOURSELF SICK OVER SALES CALLS?
When I followed a lead gen program in the early days of my consulting career in Team Building, I literally made myself sick over follow up calls.
I would send out ‘faxes’ with an offer, receive requests taking it up, mail out a CD and then was supposed to follow up with a call to find out if the business owner had received and listened to the CD.
If yes, that was my cue to invite him/her to a strategy call.
As you might imagine, the faxing and follow up of sending the CD was fine, and I even loved the strategy calls themselves, as I could make use of my practical expertise in Marketing and Business Building and help the business owner.
The part that made me absolutely sick was the week to week follow up calls when the business owner would say, oh no, I’ve not had time to listen to the CD yet, call back.
This could go on for week after week, until, most of the time, I would give up just to stop that nauseous feeling in my stomach each time I picked up the phone.
At the time I couldn’t deconstruct what was happening and why (precisely) I felt that way. I just knew I dreaded the calls.
I dreaded the whole process of taking forever to learn about the person’s problem, trying to get them stirred up about how badly things were going in their business and then trying to get them to paint the picture of what they wanted instead.
And then trying to awkwardly transition to “well, would you like my help?” and even if they said “yes,” still not really being sure whether they really wanted to hear the offer or were just being nice because I had spent so much time with them already.
And then, going through my step by step ‘script’ moving them along to realize that my program was the solution, I loved, as I knew it was true.
BUT finally telling them my price and wondering if they were going to gasp or tell me it was way more than they were expecting or they couldn’t afford it right now, raised the sick feeling again.
And then knowing I’d waste away even more time (hours, probably even the rest of the day) afterward over-analyzing why they didn’t say yes or what wasn’t clear about my step by step path to the offer or what I did wrong in my description of the value that resulted in them being surprised by the price.
It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that those follow up calls ruined my life. Or at least they definitely ruined my expected joy of being a consultant rather than in retail (which I’d been in before – and you might know, stories to tell there!…but that’s for another day).
And if you look at the number and magnitude of stress symptoms I was experiencing, it’s possible that the stress was moving me towards mental un-wellness.
Thank goodness, those days are over.
Hindsight is always 20/20, and since I discovered a different way, that feels good because it sets me up as the Expert Authority before they even speak to me, people want to listen and take note of what I have to say.
AND I’m teaching this method my clients now, of course!
…so here are its three main things:
1) Going into a discovery or clarity call that the prospect asks for, creates a very different ‘feel’ on the call.
Before I felt a bit like I was being dishonest in bringing up the idea of working together – that that wasn’t what the person had signed up for when I suggested the call.
I know some coaches will tell you to call the ‘sales call’ something else – a breakthrough call, a discovery session, or a clarity/strategy session, to name a few, which is to take that ‘salesy’ feeling out.
It did not make a difference for me!
The messaging around all of those types of calls is basically the same: I’ll work with you on a plan to solve your problem. Oh, and we *might* talk about working together, you know, if you want to.
The actual framework that I was taught for getting and making these calls was quite good – what was not good, was the lack of trust in me, my abilities, that was not clear in the lead up to the call and making the offer.
When I told my coach that the positioning of my expertise before and around those calls seemed to be missing, I was told that I was overthinking it or I needed to work on my mindset.
I accepted that, sure, how you go into a call has a lot to do with your mindset about the person you’re going to speak to and your offer.
BUT I knew, I have the skills, expertise and knowledge, from practical experience in my own previously owned businesses, that I could help the prospect, if only he/she would know that, without me having to point it out!
I knew I had the answers and could lead them to the success, sales, new clients, they were looking for BUT it did not feel right for me to have to point that out!
That would be putting me in the center while it was centerstage for the prospect, on the call, in my opinion.
Now, when I invite people to clarity calls, they already know about me, my experience, my expertise and they know the call is about discussing my program.
That’s it.
And so, that ‘sick’ feeling for me, is gone!
See, when you’ve written and published a book on your specific, personal expertise, on your main message and how you help clients, prospects already value your authority on the topic to be discussed.
The ‘know – like – trust’ factor has been established before they come on the call.
Cool, hey?
2) The prospects would come to my calls with pre-conceived ideas and mis-information about what I offered and how I would help them.
With so much information about Marketing and Book Writing online, you can ‘Google’ anything these days, as you know, often people will believe what they read without putting into context for their own business.
As an example, people think writing a book takes a long time, takes up time, time you should be spending in your business. So one of two things happen:
– They dream about writing a book but never get started because they don’t know how and what goes into writing and publishing
– Or they start and write then stop because they can’t decide what is to go into the book and what not.
In fact, there are well known names who promote you write a bit of your book every day to keep the flow but what they don’t tell you, is how to establish your flow in the first place!
And of course, the general stipulation is, write your book first, whichever way works for you, an editor can then set it up for you.
What they don’t tell you, unless the editor has a clear understanding HOW you are going to use your book, they will not set up your writing with that in mind.
That is in fact part of Marketing, and I say, editors are NOT Marketers.
I am a Marketer, and the way I teach you to write your book is all about Marketing.
Marketing you and your Expertise. Your book becomes your central Marketing Tool, not just another part of your business that you need to Market but your main Marketing Tool.
3) Initially I wanted to make my consulting ‘affordable’ for the business without realizing exactly how much I offered and the value the business got from it.
You see, I had not worked it out, I could not think through what kind of return-on-investment my client would get, so that I could position the price as a no-brainer.
There is almost zero GOOD teaching on how you help your client evaluate their return on investment, in fact, often the business owner has no idea of their own figures in the business and certainly does not collect details on sales, client acquisition, Marketing cost and return on investment. It is simply not taught by many coaches.
Looking back over my own start in consulting, ‘selling’ Business Building and Marketing, the way those calls worked, made me almost feel that I knew nothing, despite my long history working in and around Marketing. Despite having bought, built and sold several businesses in various industries, without any industry knowledge but purely based on Marketing knowledge and Expertise.
When I discovered the Power of being the Author of a Book on the Topic I am an Expert on, everything changed!
The first book I wrote and published was ‘5 Practical Step to Find and Keep Great People’ –
Doors opened immediately for me, I got Team Building and Team Management projects without delay.
Before that, as Business and Marketing Consultant, I remember that I had a $11,000K offer but I really did not have a ‘tangible’ Positioning Tool to say I know what I know.
All that changed with my first Book and then, when I changed course and started my Marketing Agency, Stickybeak Marketing, the next Book set up my Authority and Expertise, again, in a ‘tangible’ way.
And of course, since then, my third book Build a Book to Build a Business, is specifically for you, when you are ready to use a Book as your Authority and Expert Positioning Marketing Tool.
Don’t ever doubt yourself about what you know and how you help people, just because not enough take up your offer or know about you yet.
Writing a book the way I teach, will do, amongst a range of other things, get you to be able to clearly articulate what it is that you do, establish the core power and value of your expertise you may not yet fully see yourself, and make your book an integral part of your marketing strategy, and not just another product that you then have to market.
If you have been thinking of writing a Book, or you might even have started one, STOP and have a call with me to establish what outcome you seek.
I’ll show you a method of writing, publishing and marketing a Book in 6-Weeks or less in a way that makes your Message powerfully clear for your prospects, sets you up as the Authority on your Topic, attracts High Paying Clients inquiring about working with you and, if you wish, gets Media Channels wanting to Interview you – in short, you’ll Stand Out and be Seen by more of the People who need your Expertise.
If this makes sense to you, you can talk about working with me.
The easiest way to get in touch is by booking a call here:
That way we get to know each other ‘face to face’!
Looking forward to it!
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