3 Ways Business Leaders Leave Massive Money on the Table
April 1, 2023
Boost Your Revenue and Performance
June 1, 2023Blog
Reframe the Sales Conversation, Maximize Your Revenue
"Holly I hate selling. I suck at the sales call. And I don’t know what to do about it."
I’ve heard this countless times from prospects, clients, and friends.
How did we get here?
Since when is having a conversation about helping someone else such a dirty thing?
Way too many business owners and sales leaders find sales to be shameful and dirty...
How can we reframe the sales process to get to a better place around building our business revenue?
Regardless of whether you are a solopreneur doing your own sales or you have a massive sales team, here are some of the reframes that help you regain your revenue footing...
#1: It’s All About Service
My clients tell me all the time how sales feels slimy. They feel dirty from the sales conversation. And yet, the reality is sales is all about service.
It’s about building a connection. It’s about listening to your prospect, asking questions, and remaining curious as you actively listen.
The more you can provide empathy and insight, the more you build trust.
The more clarity you provide a prospect, the better you position yourself as the expert.
Build a strong and authentic connection every time you connect with someone.
Ultimately we all want to be seen, understood and heard. For that to happen requires others to hold space and really tune in to what we have to say.
So how do you show up from a stance of service in the sales call?
Here are some ideas...
- Offer value through introductions, resources, and helping them gain clarity
- Be empathetic when they share their struggles
- Offer insights that will help them see a problem in a new light
- Share stories that relate to their experience to connect
- Ask them thought provoking questions that they’ve never considered
- When they have a breakthrough or share a win, celebrate with them
- If you’re an expert in an are they are looking for connections in, share that and offer to make connections
- Build a meaningful connection with them (i.e. treat this like a first date or a new friendship)
When you show up from a stance of service, you can’t go wrong. You will create a valuable new relationship regardless of whether or not they become a client.
They will appreciate your skills, insights, and likely refer to your business in the future.
Stop showing up to your sales calls focusing on money. Stop making it transactional.
Instead, focus on the relationship. Be sure to add value. Connect and listen deeply.
When you do this, sales won’t feel slimy. In fact, you’ll start to LOVE having these conversations.
#2: Activate Your Curiosity: Get to the Root Cause
The best sales leaders are the ones who are deeply curious. Curiosity allows you to ask insightful questions.
Being open and curious helps us to uncover what the real challenge our prospects are facing.
Sales is all about change. If you aren’t able to dig in and uncover what the real pain points are, you won’t make the sale.
Change is painful. Your potential customer needs to see how much pain their problem is causing for them to even consider that they need to do anything about it.
You also need a deep understanding of your prospects' business.
How can you determine if you can help them if you don’t have a deep understanding? You can’t.
If you don’t understand their business, why would they consider working with you? They won’t.
Here are some questions to consider asking:
- What products and services do they offer?
- What do they charge?
- How many clients do they currently have?
- How many more do they want?
- Do they have a plan to scale?
- What are they doing to get leads?
- What’s their business development strategy?
- How are sales conversions going?
- Why are they so passionate about what they do in business?
- How long do clients stay with them?
- What’s their biggest challenge in the business today?
- What have they done to try and solve that problem?
- What’s working well and what’s not?
- Who are they currently working with (masterminds, coaches, consultants, marketing agencies, etc.)? And what specifically are they helping them with?
This is just a starting point. There are thousands of questions to consider...
This is why being curious is key.
Go into every call genuinely wanting to learn everything you can about your prospects’ business, values, vision, and company.
When I’m coaching clients on their sales process, I liken this to working with a doctor.
Doctor’s ask you all kinds of questions about your symptoms to try and get to a diagnosis. Business is the same way.
As sales experts, we must be excellent at getting to the root cause. And then show why it’s important to do something to solve this problem.
Do this and you will convert at a much higher percentage. And your prospects will walk away more clear on their problem. They will also know they need to change it or it will sink them.
#3: Ask for Permission
There’s nothing worse than getting on a call with someone and they dive right into the sales pitch.
Instead, build rapport. Help your prospect gain clarity. Share valuable insights. Ask probing questions they’ve never considered.
When they lean in and say, “That’s a great question”, you know you’re on the right track.
Celebrate the wins they share. Show empathy when they share their struggles and pain points.
Offer insights related to their struggles that show what you’re an expert at.
Before you start your pitch, ask permission.
Ask them if they’d like to hear more about how you help businesses like them with that specific problem (i.e. the problem you’ve diagnosed they are struggling with).
When asking questions, don’t make this an interrogation.
Show empathy when that’s appropriate. Celebrate when they share some exciting results or a new initiative.
Asking for permission will save you time. People who aren’t a fit will say no. People who aren’t ready will be direct and share that openly.
When you dive right into it, it’s awkward. And it rarely works.
#4: Build the Gap & Paint the Future
In the book, Gap Selling, the author talks about the importance of building the gap with your prospective client.
After all, without understanding how bad the pain is and how much better things can be, what’s the point in changing?
Sales is about change. As business leaders, it’s our responsibility to paint the picture for a better future.
Show your prospect what they are missing out on. Share a vision of a brighter future.
And the more specific you can be, the better.
Sales is also about emotion.
Meet your prospect where they are. Feel their pain.
Uncover their future dream state. Paint the emotional value of that future.
What does it feel like for your prospect to live in that future state?
It should feel exciting...delightful even.
The more you can get your prospect to visualize what that future state looks like, feels like, and sounds like, the more likely they are to work with you.
When they can taste the future you are helping them build, you know you’ve done your job.
Dig into the sensory experience with them.
You should be so hyper clear on this future state that you can walk them through the experience, side by side.
Need Help?
I get it. This is really hard to do alone.
This is why I work with a coach. And this is why my clients hire me as a consultant.
When I work with companies and nonprofits as a consultant, I bring an objective, external voice to help you:
- Reach peak performance
- Find your profit leaks
- Turn shiny objects into revenue
- Build repeatable success processes
- Discover based on metrics where success lies
- Show you what you need to STOP doing
- Design a state of the art employee experience
- Create a customer experience that results in referrals and raving fans for life
If you’re ready to...
- Take BIG and bold action in your business
- Help your employees reach their full potential
- Grow as a business leader and commit to continuous learning
- Try things outside of your comfort zone
- Reach more dream clients
- Have more impact in your business, community and the world
- Build more revenue
- Improve your lead generation and sale process
- Invest in yourself and your business
