Ill start with the first question

I already have a website, it doesn't make me any money now, so why should i bother with buying a mobile website.

LOL

They are two completely different games.

A standard website gets either NO traffic, or a lot of casual traffic. Casual traffic doesn't convert. Maybe 3% let's say?

Mobile site visitors are MOTIVATED. They're not casually surfing. They WANT what you offer, right now. Get that big fat "Call Now" button up there and drive Hyper-Interested Qualified Leads to you!!

Why would I want to spend $1,200 on a hardware network security solution to block my employees/students from accessing Facebook...when I could just post a policy that Facebook isn't allowed?

You have a good point but I think what many business owner miss is that having a web site isn't like that movie Field of Dreams! Just building it won't make them come, I wish it was that easy. right? Mr. Owner "has to agree" and say right.

Its also important to know that we should be exposing your business through as many online venues as possible, this means among other things that having a mobile site is important because searches for local businesses on mobile phones are now overtaking the number of searches from regular users on their computers.

Think of it this way. Remember I mentioned the movie Field of Dream?

Lets imagine for a moment that each person doing a search for your business services is the batter and each position on the field is occupied buy a business in you're area of expertise.

The question is this, how many positions is your business going to fill? Just the first baseman? Or just the short stop? Therefor its imperative that we fill as many of those positions as possible.

Does this make sense?

PS: My answers are mine and mine alone. You may use variations of these but they better not be showing up in some report! kapeesh?

Prospect,

What do I do next?

The promise should have been your red flag to begin with. No one but Google gets to decide who's ranked #1. They are in control and most of these SEO guys as you put it make the promise in order to depart business owners from their money.

Of course I'm going to ask you for money as well, but I think its important that you understand that I'm not in control, and even more important that you understand that I know I'm not in control, I can only execute the methods that my industry considers "best practices". When I do this Google can and does reward us with top rankings. This isn't the answer you probably want to hear but it is the truth.

"We have just recruited the BigMafiaBoss Co SEO services on a one year contract and therefore have no budget to hire anyone else now. Sorry.".

Oh, that's great, what did you like about BMB co to go with them? What services or deliverables are they offering? What results are you expecting? How are you going to measure those results? What if you found out my service could deliver additional ROI value in a different way as complimentary to BMB? What will you do if BMB isn't delivering up to expectations?

Threadjack of sorts:
For my offline biz sales, I make a flip chart w/ all the popular objections, then have 5-10 probing questions in response. The trick is not really have some reply, but more questions that let the prospect lead themselves. All my sales people, brokers, mfg reps had these. Some sales people just handed the objection flip chart to the customer and told them, here, close yourself. and it worked.

Question: "Some guy did my website and maintains it, I'd probably check with him first and give him first crack at anything."

Well Ken,

Yahoo and Bing are currently on the verge of Merging, and combined they control less than 20% of Search Engine Traffic. Compare this to the 80+% that Google controls, and I am sure you can easily see that Google is the dominant factor when it comes to search engines.

But think about this, Ken... Why would you want to focus on just one Search Engine, when you can easily get visitors from all three?

"Some guy did my website and maintains it, I'd probably check with him first and give him first crack at anything.

Of course, as a matter of fact I would like to speak with him myself and find out why he hasn't already created a mobile ready website for you.

Here you are losing money everyday because potential clients cant read, navigate or even find your website on their smartphone and your web guy is doing what?

You will probably send him an email for help/questions. Please do me a favor and forward me a copy of his response [this is a set up planting the seed that biz owner should just send an email and wait for response]

You see my company specializes in mobile website creation and fulfillment. Not every desktop website designer is up to speed with mobile website creation. They either do not have the skill set or they do not think there is enough money to be made by making one to be bothered with it.

Also, make sure that your web guy has the skill set to create the proprer coding to insure that your mobile website will work on today's smartphone and the future ones coming out almost everyday, like ours do.

In closing, I know you didnt get to where you are without making a lot of good decisions along the way. Getting your mobile website online as soon as possible will be another one of those great decisions and letting me compete for your business will be another. I will follow up with you the day after tomorrow after you heard back from your web guy [you just set up the web guy to get back to him quickly and most wont, now you come in and say "wow he hasn't gotten back to you, my company would have already had a mobile website ready for your approval by now"

I'm not asking you to actually spend more, what I'm trying to discover and you can help me with this is, if all the 50k is returning the best ROI per dollar spent possible.

I'm sure you're not spending ALL 50K on just one single advertising venue, right?

So lets look at where you're experiencing the lowest ROI and I'll show you how you can funnel some of those funds and leverage an online presence that brands your company and positions you as the authoritative & TRUSTED source in the market place among consumers. The bonus is, you haven't spent a single penny above your current budget and you will get a higher ROI per dollar spent.

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Still learning the "art" of rebuttals, I like this thread, great idea -

Potential Client pitching SEO services to on a call back from direct mail (so I know they are interested):

"OK Ryan, so far I like what I hear, I understand I am missing out on traffic from the first page and I need my website there for exposure BUT can you make some sort of guarantee on how much of the web traffic I will get, and how many will convert to actual customers?"



(I answered this question recently to someone, just ready to see other answers and I can reply back with what I said/did)

Here's how it works. When a site ranks at the top of Google they'll naturally get the lions share of clicks when a user does a search, so the Google searcher ends up at the site. Your site.

The thing is we have no control over how many people will conduct a search at any given time, however we have tools that lets us see historical data on the amount of searches conducted and we will optimize for those searches so you stand a higher chance to get the most traffic to your site as possible.

Once they arrive on your site converting them is a completely different story which I'm happy to address with you as well. We need to work together to ensure your site has a strong way to get visitors to either call you, OR give you their email address and name so you can follow up with them.

Ranking high in Google and even getting visitors to your site does not guarantee converting them into customers and I'm surprised you asked about that because you are light years ahead of many other business owners already!

maybe I can join this game after I get some more experience haha.

Tee

I'm just starting out in cold calling but the more I read and do the more it seems like chess! And this thread is teaching the openings and gambits. What an art this business is :-)

I'm waiting for more posts to reply too. LOL

Forgot to add a question.... "what exactly does that SEO thing do for my business?"

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Of course using a gadget to block Facebook is a terrible solution to the client's real pain point but I guess if your job is selling hammers then you have to just convince them that their problem is a nail.

I know a great fishing hole, you want to join me sometime?

Really in all seriousness this business owner isn't a good long term candidate for a client. I'd move onto the next guy.

Well, you guys can obviously sell any one you wish. To me it's not worth the effort to try and close some one who wants to sell their business and if they end up never selling it or selling it way down the line there is no guarantees that the new owner will even care remotely who you are and what you've done. Actually you might be viewed as the person who contributing factor to the reason why the owner wanted to sell, if the business was or is struggling.

For me, its a move to the next prospect situation.

Just saying

You make a good point but it won't change my mind. I've been there done that already and in "MOST" cases it doesn't look good for any service providers when the new owner comes to town. They have their own ideas and perspectives on what they want to do and to me its not worth the time or effort to resell the service to some one. Often the owner will do a complete re-hash of the businesses image and branding and god only knows what else.

I'm an old dog but this is one trick you will never teach me. = )

Mr. Business owner, that's a great question and it usually stems from not clearly understanding the value of the services I provide. So I must have missed it somewhere while explaining this to you, and sometimes it's just because you've been approached by lessor experience wanna be semi-professionals offering these services.

Either way let me communicate it this way.

For example, any monkey can fill out some profiles in sites like yelp, or super pages, or even Google places. Any one can get a web site from "some guy" for a measly $99 dollars and sometimes even cheaper in some cases. Any one can use questionable tactics when attempting to get your web site to rank on the first page of Google.

So what are you paying for?

You're paying for my comprehensive insight into marketing, research, search engine user trends, traffic generation, conversions into new paying customers, and a myriad of other things that would just leave you numb because you really don't have time for a class on advanced online marketing techniques. Right?

Mr. Business owner, right..I see where you're coming from...

So...

Its kind of like this... If you have a very serious law suite who would you rather hire? The law student in his first year out of collage OR Barnaby Jones. = )

"What if all this stuff you're doing doesn't pull in any customers? Then what am I stuck with?"

If the stuff that Im about to do for you doesnt work they you need to go out of business because they just dont want what you have.

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This all Sounds great, but i need to ask MY Wife.

This all Sounds great, but i need to ask MY Wife.

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Where was I the last few times this came up?
I think this would be better in a G+ hangout or Skype.

Instant rebuttals just like with a prospect.
You don't get to go away for a few hours to think of a good comeback, do it on the fly.
You will become better as a result.

This thread will stay alive!

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I love ewenmack's questions. It's important in any sales situation to stay in control. Questions allow you to do that. If you come back with a quick answer, like, We do that too, or yes we can or no we can't... it indicates a couple of things to your prospect. The first is that you haven't really thought about their question. The other thing it can do, is put you in the me too category. If you pigeon hole yourself into the me too category, you will have a hard time differentiating yourself from you competition, have to settle on lower pricing and make it harder to close deals. Asking questions helps to draw out true needs and hot buttons for your prospect and allows you to hone in on the things that matter most to them. Nice job ewenmack.

My objective is to elicit your buying code.
Then formulate a service that fits your need, while at the same time, I will make myself and my company look like the only reasonable solution.

Hopefully some of the newer folks will spot from Ewan that EVERY rebuttal is a request for more information.....EVERY TIME.

In fact almost ANY question will do, and I mean even a seemingly completely obscure question....example

"I'm sick to death paying out good money to you web people and not seeing a return on it"

Mr Customer....can I ask you....what was the last big purchase you made for the home?
And can I ask....what made you pick that particular model and not a cheaper one?

Hint: we are heading towards a discussion about spending and value and choices and we can steer the conversation back to his original objection in a very meaningful way. Not a word-for-word answer I know but useful I hope.

My objection: I like what you have but I'd just need to think about it overnight and I'll call you tomorrow.

Objection from restaurant owners I hear a lot.

Our restaurant is too small we don't do any marketing!
(In response to SMS marketing)

"I need to talk it over with my wife." (Or someone)

Not a problem. I understand.
Mr. Prospect, if I may, do you normally run all business decisions by your wife, spouse, business decisions, etc?

Does everyone I have said so far make sense to you?
Can you see how it can help your business achieve (insert business goals here)?

"My wife said it's ok to sell you!"

(LOLs)

"Now, REALLY, what's causing you to hesitate in moving forward today -- remember, you CAN tell me 'no'!"

OBJECTION:

"You know, Rearden, God told me in my sleep last night that I should keep the pre-need funeral plan policy I already purchased. But I appreciate your help!"

(Yes -- this was a real objection I experienced after her existing agent visited once I qualifed her for my plan. Also, I would have saved her $160 a month -- and she was having trouble paying the water bill, too.).

How do you rebuttal God -- LOL.

ALSO -- I tend to think -- in terms of selling insurance -- that "I need to talk to my wife" is a CONDITION to doing business. IE, don't do one-leggers.

Now -- the tough objection is -- "I need to talk to my kids." If I hear that, rebuttal, and still say the same objection, I'll ask them -- "What's REALLY causing you to hesitate -- it's the price, right?"

And one last thing -- rebuttals almost never happen once you learn to pre-qualify and ask the tough questions up front. (Money, time horizon, If/Then Trial Close).

All that should be handled within the first 5 minutes.

Spouse rebuttal continued...

Ok Claude, will you have time this week to run this by your wife?
Great, then I that if I don't hear from you by Friday, then that means you don't think we are a good fit.
Which is fine, and I wish nothing but the best for you and your business.

If I see tremendous potential, where I can make a good amount, I will say:
Ok Claude, will you have time this week to run this by your wife?
Well, I'll tell you what Claude. I don't do this for everyone, but I think I can really help your business.
So, what I am willing to do is create a proposal for you that will outline everything we discussed here today. Let's setup a time where all of us can sit down and go over it. When would work best?

All I ask is that after going over the proposal, you tell me yes or no.
Either one is okay with me.

Do you guys really use these long drawn out rebuttals?

I can see prospects start to glaze over into boredom.

Plus, you are giving away control by answering their question.

Not only that, but you are fitting your own reasons as to why the prospect should care, versus asking them and discovering hot buttons, key takeaways, and verbal cues, all of which you can mount your attack.

Plus, most objections are smoke for the true objection underneath, which you won't get to by answering in a drawn out rebuttal that you hope matters to them.

"You mean the last thing you want them to remember you by... is of you leaving them with a bill you should've taken care of?" OR

"You're their parent. They love you. So they're doing this for you. That money would otherwise be going to their kids.

"If they're smart, they eventually will. Would it be a good idea to beat them to it to get the edge?" OR

"I was only going to call them if you say no." [smile]

My objection:

I've presold the bride-to-be but when I finally get to the sales consult and meet the fiance, he's not on board. And that's the only time he gets involved despite my suggesting she share with him what we spoke about..

@claude whitacre: Thanks. The fiance finds stuff to say no to. Like they're dodging. It used to be they went along with what the bride wants, but not so much these days. But because of your recommendation of "Pitch Anything" I grabbed a copy and am reading it now and it's melding with what I already know. That is, I'll change the frame when they do that.

deleted text that was here. sorry

It's a variation of it, isn't it? Like it's third demented cousin, "We always go back to the first place we saw and buy it, so we'll be back!" A stall is a stall. So don't they all get answered the same way? And that would be to rephrase, isolate, then close again. Because to get involved with "we always think about it overnight" to ask them why that's so and so on is to buy into their smokescreen and chase after ghosts, right?

So "We always think about it overnight" gets rephrased by you as "Sounds like you want to make a good decision, is that right?" Take it from there.

Beats him showing you his trophy collection of mounted heads of all the previous in-home salespeople.

Another way to handle the "sleep on it" delay is asking them what is the worst thing that can happen if they go ahead today? They'll be getting the benefits. Depending on your deal, you can offer some no strings guarantee just to relieve them of some anxiety about buyers remorse.

Let's get going today, if you decide to change your mind, just let me know, that simple. Take away their anxiety for commitment and they'll commit. Kinda like more and more businesses are using monthly fee with no contracts setups.

I'd structure my monthly no contract fees higher, and offer discounts if they pay/commit for 6mos/1 yr or whatever length.

I call it the smokescreen. They're throwing up smoke, right?

It's a smokescreen for their real objection and the real objection is... doesn't matter. The bottom line is they haven't bought in. More on that in a second.

Then what does the salesperson do? They tackle the smokescreen objection.

Just to get another one. Why? Because, they're not real. This is like battling phantoms.

So answering objections can be an exercise in chasing a wild goose.

Any real objections probably were brought out earlier.

So they haven't bought in. That switch in their mind that clicks on when they take mental ownership hasn't happened. And if that doesn't happen, they ain't buying. No amount of "if I can get this to you Tuesday..." or "if I can get the price to $XXX, will you..." or "When do you see yourself starting this program?" or "but if you're ready to go ahead today, I can do this for $500 less" will do it for them.

It's like you have to close them on the product/service before you can close them on the sale.

Because then, before you're asking for the sale, when it's the presentation stage, if something like them not wanting the item in red was going to be an issue, they'd bring it up. Or not wanting delivery on Tuesday. Whatever. It wouldn't be thrown at you to stall you. The stalling happens when you ask for the sale... in other words, when you "close."

Because they know what you're doing. And they haven't chosen to buy yet. And so their resistance goes up.

But if that's all handled up front, and they see themselves owning the product/service (you know when they do, they have that change in demeanor and body language and they get friendlier and they speak in terms of ownership, right?), then you can nudge them with a soft, "hey ok, are you taking care of this with a credit card?"

"That's my rule" are just words they say, Claude. Words. And they say them because it seems to have this strong effect on sales people who take it as meaning a more emphatic "no."

I'm posting back here because in another thread Jordan Belfort was brought up and I looked at the videos posted about his sales system. One thing led to another and I found him saying somewhere that his system was based on what he was taught about phone sales at Lehman Brothers and that there's this book that details that system. Long story short, I found and picked up a copy of that book at my local library.

And there on page 73 they address the handling of objections such as "I never make up my mind on the first call."

Their answer to these objections, which they recognize as stalls ("I need to sleep on it," "need to think it over," "send me literature," "need to speak with the spouse"), is to show the prospect how putting the decision off may be costly. That you must create urgency. That the time to act is now, and why that's so. And of course, this urgency has to be based on facts.

(side note: interesting that in his pitches, Oren Klaff also includes some mention as to why acting now is the opportune time)

The book may have been written 30 years ago but the objections have remained the same to today!

Hope that helps, Claude. That's my Christmas gift to you.
(How soon should I expect the reciprocity principle to kick in to get my vacuum cleaner?)

Great interchange, y'all. Keep it public, please.

Claude, I'd like to hear how your closing attempts affected your life sales @ NYL.

Thanks again Ken and Claude.

Ok claude, i will answer what i can .. the best i can, and we will see what happens.

I have been sick... bad for a month. ( getting old sucks ) today was really my first day
getting back in the swing of things. I am wore out. So as soon have a whoo saahhh moment
i will get on the reply.

btw; that was my partial answer to the holiday statement. I layed up in bed, the family got to
enjoy the rest of the holiday. I am glad they did. But i missed my kids first Christmas ...
where he actually understood what Christmas is ... i am kind of sad / bitter over that.
but, it is my a secret

I truly hope your holiday was Tops!

as far as ....

"Maybe the in home sale was more visceral, built on demonstration, and the business sale is more intellectual, built on a series of questions."

yes and no.

when you sell a vacuum, you know before you enter that EVERYBODY needs a vacuum,
whether it is to clean a rug or curtain or even a mattress.

So basically, you walked in KNOWING they needed what you sold, YOUR job was to SIMPLY convince
them to buy YOURS ( 1500 ) vrs some ones else's... like a walmart $99.00 vacuum.

So you built up a routine... a pitch ... a reason to buy. Such as the telescoping handle.
You built your presentation ( and had great success ) around this one feature.

I submit to you, right now ... as we speak, almost ALL business owners already know
they NEED what you ... ( Claude ) have to sell.

You said your offering it at 3999? Your wondering if THAT price has to do with some of the rejection

My answer is.. "maybe a smidgen".. but generally speaking. No.

When you were selling the 1500 dollar vacuum, you created a want as well as a burning
desire... ON TOP OF the already existing NEED.

Just a quick thank you and appreciation for everybody in this thread, it has to be one of the better threads for the year in offline.

looking forward to a even bigger 2013

Pete

Yeah, I figured. You know they're answering with stalls. Closes do one of two things. They either close the sale or fish out a non-buyer. You've got non-buyers.

Me too. Maybe because it's more real than salesy. Anyway, maybe the answer isn't in attempting more closes. If they're non-buyers at that point then it's not because of the close or number of closes.

So you figure about 18% are stalls or on the fence? May I suggest perhaps the issue is that 18% is a mix of unvoiced reasons you'd need to tackle, which may include, in part:

a. People who don't want it but can't be direct and say no.
b. People who feel video isn't the right medium for them
c. People who think making a video would make them look prententious
d. People who think you joke around too much for their taste / You're not serious enough for their taste
e. People who think, "what do you know? You sell vacuums. I sell helicopters to corporations."
f. People who think the reward won't be so great for them.
g. People who think it's too much effort.

You don't change the packages. You sell a completely different line entirely: It would be a downsell to a DIY template. With step by step fill-in-the-blank instructions you walk them through in a video tutorial or two.

Obviously there are reasons the 18% are stalling you, and they're going to be reasons that aren't evident or seem likely to you, otherwise you would've figured it out already.

It's kind of like looking for that lost widget you can't find. It's not in the places you'd think it has to be. So you never find it. You keep looking in the same places over again too. It ought to be there, you'd never leave it anywhere else. But it's not there. And so you can't find it. To find it you actually have to look in the places you'd swear it could never be. Because that's where it is.

So you have to abandon what you think is so and think altogether differently than you normally would to figure out why that 18% may be stalling.

I already have a website, it doesn't make me any money now, so why should i bother with buying a mobile website.

Excellent so why did you buy that website? their answer- because I wanted a way to show my business off to the world., is their anything else yeap to save on my advertising and marketing costs, excellent what about goals did you have any goals you wanted the website to achieve? they normally say yeap to sell my products

excellent so you brought a website because you wanted to increase your marketing reach, save on advertising and make more money would that be a fair assesment? Yes and Im correct in saying that your current website isnt achieving the sales part of that just yet ? Yes thats rights

You know your not alone most business owners I speak to are facing the same challenges with their website in the same way as you. Which is one reason why you should take a look at a mobile website?

Can I ask, do you own a mobile phone? yes is it a smart phone? yes so its a good chance that you've used your phone to look for information online ? yes have you ever looked for a local business from your phone? yes. can I ask what that was and why?

Yeap I was looking for a local restaurant because I wanted to take my wife out for the night? when you found the restaurant you were looking for how did you make the booking was it from your mobile or something else?

I made the booking from my mobile phone. You see the benefits of having a mobile website is that your potential customers can access your business while on the go and like yourself we are happy to take the next step from our mobile phone directly.

heres my question how would you close this sale and get the customer to part with money over the phone?

I think a takeaway method for people new to sales is... of course... sales IS sales... BUT, some sales you don't have to be as forward, or aggressive, to be successful. The CORE is finding the product you BELIEVE in and are PASSIONATE about. Then it will all fall into place.

It's different but really the same.

At this point in my career (7 or 8 years selling burial insurance, personal fitness training, and career apparel), I know FOR ME the "secret," if there is one, to sales success is not necessarily being a dynamite closer, or having 10 different canned objection responses thought out...

It's about continuous and massive levels of PROSPECTING and PRESENTATIONS, and QUALIFYING (sooner rather than later in a presentation) in your presentations.

I feel like I'm pretty skilled at rapport-building, qualifying, properly presenting a customized solution and assuming/asking for the sale, and answering any objections throughout the presentation (meaning I address them ahead of time as early as possible in the presentation, versus at the end).

I may never be an elite superman salesman like Ken or Claude, BUT, I can compensate by increasing the behavior and activity levels that lead to more sales and profit.

...And (key point), so can your average salesperson who understands the compounding power of massive and relentless levels of PROSPECTING activity.

ok cluade i am going to ramble, all right here in this post.

i have 50 million things to say to your last 5 or so posts.

so please don't respond to THIS post, until at the end i say i'm done.

It might be a few hours. I dunno. I say ramble, because my thoughts
are all over the board, and i have no idea if i can tie them together
as cohesively as you.

=======================

One of the best sales people i ever met was my first teacher his name was Dan, he was also the GM for my first sales job. We have stayed friends right up until he passed away a few years ago.
( at a hand of poker in Vegas - heart attack ). Each time i opened a phone room, i would search high and
low for that "perfect" GM. I would always ask him. Each time he refused. This last time he finally told
me why. He told me I was "f-n scarey", I assumed that he was talking about my management skills, he wasn't. Dan was referring to my sales skill. I of course wanted him to create a sales force of people with my skill.

Believe it or not, I really had no idea that this was impossible, and by asking him to be my GM, i was
setting my friend up for failure. But like i said he was a wise old man, he knew, AND he knew i wasn't ready to know yet.

My first sales job was cold calling credit card protection with benefits. 30 Benefits, ranging from
up-to 60% off eye-care all the way to triple A "like" plan. AND a life insurance / death and dismemberment up-sell.

I walked into that job with zero sales skill. ( or so i thought at the time ) and within a month after
training was over i was "the" cold call king. I still have the original t-shirt to prove it. literally
it was a spiff, a badge of honor, it got passed around to who ever had highest sales for the month.

Once I got that shirt I never lost it. Never even came close to losing it. The reason why, is the entire
company was hard core pitching those benefits.

Even though this was a company that wanted you to stick to the script, under threat of being fired, I
went a different route. I pitched fear. I am from the city and i grew up hearing the stories about
pick pockets, and people rifling through trash bins for credit card receipts, stealing mail ect.

I used those stories to pitch fear. I had no personal connection to any of the benefits, i was a kid in
college, the benefits sparked no emotion for me. But i understood fear. So that is what i used.

Fear sold the credit card protection, and more fear sold the up-sell.

And since i was out selling everyone, i did not get fired, i was put on the "Dan plan" and could do no
wrong. It is also where i learned if you lean to heavy on one sales technique, things can get too
top heavy and you flip it around from being scared and ready to buy to losing the sale because you
went too far over the line. That my very first introduction to what i call the "blended sales process"

Back to Dan calling me scarey, I have that innate ability to key in on the emotional triggers.

At the time i did not know that, i just thought like every other young guy that I was smart and awesome.
Truth is i was just some dumb kid who got lucky for a few years. It wasn't until much later that i came to
the point of wanting to know, wanting to understand. That is when i really started learning.

Even now, all these years later, I still sell on emotional triggers. My trick, my entire key to
my sales success, is i learned how to elicit those triggers during the pre qualification process.

My skill set now includes the ability to have a very natural sounding conversation, that most salespeople
would simply think is a warm up. But in reality, is a very precise pre qualification process. To me
it is without a doubt the most important part of the entire sale. It is so hard wired into me, that if
i could not do it. I most likely could not sell water to a man dying of thirst.

I am well aware that my greatest asset is also my Achilles heal. For instance.

Hard to duplicate, I have yet to master the ability to teach it to anybody. I have come close a few times.
but ultimately failed.

Another serious issue selling this way, is you inevitably get some weird shit happening.

For instance, i have had knocks on my home door, others who have shown up at the office...
saying things like "I have never bought anything from anybody over the phone before, i just had to meet you" or worse, "it took me years to save that ..."

Why am i telling you this? Because i want you to understand, I am NOT a great salesman. I am a GREAT
qualifier a warm up artist, if you will. I am soooo good at that, that i do not need to be a great salesman.

Because of that, i tend to do things differently then most sales people. I definitely do things that most
people in sales would consider no no's, deal breakers and yet, some how. I can and do pull them off.

You made a comment once about me having a deep understanding of the sales process. I agree, I do
but i was making sales long before i did. I contribute that to a deeper understanding of people.

At this point i am sure you are wondering why i bringing all of this up. The reason is simple. I want you
to know where I am coming from whenever i make any type of sales comment. I can only say things that are based on my experience, and i want you to know my experiences are foo barred at best.

Even though i outsell ( and have for years ) almost everyone i ever met. I have no idea how my style
translates to or effects the "traditional" sales person. I have ruined a few good people in the past, to this
day i feel guilty. That is why i don't try to be a teacher. I can easily tow / spout the party line
and relay the same tired, overused "traditional" methods, which is what i generally do in WF. But truthfully to me at this junction in my career, its not really sales. At best it is a precursor.

It is nothing more then possibly helping people get over the fear to start on a path. A template path if you will. Not some thing that sits very well with me at all... Even though, it is exactly how i started.

Since you have started posting, i knew right away i found someone who actually understands.
I am so glad your a part of this forum, it gives me a chance to flex a bit, and not worry about damage.

There was another, his name is David Miller but he doesn't come here any more. Speaking of him.
If it wasn't for him, I never would have started posting in the first place.

BTW Claude, since I brought up David, I might as well bring up the fact, that my name is Richard Hilton.
Ken is my partner. This was originally his account, and one day i saw David dealing with the anti phone people and I really liked what he was saying, so i jumped in. Since then, about a year i guess, i don't think
Ken has posted, ( except in the WSO section ) I just kind of took over some how. My friends call me Rick. I used to sign off with "Rick" but that got old quick and I don't mind people thinking i am Ken. I am not one who requires the spot light.

Back to point;

Another reason I bring up the emotional triggers, is i want to flesh that out with you. Since that is how i primarily sell, i have much to say about it, things that you may have experienced and we can dissect them, or perhaps things you have not thought of.

I think we can learn things from each other. I want to take advantage of that to its fullest.
It been a long time since i was able to say that to any one. I cannot tell you how excited i am to be able to
say that now. I hope you feel the same way.

I know i must sound like a pompous ass myself. I hope i don't. Truly i don't. I see an opportunity
and a possible friendship, my intention is to simply lay the cards on the table. Something
I don't do lightly or often.

That is enough flogging of that horse. Now I am going to directly respond to some of the things you have said in your posts.

-

Claude, that last post from misterme .. particularly that last paragraph, seriously raised the
Respect o meter in my eyes.

Originally Posted by misterme
"Dude, your indecision *is* a decision. And it's a decision that works against you" and show them how they're not being true to their core values and beliefs. How they're shirking responsibility for providing for their families, for building a legacy, increasing their worth, maximizing their potential, being a leader, being able to become a pillar in their community, by not at least trying this tried and true tactic to build their business. Then offer them a trial period, risk reversal, payment plan, whatever, to make the decision a no-brainer.


That is some thing i have come across and used. IMHO he explained it very well.
Better then i ever could have.

p.s

Sorry i am writing a book in the other post.
it is way out side of my comfort zone AND i hope your not regretting the can of worms you opened.

I second what Ewen has said.

I wouldn't mind hearing about those emotional triggers.

Is it similar to that Ken guy's Unlocking The Buying Code?
(Sorry its something like that)

What I suggested was a totally different conversation than what you've described. You're describing a sales conversation. When you ask, "what's the biggest problem you have in business" and the guy tells you and then show your program tailored to fit as a solution, they know you're selling.

I was seeing a doctor and wasn't sure whether I wanted to proceed or not. He leaned forward, lowered his voice softly, and said, "Look, if you were my brother, this is what I would tell you" and made his recommendation. Boy is that powerful stuff! He wasn't Mr. Cold, Diagnosing Impartial Doctor at that point. In that moment, he became my big brother, concerned like I'm his blood, his closest relative and what he was telling me was earnest, what he would do himself were he in my place.

Be that person. Have that conversation instead.

Hey... I got a question for the Closers in the room.

What's the longest time you've sat through silence, waiting for an answer to an ending closing question, like "Which option works best for you?"

Longest I sat through was 3 minutes. But it felt like 30.

She did buy.

I have noticed a stutter point at 4k.

Meaning, i have noticed there is a pause before saying yes or no.
I think its is some kind of physiological trigger that creates a barrier. I have analyzed the 4k barrier for years. I have yet to come up with an acceptable explanation. Maybe its just human nature. I don't think so.
I think that number reminds them of something. ( for instance, maybe 4k is very real to them because it is a number they have spent many times while 5-6-7-8 ect is not as tangible. thereby lowering the barrier )

Maybe that line of thinking is merely hocus pocus.

It obliviously is not some thing that cannot be over come.

But as you know, even a slight stutter, kills the momentum.

Possibly this is what your experiencing?

It is such a stutter point that I do my best to avoid that number, and i always go UP, not down.

Why don't you try selling your 4k at 5k for a while and see what happens.
I believe you will sell more AND the sales will probably come easier.

I adopt the same position. I am the irrefutable expert.
Only I never tell them that I am, i simply lead them down a path so they can figure it out for them selves.


I can tell from that statement your making assumptions... well you know what they say about that.

You may think going into it that you know they are open because of how you wound up
in front of them. But, do you really? If they aren't, do you push thru? Or do you back
peddle and then start educating ? Because if you do, you again lose momentum.

I think your giving the business owners too much credit.

Personally I prefer the treat everyone "like they don't know anything" approach.

It keeps the complex sales easier and faster to manage it also keeps the sale
moving in the proper direction ie no back peddling, unless I mess up.

BTW, I don't believe in "complex" sales. I think "complex" just means bad process.
I am a HUGE, HUGE advocate of K.I.S.S

Because of that, i am going to ask. Is it possible that your over selling?
and that in part is why you lose that %.

One you go past the point of the close. Its uber hard to circle back to it.

I relate everything to advertising. Why, because they understand advertising.
The truth is, they probably don't really understand it, or its nuances.

But they believe they do and that is what is important, and THAT is my
expert foot hold.

What comes to mind right now about getting a higher fee is for you to adopt some contextual pricing tactics. Have another value laden offer that goes for much more, say, $8,000. By the way, for the record, I'm not suggesting any prices in this post. They're simply illustrations.

So the idea is that makes your next lower priced offer seem more reasonable. It has the effect of an upward pull on your prices. 8,000 makes 6,000 more palatable. And that 6,000 used to be what you gave for 4,000.

And you make the top offer of more value by adding that which costs little: a monthly group coaching session; or a 30 minute private weekly coaching session; the "look over my shoulder" inside circle sort of thing; the touching of the hem. Things of that nature.

Me, I'd favor a group mastermind monthly webinar. The value being members can get coached not only by you but share ideas with and run ideas by their peers, share tips, successes and failures, while you let them do most of the heavy lifting on the call.

I am going to say something here that is going to make me look like the biggest
scammer you ever met, or your going to think it is genius.

Lets find out.

We have a set list of things that we do for all clients.

ALL of them. Regardless of what we sell for.

Why? We want ALL the clients to see forward movement, profit, good things happening.

Because we know, if and when they do, we can ask for more money. Period.

It does NOT fail. Ever.

Agian, we have a set list of things we do for the client. In our eyes, what we sell ... on the first sale, we sell for pennies on the dollar. ( value wise )

But not everybody buys at the same price.

When they buy, IF they buy for less then the quote ... we remove things.
That is what we tell them. We use it as a justification process.

But we never actually remove things. Because we want them to succeed.

As far as hitting a lick. Like i said, we feel that we already charge pennies on the dollar,
so if the whale wants krill, we feed it. AND i sleep like a baby at night.

It is so much easier to stay organized, so much easier to create a real system and it is
so much easier to stay on top of things that need to be done for the client
when everyone has the same check list.

Do we ever do anything "extra" for the ones that pay more? ... some ... yes.
But it is usually some type of extra curricular activity, or incentive.

Not real world work.

Here's one that caught me off-guard today because it's the 2nd day of the year (although not everyone follows the same fiscal year).

"I've already reached my marketing budget for the year."

Probably a lie, but even if it wasn't, it was good enough to trip me up.

Claude -- do you honor the "BEWARE OF DOGS" or "YOU WILL BE SHOT" signs?

Ever been bit by a dog?

Lol.

That's why I pointed out it's probably a reflex objection from that guy and so, that the exact line one responds with doesn't matter so much as not getting caught up in the specific objection itself. The line I tossed out, "So you already made all the money you wanted to make this year?" was to illustrate reframing the objection to something else. As it happens that question is pretty difficult to rebuff and changes the context.

And to Jeremy I'd add, keep in mind that the purpose of answering objections isn't always to keep the conversation progressing toward a sale. That's one purpose. The other is to determine whether you have a buyer or not by them either giving you a serious answer or a stall, and progress not to a sale, but to a conclusion.

I was in a back yard ( not on a sales call ) and I was warned not to get to close to the fence.

But i forgot, i squatted leaned my derriere on it. A pit bull latched on.

Because of the angle and the weight of the dog, i could not even stand up.

It was one of the scariest moments in my life. This pissed off angry sounding, growling,
holy crap i cant see whats happening , dog chewing on my ass...

This SOB was latched on for what seamed an hour. In real life it was probably 10 ...
maybe 15 seconds. Holy cow it hurt.

It has to be 15 years or so since it happened. I am still more embarrassed then i was actually hurt.

While i am sort of chucking now at the memories, i have goose bumps.

btw the dogs name was "puddles"


for those interested, i will talk about "emotional triggers" soon.

I am just not feeling it right now.

P.S.

Clause, Reardon.

what the heck is a "do not solicit" sign ... I never saw one of those in my life

Could have used you guys today, did not close a sale, the usual, think about it over night, need to get three quotes, need to have a few days to work it out if we can go ahead stuff

And so it went and yes rolled them step by step through and it made no difference maybe I had just an off day, I ended up home hot ( its 40 plus here for days on end and no sales )

Very first time for me in blue moons and this I went out to smash this year in sales and such a dud start.

It can happen and just refresh and back into and close as many as I lost today in a row, and will still make it a great year, sometimes overcoming these small hurdles and keeping a dead set positive mind frame is whats needed.

I suppose posting that you pulled a donut does not sound fun and it is not, but also wanted to paint reality for people that there are just shiz days had by all no matter what.

What I've developed is to have a totally different conversation with the couple about wedding photography than other photographers have. I redefine it. So it attracts those who are on board with my vision, which is actually based on many, many previous clients and what they liked about my work. I infuse everything I say from the top to the couple to position myself and differentiate myself from all others, and build desire. And if I've made it to the appointment, it means they're 90% sold and want to make sure I'm not some fire breathing ogre.

Now, this week, something new! I'm incorporating for the first time the idea of making a pitch a la Klaff, rather than the "investigating & match wants" conversation I had been doing. I think the pitch concept is perfectly suited to these one time situations where you meet with the couple and make a presentation and that's your one shot.

Claude, it's a readership of at least 5.

And I wanted to post an objection (or rather, a type of objection) that I've been coming across a lot in my prospecting calls. A few people touched on this, but not in the type of depth I've seen across this thread, so I thought I'd post it again.

I'm having difficulty getting prospects "on the phone" and opening up and engaging. Many of the owners I call have that knee-jerk reaction to say "Everything is fine" or "Things are too busy right now, I don't have time for it" or "We can't afford any more expenditure right now" before I've even starting talking about what I can offer them - or even probe a little more to find out if there's a problem that needs fixing. I know these are stalls, but I've been having trouble getting past them and into a real conversation. Before, I've tried to take on the stalls and offer a rebuttal, but I've read here that maybe I don't even need to address them?

Anyway... insight into the common knee-jerk reaction stall and how to overcome it would be great. And to everyone contributing in this thread - I've never seen more posts of real intellectual substance anywhere on the forum. Keep it up.

Thank you. It's true. A sale is a sale.

That's pretty much the gist of it. By the time one of my prospects gets to the appointment, they've been qualified in a phone call and given several links that quickly position me and educate them. It has to do with who they are, though, because if their photography isn't a top priority, a booking's not going to happen. You may think photos are important to a bride, but when I say top priority, understand that I've had brides tell me photos are NOT a top priority for them.

Thanks for that. Here's where I'm different. I avoid ever telling a couple what they may be thinking, or will discuss. Me telling a couple "Invariably, either the husband looked at the wife, or the wife looked at the husband, and said..." would result in the couple saying, "we're not like other couples" or "not at all what we're thinking" and thinking me presumptous. Why invite bad feelings?

I thought he was going to book so I didn't want to interrupt him. Because many times when I sense the stall I'll tell them that since we're about to wrap things up I need 5 minutes to call my next couple to tell them I'm soon on my way. That gives them a chance to talk privately. People need to discuss things when they're spending that amount of money. Though sometimes they just look at each other and talk with their eyes and a nod.

But because Klaff said don't try to close, I had prepared a non closey close about fifteen minutes before the meeting, just in case I should, lol. Because I wasn't going to. Here it is:

"Well, you can tell me now, or you can leave me a voicemail tonight at midnight. Or email me tomorrow morning. All I can tell you is, the sooner you get back to me with a retainer, the better the odds I'll still be available." I'll probably use it down the road.


You know what I found works really well for quickening up the process and getting right to whether they're buyers or not? Setting a deadline with a "you in or out?" gentle but firm attitude. This week my gf had a customer on ebay who was holding off paying because she was trying to negotiate the shipping. I told her to message the customer and tell her "shipping's not negotiable and if that's an issue let me know by midnight so tomorrow I can cancel the sale first thing in the morning." And she got the money right away because the customer really wanted the goods and it wasn't worth her haggling over a few dollars shipping. Whereas at the same time, I had an event planner in Italy asking me to hold a date while her clients are making up their minds. And I said "Love to, but I can't. But after I've laid out everything for your clients about who I am, what I do, who my clients are, if they're still unsure then perhaps they're not the best fit. Would you like me to refer someone more suitable to them?" and that made them fess up that budget's the big issue and they have to go cheaper.

I thought you were going to end with, "At the end of the week, she said to me 'You know the difference between us? We both have entirely different definitions for 'ride.''"

You're so silly. My closest friends call me "Mister."
Just like my mom does.

"If you have no current or past clients that have used your SEO services and can show results, why should I believe that you will be able to deliver on your promises?"

Objection: "We don't need a website. This is a 20k population town so its not hard to find us."

How about this for a rebuttal: "I'm sure business owners said the same thing when the telephone sales people came knocking on their door back in the 40's".

This has to be all time fave thread on WF. So thanks to everyone who contributed.

Sorry guys. Tragedy struck.

I will be back in a few days.

P.s
Don't ask, its personal and i wont tell.
and Claude, Happy belated birthday

good thread! lots of cool info hear. always good to be prepraed and know the ebs tthing to say in response

Here's one that came up today... hits on the money issue I guess. Had a guy walked through the process today and at the close he said, roughly:

"I can't afford it right now, I need to see what I owe in taxes before any other expenditures."

I tried offering a payment plan (someone had a nice line a while back in this thread) but he wasn't ready to commit.

I just watched a Dan Kennedy video earlier today and he talked about this exact situation and said exactly what Claude said. The guy just wasn't going to buy.

I was really bummed to see this thread die. So much great info for newbies like me.

That's what happen to me most of the time.

Hi my name is Daniyal I run a small web design firm here in michigan I came to know that you planning to build a website for your business?

Yeah what's the price?

WTF...!

Wow. Easily the best post I have ever read on any forum on any subject.
So much valuable information, humanity, and humour.

Thanks everyone for sharing.

I empathise with the 30 who quit the next day.
I didn't even realise how newbie I was.
The first step in learning is always learning how little you know.

I help local businesses, and had dismissed cold calling or selling over the phone.
I'll have to check out your book now Claude.