You STILL havent Written Up A Sale Yet? -OMG!!- Read This And Get Yourself One!

19 replies
Before I write this- PLEASE DONT ANYONE TAKE IT OUT OF CONTEXT.

Read it with some consideration of the actual point Im making. This post isnt for "everyone".

A few years back when I was getting back into the swing, after a couple of years off of the phone (managing people isnt the same as being in the booth) ... I knew I had to build my confidence.

I knew I had to have "some" success, in order to attract more to myself. I had to start out of the gate with at least SOME traction, to get the faith up.

There is a classic term for what Im about to describe its called doing anything you can just to "scratch the pad".

That means discounting, taking a 100 dollar down payment... whatever it takes to walk out with a sale.

Make it so easy for a customer to say yes, that they cant say NO.

I had a creed at the time that , even if I only walk out selling ONE webpage... Im going to sell "Something"... even if I only get $100 bucks, Im going to walk out with a check, and lock down this persons business...

"Scratching the Pad" is important for getting your confidence up.

Once you have scratched the pad a few times you will feel more confident , like you can do anything and everything starts popping.

This is why I teach cold call appointment setting to newby's , because its almost guaranteed that any newby can get in front of a business owner within 3-4 hours of dialing.

The first thing we need in order to get momentum is some....ANY...kind of a success!


It gives us confidence, maybe a little money and MOMENTUM.

Here is why Im posting this:

Because, if it takes you six months to feel any traction, you are going to quit and never get to your million dollars...

So for now ask yourself, what can I do to at least get warmed up and "scratch the pad" (ie; "write something up").

My way of doing that was this:

At first, I focused on businesses that were really small, and offered them deals they could not refuse.

I would say things like "Well, at very least I could go ahead and register your domain for you, and put up a mock page that way no one can steal your domain name...and then later we can add more pages, when you can afford it, but just to help you out, lets at least get you on the net...tell you what, I will try to help you out and do that for $100, if that would help. Again, at least we can get you online receiving traffic, would that help you out Bob?"

Whatever it took, I told myself I would not leave without selling "something".

I focused on making it easy for the customer to give me a yes, just to get my confidence back up...then the deals got bigger and bigger. Even if they werent for a ton of money initially.

Scratch the Pad folks, write something up!

I know some will hate this post, but those same people will have you strung out for six months with no traction, and you will end up giving up altogether if something doesnt happen quickly.

Example:

My daughter says that there is a person on the carb diet forum who makes all these complicated recipes and says you "Have to balance it out just perfect and measure everything..."

She says "Dad, you just told me to eat protein and stay under 20 carbs per day and It worked like crazy last time...and when I say that this lady gets all red in the face saying you have to do it precisely like this or that...or you wont be in ketosis. She is discouraging me with all of this, and I know it works more simply...but she is making me doubt myself...everything I say she argues..."

I said "Yeah, shes going to PRECISELY make it so hard to follow that half the people she endeavors to help will fall off trying to keep up with the rocket science, and she will have helped no one".

Then I went out and got her some test strips and showed her that the lady was wrong...she's just trying to make herself an authority so people will buy diet plans from her. My daughter was not only in ketosis but DEEEP into it, without all that rocket science.

Keep it simple.

You have to keep it simple enough to "implement", because if you dont get enough traction to keep yourself implementing then all the rest of it is useless..

Here is another thing I learned from this period:

Once you have a check then you are their "web guy". The next time a salesman comes in they are going to say "I already have a web guy"....and you own whatever they do down the road. I have had a couple end up spending pretty significant money later down the line. Lock them in as your client, even if its just for something small, and you own their business.

Scratch the pad.

Again, please dont take me out of context anyone, and be like the carb diet lady...Im teaching people to get traction, not stay cheap for the rest of their life.

Hope it helps someone write at least "something" up.

-John Durham

Edit:

I am fully aware that some will use this post to position themselves as "higher level trainers"..., and compare, or try to pigeon hole, I've been in this long enough to see that coming, but I dont care about that. I want to help people get traction. This is about helping folks who are struggling.

It's not "the way", it's just one color out of a whole spectrum. It's for people who need to get some initial momentum, and prove to themselves that they can get a close, so they will be encouraged and get more.

You need traction....so go make a deal someone cant refuse and GET SOME! Build your confidence , so you wont give up early in the journey! Give yourself SOME indication that you can be in business! The more your confidence builds the bigger the deals will get.

You will never get it though if you dont write "something".

If you havent got a sale yet, try making it so easy to say yes, that nobody can say NO to you!

Go scratch the pad folks!


-JD
#newby #sale #written
  • Profile picture of the author zimbizee
    Great post and as always great advice.

    Thanks John
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    I rather enjoyed that post. Good advice. Thanks for sharing.

    I like your idea of setting the business up with a domain and simple landing page for cheap. That is really clever. Wish i had thought of that when i was first getting started. It would be much better than building an entire website for $300 like so many beginning "designers" do. Those are harder to sell, and are almost never worth it for the work you have to put in. A one-page landing page is simple and very valuable for the business owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Its best to "scratch the pad" early on, even if your first deals arent "eye" deal!

    Waiting for the ideal deal for 6 months on end while you are learning can discourage you to the point where you give up long before you get there!

    Hurry up and get some low hanging fruit so your faith in yourself, the model, and the system... can be established for the rest of the journey!
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    • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      Its best to "scratch the pad" early on, even if your first deals arent "eye" deal!

      Waiting for the ideal deal for 6 months on end while you are learning can discourage you to the point where you give up long before you get there!

      Hurry up and get some low hanging fruit so your faith in yourself, the model, and the system... can be established for the rest of the journey!
      John,

      When I first started in insurance in 1967 my sales trainer told me to always be looking for the million dollar (face amount) but don't overlook the ten thousand dollar policy. How about that for scratching the pad?

      Seems those small policies always paid the bills while I was elephant hunting.

      Yep, you are right, don't get discouraged. Put it on the books because success begets success.

      Have a great day,

      Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    I noticed that while not many are posting, there are two types of people thanking this post.

    1: Old pro's like Bob Ross And Claude Whittaker, and a couple of others who know what new sales people really need.

    2: Newby's who are barely even known to anyone.

    I figured that would be the case.

    It's kind of like when you are a parent.

    Your toddler appreciates the heck out of you, then when they are a teeneager they think they know more than you do....then when they get about thirty years old they look back and say "Damn Dad was right more than I gave him credit for" lol

    It's all good. The newbs are the ones who are going to get alot of use from this, even though the "teenagers" think they are too cool for it. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    awesome stuff john, Just get something going. That is what I tried to do when starting this offline thing, its harder for some, but good advice. You will learn lots, make mistakes, make good little successes along the way.

    Sometimes we just have accept all this, pull up our britches and go hard! Good post. I am sure the newbies need this post right now John. Well done.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by celente View Post

      awesome stuff john, Just get something going. That is what I tried to do when starting this offline thing, its harder for some, but good advice. You will learn lots, make mistakes, make good little successes along the way.

      Sometimes we just have accept all this, pull up our britches and go hard! Good post. I am sure the newbies need this post right now John. Well done.
      Thanks Celente.
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      • Profile picture of the author soontobefishing
        Great Post John. Always enjoy reading your stuff.
        On an unrelated note can you look into the offline tool kit WSO I ordered from you before it closed. I sent in my info but it must have got lost in the void. You can PM me an email or whatever on where to send the info to. Sorry to post here but I saw you were about. Thanks so much.
        Again super post.
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        • Profile picture of the author John Durham
          Originally Posted by soontobefishing View Post

          Great Post John. Always enjoy reading your stuff.
          On an unrelated note can you look into the offline tool kit WSO I ordered from you before it closed. I sent in my info but it must have got lost in the void. You can PM me an email or whatever on where to send the info to. Sorry to post here but I saw you were about. Thanks so much.
          Again super post.
          No problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    Yes, OP. Having tiny successes can be a good bridge to having larger success.

    I'm glad that you put those points in red.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob28x
    Ugh, I need to get that first check.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by Rob28x View Post

      Ugh, I need to get that first check.
      Make someone a deal they cant refuse. If you are making 10k per week then your time is worth five hundred bucks per hour... but if you are still struggling to make your first sale, you can justify even $25.00 per hour. So go make a deal! You can do it!

      Once you have business to do, guess what?

      You are in business!
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  • Profile picture of the author irishclark
    Great post John, Love reading your stuff man and the fact that you take the time to write reply to most, if not all, your replies really means to me that you care. So thank you John. I am relatively new to this but I am not new to Sales, but if I could give one nugget that may give people some motivation it's this. You could give away websites for lets say 100 bucks without too much resistance to literally any business who does not have a site. Its not the most money in the world but get this. Hostgator give, after 20 sign ups with your affiliate link, 125 dollars for each referral. So in fact you will make 225 as opposed to 100 per sale. Now if you made one sale only per day you have a total of 1100 per week, more than most jobs would pay you. I know all about the lack of motivation but if you struggle through one week of this, it will change your life forever
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by irishclark View Post

      Great post John, Love reading your stuff man and the fact that you take the time to write reply to most, if not all, your replies really means to me that you care. So thank you John. I am relatively new to this but I am not new to Sales, but if I could give one nugget that may give people some motivation it's this. You could give away websites for lets say 100 bucks without too much resistance to literally any business who does not have a site. Its not the most money in the world but get this. Hostgator give, after 20 sign ups with your affiliate link, 125 dollars for each referral. So in fact you will make 225 as opposed to 100 per sale. Now if you made one sale only per day you have a total of 1100 per week, more than most jobs would pay you. I know all about the lack of motivation but if you struggle through one week of this, it will change your life forever
      Yup. You would leave alot of money on the table but you could actually make money this way doing websites for FREE, depending on how much you need per hour to justify your time.

      For most newby's , they dont really need that much per hour to justify their time. That will increase as you begin making money.

      My friend used to have a maid and different what you might call servants... I asked him "When do you get to the point where you can justify a maid?"

      He said " When it costs more in time for you to do your own laundry than it does to pay someone else".

      Originally Posted by irishclark View Post

      Great post John, Love reading your stuff man and the fact that you take the time to write reply to most, if not all, your replies really means to me that you care.
      I have covered most of this in different ways already, so it would be easy for me to just place a link to one of my other posts, instead of responding alot of times... but then that would help me, and not be very much help to Allen Says in the way of returning the favor and creating more content for the playground he lets us all have fun on.

      Besides what fun is just linking to the same posts all the time?
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      • Profile picture of the author Gijsbertus
        I am reading this thread over and over again....top notch inspiration !

        Give a little, take a little....

        But how to CONVINCE a new prospect, still remains a big hurdle... even if you want to offer something for free, they all think you ONLY want their $...

        Doing this ''arbitrage'' thing just now, so I know how difficult it is, really...
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
          Originally Posted by Gijsbertus View Post

          I am reading this thread over and over again....top notch inspiration !

          Give a little, take a little....

          But how to CONVINCE a new prospect, still remains a big hurdle... even if you want to offer something for free, they all think you ONLY want their $...

          Doing this ''arbitrage'' thing just now, so I know how difficult it is, really...
          How long have you been doing this "arbitrage" thing?

          It's difficult for you IN YOUR OWN MIND.

          Many people out there are doing it without difficulty. Just another walk in the park to them. They learned it, they stuck with it, and they got good at it.

          Things are easy or difficult in your own mind. Either there's something you don't know, or you haven't practiced enough.
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          • Profile picture of the author Gijsbertus
            Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

            How long have you been doing this "arbitrage" thing?

            It's difficult for you IN YOUR OWN MIND.

            Many people out there are doing it without difficulty. Just another walk in the park to them. They learned it, they stuck with it, and they got good at it.

            Things are easy or difficult in your own mind. Either there's something you don't know, or you haven't practiced enough.
            I have been doing this since two months using several copy/scripts emails to get a foot in the door.But what is good copy ? ...but I won't let go (since I landed 2 clients finally) ...I will keep on practicing
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  • Profile picture of the author brik2500
    Great, thoughtful post John! I see this when people try to lose weight....if they can lose those 1st few pounds quickly...they feel more confident about sticking it through to get to their goals...


    Even with veterans starting in a new arena, it is easy to get their "feet wet" really quickly to establish themselves.

    Thanks!

    Brik
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