There's two types of people who hear consensual sales in the first go, Oh, Eww, Shawna, that is not what you want to say. There are better words to use and the second type here, consensual sales and say, you know what? You're right. I don't want to talk my way into the sale. I don't want to memorize a script. You just want to work with clients who are excited to work with you. Now that's consensual sales.
Hello, it's me Shawna. Last episode I left you on a major cliffhanger and today that is this episode. We are going to solve that cliffhanger once and for all, so if you don't know where to find clients, listen to that episode because this one won't quite make very much sense if you don't. Here's the deal. You found your client, not your client. You found a potential client, you found somebody who you think is interesting and cool and you just don't know what to say.
00:54 Okay, well it's really important first that you be a familiar face in their space. Okay? Be a familiar face in their space because what's going to happen is you're going to send them a message. You're going to say, Hey, okay, you're going to actually say hello and introduce yourself and a lot of times what happens is we think, I don't know, maybe not you, but I feel like there's sort of this expectation that the introduction, you have to sell something right away. Like it's a pitch. This is not a pitch to your services. This is an introduction, okay? This is not a pitch. This is an introduction. You're not selling anything right now in that first cold email. You're not like selling anything in the introduction. That would be dumb. Why? Because here's the thing. Selling is all about solving problems. Selling is a solution to a problem and when you're selling something to someone who hasn't like asked for it, who hasn't admitted that they have a problem and that they're actively seeking a solution, it's like you're creating problems that don't exist.
01:55 This is why people get super mad about stuff in their inbox or their direct messages. We're not going to do that. We don't do that because selling is about solving problems. And if that person does not admit that they have a problem that they also want to solve, you do not even talk about your offer. Okay? You don't offer it to them. So your job is to figure out if they have a problem and if they want a solution, like that's your only job. But the thing is that we don't want to just pebble them with questions about their problem, right? We'd be like, who are you? Why are you asking me about all these problems that I have in my marriage? Like we don't want to do that. So there's a natural way that we need to take the conversation. And the first one is, is that you have to be a familiar face.
02:44 Like if this is actually somebody that you want to be friends with, if you listen to the last episode, if this is actually somebody that you care about, it shouldn't be hard for you to be a familiar face in their space. So spend like two weeks. You might have just been a couple of days and using that period to gather information until you find a connection that is worth talking about or at least something that allows you to talk about naturally. So here's a great example. So there's this guy that I follow who runs this really big, crazy, amazing conference. The conference the last two years was in Atlanta. So I sent him a message and I said, you have permission to say the most honest thing you can. The email essentially went like this. I'm a familiar face in your community. We've exchanged a few times, quick little notes on the wall and the social media wall and I noticed that your event is in Atlanta.
03:41 I happen to live right near Atlanta. I also happen to be a sales coach who could help and some take an educated guess in some of these ways for your event. If you happen to be interested, I'd love to have a conversation with you about what that might look like. This isn't a pitch, this is just simply if there's a way that I can help you. And we've had multiple conversations on the phone about how I can help the event. Okay. What I'm saying here is that be a familiar face. Gather some information, wait until you have a natural talking point, and then just say, send that message. Say this is why I'm here in your community. This is what I think why what you're doing is interesting or unique or different or why I respect your work. By the way, I happened to be A, B, and C. here's my quick skill set that I think might help you.
04:33 If you want to talk about that, I'd love to have a conversation with you. So one, it's relevant to, and it's not presumptuous. Like I'm not saying like you have this problem and you need my stuff. I'm simply saying, Hey, I exist and this is my skill set and if you could benefit from it, let's have a conversation about it. Right? Again, so many people confuse that introduction. Like the internet has made people crazy. It's like they don't even know how to say hello and the introduction is not a pitch. You're not trying to sell them something here. You're just getting them to have a conversation because your first job is to open the conversation before you can close it. Okay. So many people try to [inaudible] what was the conversation on the first email, like it doesn't work that way and it's also nice. The other thing about persuasion and influence is that specificity matters.
05:28 Like the more specific you are, the more compelling it is. So by saying I'm here because of a, B, and C and I'm taking this as close to an educated guess of how you could benefit from my services, that's specific. And it helps you because the thing is if you just send a vague email saying, Hey, I'm a graphic designer and I could help you with your brand. Or Hey, I could beef up your product descriptions. Like that's not specific, that's lazy and I need you to spend just a little bit of time gathering the relevant information. So you've got the best chance at opening a conversation and the sheer fact that you are having conversations about who you are and what you do will naturally lead to more sales because the more people who know you and know what you do, the better.
06:14 Either they will become clients or they'll become connectors to your clients. The other thing that I also have learned by my good friend John of the charm offensive community is that if you don't know what to say is to just say the most honest thing that you could possibly think of, so maybe that is, man, I'm feeling really awkward right now because something, something, something I'm really nervous. Maybe it is just saying don't worry, you don't know me. Like just say the most honest thing that you could think of and people will appreciate that honesty. Okay, let's see. So be it familiar face in their space, treating the what you think is a pitch really as an introduction to open up a conversation. Say the most honest thing that you can think of and here's a little tidbit. Here's another little bit. One time I landed a job.
07:11 Okay, so there was this post from this internet celebrity and they were looking for a salesperson and they posted this job posting on the internet and they posted on Facebook. I mean it was like 190 comments. It was a crazy amount of comments of people saying, Oh, I'm a salesperson. I'm a salesperson, I'm a salesperson. I could take this job. And I thought to myself, there is no way that that person is going to go through 190 comments and who knows how many private direct messages they got. There's just no way it's going to be so overwhelming. So I thought, how can I make their life easier? How can I make this really, really easy? How can I give them, how can I get direct access to them without just being buried under a pile of 190 potential job applicants? So I looked up this person on Twitter.
08:02 Well actually I looked up their business partner on Twitter. Okay? He wasn't there. I looked up the business partner on LinkedIn. Look what happened. He was there on LinkedIn and he had actually posted this really thoughtful article about social media. I read the article, then I sent him an email and I did exactly what I just told you. I made it relevant. I explained who I was and how I thought I might be a good fit and I said it'd be open to talking to you got the job within like two weeks I was working for them. Okay. Under 190 applicants. Boom job secured in the bag. Okay. And I'm sharing this with you because it's taking the principles that I just taught you to create opportunities for yourself. But the final point is that look for backdoor approaches. Look, go where no one else is going and it's not even profound.
08:59 Like Twitter isn't profound, Linkedin isn't profound, but it's way less crowded there. Okay. When you can pay attention to people and say something intelligently and intentional about their work, about what they're doing, Oh my God, gosh, you're going to create fans faster and easier than if you just go on and self promotion hype on Facebook. Right? So if you want attention, you have to go give it. Okay? That's all I have to say about this episode. Now you know what to say to them. No excuses. Let's go.
Knock, knock. Who's there? Clients are banging on your door, ready to give you money and book your services, but they're asking hard questions like, how much is it? Who are you? How do I know you can help? Your brain melts and you feel a lot like deer in headlights. You've worked too hard for this opportunity. You can't let it slip away. Here's what you need to do right now. Text, consensual sales one word to five, five, five, eight, eight, eight that's triple five, triple eight and you'll get me, who can tell you exactly what to say to book those clients.
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