In 1679, French physicist Denis Papin invented a new way to cook. He created an airtight cooker that leveraged steam to raise the boiling point of water. His invention, the pressure cooker, made cooking much faster. Using heat and high pressure may be good for cooking, but it's a recipe for disaster in sales.
Applying high pressure sales tactics almost always results in losing the sale. Today we'll explore how to close more sales without high pressure.
Here's what we'll discuss in this article:
1- “Hard Closing” is a sign that something is wrong
2- Four questions that must be answered to eliminate buyers fear
3 – Using content to pre-sell clients
“Hard Closing” is a sign that something is wrong
Motivational speaker, Tony Robbins says, “If you have to close hard in the end it means you haven't done you job well up front.” People think closing happens when you're sitting face to face with your prospect. This is backwards thinking. In reality, closing starts before the very first interaction. The journey a prospect takes from beginning to end needs to be predetermined so they show up on sales calls ready to say, “Yes.”
But how can we set ourselves up to get the “yes?” It starts with asking the right questions. Let's see what those questions are.
Four questions that must be answered to eliminate buyers fear.
A confused person will fear making the wrong decision. That's why it's so important to plan our customer journey in advance. The following four questions will eliminate fear and have people showing up to sales calls confident in your ability to deliver for them.
Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy says people quickly judge us by asking themselves two simple questions:
1. Can I trust this person? Trust is the most important business asset we have. Without trust, we will never get a “yes.”
2. Can I respect this person? People want to know that we're smart, talented, and most importantly that we can deliver on our promises.
Once someone decides they can trust and respect us, it's our job to move them to the next steps in our sales process. To get people moving, the following two questions must be answered:
1. What do you want people to do?
This is one of the biggest mistakes most marketers make. They create great content, build trust and authority, and forget to ask for action. People need to be led. They want us to tell them what to do next. The very best marketers know that every piece of content must have a clear call to action (CTA). We must tell people what to do, where to go, and why they need to go there.
This happens all the time in podcasting. A consultant creates an amazing podcast that showcases his expertise. Listeners love it and want to know hot they can work with him. But, the hosts hates selling so he doesn't have a CTA on his show. He leaves it up to his listeners to poke around the internet and, hopefully find him.
Why would he leave it up to fate? All he needs is a simple ad with a CTA telling listeners to go back to his website to book a call. This helps him book more qualified sales calls, and helps his listeners get in touch with him faster. Win+Win.
2. What do people need to believe to take action?
People simply need to know that we understand them and can solve their problems. In Donald Miller's hit book, Building a Storybrand, he says, “Everyone is the hero of their story. The best brands position themselves as the guide.” My nerdy interpretation of this idea: We are Yoda. They are Luke.
Being a good guide means we need to help our clients be the hero. We accomplish this by giving them good advice and providing a roadmap to achieving their goals. This is easily accomplished with the right content plan. Now let's look at how to plan content that gets listeners ready to buy.
Using content to pre-sell clients
When planning podcast content its best to create episodes that handle your clients most common objections. If you take notes on your sales calls, this process is pretty simple. Grab a pen and pad and write down all the most common objections you get on sales calls. Aim for a list of at least 20-30 objections. Once you have your list, pick out the top 10 and create podcast episodes that handle these objections.
Record your shows.
When someone books a call, give them a homework assignment. Have them listen to each podcast episode before the call. The shows will eliminate most of their objections before they ever talk to you. They'll show up pre-sold and ready to buy from you.
We covered a lot of ground, so let's do a quick recap:
- People are afraid to make the wrong decision
- If we have to “hard close” we probably didn't answer these 4 questions:
- Can they trust us?
- Can they respect us?
- What do we want them to do?
- What do they need to believe?
People are the heroes of their story. Great brands position themselves as the guide. One of the best ways to guide people is with pre-planned content that handles their objections.
High-pressure tactics won't get you very far
If you find yourself having to “hard close” on sales calls, it's a sign you didn't properly prepare your prospect for the call. When people trust and respect you, sales will be much faster and easier. I recorded a short training on how you can use “Speed Influence” to build trust faster. You can listen to it at https://thepodcastfactory.com/dwp010/
When you're ready to see how podcasting can make your sales process more effective, we should talk. Book a 30 minute call with me and I'll show you how to plug our system into your business in 30 days.
