A classic example of why I don't like sales calls

Some time ago a sales and marketing coach approached me in a rather unique way so I was intrigued and interested in seeing more of his approach and if it was something I might want to test out in future.

We messaged back and forth a little and I agreed to jump on a call with him

He positioned the call as a demonstration of how he could "help to improve my sales and marketing process" aka a sales call.

To give you a little more context... his initial message was ice cold. While we'd been connected for quite a while, we'd never interacted in any way.

I wanted to check out some of his content before the call to get a better idea of what his marketing looks like (do you do that as well?) but he doesn't share any!!

Literally, not a single post on his profile... it actually looks like a fake account.

I couldn't find him on LinkedIn either yet he'd assured me that his methods work there as well. (My spidey senses started tingling but I got on the call anyway.)

On the call, he ran through the typical sales call process of finding out more about my business, who I serve, what I help my clients with, pricing, where business is now vs. where I want it to be and finally, my current sales & marketing process.

Then he started explaining, in great detail, his marketing methods (which are unsurprisingly outdated) and when he was finished explaining, he made an offer (without permission) which I politely declined.

He spoke SO much, we ended up on the call for 1hr45 minutes!

The only reason I stayed on the call that long was because he seemed like a cool guy and I was waiting to see if there was anything that he could share that was interesting and different from other approaches.

There wasn't.

There were a number of reasons why I don't like his approach, which I'll break down for you here in the hopes that it will help you with your own sales and marketing strategy:

1. He's trying to make sales to ice-cold leads.

It's one thing to get someone onto a sales call who's had a chance to consume some of your content and get to know you & what you offer a little... but it's a completely different ball game trying to make sales to cold leads.

They say it takes 14-21 touchpoints to make a high-ticket sale (anywhere over $2k) these days because there needs to be a certain level of trust. 

Your prospect needs to believe you will deliver on your promises and that they will be able to reach their goal with your methods.

Quickly running through the process over a sales call without any pre-selling typically doesn't do the job. (which is why the average coach & consultant close rate is as low as 10-40%)

2. He didn't qualify me at all

Before you make an offer, whether that's on a sales call or via DM's, you want to make sure your prospects:

• Are looking for the type of help you provide,
• Meet the criteria needed for them to get results with your methods.

It's pointless getting on a call or making an offer to someone who doesn't meet these conditions.

If they aren't looking for help, they will say no (or come up with an excuse like "I can't afford it, I need to ask my partner, "I don't have time now.") and if they don't meet the criteria they won't get results which is never good for anyone involved.

3. He's wasting HUGE amounts of time on sales calls

Based on my experience with him, I'd imagine most of his sales calls are around 1.5 hours long.

If he has 10 sales calls in a week, that's a total of 15 hours.

If he closed every sale - no problem

Yet I strongly suspect only people who are new to this industry will sign up to work with him because those of us who've been around a while have been burned in the past and we're savvy now.

And I also suspect he doesn't close more than 2 out of 10 calls which means that's 12 hours every week of totally wasted time he'll never, ever, ever get back.

What could you do with an extra 12 hours per week?

4. He doesn't practise what he preaches

He's not using the strategy that he's trying to sell which is a huge red flag in this industry.

He claimed that he could help with a content strategy, yet he's not using a content strategy himself. (why not????)

Obviously, not all coaches & experts are going to be using the same strategy that they sell, each market is different, but in this case, it would have gone a long way to building trust if he was "drinking his own Kool-Aid" and there was something for me to see on his profile...

I could carry on but this email is already longer than I had planned so I'll wrap it up now...

A much easier, ethical and far less time-consuming way to make high-ticket sales is to:

1. Use your marketing to do the selling for you:

Actually talk about your methods, who you serve, results they can expect to achieve with your help, possible objections your market might have, etc.

This way your market can consume your content and get to know you and your methods before ever speaking to you. Not only does this build huge amounts of trust, but it also allows your market to pre-select you as the person to help them AND when they do reach out, they have basically already decided to work with you.

2. Invite interested people to get on a call or message you to find out more about your program (which indicates they are looking for help) instead of sending cold messages to convince someone to get on a call with you.

3. Only get on sales calls (or in sales conversations in the DM's) and make offers to qualified leads. No point in talking to someone who won't get the results they are looking for because they don't qualify. (Not ethical to take them on as a client either, in my opinion.)

I hope that makes sense? 

If you have any questions about any of this please feel free to comment below or message me and ask and I'll gladly answer you.

In your corner

Ann

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