How to Get Better at Sales in 48 Hours (Even if You Hate Selling)

Note from Sean: 

I’ve been really excited to publish this course. David Anderson joined Location Rebel a couple of years ago, and within his first month in the course he made over $3,000. He’s gone on to see a ton of success with his digital agency, and is one of the best natural sales guys I know.

Speaking of sales, this post will be uncomfortable for many people. Sales is an essential part of business, but many new entrepreneurs have negative associations with the word sales. It’s time to break out of that, and start thinking about sales in a win/win, non scammy way.

This post introduces some of the concepts that the most successful sales people in the world use to close the deal. If you take two days and start implementing what he teaches, I guarantee you’ll see your comfort level and abilities skyrocket.

With that, I’ll turn it over to David!

—

“The total is $2,700… will you pay with Visa or Mastercard?” I will never forget my first ‘one-call close’ over the phone.

After only 15 minutes, I was able to sway a prospect, who I’ve never spoken to in my entire life, to trust me and close a contract. The feeling was a RUSH.

Now you might be thinking, “I could NEVER do that!!!”

Hit the breaks for a second!

First off, don’t feel alone. 

Many new Location Rebel members (or any new business owner for the matter) that I consult are either 1) terrified to reach out to potential customers or 2) lost on how to find new customers.

Now here’s the true story… 

It’s not easy to make a ‘one-call close’ (or a big sale), but with hard work and practice it’s 100% possible.

I’ve trained even the most introverted business owners to accomplish this incredible feat.

As a business owner, a sale is MASSIVELY positive for yourself and your business. Side effects include, but certainly are not limited to:

• An immediate confidence boost – “I’m in business for myself!”
• The realization you helped one more person in this world.
• Your service/product means something to someone… it has value.
• You can eat and feed your family.
• You can reinvest in your business and grow more.

Some things are worth pushing your comfort zone, and honing your sales skills definitely falls into that category.

Now, right now you might be thinking, “I thought this was a site about online business.” 

Well you’re right about that, but one of the fastest ways to book that freelance job, is, you guessed it, getting them on the phone. 

Alright… now that YOU’RE sold on reading this article… let’s dive into the 3 areas of sales to help you crush your fear of the phones and transform into a selling machine.

1) Build Your Prospect List

Prospecting is one of the most important aspects of sales because it’s the process of building up your leads (prospects). You can’t cheat on prospecting. It’s a measurable ‘numbers game’…

And the only way to win is to be consistent.

How can you become a better prospector?

Cold Calls Versus Warm Calls

You don’t have to start with ‘cold calling’. In fact, I encourage ‘warm calling’ for most of the calling campaigns I start for business owners.

A warm call is a creative reason to call a prospect, instead of calling them out of the blue. It’s less scary and much more effective.

For example, if you’ve never made a cold (or warm) call, you can start by calling someone you know. These calls are a great way to build your confidence, get comfortable on the phones, and earn a ‘small win’.

Techniques to get warm calls:

• Ask your network (friends, family, co-workers, business connections) for referrals.
• Join a Meetup group and grab as many business cards as humanly possible!
• Join your local Chamber of Commerce or an online community and reach out to each member individually.
• Find phone numbers and emails within your LinkedIn connections.
• Call a business owner in your area and tell him you’d like to learn more about his/her product or service.
• Personally email (or LinkedIn message) someone you can help. Make sure to write a genuine message and ask to set up a quick phone call.

The Power Of 10

Commit to call 10 new people every day.

According to the 7 Ways To Be Better at Prospecting, the #1 tip is to be consistent.

If 10 calls a day overwhelms you… start smaller. Reach out to 1 person a day… then 2 … and then 3… and so on…

The purpose of the “Power of 10” is to become a proactive business owner; someone who makes it a habit to contact potential customers.

Think this is too much? When I was a full-time sales rep at my corporate job, I would make 80-100 calls every day. Trust me, 10 calls isn’t a lot. It’s a small enough number that won’t take up much of your time (one or two hours at most), yet big enough to make an impact on your business.

Follow Up, Follow Up, And Then… Follow Up

Until you get the sale, make it a point to schedule another call, grab a cup of coffee, or a hop on a friendly Skype chat with your prospect. If you get a cancellation, be proactive and reschedule. Tell the potential customer it’s in their best interest to talk again because you want to make absolutely certain your product/service will be a great fit.

I’ve BLOWN UP a prospect’s phone and email inbox just to get a response.

Do you feel that’s too pushy?

What if I told you, most people actually thank me for being so persistent once we agree on a contract. It’s a rare trait to find these days and people are grateful for it.

Here’s an example of how important it is to follow up… from the book, The Success Principles:

“Herbert True, a marketing specialist at Notre Dame University, found that:

• 44% of all salespeople quit trying to sell to a prospect after the first call
• 24% quit after the second call
• 14% quit after the third call
• 12% quit trying to sell their prospect after the fourth call

This means that 94% of all salespeople quit by the fourth call. But 60% of all sales are made after the fourth call. The revealing statistic shows that 94% of all salespeople don’t give themselves a chance at 60% of the prospective buyers.”

The only person that will make this connection happen is YOU. So follow up, follow up and follow up.

2) Use Jedi Mind Tricks On The Phone

Okay, okay… I’m not telling you to trick or manipulate anyone. However, I will teach you how to tune to the ONE radio station that everyone is tuned to: WIIFM.

WIIFM stands for ‘What’s In It For Me?’ – and until you tune your sales pitch to this channel, you’re not going to close deals.

How to use ‘Jedi mind tricks’ over the phone…

Write Down A List Of Questions

A solid sales script is effective… but a list of 10-20 engaging questions is even more effective.

Why write down a list of questions?

1. It shows that you care (you’re tuned to WIIFM).
2. You talk less and listen more… and sales is all about listening.
3. Questions open up a conversation.
4. Incase you freeze up, you can look at your list and just ask another question. Let the prospect talk, while you recover.

Make sure to write down ‘open-ended’ questions rather than only ‘close-ended’ questions.

An opened-ended question allows the prospect to elaborate on his or her answer. For example:

• What are your goals this year?
• How did your business get started?
• Why do you think you’re not getting more customers?

Versus a closed-ended question, which forces a prospect to give you a short “yes” or “no” and not elaborate much further, such as:

• Are you going to hit your goals this year?
• Have you been in business for a long time?
• Do you get a lot of customers?

Build Rapport

Sell yourself, not your product/service.

Think about the last time you bought something from someone. Did you think, “I can’t stand this guy (gal)?” or… was it, “I like this person.”

I know when I signed up for Location Rebel Academy a couple of years ago, it was because I enjoyed reading Sean’s advice. I liked his positive attitude, contagious passion and rebellious views on life. I didn’t care about the technical details of his membership, I only cared that Sean was someone I could trust… someone who built a killer program for my business.

So how do you get someone to like you over the phone?

Build rapport right away. Put the technical details of your product/service on the side and ask the prospect how their day went. Tell them a story. Make a genuine connection with the person. It’s no different than how you make a friend while you’re out during the weekend.

Simple lines to build rapport:

• “I’m enjoying this beautiful weather today! How about yourself?”
• “It’s Friday and I’m ready for the weekend. Do you have any big plans or are you taking it easy?”
• “I’ve lived in Denver for a few years now, but I’m originally from warm, sunny Florida. I actually went to Florida State – Go Noles! Where are you from?” >>> Sean LOVES this line 😉

Note from Sean: Cough,rosebowl,cough.

People buy from people that they like.

How You Say It (Not What You Say)

There’s nothing more contagious than a high-energy, passionate voice over the phone. Think about some of the top consultants in the entire world – Tony Robbins, Grant Cardone, Jordan Belfort, Sean Ogle – it’s pretty exciting to listen to them, huh?

That’s because no one wants to listen to someone who sounds monotone with low-energy. Sales is all about emotions, and you have to tap into the emotion of excitement to get someone excited to buy your product/service. It’s not necessarily what you say, but how you say your sales pitch.

So how do you crank up your voice inflection and sound successful?

UNDER PREPARE… not over prepare.

The worse thing you can do before a sales call is research a prospect, read over your sales script, or over prepare yourself for the call.

Instead, get in a good mood. Hit the gym, go for a run, or stand up and do jumping jacks. Get your blood flowing and crank up the endorphin levels.

My ‘under prepare’ secret: While I’m at one of my two offices downtown, I TURN UP my subwoofers and blast my favorite music right before a sales call. As soon as the prospect answers, I turn off the music and dive into my pitch.

3) Go For The Close

“A.B.C.” stands for Always Be Closing.

Anyone who’s ever been in sales has probably watched the epic movie scene of Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross

So how can you build up your ‘brass balls’ and go for the close?

Qualify The Lead

You can’t ask for a prospect’s money until you qualify them. Ask the right questions to make sure your potential new customer will actually benefit from your product/service. Otherwise, you’ll have an unhappy customer who will drain your energy or even worse… ask for a refund.

The 4 qualifications you must find out on a sales call:

1. Decision Maker – Make sure you’re speaking with the person who can make the purchase decision on your product/service. Otherwise, ask politely if you can speak to their business partner, boss, wife, or the final decision maker.
2. Need and Interest – This one may sound obvious, however it’s important to gauge the decision maker’s interest and need. So make sure to ask the prospect how much your product or service will actually benefit them.
3. Budget – You need to find out if your prospect can afford what you’re selling. And if they can’t, then can they can get the money via credit card, investors, borrow the money, loans, etc.? A good way to find out is to just ask them, “Can you budget this?”
4. Urgency – Even after you qualify a lead, they might not need your product/service right away. Your prospect will take his or her sweet time, unless you create scarcity and urgency…  i.e. Only 5 more left, limited time discount, summer special, etc.

Design your questions to naturally bring these topics up. Once you ask for all 4 qualifications, go for the close.

Ask For The Sale

If you don’t ask for the sale and talk about the price within your first or second phone call, there’s a serious issue with your pitch.

You can qualify a prospect. You can get them to like you… or even love you! But you’re not getting a sale until you ask for it!

So once you go through your list of questions and the 4 qualifications, it’s time to go for the close.

Here’s a few ways to ask for the sale:

• “Let’s move forward with the proposal.”
• “Are you ready to get started?”
• “It sounds like you’ll truly benefit from _____. Let’s do this!”
• “Why not give it a shot?”

Ask for the sale with enthusiasm and confidence. If you don’t get it the first few times… don’t worry… just keep up the practice and you’ll eventually become a closing machine.

The best case scenario, you get a new customer! The worse case, the prospect says “no” and gives you a reason why they don’t want to buy.

Overcome Objections – AKA “Opportunities”

There are two ways to look at an objection – a reason why your prospect doesn’t want to buy today.

You can view an objection as a road block and give up. Or you can see it as an opportunity to open up new possibilities for your prospect.

Objections and opportunities sound like this:

• Objection: “I don’t have the budget right now.”
• Opportunity: “I understand… however… how much will it cost you if you don’t do this?”

• Objection: “I have to talk to my business partner before making a decision.”
• Opportunity: “Of course. It sounds like this could benefit both of you… so why don’t we schedule a quick conference to help answer any of your partner’s questions?”

• Objection: “I’m just not interested.”
• Opportunity: “Is there any particular reason why you’re not interested?”

• Objection: “I’m shopping around right now.”
• Opportunity: “Can you tell me about the other companies you’re talking to? What exactly are you looking for? I want to make absolutely sure you make the best choice.”

When you’re on the phone, someone will be sold. Either 1) the prospect on the other line who buys your product/service or 2) YOU on why the prospect shouldn’t buy.

Do your due diligence, practice your opportunity responses, and crush those objections!

Take Action Today

Call one person today (whether you know them or not) and tell them about your product or service.

Don’t worry if you mess up or don’t get the sale. The point is to get in the habit of calling people regularly so that it becomes natural to reach out to new prospects.

Once you make the call, I would love to know how it went…

Drop a comment below, I’ll be checking back and answering any questions that come up!

About The Author

David Anderson, founder of Nitroworks, is a die-hard entrepreneur and sales consultant. He helps business owners increase their monthly revenue through his online course and 1-on-1 consulting.

*BOOST Your Revenue*: I’m looking to help 10 business owners increase their monthly revenue. You can apply for a spot right here >>> 90-Day Revenue Boost.

When David isn’t on the daily hustle, he enjoys skiing, traveling, playing guitar, cooking, lifting at the gym, and watching college football, especially his alma mater, Florida State University.

Sean Ogle

Sean Ogle is the Founder of Location Rebel where he has spent the last 12+ years teaching people how to build online businesses that give them the freedom to do more of the things they like to do in life. When he's not in the coffee shops of Portland, or the beaches of Bali, he's probably sneaking into some other high-class establishment where he most certainly doesn't belong.