Sales can be done is many different ways. At the end of the day, it’s not your sales goals that will enable success, it’s your daily systems and processes. Losers and winners have the same goals – to win. The one that wins is ultimately the one that has better systems and processes in place and executes without emotional attachment to the results. To put it in sports terms – At the start of an NBA season most teams’ goals will be to make the playoffs or win a championship. Yet only one team wins the championship. Why is that? They might have the best players, but ultimately they have the best daily systems and processes that they follow and execute. Sales in business is exactly the same. Here is a proven sales process (I did not invent this, it’s been around for decades), tweaked specifically for the digital age we live in. If you follow this everyday, you should see success.

It’s a 4 stage process:

1. Prospecting
2. The Call
3. Discovery Meeting
4. Presentation/Closing The Deal

1. Prospecting:

This is the process of searching for your ideal customer. Identify the decision maker and contact them to get a meeting. You will need to learn about their business problems and gain an opportunity to provide your product or service as the solution and win them as a customer.

Depending on the product or service you are selling, identify 50-100 businesses you can sell to. Do your research on Google, LinkedIn, your company’s CRM and find these businesses. This is the process of identifying your ideal customer/client.

You need to find a genuine business reason to contact these businesses. I call it a VBR (Valid Business Reason). For example, if you are selling radio advertising, look for companies with multiple locations in your city who need to reach a large customer base for a sale they are doing. Your sales manager or colleagues can help you identify a VBR for each of the customers you found. Do not call anyone if you don’t have a genuine VBR, you’d be wasting your time and their time.

On an Excel document (or something similar) for each of the companies you found, write down the decision maker (can easily find them on the company website or LinkedIn page), their phone number (again, on website or their LinkedIn profile once you’ve connected) and find a solid VBR. Ideally you want to find the decision maker’s mobile. The main way to do this is by sending a connection request on LinkedIn. Once they accept, you will be able to see their number under “contact info.” If not, just find the company’s switch board number which is usually on their website.

Use LinkedIn, LinkedIn premium or sales navigator to message the decision maker. The free version of LinkedIn will allow you to message and search for a limited number of people. If you want a higher reach, approach your company about getting a LinkedIn premium or Sales Navigator Licence If not, you might be able to find the decision maker’s email on their website or a google search and email them.

Your message/email should be crafted like this:

• Compliment: Give them a genuine compliment which you can find on their LinkedIn page or googling their name/business.
• Intro: who you are and what you do.
• VBR: State the reason for your call.
• Close: Ask to jump on an introductory call or meeting to show them your value.

Keep in mind, people love talking about themselves. The more that your message is about them and their business and the less it is about you and your business, the better.

     2. The Call:

You now have your list of prospects whom you messaged on LinkedIn or sent an email to get their attention.

If they haven’t got back to you within two to three days on LinkedIn or email, call them to gain a meeting. Your call needs to be short, sharp and straight to the point. People are busy, especially high-level decision makers, so you have roughly ten seconds to win them over.

Here’s the structure of your call:

• Compliment: As soon as they answer, compliment them. Their ego will love it. A genuine compliment about their recent achievements or business success.
• Introduction: Quickly introduce yourself and your company.
• VBR: Then, hit them with your valid business reason for the call. Get straight to the point on why you’re calling.
• Close: Get them to commit to a forty-five minute meeting where you can sell your product or service properly.

Here is my call script when I was working in radio sales, feel free to use it and make it your own:

“Hi Mr XXX, firstly I wanna say huge congrats on tripling your business revenue this year, it’s a huge testament to your leadership, tenacity and work ethic, I am inspired. (Usually they say something here, so play along accordingly. Obviously do your research to give a legit compliment.)

My name is Alex and I am an account manager at KIIS 106.5, #1 radio station in Sydney. The reason for my call is I noticed you’re running a promotion at thirty percent off on all your products next week. How would you like to advertise this to our million weekly listeners who are looking for what you’re selling?”

From there, use your common sense and emotional intelligence. Remember, come from an angle of helping, saving time, saving or increasing revenue. It’s about them, not about you. Ask questions and listen with empathy. When dealing with rejection, also ask questions and listen with empathy. One of the most common rejections I used to get is “I don’t need this right now,” or “I don’t have a budget, no thanks.”

I always handle rejections with questions that make them think about their pain points/problems or a business opportunity (that I researched and knew they had) – “No problem, if you don’t mind me asking, how would it make you feel if you sold your products at 20% off in 2 days, as opposed to a whole week selling at 30% off?” Usually, an opportunity to make more revenue in shorter time got their attention. However, with a carefully crafted message/call with a strong compliment and VBR, chances of objections significantly decrease.

Never give your price on this initial call. If they are interested or asking questions, get them to commit to a meeting where you can learn more about their business and give more insight into how your product/service can be a fit, including price. Never give out too much info on the initial call. Otherwise, there is no point for an in person/video meeting where you will have a much better chance building a legit relationship and closing the deal.

     3. Discovery Meeting:

You’ve won the prospect on your call and they are keen to meet you in person to learn more about your product/service. Remember, sales is all about solving problems or creating an opportunity. It often might happen where the call is not even needed, as the prospect returns your initial message or email.

So, in this discovery meeting you need to find out what their problems or potential business opportunities are. Everyone has problems or is open to an opportunity. The only way to uncover a problem or an opportunity where you can provide your product or service as a solution is to ask intelligent questions and listen.

I use the 70/30 rule. The customer should be talking 70% of the time and you should be talking 30% of the time. If you fail to do this, you’ll most likely lose the sale.

Once you’ve asked intelligent questions and uncovered a problem, give them a rundown of your service/product and how you will be able to solve their problem. Based on the information you have collated from the customer, you will put together a tailored solution to solve their problem. The solution presentation should happen within a week of this discovery meeting. Before you do that, close them before the close.

Here’s how: “Mr. Client, if I was to come back next week with a tailored solution to the problem/issue/opportunity we have discovered today, at a cost of $123 (now give them a price), would you be ready to commit to this?”

It sets expectations, and if needed, you can solve all objection right there and then.

     4. Presentation/The Close:

This is the final meeting where you are to present your solution to the client and close the deal. All objections should have been covered in the discovery meeting and all you are to do is present a compelling presentation and get their signature. This should be the easiest part as you would have also established some trust.

If they can’t make a decision right after the presentation, follow them up until they give you an answer.

So, there it is. Prospecting, The Call, Discovery Meeting and The Close. If you follow these four steps working in sales, you have the potential to earn big $$$!

The key to this whole operation is having prospects to call each week. Every Monday morning, if you don’t have 50-100 prospects on your list, you’ll most likely be average. As an athlete and high performer and someone who wants to earn six-figures +, get that 50-100 and trust the process.

For further sales training and tips, get in touch with our team.