“Mammaaaaa”
“ I’m here, my child”, your mother replies in a loving voice.
“ I want candy.”
“After diner, my ok?.”
You gaze at your mom while you pull the sad puppy card.
“Ok, here you go.”
You already know how to sell. All you need is a simple framework to follow. And you can change your life.
We sold over $10M in courses with these exact steps. And now it’s your turn to do the same.
The Sales Call Blueprint
The two most important skills in sales
- Listen well
- Ask the right question.
Practice these skills and follow the steps in the blueprint, and you’ll do great.
Here’s a brief overview of the Sales Call Blueprint:
- Small talk.
- Set the stage.
- Be a “YES” collector
- The “Why” ladder.
- The cost of inaction
- Explain how you work.
- The time machine
- The Objection scale
- The price reveal
- Objection handling
Don’t worry if this looks intimidating. I will explain each step in extreme detail.
1. Small talk
The purpose of this step is to help your clients to feel at ease. The main goal here is to win your heart.
Remember the two most important sales skills?
- Listening.
- Asking the right questions.
It all starts here. Ask questions like:
How was your day? Where are you from? What is the weather like there?
Talk like you have a conversation with a good friend. Look into the camera and smile.
Virgil’s Power tip: Mention the person’s name a lot.
2. Set the stage
In this step, you manage expectations. You explain why they are on the call and what they can expect. Something like this:
“We’re on the call today because you like to generate an extra income with courses.”
“Are you ready to leverage your time?”
The whole goal to set the stage is:
* To take the lead.
* To manage expectations of the call.
* To show authority.
This is a very important step.
The danger is that your prospect will take the lead in the conversation.
That always ends in a nice chat but no sales.
Always set the stage.
3. Be a “YES” collector
The more they answer yes to all your questions, the bigger the chance that the client will buy your offer.
You train them in the call to say yes.
Let’s take a look at the questions you can ask:
Are you ready to start? 100k a year would change your life, right? Are you ready to change your life?
Sprinkle these questions in every step of the framework. It will set you up for a successful close.
4. The why ladder
“ Why is it important to you?”
This is one of the most important questions you can ask in the call. By asking this question, you get to the deep desire of why a person wants to change.
Here’s an example:
“So you like to lose belly fat. Why is that important to you?”
Client:” I just like to walk on the beach and feel great.”
“ I know how you feel.” Why do you like to feel great?”
Client: “I have two daughters, and I’ll love to run and play with them on the beach.
“ I see your daughters are very important to you. Why do you like to run behind them and play?”
“ My father died from a heart attack when he was 52. My brother had a heart attack recently.”
“I’m 49 now; I don’t want to end up like my brother and father.”
My client went from wanting a six-pack to being afraid of dying.
That‘s the power of finding out the true reason why.
Stay in charge of the call.
And you’re ready for the next step.
5. The cost of inaction
People don’t like pain. You’re wired to run away from pain towards pleasure.
This step aims to make your client experience their pain. What do you think their instinct will tell them to do?
Run towards YOU for the solution.
This is how you do it:
“ What is the cost for you now when you stay where you are and don’t take action?
Your next question will be something like this:
“Wow, that must be frustrating for you, right?”
Throw truckloads of salt in their wounds. Let it hurt, and you’re ready to offer a helping hand.
6. Explain how you work
You need to keep two very important things in mind before you proceed.
Lead by value Share the what, never the how.
You’ll share 3 simple tips that give your future client an aha moment. I do something like this:
When you like to launch a course to get extra income and leverage your time, these steps
Build an audience first. Find a common problem.
Package your knowledge based on the feedback of your audience into a course.
Create an aha moment, add some stories, and create curiosity. Practice blending each secret with a story.Never explain the HOW. All that information they will get after they’ve paid you.
Explain how you deliver your service, and don’t answer any questions in this step.
You like to keep the call moving towards the close.
7. The Time machine
It’s time to bring them into the buy mode. You do that with the power of imagination.
This is how we do it:
“Imagine you step in a time machine, and I transport you to 5 years from now.”You have everything you desire.”
“You’ll have time and money to do as you please.”
“How would that feel?”
Sales are nothing but painting pictures in people’s heads.
The better painter you are, the more sales you close.
Something like this:
A warm tropical breeze makes your hair dance in the wind. You smile at your partner while you gently hold her hand.
You feel the warm sand between your toes while your eyes glaze over the empty white beach.
The mind creates happy and positive sensations while it presents the images in the mind.
Give your client a glimpse of a bright future. Switch on their buy button.
And you’ll be ready for the next stage in the call.
8. The objection scale
Objections are a sales persons worst nightmare.
But what if you can handle objections not at the end but before they think about them?
After the Time machine stage, they are in a happy state. Now is your chance to remove any doubt in their heads.
You do that by asking this question:
On a scale from 1 to 10, how excited are you to get started?
Some people will scream In excitement:” A 10, of course.”
But in most cases, they say something like this: “I’m an 8 right now.”
Your follow-up question is: What can I do for you now to take you to a 10?
They can do nothing else but tell you what’s holding them back. Handle the issue that they might bring up with a follow-up question.
Let’s say it’s a time issue. “What can I do to solve that time issue for you now?”
Instead of you coming up with a solution, you always find a middle ground.
It’s time to present your offer.
9. The price reveal
You start by giving an overview of what they’re about to receive.
Very important is that you always stack a couple of extras. In marketing language, we call that a bonus stack.
Here are some examples you can add to your bonus stack:
- Pre-written templates.
- Recordings of the coaching calls.
- Transcribes the coaching calls.
- Your favourite books list.
- A 60 min follow-up call.
- Telegram support.
- Office hours calls.
Feel free to be creative here. The document, organise and distribute, and you’ll add value to your offer.
Now, mention the price and SHUT UP!
The moment you mention the price and internal dialogue starts in the client’s mind.
You don’t want to interrupt the dialogue because the client justifies if he/she is ready to buy.
I can assure you when you interrupt the person, you’ll lose the sale.
Wait for the prospect to reply, and you move on to the next stage
10. Handling objections
You’ll close the sale when you do a great job with all the steps.
But in most cases, the client will have some questions or objections.
There are 4 types of main objections:
- I don’t have time
- I don’t have money
- I need to talk to my partner
- It’s too expensive
I have learned that the best way to handle objections is with a question:
What can I do for you right now to make it work?
This is a powerful question to ask. Often the client knows the solution.
You need to help them to buy.
This is how you handle each of the objections:
I don’t have time.
What can I do to help you with time management?
Do you have 1 hour a day for yourself?
I don’t have money
What can I do to help you with the money issue?
Can we split the payments?
Find a solution together. It takes practice, but you’ll get it.
I need to talk to my partner.
Is your partner around now so I can explain it to him/her?
What if we do it, and you surprise him/her with amazing results? Wouldn’t that be great?
When in the supermarket, do you call your partner if he likes carrots or green beans?
Especially the last question works on people’s egos.
This is one of the hardest objections, and you can prevent this by asking at the beginning of the call if they are the only one that decides.
If the answer is yes, proceed with the call. If the answer is no, break off the call and schedule a new call with the partner.
It’s too expensive
What can I do to make you feel better about the price?
I hear what you say, but what does it cost you now when you stay where you are?
If I say you earn the investment back in 4 months, is it still expensive for you?
When you feel you run into a wall, you can always bring back the deep reason why in the conversation. Remind them why they want to change.
They’re this far in the call. Their objection is not to be a pain in the ass, but something is not clear to them yet. It’s up to you to find out what’s holding them back by asking questions.
Handling objections takes practice. Record your conversations, listen to them and improve.
By this time you will make some sales.
TD;LR
- Small talk.
- Set the stage.
- Be a “YES” collector.
- The “Why” ladder.
- The cost of inaction
- Explain how you work.
- The time machine
- The Objection scale
- The price reveal
- Objection handling
I promise you that you’ll get better when you implement these steps. You will not close every call, and that’s fine.
Keep an open mind and keep improving. If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email.
I will always answer my emails and try to make you a killer salesperson.
For now, goodbye and we’ll talk soon.