Sales. If that word makes you go “ugh,” then this article is for you.
If you’re like many financial professionals, you don’t love sales calls. They make your stomach hurt, your palms sweat, and – honestly – you’d rather troubleshoot that one perpetually broken bank feed than make a sales call.
But sales don’t have to be hard. In fact, you can make sales calls enjoyable – and profitable! – in just six steps.
Six Steps to Nail Your Sales Conversations
Step One: Stop Having Sales Calls
Wait. What?
Alright, we’re playing cute with the English language here, but there’s something to be said for how you frame your initial conversations with prospective clients (and even existing clients you are offering new services to.)
If you schedule a sales call, you are immediately putting the other person on guard. They are braced for an offer and spend the entire call looking for how they can say no.
But if you have a consultation call – even one that ends in an offer of services or products – you are giving the prospect value for their time. By the end of the call, your prospect will feel heard and will trust you…which makes it easier for them to say yes to your offer.
Step Two: Do Your Pre-Call Planning
Do you ever look at the menu for a new restaurant before actually going to the restaurant?
Pre-call planning is that, but for your prospective client instead of your prospective dinner.
Spend some time learning about your prospect prior to your consultation call. Then, get into the correct mindset for the call. Plan how you want it to go. Decide what you’ll do if your prospect doesn’t seem to find what you’re offering appetizing. Yeah, we’re mixing up our metaphors here, but you get the point.
Step Three: Break the Ice
When you’re in an uncomfortable situation, there’s a tendency to jump right to the point. Rip off the bandaid, if you will.
Don’t do it.
Use what you learn during your pre-call planning to break the ice with your prospect. Engage in a few minutes of small talk. This will put your prospect – and you – at ease and make the rest of the conversation flow more smoothly.
Step Four: Ask the Right Questions
If you’re asking the “usual” questions financial professionals ask – like, “What accounting software do you use?” or “How many bank accounts do you have?” or “Are your taxes up to date?” – then you are setting yourself up for a rough conversation.
Why?
These “compliance” questions allow your prospect to immediately pigeonhole you into the category of “just another bookkeeper/accountant.” And that means they are going to be uber-focused on your price for services as opposed to the ROI on the value you can provide them.
So, what are the right questions?
Well, that depends on the client. Fortunately, we’ve created a “choose your own adventure” script with five different categories of questions you can ask your prospect. It’s called Value Starts With Hello, and you can download it here.
Step Five: Offer Your PARTNERSHIP
If the consultation doesn’t go off the rails during the question portion of the call, it typically falls apart here.
Do. Not. Offer. Your. Services.
When you offer services, you put yourself and your firm into a subservient position. As an advisor who will be providing valuable services with a measurable ROI at a premium price, you must enter the relationship on an equal footing with your prospect.
Step Six: Close the Consultation
At this point, you’ll either get a “Yes!” (or, “Where do I sign?”), a “No,” or a “Let me think about it.”
Yeses are easy. Schedule your new client’s onboarding appointment before ending the call, then kickoff your usual process of sending engagement letters, getting login information, etc. We also recommend sending a thank you card or gift right away.
And…Let-me-think-about-its and Nos are also easy. Because you will also schedule follow-up conversations with them before ending the call.
That’s right – regardless of whether the prospect says “Yes!” “No.” or “Let me think about it,” your final step in the consultation process is to schedule the next call.
You can find more details about what to say at this point – and how to say it – in Value Starts With Hello.
And there you have it. Six steps to nail your next sales conversation. If you want a coach and a community who can help you get comfortable with this process, click here to apply to become a Profit First Professional.
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