46: Money Talk: Sales, Growth and Partnerships with Michael Giele

I am excited to be here with Michael Giele. He is an award-winning sales consultant and trainer. He is also my husband and he left corporate life a couple of months ago to join this online business adventure. Everything I have learned about sales has come from Michael, and we are here to show how you can make sales a more fun comfortable process in your life, because sales drive your revenue. 

1.How do you go about it?

Things need to be tailored to the person that you are talking with. So, in a good first sales call (the discovery call), you don’t say that much about your product or yourself, because it’s all about exploring the client, it’s about exploring their problem: this is what you need; this is where you want to be; this is the problem, and if you don’t do anything, this is where you’ll end up; but if you do this, then that’s where you want to get, is that correct?

Be quiet and then say- there are two main reasons why I think I can support you. And whatever you say next should not last longer than 20-30 seconds. You do not need to prove yourself; you already did that- that is why they are on the phone with you.  A discovery call or a clarity call is not the same thing as doing a free strategy session. You are only asking the client questions; you are not giving them free advice.  

If you give people too much information, they cannot cope. Often the information that you give these people is new, and they cannot give it a place within their frame of reference.  You want to talk to them about stuff that they understand that they would fully cope with. Stay away from the urge of trying to sell. It is not really selling, it is telling.  

2.Is it worth it?

One of the main questions that would be good to start in the beginning is – Why are we on the call today? If you have someone that says – I just want to learn more about your business; it is not worth going through the entire process of having that conversation because they are not going to buy from you 99% of the time. If they say – Well I need help with x; then you can have a meaningful conversation with them. 

3.Prepare before the call

Pay attention when it comes to sales calls is to ask the questions before the call. For example, in your booking form, ask them a few very rudimentary questions: Do you need help with this now? Are you willing to continue working with me, if the call is positive?; Do you have the funds to spend now, etc. If the answer is no, that frees up an hour of your time you would spend on that call. Just imagine that you do 50 of those calls a year, that is a full working week of calls. And time is money.  

Every conversation that you have with clients, every conversation: pre-sales, after-sales- it is all sales calls. It is all keeping control over the narrative, over making sure you make agreements that people follow up on. Sales are a process. If you really want to excel in your business, you will start focusing on getting it. That is your bread and butter. 

Following up in the correct way and  asking the right questions, will have you gain more business because you will spend less time following up, without getting anything out of it.  

When we talk about the price point to have sales calls, it really does depend on your general pricing of all your offers and how price-sensitive your people are, how much input do they need from you to make that buying decision. It is also about the value of your time. What are 30 minutes or an hour of your time worth to you? 

I do have an offer for you all.  I am doing business and marketing strategy and the offer is to get your offers, pricing, and funnel- your customer journey done together. And with that, you get a session with Michael as well, purely focused on the sales process of the pre-call setup and the conversation to help you get some training in that as well.

If you are interested, either pop me a message or go directly to book a call there and have that conversation about how we can best help you.  

Love + magic, 

Maggie