Latest / Sell Well: Helping Agencies Close More Deals and Grow Revenue / Start Prescribing, Start Closing: How to Win More Deals in Q4

Transcript

Start Prescribing, Start Closing: How to Win More Deals in Q4 · Sell Well: Helping Agencies Close More Deals and Grow Revenue

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: This week I was on the hunt for a gift for a friend.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was going store to store looking for things and found myself completely overwhelmed of what to get.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: This was one of those situations where I kind of knew how much money I wanted to spend, but I didn't know what I wanted to get this person.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And every store I walked into, it felt like the options list kept getting longer and my clarity on what I wanted to do kept dwindling.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was going shop to shop, and all of these super nice people were asking me things like, What are you looking for today?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And how can I help you?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I would tell them, I'm looking for a gift for a friend.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And they would start asking me tons of questions and they would hold up all kinds of different options.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, do they like jewelry?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, do they like this?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Have you thought about scarves?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Have you thought about candles?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Have you thought about sweaters?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden I'm like, I don't know.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I just, I could not get done with this fast enough.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not really a window shopper.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is not something I super enjoy.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite way to buy gifts is when I have something really specific and meaningful in mind.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, I'm not a great gift giver.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I walked in on a whim to an olive oil store, which I've never been in one before.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not that cool.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I walked in and was like, maybe they have something that would be a good fit.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe on an off-the-wall chance there's something that would be um just kind of a cool, interesting gift for this person.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The store owner looked at me and my toddler, and I'm sure she was like, excellent, a toddler in my beautiful store full of expensive bottles.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she was lovely.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, What are you looking for today?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I gave her my spiel and looking for a gift for a friend.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of then asking me a million questions and giving me tons and tons of options, I mean, there had to be hundreds of types of olive oil in this room.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: She said, How much are you looking to spend on this gift?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I told her I was very honest and upfront about it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, Great, most people give this olive oil as a gift.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's really mild and you're welcome to try it.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: This bottle would come in under budget and we could pair it with this really cute topper, and I can wrap it up for you right now.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound good?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Within 60 seconds, my decision had been made.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: She coached me through it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I felt validated because this is what other people do.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I did end up tasting it.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was awesome.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And my decision was made.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: It just was that simple.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: What did she do that the other store owners didn't?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want to talk about today.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: She was prescriptive.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't let me run the conversation.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't give me one trillion options.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: She just said, this is what you should do.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an expert here.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I know what I'm talking about.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I actually know the stats.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know what goes over better.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I studied this for a living.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I would do if I were you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: She wasn't pushy.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: She wasn't, you know, I've been in that store too, where they're like, no, no, no, this is it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, all right, back off.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you don't even know what you're talking about.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But she sensed the situation.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: She could tell that I was looking to be guided.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And in a matter of minutes, it was done.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So often we get on an initial sales call and assume the person wants to hear every single option that we have.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Package one, package two, and the add-ons, and then here's the custom version.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we think we're being really helpful.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: But what people actually want, especially in a service-based business, is a path forward.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: They came to you because you're the expert.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: They came to you because they want you to look at their situation and tell them where to start.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So on your next sales call, this is my advice to you going into Q4.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Skip the full menu, really listen, and then come back with one best first step.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I love using a strategy session or an audit.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this before, but something small they can say yes to quickly.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: A good rule of thumb, if you're like, I've never done anything like this before, I don't know what I should charge, is about 10 to 20% of a total ideal project value in the future.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're selling them a$10,000 website, you might want to say, start with like a$500 strategy session.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: We'll map out exactly what needs to be on the site.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll credit this towards your future site build.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: This process has taken a lot of my clients from a 20 to 30% close rate to closer to a 50 to 60% close rate, just because they're giving their clients a great first step.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: If this is something you want to implement, I want to talk about how to do this well for a second because I do think this is a great thing to offer going into Q4 if you are in a service-based space.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people come back to a strategy session offer or an audit, and they're like, I don't really want to pay you to just come up with a plan.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I would rather you just do it and I don't want to pay any extra for that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And service-based business owners get really frustrated because they're like, How am I supposed to serve you well if we don't have a strategy, if we don't have a plan, you're not really valuing my expertise, yada yada.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard this from all kinds of different businesses.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard it all.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: If this is you, I want to challenge you and argue that you might be positioning this incorrectly and positioning it as an option instead of once again being prescriptive.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: To illustrate this, I want to use the example of being an agency owner and selling a strategy session that then I'll credit towards the full website.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So let's use our example that we used a minute ago.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: My strategy session is$500.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you move forward with our$10,000 website, I will credit this$500 towards you.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of just telling the person that I'm on the phone with, hey, you know, we could always do a strategy session and we could map out what's on the page and it could be really helpful.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: That way you kind of get a feel for what we're like, and then you could credit it towards it.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: What you've just done is downsell your own services instead of providing even more value.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: What I would say in order to get the clothes and get their credit card number on the call is say something like, Hey, I think our$10,000 website package is absolutely what you need.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I feel really confident about that.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: However, a lot of times we get to know owners more and we see a lot more potential or we see a way that you could have potentially saved some money.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want you to run that risk.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I love to start with the strategy session because it allows us to make sure that exactly what we're building is aligned with your potential business goals and what we feel like you can accomplish from a marketing perspective.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's$500.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: We map out a whole plan, we put together what's on every page, and then we credit that investment back towards you because it's work that we're going to have to do anyway.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it allows you to test us out, but it also protects you in the long run to make sure that what we're building is actually what you need.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: What I've just done there is reposition my strategy session from something that is a nice to have and might just benefit my team, give us more insight into something that actually benefits them in the future and explains why this is so important and could save them money in the long run.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Notice that I also did not position any of this as, hey, this is one option.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying the plan is we're doing this.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's great because you're able to apply it forward.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not being assumptive.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you're going to do this.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I just am using language to make sure that they understand this is what I am recommending as an expert, is your next best step.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm explaining why I feel like it's going to benefit them.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're not going to be selling strategy sessions, if you don't have a smaller first step, that's great.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I still want you to be prescriptive.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I still want you to give them what you feel like is their best next step.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you can ask a few more questions than the lady did at the olive oil store.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think when she saw my toddler, she was like, I'm going to ask this lady as few questions as possible.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: You just want to make it as easy as possible as well.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: One question I love to ask is, hey, I'd love to understand why you scheduled a call right now with a marketing agency or with a photographer or whatever your business is.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love for you to tell me a little bit about why you decided to take time out of your crazy busy day and meet with me.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, they start selling themselves as they answer that question.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh my gosh, my website is terrible.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I really just thought this would be a good fit.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to learn more about what you do and understand maybe how we could work together.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned your website was terrible.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: You start to dig into it a little bit.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this so many times.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Make it about them, ask them questions.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then you end your conversation with, I'm going to put together a proposal for you.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that this would be our best first step together.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to map this out for you.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: In the call, you're actually telling them, even if you're not going to give them pricing, even if you're not going to give them like tons of details, you're just validating for them what I'm going to do is this next best step.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: If they need a custom proposal, if you need some more time, because that can happen, you still can be prescriptive with your next step.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can say things like, hey, in order to give you your best next step, how many times can I say next step on this podcast episode is the real question.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you're going to say, Hey, in order to give you your best next step, I'm actually going to re-listen to this call.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do some homework.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm going to put together a custom proposal for you on what a roadmap would look like for us to work together.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love for us to get on another call and talk about what it would look like to work together from there.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound good?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: What days work for you?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: You are not going to pull up a deck and say, well, here's all the options.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my giant Chipotle menu for my agency.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You are still giving them a next step.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So in some of the scenarios we've talked about today, we've talked about giving them something they can sign up for now, saying, Hey, let's do a strategy session.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Could we do it next Tuesday?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing things like, hey, you know, I think that a$10,000 website package would be great for you.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or you're buying yourself some time and saying, I think your best next step is for you to wait until I give you a custom proposal and then for us to talk about it.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to work on that with you and for you.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: In all of these scenarios, the common denominator is that rather than being an order taker and just throwing out, here's the menu, here's our specials, you are saying, I am an expert, here's what I think you need, and I am going to move you through this.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: What I love about everything we've talked about today is most people feel like in order to be prescriptive, they need to do a ton of research.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: In no scenario did I do any prep for this call.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I simply listened and I made a recommendation based on what I'm hearing in the call.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're feeling like you need to do more research, prescribe that as the next step.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, your homework for this week is to listen to some of your past sales calls, or better yet, take the transcripts and put them into Claude, AI, whatever you use, and say, how can I be more prescriptive in my offerings?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Where should I be more prescriptive?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And where am I giving too much detail or giving them too much overwhelm?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, the AI responses that I've gotten on that have been really helpful for me and helped my close rate go up even more.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you find yourself feeling like, I don't have offers that are strong enough for me to know even what to prescribe, I'm just kind of winging it here.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: What I would recommend is reaching out to me.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can do that on Instagram at SuzyCoaches, or you can reach out to me on my website at susiecli.com and we can find a time together to review your offer and make sure that you are set up for success in Q4 to start prescribing and stop being an order taker.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, this episode is helpful for you.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Know that I am cheering you on as you go into Q4.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you have the best quarter you've had all year.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I want you all to make tons of money and keep more of it and have a lot more profit and peace in your business and in your life.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, sell well.