It's not hard sell, It's heart sell." -Jeffrey Gitomer
Confession: I used to use a script for discovery calls (aka sales calls, consultation calls) because I dreaded them.
This is also why, in the past, I didn’t get many sales calls. It’s pretty hard to get what we secretly dread no matter how much good old fashioned elbow grease we put into it. Am I right?
I had this funny dance and game I played with myself where I’d work my ass off and hustle to try to get a consultation call. Because you know, to have a business that generates a sustainable income, as a coach, I need a steady flow of clients. And to get clients, I first need a consultation call.
I knew this. I love my work. I love my clients. So, I pushed myself HARD to get those calls to the tune of crickets. Well, more like mouse squeaks, because I was lucky enough to get some calls during this time.
What followed was always the same. First, excitement. Someone might want to work with me! I might actually be good enough to do this.
Which, ahem, can we just pause and notice how that’s all about ME and not the potential client I’m about to talk to.
Next up, a wave of anxiety. Am I a good fit? Can I actually help them? How do I show them I’m good enough? What if my pricing is too high? What if it’s too low? What if I don’t know how to handle an objection?
Then, a sleepless night before the call. I’d go over and over the call before it happened. Anyone else do this? I think it’s a leftover habit from my acting days, where I’d mentally rehearse a scene before an audition.
That’s the thing, I thought of a sales call like an audition. An audition to get the part. An audition to see if I’m good enough.
Which is pretty hysterical because you want to know one of the reasons I stopped acting in the first place? I didn’t want to audition for my jobs and my self-worth ever again.
Yet here I was. New career, same story.
We don’t escape our stuff, it just keeps popping its head up until we face it and deal with it.
At a certain point, I realized I had to find a better way to approach sales calls and my self-esteem.
I’ve talked a lot about buying into our worth and how important this is for business success. Truly, it’s THE most important thing for a sales call. I also realized using a script, following someone else’s formula, and ‘auditioning’ was missing the point.
I remembered that when I started acting, I didn’t know ‘audition technique’. I just went out, did my thing, and booked a commercial, agent, and movie within months of moving to LA.
Then, I learned, I was missing something. I got the message that I had a problem, and that problem was my audition technique. SO, I mastered audition technique and knew exactly what I was ‘supposed’ to do to nail an audition and give myself the best possible chance to book a part.
My bookings went down.
My business? Similar pattern. Out the gate, I booked some great clients. THEN, I learned there was something called sales-call technique. I needed to know this and nail this and become a ‘closer’.
Good, Type-A student that I am, I learned what I was supposed to do to book a client. This looked like a script with questions designed to help me sell someone on my work.
This looked liked searching like crazy for the perfect answers to objections.
This meant I had a ‘cheat sheet’ (*cringe) with what I was supposed to ask and say on a call.
While some of my calls were beautiful and connected and turned into paying clients, the process itself felt yucky and anything but heart-centered. I missed out on connecting to the core of some of my potential clients’ needs. I was reading a list of questions instead of really listening and connecting.
This isn’t bashing technique or strategy and a case to throw it all away. Not at all. Strategy is beautiful and it supports us. But I realized if I wanted to build a business I love and make great money doing it, something had to change.
First, I had to stop creating problems that didn’t exist. But I also needed to find a way to stop dreading sales calls and make the strategy work for me instead of boxing me into a corner. I had to drop the script, one-size-fits all approach, and bring my heart back into it.
Over the last few years, I’ve been doing just that and I have to tell you, it’s magic.
By chucking the script, getting back into connection, and by fulling owning the worth of my work, everything has changed.
Monetarily, yes, this means more clients and more money. Just as exciting, though, this means I LOVE sales calls. They feel like magic. Which considering I used to dread them and not sleep the night before a discovery call is really telling (and something to latch onto if you’re feeling a whole lotta resistance around sales).
When you end a sales call with a potential new client and they ask if it’s ok to just go ahead and say, ‘I love you’, and you feel the same way back, you know you’ve hit on heart-centered sales.
When a potential client says the discovery call feels like a ‘refreshing shower’, you know there’s magic that isn’t found in the words of any script.
Not only do sales and sales calls not have to be icky, yucky, or pushy they also get to feel good. They get to be heart-centered. In fact, I think you can sell more from this place and deliver better results.
The moment they feel good, the moment you feel good, is the moment the momentum starts to happen.
You always hear that there’s no secret to business success, right? At least I hope you hear that. If not, let me tell you, there is no secret to business success, but if there was one, it's this: buy into yourself, so you don’t have to sell your worth, and throw away the script.
The script is a safety blanket, and it’s a lack of trust. The script is a hope to convince. The script is a lack of belief. The script keeps you playing small and doubting yourself. The script keeps you from your magic.
When I was acting, the best performances ALWAYS happened off the page, off script, and in the moment.
Business, sales, life...The magic is in the moment, in the person in front of you.
This is the space I want to inspire you to come from, in your sales calls and in your business. And this is why I won’t give you my step-by-step sales script. Because I don’t have one. And even if I did, it wouldn’t do you any good.
What I do want to give you is an invitation to next week’s Free Masterclass: Master a Heart-Centered Sales Call!
During this Masterclass You’ll Learn:
- the REAL purpose of a sales call. (Hint: it’s not to sell)
- how to prime your potential clients for a better call and experience before you ever talk to them.
- how to put potential clients at ease, so they’re comfortable opening up.
- how to create your own heart-centered sales call, so you can enjoy the process AND book more paying clients.
Want in? You can grab your free seat here!
Let's commit to ditching the scripts and bringing the heart to our sales calls instead. Let's get off the page and in the moment.
Wishing you your version of success!
