Top 3 Pain Points in Sales

Rob  00:00

Your goal in every meeting should be before you get to the meetings start to think about, alright. What do you think they’re going to need? What are they going to want? Why are they going to need this? And how is this going to impact them?

Rob  00:20

Welcome back, everybody to The Slow Pitch. And today we have a special guest, we have Parker, and I don’t know if I want to use your last name or not. But Parker, we, we you had a question, and you want to give us a quick synopsis of what your question your issue is. But before you do that, let’s talk briefly about what you do. So we understand why you’re asking this question, if you don’t mind.

Parker  00:42

Yeah, so I’m an entrepreneur that runs an E learning platform for entrepreneurs.

Rob  00:46

Okay. And so the question you had reached out was,

Parker  00:50

so I thought three, though, the main question is like, how do we like how to dive deeper, when a person is sharing their pain I run across people that would benefit from it, and they share the pains that we look for. But I think I go right into solution mode, versus really allowing the person to feel that pain. And I think I also just challenged with identifying people’s personality profiles, as well.

Parker  01:18

And as a D, myself, I don’t, I don’t want to like waste, I found myself wasting a lot of time on the phone with people that eventually, like, wouldn’t wouldn’t have been able to afford a, or you maybe didn’t have the pain or didn’t have the time. And so I want to balance your The Slow Pitch with also qualifying people and not wasting my time.

Rob  01:42

Makes sense. Perfect. Okay, so what I heard there is pain, having a pain conversation that really gets to the meat of the issue, write for them. And what I heard is also listening for disk and understanding what their disk is and how to do that better. And how to know if you’re wasting your time. So there’s a lot of stuff packed into there. But those are the three main things that you’re looking for. Right? All right.

Rob  02:02

So today, we’re going to talk about the three different things as much as we can. So I think really, the primary one that I think is really, really important, is the pain conversation. And so having a good understanding of what their pain is, can make a big difference as to whether or not you get sale, right? So for what you do, what’s the price point? Just kind of curious where that is, like, what does that look like? And does that something that comes up pretty early on

Parker  02:27

10 to 30k a year. And my process involves understanding like investigating, understanding the person’s goals and their challenges, as well as how they make decisions before going into the investment piece.

Rob  02:41

Okay. And so when you get in, when you get somebody on the phone, do they call you? Or do you call them? Is this cold call? Or is this? Where do you want to focus on something like that?

Parker  02:49

It happens both ways people come to our website, and I comply, I think I’d like to focus on I’m also working on more cold outreach. So I’d like to focus on that as well.

Rob  02:58

Okay. So if you’re in a cold outreach situation, obviously, it’s a little more difficult, right? Because you’re catching them in their time of day that you know, who knows what’s going on, they could be in the middle of a problem. And you’re calling them and harassing them saying, I want to talk to you about something that they don’t even know they have a problem with. Right?

Rob  03:14

So that’s part of the issue with sometimes with pain, but let’s say they start engaging with you, because you’re like, This is what I can do for you. And they say, Yeah, we I would like to talk to you more about that. Right? Is that that’s kind of scenario Your situation is right? Yes. All right. So let’s take a minute.

Rob  03:31

And let’s talk a little bit about that call when, if you’re making that call, and they’ve gotten to the point where they’re a little bit engaged, because you’ve given them enough information to get them interested. What kind of questions do you ask so that you can understand what their issues are? What’s where do you start? Like, if you called me and started asking me these questions, where do you start?

Parker  03:50

Why did you start your business? Okay,

Rob  03:53

so let’s roleplay some stuff out. Let’s say I’m a marketing person, and I just want to get some marketing done. And that’s all my business is. And, and so you asked me that question, you know, why did you start your business? So I started it several years ago, because I noticed that several people were already out there doing what I do, and I didn’t think they did a very good job. So I thought, let’s get started. I want to do I want to do this. That’s kind of why I got started.

Parker  04:15

Are you ahead or equal to or behind where you thought you’d be? That’s interesting.

Rob  04:19

I, I am, uh, I kind of, you know, I don’t know, I don’t know, I feel like I might be a little ahead. But, you know, we seem to hit our sales goals, often, but I mean, I don’t know if that helps.

Parker  04:32

What do you attribute that to, like hitting your sales goals?

Rob  04:35

Well, I think it’s just hard work. I mean, it’s like, you know, you having the right marketing materials out there showing what you can do and, and then being able to sell it along the way.

Parker  04:44

Can you share with me like what you’re trying to accomplish with your business?

Rob  04:47

Well, I think what I’m trying to do is, is grow and I’m trying to grow it into something that’s a little bit bigger. I want to I want to make this into something where I have, you know, 3040 people working here instead of the 10 that I have now. 30 to 40 people

Parker  05:01

versus the 10 you have now. So it sounds like you’re optimizing for headcount or employee count?

Rob  05:08

Well, I mean, I think it’s just a matter of headcount or employee count equates to amount of volume I’m doing I want to be able to support that kind of, but that’s also because I want to have a certain size company that does that make sense?

Rob  05:17

I mean, I want it, the more the more that we do sales wise, the more money unprofitable the company becomes, in a sense, because it’s the overheads the overhead, and that the only another overhead then becomes the payroll in in that’s already integrated into the price so to speak. Does that make sense?

Parker  05:34

Kind of? Can I ask how much how much you are doing in sales?

Rob  05:40

Yeah, you know, right now we’re at about 3 million and in a year, and, you know, I’d love to be around, you know, 1520, somewhere in there.

Parker  05:51

It’s amazing. Like, it’s quite an accomplishment, considering how many businesses actually get to that, like, $3 million number, you know, it’s like, yeah, one, you know, half percent to one and a half percent. So, congratulations on that. Thanks. Have you been in the mastermind group before?

Rob  06:09

You know, I have not, I don’t even know what that’s all about. I mean, know what it costs for that. And that standpoint?

Parker  06:14

Yeah, different different masterminds cost different amounts? It’s been, why haven’t you been part of the mastermind before?

Rob  06:22

You know, I have never understood what they do. And then I also don’t know, what’s the point of doing that I have a couple of people that are in business, also that, you know, I we chat every once awhile, we talk about different things, but I don’t really know that I would get anything more out of it than what I get from my friends. You know, what I mean, people that are on their on their business.

Parker  06:41

So it sounds like you have like, friends that you’ve talked to about business already? Yeah, that’s cool. A lot of entrepreneurs find it pretty lonely, or they’re in a silo, and they’re not able to talk to their family about it, or even, you know, even their, their significant other about it.

Parker  06:58

So it sounds like you’re in a pretty fortunate spot. So, you know, I usually say that, who chose not for everyone, and let’s really figure out if it makes sense for you. And if if you’re getting what you need from your friends, that’s, you know, that’s, that’s pretty special. masterminds really exists, because most entrepreneurs are leaders and executives, you know, can bring their issues to their customers or to their team or to their board, and being around other people that have the same drive and, and challenges that they have.

Parker  07:32

It’s a it’s a rare opportunity to be able to be vulnerable about what’s really going on and get support around those things. Well, I believe that. Yeah, just to give you a sense, like most, I think, most entrepreneurs, executives, leaders end up joining a mastermind at some point in their journey and investing somewhere between 10,200 $50,000 a year in that mastermind because of the leverage it creates for them.

Rob  07:57

Yeah. All right. If we stop the roleplay for a second, what have you learned about what my needs are yet? What have you, what have you, what have you learned so far?

Parker  08:07

So nice that you, I mean, I haven’t heard in need, I’ve heard that you’re ahead of where you thought you would be. And you’re already doing pretty well. And, and you have some big goals ahead of you. And people, they can talk to you.

Rob  08:22

How true Do you think that is? So? Meaning, I guess what I should say is instead of how true Do you think that is? How truthful Do you think I’m being?

Parker 08:32

Yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s an interesting question. I mean, you you shared with me that you your partner, your wife is your business partner. So right, I’m taking you on on face value right now.

Rob  08:45

Right. Okay. So in sales, and you know, this just as well as anybody else, because you’ve if you’ve sold once you’ve been burned by this at least once is that the people that buy or want to buy or get you get on the phone lie, and they lie all the time, they tell you what you want to hear? And so while what I said may be true, how do you know? And so the question becomes, how do we ask the questions you ask?

Rob  09:11

Because I think they’re good questions, it really starts to help you understand. But let’s dig a little deeper. So you know, the first question is, why did you start your business? That’s a good question. If you’re in a meeting with somebody in person, but I think over the phone, if you’re cold calling could stall you or slow you down. In other words, and by that, I mean, they may just decide, I don’t have time to answer these questions, right? Unless you’ve scheduled them for a future time. And they’re ready for that. Right.

Rob  09:36

So it depends on the scenario. So if you’ve called call them and they start answering those questions. That’s one thing, but typically, early on in the sales call that I would get, I would pretty much push them away. I don’t want to talk to you because I don’t have time for you. But if we get a calendar meeting and we scheduled it, let’s assume that’s where you were right.

Rob  09:54

So you’re asking these questions because we’ve set this this meeting up the file up are some of the other questions are good. I think, you know, you when you talk about, you know, what are your numbers? What are your you know, those are those are very personal questions. And so how often do you get quality answers or hesitation to answer those questions? Do you ever get that?

Parker 10:17

That’s I mean, it’s it’s, I like the idea of people lying like on that kind of, like, hits me like hits me hard because I don’t think that a mastermind works if someone’s not willing to be honest. Oh, totally. Yeah. And I think I mean, I think potentially a lot of people aren’t even honest with themselves.

Parker 10:34

So I guess I’m not sure if someone like that might even be a good fit. I think one of the value, like valuable parts of a mastermind is to, like help people see the unknown, unknown. And like, what, like the things that are holding them back that they don’t even realize?

Parker 10:50

And like, really, what is the bottleneck or the challenge? Because a lot of times, what people think it is, is not actually what it is. So I don’t I mean, I, I’m a pretty honest person, and I have a very difficult time, like fighting with someone that’s just

Rob  11:07

listen, I totally agree with you, I have a hard time with people that don’t tell you the truth, either. My my point and asking that question is more about how do you verify what they’re telling you is accurate? Or that it is that they’re just lying to themselves?

Rob  11:24

And that you’re needing to take a little bit further into it? So when you talked earlier about, you know, how do you know if you’re wasting your time, this is part of that too, right? So asking those pain questions really will vet out the people that are wasting your time, a good example, I had a conversation with somebody, couple moons probably about a week ago now, give or take that they called me for the services. And so let’s just use the marketing world as the services, the potential buyer calls me and starts asking me some questions, which was fine.

Rob  12:00

I started asking them questions back. And in the process of me asking some questions they didn’t have, you could just between the lines, I would ask them some, like, you know, how many employees do you have? And, you know, where are you looking?

Rob  12:13

Where’s your office, you know, kind of describe some of this stuff, so that we could start to figure out marketing elements of how to use that from photography, videography, other elements for the website, and that kind of stuff, right? Any of those conversations, they couldn’t give me the answers that made sense for somebody that was large enough to do the project that they wanted to do.

Rob  12:33

So as I started getting into those questions, I started asking questions that got into the pain of what they wanted to get accomplished. So if they wanted more traffic, and what it would take to do that is going to be a spend, that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of let’s say, 5000 a month or so for them. Right?

Rob  12:51

If if they said to me during that conversation, whoa, 5000 I, there’s no way in the world or if I’ve just asked the question, what are your expectations in terms of numbers to get to that point, like, what do you think that’s going to take? And they can’t answer that question without any sort of knowledge, then we have another conversation to get into, because now they have no reference point as to what it’s going to cost.

Rob  13:15

And that’s where the you can start to vet those people out, because they’re not showing you essentially buying signals, like what are the number one, two, number three buying signals that somebody gives you to know that they’re ready? How do you know when you’re talking to somebody and you know, that they’re ready to buy? What are the things that they say?

Parker 13:33

Something’s got to change their business that they’re in a silo? Things like that?

Rob  13:38

Okay. So when they say those things, what do you say back?

Parker 13:42

Can you tell me more? Can you elaborate on that? Okay,

Rob  13:45

good, good. And then they say, whatever that is, they get into it. Have you ever asked the question? All right, so what would it? What would it feel like? Or what does that impact your business? If that was not there?

Parker 14:00

I could do a better job with that.

Rob  14:02

Because what you’re doing is then saying to mentally for them, they’re having to explain to you, you’re they’re they’re selling to you why they need you by asking them the question of how does that impact your business, they’re starting to paint themselves into this picture of boy that just did just just disappeared? My life would be so much easier, and and then it becomes now is that worth it?

Rob  14:25

If, if I’m gonna invest some money to make this happen? Is that worth it? Boy, if I could free up some time for myself, and now they start telling themselves, so now you have to ask the question. All right, so you fixed it in the business. How does this even help you though? Have you ever asked that question? How does this help you personally?

Parker 14:42

Are you doing by hitting their goals? Or what is the

Rob  14:45

well even goals? Like if you ask them the question about how does this impact your business and what would that look like? And how does that make you you know, how does that impact their business? They start talking about freeing up time for their business and getting things done more efficient, efficiently, whatever that might be. Right and they can And they feel less siloed.

Rob  15:01

Now you’ve now you’re going to transfer it over to them personally and ask very personal questions. How does that impact you? So let’s just say you’re on the phone, I’m talking to you, and you say, it’s gonna be this, this this for my business, and I asked you the question. Okay, so But how does that help you? Tell me how that helps you?

Parker 15:18

Like, I like what’s coming up for me is like, how is that? Would that help me understand if they’re being honest or not?

Rob  15:25

Totally? Okay, totally. Because if they say to you, how does it here’s, here’s a good example, I had a meeting a month ago, where somebody said to me, I asked that question, as we got through the process, it would help their business. But then they I asked the question, well, how does this impact you? And they just worked in this bigger business, bigger organization?

Rob  15:42

Well, how does this help you? Like, what happens if you had this fix for you? And they said to me, I don’t know. And I’m like, What do you mean? What do you mean, you don’t know. And they go, I don’t know that it really helps me personally. It’s just this is what I have to do for the business. Okay, so.

Rob  15:57

So then why would you do this? I mean, if it doesn’t really impact you, why do it? And they go, Well, my boss told me, I have to do it. So I’m trying to keep them in this mindset of there’s a reason you’re doing this, your reason you’re asking, but if they have no personal gain for this, there’s no motivation, if they have no motivation, why would they want to buy?

Rob  16:14

And so by asking those questions about them personally, now, they start to say, boy, if I had that, you know, for you, it might be like, I’d have, I’d have, you know, for extra hours a week that I could, I could leave at six o’clock instead of nine o’clock, or eight o’clock at night, or I could, whatever that right, so they gain extra time, or they’re more profitable, or they bring home more money, or they can hire somebody that can deal with this problem versus them having to deal with this problem.

Rob  16:38

Now, they’re explaining to themselves the value that they’re getting for themselves, personally, and how much easier it is for them to say, it is worth $15,000 a year to invest in this, what you’re giving them for this return on their investment makes sense. And so if you don’t ask those personal questions, that’s where you’re going to, you’re going to miss the mark. In other words, if I didn’t ask that person that said, I have no idea how this is gonna affect me or improve my life.

Rob  17:08

And I don’t know, if I didn’t ask that question. I would not know there’s no value in there for that person. So they’re just numbers crunching? That’s it? Do I want to do that? I want to be that in that job, because they’re just gonna be nickel and diming. All the time. Well, can we get this for free? Can I get? I don’t want that. Right?

Rob  17:24

So by asking that question, I knew walking out of that meeting, the odds of this job happening, this project going forward, dropped from during the conversation was high, it was like 80% 85%. In my mind, I’m like, this is pretty good. We got to that point, it drops significantly, it was to me, it was like 30 40%, this is even a little forward, because now it takes their boss.

Rob  17:45

And at that point, I shifted the conversation to say, and this is, again, maybe doesn’t fit for your product, your services. But for others, when I what I had to do is shift from having to talk to them to, you know, maybe maybe this would make sense for me to sit down with you, and also your boss to see if there’s anything that they need as well.

Rob  18:05

Because sometimes, you know, they give you this project, but there’s other things that they had in mind, too. It makes sense. Now, you’re going to be able to talk to that person who’s really going to have the issue and who can get emotionally involved with this.

Parker 18:16

Yeah, my normal question after Have you been in a mastermind group before is like knowing we are a mastermind company. And we usually get engaged to help people get to the next level. If it was successful, and you accomplish what you’re looking for? What does that mean to you? And then like, follow up is like, what does that mean to you personally?

Rob  18:32

Yeah. So my other question to you would be, you’ve got these questions, it sounds like written down. Correct. Okay. Totally fine, you should always have something to fall back to when you’re in a pressure situation where you don’t know what to say next, you’ve got an option to go to, but you got to you almost have to read the other person and figure out what their need is.

Rob  18:53

So your, your goal in every meeting should be before you get to the meeting, start to think about Alright, what do you think they’re going to need? What are they going to want? Why are they going to need this? And how is this going to impact them? Doesn’t matter what the question is? The question becomes getting answers to those questions. So that you know how it affects them personally. And if they have the budget, even available to them to be able to do this. Does that make sense?

Rob  19:18

Yeah, scripting is fine. But scripting doesn’t allow for somebody to get emotionally involved. Like if I’ve had it where conversations have gone where like, you know, I if I don’t do this, I think my business is going to go under. And that’s, that’s an emotion, but there’s no script written for that situation. I can’t read the next question and go on, you’re missing the emotion.

Rob  19:41

They’ll feel disconnected from you. Does that make sense? So you’re gonna want to emotionally connect and listen to that issue and go, Wow, tell me more about that and just dig and dig and dig. Now. There is a point if you go too far, they feel so vulnerable, that they feel like oh, I just got used and I’m just taking it as being taken advantage of. So you got to be careful about going to too far.

Rob  20:05

But I find that it’s less likely that you go too far than it is to go the right amount. So if it feels uncomfortable, you’re probably approaching that line. If they start, like, if they really start getting, you can see their body language, that’s, that’s they’re feeling defeated, they’re feeling very like, Oh, my, like they’re getting ready to cry, you’ve probably gone a little too far, you need to pull it back.

Rob  20:29

And then at that point, and this probably is a good episode that we should do in the future is that it’s time to start to bring in another style personality of yourself, then it’s time to make them understand and feel comforted. So you need to make them feel like you’re not the only one man, I’ve I’ve had this, I’ve heard this 100 times, somebody’s starting to feel really like Oh, my God, this is I can’t believe you know, and they’re really, you can see they’re really in a bad place.

Rob  20:56

There is you’ve got to like it, make them feel like you’re not alone, man, this is it. Yeah, we’ve been here before. I can’t tell you how many people that I’ve helped with this, and your voice is soothing. And you’re, you’re speaking to them so that they understand that you’re, you’re you’re an expert here, and you know how to help them with this without saying those words, does that make sense? Because that’s the hard part,

Parker 21:18

I think it’s about having the other person’s best interests in mind. And then it’s not, it’s not like, we can’t go deep enough that like, I almost feel like the person has to, like have that moment where they where they are completely vulnerable.

Parker 21:34

And then I love what you said about like, you’re not alone in this, you know, like, I’ve heard this before, but I don’t know, for me, I, I really have seen this all have like those problems, like, Oh, I’m thinking about shutting down my business. And then, you know, two or three years later, they 5x hired a CEO of a completely different life.

Parker 21:54

And so it kills me some people that just want to, you know, keep it the way things are, which is like, I’m just going to keep grinding away sacrificing my personal life and, and not getting the support that they need.

Rob  22:08

You know, what you can do, and you know, that you’re helping them. So there’s nothing wrong with helping them understand themselves, and how they’re fooling themselves that they can’t get to where they want to go. And you’re right. I think that people that are, they just want to keep these things the same.

Rob  22:25

They’re not your client, right? That’s not who you’re after. So you just have to do this, okay? Listen, I don’t want to push you to a place you don’t want to go. That’s okay. And you have to leave it. And but I almost almost think my experience has been, if you say the words that you know, I don’t want to, I don’t want to push you where you want to go here in this.

Rob  22:44

You know, it sounds like you’re pretty happy with where you’re at. And, you know, you don’t need to do any more than this. You know, am I right? You just don’t need to do any more than that what you’re doing now that guarantee you there? I’ll bet 90% There’s probably 10% That won’t won’t say this, but I’ll bet 90% of the time, they’re gonna say no, no, no, I need to, I need to fix a couple things here.

Rob  23:04

This is what I need to fix. And now you’re back in. And now you’re starting to talk about that in your your whole goal in any of your sales conversations needs to be about what their problems are right, and listening to what they need. And then you let you just explore that area. And then when you get to the point, I don’t know when you review your estimate or what the costs are, and the pricing and all that kind of stuff.

Rob  23:25

But by the time you get there, they should feel like this is a relief. And they should feel like this is okay. Like this is exactly what I thought it would be. There should be no surprises in numbers at that point. Does that make sense?

Parker 23:38

I mean, I understand what you’re saying. I’m not sure I know exactly how to do that yet.

Rob  23:43

Yeah. So let’s let’s pretend then that you’re, you’ve gone through all these things. We’ve had the conversation about how it affects you personally. And during that point, you’ve said some very personal things, some very emotional statements that say,

Rob  23:58

Hey, I’m I’m I’m ready to get going. Usually there’s a signal or something that says, after you’ve kind of nurtured them a little bit and said, you know, you’re not alone. It’s okay, we can you know, this is something that’s normal. And you know, what every, every business goes through this situation where there’s a point where they have to think differently and move to the next level. And that’s what we specialize in. And that’s what we do.

Rob  24:20

And so you’re not alone. And it’s not unusual for people to ask for help during that phase. It’s It’s fact it’s more common than you think. Just nobody talks about it. And all of a sudden, they might open up ago. Okay, well, what do we need to do? How do we how do we do that? And then you’d say, well, that, you know, that’s a good question.

Rob  24:35

I guess, one of the questions that I would ask is, at that point would be to say something along the lines of, you know, you know, we’ve talked about a lot of stuff and then you recap all their pain points, if you will, their points of things that they said, I’m trying to you’re trying to do this, you’re trying to do that you’re trying to do this, you know, typically when we have those conversations, they already have an idea in mind of what what the investment is going to take to do that. You have any idea?

Rob  24:58

So you’re transitioning them from this emotional state to feeling comfortable and say, Okay, it’s everything’s okay, too now making them think more linearly, they’re more logic thinking by asking them to come back to this normal reality, right? What’s the investment for this?

Rob  25:16

And, and they may not know the answer. And they may have, they’re going to take a few seconds to transition into that phase. But once you get them to that phase, they then can start to talk about well, you know, I don’t know what this is going to cost, or, you know, I had a conversation with somebody one time, and it was, you know, they told me it was, you know, $10,000 a month, and whatever the numbers are, right.

Rob  25:36

You then can know, their reference point, if they give you a numbers, if they don’t give you numbers, then they say, I don’t know, I was hoping you tell me, then you can say, you know, and usually what I do is, is give them some different ranges to choose from, you know, what your ranges can be, you know, what they should be for your time, but you could give them options, you know, one option is this many hours a month, this is the level from this number to this number.

Rob  26:02

And then the other option is this number, this number with this much more time. And then we have the the really high end, which is you know, somebody that’s got a lot of things going on, but it’s this number to this number, and those numbers are usually pretty high. Right? Those are your very few that buy that level. And and then that conversation, usually they’ll pick the middle one, not always but usually.

Rob  26:21

And and and then you’re now getting into that conversation. So you say okay, and you start working through those numbers, and narrowing that down a little bit. But the other important part is like, in that pain conversation in those other conversations before, you should be learning about who else is involved in the business? Who else can help make these decisions about investing? Right?

Rob  26:40

So before you get to the numbers, you’ll know, is there other people that needs to be involved in this? Because otherwise, it’s too late? And I’m gonna go throughout this whole thing again? Does that make sense? That part does, it’s transitioning into, and then by the time you get to through that, that conversation about numbers, then you finish that conversation with, you know, what do you want to do?

Rob  27:00

And they’ll tell you, and it’s okay to tell me I’m not, I’m not doing anything, or it’s okay to tell me this is what I wanted to start with. Let’s start with this. And they’ll tell you, and then it’s getting it all documented, so that it’s ready to go when when you review that written document of estimate. That’s when you have all those numbers, everything lines up and never added anything new.

Rob  27:20

Because if you add stuff new, that’s a whole new year all over again, you get started all over. It makes sense. Yes. Okay. What questions come to mind while you’re listening to this?

Parker 27:31

I’ve already taken taken a lot, and I’m still kind of processing it. I think it’s like, it’s simple in some ways around, just really understanding the problem. And in diving deep into it, and understanding how the decision is going to be made and having them come up with a number first. So I guess it helps, I guess, like, you know, the the, you know, it’s called The Slow Pitch Podcast, and how do you balance like slow pitching, but also like protecting time and like qualifying people?

Rob  28:01

Yeah. And there’s a, there’s a fine balance. So anywhere along the line, if I get a sense that somebody is not going to be a client, they’re asking the total wrong questions, like, and they say, you know, what, just can you give me the number?

Rob  28:15

Or can you give me a price? If they start doing that? And I say, Boy, you know, we’ve even gotten into pain at all, where we had one question answered, and they go, just tell me, how much is it? How much is it? Like, I don’t understand what’s the price? You don’t know your numbers? Well, now they’re attacking you, and you feel pretty defensive. And that’s when you have to just slow it all down and go hold it here.

Rob  28:35

I I know you’re asking me about the price. But I don’t know how am I supposed to price that it’s, it’s almost like you’ve you’ve called and asked me to make you a pizza. And you want another price? I don’t even do you want just cheese? You want cheese? Pepperoni? Do you want? Like what other toppings? Small, medium large? Like? Those all are different prices?

Rob  28:54

How do I how am I supposed to tell you the numbers? And that usually gets them to Oh, yeah, I probably need to answer some questions before we can get there. But then if they come back at it again, you know, it’s it’s a it’s a, you know, a response for me that becomes a sounds like price is really important for you. And typically when I find that somebody is asking me this question so many times, they’re really about just getting a number.

Rob  29:16

And there must be a reason you’re asking me for just a number what what what’s going on? Do you have another quote that he was trying to compare to? Because I can give you a number, it’s going to be a high number, and it’s going to be the wrong number. Because I don’t have enough information. And that usually stops from them too. But if they still continue with that, I just turn it off and like sorry, it’s just not gonna happen. Right?

Rob  29:37

This is we’re not gonna be a good fit. And that’s where the conversation goes. That doesn’t happen very often, though. You know, I can’t imagine that happened to you very often, either, where it just, they keep drilling you with price, price, price, price, price price, right. Unless they do tell me.

Parker 29:49

I mean, I’m thinking about was like a recent deal. Like through this conversation. It really depends on you know, most of our growth comes from referrals, like people that are referred And, you know, it’s business business owners that are that are at a certain level that have a really acute pain, and will basically do anything to solve it.

Parker 30:09

And then And then usually they will get that solved pretty quickly. And they’re like holy crap like this is, this is really, really special. And then most of you know, most of our members stay with us for many years.

Rob  30:20

So, that’s exactly what happens. And it you have to think of yourself, I hate this kind of a weird analogy, but you have to think of yourself as a dentist. You don’t go to the dentist, unless it’s because you have to get maintenance done cleaning, or you got a toothache and there’s something wrong and it needs to be fixed now, right? And you have to think of yourself.

Rob  30:37

when you when you get a call, and we did an episode A while back where was like, do they have a bleeding neck? Same idea that they call you? Do they have a bleeding neck, and basically it’s like, if they don’t fix this, they’re gonna bleed out and they’re done. And so same thing with a dentist, do they have a pain and as the dentist, you’re gonna go,

Rob  30:53

Well, let’s take an x ray, let’s take a look, you know, do some analysis, then you’re gonna have to tell them what you’re gonna do. And then you’re gonna do it. If they say yes, if they say, you know, I don’t want this cavity filling, okay, but you have the pain that’s not gonna go away, it’s only gonna get worse. And then they they make the decision. At some point, they’re either gonna get pulled, or they’re gonna get a cavity. Right?

Rob  31:11

So I like to think of yourself as that like that analogy. Yeah, it’s the way it is, it’s really the way it is. Every sales call should be like, you’re a dentist, and the communication is key. Because if somebody’s going to go to the dentist, and the dentist goes, well, you know, you got a cavity, let’s open up, that’s not gonna work, you’re not gonna feel comfortable, it’s gonna be very stressful.

Rob  31:30

But if the dentist tells you, here’s what you have, here’s what we’re going to do, here’s how we’re going to do it, I’m going to do this, I’m going to put this I’m gonna put in, here’s the technology and blah, blah, whatever they need to tell you so that you’re feeling, okay, because you’re the expert, right?

Rob  31:42

The difference between that as a dentist and a good salesperson is the salesperson is allowing the patient, the potential buyer to tell them their problems enough so that you can then provide the solution. And that’s, that’s the subtlety between the two, as as a salesperson, you’re allowing them to tell you the problems, you’re getting it to be very personal, then you’re getting into some of the numbers, and then you get into some of the buying decisions. And by doing that you’re you’re following the same logic as any doctor or dentist does.

V/O  32:14

Do you have a question about sales call or text your question at (608) 708-SLOW, that’s (608) 708-7569. Or you can email them to Questions@TheSlowPitch.com. Now, back to the show.

Rob  32:34

You also brought up disk and being able to pay attention to that, that is a whole other project to get into rather hard conversation. So I would recommend that there’s a couple of episodes that you listen to, I will I’m gonna put them in the show notes so that they’re linked to that, but it’s how to deal with a D and how to deal with an I and how to deal with an S and how to deal with a C and they’re each standalone.

Rob  32:54

In the future. I do have somebody that’s scheduled to come on who does this specifically. So we’re gonna talk a little bit about it some more. But it’s gonna be a future episode. And I’ll let you know when that comes up. If that’s alright.

Parker   33:04

Thank you, Rob. I really appreciate it. Great.

Rob  33:06

I hope you’ll learn something and I hope everybody else listening to too and don’t forget everybody. If you are interested in have a question of your own, feel free, email us, text us call us. We’re happy to answer your question. But in the meantime, don’t forget slow down and close more.

V/O  33:23

Thank you for listening to The Slow Pitch, Slow Down and Close More.

Rob  33:42

Thanks as always for listening today. If you’d like this podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. We really appreciate it. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at The Slow Pitch. We were mixed today as always by Johnny Polakis. And we were produced by High Gravity Studios. Music credits and other notes are in the show notes section on TheSlowPitch.com And we’ll be back with another episode soon.