Get Them to Say Yes Before You Start Talking... Ep 149

In a sales-focused podcast, the host underscores the importance of a pre-sale strategy in fitness and general sales, drawing expertise from sales manager Cole's experience in transforming fitness sales teams. The host emphasizes the 'closer framework' from their book, advocating for the replication and scaling of successful one-on-one sales tactics. Key to this process is creating a welcoming environment that showcases client success stories, promptly greeting clients, and using a pre-sale questionnaire to identify and agitate the client's pain points. This systematic approach not only improves the likelihood of making a sale, even for less skilled salespeople, but also ensures a consistent and professional client experience, as elaborated by the host and supported by the interjections of Speaker B. Speaker C briefly interjects to promote a book that serves as a resource for the community. The host concludes by highlighting that these strategies are detailed in their book and encourages listeners to create a professional and value-driven sales process.

• The speaker is responding to positive feedback from a previous sales-oriented podcast.
• The intention is to address common mistakes in sales, particularly in fitness.
• The speaker references Cole, a sales manager with a successful history in turning around fitness sales teams.
• Cole's approach to sales improvement is based on a "closer framework" from a book.
• The framework involves clarifying the client's reasons for coming in, identifying their pain points, and reviewing past experiences.
• The process of scaling sales is described as doing more of what works on a one-on-one basis, but on a larger scale.

"So due to the response that I got from last sales oriented podcast video that I made, I wanted to follow up with that since you guys were like, hey, we want more of that." "Cole, who turned around 1324 hours fitnesses, so all he did was turn around fitness sales teams, all right? That's literally all he did." "The only thing that you do when you scale is do more of the things that you did when you were one on one, and you just do them on a larger scale."

The first quote indicates the speaker's motivation to create more content based on audience demand. The second quote provides background on Cole's expertise in fitness sales. The third quote explains the principle of scaling sales effectively.

• The speaker emphasizes the significance of the pre-sale phase in preparing a prospect to buy.
• Prospects carry personal and external baggage that can affect their mindset upon entering a sales environment.
• The goal is to transition prospects into the right state of mind for purchasing.
• The sales environment setup is crucial in positioning the prospect to be more likely to buy.
• Testimonials, framed five-star reviews, and before-and-after photos are recommended to be displayed prominently to create immediate positive impressions.

"So clarification, right? What are the objectives of this part of the sale?" "And so when someone walks in the door, they are coming in, taking all of the stuff that they have from their husband and their texts, and they're on their way here in traffic and the person in the parking lot, whatever it is, right." "So when that person walks the door, the selling environment that you have set up is incredibly important because it's going to position the prospect to be more likely to buy."

The first quote poses a question about the objectives of the clarification stage in sales. The second quote describes the mental state of prospects as they enter the sales environment. The third quote highlights the importance of the selling environment's influence on the prospect's likelihood to purchase.

• The speaker suggests creating a visual impact with testimonials and reviews to establish credibility and results-orientation.
• The environment should communicate the business's success and client satisfaction before any verbal interaction occurs.
• The speaker implies that such a setup can have a strong, immediate effect on the prospect's perception of the business.

"If you walked in and just saw walls of five star reviews, and then walls of before and afters, you'd probably be like, immediately before anyone says anything, wow, these guys really care about results. They really know what they're doing."

This quote explains the intended impact of displaying positive reviews and success stories on the walls of the sales environment. It is meant to impress upon prospects the business's dedication to results and expertise.

• The sales process begins before verbal interaction, starting from the moment a potential customer sets an appointment.
• How a customer is greeted can set the tone for the entire sales experience.
• Greeting a customer with urgency shows that the service provider cares, enhancing the customer's perception of service quality.

"That's before any words have been spoken. Because the sale started in the parking lot. The sale started when you set the appointment."

This quote emphasizes that the sales process and the formation of customer impressions begin well before any direct interaction, highlighting the importance of non-verbal cues and pre-meeting preparations.

• Customers should be greeted within 10 seconds of entering to convey promptness and attentiveness.
• A team member sprinting to greet a customer can create a strong positive impression.
• The greeting sets a high standard for the level of service the customer can expect.

"And so we're just walking through this process. So now when they walk in the door, they need to be greeted within 10 seconds."

The quote explains the necessity of a quick and attentive greeting process as part of the customer service strategy, suggesting that timing is crucial for setting the right impression.

• The pre-sale questionnaire reminds customers of their reasons for visiting and reinforces their need or desire for the service.
• The questionnaire is designed to identify and then agitate the customer's pain points.
• Keeping the customer focused on their needs prolongs the sense of urgency and desire for a solution.

"I need to sit you down and give you this pre-sale questionnaire form. Why do we do a pre-sale questionnaire? Because we're going to remind them of the things, of the reasons that they came in, of the reasons of why it's important, and of the reasons that they said that they even walked in that day."

This quote highlights the strategic importance of the pre-sale questionnaire in reiterating the customer's motivations for seeking the service, which is a tactic to prepare them for the sales pitch.

• Salespeople should engage with customers on a personal level, including reading questions to them and clarifying any doubts.
• Getting down to eye level with a customer can create a sense of equality and personal attention.
• This approach makes customers feel valued and can significantly enhance their perception of the service.

"And if you can squat down to eye level, if you've ever had a waiter do this or a waitress, when you squat down to eye level, people feel like you're leveling with them and you're inconveniencing yourself to service them."

The quote explains how physical engagement, such as squatting down to eye level, can make customers feel a personal connection and cared for, which is an effective technique in customer service and sales.

• The sales environment should include visible testimonials and high ratings to build trust.
• A personalized greeting, such as using the customer's name, can make them feel expected and welcome.
• Humor and a relaxed atmosphere can ease the customer into the sales process and make them more receptive.

"So imagine this person who walks in the door, sees all the testimonials, see all the five-star reviews. Someone walks over, says hi. Hey, I see that out. If the schedule is visible, they can be like, oh, are you Sharon? Or whatever it's like."

This quote describes how a welcoming environment, complemented by positive social proof and personalized service, can positively influence a customer's experience and perception of the business.

• The sales process should be systematic to ensure consistency.
• Consistent results from a systematic sales process lead to scalability.
• Systematic processes benefit less skilled salespeople by stacking the deck in their favor.
• The proprietor is expected to be the most effective salesperson due to conviction and personal stakes.

All we're doing is taking them through the sale before we actually sell them again. And the reason you do that is that when you have a systematic process, you are more likely to have a consistent result, which means when you have consistent results, you have a scalable solution.

This quote emphasizes the importance of a systematic sales process as a means to achieve consistent and scalable results.

• The sales process is designed to help those with less natural sales talent.
• By creating a systematic approach, the dependency on individual skill is reduced.
• The goal is to make the sales process effective regardless of the salesperson's innate abilities.

It also means that you're stacking the chips or, sorry, the deck in the favor of poorer salespeople, people who are not as good as you are.

This quote highlights the purpose of the systematic sales process in supporting salespeople who may not be as naturally talented or experienced.

• Proprietors are inherently more effective at selling their own products.
• The motivation for proprietors is higher due to personal investment and belief in the product.

You are the proprietor. You will always be better, or you should always be better at selling your own stuff than anyone else is.

This quote underlines the expectation that proprietors will be the most effective salespeople for their products due to their conviction and personal gain.

• Speaker C introduces a book available on Amazon designed to help the podcast community.
• The book represents a significant investment of time and is offered at a low price as a value to listeners.
• The underlying intention is to build rapport with the audience and potentially create future business partnerships.

You can get it for ninety nine cents on Kindle. The reason I bring it up is that I put over 1000 hours into writing that book and it's my biggest give to our community.

This quote serves as a promotion for Speaker C's book which is intended as a generous contribution to the listeners and a tool for building future business relationships.

• The goal is to create a sales process that doesn't rely on the proprietor's constant involvement.
• The process should be simple enough for anyone to execute effectively.
• Historical anecdotes illustrate that sales success can be achieved without ideal conditions if the salesperson is skilled enough.

So you probably don't want to sell for the rest of your life. Maybe. Maybe you do. I get it because sales is awesome. But on some level you probably don't want to sell for the rest of your life. And so what you have to do is how can I make it as easy as possible for someone who is not as good as me to sell?

This quote discusses the desire to create a sales process that enables others to sell effectively without the constant involvement of the owner or top salesperson.

• Anecdotal evidence shows that sales can occur in less than ideal circumstances with skilled salespeople.
• The story implies that while a systematic process is helpful, the skill of the salesperson can sometimes outweigh the need for a perfect sales environment.

And so we'd have people come in, there's no equipment. It's literally an empty warehouse with a card table. And we're like, yeah, it's $600. And they're like, you guys don't even have a gym. I'm like, yeah, you don't need a gym to get results.

This quote illustrates how effective salespeople can succeed even without the typical trappings of a business environment, reinforcing the value of sales skills and confidence.

• Rapport-building accelerates the sales process.
• Existing rapport carries a potential sale closer to completion.
• Consistency in the sales process increases the likelihood of closing sales at higher prices.

you cannot have built rapport, the faster you can close the sale because you have all these things that have already carried the ball halfway down the field, three quarters of the way down the field, and then all you're trying to do is just push it over the end zone.

The quote emphasizes the advantage of having established rapport in making the final steps of closing a sale easier, likening it to a football being already close to the end zone.

• Having a structured pre-selling process in place is crucial.
• Trainers and salespeople must know the protocol for new clients.
• A presale questionnaire provides valuable information for closing the sale.

So if you don't have a preselling process that is set up at your gym and your trainers do not understand what is supposed to happen when someone walks in the door, right, and your salesperson doesn't consistently go out, greet them within 10 seconds, give them the presale questionnaire, walk them through it if possible, unless they're with a prospect, right?

This quote outlines the necessity of a well-defined pre-selling process, including immediate greeting and providing a presale questionnaire to potential clients.

• The presale questionnaire serves as a tool to understand the client's habits and spending.
• It can be used to counter objections related to affordability.
• Properly used, it can significantly boost the gym's sales.

What bad habits do you have? How much do you spend per week on those bad habits?

The quote illustrates how the presale questionnaire can reveal a client's expendable income on non-essential items, which can be reallocated to gym memberships or services.

• Even a small increase in conversion rates can lead to a significant increase in sales.
• Proper training and setup of the pre-selling process are relatively simple yet impactful.

If you close an extra 10%, 20% of people walk in the door, it's a massive increase in the amount of sales that your gym is going to be able to make.

This quote highlights the potential revenue increase that can result from improving the conversion rate of new clients by a relatively small percentage.

• Training staff and setting up the pre-selling process can be done quickly.
• Investment in training and materials like pictures can be minimal compared to the potential returns.

And it takes an afternoon or two of training and one afternoon of putting up all the pictures and going to kinkos to set this up at your gym.

The quote conveys that implementing an effective pre-selling process requires minimal time and resources, suggesting it is a worthwhile investment.

• Alex's book provides extensive details on setting up the pre-selling process.
• The book is offered as a resource for those interested in the specifics of implementation.

I talk about this in endless detail in the book. If you want, you can grab it. Alex's book.

The quote directs listeners to Alex's book for comprehensive guidance on establishing a pre-selling process, indicating that the book is a valuable resource for gym owners.

• Providing a professional service can result in positive word-of-mouth, regardless of the sale outcome.
• The goal is to maximize value for the client and the business.

But I hope that just gives you an overt, like, big picture, how to clarify how to increase the likelihood someone is going to buy when they walk in your facility so that you can extract the most value, deliver the most value, give an amazing experience, and even if for some reason that person does not buy, they have nothing but nice things to say about how professional your service was.

This quote stresses the importance of a professional approach to the sales process, aiming to enhance the likelihood of a purchase and ensure a positive experience for the client.