How To Close Sales By Them Saying NO Ep 223

In the Gym Secrets podcast, the host emphasizes the importance of mastering upsells to increase profits. Utilizing the example of Richard Schwartz from Mano Swartz furriers, the host outlines a sales technique that involves getting customers to say 'no' to additional offers, paradoxically leading them to agree to more services. This strategy, which yielded a 90% success rate for Schwartz, is applicable across various industries as a means to drive bottom line profit without customers feeling overtly sold to. The host encourages entrepreneurs to creatively adapt this method to their businesses, distinguishing between proactive winners and dismissive losers.

• The Gym Secrets podcast is focused on strategies for acquiring customers, increasing customer value, and retaining them.
• The podcast shares failures and lessons learned in the fitness business industry.
• Listeners are encouraged to enjoy the content and subscribe for more insights.

Welcome to the Gym Secrets podcast, where we talk about how to get more customers, how to make more per customer, and how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons that we have learned along the way. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

This quote is an introduction to the podcast's theme and purpose, inviting the audience to subscribe and signaling the kind of content they can expect.

• Speaker A considers Richard Schwartz a mentor through observation.
• Richard Schwartz's business acumen was apparent to Speaker A at a young age through "back of napkin math."
• Schwartz and his business, Mano Swartz furriers, dominated the fur market in Maryland and Pennsylvania by excelling at everyday tasks.

And so Richard Schwartz, unbeknownst to him, was a mentor of mine in terms of, I just observed a lot of the things that he did in his business. And I started doing back of napkin math when I was 17 or 18, and I was like, dude, this guy killed it.

This quote highlights Speaker A's admiration for Richard Schwartz's business success and the impact it had on Speaker A's own entrepreneurial mindset.

• Speaker A shares a sales tactic learned from Richard Schwartz, which involves getting customers to say no as a pathway to saying yes.
• This strategy is particularly effective for Bolton or upsell opportunities.
• Upsells are crucial for improving profit margins and offsetting acquisition costs.
• The tactic is applicable in various industries, including retail, physical therapy, dental, and beauty, for selling additional products or services alongside the core offer.

And there was one, I learned so many things from him, but one of them was getting people to say no. To say yes, all right?

This quote introduces the counterintuitive sales technique of encouraging customers to say no as a step towards securing a yes, particularly in the context of upsells.

• Upsells are not usually complex sales but are significant for the business's bottom line.
• These additional offers complement the core product or service and can range from supplements and meal plans to accessories and specialized health products.
• The effectiveness of this sales technique is underscored by its ability to significantly increase the uptake of upsells.

Now, there's a specific type of sale that this really applies to, which is a lot of times, Bolton or upsells, right? And these upsells can be incredibly important to the business in terms of driving bottom line profit, liquidating acquisition costs.

This quote explains the relevance of upsells in business, emphasizing their role in enhancing profitability and reducing the costs associated with acquiring new customers.

• Upselling is a sales technique where customers are induced to purchase more expensive items or add-ons.
• A high uptake of upsells often occurs when customers are unaware they're being sold to.
• The technique is presented as a beneficial service rather than a sales pitch.

And the reason he gets 90% plus to take his upsells, because they don't know they're being sold.

This quote explains the effectiveness of the upselling technique used, where the high success rate is attributed to the customer's lack of awareness that they are being upsold.

• Maintaining customer relationships involves regular interaction and providing ongoing services.
• In the context of selling fur coats, the relationship is maintained by offering storage services.
• Storage services are pitched as necessary for the care of expensive fur coats.

And then every year, they would maintain that customer relationship by getting them to come back in and store their coat during the summer...

This quote highlights the strategy of maintaining customer relationships by offering an annual service that requires customers to return, thereby ensuring continued engagement.

• Promotions can incentivize customers to use services through the offer of complimentary products.
• An example given is offering free fur ear muffs for storing a fur coat.
• Such promotions can significantly increase customer participation in services.

And so one of the promotions you ran as an incentive was get a free pair of fur ear muffs when you store your coat for winter or store your coat for summer.

This quote describes a specific promotion used to incentivize customers to store their fur coats by offering a complimentary product, which in this case is fur ear muffs.

• Hands-on work, even if menial, can provide valuable learning experiences.
• The speaker gained insights while performing a task related to the service offered (brushing and conditioning fur coats).

I was one of the guys who was brushing them in the freaking warehouse. And, like, spraying these things down, it was mind numbing work, but I got to learn a lot while I was there.

This quote reflects the speaker's personal experience working with the products and services offered, emphasizing the learning aspect despite the tedious nature of the work.

• The speakers request support for their podcast not through advertisements or sales, but through community engagement.
• They emphasize the importance of ratings, reviews, and sharing to reach and assist more entrepreneurs.
• The goal is to contribute to the entrepreneurial community by helping businesses grow and improve.

And so the only ask that I can ever have of you guys is that you help me spread the word so we can help more entrepreneurs make more money, feed their families, make better products, and have better experiences for their employees and customers.

This quote conveys the speaker's appeal to the audience to support the podcast by sharing it, with the aim of creating a positive impact on the entrepreneurial community.

• The assumed closing technique is a sales strategy that involves suggesting a default action and using psychological bias to guide the customer towards a sale.
• It operates on the principle that people are predisposed to decline additional purchases, and by presenting an upsell as something they might want to refuse, it reinforces the initial sale.
• The technique can be applied across various sales scenarios, such as weight loss programs or retail discounts.
• When customers are asked if they want to avoid an extra purchase, their tendency to say no actually helps to confirm the original sale.
• This tactic leverages the contrarian nature of customers who often feel like they are being sold to, turning their resistance into an advantage for the seller.
• The assumed closing technique can significantly increase uptake on upsells, with potential take rates of over 90%.

"It's like, well, you're going to store and your condition your coat, but storing the coat versus storing and doing the brush down and doing the shampooing of the coat is obviously an extra service, but it immediately added a couple of every single coat, and they were doing thousands of coats."

This quote explains the concept of upselling by offering additional services (brush down and shampooing) beyond the basic service (storing the coat), which results in increased revenue per item on a large scale.

"So let's say you say, hey, this is what you need to take for this weight loss program, right? These are the four supplements for you to take. Now, you might have more supplements, right? And you're like, you don't want to buy anything else, do you?"

The quote illustrates how the assumed closing technique can be used in a weight loss program scenario by suggesting a complete set of supplements and then asking if the customer wants to avoid additional purchases, thereby securing the sale of the suggested set.

"And so by doing that, you're getting them to say yes by saying no."

This quote captures the essence of the assumed closing technique, where the customer's inclination to refuse additional offers is used to confirm their commitment to the initial purchase.

"People are so contrarian. People always feel like they're being sold, that you actually use that psychological. It's subconscious. They're not even making the thought process like they're agreeing because they're so pre-programmed to try not to buy things that they end up buying things."

Here, the psychological aspect of the sales process is discussed, emphasizing that customers often act contrary to sales pitches subconsciously, which can be harnessed to facilitate the sales process.

"Most people get 20% to 30% uptake on their upsells. If you use an assumed closed tactic like this, you can literally see 90% plus take rates on this."

The quote provides statistics on the effectiveness of the assumed closing technique compared to typical upsell success rates, highlighting its potential to drastically increase sales.

"So that'll be an extra whatever. And so what ended up happening is that people would get the free ear"

Although this quote is incomplete, it suggests that the assumed closing technique can be used to upsell additional items, such as ear muffs, by implying that they require the same service as the initial item, resulting in further sales.

• Upselling is a common strategy used in businesses to increase profits.
• It involves offering additional services or products to customers during a transaction.
• The strategy can be particularly effective in service industries or brick-and-mortar businesses.
• Small upsells, while seeming insignificant individually, can cumulatively become major profit drivers.
• Businesses should creatively think about how to apply upselling strategies to their specific context.

"And so every time, each one of these things, they just keep upselling them. But people are so subconsciously wired to try and say no to upsells that they would say yes by saying no."

This quote illustrates the psychological aspect of upselling, where customers may be inclined to accept additional services or products as a way of saying no to larger upsells, not realizing they are still adding to their purchase.

"You don't make your money on the burger. You make your money on the fries and the coke, because there's the high profit margin things, even though it's not the core offer."

The quote emphasizes that the real profit often comes from the add-ons rather than the main product, highlighting the importance of upsells in a business's revenue stream.

"So decide which one you are and then execute accordingly."

The speaker suggests that the mindset of a business owner can influence the success of upselling strategies, implying that a proactive and creative approach can lead to better results.

• A business owner's mindset can significantly impact the adoption and success of new strategies.
• Winners are characterized by their proactive thinking and willingness to find ways to implement new ideas.
• Losers may dismiss new strategies, believing that their business is an exception and that the strategies would not apply.

"Winners always think, man, I wonder how I could use that in my business. And losers think, that wouldn't work in my business. My business is different."

This quote contrasts the attitudes of "winners" and "losers" in business, with winners being open to adaptation and losers being closed off to change, indicating the importance of a positive, innovative mindset in business success.

• The speaker encourages the audience to think creatively about applying the discussed strategies.
• There is an emphasis on audience interaction and engagement, as seen in the request for likes and tags.
• The speaker expresses a desire to provide value to the audience and to connect with them in future podcasts.

"Hope that was of value for you. If it is, drop or tag or like or do all the fun stuff."

This quote shows the speaker's intention to provide useful content to the audience and encourages them to engage with the podcast through social actions, fostering a sense of community and interaction.

"And I hope to see you all in the next podcast."

The speaker ends with a forward-looking statement, anticipating continued interaction with the audience in future podcast episodes, which helps to build a loyal listener base.