Today’s Quote: Most people think selling is the same as talking. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job. Roy Bartell
Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today we are going to talk about sales conversations – and getting the client!
Click the play button above to tune in, or choose your favourite podcast player below:
Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Getting clients – it is far and away the biggest topic that VAs come to me for advice about. You know it, you can see it yourself as the most common topic in VA groups too.
I used to get clients wrong.
For a long time I tried to find a shortcut to getting clients. There must be one, right?
And I also tried a lot of very silly ways of getting clients. Ways that I thought were so smart! Like job forums, classified ads, bulletin boards, cold calling, yellow pages.
Now don’t get all worked up if this is how you are trying to find clients. I got clients all of those ways. But it was HARD.
And you might think that when you hear me saying that you need to have daily business conversations with people that THAT is hard – and it might be, to start.
But, it will yield you more clients than the other way. You will not have to work as hard – that’s my promise to you!
Why do I know this? Because I’ve done both, and I can tell you that networking is more successful.
Because I’ve taught VAs just like you to network, and they get clients too.
It takes some work, some decisions, and some support, but you can do it.
The main thing you want to do is to get people on a sales conversation. You might call it a discovery call, but it’s in place to make a sale.
And that’s what I want to talk to you about today.
Getting the client.
It’s not enough to get them on the phone or zoom call. You want to get the client.
And that starts with listening.
So many VAs do not listen. They think the sales conversation is to make a pitch.
NO!
Stop pitching.
If I can give you one piece of advice to get clients, it’s to stop pitching them!
A sales pitch is to persuade someone to buy something – you plan a presentation, you present it, and you attempt to close a sale.
And although on a sales conversation we would like it to end up with a client signing with us, it’s not the key goal.
We need to see whether we can help them – that’s all!
If we can’t, we move along to someone else.
We don’t have to persuade them to do anything.
We connect, we listen to their needs, we see if we are a good fit service wise, personality wise and budget wise. If we are, bravo!
If not, it’s okay.
Detaching yourself from the outcome of a sales conversation is one of the best pieces of advice I can give you.
It’s one of the most valuable piece of advice I’ve ever been given.
I used to worry about getting sales conversations all the time. Because I was so nervous to get a no.
I thought if I got a no I had failed.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Now, yes, you should want to qualify your people before you get on a phone call with them. You don’t want tire kickers and inquiries to fill up your day.
When you get a qualified prospect on the phone everything is easier.
And when you are networking with the right people, you will get the right people jumping on the phone with you.
You can prepare all the stuff you want to say, but if you don’t treat is like a conversation, you are shooting yourself in the foot.
No one wants to be sold to – even if they are shopping for something.
I remember going up the escalator in one of our local Sears stores – and at the top of the stairs was the electronics department, and the toy department. When the escalator reached the top, my dad would always say ‘here are the vultures’ because the guys in suits would be standing right there facing the escalator, ready to sell you something.
Sales gets a bad rap because people think they need to make a sale.
Stop worrying about the sale and concentrate on the conversation.
Who is this person?
What is their business?
What do they have a problem with?
What do they want help with?
What is their budget?
Ask them questions that are related to the services you offer – or in general about their business. Then let them talk.
Listen to what they say, how they say it.
Keep the conversation on target – but let them do most of the talking.
Under no circumstances should you be offering detailed solutions, no screensharing. They get the details when they work with you – and pay you.
A failed sales conversation is one where you give them the solution to their problem for free.
A failed sales conversation is not one where someone says no.
Focus on what they need – and whether you can help them.
Showcase your value by asking thoughtful and professional questions, and then letting them know that’s exactly what you do to help your clients.
Positioning yourself as an expert goes a long way in being a professional VA.
The client will hear your confidence in your voice, and they need to feel confident that spending their money with you will be worth it.
Don’t try to convince anyone of anything. Tell them you can see they need someone to help them with xyz – and that you could be that person if they want, but that it’s okay if they don’t choose you. (this actually works)
So here is my long list of things that you need to do to get the client every time on your sales conversations – luckily they are all very easy to do!
Use a checklist – without question this will be your greatest tool. It helps you to stay on track, collect all the information you need, and make sure you don’t miss anything you want to ask the client.
Keep on time – sales conversations should be SHORT – I book mine for 15 minutes. You might need 30 but don’t go longer than that. There is absolutely nothing that you need to talk about that should take you more than 30 minutes. If you are doing sales conversations longer than that, what are you doing on them? I’m guessing you are giving the client the solutions to their problems. Stop doing that. You are losing a sale.
Keep on topic – asking questions is important to keep the topic of conversation front and centre. Don’t be afraid to say to the client, I’m going to stop you there for a minute – I want to make sure I’m understanding you correctly – and then paraphrase what they are saying to bring the topic back to where you need it.
Ask pointed questions – like I said earlier, create the questions you need the answers to – the ones that will lead directly to ‘that’s exactly how I help my clients’.
Assure them you can help – remind them at every stage that you can help them. And if you can’t, be sure to clarify those parts too. The client can make an informed decision if they know that you can help them with their most pressing issues.
No screensharing or solving issues ‘right now’ – if you are doing this, you are losing the client. They will not see value in what you charge for if you provide it for free on a consult. If they have an issue with Mailchimp, ask them to describe it – say no to a screenshare ‘that’s not what this call is for, that’s how I work with my clients’ but you can tell them to describe so you can let them know if you can help them or not.
If they ask you what do you charge, tell them you need to know what they need first – and then you can talk about budget. Use the word budget all the time through the conversation. It puts the money topic squarely into their lap because it’s THEIR budget, not YOUR rate that is the challenge.
Practice your sales conversation. Like anything, practice makes perfect. Don’t practice with a colleague. Practice with real, live potential clients. Trust me. Nothing will make you better at these than doing it live.
Know your services inside and out. Know your rates inside and out. And estimate the work they can get for their budget right on the call.
Ask for the sale at the end or in the middle of the call even – how does that sound? I can’t tell you how many sales I lost because I was to nervous to ask for the sale – I sheepishly sent a proposal and then sometimes didn’t even follow up.
You have to know that if you are a good fit, it’s your job to make sure the client sees that, and gets excited about working with you.
No more, no less. You don’t have to convince anyone, or educate anyone, or push anyone, or persuade anyone of anything.
They may be hesitant to spend money – but if you show them the value then they will make the right decision. If they aren’t ready, then they simply aren’t ready.
If you know that you have done all you can to show your value then you have done your job.
And every time you do a sales conversation you will do better at it.
And finally, do not focus on selling. Focus on helping. Focus on fit. Focus on budget.
If a client’s budget is too low for what you are discussing, work with them on it. ‘Here are the things we can do for that budget’.
Answer all of their questions to the best of your ability. If you don’t know something, be honest. People love honesty.
Master your sales conversation – Be confident. Be professional.
Turn down clients that will not be a good fit. You will regret it if you say yes to someone that you kind of know isn’t good for you.
Above all don’t let the outcome of a call affect you if you did everything right.
A client is ready when they are ready. And sometimes a no is just a no for now. You’ll be able to tell the difference very soon.
Detach yourself from the outcome of the call but definitely make sure you have followed your checklist and covered all of your bases.
Need Some Help?
This is exactly what I help VAs do. As a VA coach and trainer, I help you set yourself up for success on a sales conversation, helping you find the people you should be helping and deciding what you need to say to them. And, when we work together, I will help you reach out those people so you can get clients.
I’ll help you get clarity around it all, and cheer you on as you walk through the steps to do it.
I’ve helped hundreds of VAs through their challenges and got them on their way to growing their business and the lifestyle that they dream of.
I’d love to do the same for you.
You can work with me privately, or you can join The Virtual Circle, my mastermind group for Virtual Assistants. Check it out at www.YourVAMentor.com/TVC (the virtual circle) – I bet it’s exactly what you need to start running the VA business you dreamed of.
Reach out to me if you are interested in starting your journey today.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, see you next time!