Do you ever get overwhelmed by
the competing ideas out there on selling?
You ever say to yourself,
which of these approaches actually works?
Well for years I said that same thing
and that's why I started to follow
what the data said, what results said
as opposed to just what some guru told me.
And that's what led me to the ideal sales strategy.
In this video I'm going to show you
the only sales strategy you need to know.
Check it out.
So the only sales strategy you really have to know
is the Game Plan Selling DSP,
which is something that I've written about for years
and it's really one cohesive strategy
with three key legs to the stool,
and those legs are where the DSP comes from.
We need to be distinct, so we need to be perceived
as unlike the competition, as unlike anyone else.
We need to be systematic.
We need to have that repeatable,
effective, proven approach to selling.
And then we have to have that prospecting playbook,
that list or that set of prospecting activities
that we're following on a regular basis
that we know is going to help us
ultimately hit our sales goals.
And so when we break it down into the three areas,
I'm gonna give you just a quick surface-level overview
of how we would look at each of those areas.
So the first piece is that we need to be distinct.
We need to be the complete and
total opposite of everyone else.
And so what this often makes me think of is
what my dad used to tell me about business.
He used to say, Marc, if you want to be successful
in sales and in business, what you want to do
is identify where everyone is marching,
the direction that everyone's going
and then once you know exactly where they're going,
I want you to go the exact opposite way.
I want you to do the exact opposite.
And I thought to myself at the time,
man, that's kind of weird,
but now that I've gotten to see what works
and what doesn't work, I understand now
that we need to be the distinct opposite
of what all the other salespeople are doing.
Because just think, right,
when you are watching this video
your competitors are calling on your prospects,
and how do you think they're starting the call?
They're starting the call with some version of
hey George, how are you today?
Or they're going in and they're pitching their product
and services and then talking about
all the features and benefits that they have.
And so what we need to do is start to think about
how can we have an approach that really is
the complete opposite of what they're doing?
And that's what leads us to this idea
of having a pattern interrupt.
We need to break the pattern at every single step.
And so what pattern interrupt basically means
is that there are typical patterns that we go into
and as a result, that the prospects go into.
And so what we want to do is avoid those typical patterns
that this average salesperson goes into,
so that way the prospect go into that pattern either.
So let me give you an example of an opening conversation,
the actual start to the conversation,
just the first couple of seconds of how most sales people
are starting their call, right?
So they're getting on the phone with a prospect
and they're saying, hey Sarah, how are you doing today?
Some version of that.
And what we see is that that's immediately creating
a patterned response on the part of the prospect.
The prospect is naturally gonna want to do what?
They're gonna want to move back because they're like,
ugh, this is such an obvious salesperson, right?
And so what we want to do is have an approach
that really breaks that pattern
in a powerful yet simple way.
And so here's the opening that
I would suggest that you use, and I'll tell you
just a little bit about the data
in a second on the backside of this.
Better responses.
Hey Sarah, Marc Wayshak calling.
How've you been?
Now timeout.
What was different between those two openings?
You'll notice that there was a difference in language,
which we'll explore in just a second,
but there was also a big difference in tonality
and approach and the feel that the prospect is going to get.
Now, the other difference of course is
there was different language changes.
I mentioned my name.
I made it seem like maybe they should know who I am,
but I didn't pretend like we went to college together,
but I made it seem like, eh, should I know this person?
And then I said, how have you been?
Now the data shows, very recent data shows,
that when you start calls with how have you been,
you have actually a six and a half times higher likelihood
of actually scheduling a meeting as a result of that call.
Six and a half times.
It's a different approach than many of us have used before
but starting with how have you been
has a huge increase in effectiveness.
And what it's doing is it's breaking the pattern,
because they're saying to themselves, how have you been?
Do I maybe know this person?
Do I not?
It's not manipulative, but it's just a little bit different.
It's a little bit distinct in a way that gets the prospect
saying, hmm, yeah maybe I'll give them 20 seconds.
Another example of distinction through
really a pattern interrupt is
the response to the age-old question of,
why should I do business with you?
Right?
If you've been in sales for long enough
you've had a prospect say, so why should we work with you?
Or, why should I do business with you?
Now again, typical prospect response
would be something along the lines of
well, we do this, or we do that,
or we're this great, or we're awesome,
or we're the best, or we have the best service,
or you get me, right?
You get all of these typical responses
that are kind of cheesy and your prospect is already
going to have expected that, right?
They expect you to go into that tap dance mode,
that hey we're gonna dance for you
and show you how great we are.
Instead, a way to break that pattern is through
a completely different approach to answering that question.
So next time a prospect says,
"Why should I do business with you?"
I challenge you to say the following.
You know what, George?
I really appreciate your asking me that question
and quite frankly, at this point in the conversation
I'm not sure that you should.
Would it be okay if I ask some questions
to find out what's really going on and then
I could tell you if I think that we're a better fit.
Timeout.
Now what did I do?
I answered in a way that's a complete pattern interrupt.
They expected me to push at them.
They expected me to put all this pressure on
and instead I took a step back.
I said hey, you know what?
I'm not sure that you should do business with me.
How real is that, how genuine?
It's so much more effective because what you're doing
is you're taking all that pressure off of the prospect
in a way that really makes them think,
wow, this person's an expert.
They're obviously successful, because they're not saying
that I need to do business with them.
I'm so used to people saying that.
And so as a result, you are setting yourself up
for a lot more success in a way that makes you
completely distinct from the competition.
Now the next part of this sales strategy is
being systematic.
We said you have to be distinct, systematic,
and then have that prospecting playbook.
And those are the three legs of the stool.
And this piece is all about being systematic.
It's all about having a repeatable
yet proven system for selling.
And so when we look at how can
we have a systematic approach, and what are
the key components to having that systematic approach?
It's really just three important phases.
The first is that we need to connect with prospects
on a level that is going deeper
than what they're typically expecting.
Now one of the reasons that human beings
are going to be more effective than artificial intelligence
or other machines at selling for a long time to come
is the ability to connect.
When we can connect with prospects
on a level that is not guarded,
not, uh I need a little space,
we are immediately inviting them to open up.
And so what we need to think about
is how can I connect with the person in front of me?
How can I connect with the person on the phone?
And one of the most simple ways to truly connect,
again thinking from a high level here,
is to really effectively mirror
what the prospect is doing and saying,
and not in a robotic way but
thinking of yourself a little as a chameleon,
a little bit getting to their level of approach.
How do they come across?
What's their vibe?
How quickly do they speak?
How loud are they?
And starting to just slightly match that approach.
And so again, I'm not talking about
huge changes in your personality here,
but what I'm saying is that if you're taking
to a prospect who answers the phone and says,
"Hey, Marc Wayshak here,"
I want you to also raise your voice to that level.
On the other hand, if you're taking to a prospect
who sounds something more like,
"Hello, this is Marc,"
I also want you to come down a bit.
You're not gonna suddenly say hi, this is nice to meet you,
but instead it's hey, Marc, great to connect with you.
Right?
It's just a lower tonality and that's how we're
connecting with prospects in a meaningful way.
Now we can go a lot more deeply into this.
This is a big topic, this idea of connecting,
but really matching our prospects and mirroring them
in a way that makes them feel immediately less guarded,
that's the first step to really getting through.
Now the next step to really being systematic
is to have a disqualification approach,
is to disqualify prospects that aren't a good fit.
In fact, I use the term disqualify for every prospect.
Right?
We've all heard that we need to qualify prospects
or persuade them to do business with us,
what I'm saying is that we're going the opposite way.
I want to use a mindset and an approach that's thinking,
you know what?
I'm going to disqualify people that aren't a good fit.
And through that process of asking questions
and understanding that realistically only about 50%
of the people that I talk to are really a good fit,
I'm now coming across as I don't need this business.
I'd like it, I'd love to work with people
that are a great fit, but I don't need it.
And so if you think back to that earlier role play
of the why should I do business with you,
it's just an extension of the disqualification mindset
where we're asking questions to understand
is this person a fit?
So we're not going in with the goal of really
getting it to be a fit, but instead
just determining whether this is a fit.
And if it is, then that leads to the last piece here,
which is the constant feedback presentation.
The constant feedback presentation is very simple,
but we want to remember that when
we actually are presenting, we don't want
to bombard people with information.
We don't want to throw up all over them.
And instead, we really want to make it a two-way dialogue.
And so the constant feedback presentation is simply this,
you are going to be presenting a little bit of information
and then you're gonna be getting some feedback
immediately back from the prospect.
And again, this concept is much deeper
than just what we're talking about,
but I just want to give you that high level,
which is let me show you one thing
that we're going to do differently.
You show them that and then you say,
"So, how does that sound?"
Or, "Does that make sense?"
And what you're doing is you're constantly getting feedback
by asking these little questions of,
does that make sense based on what I just said?
And you're pulling them back into the conversation.
So the conversation becomes that real two-way dialogue
and it's just back, forth, back, forth,
as opposed to me just throwing up
hours of content all over the prospect.
Does that make sense?
See what I did?
It's so powerful, so simple, and it just naturally
makes someone say, yeah okay.
The last component of this sales strategy
of the Game Plan Selling DSP
is having your prospecting playbook.
It is the third leg of the stool.
And it is so important, because again
most salespeople are going up and down,
up and down each month, right?
So they're some months that are good
and then they get busy because they had a good month,
and so they're not doing as much prospecting
and so then as a result, next month business is slower.
A prospecting playbook is all about understanding
exactly what you have to do in order to hit
your sales goals from a prospecting perspective.
What I'm going to focus on in this video is understanding
the only metric that you really need to know.
And there's really only one metric that most salespeople
actually have to hold themselves accountable to,
and that one metric is discovery appointments.
Discovery meetings, meetings, initial meetings,
whatever the word you want to use,
but it's those first meetings with a new prospect.
That is the only metric that you need to track
is how many meetings, how many initial meetings
do I have to set each and every week?
If I set this many meetings on average,
I'm going to hit my sales numbers.
That is the one metric that we need
to hold ourselves accountable to.
And so then you can of course work backwards from there.
So let's just think about the math for a second.
Think about what your sales goal is
for the next month.
About how many discovery meetings do you have to conduct
on average in order to hit that goal?
So maybe it's five, maybe it's 10,
maybe it's 50, maybe it's 100, I don't know.
It just totally depends on the type of business
that you're in and the type of sales and
the size of sales that you actually make.
Understand exactly what that metric is
and own that number and live by that number.
So let's say just for example,
your goal is that you need to set
10 initial meetings each and every week.
So that means two meetings every day.
And so as a salesperson, I'm saying to myself,
I don't leave the office until I've set
my two meetings every single day.
If that becomes my focus, now all I have to think about is
well, what activities go into generating those meetings?
And then I've got to do that activity
whether it's making cold calls,
or asking for referrals and introductions,
or going to networking events,
or getting more marketing leads.
Whatever it is, I now know exactly what
those activities have to look like
in order to hit that one metric.
And so having said that,
now that we understand that it is most important
to know exactly how many meetings
we have to have each week, now the question is
what are some of the best activities
that we can do in order to drive those meetings?
And the most effective prospecting activity
that we can really conduct is asking for introductions.
And so what that means is asking people in our network,
prospects, clients, people that we know,
for introductions to other people just like themselves.
So let's just say it's asking your clients.
Hopefully you already have some kind of a client base,
and so are having conversations with your clients
where you're sitting down with them and you're asking them
if there are any other people that they know
that might potentially be a fit for your product or service?
And then digging into that conversation
and asking them if they'd be willing
to introduce you to those people.
Not asking for a referral.
There's a reason we don't ask for referrals anymore.
People are kind of guarded about referrals,
it's a buzzword-y phrase and
it's not clear what it really means.
What we want is we want introductions.
We want that client to introduce you
to that person that they know.
And so by asking for introductions in a way
that's not sleazy or uncomfortable but just genuine,
something that sounds like this,
George, I could use your help.
The way I grow my business is by servicing
the heck out of my clients so that way
at the end of the day they'd be willing to introduce me
to others just like themselves,
people that I could really help.
I'm wondering, would you be willing to introduce me
to some other people that you think
that I might be able to help?
Now if you need to rewind this video and go back
and listen to exactly what I said
and just script out that exact phrase, then do so.
It's so simple, it's so powerful,
but by asking for those introductions,
you are going to see yourself grow this business
exponentially in a way that it's just leveraging
the existing people you already have.
So there is the only sales strategy you need to know.
I want to hear from you.
Which of these ideas did you find most useful?
Be sure to share below in the comments section
to get involved in the conversation,
and if you enjoyed this video then I have
an awesome, free eBook on 25 Tips to Crush Your Sales Goal.
Just click right here to get it instantly.
Seriously, just click right here.
It's free.
Also, if you got some value,
please like this video below on YouTube
and be sure to subscribe to my channel
by clicking my face right here
to get access to a new video, just like this one,
each and every week.