#POV | What not to do on sales calls

Sales calls, discovery calls, clarity calls - whatever you call 'em - they get a bad rap 😕⁠
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In this episode, I'm discussing my pet peeves, and I bet my bottom dollar you've experienced at least one of them.
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Connect with Jordan Schanda King:

• Website: easyscaling.com
• Instagram: @jordanschandaking

Transcript

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#POV | What not to do on sales calls

Jordan: Hello, hello and welcome. I've got a quick little rant for you today. A rant, a reflection, I don't know, whatever we wanna call it. I wanna talk about sales calls. Sales calls. I think sales calls get a bad rap. They shouldn't. Sales calls are amazing. You can call 'em whenever you want. Discovery calls, consult calls, clarity calls.

what else can you call 'em? You can call 'em so many things. I love sales calls. I love doing. I love being on them. I think they're fun. I don't know, maybe I'm a little weird, but as you all know, I'm also a super nerd. I like to analyze everything that I see, both from my perspective, as it relates to how do people react.

Jordan: My sales calls, what is my conversion rate? Things like that. But I also love to analyze when I'm on the other end of a sales call and I don't want a fair number of them. And here, here's what I've come up with. Because I think there's a lot of information out there about how to run a sales call, things that you should and shouldn't do on a sales call.

I think I disagree with most of it. for the most part, . I don't like handling objections. I. Don't like asking for the sale on a call. I do like coaching people and sharing information and talking through their specific situation. there's a lot of things that I disagree with in the realm of what to do and not to do.

Jordan: You want a sales call? And I've got some pet peeves when it comes to sales calls. So I wanted to talk through some things that I think are really important and things that rub me the wrong way when I'm on sales calls with other people when they're selling me. Okay, so. I think a sales call should be a reflection of you.

It should be a reflection of your personality, your communication style, your approach, your values. It should also reflect your interest in the client. It should reflect your expertise, your confidence, your integrity. There's a lot of things that that someone should be able to pick up on when they're on a sales call with you.

And if it's not, you're doing it wrong, , and this doesn't have anything to do with how structured your sales call is. Because I think some people are very good at running sales calls in a way that reflects them and it's very structured and other people are good at winging it. I personally don't like to structure my sales calls at all.

I did a little bit more when I was just getting started. I had a couple of like, like not necessarily prompts, but like a flow, almost like an agenda, but it was kind of a, a rough agenda, to remind me of some of the things that I make wanted to make sure we touched on in the sales. I, I thought that that was actually really important when I was just getting started, but very quickly, that went out the window because it wasn't, it wasn't necessary.

And I like to run things in a little bit more fluid, unstructured way, believe it or not. because that works for me. And it actually, that is a reflection of me and my approach. Once you're actually working with me, everything is very, There's not a lot of structure to the way that I interact with you on a call, when you're my client.

So it, it would be a little disjointed for me to do my sales calls that way. Now other people do run their businesses in a more structured way, and so probably a more structured sales call makes sense. Maybe you have like a specific. Agenda, some different, points that you like to make and a process that you like to run people through.

Fantastic. If that's a true reflection of you and your business, great. Do it that way. Here's what I don't think you should ever do, though. Huge pet peeve. I don't think you should ever, ever, ever read from a script on a sales call, if I can tell that you're reading a script to me. If you're reading off a list of questions.

I'm, I'm totally taken out of the moment. I don't feel like you're having an authentic conversation with me. I can feel that I'm being run through a process, but in a way that's, that doesn't feel good. That's very different. Like reading off a script is very different than running me through a structured process where you're like in your zone and you're like kind of doing your spiel, but you know it by heart because you believe in it and you do this all the time.

That is different. Then reading me off a list of questions that you want me to answer. I personally just don't like it. It, it, it, it doesn't feel authentic, especially when I feel like the questions aren't actually asking me what you wanna.

So this happens a lot. I feel, I feel like people who, especially if they're reading off of a script, are asking questions that you would more like put on a form, not questions that you would ask to someone's face in real life, you know? So if you're asking me kind of like high level questions that kind of sound weird to say out loud, that don't actually have like a specific, intention behind them, I can feel that and I don't like it.

I don't know, may maybe you're different. I don't like as answering questions like that. If you ask me a question like, you know, what type of role do you see this service playing in your business? Well, I don't, I don't know. How do you answer that question? Like, ask me something that you actually wanna know. Ask me something about me.

I want, like, I'm gonna be real with you. If I'm on a sales call and I'm talking to somebody about their service and seeing if it's a good fit for me to work with them, I wanna talk about myself. like, Let's, let's, you know, let's be real with it. We wanna talk about ourselves and, and that's especially important to know that if you are running a sales call with a potential client, you should be genuinely interested in what they have to say.

You should be genuinely interested in where they're. in their life or business or journey or whatever, and asking them questions that actually gets them to tell you that, to share that with you. Gets them excited to talk about what they're working on or what they're struggling with, or where they see you fitting in with that.

But when you ask really scripted, non-specific questions, like, what role do you see this playing in your, in your business? I don't know. That's not a good, that's not a good prompt that gets people comfortable to share. That feels like a sales question, you know? Anyway, maybe I won't rant on that anymore, but hopefully that makes sense where I'm coming from with that, don't script your sales calls and don't ask, ask questions that sound obviously scripted that aren't actually asking the thing.

Here's an example. It's not actually an example related to sales calls, but it's an example in general. My husband asked me a question yesterday and I think he said like, what time do you get done with your podcast interviews? Cuz I think what he asked. , my instant reaction is, well, why? What do you, why are you actually asking me that question?

So maybe this is like a unique to me thing, but I can't actually, like, I could answer that question, but that's not a real conversation. I could say 2:00 PM. Well, we've just had an exchange, but we haven't had a conversation. If he were to explain to me why he was wanting to know when my interviews got done so that I could then give additional information, that's probably actually more important to him, that would've been a conversation.

We could have gone back and forth. We would've both gotten a lot more out of it. We would've got to the actual resolution or solution or understanding. much quicker, , because instead I was just like, well, why? And he was like, well, I don't, I'm just asking. I'm like, well, but why are you asking? So we had this whole non-conversation before we could actually have the real conversation that could have been had just by sharing the actual context of why you're asking.

Anyway, that's a little bit of a side note, but I'll to support my point that I think it's important not to ask, obviously, scripted questions and to just get to the meat of it. What do you actually wanna know? What do you wanna know? , you don't wanna know where my, where your service fits into my business.

You know, that's not what you wanna know. You wanna know what I'm struggling with, and we wanna figure out if what I'm struggling with is something you can fix or something you can help me with. You wanna know what my actual goals are, what I'm trying to do, what I'm working on, and if your service can help me get there.

that's the conversation we need to have. So let's have that conversation. And it's much easier to have that conversation if you just ask me questions that get me talking about my struggles and my, my goals and what I'm actually working on and what I'm excited by. And you don't get there by asking weird questions.

Okay. I won't write on that anymore.

Here's the other thing, . It's my other pet peeve. I've got two. I've got several, but I'm gonna talk about two. So that's one. The other pet peeve that I have is handling objections. I personally do not like to be handled. I don't like to be handled, period. I definitely don't like to be handled on a sales call because.

I usually am assessing vibes and I may know on a call if I'm ready to work with someone for sure, and usually I do. Usually if I'm gonna work with someone I know right then, but that's not always the case. And even if that is the case, sometimes I need to weigh options. I may be doing some research on multiple different avenues.

I may be figuring out exactly how that's gonna integrate with some other things that I have going on. Like there's all kinds of things that may require me to go and think. I do not like to be handled. I like to make my own decisions and I like to assume that my clients, when I'm running sales calls, like to make their own decisions and I don't actually wanna handle objections.

That's not my job. My job is to factually present you with the information and where I think we can collaborate and work. , that's all that, that in my opinion, is my only job on a sales call is to get information for you and then from you and then for me to give you information so that you know how we could work together.

That's when I'm running a sales call, so when I'm on a sales call and someone is running me through their process and. , we get to a point where maybe I'm expressing that I need more time or maybe there's something that I don't think is gonna be a good fit for us, and I'm ex expressing that I do not wanna be handled.

I do not want you to convince me that I'm wrong or to reason with me, to try to get me to make some type of other decision on that. I'm, I am never gonna react to that. Well, , I'm just not. It's, but again, maybe this is me personally, but that is why I don't run my sales calls that way. And actually I've been on sales calls where people have run me through really structured processes and at the end they say we're not, like they say at the beginning, they say at the end, too, we're not gonna sell you on this.

You know, you can make your own decision. There's no rush. You know, there's no kind of, Self-imposed, or there's no kind of like false urgency that you're required to make a decision right here on this call. Take your time, make sure this is a good investment in your business, and then we can talk. If you have questions, let me know.

I love when people leave sales calls like that for me, because for me it's, it's more of an honest and in integrity way to leave a sales call because usually people do need to think about the information. Usually there's some type of like, content or breakdown or proposal that needs to be sent that I wanna look through.

I love looking at things. I'm not gonna do that on a call now, even on that call, interestingly enough that they, they ended it that way. I knew on the call, I was like, yeah, this is a great fit. Let's do it. send me the information. I'll look at it, but like, yeah, I'm all in. Let's, let's go. You know? So they didn't have to force me to make that decision.

I was able to come to that decision on my own. It's the same way that I run my sales calls. If I'm on a sales call with you and I'm telling you, here's how we, how, here's how we could work together, here's how it works. Here's the details. You can bet I'm gonna follow that up with. I'm gonna send all of this to you in an email.

Take your time, look at it. Let me know what you have questions. There's no rush. I mean, Maybe there is an actual rush. If I have limited spots or you know, capacity, whatever, though I'm not gonna rush you into making that decision. You need to make it within the context of your situation and what's appropriate for you and your timelines.

I can update you on if there are a certain amount of spots or if there is a deadline to get into a program, but that's totally up to. on whether or not you wanna act on that urgency, or if you wanna wait, maybe you wanna wait and make your decision more slowly and then come back to me and see what spots I have available.

That's fine. That's totally fine. Anyway, that's all I've got. That's all I've got. Those are my two big pet peeves. don't script your calls. Don't handle my objections. Probably a little bit different than what some people are saying, but I think that it's so important. And again, I'll just leave you with the fact that.

Your job on a sales call is just simply to gather information from your potential client. and then share information with them about how you think you can help. If you think you can help, because you can't always help. Sometimes I've had sales calls where I've said, sounds like you're actually looking for X, Y, Z.

I don't do that. I think you need to go down that route. That's fine. Gather information from your potential client. Share information about what you can do, how you can help them, if you can help them, and how the process works. That's it. It's that simple. Doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

And then let them make their decision. If they have questions, answer their questions, easy peasy. That is the purpose of a sales call. So I hope that that was helpful and I'll see you next time. .