Why do your customers buy from you?

Most salespeople struggle to answer this question in a way that is compelling to prospects

So in this thread you’re going to learn how to answer this question so you never get stuck again The first mistake you need to stop making is talking about “you” to prospects

eventually you will need to tell the prospect more about you and “how it works”

However, your value is meaningless unless it is connected to what the prospect cares about (problems/opportunities)…

Telling salespeople they need to be "better listeners" doesn't really help them

what are they supposed to be listening for?

these things..

quick 🧵 1) Intention

How strong is their motive for Change? and Why?

Have they already decided they need your category of solution? and Why?

Have they already decided to make a buying a decision and now it's just a matter of finding the right fit?

Behavior = good indicator of intent

You want the prospect to respond to your emails but the problem is you follow up like every other salesperson

Here’s how to cut through the noise and get their attention

THREAD CONTEXT

Humans are pattern recognition machines. The brain can only handle so much information at once so we create “shortcuts” and categorize stimuli into essentially 2 buckets:

Bucket 1: Pay attention

Bucket 2: Ignore

No matter what industry you’re in there are 5 problems preventing you from reaching your sales potential

Thread 1) Not believing in your solution

If you have complete conviction in your solution then you won’t even entertain the thought of getting played by prospects and giving discounts

Having the right beliefs will also transfer the feeling of certainty to the prospect

5 bad habits salespeople do on their sales calls and one simple fix for all of them.. 1) using sounds to string together their response

This includes:

“uh”
“um”
“ah”
“eh”
“oh”

I made a sales rep cry during a job interview.. and he loved it.

Here’s what happened + some of the questions I asked: Context

I’ve been helping companies with the interview process for new sales hires

They’ve made costly hiring mistakes in the past and need a way to reduce turnover and hire only the best

I reviewed their materials and immediately saw the problems:

If you don’t know the answer to these 2 questions you’ll always struggle to close more deals: 1) WHY do they really want a solution?

It’s not to “increase revenue” or “reduce OPEX”

There’s a deeper reason that is emotional..

$$$: We need a solution because we our data systems are a nightmare to use and I promised our CTO i’d have something in place by end of quarter

Have been on the buying side of many deals

seeing first hand how our company would get the salespeople to work for free for a chance to work with us caused me much pain

Here are some lessons from one of those deals.. 1) Relying too much on social factors/likability

These guys were customers and had some social equity with people in the company.. that’s fine

then on the call they showed some connections to my hometown.. again, that’s good. we felt more of a “bond”

5 questions every salesperson should be asking.. quick 🧵 1) A future state question

If you don’t know where they want to go, then the deal is Low Stakes

🐲: Fast forward a year from now what will have ideally changed in your business?

🐲: What should things look like by next year? Paint the picture for me

5 stupid questions salespeople ask and why they’re dumb: 1) Are you satisfied with your current vendor?

Most prospects will say “Yes”

Now what?

Better to reframe the question:

🐲: Are you saying they’re doing everything perfectly?

I gave some feedback yesterday but frankly there is too much clownery going on in this one screenshot so here’s a quick thread on:

- mistakes made
- what could’ve been done differently

👇🏼 1) Kermit meme isn’t a magic bullet

All too often a salesperson will use something that works, but doesn’t work for them, and they blame it on the tactic and not on their piss poor understanding of Frame and Power dynamics

Someone reached out to me asking for advice on a stalled deal

The deal is no longer stalled and will close

Here’s how he turned it around

thread: Context:

- all terms were agreed upon but then the prospect tried to squeeze him for a larger discount right at the end before closing

- they said they must spend their budget by August

- Prospect: prices are too high need bigger discount *and* can’t close until October

there’s nothing wrong with personalizing your emails

the issue arises when you supplicate too much and/or spend too much time per email

i’m in favor of sending *relevant* emails over personalized emails

examples: Typical 🤡 Personalization

Subject line: Congrats!

Body: Hey John, congratulations on your new job. How exciting! i also see you went to [college].. so did i! go Bears!

[value prop]

[CTA]

—
Sometimes this works.. but even if you get the meeting, you won’t have the upper hand

🐲: How much do you know about us?

Prospect: I heard about you guys on social and it looks interesting

🐲: Ah ok so have you decided you’re going to buy [our category of solution] and now you’re just evaluating which is the best for you?

Prospect: Yes 🐲: Got it. So what you need to hear or have happen on this call to feel we’d be the best fit?

Prospect: Well i would really need to get an understanding of how you guys do X

🐲: typically when i speak to [customers like you] they say Y.. can i ask why you said X?

There are many TV shows where you can see good examples of Frame Control

Although they are dramatized, they still provide a solid learning experience

Suits is one of those TV shows

Here’s a thread dissecting the Frame Game being played in a popular scene: Harvey comes in with a cool and casual demeanor

Greets Kevin with a friendly tone and neutral / downward inflection (signals power)

Harvey doesn’t apologize for being late and sets the Frame by essentially saying “we’re about to head into war and we don’t have much time”

The other day I mentioned how gurus use their Status, not just their tactics, to control the Frame and close deals

Here’s a thread dissecting one of Grant Cardone’s sales calls (clip is from YouTube)

The thread/clip will be broken down into 2 parts

Here’s part 1 👇🏼 First 30 seconds: The prospect is star struck.

Carlos is in disbelief that he is talking to GC.

He even says “Never thought I’d be talking to you.. I’m always talking to your people”

The Status Gap has now been cemented and the deal is ~80% closed

If you want to be more persuasive when speaking to others you have to learn how to elicit the *right* emotions

Here’s a quick 🧵showing how to do it using real world examples like on a:

📞 cold call
💰 job interview
🙋🏼‍♀️ and even on a date First up, the cold call

There are many ways to successfully cold call

One of my favorite ways is to use a Pattern Interrupt

Humans are pattern recognition machines

and A pattern interrupt is a message that “disrupts” their pattern and commands attention

One example:

Here’s a simple Framework on how to Disqualify prospects.. quickly

As a salesman, your job isn’t to sell your product/service to anybody

Your job is to Disqualify and Challenge the “curious” prospects into No’s or Buyers

Here’s one way to do it..

a quick thread: High level the Framework has 3 steps:

Prospect: I’m just curious

🤡: What are you most interested in?

🐲: What did you want to have happen by the end of this meeting? *skeptical tone*

Prospect: to learn more

🐲: Ah if information is all you wanted then I can save us both time & send you our marketing collateral Prospect: *silence*

🐲: Unless of course you had problems you think our solution can address then that’s a different story

Prospect: Well we are struggling with X

Typical role playing exercises are ineffective

They don’t address the most important aspects of communication like Status and Frame

That’s why I came up with this exercise years ago

I call it the “Status Shift” game

Here’s how to play + an example 👇🏼 How to Play + Instructions:

Are you making these 6 mistakes when you sell?

If so - you’re losing money and screwing your future self over: Mistake #1 - Responding to the Content of a message instead of the Framing

The Content is what’s being *said*:

🤡: You’re expensive

The Framing is how you package the message & is also what’s being implied:

🔎: You’re not worth it. I’m the Prize not you!