Key Objectives
We need to nail 5 elements to ensure your call has the most clear direction, and you’re on a sales call with a buyer that fits your avatar so you have something to sell them:
- What attracted them to the call
- Do they still have the time set aside in an undistracted environment
- The right avatar
- Decision makers
- Clear future for the call
Intro Highlights
- Find out what specifically attracted them to the call
- Confirm they have the full time allocated without distractions
- Verify they’re the right avatar for your offering
- Identify if they are the sole decision maker
- If other decision makers exist, confirm they know about this call
- Set clear expectations for how the call will proceed
Golden Rules – Discovery Stage
(Lines to use in the discovery process in response to certain answers to dig deeper and get more out of a response)
- “How’d you come up with that number?”
- “How committed are you to that?”
- “But do you actually believe that?”
- “What’s going on in your life right now that would stop that from happening?”
- “How long can you sustain that?” (For the avatar about to collapse in their problem)
- “How long are you willing to tolerate that?” (For the avatar complacent in their problem)
- “Are you emotionally attached to the vehicle that can help you acquire ‘desire’?”
- “What resources do you believe would help you prevent yourself from getting to that point?”
- “Out of curiosity, cause you’re asking all the right questions and seem to know your way around a handful things with what you’re trying to solve… what other options have you considered outside of us?”
- “What resources have you invested in, in the past to help you acquire [INPUT GOAL]?”
- “It looks like you’re still on the hunt to tackle [INPUT GOAL]. What were those deliverables and how did they let you down?”
- “Have you seen enough to make a decision?”
- “Who told you that?”
Discovery Stage Objectives
We need to nail 8 elements to ensure you run an effective discovery process:
- Desire: The Goal they want. Their desired destination.
- Pain Gap: What’s the significance of desire? What’s life like now without it?
- Urgency for Outcome: How many things have they done so far to acquire desire
- Look for landmines: What have they done before. What did they like about that approach and why, what didn’t they like and why. Cost associated with that
- Clarity around lack of action towards Desire: Why has no action been taken yet to acquire the desire. (typically the hardest prospect to close)
- Timeline: How long this has been a problem, what triggered it being labeled a problem, why prioritize solving it now
- Urgency to Action: How soon do they want to put this in place
- Tie Downs: Tie down commitment to urgency to take action, what else would stop them from that taking place, tie down their commitment to nothing stopping them
Discovery Stage Highlights
- Uncover their true desire and what the outcome would look like
- Find out what they’ve tried before and why it didn’t work
- Understand why they haven’t taken action if they’ve done nothing
- Determine how long the problem has existed and what triggered it
- Get clarity on why now is the time to fix the problem
- Quantify the impact of not having a solution
- Establish their timeline for implementation
- Confirm their commitment and identify any obstacles
- Use the golden rules to dig deeper when necessary
Diagnosis Stage Considerations
Recap of what you uncovered in the Discovery process.
You need to have the prospect confirm these problems are true or what you’ve missed and tie them down to these specific problems / pain points, so the rest of your call will be around all the solutions that will solve these biggest needle moving priorities to the client.
Price Point is always easier to increase by the perceived value of what you have to offer. Perceived Value is determined by the specificity of the deliverables you present being specific to the biggest problem the client has and the gap you create with the impact that problem being solved will create.
Value is not what you believe to be the prospect’s biggest problem, even if you know the impact of the problem you can see exceeds the impact of the problem the client wants solved.
Perception is reality.
As the old adage goes, “Sell them what they want, give them what they need.”
Diagnosis Stage Highlights
- Clearly summarize and confirm their goals and problems
- Ensure you haven’t missed anything important to them
- Set up the transition to the offer stage
- Focus on their perception of the problem, not yours
- Remember: “Sell them what they want, give them what they need”
Golden Rule – Offer Stage
Be sure to add in clarity around how the feature works at the time of [INPUT FEATURE]. This is critical so the prospect does not fall into the 5-7 category range when you do the 1-10 scale in the temp check. Any confusion in the process of execution adds friction to the sale, and a confused buyer always says no.
Offer Stage Considerations
The offer is always a customized version of your deliverables that accommodate the diagnosis and nothing more.
As I discuss in the example of my story about bringing an oven mitt to play frisbee with the homies
Always explain clarity in the process in how each deliverable will accommodate each specific illness in the diagnosis:
- Feature (What)
- Benefit (Why)
- Quantify (increase Value)
Offer Stage Highlights
- Match each feature to a specific obstacle they mentioned
- For each feature, clearly explain the benefit and quantify the value
- Only answer questions concisely – avoid going into technical details
- Be clear about how features work to avoid confusion
- Remember: “A confused buyer always says no”
- Keep answers simple and don’t introduce new information that could derail the sale
Temp Check Stage Considerations
- Temp check “1-10 Scale” – Gauge their interest level
- Urgency Check – Uncover the starting timeline
- Risk Mitigation – Remove fear and doubt of “is this for me” by “bucketing” themselves into a category of people that doesn’t fail through explaining a story of someone that failed and having the prospect confirm they don’t relate to that person
Temp Check Stage Highlights
- Use the 1-10 scale to honestly assess buyer interest
- 1-4: Lost sale. 5-7: Need clarity. 8-9: Ready to close
- Ask how to get them to a 10 and exhaust all their concerns
- Uncover their timeline and the reasons behind it
- Find ways to address timeline objections and make them non-issues
- Confirm they’re ready after resolving timeline concerns
- Use risk reversal by having them confirm they won’t be like clients who failed
- “Tie down” prospects to their verbal confirmations
- Transition smoothly to the payment discussion
Collection Stage Considerations
Covering logistics around collecting money to buy into your solution as well as limiting beliefs around a prospects relationship with money if you have to use OPM and they’re not familiar with leveraging debt, or if you have to get them comfortable with being uncomfortable spending money they normally wouldn’t.
- Cash out of pocket
- Leverage debt
- Borrow money from a friend
- Credit Cards
- Bridge Funding with lenders and hard money
- Limiting beliefs around being uncomfortable with spending the money they have
Collection Stage Highlights
- Present two simple options: cash or financing
- State the price confidently after explaining the value
- Ask which payment option they prefer, not if they want to pay
- If they choose cash, immediately ask which card they want to use
- If they mention not having money, determine if it’s availability or discomfort
- For those uncomfortable spending, reconnect them to the value and impact
- Ask about what would move the needle most for them
- Have them consider the worst-case scenario and if they can live with it
- Avoid signing clients who truly can’t afford it (they often refund)
- Focus on handling logistical objections only at this stage
Post Collection Stage Considerations
Proper hand off for delivery to reduce buyer’s remorse and claw backs to your commissions cause a buyer refunds within their window.
Post Collection Stage Highlights
- Welcome them to reinforce their buying decision
- Clearly explain the next steps in the onboarding process
- Emphasize immediate action items that will create fast value
- Mention the no-refund policy but assure them of support
- Set expectations for support response times
- Ask for referrals while they’re in a positive buying state
- End on a positive note about their future success
- Give them something to look forward to (testimonial)
- Keep the relationship warm for future follow-ups
- Reduce chance of buyer’s remorse through clear communication
Referral Collection Considerations
- Timing is crucial – ask for referrals when the client is excited about their purchase
- Focus on how the referral benefits their friend/colleague, not just your business
- Make the process easy and non-threatening for the client
- Provide clear incentives for successful referrals when applicable
- Follow up on referrals quickly to maintain momentum
Referral Collection Highlights
- Ask for referrals while the client is in a positive buying state
- Be specific about the type of referrals you’re looking for
- Offer options for how the introduction can be made
- Collect complete contact information
- Describe your referral process clearly
- Mention any referral incentives or rewards
- Respect their comfort level with making introductions
- Plant seeds for future referrals even if they can’t think of anyone immediately
- Emphasize the care you’ll take with their contacts
- Connect referrals back to the client’s upcoming success
Objection Handling Highlights
- Stay calm and collected when objections arise – they’re a normal part of the sales process
- Use the Feel-Felt-Found approach for emotional objections
- Ask clarifying questions to understand the real concern behind the objection
- Don’t get defensive or argue with prospects – validate their concerns
- Use stories of other clients who had similar concerns
- Always have a clear next step after handling an objection
- Use confident, authoritative body language while maintaining warmth
- Address limiting beliefs with compassionate but firm guidance
- Use parental reassurance language like “I’ve got your back” for confidence objections
- Remember: objections are buying signals – they show engagement
Objection Handling Framework
For most objections, follow this general framework:
- Listen fully – Don’t interrupt when they’re sharing concerns
- Acknowledge – Show you understand their concern is valid
- Question – Dig deeper to find the real issue
- Respond – Address the specific concern with confidence
- Confirm – Check if your response resolves their concern
- Bridge – Move back to the sales process
Key non-verbal cues to project during objection handling:
- Maintain eye contact to show confidence
- Lean in slightly to show engagement
- Keep your palms open when speaking to convey honesty
- Nod to acknowledge their concerns
- Keep a relaxed but upright posture
- Use a measured, confident tone of voice
- Smile when appropriate to build rapport
Rubric
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Referrals Rubric
Objections Rubric