How do you rate yourself as a sales person? On a scale from 1 to 10? If you aren’t sure on your answer or you would like to improve, then today’s episode is for you.
Our guest today is Bob King, who is a sales closing expert and shares with us some of his strategies for being an effective seller.
TODAY’S WIN-WIN:
There’s nothing you’re selling that someone else does not sell cheaper right now.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
- You can visit our guest’s website at:
- Get a copy of our guest’s book: CLICK HERE
- Attend our Franchise Sales Training Workshop:
- https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/
- If you are ready to franchise your business or take it to the next level: CLICK HERE.
- Connect with our guest on social:
- Instagram: bobking3400
- LinkedIn: Bob King
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Bob King literally wrote the book on closing, it’s called THE JOY OF CLOSING: The Definitive Guide to Building Trust, Getting the Deal and Creating Happy Customers. Bob is an author, closing coach, filmmaker, and sales superstar who consults with sales teams and sales professionals of all types—from retail to in-home sales to business-to-business—bringing One-Call Magic to pitches, curing slumps, boosting team performance, and turning total strangers into happy customers, often at the very first meeting. Bob has won numerous awards from various employers, including “Sales Star of the Year” many years running at his current job.
ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.
If you are interested in being a guest on our podcast, please complete this request form or email podcast@bigskyfranchise.com and a team member will be in touch.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:01):
Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I’m your host, Tom DuFore, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I’m wondering how you rate yourself as a salesperson? And let’s just use on a scale from one to 10, what number would you rate yourself at with a one being low and a 10 being high? If you aren’t sure on your answer or maybe and/or you’d like to improve the answer you gave yourself, then today’s episode is for you.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:38):
Our guest today is Bob King, who’s a sales closing expert, and he shares with us some of his strategies for being an effective seller. Now, Bob has literally written a book on closing called The Joy of Closing: The Definitive Guide to Building Trust, Getting the Deal Done, and Creating Happy Customers, which we discuss on our interview today. He’s an author, a closing coach, he’s a filmmaker and a sales superstar who consults with sales teams and sales professionals of all types, bringing one-call magic to pitches, curing slumps, boosting team performance, and turning total strangers into happy customers often at the very first meeting. You’re going to love this interview, so let’s go ahead and jump right into it.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (01:21):
My name is Bob King. My title is author, coach, and closing consultant, but also just sales and marketing as well for joyofclosing.com is my website. And I wrote a book called The Joy of Closing: The Definitive Guide to Building Trust, Getting the Deal and Creating Happy Customers. And I think that’s why I’m here.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:44):
You’re exactly right, that’s exactly why you’re here. And just for someone that hasn’t read the book yet, I’d love for you just to give us an overview of what your book is about and why you decided to write it.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (01:55):
Sure. I wrote The Joy of Closing because I really didn’t want anyone else to be trained to close, and I know closing is kind of a dirty word. I mean, think sell, but really it’s close the way I was, which was to sort of engage the customer’s greed to produce a one-call close and marshaling your own self-will by staring at something you want to buy with the money you get from that deal. I think it’s really old school and my journey away from that is kind of the first 40 pages of the book. Then there’s a how-to guide on how to earn a customer’s business on the first day, and maybe that’s not necessarily getting the deal, but you only have the element of surprise once.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (02:40):
And so it’s really a system to make the most of creating that first impression, of engaging the customer’s emotions, and just getting to that point where they say, “I want what you have.” And then there’s a chapter on closing, how to work with their resistance to get them something they want. And then the third part is about creating happy customers, creating a referral-based business, and getting five-star reviews, all of which require closing the customer as well. And really how to be happy, how to be a force for good in your company, be an asset beyond just getting the deal and being an asset in terms of creating that happy customer and having that generate more business for your company. So that’s the book.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (03:27):
And I wrote it, again, because I wanted people to be trained in closing in a different way, but also because I think that my journey as a closer, even when I was working for Scoundrels, earning people’s trust was so powerful to me and understanding how in my previous career as a filmmaker, I had done everything I could do to not earn their trust, not make them want to work with me. Being able to outgrow that was so powerful and so fulfilling to me as a human being that I really wanted to take the stigma off of closers and really reveal the true value to your company, to your customer, and to you as the closer. That’s what my book describes.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (04:11):
I really enjoyed reading it. I always go into sales books, sales-oriented books, closing books, techniques, and so on. Rather skeptical if they’re just a bag of cheesy tricks that’s going to be in there, and it’s not. And so I was pleasantly surprised with that and I really liked it. And your end-of-chapter exercises that you have, the assignments as you call them.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (04:34):
One of the things that I wanted to ask about is you mentioned this a little bit about having worked for Scoundrels, the idea of tapping into the customer’s kind of greed drivers, the Scoundrel-type organizations in my opinion, and from what you’ve experienced, they also tap into the salesperson’s greed to keep them going. So what is it that you saw that helped you transition from saying, “Well, I’m making a lot of money doing this,” to say, “Something’s not right about this. I want to maybe figure out another way to do this or a different company to work for”?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (05:09):
I mean, I think it’s really just where I was in the journey. It’s kind of a challenge I think if you’re starting off in sales that oftentimes the best trainers for closers are some of the worst companies out there because if they don’t train you as a closer, the customer’s never going to make an analytical decision to go with that company, so you have to be trained to inspire an impulse buy. But it turns out that being able to inspire an impulse buy is also incredibly valuable when you are the right choice for that customer. I really got it when I made that transition. Well, first to a solar startup, I was trained in the solar business and expanded to different forms of home improvement, but the first solar company I worked for, they didn’t… And they’re gone, so I can say they were scoundrels. And when I realized that, I had to leave there.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (05:59):
And then I worked for a different company and at that company I met someone who was starting his own company. And that company had great intentions, they really wanted to do things differently. And when I tapped into that, when my belief, I didn’t realize at the time fueled a lot of sales and I never had to use the greed element. I had it in place, I had people I could call to sort of do that third-party thing that a lot of people know about, but I never used it. And then when I went from there to a really reputable up-and-coming company that became a huge company, I realized there was an opportunity and I thought about how was I going to do this? And the answer was belief, really believing in what I was doing, is the magic formula.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (06:49):
You still need to do all the things you do to produce a one-call close, even if it’s not a one-call close, in terms of presentation. So what I tried to do when I created the one-call magic system that I advocate in the book is just take the best elements from what it takes to present, because there’s kind of two aspects of it, there’s the presentation aspect, which one-call closers have to be expert at in order to be successful, and then there’s the working with what happens after you present price, which is technically what closing is. And so I put both things in the book, but the answer is I made that transition when I went to a company where I knew I had an opportunity to really become whatever it was I wanted to become, and I had to figure out a way to do it that didn’t involve engaging the customer’s greed. And so I kind of came up with it and then it worked. So hooray, and that’s what I wanted to share with others.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (07:52):
Thanks for sharing that. I just thought that was a great story you shared of your journey starting where you started and making that whole transition.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (07:59):
If you ever bought a used car on a day that you never thought you were going to buy a car, or a new car, especially a new car, if you ever were just looking and wound up driving home with a new car and you want to know how they did it, it’s all in there. It’s very classic. I love Connors movies and I really only took that job because I wanted to know how they do it. And I found out how they did it and then I found out how to do it, and then I did it, but I didn’t feel good about it, so I had to come up with another way.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (08:29):
That’s a great lead in here, because I wanted to talk about your seven-step process that you take through, which I think is that other way, and so I’d love for you to walk through those seven steps at least at a high level for us here.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (08:42):
Sure. It starts off with a warmup and there’s a lot of talk about empathy in the world of sales right now. I call it taking an interest in them as a human being, so whatever, I mean, sorry to use vernacular, I don’t know what kind of show you have, but you need to spend a little time just knowing who you’re dealing with. And it really depends on the context of your meeting, where you’re meeting and all that stuff, but there are elements to warm up. You should pay a sincere compliment to that human being because a sincere compliment elevates the level of your sales call from, “What can I do to you?” To, “Who can we be to each other?” And it lifts you up before you ever say the compliment to appreciate something about another human being actually brings you into a level of kindness or appreciation of them that will transform any meeting that you have. And that’s not exclusive to sales calls, it’s just a great tool to have.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (09:41):
Then you want to find some common ground and then you want to let them know you’re serious about what you’re there to discuss. You figure out that transition from, “Hey, let’s get to know each other” and to what you’re there to talk about. And when you get into that, you want to hit the second step, which I call feel the pain. Salespeople, closers are change agents. We have a product that’s designed to fill a need, but if the customer doesn’t feel that need, your product is just something they may want to hear about, but it’s not something that grabs them emotionally. So you need to shake up the status quo, you need to attack what they’re doing now without them realizing that you’re attacking it, hopefully. I came up with a way to do that called the Three Reasons and it’s basically the three main reasons why you’re going to do whatever that thing is.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (10:32):
And the first one’s almost always money. There’s always a financial element to anything that you’re either… There’s always something. I can go into much more detail in the book. The second one is the feel-good aspect, and the third one is timing. And it’s a great thing to be able to talk about the reasons why people are going to do this today instead of tomorrow without making it about a sale or a discount or, “Do this now and I’ll give you money.” There’s always advantages to moving forward with any purchase earlier than later, and this is your chance to highlight them without making the customer feel pressured.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (11:05):
So you make them feel the pain of their current situation and then they’re very uncomfortable at that time because all of a sudden they want what you have more than they thought they would. They are more uncomfortable with what they’re doing now than they thought they’d be, and so you got to give them a little light at the end of the tunnel. And I call that a forecast because when you get there, that customer is expecting two things from you, a scope of work and a price. They’re not expecting to make a decision today and they’re definitely not expecting to want what you have with the urgency that you’re going to create.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (11:37):
And so once they start feeling that urgency, and probably your scope of work is going to be in that field of pain section as well, depending on what you’re selling, and there’s so many things people are selling, but you generally are going to describe a scope of work, recommend the scope of work based on their circumstances, you’re going to have about what their needs are and all that stuff that get discussed. And then you’re going to give them a forecast, which is a one-sentence, one-breath recap of what’s going to happen next. So you’re going to say, “Well, so here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to talk about tell you a little bit about my company, a little bit about the products we’re recommending and why, and I’ll give you a price. Sounds good?” Get a yes. Then you can move on to the second half of the presentation, which is exactly what I outlined. You’re going to talk about the company.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (12:21):
And when you talk about the company, that’s a real separator between companies that are incredibly successful and companies that aren’t. And we probably should come back to this because I know a lot of the people that listen to your show are entrepreneurs or people looking to expand their business. And really the missing ingredients from the ones who make it and the ones who don’t, what I’ve seen a lot is that difference between how the founder of a company talks about their company and how the people they hire, who are often great presenters and we’ll talk about the product in this insanely powerful way, but they don’t create that sense of confidence moving forward that the owner just does kind of automatically because they know the need they create. Anyway, we can get into that, ask me about that later.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (13:05):
And then there’s the product, you are going to talk about the product, you want that to be sensual. That’s kind of the test drive. My first sales job was selling tea. We would do a tasting, at least show a video, do something where you’re not talking and the customer gets a sensual experience of whatever it is you’re doing, and then you’re going to present price so they know about your company, they want your product, they understand all the bells and whistles that apply directly to them, and now you’re going to tell them how much it costs. And so there’s a way you present price that does not change and you build value, you’ve done some price conditioning, you tell them the price, you say nothing, you stop talking. Anytime you present price or ask for the deal, you stop talking.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (13:54):
And then once you present a price, most of the time they’re going to tell you a lie about why they can’t make a decision today and then you’re going to get into closing. And closing is everything that happens after you present price. It’s the longest chapter in the book, it was by far the hardest to write. The way I laid it out is there’s 10 objections and 13 closes, but they are not directly, it’s not, “They say this, you say that.” They’re all interchangeable and what you need to do is just use your intuition, make some mistakes, figure out what resonates. But the main point is to be with the customer to understand, to work with their resistance, to get them something they want. And you do that a couple of rounds, you’re going to be successful in ways that are not possible if you’re not willing to do that. And then there’s a cool down, what to do after they say yes. You really should know what you’re going to say at that point as well. That’s the seven steps.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (14:50):
Perfect. Thank you for walking through that. One thing you talked about in the book that I just thought was a great little line, and I’d love for you just maybe to share what it means with the audience. You said a salesperson or a seller needs to be 80% six-year-old and 20% lawyer. So what does that mean?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (15:07):
I learned that in my second job. There was a very wise guy there that would come in for half an hour on Wednesdays and just I would sit there and just write down everything he said. What that means is when the customer says, “Oh, I’m not doing this today,” great, you just got to channel your inner six-year-old. “Great, let me just tell you about what I got.” When the customer gives you that first objection, which is usually a lie, you’re like, “Great, let me just tell you about what I got.” If you really want to know how to close people, study a six-year-old. Let a six-year-old ask you to stop for ice cream on the way home and see how they react. If you ask a two-year-old and you say… Well, two-year don’t talk a lot. A three-year-old maybe would ask for ice cream and you say no, they either throw a tantrum and they forget about it. But a six-year-old is clever and they will find, they’re like, “Well, I bet they have pistachio. That’s your favorite flavor. Or we could just look and see what flavors they…”
Bob King, Joy of Closing (16:05):
They will find a way to get around your objection and make it your idea to stop. That’s what six-year-olds know how to do in such a ninja way. And great salespeople are 80% that, but when it comes to signing paperwork or talking about what your involvement with their deal is going to be once they’ve signed the deal and going forward, that’s where you need to be a lawyer. No one wants to sign a contract with a six-year-old. So there are places, when you present price, you suddenly ship, your voice deepens and you become completely comfortable with the idea of them spending whatever they’re going to spend or committing whatever they’re going to commit to moving forward. And you become the lawyer at that point. That’s why I say you need to be 80% six-year-old and 20% lawyer.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (16:53):
I think that’s great. And whether you’re in sales or not, every entrepreneur knows that they’re in the sales business of selling whatever product or service they’re working on. And then for our clients that end up moving into the franchise space, you’re now in the business of selling franchises. And so one thing I was curious about in reading, you spent a lot of time in kind of that one-call close. You show up to one appointment and you close. In franchising there are actual federal rules and regulations that say you cannot buy a franchise on day one, you actually have to wait two weeks, and there are all these rules orienting around the sales process. So I’d be curious just for you to share any maybe wisdom or maybe suggestions you have in some industries where there are rules, regulations, things orienting around that a one-call close that is impossible or illegal to do.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (17:46):
Well, just to channel my inner six-year-old, you have one chance to make a first impression. You only have the element of surprise with your customer once. And you want to blow them away. You only have one chance. A lot of times with B&B customers, you’re not even meeting with someone who can say yes, you’re meeting with someone who can only say no, and then they’re going to take you to this person who can actually say yes. But when they do that, you want to be the one where they say, “I met with all these companies but this one really stood out.” They told me things that no one else did, they brought me into an awareness that no one else had. You give them the experience of all the information they need to make an informed decision. And that has benefits whether they can say yes at the first date or not. It’s always best to have the maximum impact the first time you meet a customer.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (18:42):
And for those industries where you can get a yes, so it’s not lost, there’s always more money in the deal when they say yes in the room. You’re not facing competition or you’re only facing competition that they already know about. They’re not shopping you on price. They found what they want and they trust you to deliver it. It’s one of the greatest experiences we as human beings can have is the only thing more satisfying than finding what you want and knowing it is helping someone else do it. And really, that’s the other thing that I wanted to highlight in the book is just the power of that experience and how wonderful it is to help someone get what they want and not waste their time.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (19:28):
Perfect connection point here, you wrote that you move from transactional to personal and you go from, “What can we get from each other?” To, “Who we can be to each other?” What do you mean by that phrase there?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (19:42):
I think that’s in the section where I’m talking about paying… The first exercise in the book is to pay three sincere compliments, one to someone you live with, one to someone you work with or see every day, and one to a total stranger. And that experience, it doesn’t always, you have to practice, and to their creative expression, which doesn’t mean how they look, it means how they are in the world. It could be even how they lived their life. I believe that’s when I was visiting, I was at a customer’s home, he was a single… Well, the kids were in the background and he was talking to me in a very low tone about his wife, how his wife had gone to Vegas and destroyed their credit. And he’s whispering, because he didn’t want the kids to hear it.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (20:30):
And I think I said, “Oh, that’s a really thoughtful way to be based on some of my own experiences growing up,” and what a great way it was for him to live his life and to parent his kids. And it was so powerful because I acknowledged something that he was doing that’s difficult and meaningful. And suddenly our meeting wasn’t about, “What can I sell you?” It was, “Wow, we’re two human beings and I appreciate you in a way.” And it just builds trust, but it’s like real trust. I really do care about this person more than I did before he told me that. And so it’s being in the room and just recognizing the fact that even though you’re in the context of a sales call, which is a transactional experience on some levels, you don’t have to define it by that, you can still be a human being.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (21:22):
Most of the companies I worked for, all of them actually, I was on commission only. So if I didn’t make a sale, I’m out gas, money, and time. And if I didn’t connect with another human being and see how they make decisions or how they live their life, if I’m not interested in that part of it, then I’m going to be really unhappy whenever I don’t make a sale. And so I happen to be interested in those things. I think it’s served me really well both as a closer and as a human being. And I think it’s great to be able to take an interest in other people, and especially the person you’re sitting across from, that you are attempting to be of service to.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:02):
How can someone track down a copy of your book or figure out how to learn more from you?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (22:07):
My book’s on Amazon and I have a website, my website is joyofclosing.com. I’m running a special, especially for the entrepreneurs out there. If you buy 20 copies of my book, I will give you an hour of my time for free. So just contact me at the website and I’ll make that happen for you. And it’s great if you’re building a sales team. And really with entrepreneurs, first of all, you may not know it, but if you’re raising money, you are a closer, your job is closing. It is not selling, it’s not running the company. It is getting people to adopt your agenda and think it was their idea. That’s what happens when someone writes a check. They’re not writing that check because they think it’s your idea. They’re writing that check because they want to invest in your business because they think it’s good for them. So you have successfully closed people and you could probably get much better at it by understanding the psychology that goes into that and ways to do it more effectively.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (23:07):
And so that’s what my book is really, that’s why I wrote the book and what it’s designed to do. If you’re building a sales team, for God’s sakes, get them to read this because it’s a way to be trained as a closer without having to engage the customer’s greed as your default mechanism for creating urgency or even just getting people to do it. And my book’s on Amazon, there’s an audiobook which I read as well as paperback and Kindle, so that’s how you get the book. But if you really want to be successful with your endeavor, buy 20 copies for my website and I’ll give you an hour of my time.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:45):
Thank you very much and we’ll make sure we include those links in the show notes as well. Bob, this is a great time in the show. We make a transition. We ask every guest the same four questions before they [inaudible 00:23:54].
Bob King, Joy of Closing (23:54):
Oh, boy.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:54):
And the first question we ask is, have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learn from it?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (24:00):
The great thing about writing a book is you get a lot of work out of it. That’s my experience. I haven’t sold a ton of books. I’m not a bestseller by any standard. I’m shocked how few books you actually sell. I think every author has gone through it. Have you written any books, Tom?
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (24:14):
I’m in the midst of finishing one right now.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (24:16):
I’m sure yours will be a much more different journey than mine, but holy cow, you do not sell a lot of books. But I have gotten a lot of consulting work out of it and a lot of coaching clients, which is really exciting. I did some work for a small company looking to expand their sales team and I agreed to an hourly rate and what the scope of work was going to be. And then I had my first meeting. There was… God, why am I telling this story? When you’re in sales, you never tell a story about a sale that didn’t go through, but here I got halfway through it, so I guess I have to keep going.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (24:46):
We started down the course and I made that rookie mistake of not getting a commitment to a certain amount of time and effort to reach a milestone, which I thought we were clear on. We talked about what they wanted to accomplish, we talked about how we’re going to accomplish it. We had a first meeting, which for me was a discovery meeting. The CEO was on the meeting, one of the CEOs was on the meeting, and I guess he thought it was going to be a razzle-dazzle, PowerPoints, and, “Here’s how you close more deals” kind of meeting, which it was never intended to be. And I don’t have that gig.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (25:23):
And so what I learned from that is I need to require from my clients exactly what I tell them to require from anyone they’re trying to close, which is a commitment. And so I will, I don’t know, maybe I’m telling you too much information for anyone who wants to hire me, but if I’m going to take on a client, we have to be on the same page with what we’re looking to accomplish, how we’re going to accomplish it, and a commitment to spend a certain amount of time and money in order for me to get them there or not. But so far, I’ve only gotten people there in terms of… It’s been very good. So that was a miss and I will not engage in a relationship without that commitment to, “Here’s what we’re looking to accomplish and here’s what that initial upfront cost is.”
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:13):
Thank you for sharing. And let’s talk about a make or a highlight, a win.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (26:18):
When you write a book, it does give you a certain amount of credibility. And I thought that was just a nice thing that comes, but what I’ve really come to understand is writing the book actually gives me a way to help people that I didn’t have before I wrote the book. And I had consulting clients before I wrote the book, I had coaching clients before I wrote the book, but I am so much more effective as a coach and as a consultant since I wrote the book than I was before. And because I wrote the book and I had to put it into a context, I had to call it one-call magic, it went from 12 steps to seven. That whole process of distilling things and figuring out what’s important allows me to laser-focus my efforts to be of maximum impact.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (27:02):
The next question we ask is have you used a multiplier to grow yourself personally, professionally, or businesses you’ve been a part of?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (27:09):
Yes, I wrote a book, it’s called The Joy of Closing: The Definitive Guide to Building Trust, Getting the Deal and Creating Happy Customers. And this thing multiplied my business like nothing else could have for really good reasons too.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (27:24):
Excellent. Well, the final question we ask every guest, Bob, is what does success mean to you?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (27:29):
I think I wrote a book that is a force for good in the world and that will make every sales person who reads its journey more graceful, more powerful, and bring them success that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Success for me means when you get a sales job, somebody hands you this book and says, “Hey, this is 176-page book about one salesperson’s journey from person who liked Connors movies to a closer, and what it meant to them and how to connect with your good when you go into a sales call.” And so I want my book to be standard textbook reading for anyone who gets a sales job and anyone who has a sales job. That’s what success would mean to me.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (28:12):
Amazing. Well, as we bring this to a close, is there anything you’re maybe hoping to share or get across that you haven’t had a chance to yet?
Bob King, Joy of Closing (28:20):
There’s a lot of great books about sales and how to present, how to not get the customer shackles up the minute you walk in the door and, quote, “salesy.” I think that’s great, but what that does is make you a great presenter. So you can make the customer want what you have, but if you don’t know how to close them, if you can’t work with their resistance to get whatever it is that you’re making them want so much for them, you’re just setting them up for either someone with a cheaper price, which anyone can find right now. We live in the internet age, there’s nothing you’re selling that someone can’t find a cheaper version of, or just a better closer who comes in after you is willing to go there with them and work with their resistance and close them, and you’re going to lose that deal and that customer may be doing business with someone with an inferior product that’s not going to meet the needs the way you could have, so you really need to know how to close if you want to be a maximum service to your customer.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (29:26):
The other thing I’ve seen a lot of in the world that your audience is in, I work with a lot of owners who are expanding their business and they hire people to… They’re their number one sales person initially, they’re always their most successful salesperson. And they think the reason they’re the most successful salesperson is because they have a great product or a great company and they have the best idea and that’s going to bring them success. And if we lived in the world where the best idea always won, then that would be great and that would work perfectly, but we don’t. And so they’ll hire a sales team of great presenters, but what that sales team lacks is their belief. They know the need that their company was created to fulfill.
Bob King, Joy of Closing (30:16):
And so when a customer sits down with them, they speak to that in a way that the presenters don’t, and they know their company’s intention. And so that customer that they’re sitting across from feels the intention to do right by them in a way that the presenters don’t. And so what you need to do when you expand your sales team to people that aren’t you is find people that know how to connect with customers and that have the commitment, that share your commitment. You need to open up yourself to all of that stuff that is awkward to talk about. It’s not easy to blow your own horn and say, “Here’s why I made this company, and here’s what you need to communicate to the customer about how we’re going to take care of them.”
Bob King, Joy of Closing (31:00):
But that is the secret ingredient. It’s not just having the best stuff at the best price. It’s being able to communicate to the customer that you’re going to take care of them and that the company was created to fill a need that they have. And so that’s what owners do. The sales team they hire almost never does. And if you’re wondering why you sold more than they did when they’re prettier and talk about your product in a way that you couldn’t even begin to do, it’s because you have belief and they don’t. And you need to transfer that belief to them in order to become successful. Making them read by book is a great way to do that. So hopefully that helps your audience.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (31:37):
Bob, thank you so much for a fantastic interview and let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. So takeaway number one is when Bob said early on in the interview and at the end of the interview, that belief in what you are doing or selling is the number one thing a salesperson needs. And he said, oftentimes when companies start to grow and they bring in some of those early new salespeople or sellers into their organization, they don’t tend to sell as well as the founder. And he’s found that that is in large part because of the belief that the founder has versus some of the salespeople that come on board.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (32:18):
Takeaway number two is his seven step sales process. He said, step one is the warmup, step two is help the customer feel the pain, step three is the forecast, step four is a company story, step five is a product demo, step six is the price presentation, and step seven is the closing followed by the cooldown, which he says is what happens after they say yes. And takeaway number three is a line he said, which is a salesperson needs to be 80% six-year-old and 20% lawyer, and that’s a line from his book. And I thought that was eye-catching and just something worth noting, being like a six-year-old means you need to ask a lot of questions and be resilient and be able to withstand being told no or not right now. And then 20% lawyer is that you need to be able to be professional in being able to explain any terms or conditions or technical aspects of what you’re doing.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (33:18):
And now it’s time for today’s win-win. So today’s win-win came from the end of the episode when Bob said there’s nothing you’re selling that someone else does not sell cheaper or that your prospective customer is not able to find somewhere else for a cheaper price. And I think that’s a great reminder for everyone that whatever you’re selling, there’s someone out there on this worldwide web and the internet and somewhere around the world and the global economy we live in, that is selling whatever you’re doing at a lower price. It may be an inferior product, but it may be something that your prospective customer may not be able to differentiate between. So I just think that’s a great reminder that making sure you’re clear on your sales presentation, and communicating your value add to your customer, and helping educate them and guide them along the way is going to be really, really valuable.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (34:21):
And that’s the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know is ready to franchise their business or take their company to the next level, please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to having you back next week.
