4 Techniques for Closing Sales and Getting More Clients

4 Techniques for Closing Sales and Getting More Clients

Traffic and Funnels is known for a lot of things in the consulting arena, one of the areas I am most proud of, though, is sales. Ethical, moral, powerful salesmanship. 

Closing sales is likely going to be the scariest (and the funniest) thing you ever do in your business.

Getting on a call with the first few prospects is a rush! You will try to avoid it, you will be nervous, you will feel like you suck at it for the first few calls — but if you can nail the philosophy I am going to train you on in this article you are going to be well on your way to controlling your income for life!

These sales close techniques convert your knowledge and expertise into MONEY. Remember, I’m sharing material with you that we have developed after years of trial and error; several thousand clients; hundreds of thousands of customers; and 40-50 million dollars in successful revenue generation for our students. 

These sales closing techniques are bulletproof. However, the mastery is always going to come from personal work and connection – where we can dive in together with you personally, about your specific clientele, experience, goals and targets.

If “speed” is your goal, and more so, reducing the amount of “error” in the trial and error equation – reach out to someone on the team and we’ll do a pro bono consult with you to get you pointed in the right direction. Let them know you’re a student of our work and you have read this book and they will help you with anything you need! 

Assuming you just want to get going right now on your own though, no worries! I’ve got you covered… 

PHILOSOPHY: EFFORTLESS SALESMANSHIP

The first bit I want to teach you is not “what to say,” it is “how to think.” Understanding what drives a person to make decisions, in the context of sales, is infinitely more important than knowing ‘what do I say if they say this.’

I’ve trained several thousand sales professionals in this and each time someone encounters what you’re about to read, the unanimous response is, “this is the most profound, and SIMPLE shift I’ve ever learned.”

Later on, I will give you my sales script. And I will give you our objection handling techniques… but none of it will work half as well as it should without understanding these three philosophical RULES of winning the sale. 

How I Discovered these Sales Closing Techniques:

A quick note on how I discovered these sales closing techniques. Back in the day, in the first 12 months of our consulting business before it was the biggest in the game… 

There was a guy – we’ll call him David. He worked with us for a long time and was my first sales manager – amazing guy who has since gone on to create a great business doing what he loves to do! Around the office he was known as ‘Hawaii’ because he always wore those flashy Hawaiian shirts. In fact, I don’t think I ever saw him once when he wasn’t in one of those shirts. 

Anyways – I remember having this conversation with David one day. I was pacing around the gym on the phone, he was asking for help because he was in a rut and felt like he was losing easy sales. 

I said, “David, what is your number one job right now?” He said, “To disqualify people.” I said NO. He says, “Get a deposit.” No again. 

“What’s your #1 job David?” He kept going a few more times, but never got close to the right answer. Little did I know then that I was stumbling upon one of the most profound models I’d ever create for professional sales people, and this was 3 years ago. 

I said, “David – your only job on these calls is to help people make the right decision. You can’t do that if you’re trying to get a sale or trying to get a deposit.” There are so many jobs “underneath” this one job of helping people make great decisions – but this is the main job. 

You have to catch this because, at some point you’ll get someone on the phone and they will want to work with you — but they’ll make excuses. Or they’ll be afraid. And they might be legitimately in a place where they want to proceed, but maybe they’re like on food stamps or they’re buying a house — and you have to have the integrity to tell them “Let’s wait and revisit this in a month.” 

That doesn’t sound like a good sale move, right? But it is. Integrity is the best sales strategy you can develop – because it will enhance and compound your ability to influence people.

Integrity is The Best Sales Technique You Can Develop

After that call, over the next few weeks I developed and refined this philosophy into what’s now known as the “Three Rules of Sales.” It has been taught and licensed by dozens of other sales trainers and probably consumed by several hundred thousand sales professionals at this point.

Here they are: 

1. Your job on a sales call, is to help the prospect make the best decision for them

2. What’s best for them, is almost ALWAYS outside of their comfort zone

3. Your prospect will fight like h*ll to stay inside their comfort zone

That’s it. 

This is where the dichotomy of sales happens. Your role is to help a person get what they’ve always wanted. But to get what they’ve always wanted, they have to do the things they’ve never wanted to do. 

It is so simple, it is mind-blowing! However, this is the reason people HATE sales! They don’t want to deal with the tension in the middle. They hate the dichotomy between helping someone long term – as usually helping them long term requires some pain in the short term. 

One of the models I have created to help sales people understand this better is called “the pocket.” The pocket is that version of a person that is compelled to take action on your product or service… 

It’s important to remember that there are always two or three versions of a person. Nobody is “stagnant.”

They have things they want, things they don’t want, and places in the future that they wish to go. 

Take the young man who is a busy professional right now, but at some point would like to have kids and raise a family. Version 1.0 might be who they are right now. Version 2.0 is the person they are becoming. Not the person they “will become,” but the person they are becoming right now. You are always conditioning yourself for version 2.0, it’s inevitable. 

So knowing this to be the case, it makes sense to say there are two distinct versions of a person warring with one another every time you talk to them: 

• The current version (version 1: who has what they currently have, who speaks like they currently speak, who thinks like they currently think)

• The future version (version 2: who has what they want to have, who speaks like they need to speak, who thinks like they need to think)

Knowing this, you can see the tension clear as day, between the person they are now (who they do not like), but they’re stuck within. 

This creates a dichotomy, a healthy tension, between NOW (likely something they don’t particularly like) and LATER (something they desire or want to come to pass). 

If you study sales manuals and techniques from the 80s through the early 2000s, you’ll notice that most successful sales professionals used “pressure” as a tactic to make people buy. We are going to do the same thing! The massive difference: we aren’t going to be the ones applying pressure.

Let me ask you a question – if you are currently stuck at version 1.0 in your life… you know that you want and need version 2.0… and MORE: you know that your family, the people you love, the people who depend on you – they deserve version 2.0 of you to show up… 

Do you feel any “pressure” to attain that? If you’re like me then the answer is YES. I wanted my wife to have what she deserved to have. And I knew years ago, when beginning my journey – that I wasn’t who I needed to be for her to have that. 

We call this “internal pressure,” and it’s the main ingredient that compels people to take ACTION even when it’s uncomfortable to do so.

This is pressure that a person inflicts upon themselves in order to GROW. I’ll explain more over the following pages. 

Now I need to be honest with you, I have waited a long time to get these sales closing techniques to the masses. What I’m showing you, specifically in this article, is worth easily $100M or more to me. I have not been in a rush to teach it to everyone. 

Historically, I have required people to invest considerably more than you have invested (you’ve invested $0 at this point) to get access to these principles and techniques. And with that said, I’m also going to be honest with you:

I am not going to teach you everything I’ve learned in this article.

I will teach you the basics, enough for you to get started and to monetize. 

But some things require nuance, practice, and enhanced levels of guidance. As long as we understand each other, then by the time you get to the end of this chapter you’ll be happy with exactly what I’ve taught you — and if you’re truly motivated, you will be hungry for more! 

By the way – you don’t need sales experience, either. We have taken people from all walks of life with zero experience and gotten them up to speed very quickly. It happens very fast… once you know the ground rules. 

TECHNIQUE 1: STARTING THE CALL

The first two to five minutes of the call are important. Most sales training teaches you a couple of things that I don’t like – so I’m going to fix them right now. 

First – don’t assume the sale. This concept is from the 80’s and if you want to sell used cars, then you can assume the sale. If you want to sell high dollar, high class consulting programs – don’t assume the sale. That’s presumptuous and will reduce your ability to properly diagnose. 

Second – who cares about rapport. At least, who cares about the kind of rapport that people tell you to build. Question – do you think a person with a bleeding neck who needs surgery asap cares whether you went to the same high school as them? 

Do you really think that people are going to fork over tens (or hundreds) or thousands of dollars because they like the same NFL team as you do? This kind of surface rapport was used mostly on Wall Street selling stocks to people who had no business buying them. The only rapport I’m interested in building in the first few minutes of the call is trust — I want them to know A) I have their best interest in mind no matter what and B) my job today is just to help them diagnose and prescribe where to go. 

It’s very important that you create the proper mindset – personally – upfront, going into the call. You cannot control a prospect’s frame if you can’t even control your own frame, so for our sales people we always have them put a few pointers at the top of their scripts to make sure they are in the right frame of mind before the call starts. I’ll give some of those to you now. 

* A doctor’s job is to DIAGNOSE the problem… prescribing the solution or quoting a price BEFORE understanding the true problem would be professional malpractice. 

* Price is contextual and must be anchored to the cost of missed opportunities… price does not make sense in isolation, do not quote a price until you understand the problem (and the cost of not fixing it), then you can link the “fee” to the cost of the prospect doing nothing. 

* People are coming to you because they do not know how to do something on their own… something that YOU know how to do. The economics are in your favor – because the cost of doing business with you (if it’s a great fit) are going to be much lower than the cost of them trying to do it alone, wasting time and effort (and money) when you could shorten the process for them! 

* Release all attachments to the sale – it isn’t about the sale, it’s about diagnosing and prescribing a solution. What the prospect does with the prescription is on them. 

As soon as the person answers the phone, you want to have this mindset locked and loaded… from the moment they say “Hello,” you are there to serve, to diagnose, and ultimately to help this human being make a great choice FOR THEM (not for you). 

Our rapport building is short, sweet, and to the point. And remember, the rapport isn’t about creating some false sense of friendship – they’re not on the call to be friends, they’re on the call to get clarity and to get help. 

“Hello Mr Prospect? This is Taylor from Traffic and Funnels! How’s your week going? Where are you from?” 

Short. Sweet. Simple. 

“Very nice. Well if you’re ready to go, we can go ahead and get started. Are you ready?” 

They will likely say yes!

“Awesome. Let me explain quickly how the call will go. I’m going to just start by asking you some questions to understand what’s going on – if it sounds like I can help you and we’re a great fit, I’ll explain what I have and how it works and we can hit any questions that you have. Sound good?”

They will say yes, again… 

“Awesome… first things first — what exactly made you reach out? What’s broken that we can maybe dive into today?” 

NOTICE: that last question, is the rapport… 

We are going to start the whole call by targeting the problem, the pain… the real issue at hand that the person needs help with. From here, listen and take notes, they are going to explain to you what they want to fix and literally teach you how to sell them at the end. 

TECHNIQUE 2: DISCOVERING “PROBLEMS”

The next section is going to be digging deeper into the issues… remember, in order for someone to get what they’ve always wanted, they are going to have to do some things they have never done (and probably have never wanted to do, either!). 

What pushes people through this uncomfortable spot? Pain. Problems. Frustrations. And really, the dichotomy we examined earlier called “the pocket.” 

If you’re like me, you’ll have to fight the temptation to really encourage people and coddle them. You’ll want to pull back and make it more “comfortable.” But the tension is good, it’s necessary, and you need to be able to really uncover the problems a person has if you want to do what’s best for them! 

Here are some questions you’ll want to ask: 

• How long have you been dealing with this? 

• Do you have any processes or systems in place to solve this problem? 

• Why have you been dealing with this for so long without help? 

• Are you comfortable being in this position for much longer?

• What happens if you don’t figure it out and you just keep struggling?

• If you had to attach a monetary “cost” to this problem what would you say? 

These questions go for the jugular, so to speak… and they’ll give you some great notes to truly understand the position the other person is in. It also works both ways… for instance, what if you ask a person this question, “Are you comfortable being in this position for much longer?”

And they say, “Yep! Not really a big deal right now.” Well, now you know! This person is probably not motivated enough to spend thousands of dollars on a solution. Best to re-ask the question to confirm they understood it… in this case, I would probably say, “Why are you on this call if you don’t want to fix it? Haha”

They might say, “Oh I misunderstood, no I want to fix it!” Or they might say, “I just wanted to see what you were up to.” In the case of the latter- I would end this call. Why waste time on someone who is not motivated to fix their issues? It is a waste of time. 

Another very important part of this “discovery” section is fully understanding what they want! Remember, “the pocket” only works if there’s a current version (where they’re stuck) and a future version (where they want to be). If you don’t nail what the person wants, then you will just get them depressed and they won’t buy from a state of depression. 

People must understand where they are stuck and it must hurt — but they also must have clarity (and HOPE) about how to get to where they want to go. 

You can transition like this: 

“Okay name – great… so we know where you’re at currently – can you tell me, where you’d like to be in this area within the next 12 months? Take me to 12 months from now, let’s say you’ve gotten all of these problems fixed — what does it look and feel like?” 

Then be quiet… and take notes. 

Further questions: 

• What is your main motivation for getting to this place? What’s it actually do for you (or your kids, your family, your spouse)? 
• How would things be different if you got there? Take me into the other areas of your life, is there any positive effect in those areas from getting results in this one area? 
• Tell me more about what you would do if this was fixed right now for you? 

Remember, we are just creating a “gap” here. The dichotomy at this point is going to be strong — they have just told you what is keeping them from their goals and – more importantly – how it feels. Then they are telling you where they want to be and how amazing that would feel… 

Now we switch gears with the goal of connecting them to responsibility. The perfect state for your prospect to be in is the following: 

• I understand my life right now is not what it needs to be, and it sucks!
• I am clear on where I want to go and how it would feel, I can do it!
• I am responsible for where I’m stuck right now, it is 100% my fault, and I need to make a change. 

We’ve gotten that clarity on the first two, now it’s time to connect the third piece: responsibility. 

Here is how to do that: 

“Okay name – thanks for this! You’re giving me amazing clarity on what you want your life/business/health to look like… a few more questions, then I have some ideas for you… so you’re currently [bad current state they don’t like] and your goal is to get to [future desired state they told you about] — tell me, what’s stopping you from getting there on your own?”

This is one of the most powerful questions in sales: what’s stopping you?

Hopefully, you are seeing why it’s important to take notes so that you can “fill in the blank” with their answers, and also just how easy (and powerful) this process is! You aren’t having to guess or invent things to say to get them to buy – you are just letting them tell you exactly what they need and why they need it. 

TECHNIQUE 3: PITCHING THE PROGRAM

It’s time to transition to how to pitch what you are selling. Now, bear in mind you only want to pitch someone if you firmly believe you can help them achieve what they’ve told you they want to achieve. 

The transition is simple. They’ve told you what they don’t like. They’ve told you what they want. Now you say, “Sounds great… I’ve taken a lot of notes. I really think I can help you. Would you like me to tell you what working together looks like?” 

You want them to say yes — and you don’t want to just blindly go into pitching your service before they say yes. When they give you permission, then you move on. And you simply tell them, what you do, how you do it — and how you can help them. There are MANY nuances here, but the “outline” that I’m giving you is enough to get going. 

NOTE: don’t explain the price, let the person ask you what the price is going to be [more on this in the next section].

TECHNIQUE 4: COLLECT THE SALE!

This is the last part of the 4 techniques for closing sales and getting more clients. It might not be the very first call you take, but eventually… you’ll get through the last part of your pitch, and the prospect will say “Okay! Great!” Or they’ll say, “Sounds good, what do I do to get started?” They’ll give you some sort of indication that they are ready to move, but most of the time they will ask you how much it costs. 

Handling the pricing question is where most people begin to really lose sales. When someone asks, “how much does this cost?” They are NOT saying that it isn’t worth it. You are not being asked to re-justify the cost with everything they told you they wanted. You simply need to… 

…Tell them the price. 

When someone asks us, “What does this cost?” We simply answer the question, and we shut our mouth. I respect people enough, and the intelligence they carry with them, to be able to decide for themselves whether having a child for the first time, or learning how to be a good dad, or finding an additional $20k or $100k or $10M in their business is “worth” the fee of $5k or $10k or $100k. 

We do not do much “convincing” at this point in the conversation, we simply answer their question, and let the silence settle. From here, a person gets to wrestle with the past 40 minutes of the call. 

“Are the things I said were important, actually important enough to pay money for?”

“When I said my kids were everything to me, did I mean that?” 

“I said I would do ‘anything,’ am I willing to FOR REAL?” 

A person will take some time to go through these conversations in their heads, and what I see most junior people doing is they talk too much and interfere. You will lose the sale more times from over-talking than you will from under-explaining. Always remember that. 

Tell them what the investment is. 

Let them process through on the phone.

Answer questions – then take their money and provide an impeccable service! 

BONUS: FOLLOW UP!

Of course we always like the one-call close, but the truth is that it doesn't always play out that way.  Learning to follow up effectively with prospects can greatly increase your revenue over time.  Most businesses simply forget about old leads that don't convert on the first call, and you can and should monetize those.  Once sweet tactic we've used is to send handwritten letters to those prospects to reengage them and bring them across the finish line.  That's just an example, however.  Get creative.  How can you engage them and bring them back to the table?

Always remember that you need to take many calls to get good at closing sales — and the best players in the world always have a coach. We can help with that, or you can put this manual to use first and get some “at bats” under your belt. Book a call with the team if you’re ready to take your game to the next level.

Also, If you want to go deeper into this, download our sales script and watch the training video associated with the script.

Then customize the script to your market and start closing more sales and getting more clients.

Now get out there and start selling.

You can grab it all inside The Packaging Blueprint.

To your success,

-Taylor Welch