[E259] Fitness Sales Success, with Justin Hanover (Part 4)

January 17, 2024


How has the new normal impacted businesses and individuals in the health and fitness space?


With things going on because of the global pandemic, people are forced to embrace the new normal. That goes the same for businesses.


Industries have learned to adapt working remotely or virtually, when it seemed to be impossible before all these crazy times.


For health and fitness, a lot of instructors have gone online coaching in the space of health and fitness. This goes to show that the business thrive not primarily because of its equipment and physical facilities but because of the coaching aspect. 


It’s the accountability aspect. That’s what’s going to help people make habit shifts to then make the transformation that they want.


Most businesses have always limited themselves into face to face sales transactions. Because that’s what they are used to. 


But if a business believes they’re providing value and care regardless of what platform they use to deliver their service, then technology can absolutely be in their favor.


Because that’s all what matters in the business – shifting the gears to adapt and meet the needs of the customers.


For mentorship, coaching, and business consultation inquiries


Book your connection call with Justin here: 
https://fitnessbusinessfoundation.com/mentorshipbusinesses

Be sure to also subscribe to his Podcast Show Fitness Business Foundations:
http://www.fitnessbusinessfoundations.com/



Book your free Sales Power Call with Jason

Enroll in the Persuading Like A Professional Online Mini-Course

Download The Power of Authentic Persuasion ebook

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Connect with Jason on LinkedIn

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn


Justin’s Bio

I am an entrepreneur, podcaster, and a student of life.


I started my entrepreneurial career at just 19 years old with just $2,000 to my name. My first venture was in the fitness world. I started by going to people’s homes and providing training services and then opened my first 500 square foot location. I built that business over time to a 6,000 square foot location and over 350 members. I did this over a 10-year span.


Coming into my 10th year in business my wife and I realized that being in the fitness business and having a facility was not how we were going to continue our journey. The lifestyle of running a facility was not matching up with how I wanted to live so I made a huge pivot. I closed the facility down to pursue moving fully online. I now coach new entrepreneurs on how to maximize profit without sacrificing their life. I feel this is something not pushed enough in the entrepreneurial world. I want to make sure they are building themselves and the life they want first so the business integrates with that foundation.


Over my decade of business personal development has played a huge role in my own growth and progress. Which is why it is a pivotal part of my coaching. I now help online coaches build thriving businesses with Coaches Creating Impact. I work with all types of online coaches that are either looking to get established or scale their business to their next level.


I also started my podcast called How I Built My Online Coaching Business. Now more than ever with the world going online at a faster rate people need help with building their business. Which is why I bring on talented coaches to break down exactly how they built their business. As well as sharing tactical tips to apply right away. I am committed to helping people succeed! 


I have been married now for over 3 years and my wife and I are closer than ever with making this shift, and we are both focused on creating the life we want. We enjoy each day with our dog and traveling as much as we can.



Social Links:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/justin.hanover

Instagram: – hhttps://www.instagram.com/onlinecoachgrowthpodcast/

Podcastwww.onlinecoachimpact.com
Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-hanover-417aa533/

  • Show Transcript

    Jason: Welcome back to the sales experience podcast. My name again is Jason Cutter. I am so glad that you're here. If you've been listening to the conversation that I had with Justin, this is part four. If you listened to the first three parts, I appreciate that so much. And we wrap up this episode, this conversation with appreciating what each other do.


    And it's really genuine. I really mean it. If you're listening to this, if you're working on being more successful in your sales career, in your own life, in your business, with your mindset, if you're getting coaching, if you're getting help, if you're trying to optimize what you're doing, it's huge. That is what the world needs more of.


    It needs more of you being happier, being successful in your head, being more of who you could be and the value you could provide to others. And the more you can do that. The better the positive impact we'll have on the world, and that's what the world needs more of now, more than ever. So I appreciate that.


    I appreciate you, whoever you are, you listening. And if you want to get in contact, please go to the jasoncutter. com website where you can find how to reach out to me. You can find how to schedule a call where we can chat. You can send me a message. I'm on LinkedIn all the time. I would just love to chat.


    So that's my kind of long intro monologue there. Just speaking from my heart, as far as appreciating you, if you're listening to this, please make sure to share this with anybody you think that you could benefit from these kind of episodes to help them in their sales career. And here you go, without any further ado, here is the final part of my conversation with Justin.


    When you show up and you try to be the hero, then there's this battle of good and evil in their head. And somebody might win. And it might be you, but you're not going to get the sale. So always remember to make sure to always keep them as the hero. And it's all about their journey and their story.


    Justin: I could not agree more a hundred percent what it's about.


    And that's effective communication.


    Jason: Yeah. Okay. So one last part I want to chat about, obviously with things going on in the world right now with the pandemic and all of that situation changing literally how the world. Has been operating the last months and months is health and fitness.


    Obviously doing that in person, a lot of places I live in California, that's not happening. It opened up for a minute and then it closed back down and who knows what's going to happen as of this recording.


    Justin: I know, I feel so bad for them.


    Jason: Yeah. So it's really tough. So one of the things I know that you're shifting to even in the last few weeks since we talked even recently is helping people who are doing online coaching in the space of like health fitness.


    Where do you see that in an online realm? As effectiveness as selling I don't know. I think it's fascinating. There's some people who fully embrace it and dive into online virtual like fitness or coaching. And then there's others that just can't shift. Yeah.


    Justin: Then there's going to be the ones out of business because it's no longer going to be an option.


    It's going to be a must. And this current landscape has shown that, what business can afford to be shut down for three, four months open and then reclosed again. And not only that, the places that are open. they're severely limited. So unless you're going to like triple your prices, how are you going to afford the same overhead and have less people you're serving per hour?


    There's just math at that point. It doesn't make any sense. There's just no way you're going to be able to overcome that. So the online route is going to be the only way to do that. And honestly, I think it's the better way. Because now you're focusing and you're valuing the pieces that actually are going to help people make changes in their life.


    Every fitness place thinks that their exercises that they do are the best for some reason. And there's not like you can go on YouTube and get any type of exercise you want. That's not the problem. It's the coaching aspect. It's the accountability aspect. That's what's going to help people make habit shifts to then make the transformation that they want.


    It has nothing to do with going to your physical facility. And doing a 50 burpees or something, it's just that doesn't matter. That's irrelevant. And I think that's where I see a lot of fitness professionals are struggling because they've always overvalued being in person and using their equipment and having their workouts there.


    And they always devalued the actual coaching aspect. And again, like the pieces that are actually going to help people break through limiting beliefs and facilitate healthier habits at a seat all the time where they like. They charge 200 a month for whatever, say for a group fitness program. And then they're like, Oh, if you want to add on like monthly, like accountability coaching, where they're actually like on you, like every week, they're doing all these things and they'll charge 50 bucks a month or something.


    And it's what? Like you're training people to devalue coaching and to value going to a physical place. So now you're like, they're having this, issue in this paradigm shift of like people being like, Oh why would I pay 500 a month for an online coach when I'm not going to a physical place?


    So you're having that battle happen now, but ultimately, it's just, I see it all the time, every day on my feet, there's new gyms, new places, closing, selling their equipment off. It's going to become more and more of a reality. So if you're not already on board, that needs to start happening because it's just too uncertain with a lot of.


    situations in a lot of areas of the country of being able to run a brick and mortar fitness facility. And like I said, at the capacity that you need to be profitable, that's the big thing. It's yeah, it's great. Okay. Maybe your place is open, but are you actually running at the capacity that you need to be profitable?


    And chances are you're not, if you're following the guidelines.


    Jason: One thing I've seen is that sales people worry about only being able to win if they use manipulation tricks. Tactics and hard closes. So they end up struggling to close deals, make their quota or earn the kind of money that they want to make.


    If this sounds like your current situation, or maybe you want to make more money in sales without feeling like you're selling, then my upcoming book called selling with authentic persuasion will help. In it, I'm going to take you on a journey to transform from order taker to quota breaker. If you're ready to become an authentic persuader, crush your goals and create success in your sales career, then go to jasoncutter.


    com. Again, that's jasoncutter. com and pre order the book today. The thing I'm thinking about is that. If somebody is afraid to go virtual let's say in the health space. And the first thought is they could already watch all those things on YouTube, or they could sign up for some kind of online access and see it.


    Then where you've put yourself is just as a commodity. Then all of a sudden, you don't actually have any specific unique value. If YouTube videos is the end of your business model, right? If you can't survive in a virtual world. And have more value than YouTube videos, then what value did you have before would really be my question other than just like getting people to come in and hoping and again, you can see anything right?


    That would be like saying you don't need a mechanic anymore because literally I can watch videos and I can fix my own car now because I can watch and I have I've watched YouTube videos. I'm like, okay, I can fix that. And then I've watched videos and go, Nope. Still, I need adult supervision. That's the thing.


    I think. And so I think that's the same thing. And I think this is a huge reality check for people who thought they were special in their business, provided value. It was a commodity. And if again, you free videos is going to crush you, then what did you offer? And it's making that paradigm shift to what I offered was the experience.


    The coaching, the accountability, the relationship, all of those things, because a treadmill is a treadmill, right? And if we look at the opposite end of this is a company who I think I'm not a fan of it, but I think their business model showed that it's very successful and decommoditizing it, which would be something like Peloton, which is a very expensive bike with a screen and a camera.


    But then all of a sudden is virtual and remote and community. And people will pay for it and it builds this tribe that doesn't rely on a place and that's providing that extra value.


    Justin: Yeah, absolutely. And I couldn't agree with more than I think another company to show like the opposite of that it would be like SoulCycle where they like took a massive hit with this because they focused predominantly on just the in person experience and they were not providing anything outside of that really.


    More in the recent month. Okay. Yeah, there's trying to now get like their bike up and running like Peloton, but in the grand scheme of things, they focus so heavily on the in person experience and that's where the service ended that when this happened, they were rocked. God, I can't imagine how much they've, this got, that company has lost if they're going to be able to overcome that.


    Jason: And it's interesting too, because we're talking about the shift, obviously healthcare in person versus remote. There's also an interesting thing that happens is that a lot of people even pre pandemic. This is just something in general is that a lot of people in sales are used to face. They're used to eye contact.


    They're used to physicality. They're used to reading body language in order to be successful in sales, right? So building trust by being close to somebody in a retail place or whatever that might be. And then you see those people go to telephone sales or even video now, but even just going to video or a phone sale.


    Where I'm going to call it a crutch. They don't have that ability to be face to face. And it takes totally different skills and a lot of people can't handle it. A lot of people can't handle having to listen and only using the phone versus the physical. I remember when I made that transition, I didn't think it was possible.


    I was like, there's no way to do it. Like you have, I was raised to be face to face instead. It's wait a second. If you're providing value and you care and you're having conversations, you can do amazing stuff over the phone. You don't have to be face to face.


    Justin: Absolutely not. Or you could do something like this, right?


    If you need that face to face interaction, technology is in your favor.


    Jason: Yeah, definitely now. It's getting easier and easier. So well, I appreciate you, Justin, for this conversation. Also for everything that you're doing with businesses, with coaching, consulting, with health coaches, fitness, and any business where you're helping them get more effective and be more effective.


    Cause obviously part of it is when they hire people like you or I. To be successful on their own side, it's also more so to help their clients be successful, right? This ripple effect is for themselves. It's for their clients, potential employees. The more successful a business is, the more it impacts more lives versus being mediocre or failing.


    So I appreciate you being on the side of wanting to help companies and individuals.


    Justin: Thank you. And obviously, likewise, like I said, that's what spouse about living that serve it in life and having that ripple effect because you can make it such a bigger impact by looking at it from that perspective.


    Jason: I love it. So where's the best place for people to interact with you, contact you, find you online.


    Justin: Facebook, it's just Justin Hanover on Instagram. Like I push a lot, like my own podcast where I focus on serving online coaches and the podcast, it's just very simple, straightforward name, how I built my online coaching business and my Instagram handle is just online.


    Coach growth podcast, no spaces. So on there, I talk all about, obviously all about my podcasts and the conversations that I have on there all around building an online coaching business. That's a, it goes to the two best places to connect with me. And if you want to reach out, happy to continue this conversation.


    Jason: I love it. I appreciate it, Justin. Thanks for being on the show. Absolutely. Thank you, Jason. All right. That's it for my conversation with Justin. We had a great time. I really appreciate and love everything that he's doing to help with mindset, to help people be successful. If you know me at all, you know that's the journey I'm on as well.


    Make sure to go to the website, check out the podcast, the show notes, his links. If you didn't catch them, it's pretty easy. Find him on Facebook. He is very active there. And then that will lead you to his Instagram as always. Keep in mind that everything in life is. Sales and people remember the experience you gave them.


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By Jason Cutter February 26, 2025
How Can You Predict The Future Of Sales Ops? One of the keys to sales success is to be able to predict the future – what that other person is thinking, what they might say, what they will experience, how they will feel about the product/service. But what can you do – from a sales ops leadership perspective – to predict the future in masse of all the potential customers that will flow into and out of the sales process/funnel? That is a really tough one, but it is doable. Meeting Prospective Customers Where They Are The key is to always meet the prospective customers where they are and with the experience they hope to find. It’s a common theme now in these articles because it’s important AND widely disregarded – your potential customers do not care about you, your sales team, your company, your industry. They don’t care about your stats, your testimonials, your logos. They don’t care about your mission statement or your values. They only care about themselves. They also firmly believe that there is currently unlimited choice for any product/service, which means that everything in their mind is a commodity. Easily replaceable and interchangeable. Nothing (other than iPhones…which you can only get from Apple) is special to consumers unless they feel like it should be special. Are You Still Making It All About You? There is a good chance you are still running a marketing, sales funnel that is all about you. I bet if I looked at your company’s website that from the top down it’s all about you (the company). How great you are. What you do for people. What you have done for others. I bet if I tried to speak with your sales team, I will be made to go through your process whether I like it or not. Maybe fill out a form and wait for a response. Or made to call into a toll free number, even though I don’t want to talk to someone yet. Or made to use a chat widget on a site to get started. I bet when I speak with your sales team, 70-80% of the conversation will be about them, your company, and how amazing you all believe you are. This is all fair. No one starts a company to be mediocre. The goal is to provide value and make money. The missing piece, again like I said above, is no one cares about your goals. They only care about themselves. Predicting What Customers Want From The Sales Experience Back to your mission as sales ops leader – predict what massive amounts of prospective customers are going to want from the Sales Experience. It’s why I wrote about it last week and even offered up a book for free to help in any way that I can. To succeed at your mission, you have to stay ahead of the curve of what the public, and specifically – your buying demographic, psychographic, and valuegraphics, want from that experience. Key Questions To Shape The Sales Experience Do they want to call, text, email or chat? Probably all of them…so can you offer each one? (Don’t make someone decide if they want to go through your hoops…remove all the hoops) Do they need to see pricing online – should it be available and transparent? (In most cases, yes) What sales process will be ideal for moving the most people through the sales conversation to a successful outcome? (More discovery, empathy, active listening. More front-loaded about them, not you. Use the Authentic Persuasion Pathway as your model) Who are the decision makers? Is that individual going to decide or do they need to check with others for approval? (Set them up for success, and don’t force them to make a decision in the moment – you will just lose the potential sale) What type of follow up do they want and need until they make the buying decision? What type of post-purchase follow up would go above and beyond a) their expectations and b) what others in your industry do? If there is an ‘onboarding’ stage after the sale – how can you make that actually customer centric and successful? (It is rarely both) Can You Stay Ahead of the Curve? Remember – evolution is natural. The buying public is always evolving their desired sales experience. Can you predict the future of what they want so that when they encounter your company it matches what they were hoping to find – both in the experience and the solution to their need?
By Jason Cutter February 25, 2025
How do you, as a sales leader, help your team become Oracles that can predict the future? [make sure to read the Selling Effectiveness article this week https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/LI.2.25.AM ] There are five ways to facilitate their Oracle-ness. Be Present in the Moment First, you have to get your salespeople to be in the moment. The challenge that most salespeople (and…humans, for that matter) experience is they are always thinking ahead. Salespeople default to thinking about what they will say next. The next part of their script or process. The next question they want to ask so they can get through discovery. The next part of the agreement they need to discuss and review. Their mind is too busy thinking about what they are going to say and do next, that they aren’t present. As weird as it sounds, if you want to predict the future you must be present. I have said this for decades: the moment you no longer need to think about what you are going to say/do next and can actually be present with your prospect and truly listen to what they say (and don’t say) – you will become a sales professional. Master Active Listening Second is Active Listening and paying closer attention. It’s actively listening…it’s taking what I mentioned above and putting into place. First step is to be present, second is to actually listen. For what they say. For what they aren’t saying. For changes in their tone. For when they are talking to someone on the side – who are they talking to, and is it about your sales conversation? If you sell in person, reading their body language and facial expressions. You must help them develop an almost sixth sense of listening (and yes, I know hearing is one of our senses…but this goes beyond hearing…it’s truly, deeply listening). Ask Better Questions Third, is to help them ask better questions. So many people in sales ask the discovery questions they are required to ask in order to check the discovery ‘box’. Or, they have done sales long enough they know all the answers, they think they know what everyone wants and why, so no reason to even ask questions. [Note – this type of salesperson thinks two dangerous things: 1 - everyone is the same and wants the same thing, 2 – people like to be sold to.] When your team asks better, deeper discovery questions with a focus on uncovering the what and the WHY, they will get better answers. Remember this – when you ask the right questions and you listen close enough, each prospect will tell you EXACTLY how to help them buy. Build Up Experience Fourth, build up experience. If you want to predict the future it comes from enough experience to know the probability of what will happen. For example, when I am in a season of commuting from home to an office, I am the type of person that can predict exactly what will happen on the freeway. Which lane is always faster around certain exits, which lanes always slow down, how much leaving five minutes later can make the drive suck a lot more. How do I know what will happen on a freeway with hundreds and hundreds of random people? Because of experience (and the fact that most people are just going through the motions in life so they become predictable). The more experience your team has with sales scenarios, they more they can predict the future. I generally see that it takes about six months for most people in a new sales role to have seen enough scenarios where they can start to know what will come next before it happens. Trust Intuition The fifth and final trait to help them with is intuition. One definition of intuition is “a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.” It’s that feeling you get when you know something, even if you cannot explain it. It’s what Malcom Gladwell wrote about in Blink! It’s what we do very well as humans, even if we don’t listen to it. The more you can help your team tune into their intuition and listen and trust it – the better they will do in helping persuade that other human. This goes back to the first suggestion – about being present. When your team trusts they know what to do and say next and they are mentally living in the moment with that prospective client, they can let their intuition guide them. Conclusion When I do trainings, public speaking, facilitating meetings, interviews, and sales – this is my main key to success. I trust and know that I have the experience to handle whatever comes my way in the present moment, while also knowing the destination I am heading towards. I can be present, let that experience and my intuition guide me instead of getting stuck in my head and worrying about what I will say next. Get your team to do some or all of these five steps – and they will become an amazing Oracle.
By Jason Cutter February 25, 2025
The Oracle’s Role in The Matrix If you have seen the Matrix movies, starring Keanu Reeves (as Neo), then you are familiar with an Oracle. In the movies, the Oracle knows what will happen. She has seen it, and it is predestined. In the Oracles mind there is no such thing as free will. In the first Matrix movie, Neo goes to visit her and knocks a vase off the shelf, and it hits the ground and breaks. Right before he hits it, she says “Don’t worry about the vase.” Neo says, “How did you know?” Then the Oracle responds with “What’s really going to bake your noodle later on, is would you still have broken it if I hadn’t said anything.” Becoming an Oracle in Sales Your mission as a sales professional is to be an Oracle for your prospects and clients. To know the future. Then be able to see around corners, as they say. Which means you know what is going to happen before it happens, because you have enough experience that you have become a psychic. You want to be able to predict, with amazing accuracy: What will happen next What will happen after that What issues will pop up What your prospect/client is thinking before they think it What concerns they might have before they have them Eliminating the Fear of the Unknown During your presentation/demo you want to set the expectation of what is going to occur next. Remember, humans fear the unknown. They want to avoid risk as much as possible. Your sales presentation is risky and dangerous and very unknown. They don’t know if you have good intentions or not. Are you going to persuade them? Are you going to try to manipulate them? Are you going to overcharge them? Will you actually care about what they need and want? Dealing with salespeople is so scary. Yet they still need and/or want something, so it’s the dangerous game they must mentally play. Guiding the Buyer Step by Step When you explain what you are going to do in part 1 of your process, and then what that part is done you let them know the plan for part 2, and so on – they will be at ease in the moment. They will feel like they have control over this portion, that there is an exit they can take if they don’t want to proceed. That level of control will help them accept the risk of part 1, and part 2, and part 3. Tell them what you will do. Do it. Tell them what you did. This will validate that you can be trusted. Predicting Thoughts and Feelings The next level is being able to predict what they will think and feel before they do. You can use this information in your presentation (without telling them what you are doing). You can also verbalize it, which could sound like “I am guessing from experience that you are probably wondering about _____, so let’s cover that right now.” Or “most people I speak with ask about _____.” They will think – wow this person knows what I am thinking, he/she is in my mind! And that’s a good thing. A really good thing. Conclusion The more they feel like you know what you are doing, know what they are thinking, know what they are afraid of – the more they trust you as a Guide. Because Guides only know what they know because they have helped other Heros successfully accomplish their journeys. Your mission as a sales professional: Become an Oracle.
By Jason Cutter February 19, 2025
What does it take to build the ideal Sales Experience? Why does it even matter? Maybe you think you already have one. You are a professional sales ops leader. You have put everything you can in place to help your salespeople sell more. You have optimized the processes so that your sales team can focus on one thing – selling. But I promise – even if you think all of that is true, it’s not. The Reality: No Perfect Sales Experience Exists I have never seen any company or team with the ‘ideal’ Sales Experience and operation. And to be honest – I have never built one successfully. Why would I admit that? Because the ideal Sales Experience is aspirational and business, teams, processes, and customer needs/desires are constantly changing. So as soon as you put new processes in place, something else needs to change and evolve. The Scalable Sales Success Iceberg In my Scalable Sales Success Iceberg – there are 24 categories that, when built out, create a scalable sales machine – where you can add in an input and get way more output. I would love to see companies have all 24 categories set up and running optimally. But that’s not even possible – because, as I mentioned, things are always changing. Focusing on the Biggest Levers Here is the key – to build the ideal Sales Experience takes focus on the biggest levers. The ones that, when pulled, create the biggest and best results. There are many processes and systems that you can put in place – but those are going to get you a few percentage points of improvement. Instead of putting it all in here, I want to make you a special offer. Email me at jason@sellingeffectiveness.com with your mailing address, and I will mail you the book that I co-wrote with Nick Glimsdahl called Reasons Not To Focus On The Sales Experience. It will be your starter guide, facilitating the creation of your ideal Sales Experience.
By Jason Cutter February 18, 2025
The Numbers Game Mentality is a Losing Strategy Sales is no longer a “numbers game.” You cannot succeed, long term, by focusing on volume of activity. Making a million dials, sending a million emails, knocking on a million doors (the first two are way easier than that last one) is a scorched earth strategy that will sink your business. You can’t out-dial a bad sales process. It will lead to even more bad online reviews. You can’t out-email a terrible sales funnel process that requires people to jump through poorly planned hoops. You can’t out-knock your way past slimy tactics and bad products/services. The Danger of the "Every No Gets Me Closer to a Yes" Mindset The whole “every no gets me one step closer to a yes” mentally is dangerous. That mindset and strategy assumes that it’s a numbers game. That the only thing that matters is finding the right person who will buy from you. Potentially, no matter what you even say – they are just ready to buy. Not only will this destroy any online reputation you have it will also wreak havoc on your team. It is the fastest and best way to burn out your team. It will lead to a revolving door or hiring, training, and quitting as people realize how unfun the game is you have built and how hard it is to be successful. It will also feel like a mismatch – very few people (and hopefully even less over time) are long-term excited about the business model of calling 500 people a day in hopes of making a few sales. If It’s Not a Numbers Game, Then What Is It? It’s quality over quantity. [Now…note – it does take a certain quantity of activity to fill a sales pipeline. So I am not saying that your sales team can just sit and wait for people to fall into their pipeline with money in hand.] It’s about the Sales Experience. It’s about your team ensuring that they are providing the right and best experience for that potential customer – in a way that sets them up to get into the buying mood and mode. All that matters is the Sales Experience. How can you support your team in terms of the quantity of activity to fill a pipeline, and then the quality of interaction that leads to sales? What Does an Ideal Sales Experience Look Like? What does that look like – the ideal Sales Experience? It’s when your team understands that the potential customer they are speaking with only cares about themselves. They don’t care about the salesperson, your company or the product. They are only focused on themselves. It’s when the Discovery/Empathy portion of the conversation is the most important part. Does your team realize that everything after Discovery – when done right – is just a presentation of the solution? It’s the fact that when you combine the parts of the Authentic Persuasion Pathway (Rapport + Empathy + Trust + Hope + Urgency) that the assumptive close is all you need. If your team is having to ask for the sale they are doing sales wrong. And don’t confuse earning the right to close with asking for the sale. The Sales Leader’s Role in Creating a World-Class Sales Experience Your job as a sales leader is to ensure your team understands that the only thing – above all else – is the sales experience they provide to each potential customer. That customer knows that they have the power and the feeling of unlimited choice. Which means they will decide who to give their money to based on the experience they have with buying from a company. How can you shift your team away from the numbers game mentality to actually providing a world class sales experience to each and every person they speak with?
By Jason Cutter February 17, 2025
The Abundance of Options Today we all have lots of options. While writing this I could speak into my phone and order whatever I want. I can get food delivered before I finish writing this article. I could get a TV delivered to my door before I wake up tomorrow. When someone wants to buy something, they are armed with as much information as they want to access. They can research, read reviews, and watch videos about a product or company. The Shift in Power to the Buyer Because of this, the power balance of sales has shifted away from the salesperson and company to the buyer. Knowledge is power – and they now have all the knowledge they want. With knowing that they have ultimate choice of what to buy (internet and globalization has led to the ability to order anything you want from anywhere…so you are no longer limited to the stores you can drive to and what they have on hand), it means that everything is a commodity in their minds. Nothing is unique or special. Everything is interchangeable. Does the Sales Experience Even Matter? So, this means the sales experience doesn’t matter anymore. There is no reason to put effort into the sales process, the conversations with potential customers. No value in spending time trying to ‘help’ people – since they just view products, salespeople, and companies as interchangeable. You are not special, so there is no benefit in caring. They will walk into your store, and they will decide what they want. They fill out your online for, and they decide if they answer when you call and how the call will go. They walk up to your event/booth, and they decide how the interaction will go and if they want to listen to your elevator pitch. They will let you know if they are interested in moving forward. They will let you know how they want to buy. So, like I said above, there is no real value anymore in the sales experience. Or could it actually be valuable? Is it possible that all that matters IS the sales experience? If people feel they have ultimate information and control of the buying process, how do they decide on what to buy and who to buy from? When I search on Amazon for a product type I have never purchased before, how do I pick? When I want to go shopping for garden supplies for the house, how do I pick where to go? When I need to buy a new fridge, who will I hand my money over to? The cheapest place with terrible service? The place with reasonable prices and great service? The Sales Experience Shapes the Decision I choose based on the sales experience that I will receive. With everything else being equal, I (and I believe most people) will select the place to shop at or the products to buy online based on the experience I receive. To me all that matters is the experience. While I am trying to buy something. Once I receive it – ensure it does what I need it to do. With the feeling of unlimited choices, it can actually be harder now to buy something that in the past. People get into analysis paralysis more often. Which means that for consumers to buy something new they need help. They need a professional salesperson. They need a sales experience that matches their expectations. They want a guide who will help them make the right decision for them, with an experience that goes above and beyond what more people receive any more when they walk into a store, call a company’s toll-free number, or visit a website and have to fill out a form. If you want to succeed in sales – the only thing that matters is the sales experience you provide.
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