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Before I became a business coach, I spent a year as a Director of Sales, helping scale a multi-seven-figure coaching business with one of my best friends.
Our team took hundreds of sales calls every month, and each week, I would study them to figure out what we did well and how we could improve. Along the way, I discovered a few big mistakes we were making that decreased the chance someone would buy from us by 50% or more.
If you’re a coach who sells a high-ticket program over the phone, avoiding these mistakes is a proven path to signing more clients, increasing your income and making a bigger impact through the work you do. I only wish I would have discovered them sooner.
Let’s dive in…
Related: The 5 Best Actions You Can Take to Improve Sales Calls
Mistake #1: Selling with the wrong intentions
A coach recently reached out to me because he was struggling to grow his business and wanted help.
I asked him, “What do you do before every sales call?”
He said, “I pump myself up and tell myself — ‘I know I’m going to close this deal.'”
It’s no surprise to me that he was having trouble.
Imagine you’re going out on a first date. Do you want to have dinner with someone whose goal is to sleep with you later that night?
Probably not.
Your potential clients feel the same way. Nobody wants to get on a sales call with someone who wants to “close” them.
What people do want is an advocate — someone who can show up in the heart of service, unattached to making a sale, focused instead on figuring out how to get them what they want.
Don’t show up to a call trying to close the deal. The less attached you are to making a sale, the more likely it is to happen.
Mistake #2: Not listening enough
My top sales reps spent up to 80% of their calls asking questions and listening. My less experienced reps spent far more time talking, pitching, convincing and, in general, running their mouths.
For someone to want to work with you, they need to feel seen, heard and understood. You do this by listening, not by talking.
When in doubt, ask more questions. The more time you spend talking, the lower your close rate will be.
Mistake #3: Pitching the process
Your prospects don’t care that much about the nitty-gritty details around working with you.
What really matters to them is…
How will my life be different after we work together? And will this be worth the pain of hiring you?
My average sales reps would overwhelm prospects with details about our program, dragging them into the weeds of how we could help them and what every step of the process would look like.
On the flip side, my best sales reps pitched very differently. They focused primarily on outcomes and results instead, painting in vivid detail what someone’s life would look like after working with us. This was far more effective.
Related: 6 Simple, Proven Methods to Improve Your Sales Skills
Mistake #4: Pushing for the close
People value freedom and autonomy above everything else. Your prospects want to feel in control during the sales process — like they have the power to determine how and when things happen.
Sales pressure threatens this freedom and autonomy. When you try to force someone, however subtly, into taking a step they’re not yet ready to take, you’re trying to take their freedom away. This is why people hate sales pressure and why it will almost always doesn’t work.
My best sales reps were intuitive and attentive on calls. Rather than defaulting to going for the close, they felt out where someone was at and whether or not they were ready to commit. Sometimes the people they spoke to were right there and just needed a little nudge to enroll. Other times, they sensed someone wasn’t ready and allowed them more space and time to process and think things through. This approach is much more effective.
Mistake #5: Being their friend instead of the leader
My average sales reps would spend up to ten minutes building rapport on calls — talking about someone’s family, where they grew up, what they did this past weekend, etc.
My top reps didn’t waste this time. They’d spend a minute or two with casual chat, but then they would get down to brass tax.
Being overly focused on building rapport usually comes from a place of neediness. It’s something you do when you’re trying to impress someone.
The message you’re sending people when you do this is, “I need to convince you to like me.” This actually repels prospects, rather than attracting them to you.
Instead, show up to a call focused on what someone came there for. If someone reached out to you, it’s because they need help. They don’t want to spend ten minutes talking about the vacation they just went on. They want you to take the lead, figure out what’s going on and how you can help. So, get to the point instead.
If you can avoid these mistakes, you’ll sidestep the biggest issues that kept my team stuck and increase your close rate immediately. That means more coaching clients, more income and a bigger impact on the lives of your clients.
Remember that sales is a skill that you can develop with practice over time. I’d encourage you to do so, as it will have a huge impact on your success.
Happy selling!
