27 Years of No Bullsh*t Sales Advice in 16 Mins

I've been selling software since I was 17 years old. So that's 27 years of sales experience. I've sold everything from entry level software to enterprise deals to the largest companies in the Fortune 5000. People like Procter and Gamble, Dole Foods, Johnson and Johnson and many others. I get asked every day about my sales experience and helping other entrepreneurs how to become great at sales. I'm going to teach you everything I know about identifying, qualifying, setting and closing people to purchase from you in a way that doesn't freak you out. I've read all the top books, over a hundred different books on selling. I've talked to all the top sales experts, all the people you follow on YouTube, they're all friends of mine. I've talked to them. I understand their methodologies. So without further explaining it, this is 27 years of sales knowledge unpacked in as little time as possible. Welcome to the Martel Method. I went from rehab at 17 to building a hundred million dollar empire and being a Wall Street Journal best selling author. In this podcast I'll show you exactly how to build a life and business you don't grow to hate. And make sure you don't miss anything by subscribing to my newsletter@martel method.com sales the most important skills to learn because everything you do, from getting money, from investors to hiring people to getting somebody to buy from you, even having somebody help you out, it sits on the other side of understanding how to get somebody to want to help you, which is sales. So now let's move into what people get wrong about sales. There's a whole bucket of things that people do wrong when they're selling. First off, they over promise underdeliver what'll happen if you have commission structure where it's not tied to retention, meaning the customer sticks around and or is happy. Then you'll have a salesperson saying whatever they have to say to get the buy. So for example, when HubSpot, it's a popular software that a lot of companies use to manage their sales process, when their salespeople were overselling the software and then customers were upset, they had to introduce a process where they measured the customer happiness after the sale and if the score was low, it impacted the salesperson's commission and it changed the way they sold so they stopped overselling. That's one thing. The second problem is most of them don't follow a process. So they're literally not properly trained, don't run through skills and drills, they're just shooting from their hip Whatever works, they keep doing it. They don't try something new. They don't ask people that are doing better than them how they can be better. They get somebody to buy, but the person actually wasn't ready to buy. They just felt pressure to buy. So they say yes. And then the person cancels as soon as they hang up the phone. See this all the time. It's like, oh, I had 17 sales. It's like, no. Five of them refunded, five of them canceled. Did you actually get them to make a decision to buy? They don't do the takeaway clothes, the takeaway close. Essentially somebody purchase and you say, perfect. Super excited for you. Can't wait to get you set up. It's going to be an amazing experience. Really going to solve these three problems that you talk to me about. Hey, can I just ask you a simple question? Minus a global financial meltdown in the world, is there any other reason that you might not move forward and get on your onboarding call or use our software? Whatever it is, Asking that question as a salesperson really locks in the commitment of the buyer. Most people mess up sales because they follow a script and they don't realize it's about having a talk track. It's not about just memorizing words and spitting them out. Because then the prospect, it doesn't feel like you're actually listening or understand what they're saying. They don't write anything down. They're horrible at documenting the customer information. So at each step of the sales process, if you don't catalog and document what was said to the previous rep, then especially after you sell and the person starts the process, they join your thing, they buy your thing, the person shows up at their house, then they have to repeat everything that was said in the sales process where that's where all the gold is. And then the customer experience suffers because they have to repeat themselves versus the sales rep. Just taking five minutes after the call and log in everything that was said but their situation, their team, the names of the people, the key issues they're dealing with. Then when the person who's in charge of onboarding that customer into the company, it's easy. They're like, hey, yeah, I talked to Bob and Bob told me you had these problems and based on your situation, your revenue should be this. I just want to confirm all this stuff. Perfect. Here's our plan, here's what we're going to do. They don't follow up. Most of the fortunes are made in the follow up. Most salespeople do not follow up. They don't know how to follow up. If they do it, it's horrendous. It's just annoying. People like, are you ready? Just following up. If you say just following up, you the sale. Just so you know, that language in any way shape, email, voicemail, phone call, stupid, bad. Don't do that. It's, hey, I was just thinking about you. I was talking to this person. It reminded me about this article I found. Just wanted to send it over, see if it could be helpful. Just from the heels circle back. If there's an opportunity for us to help you accelerate solving that problem faster. Before we get back to the episode, if you actually want to know what my real life looks like and see the people and the businesses and the companies I buy and my family and just like how I make it all work, go follow me on Instagram. Dan Martel to Elsa Martell on Instagram. It's where I show the behind the scenes, the real deal, real time. I'd love to see you there. Have an amazing day. Let's move into how to get your first customer. Your first customer should come from your immediate network of people you know. And the best way to get them is just to ask people, hey, I'm selling this. Do you know anybody that might be interested? The cool part is that if the person is interested, they'll say, yeah, me. Or if they're not, they'll go, oh, my friend Bob. So just asking people in your contacts in your network, on social media, I do this all the time. I go on Facebook and I look through all of my friends on Facebook and ask myself, would this person know somebody? Is this person in my market? Would they even have influence in somebody else? And just ask them, hey, I'm now doing this. Do you know anybody might be interested? The referral or the intro is one of the best way to find your first customers. Now let's move into the three stages of sales. The first one is to qualify. If you think everybody could be a buyer, then you're already messing yourself up. What I think to myself is what's true about my best buyers. Who are the people that get the most benefit? What are the questions that would make it a yes or no if I even move forward? So first off, if I'm selling to other entrepreneurs and CEOs, I'm going to ask them, do you have your own business? If the answer is no, I don't have to proceed. Qualifying is all about trying to figure out what questions filters out our conversations to either say this is a person that could buy this or this is a person that shouldn't buy it and letting the people that shouldn't move on as fast as possible. Here's what you got to look for in a lead to decide if you qualify them or not. You have to figure out what are you selling? What's the perfect type of buyer? And what questions could I ask in what order of broad to narrow. That gets me a yes or no to decide to move to the second question, to the third question, to the fourth question. So it depends what you're selling. If you're selling fitness, then you want to ask somebody, is weight something that you struggle with? Is putting on muscle something that you struggle with? So you need to figure out what are the questions that get you immediately not only to a qualifying scenario, but also to a pain identification scenario. Right. Do you struggle to hit your numbers every month as if you're selling the business owners? If you're selling furniture, it's like, are you guys expanding your office soon? Right? So like you have to ask a question that qualifies them. Are they even in the market or even self aware that they have a problem? Because if they don't, trying to sell something to somebody who doesn't even know they have a problem, it's wasted time. The best way to get the most qualified people for your product is find out where those type of people hang out. So if I know that the best type of person to buy something from me is part of this organization, then I'm going to go figure out how do I get involved in that organization. I might be able to add some value, might do some training, I might come in and do a lunch and learn. Remember, for example, my brother was selling houses the first time home buyers. So he found out that a lot of people that worked in call centers were renting and many of them probably want to buy a house and they could afford it because they had a great job at a call center. So he offered to do a lunch and learn at these call centers so that they would bring him in to teach people how to buy a home. Why? Because the call center got people that have homes which are more dependable because they have a mortgage that they're committed to than somebody that is renting. It might be a little bit more flip floppy on their job choices. So it was actually a perfect scenario where the company, the call center wanted him to come in to teach them how to buy their first home so that when they were in market they would reach out to him to sell a home to them. Before we get back to the episode, if you're enjoying it so far, could you go ahead and do me a huge favor and leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify reviews help us get up in the rankings, which gives us credibility to reach out to bigger and bigger guests. We can bring them to you. It would mean so much. Let's get back to the episode. Which brings us to the second step in the sales process, which is setting the sale. The role of a setter is to talk to the market and identify leads. So it's either inbound or outbound opportunities. So they're either creating demand by going outbound and talking to a bunch of people cold or they're fielding inbound interest. This could be email subscribers, people fill out an application, people to follow on social media, those are warmer. They talk to those potential buyers and they qualify them to see if there's an opportunity. If they find people that have pain, then they're going to set that conversation up with somebody that can actually close them. Or a sales professional, or sometimes called an account manager or a product specialist. It's kind of funny because a lot of time in sales they give the salespeople cool names so it doesn't scare away the buyer. They'll call it a strategy session, a discovery call, you name it. In the sense that they talk to the potential buyer, they make sure that they're in market, that they have a problem that they want solved, that they're interested in having a conversation about your company, solving it for them. And then they take all that information, they log all those notes and they hand that off as almost a package to the next step so that that person has all the ammunition they need to have a really productive conversation. You know, oftentimes the setter has to meet certain criteria. They have to say, like what's a five star prospect look like? Right? Do they have a problem? Do they know they have a problem? Do they want our help to solve it? Have they tried other things? Have we expressed that do a budget to buy? Are they currently feeling the pain? Is there been certain key areas that are painful that we've identified that we can hand over to the next step so that we make sure we have a productive conversation. Those are the key things the setter has to do to increase the speed of a sale. Most people don't ask themselves what needs to be true before they hand over a buyer to somebody that can help them further. And what happens is the person who's selling Spends a lot of time with unqualified people. What you want to do is you want to pair those people together so there's a feedback loop. Those are called pods. So the setter is paired with a closer so that the closer can give feedback on the quality of those conversations so that they can improve the process. Don't send over leads that I'm going to have a hard time closing because then you might fill up my calendar with a bunch of people that weren't ready and then I'm not talking to people that are ready. So that's the role of a setter. Which brings us to the third step in the sales process, which is to enroll them. I call it enrolling and not closing because words matter. When I'm closing, I'm closing off the conversation. One of the most important things that I teach my people that are sales professionals is that you need to service the sale. So what most people do is they get in this high volume sales conversation and they never go back to talk to the people that they've converted into buyers. And those are honestly for great salespeople. If you want to increase your sales, get referrals. How do you get referrals? Ask for referrals. Most salespeople don't go back to the buyers and ask them how their experience was. And if there's one or two other people just like them that they might be able to help with their service, that alone will increase your sales volume by 30%. Most salespeople are onto the next one to the next one. They don't literally say, how do I serve my account? How do I show up and ask them questions? How do I create more value for them after the sale? The post sale process is more valuable than the current transaction. That's why I don't like the word closers. Before we get back to this episode, if you prefer to watch your content, then go find me on YouTube. I have this episode on YouTube. I'm Dan Martell on YouTube. Just subscribe to the channel. Turn on the notification bell because then you'll get notified in real time. It'll tell YouTube to tell you get a new episode so you'll never miss anything. Now let's get back to the episod. There's five steps in the enrolling process. Step number one is control the frame. This means that you have to have the conversation go in a way where you are in control of the conversation. Amateur salespeople easily get pushed off the kilter. I've got on calls and I say, what's the price. And they're like, oh, it's 32,000. Have you ever worked with this kind of customer? And they're like, yes. And I'm like, cool, all right, I'll circle back if I have more questions. And they're like, okay. And then I hang up. And I'm like, you're an amateur salesperson. The best frame is the Dr. Frame frame. The Dr. Frame is I don't know what is wrong with you. It's a diagnosis. I'm going to ask you questions to help you if I can help you. So when the person says like, hey, I need this medication, or hey, I got this pain, you go, cool. Is it okay if I ask you a few questions to see where you're at so I can figure out what might be wrong with you to make sure that I prescribe the right product? See, at the end of the day, prescribing without diagnosis is malpractice. And that's why a doctor Frame, from a sales point of view of trying to diagnose the sale, is key. A lot of people do a bunch of consulting calls that, that aren't sales calls, and then they wonder why the person doesn't buy. At the end. It's because you gave away all of the answers to the problem, so you've released the pressure from the person. Number two is direct questions. This is where you get permission, you control the frame, and then you ask very specific questions around the problem that the buyer has. The key thing is, is the buyer is going to choose if you're an expert based on the quality of your questions. And unfortunately, most amateur salespeople aren't maintaining high quality questions questions. They're asking very high level, very broad, very non specific questions. It doesn't demonstrate to the person that you are an expert around the problem that you help people solve. Step number three is challenging beliefs. See, most people, when they come to evaluate purchasing something, they fall on the ends of one of two spectrums. They're either overly confident that they could figure this out on their own, or they're not confident at all. And they feel like they got to do a bunch of stuff to get ready to actually purchase from your you. And it's kind of fascinating to watch. So when you challenge beliefs, it's either end. If somebody's so confident, you have to ask them a question that gets them back to the middle of the buying zone. If somebody's not confident, you have to ask them a question that gets them confident to be ready to make a purchase. So ensuring you challenge the questions so you can get them in the buying zone is going to be the key to get somebody to make a decision. Step number four is pre handling Objection. What you want to do is pull up all the objections earlier on in the conversation so they don't show up at the end. See amateur salespeople, person's like, oh, I don't have the money, or oh, I need to check in with my business partner. Oh, I need to talk to my wife. All of those are things you could have handled way sooner. And that's why we want to pre handle the objections through the question. So ask them, have you put a budget aside to solve this problem? Have you talked to your wife about purchasing this car? Have you already reviewed this with your team in regards to the different vendors? Have you bought software like this before in the past? All those questions are going to help you pre handle the objection so they don't show up at the end when you're going to make the offer. Offer. Step number five is make the offer. This is where a lot of people get a little weird at the point where they're like, okay, I know this person has a problem. I know we can help them. They understand how it works. All you have to do then is assume the sale. The language, the energy shouldn't change. As soon as I make the offer, then I ask them, what card do you want to put that on? It's not even are you ready to start? Did you want to schedule your initial call to kick things off on Thursday or Friday? You give them an option, this or that. You never say, are you ready to move forward? You just assume they're going to move forward and you do the this or that. Do you want to have the medium size or you want the large? Do you want to put the security cameras around the house or do you want to go just with the lawn version? Do you want this or do you want to do that? It also allows them to see themselves as a buyer. They're pre framing the ownership. Do you Want to buy 2 copies or 10? It sounds crazy, but that is the best way to ask. And then the key thing is you have to follow up. So the offer part isn't just about making it. It's dealing with the objections and then following up. Because that's where the real money's made. The real money is made in the follow up. But. But if you have a product that you can get somebody to make a decision on the call, I would go for on the call. So it saves you the step of having to follow up. Too often, people are too easy to bend over, and it's just like, okay, I'll send you a proposal, blah, blah, blah. No, don't do that. Never do that. And the key is, if you have to go to another meeting, I want you to ban fam. It's called book a meeting from a meeting. So on the call you say, yeah, no problem. I can send you the proposal. Let's do this. What would you like to see in the proposal? Try to deal the objection, make the offer, ask for the deal. Again. Again. Don't do it. Schedule the call, but book a meeting from a meeting. Schedule the call from that meeting to the next meeting. This is next level, okay? This is where nobody teaches you this stuff. Say the words. I've got you scheduled for Tuesday, 8 o', clock, same time I sent the calendar to your inbox. Can you check it and add it to your calendar? Boom, they do. Could you do me a favor, Mr. Buyer? If for whatever reason something should come up, could you do me the honor of texting me beforehand so I can fill that slot with somebody else that's looking to talk about our problem product? And if they say yes, then you don't have a no show. See, the problem with booking a meeting from a meeting is if you don't do this step, then people aren't going to show up. And you just wasted your time and took that spot in your calendar. Here's the bonus step. And no. Salespeople do this after the person has their first aha. Moment. It could be their first call. It could be after they see the finished product, after they see the service done, the first milestone, wherever in the process you have a moment where the buyer goes, wow, whatever that is, this in that moment, that's when you follow up and ask them, is there one or two other people just like you that you think we could serve with our product or service? That question will help increase 30% of salespeople's quota. It's that simple. Because they'll be like, yeah, actually, my friend Lisa. Do you mind making an introduction to Lisa right now, or do you mind if I reach out to Lisa and I use your name asking for a referral? That's what the best salespeople in the world do. They're not about just getting a transaction done. They're about making sure that the person feels comfortable, confident going forward. After they receive a massive amount of value, they circle back. They say, how's it been going? Do you mind if I ask if there's anybody else just like you, then I might be able to help with our product or service. And that's how you get massive amount of new revenue on top of the existing sales you've already made. That was 27 years of sales knowledge. But if you want to learn my 15 laws of success, click the link and I'll see you on the other side. Thanks for listening to Martell Method. If you like this episode, could you do me a huge favor and go leave a review? This helps us get the podcast more ears and helps more people get unstuck, reclaim their freedom, and build their empire. Empire.