"Language fixing" is the fastest way to 2x your sales

If you want to make a lot of money in sales, the first thing you have to master is language. And after taking over 7,000 sales calls, I noticed patterns of how prospects spoke that led to objections at the end. So today I'll go over the four biggest language patterns that cause objections and how to actually prevent these from coming up in the first place. If you don't know who I am, my name is Christian Polk. This whole channel is to give you the tools that you need to become an elite closer and, and not be stuck being average. And let me tell you a quick story of how powerful this is from one of my clients, owen, who after 30 days of him actually being able to identify and address these language patterns, he was able to more than double the commissions he was making. And I quote, stop getting bullshit answers and start getting real answers. Let me show you how it works. Jordan Belfort said it best. The quickest way to make a sale is a straight line, and not the type of line you're thinking of cocaine. So we take a look at this representation of a sales call right here from start to please take my money. The quickest way and the easiest way to get there is just going to be a straight line. So it's your job as the closer here to take the prospect by the hand from the start of the conversation and through your sales process, get them, present them at the end to where they say, please take my money. I'll buy whatever it is you're selling. You. You take the payment and you get the sweet, sweet commissions. Now, the problem with this is most prospects will not stay on the straight line. So what happens is, as you're taking them through, there are some things that come up that cause them to come off the straight line. And then what happens at the end, they're nowhere close to please take my money. So what we do is we try to bend that line as hard as we can. And what we like to call objection, handling. And sometimes you will get people across the line in objection handling. But if you're looking to be closing 60 to 90% of the people you're talking to, you get little to no objections at the end. Now, I know what you're thinking. What would cause a prospect not to go down the straight line. Oftentimes it's limitations or limiting beliefs that cause them not to go down the straight line. And really, you need to be addressing these limitations, these limiting beliefs before you get to the end of the call. That way you pre handle these objections from coming up in the first place. And if you do get objections, they're so much easier to overcome. Now, I know you're probably asking Christian, how do I know the limitations that these prospects have? Everyone's different and yeah, that's true. So there is a key thing that you need to be able to do, and I know it's going to be a big novel concept. You actually have to listen to your prospects. Believe it or not, prospects will actually tell you what their limitations are through their language. Because people think by talking. And the way a prospect talks to you as a salesperson is the way that they talk to themselves. So if they use limiting language when they talk to you, understand they're using limiting language when they talk to themselves. And that limitation is going to cause doubt, which is going to cause them to give you objections. Now, there are four type of language patterns that if a prospect uses this type of language, it's going to tell you that if it's not corrected, there is going to be an objection at the end. Number one is going to be wishful language. Now, if you don't know who this is, this is Ted from a movie where they wish upon a star and they made a teddy bear come to life.

Okay?

It's not real. That's the biggest thing. So when a prospect talks in a way that they're not talking about anything real, you're taking them through a process where you're building into pain and future, you know, success, future pacing and consequences on things that aren't real. Prospects will typically say things like, yeah, I wish it would be nice. I would like, I would want to. And this is going to be a key indicator that you're not talking about something real.

Okay?

The next one is going to be something to where they are using emotional out language like. Like, here's a shrink rate. They minimize. Like, the problem's not that bad. And when somebody minimizes their problem, they're telling themselves a story of why they're not where they want to be and why they're not where they want to be. Because honestly, it's not that bad being where they're at right now. What this is going to cause is a lack of urgency. Because if things aren't that bad, they're going to have no urgency to change them. Okay, next is going to be external language. So. So this is somebody who is a victim. Everything happens to them. All the problems are outside of myself. It is not me. And if you are talking to somebody, let's say, for example, you sell lead generation and they tell you the reason their company isn't growing is because the economy is garbage. You cannot fix the economy. This person is a victim to the economy. You can only fix their leads. So if they tell you the reason they're not growing is because of the economy, just understand that, that they're blaming things outside of themselves which they cannot change. Which is going to make it to where at the end, they don't think your solution can help them because they don't think anything can help them. Okay, last is going to be ambiguous language.

Okay?

If somebody is ambiguous, where they say I think or probably they're not certain, there is doubt in their mind. And if there is doubt in their mind, you're going to have a hard time to get them to commit to something which where they need certainty. So anytime any of these language patterns come up, they need to be addressed, whether it be wishful language, whether it be emotional out language, whether it be externalizing or ambiguous language. So let me show you an example of typically how this is going to work, right? So it's like you're going through a conversation and you start to notice that they use wishful language. So what they're going to do that's going to take you off the straight line. So your job as the closer is to get your fly swatter out and get this shit out of here. So that way this is no longer here. We can go and delete that and we go back on the straight line and we're not running into that objection at the end. We can talk about something that's real. And if you want to understand, like for each example, how do you actually address it? I have a few examples that I think are going to help. Okay, so number one, let's talk about wishful language. So let's say again, you're talking to a prospect and they tell you something like, yeah, it would be nice to make 20,000 per month. Okay, A really simple way to address this. And I preference this, you have to say it with a smile. If you're super awkward and you can't smile, do not do this. Okay? So if a prospect says, yeah, it would be nice to get to 20,000 per month, you can say, yeah, it'll be nice for me to be at the beach right now. Okay, tell me what you need to get to. So what you're telling them to do is you're telling them to shift their language from it would be nice to I need to. And even let's say they're making 5,000 per month and they tell you It'd be nice to get to 20, but they need to get to 10. That need to get to 10 is so much more powerful than that. I want to get to 20, even though 20 is a higher number. And if you start to change the way that they actually talk about the goal or where it's a need, it's not a nice to have. They are again, going to start thinking about it being a need. The way that they talk is the way that they think. So if I shift the way that they talk, I'm shifting the way that they think. Okay, now, when we're talking about ambiguous language, this one super, super, super easy. If a prospect says ambiguous language, all you need to do is repeat back the ambiguous language for them to clarify or for them to tell you what's behind their ambiguous language. For example, let's say we're at the end of this sales conversation. You ask them, hey, is this something you want to do? Like, yeah, I think I would do it. The ambiguous language is I think. Okay, so all you're going to do is just repeat back to them. You think, okay, that repeating back to them you think will cause them to, oh, no, yeah, I definitely would. Right. Or they'll tell you, well, I'm just not sure about this. And you flush out the objection to something that you can handle.

Okay.

So that way you get them to be more certain in their way of thinking. Okay, next we have emotional out language. Okay, so again, let's talk about somebody who you're having a conversation with and they tell you that it's not that bad. Right? We're trying to dig into their pain. We're trying to really build that urgency because we know we need that. And they're telling you, well, honestly, bro, it's not that bad. Okay, so let's walk you through it. Okay, so at first, prospect says, well, I mean, it's not that bad. Okay, you can say something like this, well, do you feel like that might be part of the problem? And I'll just stop. And you want them to. Again, either question back, they can agree. They can. Like, it doesn't really matter. But you want to get them to again, either cause confusion or cause them to pull you in. Okay, you don't want to jump down people's throat. Well, do you feel like that might be part of the problem? Pause. Because if we keep telling ourselves it's not that bad, like, where's the drive to change? Like, confused. Because if we keep on telling ourselves it's not that bad, where's the drive to change. Well, I'm not sure because. Can I share a perspective? Yeah, again, pause. Get them to let. Get them to answer. Don't just bulldoze people. I feel like I have to, like, over explain that part. And then you use an analogy of why it's not okay to minimize your problems or to not care. This one's super simple. It's like, I just call it the super bowl analogy. Well, I mean, if you're in the super bowl and one of your teammates didn't care if you won or lost, would you want them as your teammate? Why not? I've never had anybody say, yeah, I want that person as my teammate.

Right.

They're always going to say no, and then you're going to say, why not? You are putting something in their brain. You need them to defend it. That's why this why not is super important.

Okay?

Right. Because there's no real emotion that's driving them forward. So be real with me because I'm on your team. You looking in the mirror every single day and not liking what's looking back at you. How does that feel? Say, like, this is a weight loss offer.

Okay.

You would definitely change this to whatever offer you're on and what type of conversation you're having. But then you re ask the question as far as, like, how does that make them feel? Or what type of personal impact is that having on them? Okay, so again, they say, oh, it's not that bad. Well, do you feel like that might be part of the problem? Because if we keep telling ourselves it's not that bad, where's the drive to change? Can I share a perspective? If you were in the super bowl and one of your teammates didn't care whether they won or lost, like, would you want them as your teammate? Well, why not? Right? Because there's no real emotion driving them forward. So, like, be real with me because I'm on your team. Like, I want to see you win. You looking in the mirror every single day and just not liking what you look back at you. Like, how does that feel? And then we dig deeper into the emotion. Okay, Next is going to be external language.

Okay.

So when somebody externalizes, again, their problem is not in their control. So here's an example of, like, a lead generation company. Okay, well, if you ask them, like, hey, why are you having this problems with this lead generation? What do you feel like is missing your lead generation? Why isn't your lead generation? Why isn't working? Why is it not working? You're trying to dive Deep into the problem. And they say something like, well, I mean, it's just harder with this economy. I mean, potentially. Can I share a perspective? You never want to disagree.

Okay?

You don't. You're not in the games of getting in arguments. We're in the games of persuasion.

Okay.

So we're never in disagreement mode. We're always on the same side of the table.

Okay.

The easiest way that I found to get over externalizing is to use what I call a comparative frame. What a comparative frame is you just compare them to someone else who doesn't have this problem who also would face whatever external thing that they're running into.

Okay.

So for example, I mean we work a lot with agents who are on tough markets who are able to grow in these market conditions. So what do you feel like you might be missing just with the current way you're generating leads or maybe how you're nurturing that's causing things to be inconsistent. Okay, so that is an external frame. Again, you compare them like, hey, there are other people in your situation that are doing the thing that you want to do. What do you feel like is missing in what you're currently doing in that area that that's causing you to run into these problems? And what that will cause is for them to look internal. You need them to look internal at they are the problem. Then you'll get a better answer because you can only solve the problem if they are the problem. Hopefully you found that valuable. If you did, leave your biggest takeaways in the comments like subscribe, all that fun stuff. And if you want my help on doubling your sales, just like I did with Owen, check out the first link in the description. If not, go ahead and check out this video on how to ask better questions from a real life sales example. See you guys next time.