Christian Polk coaches a live sales role-play where a closer handles a resistant prospect. The prospect feels pushed and distrusts the offer, but the closer uses strategic questions to uncover what really matters: the prospect wants higher income and hates their current job. The key is staying calm, building trust, and reframing the pitch as a partnership.
Chapters
What are you making right now?
Okay, look, look, stop. This is exactly what I don't like about people like you, okay?
And what is that?
I know what you're doing with these questions. You're making me want to buy this. I don't want to be pushed into doing this.
How are you drawing that conclusion?
You're going to ask me how much I'm making and then how much I want to make, and then I'm going to feel this way, and it's crossing the line.
Where is the emotional response you're giving me coming from?
This is just like everybody else.
Staying very calm, just getting like, hey, why is he feeling this way? Really good.
Like, this is just another program.
Yes, a program in which you and I would be working one-on-one together for the next 90 to 120 days. Let me give you an example. It's almost like if I was playing basketball with like a friend of mine, I tripped and like broke my ankle, and instead of going straight to the doctor, I decided, you know what, I'll figure this out on my own. The doctor's too much money anyway. A year went by, and so what I started doing was I would go and do research, like how can I like mend this thing together, can I like create a cast this way or that way, and I never actually went into the doctor's office and I waited an entire year before finally coming in, like, would it not be fair for the doctor to be confused as to why it took me so long to actually show up, especially if my ankle's still broken?
Yes.
And so he's using an analogy that is not the exact situation, but a situation where the same logic applies to get the prospect to understand that he doesn't even agree with his own logic. He's not consistent. So really good, easy to understand.
I'm not asking you how much money you're making to judge you. I'm asking how much we need to make in sales to put you in a position where you can do sales full-time. Is that fair?
I see your point. It's just— we just met.
Before we go any further, do you genuinely believe that with the line of question that I'm giving you and the content that you've seen so far, I'm in your corner and I'm supportive of you getting what you want? Or do you not feel that way? Because we need to get on the same page.
I know this will help me.
Why do you know that this is going to help you? Like, what makes you certain?
Industry I can break into, get some money from. My job, I just don't feel like I can.
This is why I hate selling broke people, right? It's all this mentality stuff, but he's doing a good job handling it.
Well, in order for you to get to a position where you can make the type of money that you're telling me you want to make, you don't have the skills right now. You're eventually going to have to put your trust in the hands of someone else that you don't know, like your brother off the internet. And if you don't trust me that the bridge that I'm going to lay out for you, the step-by-step plan, is going going to get you there, what kind of results are we going to get?
Don't get any results.
And that's not what you want, right? No, that's not what I want either.
But all right, got it back on track. Overall, what he did really well, say cool, calm, collected. One thing I would say is don't sell to broke people, right? Like sell higher ticket things and don't sell the newbies. You won't deal with all this shit. But what he did really well, cool, calm, collected, made it easy for him to understand, getting them across the line. Love to see it.
