Exposed: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of a Video Agency's Sales Call

In this video, I'm going to be reviewing one of our Mastermind clients sales calls, giving him feedback and a breakdown on how he could have closed this call better. So I hope you get value from this. This is one of our 14 weekly calls that we do with our Mastermind members to help them improve their business, scale their video business and close more deals. So let's go ahead and jump right into it.

And I know you're going to.

You're sending a proposal. Well, hold on, back up. What are we doing?

Proposal. I'm sending over her price or I'm sending pricing to her just because we worked with her in the past and she was just literally trying to get a quote. So I was just like, okay, I'll do that, I guess.

Why, why not hop on a call like we like, we teach and go through a sales process with her?

Yeah.

Why? Well, I'm asking why, why are you doing that?

I don't know. That's a great question.

Did you feel like, do you feel like, do you feel like you felt uncomfortable doing that? Like, because that's what she wanted.

Maybe so. Yeah, because we work with her in the past. I'm like, doesn't matter.

Sales and sales though, people are, they're work. They need to be walked through things. You need to like. Well, here's the thing too. Like, do you accurate. Do you honestly feel like you can understand her situation and what you need to put together with her without going through it with her? Like, do you feel like she might misunderstand something on that price sheet or misunderstand the value of it?

Yeah, no, I get what you're saying. Yeah, definitely gotta not do that again.

I'm. I'm gonna get on to you about it, dude. If you do it, I'm gonna, I'm gonna come over, I'm say stop doing that. Can't do it anymore, dude. Seriously, like, you gotta. It's just doesn't serve anybody to do it at the end of the day because it's like they're gonna. If they have an objection, it just puts you in a really like, tough spot where you can't conquer that objection because you're not there.

Right.

Or maybe there's a confusion or a concern. I just like to reframe objections into concerns. Like, think of it as like they're just concerned about something and you're there to understand and explain what that concern may be. And you just can't do that if you send pricing. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Now because you worked with her before. I understand the thought process, but the problem with that is like sales is still sales. She's still going to get worried about something or she may have a concern about something and you can't conquer it. So I mean, I would still try to maybe schedule a follow up call with her and just see, you know, set a deadline around it so you can touch base with her after she's had a chance to look through that.

So okay, absolutely.

How did the other two calls go?

So the other, we're scheduling a follow up on Monday, so I think that'll close. And then the other one, we're scheduling a follow up as well on the 5th. But I wasn't, I don't know, she was giving me some weird kind of objections where she was kind of contradicting herself.

So that's usually how it is. Objections are not logical. They're concerned. So they're just worried about. So were these both from ads? Where were they from?

Organic.

Organic. So what was the first one? What was the objection? Why were you pushing to a follow up instead of closing on the call? What ended up happening?

Yeah, so they were just like, I need to think about it. And I was just basically like, I mean, what exactly is there to kind of think on? And they just wanted to sit on it. I couldn't really get past that. So I was like, okay, well can we schedule a call? And got them on and nice, we can go through with that.

So number one, good job on getting the, the, the calendar commitment. That's great. Second thing though, like I need to think about. It's not an objection, it's usually a smokescreen. Do you know what they need to think about or they weren't giving you anything there?

Well, I asked them while we were presenting that, well, while I was presenting, I was like, hey, on a scale of 1 to 10, one being, hey, this is what you're looking for, and 10, this is. Well, one being this isn't what you're looking for. And 10 being I absolutely want this. Where are you on the skill? They were like seven or eight and they basically told me why And I hit, I hit hard on those. And there was still like an objection at the end.

Did you get clarity on, on what it was though, at the end?

Not exactly. Because it wasn't pricing because.

Right.

Their budget.

So the way I would go about it is if someone's like, I need to think about it, be careful with that. Like, what do you need to think about? Because sometimes it comes across like kind of like Abrupt. So what I would do is, like, you want to just mock it real quick? Like, do a quick mock?

Yeah, let's do it.

Cool. So just tell me the objection and then we'll go from there.

Oh, well, I just need to think about it.

Yeah, absolutely not an issue. Just so I can kind of understand on my end, like, I guess what's coming up for you specifically that's causing you to maybe want to think about this further before potentially moving forward on something like this.

I just don't know if it's the right decision at the moment.

Okay, let's dive into that a little bit. So you said not, not the right decision. What do you, like, do you feel like this is something that could actually get you to where you wanted to go? Or you feel like maybe it's misaligned for you because, like, alignment for us is the most important thing, and if it's not the right fit, that's completely fine. I don't want to, you know, waste any of your time or take up your time with something that you don't feel like is the right fit. So I guess what's coming up for you that's making you feel like maybe it's not the right decision?

I just don't think we're the right fit.

Sure.

I like what you do. I love what you do, but I'm just not sure right now.

Yeah, absolutely. And just. Just for feedback on our end, like, I guess what. What felt like it wasn't a good fit for you, specifically.

The pricing.

Okay.

Yeah.

In what way?

It's just a little too expensive for me.

Gotcha. Okay, so you feel like it's just. It's too much for you as far as, like, the content we'd be creating?

No, more so, like, the. The money side. I think the content side is good. It's just more so like the money side.

Okay. Now, I guess, do you feel like the content we're creating could actually get you to that, like, 300k a month? Because obviously, like, if you don't, then it would be expensive. Right. So I guess, like, do you feel like it's something where you would. You'd be able to make an ROI on it? Because if you, you know, if you don't feel like that, then obviously that's a. That's an issue. Because all the clients we want to work with, we want to make sure they're roiing from the content?

I mean. Yeah, I think so.

So you feel like you would make. You would make a return on that?

Yeah.

Potentially potent. Okay, gotcha. I guess where do you. Where's kind of the hesitation just for you? And this is just for feedback on Maya, but like, where's the hesitation I guess for you guys on your end? Because I know you said potentially there.

Well, Eric, it might just be a me thing. I do believe you guys could actually do something for me.

Okay.

Yeah, no, and this is just me trying to understand where you're coming from too. Like, if it's not a fit, it's not a fit. That's completely fine. I'm just, I'm a little confused on my end because you said it wasn't a fit. Now it is a fit, I guess. Like, how do you. Do you feel like it. It could help or maybe not. And if so, like, is there specific things within that that you feel like could be better?

I mean, now that you kind of break it down like that. I do think this would be a, a good fit.

Okay. I guess. In what way though? Like, how do you feel like it would actually be able to help?

I mean, with, with you guys being able to help me achieve my goals of getting to that 300k a month? I definitely think we can do something with that.

Okay. And I guess, like, what are the keys to the castle for you, per se?

Like in what we do, the content, like the volume of content is very compelling.

Okay, got like you're saying, like how we create it, that's going to help you increase sales for your E Comm store.

Yeah, yeah. And then also the volume. So the amount is very intriguing to me.

Okay, cool pause. So like, I would just get you to start explaining it, but you, you weren't making logical sense there. Now you should, by the end, you should. Before you even go into price, you should get their buy in on whether or not you feel like it's going to work. So you really shouldn't get that. Like, I don't know if it's going to work very much hard at the end because you should have clarified that before you drop the price. Because, like, I'm not going to pitch somebody if they don't feel like it's going to work. Because, like, ethically inside, I don't want to work with somebody if they don't feel like it's going to work. Like, what's the point? There's no reason.

Right.

But like the way you want to conquer the objections. And Greg, this would be good for you as well. And I just hopped in. But like, you're not, your goal is not to get them to say yes. Your goal is to just get them to make a decision that's going to be the best fit for them. And that's where I think a lot of people get it wrong. Where, like, you're trying to close, you're trying to hard. Like, hard. Closing people is when you try to force them into a solution that isn't right for them.

Yeah.

Like, closing and empowering somebody to make a decision is different. What that means is, like, somebody's coming in and they. They're telling you everything's the right fit. They want to do it, but they're just scared or there's just something in their way.

Right.

But deep down, you know you can help them, and they know you can help them. That's when you're like, hey, I'm going to empower you to make a decision here. I'm going to force you. There's no, like, there's no pressure on my end. And that's what I say. Sometimes I'll be like, look, man. Like, some people, when you can get to the end, they're like, well, do I have to make a decision today? You don't have to do anything today. Like, there's no pressure on my head. I'm just. I'm just a mirror reflecting back what you said you wanted. And you said you wanted to get to 400k a month. You said you felt like we could help you get there. And you said that this is within something that you could make work and you would. If you saw an ROI on this, you felt like it'd be a good fit. So I'm just reflecting back what they're saying. Right. So, like, that's where I don't want. I think a lot of creatives get into that. Like, I think sales is sleazy because they think it's hard closing when it's really not. Like, if you say no, that's a win because we, you know, we don't have to take up any more time. You feel like it's a good fit and we're moving on to the next thing.

Right.

Because, like, at the end of the day, who really wants to work with somebody if they say no? Like. Like, if they don't want to work with you, who cares? Like, move on to the next. It's fine. Not a big deal. But. But that's where I'm just trying to get clarity, to get a decision at the end of the call. Yes or no, either way. Yeah. And I'm always taking, like, this curiosity tone where I'm Like, I'm just curious about what it is that you're. Like, you're saying that this is a problem. Oh, like, what do you mean? Like, no worries. Just for feedback on my end. Like, we're always looking to improve. Like, why do you say that? Like, what? Instead of, like, well, why do you say that? Like, the tone of it is very important, if that makes sense.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So the. Like, usually what most people do is they just don't get enough clarity on the call where you just don't even know. Like, well, why are they saying, I need to think about it? Okay, see you. It's like, you didn't. That's not an objection. Like, dive into it. And sometimes it can get a little uncomfortable and weird, but, like, you just. If you always take the frame of, like, I don't care what you do. I'm indifferent if you work with me or not. I'm just here to. To help you, empower you to make the right decision. It's very hard for it to get weird or awkward because, like, you don't care. You can say yes. You can say no. I'm just the mirror here. That's it.

Yeah, I definitely think I should have taken that approach for both calls, because the last one, she was ready to go. She's like, hey, can you take a deposit today? And then she's like, I need to talk to two other people. So scheduled for.

Interesting. Like, so you were about to collect a deposit. That is odd. What. What changed in that? Like, do you have the recording?

Yeah, I do.

Let's. Can we pull up that little snippet? If everyone else is cool with that. Let's do it.

Yeah, we can adjust, you know, having the models.

Okay. I think I would be looking at, like, the standard to start off with. And then one. Some revenue came in. I'll probably move right up to the growth. I feel like every quarter, I would probably be moving up each one. Like, it's kind of scare tapping.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, yeah, to start off with, it would definitely be the standard.

Okay, cool.

So if we're.

We're not having a model with this one, that would bring it down to 1500.

Okay.

You're giving. You're giving extra information you don't need to give there. She was already like, yeah, the standard sounds good. Okay, cool. If you feel good about that, we can move forward on that one. How did you want to take care of it? Boom, right into payment. Instead of, like, I think you asked here, where should we go from here? Yeah, I would just say, okay, cool. If you feel good about that one, why don't we move forward on that? How do you want to take care of that? And then typically, that's when some more objections come up at the end. Also, I think your prices are too low, but we'll talk about that another time.

Yeah, but, yeah, I mean, where should we go from here?

Yeah, see, like, you seem confused at the end. Where she's like. You're like, where should we go from here? She's like, I thought, like, you know, like, where are you? Like, like, I like the. Where should we go from here? In certain places, but in this one, it was misplaced. I would have just been like, cool. How do you want to take care of that? Most of our clients put it on a card or they just do a bank transfer. How do you want to take care of that?

Boom.

So how is this paid out? Like, is it. Is it, like, paid in full, like, that day? Or is it, like, payment options? How does that work?

Yeah, that's a great question. So the majority of our clients just pay in full. Just. We're handling their entire process with everything. But we do have other options, if that's what you're needing.

Okay, I like where you were going in the beginning. Here. Most of our clients pay in full. That's good. I know. I think I taught you that one from our trading, which is good. I like it. But don't bring up other options. So if she's like, yeah, most of our clients pay in full. Okay. Did you need a payment plan? Most of our clients pay in full. Did you need a payment plan? Instead of saying, we. We have other options? Because when I say that, what are the other options? Can I pay less now? How much L. How little can I put down? Right. So, like, that's. That's some of the issue here. Okay.

Okay. So. Okay, cool. And another thing I forgot to actually mention is, are you wanting to do this at a studio?

Yes.

Okay. Did you have a particular studio in mind for this?

No.

Okay, well, yeah, we'll sit you with that as well. Okay. But, yeah, so in regards to that.

Probably should have been talked about in discovery as opposed to here. The other thing here with this is, like, just a little bit of your language pattern. You sound like. And, like, I'm just trying to give you constructive feedback. I hope you take it that way. Cut the ums as much as you can because you feel unsure. I need you to have, like, 100%, 10 out of 10 conviction at the end here. Because if you're unsure during this part, if you. It's going to make her unsure. Like, imagine if you're buying a car from somebody and they're like. I mean, like, here. Here are the. Here are the keys. Like, it's a great car. Like, you're going to be like, is something wrong with the car? Like, what's wrong? Like, like, they're going to feed off your energy. And like, not saying you were like, that level, but I'd say, like, bring it up a notch and lead. Like, be the leader on the call. Cut the ums, cut the US and lead them. But because, like, more than you know. And. And you'll. You'll know this. If you go and, like, buy from other people and get on sales calls, you're just like, yeah, you're listening to what the person's saying, but at the end of the day, you're really listening to how they're saying it. You're like, does this person really believe in what it is that they're selling? Like, is this person, like, really confident in their process, or are they kind of shaky? Cause, like, you could say everything in our script, right? But if you're kind of like, like, shaky on the script, they're gonna be like. They're gonna feed off that energy and be like, I'm not sure. I need to think about it. So that could have been one of the things that triggered your deposit. Your issue at the end. With the deposit.

Yeah, with that. And then once we actually get ready to shoot, let's just say we're shooting around April 8th or April 9th or 10th.

Or go up a little more or go down.

Yeah, keep going. Keep going. Okay, Keep going. What?

We just set the date for payment for our payment and foil. We just click. Or May 15, and that's when I'll be coming on board.

Can I. Yeah, I mean, we can't. We can do that. I can't guarantee we'll have the same pricing, though, just because we're scaling up a little bit.

Okay.

Be careful with that one. You can kind of get yourself in a gimmicky situation if you're like, we might not have the same pricing. What was her thing? She wanted to pay later in May.

Yeah. So initially she was going to, like, pay on call, but then she was like, hey, why don't we just pay in May? Because she wanted to split it up, but she wanted to split it up, like, over a long period. And I was like, I mean, that's okay, but that's not Ideal, I would.

Just say, like, did you need me to do that? Like, is that like, just so I can understand? Because, like, we will accommodate some of our clients based on what they need. Did you need me to do that? And then you need her to, like, kind of walk through why she might need a payment plan. Like, I need to understand, like, why. The other thing is, like, if she wants to pay in May, I would always try to get the payment by saying, like, hey, the reason we typically get it, you know, partially or fully done today, so we can do pre production, we can start the process. We can get you onboarded. Because if you want to shoot in May, it's going to take us X amount of time to get set up before then. Right. So, like, that's why we're setting this up now. So I try to close that gap of time as much as I possibly can to get at least one payment.

Down now so that it might go up in price. We have a day in May.

No.

So if you lock in today.

So you kind of got into this weird, like, yeah, like, oh, like, what if I lock in is like, now you're going to charge me more? Like, it just. I would have left that out.

It's obviously, you're going to keep the second price and even once you do shoot with us.

Okay, so I have a couple of other people that I'm talking to, and so I want to give them a chance to submit their proposals. And the good thing.

So number one, your level of conviction at the end. Number two, that, that I'm gonna charge you more if you come back later. Thing was, like, weirded her out a little bit, and then that caused that. I want to talk to some other people. Objection. Coming out from there.

So I have someone. Today's the 29th, so I have someone on the 2nd and on the 3rd. Can I let you know by the 5th of March, is it?

Yeah, let me know what.

This is it.

Yeah.

No, you guys aren't to.

So.

So you see how she just contradicted herself there? She just said, I want to talk to other people, but you're the only ones I've reached out to. So she's throwing smoke screens because she's uncomfortable right now. Yeah, she feels weirded out. She feels like it's. There's a little bit of the sales resistance and sales pressures raised in the room a little bit. So she's feeling kind of odd. Um, so that's why she's throwing those things at you there where they fit.

I can just. You Know, plug and play, let you know what time and day, what time I'm available because my schedule isn't complete just yet.

The other thing is with females, so the way you handle a female versus a male on a sales call is very different. With females, you have to lean out a lot more. You cannot push them because the way female energy is, is like if you push them, they're out immediately. So you got to be careful of that. That's just like a, just something to know PSA with men, you can kind of tie in a little bit more into their identity. And like, I wouldn't say push, but you can, you can handle objections a little bit more than you would a female energy.

Okay. I mean, if it works in your favor, if you want to just wait till the day of and then just like shoot me an email and say, hey, I want to work on call or hey, I'm moving forward, but be careful of that.

You're saying day of the shoot, let her know or day of the timeline.

So the, she's going to follow up with me on Friday of next week.

Okay.

So I was just saying that.

But yeah, so if, and the other thing too is like if she says, I'm going to follow up with you, I'm not trying to tear everything you say apart, dude, I promise. But like if she, if she, if she says like, I'm going to follow up with you, I'd say, no worries. Like, I could find some time on my calendar to see when I'd be available for you, if it works for you. Just so we don't have to chase each other, each other down. We could find some time on each other's calendars and lock in a set time on Friday because what happens when someone says, I'm gonna follow up with you, your status drops immensely and now they don't, they never follow up and it just drops you to this, like, oh, here's this lower level person I'm gonna shoo away for now.

Right?

It's like, well, I'd have to check my calendar to see if I have any availability on Friday and we could find a time that might work for both of us.

They'll be more ideal.

Perfect.

Yeah.

But yeah, I appreciate your time in a good looking meeting.

Other thing is, we didn't really handle the objection at all. Like, we didn't get clarity. We didn't understand like why she wants to talk to other people and we didn't. I thought you had pushed for a deposit and you didn't really push for A deposit on it either, for the most part. I think you said. Well, what did you say? You said I could. You could put some down. Now the way we would do the deposit close is like first I'd want to identify like, what is the actual issue? Because I don't really know what her problem. Like, I know what her problem is, but she didn't verbalize what the issue is.

Right. So.

So I would have gotten clarity on that. And then if she's like, well, you know, I'm just. I don't know if this is the right fit for me. I need more clarity on how your process works. No worries. Bailin. You know what I could do? I could put together a Monday.com board going over step by step how we would do the shoot, how the pre production would look, how everything would be. Would that help you? Yes, it would. Cool. So for that we take a fully refundable deposit. Just because I'm going to spend the next three or four hours building that out for you. So we take a fully refundable deposit and then we can set up a time in the next couple of days and we'll go over that board to make sure this is what you feel like is the right fit for you. Does that work? Yeah, that would be great. It's fully refundable. There's no commitment. If you decide you see that Monday board, you're like, hey, I hate this. This isn't like, this isn't what I want. No worries, we'll just refund it. It's not a big deal because like you were asking her to commit on the call. But that's like that secondary tier where it's like, let's get some form of commitment. It's refundable and. And we typically see with those deposits about a 70 to 80% close rate, even though they're refundable. Because people see the board, they feel like they want to do it and then they move forward from there. Yeah, it's just a micro commitment before the main commitment. Hopefully that helps. Does that make sense, all that?

Absolutely. At first I'm like, where did I go wrong? And you just breaking everything down. Like, okay, all right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. And just work on those things. So like, work on getting clarity at the end. Just like, cool. Yeah, no worries. Like you want to talk to some other people. It just felt like. It just felt kind of weird at the end. So just work on getting clarity, understanding where she's coming from and then pushing, like I said, and going down that road.

Absolutely.

Cool.

Sounds good. I'll definitely note that for I'll get.

This recording up for you after this as well. All right. I hope you enjoyed that small snippet and I hope you got some value from that. Things you can take into your sales calls to start improving and start closing more deals as well. If you want to learn a little bit more about what we do at Master Filmmaker, I linked a free workshop below going over exactly how we scale video businesses in 2024.