Live Q&A - Sales Process For Closing Video Deals

You ain't gotta ask me, we can hit the road, got room in the back seat? Boys from the back street? Come so far? Just singing over rap beats? See you on the way up? Only looking down, mama? Seeing where we came from? You ain't gotta wait up? Never gonna slow back down? There's no stopping now? They can't take us down? There's no reason to fight this feeling? Cause I love this life? Everything's all right? And there's no reason to stop believing? Love this light? And the future's bright? And there's no reason to fight this feeling, yeah, love this life, yeah, love this life? Ye love this life, yeah, love this life? I won't wait around for the cur? Life is not a race, it's on one big show? I can see it now that the truth is told? Feels like letting go? Love this life? It feels all right? And there's no reason to stop believing? Love this life? The future's bright and there's no answer to fight this feeling, yeah, love this life, yeah, love this life, yeah, love this life, yeah, love this life, yeah, love is life, is life? Your love is life? Yeah, love is life? Your love is life? Cuz I love this life? Everything's all right? And there's no reason to fight the scre. Yeah, love this life, yeah, love this life, yeah, love this life.

What is going on, guys? We're back for another live. We missed the past couple weeks because of power outages and WI fi and all that fun stuff, but we're back. I'm here with Hakeem, the man, the myth, the legend. You just got off a sales coaching call, didn't you?

I did. Let's go.

I kind of want to keep the theme of this call more around sales. So I guess, like, tell us, like, what did you guys go over? What are some of the things, the themes, things people are running into, like, what does that kind of look like? And what are some of the conversations you had there?

Yeah. So based on this last week, the most common concept is our guys just immediately going right into reducing their price points on the calls without having the firm conversation of making sure. When this person says it's too expensive, like, making sure, that's actually valid. Okay. That was the main theme there.

So they're just more so, like, going. And this is maybe people who are a little bit more inexperienced at sales, they're just going directly to, like, a. A downsell or, like, lowering the prices, like, okay, gotcha. Why do you think they're. Why do you think that is? Like, why do you think people kind of do that? Just like a coping mechanism or. Like.

I mean, the biggest thing with that is people seem to think that it's expensive is a universal thing, but at the end of the day, like, that's a very arbitrary thing. It can mean many things to many different people.

Yeah.

So the whole thing we went down is, like, when they say it's expensive, is that. Do they mean that you charge them 15 grand? They have 15 grand, and they don't think it's worth it? They're uncertain about it, or is it just. You're quoting them 15 grand and they have three grand and they're. They're rubbing two pennies together? Like. Like, you just don't know until you. You find that out.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And what do you typically recommend? Like. Like when. When somebody does say, hey, it's too expensive? Because I'm sure a lot of people watching this get that a lot.

Right.

And let us know in the chat if you guys get that. Like, you have clients saying, hey, it's too expensive. Like, what is that really? Maybe a symptom of. Is it, like. Because I usually say it's like a symptom of, like, discovery. I think it's a symptom of a lot of things. But what do you feel like is that. That's kind of a symptom of. Most of the time people are saying.

Yes, it is very much so an issue upstream with discovery. However, more often than not, it comes down to them being very eager to pitch their services before getting, like, a solid confirmation that the person you're talking to actually wants this thing.

Yeah, I. I said that because I was talking to. I did a case study with, gosh, why can't I remember anybody's names? Today we're gonna do okay. I posted it Yesterday on my YouTube. I did case it with one of our clients. But, you know, one of the big things he said, like, that was eye opening when he joined the program was like, sales. I think a lot of creatives have this, like, weird. These. This weird, like, aversion to sales, where they're like, oh, it's this icky thing where it's like, I don't want to be salesy.

Right.

And that's how he felt before he came in. But really, what we felt like and what we kind of talked about on that call was like, it's more salesy to do it the way most creatives do it, where they just, like, send a proposal. They're like, here's my prices. Buy it or don't buy it. Like, don't worry about it. I don't care. Right. Because you're not actually taking the time to, like, understand what it is that somebody needs. And, like, to your point where it's like, they're too eager maybe to, like, drop. Drop the, you know, price or, like, what is they do or. Let me tell you about how great I am. Right. It's like, take some time in the first half of that call to shut up, ask them questions about themselves, and just genuinely see if you can help them at the end of the day. You know what I mean? I don't know what your thoughts are on that, but, like, that's what we see. That's what I see a lot is like, they're just too eager.

Yeah, it's exactly that. Which is. It even goes. It just. It's a linchpin for everything else, which is.

Yeah.

I tell our guys, it's like, if you get to the end of the meeting and you feel like you're, like, absolutely exhausted, then that means that you did way, much, way more talking than you actually needed to.

Yeah.

So it's just more of, like, asking more questions throughout the entire call. And then have people come to the conclusion that what you offer is their next progression rather than you overly suggesting that throughout the whole time and then just telling them about that?

Yeah, because I was talking to Cameron, one of our clients, on a coaching call, too, and he was like, I. I reviewed one of his calls, and, like, he's in sales, so he does a very good job. But he did get a little bit eager in the beginning where the person's like, yeah, I have, you know, I need this type of content shot for my xyz. And then he just jumped in. He's like, yeah, here's how amazing we. Here's what we could do. Here's how amazing it is. Here's what it looks like. Instead of kind of leaning back and being like, hey, you know, let me understand more about what it is that you actually are doing, how we can possibly help. And then, like, actually taking the approach of, like, I want to see if I can actually help you, not sell you.

Right.

And I think sometimes people are like, I just want the sale.

And.

And the client feels that. And they're like, oh, this is like, he's just trying to sell me. It's just. It's one of those things. Right. And then they just shut down immediately. Yeah. Like, even you and I had a conversation about it. This week about, you know, just like takeaways as the team in general, it's like, stay more reserved because, like, they're the ones with the problem, not you at the end of the day, you know? Yeah, Yeah. I think that's huge. But I think like, a lot of times we just get so excited, especially creatives. We're like, we, we love what we do.

Right.

And we get so excited to like, hey, let me tell you about how amazing it is what we could do. But the client just hears want, want, want, and they just tune it out and they're just like, eh, you know, I just, I, I don't want to, I don't want to hear that, but I guess. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, the, the biggest thing there is. I think it's just a lot of people, they're just very eager to like, get their services out there.

Yep.

But then it's like, again, it goes, again, we talk a lot about like, framing and things as a doctor throughout the entire call, which is like, you got, you got folks wanting to prescribe a solution without taking a proper diagnosis. And if you do that in the.

Medical world, no one's gonna trust you, man.

You're dealing with some potential, you know, lawsuits there. You know that, that's malpractice. So what I say to the internal clients is like, you're committing malpractice in like a business context.

That's good.

So it's just being more. Being more willing to be a doctor throughout the entire call and, you know, being really just taking your time. Which brings up another point. The thing is, people are very quick and easy to take what's typically a 30 to 45 minute conversation, and they try to condense it into six minutes so then they could talk about their packages.

Yeah.

Versus that if you're just more willing to slow things down a bit, that yields way greater results. And you get, you get way better trust and buy in as a result of not just shoving somebody into something that they don't even actually need because.

They feel rushed too, you know, like, how would you feel if you got on a call with somebody and you were really hoping that they would take some time to understand your needs, what kind of content you need for your business, and then they just like rushed through the process to tell you about their packages. Like, you'd probably feel like that person doesn't really care about you. And so like, there's not a lot of trust that's been built there. And I think, like, like, to your point, too. It's like they, you know, that could be malpractice in the medical world. So it's like, why are you not treating it the same way in. In the sales conversation? You know? And I think, like, a lot of times we just. It comes from inexperience. Maybe it comes from some of that. But I'm curious, like, anybody watching this, drop some comments down below. Like, what are your top sales questions?

What are the.

What are the objections you get? What are some of the struggles you have? We'd love to answer a couple questions here. This is going to be a little bit of a shorter live. We're happy to go into any questions you guys have. It doesn't also have to be sales related, but that's kind of the topic we're going to be on right now. But, Hakeem, you've been in sales for how long? Long time.

I mean, quite a while. We'll just call it almost four years at this point.

And I think I was talking to one of the clients about this, too. I think sales is very much a kind of self discovery thing, too, because, like, you have to learn how to be more detached as a person. And I think sometimes a lot of times that's troubling or tough for people sometimes. So it's like you have to almost, I guess, like, tell me more about kind of your journey with it. Like, how is that? Because I guess for me, it was always like, I had to be. It had to be more detached. I had to care about the client's outcome. I needed to put them above myself. Like, what's kind of your journey been throughout your. Your kind of sales? Yeah, epiphanies.

I mean, I mean, detachment's been a big one. But from, for me, personally speaking, in my early years when I first got into sales, like, I've been in a few different industries, sold cars, did, like, some financial services, but again, in hindsight, I wasn't very good at those initial jobs. And again, because it's very much so based on production, either, you know, you're bringing, you know, more money into the business than your desk costs, or you're not. And I was actually fired from my first couple of sales gigs. So naturally, over time, it was like my, like, oh, radar, like, went off like crazy when I went into a new company because, like, man, if I don't perform, it's going to be, you know, doing more of the same. But over time, what I learned, it's sales is as stressful as it is. It's a very Beautiful thing because you get to determine, you know, how much you get out of it. But also I made it less about me and it made it more about like, hey, like I get to, I get to talk to people today and I get to help somebody out. Yeah. And then when I changed my whole ethos, I'm like, how many people can we help today? Rather than me being more self serving. Yeah. Naturally the detachments started being a lot easier to come into place and then, you know, things have been far better than they were. It's been a very transformational process. But it didn't happen right, right out of the gate. It took me many, many years. Which is why some of the, some of the guys we talked to where they're just started running ads like 3 weeks ago and they're like, man, I, I suck at sales. I hate this. And I'm like, man, how many calls have you taken? Like, oh, I've taken four calls. Yeah, well, man, it's like we haven't even scratched the surface yet. So I think it's just, I think it's just the concept of like sales is through and through. It is very difficult. But it is something that could be improved upon over time. And I think people just, they're very quick to self judge of them not being good at it, even though it's, you know, they're very, It's a skill.

It's a skill like anything else, you know, so it's like you can get better at it, you can practice it. And I was talking to Felix the other day and he was like, you know, how do I just become more genuinely curious? I'm like practicing your everyday conversations, like when you're talking to somebody, like genuinely care about where they're coming from and listen. And I think like half of like most people's like marriages, relationships, like problems could be solved if all they did was focus on actually listening to what the other person's saying and like actually like listen to it before you're thinking about what it is that you're going to say next. And I think a lot of people struggle with that. But it's like if you just, they'll tell you what they need to buy. Like oftentimes people will tell you, I need this to buy. I'm looking for this. Like this is the type of person I want to work with. Most people just don't listen. And like, I think it's always fun because you and I talk about this a lot. But it's like go through someone else's sales Process, and it'll tell you a lot about your own. Because, like, if you go through someone else's sales process, you get on a call, you're like, man, that guy didn't listen to me. He didn't care about what I said. He wasn't hearing me. And you're like, how many times do I do that on the call?

Right?

It's like, how many times am I just trying to shove a package down somebody's throat or thinking about that?

Right.

It's like, it. You have to really think about how you listen to other people. And that's huge because, like, it's not that hard if you just have good communication a lot of times, you know?

Yeah. I mean, yeah, because I think the misconception is people think, like, there's the sales you. And then there's the actual, like, person where they think that, okay, like, the minute I close out all my apps and I leave my desk, then it's back to being a real person. But it's like, no, like, who. Who you are in real. In real life should be the person you bring on the calls. Because if you're very authentic, authentically like yourself, then a lot of what you say lands rather than seem like a very contrived thing that seems very fake.

People try to be a different person sometimes on these calls.

Yeah.

I think, like, they have to be a different character, I think. But it's. You just are trying to be you, and you're just trying to listen to what the other person is saying. And we always say, like, within our team, too, it's like we're just trying to solve problems on the call. It's like, you get on that call, you try to figure out, hey, what's that problem that client, that person's going through? How can I make them aware of that problem?

Right.

And then how can I talk them through how we're going to solve that problem? And that's it. That's literally all it is at the end of the day. It's not. There's not some magical thing or like some catchphrase you say, or you have this one liner that does whatever. Like, the more and more we get into sales, I think the more we realize it is more of like a. You just have to genuinely solve people's problems. And if they feel like you can solve their problem and you built a gap of where they are to where they want to be, then they're going to buy from you. Right. Or they're going to find a way to buy from you if they don't have the money right now to buy from you, and that's really all it comes down to. And then also just like having case studies, having supporting content, having trainings that you can send your people through before they get on the phone with you to, like, just give them as much information as. As humanly possible.

Right.

I mean, you know a lot about this. It's like when you talk to somebody who's gone through a lot of our content versus someone who hasn't, it's a vastly different experience.

Way different. Way different.

Yeah.

Yeah. Because I get, again, at the end of the day, it's like. And again, just candid. Like, what we do is definitely not cheap by any means. But then it's like sometimes the reality is that again, I. And I know we're very big, like, high performers. Like, oh, numbers, numbers, close deals. But sometimes you gotta just read the room. And the reality is sometimes the best thing for somebody is to not sell them. Yeah. Right out of the gate. Because. Because, you know, if we.

If we.

We're having a call, you know, on a Monday, and the person just found us on a Sunday, Sunday evening beforehand, and they only saw your ad one time and they know nothing about you, then it's like, okay, yes. Then it makes more sense where it's like, I'm not gonna expect them to, you know, go, you know, marry us. You know, we got to take him out to dinner first, you know, More or less. Yeah. So I. I think it's just people want to be very lazy about these things. They think, like, in this day and age, all you have to do is just, oh, I'm running inbound, you know, call from, you know, from ads. So that means they should close, has to buy. Yeah, but that's just not. That's not true. Like, you have to be a sales professional through and through.

Yeah.

And then you gotta. You gotta get people to enjoy the whole entire client experience. And for me, even if it's off, like, the folks who I take the time to, like, do the boring work and send them some materials to get to know the company better, get to know you better. Way different dynamic. And the. The results are exponentially of even better experience.

Really great clients too, because they're bought in the process. They believe in that we're doing. And same thing for everyone when they're running. When you're taking sales calls, it's like have case studies, have supporting material, have stuff that they can go through prior to the call.

Right.

All of that stuff is so, so important. Because it really does get them to know, like, and trust you more. Right. And that's what people need to buy from somebody. Like, there's no, like, oh, if I say this one thing they're going to buy, it's like, that's not how it works. Like, they need to know, like, and trust you. Be indoctrinated with content that you have, believe in the services that you offer. Right. And then that conversation, you don't have to be salesy, it's just about figuring out what is that problem and then how you can help them solve it. Right. So that's key. Absolutely. Morgan says, I'm putting together price sheets for full scale video marketing services for a client. They're leaning towards a retainer, but simultaneously want my assistance in building a studio in house. Yeah, I would just, I would put together packages for retainers and then I put together packages like a package with a retainer plus like a one off studio build in and have like the studio priced out as well. And then Kylie says hi from Florida. What is going on? If you guys have any questions, we're going to wrap up here in just a few. But let us know if you have any questions around scaling video business, getting more clients, sales processes, all that jazz. But we'll keep going here for a couple more minutes. But these are just kind of, kind of some of the lessons we've learned along the way. But yeah, I do think it's, it's, it is super key to have the supporting materials. And I talk to a lot of clients like Dan daily on where like you won't always close the person on the first call. That's just not realistic. Sometimes, like, sometimes they need to go through some of your email sequences, some of your content and then get nurtured and then, you know, people will buy maybe a month later, two months later, three months later. I know, Hakeem, you've had deals that have bought like a year later. Right. It's like we don't want that. But like a percentage of your calls will likely, you know, convert later on down the line. You don't just want to give up on them and not have anything for those people as well when it comes to marketing, you know, 100.

I mean, me personally, I'd rather somebody take eight months, but then they'll come on board and they're a rock solid client and they absolutely crush it versus somebody who bites on the first call because, you know, I, I try to like artificially make them have to do that and then we run the risk of them having a bad experience, they leave a bad review, they charge back like, you just never know what somebody can do in that, in that instance. So yeah, you know, it all comes down to. I was even saying this on a coaching call last week, which is not every single call. Like you're gonna talk to five people. Yeah. It's going to be, the essence is going to be very similar, but it's going to be very different interactions. And you know, it's just a matter of just. You have to, you have to be very like, you know, flowy, like water. Right. You gotta be able to adjust on the fly and just, you know, be able to trust that you will say the right things in the moment by just focusing on the person that's in front of you.

Yeah.

And I think that's where like sometimes when I give people a script, I don't love it because they feel like they're bound to the script. It's like you need to, you just need to hear the other person communicate with them. Find that problem, solve that problem. Show your, show them how you're going to solve that problem and then ultimately, you know, demonstrate what that looks like from a price perspective to work with you. And like if you follow those kind of frameworks, you're going to say the right things. Just be a human being at the end of the day. Don't be someone who's weird, don't be salesy.

Right.

That's ultimately what it comes down to. So cool guys. Well, any other questions for us? Morgan says I usually do one offs and maybe a bulk deal with three to four videos. I'm unfamiliar with the retainer sheet. If they want three to five video posts per week all across platforms.

Yeah.

So if you go to our, if you comment retainer or DMS retainer, we have like a retainer price sheet that you can take a look at as well. We'd be happy to share some stuff with you there. Otherwise guys, if you have any other questions, drop them down in the comments. We'll give you a couple seconds here. Otherwise we have to run to another meeting and work with the internal clients here. So I'll give you guys just a second, see if anyone else has any other questions. Yeah, and then I'm gonna go over a couple wins as well. Here, let me pull it up. One second. Forgot to do that at the beginning. Man got wins, wins, wins. Let's see. Allow. All right, everybody see this? So we got a couple wins and he's talking about VO3 as far as creating some stuff for clients. Sebastian just got his first lead. They're making over 100k a month. This lead that they brought in Frank got, he posted his ad yesterday. Just got a booked Zoom call for Friday, which is huge. Daniel, and this is. Daniel was the one I was talking to in the case study the other day. I don't know why I was just blanking on the name. He was the one who's telling me that, like, that, like, shut up and, like, listen. Mindset is what helped him close this 18k deal right here. Because it's like, you gotta listen to people, man. He would just like, go into calls and be like, look at how great I am and let's talk about me. And like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like, people would just be like, okay, cool, like, I'm tuning you out, like Charlie Brown's parents, right? But yeah, that's what helped him close that 18k deal, which is huge. I love it. A couple other ones will. 17 years in video business. They now have 50 active leads, all qualified in the medical industry that they're working on closing. Matt's been crushing it with his ads. And then we got a bunch of other wins as well that we'll keep you guys posted on. Any other questions before we sign off here, guys? Let's see, let's see, let's see. Checking Instagram. Perfect. All right, guys, well, if you want to learn more about how we can help with your video business, feel free to click the link below. Schedule demo with our team or I have a bunch of stuff on YouTube on like, free content, more training, stuff like that. And if we see on the inside, we'd love to work with you. Outside of that, have a good rest of your day. Catch you guys in the next one.

You. Yeah, I'm feeling like a brand new me.