Why Sales Advice On Social Media Is So Confusing (The Real Reason)

If you spend even 5 minutes on YouTube these days, you're going to see all kinds of conflicting sales advice like use scripts, don't use scripts, do follow-up, don't even bother objection handling, just pre-handle everything. And it's extremely confusing. Today I'm going to explain exactly why it's confusing, what those people are actually trying to say, and how you can discern between what's real and what's just complete nonsense. My name is Matt Ryder and I'm a 7-figure earning sales rep. I've had multiple sales-based businesses. I've done sales for people all over the world in many different industries. And today I'm going to break down exactly what you can ignore and what you should be listening to when it comes to conflicting sales advice on YouTube. Okay, so the great debate number 1 is scripts versus no scripts. What you have to remember is that people who are sales coaches online are trying to make money. And so what they're trying to do is convey a message, but also try and appeal to a certain part of you that kind of, you know, confirms the bias. Like if you can't be bothered writing a script, or you've been using a script, but you've been struggling, all of a sudden some successful guy online says like, hey, don't use scripts, then like what that does is it confirms to you that maybe you're doing it wrong. And then if you buy their course, then, you know, potentially you can make more money, right? When people use definitives like don't do this or you must do this, it's a marketing ploy to try and grab your attention and to try and get you to buy something from them. It's rarely going to be extremely good advice, right? One of the reasons why I don't do it is because I don't really agree with it. You know, if you want to buy my stuff and you buy my stuff because you think that I'm good at what I do, not because of some sensationalized, do this, don't do this type bullshit, right? So on the real question is like, why are people saying don't use scripts? A lot of people are saying that that's because it's like, don't restrict yourself to a script and you're going to sound robotic. That's kind of like the most standard kind of, I guess, retort. On the other side, you've got, no, you need scripts because you need process. You need to be able to, you know, follow and adhere to a specific process. And then these people are like, yeah, but that takes away from you actually listening. It's not organic and yada yada. You're never going to connect with the prospect. So both sides are true. However, in my experience, most people will thrive better under having a set script structure, and I'll explain to you why. And there should be some elements of your sales that are sort of unscripted, like you can't script every part of the process. However, being able to create some consistency in sales, I think, is a net positive for most people. The people who are saying don't use a script, because it's going to cause you to be robotic and it's not going to be natural. I think they're kind of forgetting something, which is like every movie or play you've ever watched where you've been sitting there, you've connected with the characters, you've wept and it sounds— all that is completely scripted. So really it's not what the script is, it's the ability for someone to actually execute that script well, which is going to be the kind of the big game changer. Now, I find that most people, if you're a beginner, a script is going to make things a lot easier for you, as long as that script isn't overly complicated with the massive series of if this, then that. So like, if it's a crazy complicated script, then I'd probably go like no script, use a framework. You know what I mean? Over that. But in general, a good script is going to be a great starting point for most people when they want to get better at sales. Now, your script should do a lot of things. One, it should just give you a— your opening line should be nice and very, very clear. They should have the intonations built into it. and you should understand what's being said and why it's being said, especially for things like outbound. And because those opening areas can be very consistent and it gets a little bit harder to stay on track as you go. The next thing a script should do is that it is there to provide like, this is the most efficient pathway available. And then the better you get, the more you can stick on script and it sounds unscripted, which is the same as acting in general. Okay, now I don't think there are any really good arguments for not using a script because I think the people who are arguing for not using scripts are thinking scripts like as someone in a call center, but if you're good at sales, it's the same as being a good actor. You're going to deliver that script well. Now, the elements of the script that are like unscriptable is things like probing and clarifying, like, oh, why is that? What do you mean? How so? These things are like some of the more important areas of a sales call because you're going to get down to like the nitty-gritty. And if you're not doing those things in exchange for asking a whole bunch of sort of pre-formulated questions, and that's not going to be too great. Also, one of the difficulties in scripting is if you're worried about what you're going to say, and you don't listen into the prospect, that can be an issue as well. However, I think that the net positives of a script outweigh the detractors. So in my experience, having a script to follow is a bit of a better way. The next big one I think is, do you focus on handling objections or do you just never get objections and you pre-handle them? I've seen all kinds of like 14-year-old sales coaches saying like, don't worry about objections, just pre-handle them. Use this framework to pre-handle. That is, in my experience of someone who's been in full-time selling for a very long time, utter nonsense. You need to focus on both. Okay. If you're only focusing on pre-handling, the chances are your call is just going to kind of blow out into this extremely long and nebulous thing. Right. And like you're, you're trying to sort of like you're staying in places too long and not moving on because you're going to try and sort of like pre-handle everything that could, that could sort of be done when in reality, like people were going to have concerns after a pitch and that's completely normal. And if you're saying like, oh, if you do a good job, you get an objectionless close, like that's, that's nonsense. Like You can do everything perfect, 100% perfect, like textbook, it's ninja, and they still don't buy. You can also completely shit the bed and get into a car and be like, "Technologia!" And they buy the car. "Technologia!" "Technologia!" "Technologia!" So what do we learn from that? We learn from the fact that there are very few definitives in sales except for the more people you pitch, the more sales you will make. That's about the only definitive. And the people who are saying just objection handle your way out of everything is also stupid. There are certain objections that are extremely difficult to overcome when you get them. One of them being like a price shock objection. So I did a whole video on price shock down below. I also go through it in pretty exhaustive detail in my school community. So if you want 7 days free in there, we have almost 40 training sessions a week and almost 20 coaches now for like $149 a month or $69 a month. If you don't want the coaching, you just want to watch the coaching sessions, not live, right? 7-day free challenge down below. It's called Fuck the Gurus because Fuck the gurus, right? The people who are saying just handle objections, like if you get a price shock, like, whoa, I did not think it would be that expensive. That's a very difficult objection to overcome. Don't get me wrong, there are handles and you can do it. But if you get it a lot, you should just pre-handle it, right? Like if you get a Christmas objection and it's January 20th or it's December 22nd, and you have not done anything to pre-handle Christmas objection, like, what are you— that's a you thing, mate. Like, what are you doing? So the answer is you do both. If people are telling you to do one or the other, it's because they're trying to sell you the course that bends towards one way or the other, right? That's not real selling. And again, there's nothing wrong with people trying to make money online. I make money online. I totally get it. I have no problem with it. However, I think that some of that stuff is a little bit disingenuous. And there's always going to be a middle ground. And with sales and communication, there's sort of no right, there's just what works. And chances are all those things will work if they're executed really well. But you're sort of better off like having some things in your arsenal, having everything in your arsenal. Now, if I had to pick one, I would say pre-handling would be an easier skill set. But as long as you don't go too crazy with it, because more people are going to see that, like if you have the funnel of sales, people drop out at all different levels, right? And so So the people who like give you an objection, it's just less than people that you speak to, right? So like that's probably the answer, but I would just work on both, but neither would be like the top of my list of things to get good at. Okay, now this is always a good one. Don't do follow-up. And then there's people who are like, do follow-up. Now I sit very much in the camp of do follow-up, okay? But I'm going to explain to you where the don't do follow-up comes from. Okay. So generally speaking, people who are saying don't do follow-up, they're selling highly emotional B2C. Okay. So why would you say don't do follow-up? Well, there's two main reasons. Okay. Neither of which are particularly flattering. One is because like it's a buy or die mentality. So it's like just push them so hard they either buy or tell you to fuck off. Like that's the reality of that type of selling. If you're sort of spruiking that. And so like they're going to teach those things and they're going to teach like the sort of mindset wizardry. Here's a trap and like, here's what you do and here's how you get that person. Here's how you twist them up and make them cry. Yeah, yeah, right. The other thing is that they just haven't learned how to discern the difference between like pushing someone and being aggressive. I can push someone very hard on a sales call and not get hung up on. I didn't used to be able to do that. I used to just like pound them, right? Head into pound town, huh? But these days, like, I can, I can objection handle for an hour and it never gets combative. Right? One of the reasons for that is like, I'm not passing judgment and I'm not going to beat them over the head with a mindset bat because like, I don't believe in the cope. Okay. And this is the second thing. Sales trainers like to teach a lot of this stuff because then when someone doesn't overcome it, then they can blame either the mindset of the prospect or the mindset of the sales rep. Right. And a lot of the time they can use that to get get the sales rep to buy more shit. It's like, you gotta think about an objection. Hey man, like, I know when we spoke about going into my higher level program, you also had to go away and think about it. So like, maybe the fact that you haven't overcome your own objection means that you can't overcome theirs until you overcome that within yourself and give me more of your money. Okay, now listen, it's not to say that there's not an element of truth to But that is the tactic that's going to be employed a lot of the time. Also, it gives the sales rep like a cope and it gives the salesman, as is the sales trainer, the ability to go like, oh, they had a bad mindset. It's like, or was the value not as powerful? There wasn't enough urgency driven, like yada, yada, yada. Okay. So those are like the main things. Now I think that follow-up is a fantastic tool. You literally can't do any B2B without it. Like I just recently sold Cardone Ventures and Cardone's main company into Dialer and it took me a lot of follow-up. It's not because any of them or myself have a bad mindset. It's just because like there are logistical things that need to be done. So like when I see someone say don't do follow-up, it says to me very clearly that one, that's a good sales tactic because like lazy sales reps don't want to do follow-up. So to have someone say like you don't have to do it, I can show you the way, that's a good way to get money. The second thing is it's a good way to put like an emotional coping mechanism in place for them to feel like they didn't do anything wrong and they couldn't do anything better. Maybe they just like the person had a bad mindset. And it also gives a sales trainer a really good ability to be able to like mold and manipulate that person into like buying the next thing through not being able to overcome their own objections. Okay. So that's like kind of what that means. Also, it's like it's very clearly you've never sold anything but highly emotional, probably dating or something like that. Even sales training. Sales training is a very difficult and easy thing to sell. You get to do a lot of things that you would never get to do outside of it. It's a very non-transferable skill set. So sales reps that have really only sold sales training, they have a very, very I can see it because I sold more sales training than all of them combined. But like, I can see the frameworks they're using and they're almost all very specific to selling sales training, which is a completely non-transferable skill. A lot of people ask me to break down my calls when I was selling at 7th Level. I just say there's no point because the things that I'm doing there is basically a giant theatrical performance of like, look how good I am at sales, look how much I can manipulate you in front of you. And do you want to learn how to do that too? Right? So the things that you can do are just ridiculous. It's hard to do, but once you know how to do it, it's very effective. Which brings nicely to the next one, which is like sales as a skill versus sales as a mindset. Those of you who watch me for long enough, I'm not a mindset guy. Like, and you would say, but that's because you have a good mindset. And I would say, shut the fuck up, pussy. I don't know why I would say it like that because I would talk like me. But anyway, I'm sure Aiden will put me in the most flattering light possible. Is sales a mindset? Is sales a skill? So I think sales is a skill-based thing that, uh, when you just do the actions required, you get a pretty good outcome. Okay, there is activity and there is skill. Those are the two main things that people need to do in order to be successful in sales. Now, if you have like, uh, I guess we could call it if you have a mindset block that stops you from doing the activity Like, I don't know what to tell you, mate. Like, I'm not here to fix that for you. I don't fucking care. Like, I've never had that problem in my entire life. I will overwork myself to death, right? I'm an ex-special forces sniper. I've never had an issue working hard. I don't understand, empathize, or sympathize with you in the slightest. Okay? Now, if you're like clinically depressed and you have like an actual thing, then I think you should go and get help for that. Um, but like outside of that, it's just like if you just work an 8-hour day like you work at Starbucks, like you'll probably be a top performer in your company. Okay, um, and then if you're not, it's a skill set issue. So, but you have to maintain the activity, right? And then over time your skill set will get better. It took me a really long time to get good at sales. I'm not naturally good at sales. Like, um, I did a whole video on that, uh, which I'll link down below, which is like one of the reasons why I think I'm a good sales coach is because I wasn't naturally good. So I had to really try figure this thing out with a very systematic approach, which is why I can articulate it quite well. And so like sales requires, I think the only mindset thing that you could say is that like you don't get upset by rejection. I don't personally see it as rejection because like they're, they're not buying me, they're buying a product. Like, like I can see how like asking someone out on a date and getting rejected is rejection. Like I can, I can understand that. Like that would feel bad. So no head. However, like, this is sales, so it's business. So separating that, you can say, Matt, because you have a good mindset. The thing about people who are like mindset people, like everything relates back to mindset, and it's like, okay, whatever. Um, I think like if you, if you put things in place, if you're putting barriers in your own way, like if I have to do this morning routine, if I have to do XYZ, like all that's doing is like if I don't get my coffee, matcha coffee, and show my butthole to the sun in the morning, then like I can't be good at sales today. It's like, that's so fucking stupid because if you just like memorize the script, understood the tonality, like really studied the script, like it was a document that you were trying to understand and then worked for 8 hours a day and then like tried to get better at one thing at a time, like just one thing, you would get so much better at sales so fast. It's crazy, right? Like over the course of a year, you'd be so much better. And if you're thinking a year isn't a long time, you're 12, right? So like over the course of one year, you can probably triple to quintuple your effectiveness as a sales rep, but it all starts with like an 8-hour day. So is it mindset? Is it skill? I would say that, uh, it's, it's a skill-based activity that everybody can learn. All you have to do from a mindset perspective, it's just work a full day and I think you'll be fine. So I would say it leans far more on the skillset side, but in reality, I think activity is the most important thing that people can focus on. Like I won't, Speak to anyone from a training perspective if they're not being super active. Last one is neutral versus hypey energy. Think like Jeremy Minor, Andy Elliott. Now both people are extremely effective salespeople. Okay. And I'm not pigeonholing either of them into saying only those things, but I'm just going to use them as like examples of like the sort of two extremes. Okay. I think that in general, The average rep would do far better leaning more towards the Andy side. Okay. The more confidence you have, the more room for error you have. Now, does that mean that like you should be that all of the time in all sales situations? No. Am I like that? No. But I do have a lot of conviction when I talk and I talk with authority. And so that's what is being espoused over here. Now, the neutral is great, when you have that. Okay. So if you are someone who's like super passive as a person, like you're more just gentle as a person, I'm going to say meek, but I don't mean that in a really bad way, right? Like if, like if somebody cut in line, you wouldn't say anything and you go for like the more leaned out kind of detached, you're going to sound like a pussy. No one's going to buy from you. So like you channeling your inner Andy is going to do so much for you. It's not even funny. Now, on the other side, But if you're on the Andy side, channeling some of that neutrality is going to balance you out nicely, which is sort of where I sit. It's high levels of conviction, but using neutral language and like tonality in order to diffuse some of that as to not sound pushy. Okay. The answer is the extremes on both sides are probably not the most effective way, but if you had to err on one side, I would go high levels of conviction, higher levels of energy, because you're going to demand a lot more respect from the prospect just in general. And I would say at the super highest, most nuanced way in sales, that once you have everything right, I'd say that the more detached, sort of like neutral way is a much more finessing way to be able to sell absolutely anything when you don't have that high level of charisma. But you must have the confidence and the authority behind what you say in order for that to not make you totally shit to bed. So both are correct, but they both have caveats on them. A lot of it's got to have to do with you. So if somebody jumps in front of you, if you're like, oh, dickhead, get out, chances are a little bit more neutral for you from where you are. Like if you're over here, bring it back more neutral. And if you'd be like, I would never say anything, then like chances are you need a little bit of Andy in your life. So guys, I hope that helps. So that kind of helps to demystify some of the things about like the conflicting nature of sales online. And yeah, if you want like what I think is probably the most comprehensive course available on sales, go down below. You can join my school group for free for 7 days. You can go watch all the content and fucking leave after 7 days for like hair. And if you have low pickup rates and you're sick of it and you want to speak to more of your prospects, go to dah.io and we will sort you out. All right, bye.