Ryan Dohrn argues that 30-to-60-minute sales calls are outdated. Instead, ask prospects for 5, 10, or 15-minute slots. They're more likely to say yes, you can judge fit quickly, and shorter meetings often close deals faster than longer ones.
Hey friends and fans, Ryan Dohrn here. This week we are specifically talking about managing your time on every sales call, but more importantly than that, it's about asking for less time for every sales call. All right, let's spend a little bit of time on this talking about time. All right, for the next 60 minutes, I'd like to sit here with you and I want you just to stare me deeply in the eyes for 60 minutes. Well, I mean, would you do it? How about this? For the next 10 seconds, I want you just to sit in silence and stare at me eye to eye or listen to my voice or listen in silence for the next 10 seconds. Are you ready? Here we go. Okay, that's only 5 seconds and most of you are going crazy. Why do I give you this example? Because every single meeting we have with a customer doesn't have to be 60 minutes. Every single meeting we have with a customer Doesn't have to be 45 minutes. A lot of cases it doesn't need to even be 30 minutes. So why is it in the business world that every meeting is 60 minutes? It is what it is because we let it be what it always has been. When I'm prospecting folks, what I like to do is ask for 10 or 15 minutes. In some of your cases, you might ask for, say, 5 or 10 minutes. Friends, remember something: you found it slightly uncomfortable just to sit and, and not do anything for 5 seconds, much less 60 Here's the problem. Many salespeople before us have asked for 60 minutes and it's taken 90 minutes, or they've asked for 30 minutes and it took 60. So people before us have kind of ruined it, so we have to start over. Okay, remember the 3 pieces of my sales process. I'm really great at prospecting. That's the first piece. Second piece, in-progress meetings. That's what I'm talking about now. And then the third is retaining customers for a lifetime. When I'm prospecting people, I'm just asking for 10 minutes of time. I'm asking for the lowest possible bit of time compared to every other salesperson that's out there in almost all cases. Now, don't be weird and say, I just need 7 and a half minutes, or I saw a blog the other day, just ask for 9 minutes. Okay, that just comes across as being salesy and kind of weird and awkward. Ask for 5 or 10 minutes. Make it seem pretty casual. Hey Bill, I'd love to just chat with you for 5 or 10 minutes. I promise just 10 minutes about what we can do to help with that. Or, hey Bonnie, I saw on your website that you're promoting the XT200. I've got a great idea to help you with that. Could I just get 5 minutes to share with you what I'm thinking? When you ask for a small bit of time and they agree to a small bit of time, then just put a little itty-bitty 30-minute meeting on their calendar, or 10 minutes, or whatever you ask for, 15 minutes. It's a little sliver of time on the calendar, and when you do that, it doesn't look like a big commitment. Let's just say, for example, that a lot of the meetings that you're hosting Interesting. People don't show up for those meetings. Well, a lot of times it's because there's this big block of 60 minutes sitting on their calendar and they've got a lot of stuff to get done. And they're like, oh my gosh, I've got to give 60 minutes to Ryan Dohrn or to this salesperson. Little slivers of time, typically people are like, ah, it's just 10 minutes. Let me talk to him and let him, let me get him off my plate or let me get her, he, she, whatever off of my radar. Friends, we need to be asking for less time. Now, you might be saying— if you want to get more meetings. Now, you might be saying to me, oh, Ryan, you don't understand my product. You don't understand my marketing options. You don't understand our services. It takes me way more than 10 minutes to explain what we've got to offer. Well, friends, I'm not suggesting that even I, and I'm decent at it, can do a full sales pitch in 10 minutes. But at the end of that first 10 minutes that you requested, at the end of the first 10 minutes that you've been granted, If honestly, at that point in time, you'll know if they want the conversation to go forward. As a matter of fact, you could simply say to them, hey, that's my 10 minutes. I asked for 10. I want to be respectful of your time. Do you want to talk some more about this or is that enough? And sometimes, not very often, they'll say, you know, I'm good. It's really not for me. Most of the time they'll say, if you're doing a good job sharing success stories and stuff like that, most of the time they'll say, oh yeah, no problem. That's great. Let's just keep talking about it. Now, again, though, I don't want to take that for granted and go for 60 minutes. I always want to be cognizant, reading the room, looking at somebody on the Zoom call and kind of seeing, hey, maybe I should wrap up. See, a lot of times we just don't understand when the meeting really needs to come to a very natural end. I highly doubt that any prospect of yours is going to say to you, you know, the reason that I met with you today and the reason I'm buying from you is because we had a 60-minute meeting. As a matter of fact, as early as this morning, I was meeting with a prospect We were done in about 20 minutes, and I said, hey, thank you so much for the 20 minutes. And this person said to me, hey, Ryan, this has been one of the most efficient sales calls I have ever been on. Any chance you could teach my team to do that? And I'm like, yes, I can. Friends, ask for less time if you want to close more deals. Ask for less time if you want to book more meetings. I mean, those meetings could go on for 60, 90, or even 2 days. Who knows? But I believe the less time you ask for, the more likely it is that you're actually going to get a meeting. with a prospect. Friends, never forget, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it, and they're not. We're not crazy. This is a great career. It'll feed your family for a lifetime. Hey, love to come and speak to your team. Love to come and work with your group at your national sales meeting. Reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. All right, we'll see you next week.
