Ok I don't know about you, but I HATE making phone calls: dentist appointments/ hairdressers/ even calling clients, I know I have to do it, and I'm (apparently) an adult. But when an unknown number rings me out of the blue I *PANIC*! Over the years I have gotten better at these things and I now now longer have to write out or rehearse what Im going to say on the phone (to the hairdresser) but I figured there may still be some people out there who need this kind of help if I did.
Mental prep: it is a person you are talking to, and they need your services. So don't shy away from making the call when the next person who answers the call might get the sale and not be anywhere near as good as you at what you do! Adjust your tone, speed and pitch according to your target market. If they are talking slow, talk slow with them.
"Hi this is Susan from the Dr Suz Squad. How have you been?"
<Allow them a moment to process what you said.> They might respond good.
"I realise you are busy so I wont take up more than two minutes of your time, but saw your inquiry and just had to reach out and discover more about you and how I can best help you with your goals".
"First of all, can I just check how to say your name? I don't want to be getting that wrong"
(VERY IMPORTANT, would you believe how often I tell people Susan or Suz is good, just not SU and they start calling me su?)
"How did you hear about us, and what is it you would most like to work on/towards?"
"Why now?" (People initially might tell you one story but it might be a real reason deep down that is the real reason, so make sure you realise people aren't just going to open up to you about this immediately)
It's at this point that some sales guru will take you down the line of asking "what would you do if you didn't reach those goals, and how much do you have to put towards reaching these goals etc etc" NOT me, I think that stuff is outdated and to be honest, it's easier to make the conversation go a little bit more organically than that. This is an initial call, imagine it being like meeting a romantic acquaintance for the very first time. Theres not many people from the initial encounter will instantly get in a car and go on a romantic weekend away, is there? In fact that is a bit strong too soon.
Also, I legit roll my eyes at the sales people who try to attribute crazy language to what you are aiming to do like saying "what is it you are most struggling with", c'mon, that's a bit far. Struggling? That's a polarizing word.
OR worse: start to talk at length about "we've been helping people with xyz for 12 years and we know exactly what you don't and we have special qualifications"
LOOK! The phone call is about the person. They found you. Stop hogging the airtime by bragging about yourself. if you really knew what you were doing, you wouldn't need to tell them how great you are.
Heres what I do.
"have you been working on this for long? What have you tried?" (let them articulate what has and hasn't worked and you'll already know where to start with them).
If you have been doing this a while you'll know that this is NOT the time to jump on a hate train for all other fitness professionals that aren't you. It only makes us all look bad. You might think that the trainer down the road is a drill Sargent and you know better, but guess what, you don't look professional speaking ill of another fitness professional. It also makes you appear a bit naive and whatever you say could come back to bite you.
A better approach is while relaying back what you have understood the client say from their answer, talk about the number of experiences you have had in that area. Maybe you used to think that the approach they were using was the best but there's more research that says this. I weave my experience into siding with what they have told me, because they aren't there to hear about you, they are there to see if you can help them.
Also.... Validate what they said.
"Gosh, it sounds like you have tried a lot, and that must be so frustrating to try all of these things and not get the results you deserve"
"How often can you set aside to work on this?"
It's at this point I ask them if they would like to get together for a health screen and see whether the services I provide are the right fit.
Then I have an automation which sends them my screening form and a link to my calendar (only for the next week), and will remind them if they haven't booked into a screening session. Once they have booked they are part of a nurture sequence to remind them to come and where to come to. See the thing is, the more reminders and nurturing you do, the less drop off you will get at this crucial part of the process.
Do you need help with the automations? Maybe you need help with the sales process and some practice to bring out your best? If so reach out: we have a number of courses, how to books and of course private coaching. Reaching out to chat is what we love :)
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