How To Attract High-Quality Clients Without Wasting Money On Advertising And Techy Funnels
BUYING ENERGY
To give the concept of “buying energy” the right context, Steve Brossman walks through the typical buying journey for a service provider selling themselves (think consultant, broker, planner, etc). The first touch is typically cold outreach or responding to an inbound lead. Buying energy is created here, right at the beginning. Anyone whose title reflects their service automatically suffers from what Steve calls “brown box syndrome” – sitting on the shelf, looking and sounding like everyone else. Although what you deliver could be world-class, it’s not until people meet you, work with you, and open up that box that they realize. If your services exist within this brown box, your prospect’s buying energy is going to be low. If you position yourself as a unique leader providing unique services, their buying energy will increase.
Then, when you make contact and the prospect agrees to meet, you need to drive the buying energy up again. Steve suggests you do this by sending a video.
“Hey {first name}, see you’re booked in for our call on {day/time}. Can’t wait to chat with you! By the way, I had a look at your website/LinkedIn and I’ve got some great ideas already. Can’t wait to share them with you! See you soon.”
GETTING OUT OF THE BROWN BOX
Before you can hope to drive up your prospects’ buying energy, you need to get your services out of that brown box. Think of Christmas morning when you were a child. The presents under the tree that grabbed your attention were carefully wrapped in bright paper with big bows and shiny ribbon. The brown box would be left till last – nothing good comes in a brown box. But, even worse, the person who put that brown box there didn’t even care enough about what was inside to decorate it. Steve explains that this is how your solution comes across if you don’t bother to find out what is truly unique about it and communicate that loud and clear.
Your unique value isn’t in what you do or how you do it, but in the outcomes you deliver and how uniquely you package those deliverables, such as custom boxes for shipping. Find what sets you apart and communicate that. Ask your customers and look at your testimonials. If they value what you do enough to write about it, that’s what you should be communicating. That’s what you should be known for. Then, in your messaging, express that you aren’t “a” provider, but “the” creator and provider of something distinct. You may only be one of thousands of experts in the space (experts know something), but you are the authority in the space (authorities are known for something).
Once you have determined your unique value, create a visual blueprint that shows the journey customers take with you to success.
That is how you break out of the brown box.
NEUROSCIENCE
Steve started his adult life as a professional track runner training for the Olympics. But, when a crushed disc stopped that in its tracks (no pun intended) and he was forced into rehab, he fell in love with the fitness industry. After setting off on this new career path, Steve bought his first sales and marketing course, and a colleague in this course recommended a webinar on the neuroscience of selling. Steve was hooked. He has immersed himself in neuroscience studies ever since, and what he has found most interesting is learning the underlying, psychological reasons why his sales methods work.
In sales, there are 2 levels of influence: imposed and collaborative. Imposed influence is what 90% of salespeople are taught. They deliver information to the prospect, uncover pain, position themselves as a solution to that pain, then pitch. Neuroscientists have identified that if prospects are more involved in the buying process, they are more likely to invest. Once a salesperson gets the prospect involved, they are exercising collaborative influence.
Collaborative influence isn’t just about sitting and talking, but about keeping the prospect engaged throughout the conversation. In a virtual setting, keeping your prospect’s attention is more difficult than ever. According to Steve, 86% of all people on virtual calls are multitasking. So, as the salesperson, if you annotate your shared screen, you pull your prospect’s focus and show them that your presentation is custom to them. As you work your way around your visual blueprint, pause at specific “value pitstops” where you can talk about a business issue, talk about the possible impact if it were solved, and ask your prospect to help you define it.
For instance, if your solution at a certain stage creates a 46% increase in productivity, ask your prospect what that would translate to in revenue. Jot that down on the screen before moving on. Each number involves the prospect’s agreement and acknowledgment of value. Once you’ve made it all the way to the end of your blueprint, your annotation will show that the value of your solution is significantly greater than the investment they would be required to make. At this point, you won’t even have to pitch. All you’ll have to do is set next steps and move forward.
DNQC FORMULA
Neuroscientists have tested the order in which types of information and questions affect engagement and conversion rates in sales conversations.
D – Data. Give the prospect some information about what they need.
N – Narrative. Tell the prospect a story about how you’ve done this thing before, how they could do it, or, better yet, a case study with results. This story should last no longer than 60 seconds and follow the framework problem, implementation, results.
Q – Quantify. This is the piece that most salespeople don’t and cannot include. Here, you work with the customer to work out what the impact would be for them. “If we put that into your business, let’s see what the results would be.” Identify with them both the monetary (revenue generated, money saved) and emotional (stress reduced, pride increased) impacts.
C – Confirm. Now that you’ve quantified the results with your prospect, ask them if it’s a priority. The buying energy will never be higher than when the prospect has acknowledged their pain, quantified the results of solving it, and agreed that moving forward is a priority.
CAMERA CONFIDENCE
A lack of camera confidence comes across as a lack of product confidence. In face-to-face communication, 55% is expressed through body language, 38% through tonality, and only 7% through verbal communication. Now that we see each other in a smaller box, that 55% body language communication has shrunk and tonality is much more important. So, practice your on-camera communication until you’re comfortable enough to be yourself. The more enjoyable virtual interactions are within the selling process, the more difficult it is for prospects to walk away.
DITCH THE DISCOVERY CALL
Most salespeople still title their meetings with prospects “discovery calls” and “strategy calls.” The content of these meetings is fine, but the title of the meeting reduces buying energy. Everyone knows that at the end of a discovery call or a strategy call, they get pitched. Instead, title your meeting by the high-value outcome you’re going to help them achieve (Steve calls his meetings Prominence and Persuasion Reviews). Show that in the meeting you’re going to discuss some issues but you’re also going to give some recommendations. That way, there is perceived value in this call. Instead of another painful sales call, the prospect gets to collaborate with an expert on a solution to their issues. Instead of a stressful pitch, the salesperson gets to confirm pains and move forward. Any objections that come up are simply new obstacles to collaborate on and overcome.
CONCLUSION
Steve Brossman’s neuroscience-backed sales tactics help service providers break out of the brown box of commoditization and fuel their prospects’ buying energy. Regardless of how much competition is in your space, you can be the creator of something unique – and that makes you the authority rather than just another expert. Sharing this wherever you communicate helps you stand out from the crowd at the first touch. How you communicate with your prospects from there generates more buying energy until you finally get them on a call. Once you’re on the call, collaborate to solve their problems by quantifying outcomes and annotating value at pit stops throughout your presentation. When the time comes to close, all you’ll have to do is confirm next steps and watch your conversion rates go through the roof.
Check out Steve’s Back Pocket Guide for more information and stay tuned for the free workshops & masterclasses included for those who download!
EDITOR’S NOTE:
More on neuroscience-backed messaging:
The 3 Ways Salespeople Are Getting Messaging Wrong
And beating your prospects’ distractions on virtual calls:
Communicating effectively in a virtual environment with Dr. Ethan Becker
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