Speaker: Good, Morro Fair folk? Yes. I have been watching Bridgeton, and here's what I realized somewhere between corsets and Scandal is that some of you are treating your sales calls like Regency era courtships. You show up, you flutter your eyelashes. You wait for them to pick you. Meanwhile, they're out dancing with someone else.

Today we're fixing that because this episode is about leading the call instead of being led, turning your expertise into a structured. Paid path and building an offer ladder that doesn't rely on hope and vibes. We're not doing that. No. So welcome to the Selling Your Expertise podcast. I'm Renee Hribar, sales coach for service providers and consultants who want to help people genuinely, but they've never really understood how to package up and sell and deliver their expertise without.

Going blind. So I help you go way beyond just replacing that income. And whether you've read my book or you've seen one of my talks, like maybe the one I did on TEDx, or you're brand new here, I'm glad you're with me. Make sure to go to ask me coach.com for all the freshest ways to stay connected beyond the podcast.

Now, let's dive into today's episode, shall we? So I was coaching a client recently when all of this came to light. She is brilliant. She has deep technical expertise, but. There was something that she said to me that stopped me in my tracks because she had just built something incredible. She had this brand new tool.

It was full of insights. She had screenshots all the way through to prove the process. I mean, she'd spent like a hundred plus hours building this for one of her private clients. She was ready to start to share it with a few people in her network that she had already had a great relationship with, but was also a hundred percent possible, a hundred percent sure that they could possibly be clients.

So she was doing a soft launch, like a soft demo by getting a couple of them on a call to show this new tool that she had created. But here's the thing, when I asked her to share her call outline with me. Because I'm all about processes, right? Yes, we're gonna make more money, but as soon as that money starts coming in, all of those leaks in your already established systems or lack therein are going to start showing.

So when I asked her to give me her call outline, she had this question on there and I about died, she's like, so this is her outlining the call, and she was gonna ask the person, the potential client. So what do you wanna do? Full stop. Slam on the brakes. No ma'am. We are not going to ask that question. We are the ones guiding, we are the ones guiding them specifically through qualifying questions.

So again, do not shame yourself If this has ever been you, where you get to the call and you're like, so what are you looking for? Tell me more about what you need. I can help you. There's nothing wrong with that. You probably have made sales. They're just clients that you probably resent and don't pay you enough.

So let's fix this. You want to ask qualifying questions, and before we even get on the call, we are going to frame this call appropriately so that we get a quick 20 minute call, not a two hour afternoon marathon, where you swear off discovery calls and vow to open up a TikTok account starring your cat.

How do I know this? I've been there and I'm not going back. And it's all about the system and the structure. So the fact is discovery calls are not dead. They do not suck, but they can if we don't do them right. So let's give 'em a little, uh, makeover, shall we? So from the name all the way to how we deliver them.

Our new expectations of a discovery call are going to be specific time bound. Those are my two favorite adjectives. You know that Right? Outcome focused and led by you. And this is especially ipor important right now because buyer behavior has changed and I've been in the field of business to business sales for a long time.

Way even before we had. The internet, God, help me. How old am I? What year is it? But here's the reality. More content is only gonna get worse, more platforms, it's only gonna get more, more events, more posts, more is not the solution. And honestly, for my clients as. Experts, consultants, high ticket service providers, most of them don't even post at all.

And ultimately with their type of clientele, as long as we have a clear pipeline driver that is working for them, they don't need to not all business models need to have a social media presence, but forever, no matter whether you have a social media presence or not. Personal invites. Structured offers and clear next steps win.

They win. So that's what I prepared for my client with her call to share her new offer. So let me break it down for you. This is the framework because even though I always protect my client's identities. The lesson, that's all yours. Here we go. There's a four part structure. Every call, number one, starts out with realigning goals.

The first question I want you to ask when you get on any discovery call is. Of course you'll have asked this beforehand in a question, an email, a form, something, but you're gonna ask about their big goals, not just the goals as they pertain to what you do. Why Renee? That seems crazy. I know, but here's why.

So is that. You will know how to connect the dots to their big, you know, BHAGs, right? Their big, hairy, audacious goals. You'll know how to see how what you do will help them get there, but they most likely do not see that yet. So you wanna ask their big goals, like, I wanna go on a trip to Spain. Okay, well, let's figure out how to get you there with the solutions that you have.

Because in reality, everybody needs everybody else, right? All of us are working on lots of different pieces of our businesses at all times, and as soon as we get one part right, another part needs help. So number one, step one in this four part call structure is. Realign goals, number one, because you could be sending a, in a direction of helping them get to Spain 'cause that's what you thought they wanted.

When in reality they're like, no, my dad just got sick and I'm gonna spend the next 12 months going to, uh, sessions with him to see his doctor and it's gonna be two times a week. And I just need more flexibility on my current calendar. Very different goals, very different. Trajectory. So number one, realign goals.

Can you tell that I love this part. Okay. Number two, qualify them. Ask questions. That's how we understand what they need so that we can understand how we could possibly support them. It might not even be us when we get on a discovery call. I'm using the Royal we here because of Bridger 10, you know, so when we get on a discovery call, we are going to build a bridge to what they want by asking questions.

We do not have to make an offer three. Demonstrate. Show your screen. Ask them to show their screen, like, show me what you mean. Give me an example. Show me, and then show them something. It's a beautiful thing, and of course it's very specific per scenario and per what you do, but that's the fun part about building these systems.

The fourth part is proposing the next step before this call is over. So realign goals, qualify them. Demonstrate and propose the next step. If that's all you learn from me, ever, you're already gonna make more money. It's gonna be great. So let me show you what that looks like in real life though. So step number one in realigning the goals instead of.

So what do you think you need out of this relationship if we were to work together? They don't know the answer to that question. Just like your kid doesn't know the answer to the, to the question of did you clean your room? Uh, what? So instead try, before we dive in, I wanna make sure we're aligned. My understanding is that you wanna do this.

Is that the full picture or is there more? Tell me more about what that means beyond this outside of this. Right now you're leading, you're leading the conversation. Step two, qualify qualifying questions. I had a client who kept trying to get them to buy. No, no. Have you ever seen that famous scene? It's like, show me this pen.

The people who are great. At helping people don't actually try to sell them the pen. Instead, they ask questions about why they would need a pen and what color they're looking for. Is it a black pen? Is it a blue pen? What other pens have you tried? Why is now the time for a new pen? Right? So we are not trying to convince anyone, and I think that's the biggest misconception people have about sales is that.

They have to convince or persuade or manipulate? No, we're simply asking questions to get the full picture, to give them our best advice, and through that we're qualifying them. So qualifying questions might sound like, what are you currently doing for this? Or what? Are you investing in paid traffic or ads?

Right now? I work with a lot of people who run ads. Um, how do you measure success? I work with a lot of dashboard designers who is navigating the strategic moves, right? I work with a lot of strategists who implements inevitable changes. I work with a lot of OBMs, so based on their answers, you can determine whether you even want to make an offer or not.

Let me say that again. You do not have to make someone an offer just because they got you on a call. And if you wanna dive deeper into this, go to episode 56. Stop wasting discovery calls on unqualified leads. 'cause I could and have literally spoken on this a lot. Okay, step number three, a little taste test.

This is your free step, right? It's specific, it's focused, you're. Overteaching, overexplaining, oversharing, because let's be real, you could help them in a thousand different ways to Sunday. Right? But you gotta pick one thing that you can help them with right now, like I've said before and on many other podcasts.

So please, definitely, and, and people do binge and I love that, is that you've gotta be. Specific and pick the thing that you think is the most obvious, but I bet you it isn't obvious to them. So, for example, um, you might say, I ran a visibility snapshot on one of your client's websites. They're currently sitting at a c rating.

There's a few structural issues preventing them from being surfaced as an, you know, as an a rating. Do you wanna hear what that might look like? Right, so they're at a sea. Here's why that matters. That's it. So you can literally give them a, a sentence or two, and that can be a little taste test. I know something you don't know.

Remember that from like elementary school? I know something you don't know, dude. Dude, maybe I'm making it up. I remember that from elementary school. I know something you don't know. This is a human behavioral strategy. Again, not manipulating, not trying to persuade them, but we're simply clearly saying, I see this.

Here's what I deduced from it, and this is what is the problem. Do you wanna hear why, or do you wanna hear more or do you wanna talk more about this? So it's not 17 tabs open or a live demo. That's always chaos, by the way, or overexplaining. Which, yes, I have done that a lot. So I've had to put these very structured systems into place so that I don't do that because they don't wanna be on a call with me any longer than I wanna be on them because we have things to do.

We have life to live. We've got B, you know, Bridger 10 episodes to watch for. Goodness gracious sakes. Okay, so here's step number four, the paid next step. So then you can say. What would it be worth to move from a C to an A so that they're not being overlooked by competitors? For example, in this specific case with this example, and then you know, I can complete a full audit in seven days, you'll get prioritized diagnostics and clear action plan.

It's only $497 through the end of this week, and if we move forward with any implementation within the next 60 days, I'll credit this toward that project. That's the first paid. Yes. That's an example of a first paid. Yes. So you only make that offer when they've answered all the other questions appropriately.

And I always advise my clients and I'm gonna tell you the same. If you are not a wow, heck yes, then you can send them away with homework. Something to think about. Something to do. Hey, listen, I really enjoyed our call today. Our time is up. Here's what I propose. We talked about a couple things. We've really just touched the tip of the iceberg.

Well, maybe there's the snowflake on top of the iceberg, on top of the mountain, so there's a lot more here is what I'm suggesting. Here's what I'd like you to think about over the next couple days, and then I want to do this. I'm gonna clear another 20 minute call. Just for you to circle back about that because when you think about that, I'm gonna have more questions.

So I'm looking at my calendar now. I've got the same time available in two days. Does that work for you? Okay, great. I'm sending it over right now. Okay. I sent it over. Did you receive it on your end? Great. And then we can move forward. And by between this call and that next call, we can do a little bit more research, do a little bit more thinking of our own and deciding what questions we still need to ask them to figure out.

If we want to make them an offer or we want to refer them, or we just wanna say, you know what, it's been great talking to you, nice meeting you. I'll see you around. And there's nothing wrong with that. You're allowed to do that, by the way. So what I want to do is protect you from giving them the wheel that they don't know how to drive, right?

Like you're giving them the wheel. A lot of times you're giving customers. The benefit of the doubt in the sense that you believe oftentimes that they know what, you know. I do this too. I wish I was not a criminal of this crime, but I am. I am the pot calling the kettle black. I cannot tell you how many times this system that I'm breaking down for you today has saved me.

And so if I ask a question to someone and they don't answer it in the way that I would have, then I'll know they don't know what I know. Often I think they know what I know. I can just ask the question. They'll give me an answer, and I take their answer At face value. That's another thing. Have them show you.

Give me an example. Show me your screen. Oh, you know how to do that. Oh, show me. That'd be great. Not because you're like testing them, but because you're testing them. You know what I mean? In other words, you're not. There's a difference between questioning someone and asking questions. Subtle but important.

And so I really cannot encourage you enough to, if you're gonna do one thing with your sales systems, if there's one skill to hone in, it's what questions to ask someone so that you'll know that they need you, so that you can offer them an offer that makes sense to them. And they're gonna take it. And so this is what I do all day.

So thank you for listening to this. 'cause it's been pretty awesome to talk to you about it. Although it's a one way conversation. I really can't say enough. You don't need more content. You don't need more platforms, you don't need more certifications. You're not a menu ta, you're not an order taker, right?

You're not a server writer. Cheesecake Factory asking qualifying questions, getting really good at that. Like, what are you trying to accomplish? What would you know? Would this make, what would make this worth it? Or who implements this? How urgent is this? What happens in six months if this doesn't get resolved?

Those are great questions because here's the thing that I think most people miss about this call. Structure is they think they have to ask questions that they don't know the answer to. Oh, I don't know what I don't know the answer to, here's a, even an, a better way to think of it sometimes is what are the questions you need answers to that you think you have the answer to Often that will expose what you thought you knew is not what's actually happening.

It's kind of like when I walk into the mechanic shop and I'm like, Hey, Joe, my car's going woo, woo woo. And he's like, uh, all right, Ms. Hribar, we'll bring it in. We'll put it on a rack and we'll give you an estimate. Why? Because he can't discern what my VV Vu means. He doesn't know. Now, I did grow up on a radio show called The Car Guys, if you've ever heard of it.

You're my age. Um, and they did diagnose cars based on the sounds that call and customers would do. It's a gift. And honestly it was a show, so it was probably a little bit of movie magic there. But the reality is this, you gotta put it on a lift. Your version of putting a car on a lift. Is to get in there and ask more questions.

Ask them to share their screen. Ask them to send you loom videos. You don't have to do all of this on a call. You can also do a lot of this before the call, or if you decided to invite them to a second part of a discovery call, you can do that between the first and second part. You are allowed to ask questions until you are blue in the face.

You are allowed and encouraged to ask questions so that you absolutely to. And without the shadow of a doubt, no. Exactly what the next step is. And that's where people get messed up with proposals. They're like, well, I don't know what to offer. That just tells me you haven't asked enough questions. If you don't know what to offer, don't guess.

Right. Think about your doctor. Do you want your doctor just like guessing? Um, I think it's cancer. We'll give you chemo. What do you say? No, do some more tests. I'll take another MRII need testing to be conclusive. Right. And good doctors do as well. And I want you to play the role of the doctor. You're getting the full picture, you're asking questions.

Sure. The patient might get annoyed because I already answered that question. Great. Tell me in another way, tell me on a different day. I wanna hear you say it again. Because we don't wanna get the diagnosis wrong. We don't wanna give them the right prescription for the wrong illness, and that's what us as consultants and service providers are trying to figure out during the discovery process.

Using this system will help you make. Better proposals that get accepted that are more meaningful and create long-term relationships, valuable relationships that turn, I don't know, a one-off VIP day for three K into a 30 K client over the course of a year. That's what this process helps you create, so it's not just, yeah, I landed a, I landed the deal, I landed the initial call, or landed the initial offer.

This is laying the foundation for big, long-term, amazing win-win, mutually beneficial relationships where you make great money, they get great services. And everybody's going home happy. So if this episode hit you, I want you to go to ask me coach.com for all the freshest ways to stay connected beyond this podcast.

And more than anything else, I want you to know that high ticket clients are not found. You don't attract them, you make them. And it's through this process, one structured conversation at a time. All right, I'll see you next week.