How Can I Sell Without Feeling Sleezy?

Today we’re going to cover how to sell your services without feeling sleezy.

First point: if you’re concerned about this, you probably don’t need to worry.

At the end of the day, those of us that are concerned about turning people off or being too pushy usually don’t need to be overly concerned. In fact, when this is a worry, it suggests you may be too passive in your approach.

When you structure a client-centered sales conversation, the goal is get on your client’s agenda and be as helfpul as possible.

You help your client clearly identify what they want, and if you have one, offer them a solution. That’s not only not pushy, it’s actually good customer service! In fact, when you think about it that way, it would be weird NOT to make them an offer.

Here are four key pillars of this kind of conversation.

1) Build rapport and set expectations for the convo.

When you start your chat, it’s appropriate to do some icebreaking. 

You don’t need to spend thirty minutes connecting over a shared hobby, or asking endless questions about their kids. On the other hand, it’s a wee bit weird if you launch into Step 2 without at least checking in about how their day’s going. 

Additionally, at some point during the beginning of the chat, you want to share (or reiterate) expectations: 

  • You’re going to spend about X many minutes together
  • Yo’ll ask some questions to make sure you’re clear on their goals
  • You’ll share a bit about how your gym works
  • Finally, if you think it could a fit, you’ll offer some ways to work together. 

2) Identify their most important goals, why they matter, and previous obstacles.

During this part of the chat, you want to ask some specific questions so that you — and the prospect — are absolutely clear on their goals.

Ex. If you had a magic wand, what changes would you make to your health and fitness?

You then follow up to peel the onion so you — and the prospect — are absolutely clear on WHY that goal matters to them.

Ex. Can you say a bit about why that’s important to you?

Finally, you’ll also want to identify any obstacles they may need support with.

Ex. What’s gotten in the way of you achieving these goals in the past?

For bonus points, you can gather some intel on their logistics: how many times they can work out per week, their monthly budget, their preference between individual, small group, or larger group coaching, etc.

3) Build value for your services by showing how your training gym will help them achieve their goals and solve their obstacles.

This section will look different based on your model.

It could be an assessment of some kind, a mini-workout, a full-on workout, a tour, or just a presentation about your business. 

The key thing here is to focus on the benefits that the components of your training gym offer.

In other words: A lot of our members struggled with getting bored before working with us. That’s why we XXXXXX to make sure you stay engaged.

Two more pro tips:

  • No one cares about the features. A tour of your equipement doesn’t matter. Your client cares about their goals, not your process, and certainly not your cool set of battle ropes. It’s ok to share the features. But you have to link it back to how it will achieve their goals and solve their obstacles.
  • You don’t need to tell them every single thing. Focus only on the features that relate to  their goals and solving their obstacles.

4) Make an ask with a compelling offer

Finally, after gathering all their data and building value for your services, it’s time to make the ask.

The key here is to make an explicit membership recommendation that works for their logistics and is the best fit for their goals.

For bonus points, consider using some kind of highly attractive and irresistible time sensitive offer as an incentive for signing up today.

Then wait in silence.

For as long as it takes.

Then get your new client signed up. 🙂

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To state the obvious, this is about as high level as you get. The art and science of sales includes a LOT more than this simple framework: pre-framing the conversation, getting in the right state before the call, testing different questions, exploring different ways to build value, pricing strategy, addressing objections, etc. etc. etc.

However, by comparing the above framework against your script (YOU DO HAVE A WRITTEN OUT SCRIPT RIGHT), my hope is you’ll get some ideas to make your sales conversations 1% better, without feeling sleazy or pushy. 

I appreciate you so much,

Mark

PS If you’re interested in having us help you with your sales conversations, there are two ways we can work with you.