A 30-Minute Convo that led to $10k
I just spoke with my friend, Sam, who does similar strategy work to us. He said he closed a $10k deal in a 30 minute call without showing any work.
All he did was ask “What’s going on?” and then he listened.
He reiterated what he heard and said “this is what I think the problem is…” and went on to describe what he believed to be the problem. The client said “YES! That’s it!” Sam articulated the problem better than the client could. He then said that it would take $10k to solve it. Client was in.
Now, I realize this isn’t the entire story.
A few magic questions aren’t the answer. Sam got this lead through a mutually trusted source, so there’s that.
The person who referred this client said “you need to talk to Sam.” If you ever have the pleasure of meeting Sam, you may come to find out why that referral said Sam was the person to talk to. We’ve been friends for almost 10 years, and I’ve watch him land projects and even jobs that (he says) he was totally unqualified for.
For as long as I’ve known him, he has used his lack of “qualifications” to his advantage by simply embracing who he is and how he operates. In one of his previous jobs, he didn’t know the corporate bureaucracy but ended up solving his boss’s boss’s and other executive’s problems. He brought so much value that he ended up becoming an executive in a very short amount of time.
Here’s the thing about Sam: He listens, sees the person right in front of him, seeks to understand, finds the real problem, and boils things down in a very understandable way.
I learned from Sam to put people first. To always remember the person we are serving behind our “why”. When we focus on serving people, maybe we too will eventually be referred to as the person to talk to and close a $10k deal in a 30 minute conversation without ever even showing our work.
Cheers!
Melinda
P.S.: Did you know we have a course on How to Sell Brand Strategy? You can sign up for the course here!
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