What is the outcome you are looking for in a sales conversation? That would be to close the sale. 

Do you feel better using the word “persuasion” instead of “sales”? To many, sales is a dirty word. Slimy even. We’ve all encountered that one person who changed our perception of a salesman/saleswoman/salesperson forever, and not in a positive way.

If you feel like you’re being slimy in your sales conversations potential customers are picking up what you’re putting down. You might find yourself spending so much of your time and energy focused on trying not to feel slimy that you aren’t fully present in a sales conversation. Or maybe sales copy is taking weeks to write because you keep second-guessing every single idea we come up with.

First, let’s change the idea of “sales” to “persuasion” and see how that resonates with you. Whichever word you choose, there are 4 elements that you want to ensure you are utilizing to get your message across.

Whether it’s your sales copy in your marketing or whether you’re actually having a conversation with someone on the phone or in person, you need to include these: emotion, motivation, value, and the close. This 4 step sales process of sales conversation or sales copy will ensure you will convert more customers to your business.

Today I want to break that down into four simple steps. In this podcast, you’ll find examples of how to include emotion, motivation, value, and the close in a conversation. You’ll be able to write your copy and have those conversations without feeling slimy or sleazy.

Is Sales a Dirty Word to You?

I like the word persuasion rather than sale because it cuts the edges off the hard word that most people have a hard time listening to.  

We’ve all dealt with that Slick Willie or that snake oil salesperson selling something that we didn’t need, all for their benefit.

Because of that one person, one instance that we went through has left us jaded as to what sales is. Every time we hear sales, we think of that guy. And we don’t want to be that guy.

We also don’t want our customers to think we’re that guy. So we push away actually learning and perfecting the art of persuasion to close the sale in the sales process.

The Art of Persuasion

You can use persuasion in many different aspects of your business, such as growing your team and enrolling people to join your mission. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing sales copy or whether you’re having a conversation on the phone with someone. It’s almost identical.

You’re not writing out everything that you would say in a sales conversation. But the structure or the skeleton of those two conversations can be identical because you want to cover the same kinds of things.

Close the Sale Step 1: Dig Deep Into Knowing Your Ideal Customer

First, you need to perfect your customer avatar. This is key, but many people tend to skip over or just kind of do the exercise. It would be best to dig deeper to see success. 

 A lot of people go with what they think the prospect is wanting. But you are only guessing. It’s not that that’s bad, but when you think you’re right all the time, it doesn’t work.

So, what you want to do is test out what people are thinking and ask them. That’s a novel idea, right? Just ask them what they want.

Things to Ask Your Target Market

• Desires: what do they long for? 
• Insecurities: what are they afraid of? 
• What are their goals?
•  What are they going to feel when they hit their goals or don’t hit them?
• Likes and Dislikes
• What keeps them up at night? 

Now, you have tangible feelings and emotions to help eliminate their fears and motivate them to reach their desires. You can reiterate their goals and how important they are to them in the sales conversation.

For example, you can say, “If you don’t do anything, you are going to continue doing the same thing you’ve always done and get the same results. You’re not going to hit those goals. And you said it would make you feel like ______________, right? That’s terrible. Nobody wants to feel that way.”

Emotions Close More Sales

Using emotions in your sales copy is vital because people engage with copy based on what they want and avoiding pain. When someone reads those things, it’s like it touches base with them.

Not everybody, because not everybody is the target market. And not everyone is at the place that they need to buy from you right now.

But that ideal customer is in that place, ready to buy from you right now. They will think about how you are speaking to them and how much you understand. They see your solution will help them. 

Close the Sale Step 2: Motivation

The next step is motivation. You need to understand what motivates your ideal client. 

• Why do they want to do what they do?
• What’s driving them?
• Why do they want to move forward?
• What’s going to help them move forward when things get tough?

For example, just because they have a goal of making a million dollars this year doesn’t mean diddly squat. What are they going to do with that money? That’s the end goal.

My Motivation in Closing the Sale

I have five kids, so I am responsible for putting food on the table for five people. So when things get tough, I can revert to my motivation. If I don’t do this, we’re not going to be able to eat.

I know that sounds extreme. It could also be missing out on: 

• Extracurricular activities
• Creating memories by going on vacation. 

That’s my deeper motivation. You will need to find out your ideal customer’s deeper motivation. Then plug those into the sales conversation. 

Qualifying with their Motivation

You can judge your prospect’s motivation by if they’re qualified.

Say, for example, you’re selling a product for $5000. The prospect just got out of college. He has student loans and hasn’t found a job yet. There’s a good chance they don’t qualify to purchase your product. 

Finding out if they are qualified and motivated is critical. And you have to ask questions to find these answers. Often, you get them talking about their deep motivation; they will come to their own conclusion of needing your product. 

“Yes, I should probably do this. How do I get started?”

That’s the ultimate goal of closing the sale, having them say that they want to join you without you even having to ask a closing question.

Motivation Works for Copy too

You can qualify in your sales copy using your ideal client’s motivation too. The copy should be relatable. You want them to shake their head up and down in agreement as they read. 

Close the Sale Step 3: Providing Value

The next step to close the sale is to provide value. There are a few different parts to providing value.

The first is to explain what you do. What are the features and benefits of your product or service? This is an excellent time to nip those future objections in the bud. 

Does Your Product or Service Help Your Prospect:

• Save money
• Make money
• Prevent from losing money 
• Save time
• Create more time
• Prevent from wasting time

I like putting a dollar amount to that value if you can. For example, a lot of people in the fitness and health world attribute future health costs. Twenty years come up quicker than you think. 

Next thing you know, you’re in the doctor’s office all the time. You’re spending thirty thousand dollars a year. Wouldn’t you rather spend a thousand dollars a year now instead of paying thirty thousand dollars a year down the road?

Financially, it makes sense to do that now rather than later. But logic doesn’t always close the sale emotion does. It would be better to tie into their fears, desires, and goals. 

Next, you go over price. If you want to knock it out of the park, you’re going to add value here too. But instead of offering them a percentage off for buying now, lead them to discover the value.

People don’t want to be sold to. Guide them through asking questions. So they come to it on their own. 

Example Sales Conversation 

Here’s an example you can use in your own sales conversation. 

You:  “What do you like to spend extra money on? 

Prospect: “I like spending money on Starbucks. I go there twice a day.”

You: “That’s what, fifteen bucks a day? And times thirty days a month, that is $450 on coffee.”

When they have the money objection, you can remind them how much they spend on coffee each month. 

What Value Can You Add to Your Product?

Instead of discounting your product or service, let’s think about what value you can add.  

What are some things that you can add that goes along with what you are selling? What bonuses would sweeten the deal? This is what I call value-adding. 

You want to put a price on these bonuses. For example, let them know it is valued at a thousand dollars, but they won’t have to pay that much. But they have to act now. 

You can throw in a little scarcity too. For example, “I only have twenty spots available.” 

Close the Sale Step 4: The Call to Action (or Closing the Sale)

Finally, it is time to close the sale. Unfortunately, many stop before this step. Read more about this in our Ask for the Sale blog. If you are writing sales copy it is called the “call to action.” First, you will need to set expectations. Here you would say, “Here’s what you can expect when you move forward right now. You will get…”

Examples of Expectations to Include 

• Phone call
• Packet
• Outline
• Schedule

Whatever it is, you’re setting the expectation, so they know what to expect after giving their credit card information. Then it is time to have your closing question or your call to action. For a sales page, it is the button, “Buy now.”

In the sales conversation, it is the closing question. My closing question is, “Do you want to use a Visa or MasterCard?”

Now is when you get those pesky objections. Usually, it is money, time, or fear. I talk more about this in my Overcoming Objections in Sales with Tie Down Questions blog. 

As I said before, you really want to overcome those objections at the beginning of the sales conversation. This is true both with sales copy and sales conversations. 

And here’s the other thing, if you’re actually on a sales call and they get off the phone without putting up their credit card, that in itself is an objection.

They’re not buying right now because of something that you haven’t identified. So just, before you let them off the phone, it’s all about asking questions.

Find out why, what’s stopping them, “What’s preventing you from doing this right now?”

Just like in the sales conversation, you can do that in your sales copy. You want to overcome objections before they become objections. Then when they get down to the call to action, they click the button. 

If you can eliminate 80 percent of the objections you typically get, that will make closing the sale a lot easier. That’s going to make you have more conversions, make more money, close more deals. 

Typical Objections to Overcome Before You Close the Sale

Try to come up with questions that will help you eliminate objections earlier in the conversation. 

Typical Sales Objections 

• I don’t have the money.
• I don’t have the time. 
• It won’t work for me. 

Certain industries have negative stigmas that create fear. You will want to address those fears upfront. Show why your product or service is different. 

• I don’t want to get into network marketing. That’s an MLM pyramid scheme.
• I don’t want to take that supplement because I heard all supplements are not regulated.
• No, thank you, I’d rather find a house myself because I’ve heard that real estate agents bump up the cost to cover their fee. 

Wrapping it Up

In conclusion, use this four-step sales process to close more sales and convert more customers into your business. 

Make sure you ask questions initially so that you will know their desires, fears, and goals. 

The copy on the sales page and your sales conversation should include emotion, motivation, and provide value for the product or service you are selling. 

Most importantly, don’t forget to ask for the sale or provide a call to action. 

I’m here to help you level up your business. I hope this has been helpful. In the comments below, drop your objections you get when you close the sale?