Empower Your Sales Team with airSlate SignNow's Solution for Closing Sales Leads for Sales

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wait for it to connect hello hello and welcome to another live stream today I've got very special guest Andy Lo from Sandler training he's gonna introduce yourself in a minute aren't you Andy well I just welcome everybody to the live stream now as usual if you are watching this live please do give us a thumbs up say that you're watching say hello you can ask any questions as we are going along whilst we are live and we'll answer them live too which is always good so please do join the chat and um tell us tell us all about yourselves your business what your challenges might be on social media when it comes to selling which is always a good one because Andy today is going to be talking about how do we convert those social media inquire inquiries into actual ual sales so for those of you that don't know me I'm beex from social media executive again please do please do say hello in the comments so that we know we're not just talking to ourselves which is always a good one um and basically this live stream is brought to you from the social flock and the social flock is a social media support group where we work with busy business owners to help them create their social media content we support you to do it yourselves with we hold content writing sessions on Zoom to hold you accountable we run loads of webinars Andy has been one of our guest expert webinars who again has done a lot of training for my members around social media how we get sales from our social media so we run training throughout the year and more importantly we have a lovely friendly group who all provide each ideas and feedback on everyone's social media so if you're interested in joining the social flock then we'd love to welcome you to the group and I will pop um I'll pop a link in the chat as well but today more importantly I've got Andy here from Sandler training and he's going to be talking about how we convert social media inquiries into sales and Andy you are an absolute sales expert aren't you do you want to introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about who you are and what you do well that's kind well really Sandler is the expert and and when I had so I've got a um a long corporate career and Sandler is pretty much the best content on sales um I've ever come across because some people they they kind of love sales they're great and they it's kind of like rock stars it's kind of what they're they're born to it other people kind of have to do it to do what what they love and so Sandler works with different people where they are so they've got some real uh big clients so uh LinkedIn is a client of Sandler HubSpot lots of big organizations around the world have chosen Sandler U but it's also it's it's interactive you make it around people's businesses not necessarily s dry Theory and it's also it's very good for people who don't necessarily love sales and that there's particularly tricky bits that they have to mention maybe stand out from the crowd talk around money any of those things it's got based on psychology and it helps people sell I think more authentically ethically and professionally and also it's backed by about 30 bestselling books it's got content at Harvard and so it's got a long history of helping organizations of different sizes so so that's why I kind of think sand is the best stuff and when I wanted to run my own business it was the the premier option for me and I'm glad I did it right I'm glad I did it yeah and and I think that's that's the important thing isn't it it's because when you love lach your own businesses particularly small businesses we launch our businesses because we've got a passion we're very very you know um expert in in a certain area but actually doesn't necessarily mean you're a good salesperson does it um and I think that's the difficult thing isn't it when when you are running your business you expected to all of a sudden wear all these different hats yeah I I remember working with um she was a business coach and she's brilliant look at a CV it was amazing uh but it's that blockage with sales and some people tell me they'd rather hide under the couch than kind of like followup stuff because sales has got a bit of a bad reputation If we're honest if I actually you know think of a typical sales person you're probably not thinking of something which is positive and so when we don't want to be like that so sometimes people just don't do what they kind of know would work and sometimes they kind of send off quotes and they don't know whether the person really wants it or whether they can afford it or we just kind of miss important things out which makes it hard for them and hard for us and there lorts of ghosting and B practices so yeah we don't stand for that we help people kind of like Get over that and I think that's important because I mean I I work with a lot of businesses on social media and train train them you know how to use social media more effectively and it's similar it's like a lot of people don't like social media so they kind of kind dabble a bit on the side and and push the fact because they have to but actually there's none of that strategy behind there's not a lot of understanding and it's like anything you don't know what you don't know now I've been on some of your trading sessions as as well Andy which have been really quite you know useful to sort of highlight things that really sort of gets you thinking and starts helps you to St take a step back and go oh that's how I should be doing it so if we get we obviously we're doing our social media in the right way we should be getting inquiries we L monthly and then you've just mentioned something that I'm definitely guilty of and that's the inquiries coming and then might respond a bit sort of noncommittally um and then hope hope that they follow it up but what what what is the best way to do it if we get that inquiry coming in on social media what what should we do with it well I can give you some examples and some practical things you you can do um I kind of think at those early stages you don't know whether you can help someone you don't really know what they want and they may not either right and so one of the things that I would certainly recommend is is to pick up the phone and actually have a real well conversation with somebody I remember an example someone I'm going to meet later today actually so happens so it's fresh in my mind is that I met the CEO CEO over LinkedIn we connected did I say hey I share a bunch of stuff on sales and Leadership content um as you know my linkedin's a little bit formal because I'm one of those are HIDs away from some of you know some of the things so I send a lot of content that people can might find useful or will find useful yeah so we connected I shared some stuff and and he asked me a specific question and so I didn't really know whether I could help I thought I might so I was honest um disarming honesty is a thing that people don't necessarily doing sales but it's effective and I said hey I don't know whether I can help why don't we jump on a 5 10 minute call you can tell me what was on your mind and if I can offer any advice or help we can do and it's worth it we can always set up a longer call yeah so we jumped on a call we had a nice chat connected I kind of thought I helped he I don't know whether he thoughts but what we did is that we had that connection and we stayed in touch so next time we did have a problem I definitely could solve we had a longer conversation and that led to a sale and I've been training their sales team and it's kind of um developed and developed into a nice relationship but what I didn't do is jump in and do the sort of War and Peace response that sometimes you see on LinkedIn that you kind of go it's all about me me me me this is what we do and we're this take a step back not sure sounds interesting why don't we talk about and putting yourselves into their shoes I suppose isn't it rather than thinking about right I need some more clients push push push sell sell sell actually taking that step back and going but what is it that they actually need I think that's a really important point because people buy for their reasons right not necessarily mine uh definitely not mine really they want they want to help their business I'm doing a session later with some clients all around developing a business case right right but it's not my business casee it's how the what's return of investment what's the reason they should spend a penny on this stuff yeah so it's not cheating to ask questions so going into that initial call and your pre-call plan which often people don't do but you should what are the questions that you would like to ask to to move the conversation on how we going structure it so a little bit of thought there's some research I think it's by gong uh and it was the top top 10% of sales performers uh did did a little bit more planning they knew the the purpose of the call they knew the questions they would ask and what the effect that has is there were fewer meanders in the conversation and they tended to get further and close more and they had you know you start well you tend to end well yeah you start weekly is like you sometimes you don't know how you can help is and people want to have a chat which is lovely but if you know what the conversation is about or likely to be about what objections what risks you're kind of you're prepared and more doing that little bit of planning then I suppose isn't it doing that bit of planning getting to know your target a little bit better and I always think when you do take the time out to do that and when people do that to me for example I always feel like valued because oh they've actually taken the time out to find out a little bit more about me and I feel much more valued in that they understand me rather than someone who phoned me up and just went right that you know I can get your YouTube channel you know ranking higher with thousands more subscribers and it's like well so can lots of other people why should I choose you it's too pushy isn't it yeah I mean if you ring someone up and say you've spoted a couple of things is it worth a conversation and it's relevant to them you you might go yeah it sounds interesting yeah but there's difference between showing interest in stalking right got to judge that right yeah been reading everything you've ever written on social media okay I'm going now so yeah yeah I think it's just those cold cold sales and I think you know people do tend to use social media as a bit of a cold sales tool and actually it's not about that it's about building your community building meaningful connections on your social media so that people then want to inquire and want to have a conversation so at that point then they've seen your content they've seen what you do they they they feel they want to work with you maybe they send you a private LinkedIn message for example what would you do then what would you recommend is is that next step I think um I think social media friends aren't necessarily friends right so you've got to take it into the real world in some way whether that is um hey does it make sense we're going to have a an initial call see there's a fit and if if so maybe go grab a coffee or set up a zoom or you know in inperson meetings possible still right so it's it's finding a way to kind of take that into a real world so you're discussing real well things right so uh yeah personal connection getting a little bit deeper yeah than what you've nurtured what what made them Reach Out um some people wh some people that the phrase isn't it I like it I doal I I've got lots of American colleagues we reach out right uh so sometimes contact you I should say uh people contact you it's like you know oh yeah what was behind it you know is it what you're interested in because people are interested people's favorite topic is often than the themselves and I think sometimes people forget that on LinkedIn when they just they message and bombard and did you see me you know so yeah that' be my advice so basically get those conversations booked in yeah start Zoom if they work internationally and have that face tof face interaction yeah and there is some research that suggests that um asking for interest has got a better response rate than then jumping straight for a meeting I'm in your area next week buyers tend to spot it a lot okay so if you're particularly pushy I mean you're it can work you know all things can work um but if you kind of jump in for the close too quickly so in prospecting I I would suggest going for the appointment maybe checking with interest but seeing whether there's an appointment or a phone call or a concrete Next Step yeah yeah so taking them on that Journey but having that plan isn't it you know doing your research so what are the common mistakes then that people tend to make when literally taking that crucial okay the inquiries come into your inbox what you know what what we've kind of touched on them a little bit haven't we but what are the sort of common mistakes that you see that basically then close down that conversation and really spoil that that initial inquiry I think because people are often experts in what they do they're in their head you can kind of see why the other person should buy often before they do yeah and so if you're 100% closed they should buy it's that we're slightly ahead of the sale and sometimes well I call it Happ years we kind of go oh they've inquired they're going to buy let me send them all information that we've got and then case studies and and then they kind of go oh this is salesy I'm going to stop speaking with them now because this just seems weird or I've got everything I need now I go on Google University or I go shop for competition or often people just lose control of the sale yeah because they never stop to kind of slow it down to speed it up and find out why would they even talk to you what were they interested what were they hoping we could do yeah why that and so sometimes yeah so if you're ahead of them in the sale that's probably a little bit more likely to be pushy or be deceived of being pushy um you know you don't want to be too so laidback you don't respond which is the other way to go so uh so yeah finding out being interested before being interesting right they'll buy for their reasons you can it's not cheating to ask questions get get get them in the conversation uh and if you do that you'll probably come across as a little bit different from the competition anyway yeah yeah it's interesting isn't it it's that fine line because listening to your speak I was like think oh yeah that's me that's me one that you know is oh yes I'll say to my husband oh yeah I've got three new members this week for the social flock and then they don't sign up so I haven't got three new members because they haven't actually signed signed up you know they might come on eventually which which makes me smile but also it's that that element of I don't want to appear too pushy when it comes to sales and so I then hold back a little bit to too much and um probably don't follow up enough so we might have that one call on zoom and I think great they're happy if they want to join they will I'm not going to chase them up because I then think it's too pushy and it's this conception isn't it that actually yeah one one of the things that um was a number of things there you said lots of fascinating things how do we one of the things is what way we Define sales is a conversation between adults to uncover the truth okay now there is a book uh I won't say it's you know live don't know who's watching but um that says that TR truth will set you free but first it will you off right you may not like what they're thinking they may not but that could be a no it could be a yes but it's better that you find out right yeah so how do you ask authentic conversations to qualify because you're busy they're busy and if you can find a way to kind of reduce that sales cycle ask get those questions in early but not in a pushy way to figure out whether there's a business case as an idea there's something that they should be doing or maybe could be doing figuring out that out if the yes or no and getting some honest there's a there's a bit around next steps which which which I certainly used to do which is you're not sure what's happening next next so I've had some remember someone who owned a HR organization and what she said is that she thinks she's got new a couple of new clients I was like thinks is yeah well they kind of said they would definitely got to go ahead I did a talk recently and I'm definitely interesting we should do this it's not the same as I've signed the purchase order the payments coming in the account and we're going to talk about implementation next yeah so what we talk about is clear and certain Futures clear for them clear for us and if that's no we can stay friends but we're not going to work together at least now well you know that's life that's fine yeah if yes means we're going to go ahead and we're going to kind of work together we're going to tackle these things well that's great as well right even better so one of the I'm getting excited about sales now you see I shut me up one of the analogies that I like like to say is like if you've got I've got um fairly youngest kids getting older now but it's the idea of going into a room and it's like pitch black and it's like you imagine a child going into a dark room there like Monsters lurking it's kind of feels dangerous yeah yeah well sometimes when a buy goes into a situation and they think there going to they're going to be caught out they're going to be ripped off there's going to be things lurking that we haven't been told it's kind of a little bit put puts them a little bit sus on edge bit suspicious or like a child hey that's not just not bring them back yeah so how could you turn on the light because then all the monsters just disappear right yeah and help them understand that yeah at this stage typically people want to either do this or do that and if they want to do that this will what it means does that sound like a plan you're not comfortable with that because we can kind of change the plan if you like but if I helped them understand those next steps that people typically do which is probably in their best interests if they are interested typically at this stage people want to know the price return an investment is that a conversation that you'd like at certain stages helping them buy effectively or qualifying them out is important so it's kind of like putting them at ease and there's certain steps you can do to kind of help that happen quicker does that Mak sense yeah no it does because there's never a simple answer anyway is there because if it was a simple answer everyone would be doing it and everyone would be doing really well with their sales because it's a different approach for everyone isn't it and different questions need to be asked for different potential buyers don't they that is true but the complicating factor is often us and I know this from personal experience because some Sadler techniques when I'm when I'm implementing them I've had I've had stickies on my computer to tell me what to do because I keep on forgetting I know the answer and so it's quite a nice Insight when I train people because sometimes I can help them understand a technique in a 10 minutes 20 minutes yeah tell them an analogy or this happens or some stats and they get it yeah when the real world happens and you ask them to have a money conversation or uh talk about commitment at certain stages or whatever it is is that they've got a choice to remember it and do it it or if they feel uncomfortable sometimes we talk about having 5 Seconds of bravery and doing it then yeah doing something different and it is and I think that's it isn't it I think that's the key thing it's sometimes you have to put yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone a bit like live stream today Andy your your first planned live stream today wasn't it it was yeah was so I I you know like social media I love training but yeah social I don't know why this is terrifying but it's been BR and we're adding value but it is about pushing ourselves slightly out of our comfort zone so that it does become the norm so that it does get rooted into our everyday routines in our everyday way whether it being on social media or that that's an important Point um because what we tend to find is we've got something called a success triangle is and people often come to training because they think it's all about the technique uh but if you don't do it consistently and you haven't got that behavior though that um you do it when you're forced or you do it when you need the business not necessarily because you're planning for the future and you want to kind of scale or double or one of the key things is what's between our ears and our attitude towards stuff right so sometimes the the cause of the issue is not the technique because they know it it could be the attitude or the fact that it's done inconsist stly or at the wrong time or they're not doing it at all yeah and I think you know that's one of the reasons as well I launched the social flock that's you know that's why bar is there because people know they've got to post on social media they know it will generate inquiries if they are consistent but most people are not consistent because they're either not comfortable they don't know what I you know they're lacking ideas they're too busy they you know too busy to do it so that's why the social flock was launched to empower busy business owners to be consistent on their social media and to get you know to come together in a group where we're all accountable to each other and write our post together online on Zoom so there's um there a sandala trainer called John Roso he's got um some really great podcasts if people want to look at um some of the sandala content but on consistency got a really nice phrase he says consistency equals freedom because it gives you that freedom to kind of have headp space do what you want so build the business that you want and if you have that consistency it's the foundation for kind of like all the stuff you want to do because with certain things like sales or social media um sometimes people don't know where to start and H maybe don't even know when to stop so having that behavioral plan when it comes to prospecting or other activities they kind of got that start and stop and they it's a line of what they want to achieve yeah and having that plan so thanks Andy I'm just conscious of the time and um so how do people get in contact with you what I know you run some really good training if they want to sort follow on from here you've got some some a nice sort of free sort of taster session haven't you your sales training so thank you for mentioning that so yeah linking with me I can always send uh people an invite to it but we get um fairly smallest groups uh five 10 people who own local businesses or directors or professionals um we work with accountant lawyers other people as well who kind of have to have the commercial conversation but definitely don't see themselves as being a salesperson and they come on a zoom call it's free and what they can do is tell us the typical challenges that they have in sales we talk a little bit about why those happen and when they happen and how to avoid it and offer some solutions and ideas that they can kind of implement in their business so uh the wel come on as our guest um and if they want to follow up with us afterwards that's cool but the session isn't about me selling it's like an educational thing and it's it's interesting because we have new people new content new ideas so come along come say hi come along brilliant well thanks Andy I put the the link here do connect with Andy on LinkedIn and the link there for for that um training as well that he's mentions so I'd just like to say a huge thank you Andy for coming along and sharing your expertise with us I will certainly be taking some of that into putting it into practice and we'll see you all next Monday at 12:30 live on social media for some more tips and advice when it comes to social media thanks very much beex thanks see you later bye bye