“What’s it gonna take for you to commit today?”
I cringed, wincing as I listened in.
I was at my globo gym that I train out of every once and a while close to home.
I’d just done a cheeky back/bi’s session and had my laptop opened up, attending to a few emails before I drove home.
On the table next to me was a PT who had just sat down to start going through a sales presentation with a potential client.
And while this PT may not have even known it, it was all going horribly wrong.
Now, off the bat…
This email is by no means disrespecting this PT.
I’ve been there, done that, and made all the same mistakes that I’m about to share with you.
I remember what it’s like having to put yourself out there, risking rejection over and over again…
All the while wondering if the person you’re trying to help is genuine or just a freeloader wanting a gym program.
But you know what makes that whole sales process even more complicated?
When you ask really, really bad questions.
And worse still, it probably wasn’t this guy’s own naivety or lack of experience…
Because these questions sounded awfully similar to the cringy tactics I’ve heard used by sales ‘goo-roos’ before…
And it wasn’t just this one question that made me shake my head…
He’d also asked:
“What’s keeping you awake at night right now?”
I could see out of the corner of my eye how uncomfortable this client was becoming.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, shortly after he followed up with:
“What was your budget for this?”
Yikes.
So between that and everything else, it was no surprise that every word coming out of this PT’s mouth was like nails on a chalkboard for the prospect.
This poor guy had no idea just how bad this was playing out.
Now, if you’re getting a bit hot under the collar wondering what’s so bad with these questions, you’re in for an absolute treat here…
Because what I’m about to tell you could quite literally open up an entirely new way of thinking which could change the course of how you think about sales forever.
So want to know what is so damn wrong with this approach?
Every prospect on earth knows exactly what’s going on when you try this super cringy style of sales.
And for 99% of your prospects, it will make them flinch and feel uncomfortable.
Do you know what happens after that?
You get stone-walled.
When you trigger your prospects alarm bells that they’re being sold to, they can’t possibly feel safe and comfortable around you.
Which means you won’t get the answers you really need to help them.
In my experience, I’ve found that the best type of sale is the sale that never feels like it was ever made.
Read that one again for good measure:
“The best type of sale is the sale that never feels like it was made.”
And to do that, it requires us all to abandon the old way of selling and adopt a completely new style of questioning that helps your prospects realise three things, all on their own:
1. They need help,
2. They can’t do it by themselves and,
3. They want that help to come from you.
In order to come to those three realisations, you need a framework for questioning that positions you as the advisor, not the adversary.
I’ve been working in the background for months to codify this framework because, to my knowledge, it’s not something I’ve ever seen spoken about in the world of gym/physio sales.
Which I find quite baffling…
Given that every top clinical psychologist on earth uses this same approach to understand their patients better, and, more importantly, inspire them to take action.
So, I really don’t understand why it’s never made it into mainstream practice for sales training.
From next month, it’ll become ever so slightly more mainstream, as Alley-Oop subscribers get their hands on this system and deploy a more human form of selling that doesn’t ‘push’, but rather ‘pulls’ your ideal prospects towards you.
And because they invested the $3.23 per day it takes to get this game-changing advice delivered straight to their door, they’ll be remembered as advisors trying to help, not adversaries trying to sell.
Imagine what that flip in perception could do for you in your gym or practice…
You can subscribe here:
– Karl Goodman
