Episode #264: The Trick To Be Confident In Closing Sales

Aaron Miller is going to continue to share his in-depth knowledge of how to be confident with closing sales. He has been working in sales, marketing, and psychology for 20 years. Being top of his class in school he moved to the top of the workforce in sales and marketing. After spending his life studying sales Aaron Miller has learned when it comes to something you are passionate about it is more consulting than sales. This technique has enabled him to lose the anxiety with sales and gain the confidence he needed. Today, he is going to tell you how you can be confident too and encourage you to look at the sales process from a new perspective. It looks and sounds scary but when it comes to something you are passionate about you are here to help people and show them you can solve their pet problems. Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want To Miss: Consult and Discover The term "Sales" can create stress all on its own. We have to realize it is not sales that we provide as a service we are only consulting to provide a pet sitting or dog walking service. Talk to your prospect, listen to them and what they need, and provide them with services that can solve their problem. Discover what they need and how you can help, this will lead to closing sales more effectively. Know Where You Are in the Closing Process The sales process and closing process are different however they intertwine like a dance. sometimes you take 2 steps forward and one step back. It is all about listening and feeling where the prospect is at. The process can be step by step, but many times it is a dance you need to learn how to follow with your prospect if you wish to close the sale. Be Confident in Offering Your Passion Typically we started our business because we are passionate about pets and you need to use this to be confident. You can be an expert in sales, just look at all the time you were sold something, why did you buy it? Show Highlights What do people do wrong with closing sales? [7.00] How to up your game when closing with email or in writing [11.00] What is a micro close? [18.05] How to encourage you to be confident in sales [26.50] Let's Connect: Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’' Are You New Here? Welcome, I am so glad you are here. If you are a dog walker, dog sitter, cat sitter, doggy daycare, or kennel owner, then you found the right place. Jump Consulting is the one place on the internet to get all the resources you need for your pet care business. Can I give you some freebies to generate sales and increase revenues for your business? Grab your freebies below. Are you starting out? Been in business for less than two years? Get your startup resources here. Do you own an established pet care business and you want to take it to the next level.? Get Your builder resources here. Transcript: Here comes episode number 264 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. Ready, because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and today I'm doing something really interesting. I'm actually recording this inside the Jump Mastermind because when I'm done recording this, I want to have a discussion with all the Mastermind members that are going to be listening. But I got something to say this week, and every week I just think about what has really fired me up. This week, it's about sales. It's still about sales. Sales has been something that's been on my mind pretty deep because I think that a lot of us are living in a false sense of reality right now. And I'm here to kind of shake you awake and make you realize that a lot of you say you can sell your services, but can you really? We're going to talk about that today because I think it's really, really important. Right now, we are coming out of the avalanche. This summer was incredible, right? My gosh, everyone got out of quarantine for the most part. People started traveling a lot—people who weren’t even traveling before. The pets that were adopted were surrendered and then readopted, so that was even more new pet parents. We just had this influx of business, and the biggest problem that a lot of my jumpers have had is, “My gosh, we can’t hire enough.” It had nothing to do with “I need to get more clients.” It was, “I need to hire.” Can you relate to that? I want to know, can you relate to that? Now, a couple of episodes ago, we had Aaron Michael Miller on. He is a 20-year veteran of sales and really skilled at teaching people how to sell—not just individuals but teams of people for a company. He’s taken people who were picking up the trash at movie theaters to selling thousands of dollars of vacations at Hilton Rentals or at car dealerships. It’s fascinating because it’s not just about you and me knowing how to sell, but my jumpers who are scaling their business—that have office managers, employees, and teams—whether you realize it or not, they are your salespeople. We need to acknowledge that because if you do, it’s going to get so much easier and more lucrative for your business. If you understand exactly how to sell, you'll start attracting and collecting the exact kind of clients you want. Then I won’t hear you saying, “My God, there’s this client. Every Friday she books five walks for the upcoming week, and then by Sunday night, she cancels four of them.” Why is this even a problem? That’s not a person we even want as a client. But what happened this year is that many of us were living in survival mode. We were scared, so we said, “You know what, I’m just going to accept everyone right now because I’m just so glad my business is back.” But you know what happened? A lot of my jumpers already achieved their 2019 revenues back in August, September, and October. They’ve already killed it. But the thing is, are we killing it the right way? Are we one of those trees that actually needs to be pruned back? Are we growing out in all directions like an overgrown rose bush? You’ve got to cut it back. Inside my free group, Jumpstart Your Pet Business—if you’re not in there and not in the Mastermind, go join it—I asked everyone, “On a scale of one to ten, how good do you think you are at sales?” And you know what they said? Ninety-five percent said they were awesome. They said, “I feel confident telling people how we do things. If they’re not on board, I’m like, bye, Felicia.” That’s not selling. Telling people what you do is just being a mouthpiece. It’s not solving problems. It’s not figuring out their pain points and having a conversation that meets their needs. It’s just saying, “Hey, my name is Bella, I have the Mastermind and Better Marketing with Bella, and I have downloadable products—pick one.” No! We’re not a vocal menu board. And saying, “I don’t need to sell them” is also the wrong mindset. Someone said, “People needing these types of luxury services should do their research.” Sure, but my question to you is—what are you doing to educate them? What does your Facebook or Instagram look like? What are your stories and reels showing? Let’s agree on two things right now—the difference between sales and marketing. Marketing is what brings people into your house; sales is what you do when they’re in your house. Marketing gets their attention and creates emotion around your brand. Sales turns that emotion into an exchange of money. What’s happened this year is that people are getting lazy. They think business is a popularity contest. They say, “My business is booming. I just can’t hire enough staff.” No, your problem is that your rates are too low and you’re accepting everyone. When you do that, your business suffocates you. You’re growing unintentionally, not strategically. Think about your clients—the problem children that take 80% of your time but only make up 20% of your clientele. Everyone says, “We’re the best service in the area.” That’s nice, but how are you showing that? Are you saying “We’re the premier dog walker”? That’s fluff. Are you showing screenshots of client testimonials? Are you demonstrating value by saying your staff is double-certified, or that you have a no-cancellation guarantee? Stop saying “We’re the best” and start proving it. Some of you might be thinking, “I don’t need to focus on this because I’m growing.” Don’t fool yourself—it’s going to slow down. The wave is receding. Travel is slowing down, inflation is high, and a correction is coming. When that happens, people will spend less. When I sold Bella’s House and Pet Sitting in 2016, we charged $25–$35 per visit and $125 for overnights. If you’re not charging at least $25 now, you’re hurting yourself. As inflation rises and wages go up, you can’t make pricing decisions based on feelings. This isn’t a volume business; it’s a quality business. Healthy companies are expanding across states because they built strong foundations. If you’re not profitable, something has to change. I see a shift happening—many businesses are moving toward dog walking because the operations are cleaner. You can run from 10–2, your office is open 9–3, and you get evenings, mornings, and weekends off. You don’t need thousands of clients; you just need the right ones. One of my clients raised rates from $30 to $42 and didn’t lose flow. She was scared at first, but after running the numbers, she found she was more profitable than ever.