Episode 278: #1 Way to Increase Your Sales That Everyone Can Do

I've heard from many of you... I don't like answering the phone. I don't like being put on the spot. I don't like selling. I don't like talking about price. All of this is stinkin' thinking that is severely limiting your ability to grow your business. People literally make the decision to call and speak to a company. They put their environment on mute so they can ring you and potentially speak to you. If they are doing this, they have most likely already checked you out. They have seen your website, your social... and now, they just need a bit of reassurance. They are calling you for this reassurance and you are giving them a L for LOSING instead of a W for WINNING by not answering. This is the equivalent of walking into a store and needing help and having no associates to speak to. Or walking up to one to ask them a question and them just walking away from you. Not only is it rude, but it is frusterating. Then, you are expected to check yourself out. Can you imagine if that wasn't Walmart and it was Nordstroms? The horror. I know the idea of phone calls seems so ancient. We mostly communicate through email, text, and social media messaging. But what if I told you that the old-fashioned telephone has even more persuasion and would land you more new clients? Would you be willing to answer it more often? If you are a business that has your phone number listed on google and on your website, then you need to be answering the phones. But many of you are not. Why? This week I went on a mission to find out what is going on out there and made 10 phone calls to 10 different companies in the Phoenix and Dallas area. The results were astounding. Biggest Takeaways As business owners, we are concerned with marketing, advertising and finding ways we can build up our client roster and in turn, create more sales. We know how important client relationships are, but we are forgetting to connect with potential clients. That connection begins with.. wait for it.. a phone call! If you answer the phone, you will land more sales. Especially because your competition isn't doing it Show Highlights Making a connection [1:24] Answer the phone [3:27] Save the sale [7:45] Links Mastermind Better Marketing with Bella Bella Vasta Instagram 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: This is episode 278 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. In any case, get 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 we’re continuing on the theme that we’ve been doing for two months, which is all about sales. This time, it’s a little bit shocking because as I was preparing for this podcast and creating the notes for it, I actually had to take a different turn because what I thought was going to happen didn’t actually happen. What that was, was calling you guys. Yes, I picked up the old-fashioned telephone and called you. What a concept! We’re talking sales, and I cannot stress enough that putting your phone to go directly to voicemail is not doing you any justice. If you don’t want the phone, then don’t put it on your Google listing and don’t put it on the front page of your website. But if your phone number is there, you need to answer your phone. Here’s the thing—I know, I know, and I hear all the excuses you guys are saying. “But Bella, I get too many robocalls.” “But Bella, people are just price shopping.” “But Bella, I’m busy.” “But Bella, everything they need is on my website.” That’s great, but that’s not why they’re calling. They might say that, but they’re calling to make a connection with you. And if you’re not offering the opportunity to make a connection with you, then you better be doing it on your social media via videos—like I’m actually doing right now as I’m recording this podcast. I’m simultaneously going live on Instagram and just doing the beginning of it here. If you’re not following me, go ahead and follow me at Bella Vasta. Anyways, people call not to get prices but because they want to feel the warm and fuzzies. They want a connection with you. They want to feel good about you. They want to feel some sort of emotion before they start exposing themselves and giving all of this information. Not to mention, most of the phone calls that I made this morning—ten of them—only two answered. The rest went straight to voicemail. At first, I thought maybe it was just Arizona. Maybe it was only nine o’clock here and people just weren’t answering their phones. No—because then I called people in Dallas. Nobody answered there either. Actually, one answered in Dallas and one in Arizona. Both calls, by the way, were under two minutes. Both calls were men answering the phone, and they literally were like, “Where do you live? It’s $26. You can go to the website and sign up if you want it.” They didn’t know my name, my dog’s name, where I was going, or if I had ever had a pet sitter before. They didn’t know anything about me. They basically did not want my business. I was even more put off after those calls. It bugs me to no end because I hear so many people online saying, “I want more clients, I need more clients, how do I get more dog walking clients?” They’re trying all this stuff—sinking money into branding, Facebook ads, pounding the pavement, talking to groomers—when really all they need to do is answer the phone. That’s all you need to do. Most of the sale is already done if you can just answer the phone. People need reassurance. You’ve got to give them a win somehow. They need to feel like they’ve made progress. You have to put yourself in their shoes. Most of the time, they’re busy. Everyone’s busy. I don’t know anyone who says, “I’m not busy.” So when someone takes the time to call, they’re actively trying to solve their problem right now. They’ve already looked you up online, read your Google reviews, checked your Facebook page, and seen your photos. They’ve decided to pick up the phone because they want a connection. It’s so frustrating to me—ten people, and almost everything went to voicemail. Some of the voicemails weren’t even professional. They were just the default: “You have reached 928... please leave a message.” How about calling back missed numbers? I haven’t gotten any callbacks. I used to say, “Hi, this is Bella from Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. I just missed a call from this number and wanted to make sure you weren’t a client out of town needing something.” That opened the conversation. They’d say, “Wow, you call back when I’m out of town?” And I’d say, “Of course!” That shifted the experience from disappointment to impressed. If you’re not going to answer the phone, that’s okay. I’m not saying you have to—but it’s contradictory to put your phone number on your Google listing or website and then send calls straight to voicemail. That gives potential clients a loss, not a win. You might think you’re too busy, or that clients can just go online, or that they have to “prove” they want to work with you. That’s the worst attitude you can have. More than half of people are using smartphones—tiny screens and fat thumbs. Let’s stop making it complicated with endless forms. If you really need them to fill something out, make it short and sweet. And if you’re using software like Time To Pet, open up the registration process so people can complete it fully without being stopped midway. Otherwise, you’re blocking the sale. A lot of the voicemails I heard said, “We can’t come to the phone right now.” Can we be a little more creative? We all know how voicemails work. And please—don’t tell people to text you. It sounds unprofessional and small. It makes you sound like a one-person show. Texting is also a time, organizational, and financial drain. Keep communication in email, on the phone, or in your client portal. When I started this project, I planned to analyze how I felt after each call—whether they understood me, if I felt confident in their process, or if I knew what would happen next. But I couldn’t do that because nobody answered. One company’s voicemail told me to submit a form; another went straight to voicemail; another had an automated system. I did have one call that lasted a minute and ten seconds. He asked me nothing about myself. Then I tried Dallas. Same thing—five calls, all to voicemail. One man answered, but he sounded distracted and unprepared. He said, “Good morning.” I said, “Hi, is this the pet sitting company?” He said, “Uh, yeah... how old is your dog and what kind of dog is he?” I told him, “He’s a 50-pound mutt.” Then he asked, “What kind of services are you looking for?” That’s nails on a chalkboard to me. It assumes the caller already knows what they need.