In tHIS post, I sharE a 6-step FRAMEWORK FOR how to close a sales call, including specific phrases to close the sale.
People ask me “How do I close a sales call?” and “What should I say on a sales call?” all the time.
It’s something I used to struggle with as well—I never wanted to make people feel like they had to buy or that I was pushing for the sale. I didn’t want to be like those bro marketers, or like some of the coaches I had considered hiring, but who made me feel bad if I didn’t buy their programs.
Eeewwww.
I wanted to make sales in a super authentic way, and I wanted it to be more of a soul conversation, than a sales conversation.
Maybe you can relate?
This approach can be used for selling: coaching packages, healing sessions, copywriter services, graphic design packages, therapy sessions, website services and more. If you’re a coach, healer or service provider, this method can be used to radically convert more calls, without feeling icky about selling.
- Step into your high-vibe self
- Channel your best coffee talk
- Lean in and listen
- Share your offers
- Get a clear yes or no
- Celebrate and honour
I’ll also share the #1 thing that is missing in traditional sales frameworks.
Now, let’s dive into each of them, one step at a time.
1. Step into your high-vibe self
You know how we try to have morning routines in order to have a successful day? This step is like having a pre-call routine in order to have a successful sales call. Having a one to five-minute ritual before your calls can be really helpful for tapping into your own unique sales superpower.
Think about it like this—your energy is what sells your offers and packages—so you want to bring your very best energy to the call. Ask yourself: How can you show up on the call feeling really powerful, tapped into who you are on a soul level, and grounded, inside your body?
If you’re the type of person who’s up in your head with lots of ideas and swirling energy, you might spend a minute or two in meditation imagining your energy dropping down into your body and settling down at the base of your spine.
If you’re a very earthy person or your vibe is a little low, you might want to bring your energy up a bit. You could do 10 jumping jacks, or run around the block, or whatever you need to do to step into that.
For me, my pre-call ritual involves wearing something nice because it makes me feel put together and like a boss. I rock a fun lipstick and channel the board room version of me – the one who would walk into a boardroom feeling confident, clear and ready for action!
Side note: I’ve closed 10k packages in my running clothes and dripping with sweat, so this isn’t a hard and fast rule.
And it’s never about being someone you’re not. It’s simply about showing up as your best self, so you can pay complete attention to the other person on the call. This will also help you be completely detached from the outcome for the call. That doesn’t mean you don’t care about them, but it means you park your objectives, and you commit to showing up in service for the person in front of you.
Your job isn’t to “make them buy.” Your role is to empower them to make a buying decision and to get clear on their next steps—whatever that may be.
Step 2. Channel your best coffee talk
As soon as the call opens and begins, start with a smile and a friendly welcome to the other person. Keep in mind that people buy from people who they know, like, and trust, so your first goal, is to put this person at ease.
Settle into the energy of being together and make some kind of personal connection. Remember, it’s possible they’re nervous! Booking this call with you was a big deal for them, they’ve already made a big step, acknowledge that and do what you can to put them at ease.
You could talk about the weather, ask them about their kids (if you’ve crept their Instagram and you know they have kids), ask them how they are, really anything to put them at ease and get the pre-jitters out of the way.
Think of this as the small talk on a first date before you get personal. What you don’t want to do at this stage in the conversation is start by talking about yourself, or by listing out what they should buy from you. That’s a sure-fire way to turn someone off.
Try saying something like:
“I’m so happy to meet you! I saw from your intake form that you’re a copywriter. What made you get into that line of work?”
“Welcome! How’s your day going so far?”
“Hey, I’m super happy to meet you. I’ve been checking out your Instagram and your kids are the cutest!”
Step 3. Listen and Learn
There are two parts to this step. The first one is to unravel their pain points and find out where they are stuck, and the other is to get them connected to their vision, their desires and where they want to go. I like to think of it as full-body listening—where you listen with every cell of your being.
Start with the pain, then move them towards the pleasure. Human beings are programmed to move away from pain and towards pleasure, so let’s use our natural inclinations to our advantage!
It’s important to talk about both. If they don’t see where they’re stuck or hurting, it’s going to be hard for them to make a buying decision.
Likewise, if they don’t know what their vision is or what they’re trying to move towards, they won’t be motivated to purchase and change their situation.
Here are some questions you can ask to better understand where they’re stuck and to get the “pain” part of the conversation going:
- “Tell me why we’re here. What made you book this call?”
- “What’s going on inside your business?”
- “Where are you stuck? What are you struggling with?”
- “What’s the number one thing that’s really holding you back?”
And then, just let them talk.
And remember: you’re not here to fix it for them at this point. You’re just here to listen.
Be sure to repeat back to them some of what they said, so they know that you understand and so that you know, that you’ve gotten the full picture. For example, you might say, “Okay, I hear that you’re really struggling with XYZ. That sounds frustrating.”
Side note: Validation is something we forget to do as humans, but it’s so important—that’s why therapists use it regularly! As parents, we need to validate our kid’s feelings and emotions and we should do the same with our partners. There is no human need that is greater than feeling seen and heard.
You can also use this stage of the call to share some stories related to their struggles, whether it’s from a past client, or even yourself. This illustrates that you get it, and that’s there’s a way to work through it. It helps to normalize what they’re struggling with and to let them know it’s possible to move out of that.
From here you’ll move into the next steps of the call, finding out about their vision. Some questions you can ask to help them clarify their vision are:
- “If you were to really go for it this year, what would that look like?”
- “If you were to play full out and run straight towards your dream life, what would your life look like?”
- “If you could move through [insert thing that’s holding them back] what would change, who would you be able to become?”
- “What does your day look like in your ideal vision for yourself?”
- “In an ideal world, if you were no longet stuck, what would that look like? What would become possible?”
You want them to paint a picture of what’s possible in their life, without the struggle that they just established, so they can move towards finding a solution to their “problem.”
In step 3, you also want to establish the “Why now”. Why do they want to make these changes in their life / business now? Why is it important to them, now? This is important because if they don’t feel urgency with their pain point and vision, they’re not gonna have that motivation to move to the next place.
Step 4. Share your offers
This is the step where so many people get stuck on their sales calls, because this is when you stop talking about them, and you start talking about yourself, your work, and how you can support them. It can feel uncomfortable, especially if you’re new to selling!
But I have just the fix!
Instead of just starting to rabble about what you do, ask for permission. This means you’re getting consent from them to share about your offers, and at this point in the call, it’s going to feel really empowering to your potential client, to have the option to decide to keep the conversation rolling.
Say something like:
“Would you like to hear how I support my clients?”
or “Would you like me to share my offers?”
This is the missing key in many traditional sales frameworks and for those of us that are worried about coming across salesy or icky, adding this little line can be a game-changer. Asking for permission gives you complete license to share your offers without any gross feelings.
If you’ve done a good job in the first 2 steps, then they’re going to be DYING to know about HOW you can help them. If they say no at this point, it’s time to end the call. But normally at this point, they’re excited to know how they can work with you. Then…
Tell them about your offers. I teach my clients the 3 tiered system for offers, so I recommend that you share your offers in order of biggest most expensive offer, then, your signature offer and lastly, your smallest price point offer. (I wrote an entire post about crafting your offers using a 3-tiered system).
You’ll want to use one or two sentences for each one offer illustrating what it is, who it’s for and how it’ll support them.
If you can, match it to the language that they’ve used in Step 2. To be clear, you’re not changing the package or outcomes, but you want to talk about your offers in a way that the other person can hear you, and understand what kind of results this will help them achieve.
People don’t buy coaching sessions or website packages: they buy what becomes possible as a result of receiving coaching, or having a finished website.
Meet them where they’re at, to show them what’s possible and to demonstrate that your offer matches what they need (if that is indeed true).
Keep it short and sweet. At this point in the call, you can include prices or not. I’ve done it both ways and it really depends on your own style.
Side note: Sometimes if you talk about the investment too soon in the call, you’ll come up against money objections that are not really money objections. The person might say it’s about money, when really they don’t feel ready, or they’re nervous, or perhaps they’ve never invested in themselves before, so they’re worried it won’t work out.
After listing the ‘no-more-than-three offers’, say something like:
“Which of those packages would best support you?”
or “What feels closest to what you’re looking for?”
or “What feels the most exciting to you?”
Then wait for their answer.
Other sales frameworks encourage you to tell them what they should buy, but I don’t like this. I prefer to give the person the purchasing power. It’s their money, after all, so let them decide. And of course, if they ask you your opinion, feel free to give it!
Step 5. Get to a Clear Yes or No
After sharing about your offers in step 4, the next step is to get to a clear yes or a clear no. This means that you want to help the person make a clear decision about their next steps. At this stage in the conversation, what you don’t want to do is let them go and “think about it.”
This is where you need to stay the course and hold space for whatever they need to work through. Please understand they may be hesitant or nervous to invest, so give them time and space to think through it and ask questions.
Don’t tell them to follow up with you in a few days. That rarely results in a sale. It’s much better to stay on the call and answer any questions they may have.
You can also say something like:
“What’s coming up for you?”
or “How does that feel?”
or “What feels right for you?”
or “What questions do you have about doing this work together?”
And if they have questions about the investment, have a deeper money conversation. You could tell them about payment plans, or if they have pricing objections, you can coach them through their objections to help them find the right course of action for them.
Money objections are usually a sign of a deeper fear. They’re usually worried they’ll fail, or that they’re not ready or that it won’t work for them. Having that conversation with them and getting to the route of their fears WITH THEM on the call will change the way you do sales calls forever (and help you close way more of them).
At this point in the conversation, it’s really about empowering them to make a buying decision, to help them get to a yes or no.
And even if they say they can’t because of the money, I would encourage you to help them through this, to see if there’s anything underneath that objection. It’s rarely about the money!
(Of course, some people, legitimately don’t have the money, in which case, you can direct them to your free resources, scholarship program if you have one, lower ticket offers, or perhaps you need a better intake form to pre-qualify your prospective clients).
To learn more about coaching people through objections, check out this post.
Step 6. Celebrate and Honour Their Decision
No matter what decision they make, you want to end the call by celebrating their decision. If they say YES, it’s as simple as “Awesome, let me share the next steps with you,” and then describing your onboarding process.
You want to keep it super simple and make taking payment very easy. Think of your onboarding process as an extension of your sales process. You can take payment on that call, or connect them with your team, and then have a beautiful confirmation email ready to send them, or whatever the rest of your onboarding process is.
One thing to think about is that some people pay for something, and then feel buyer’s remorse. They feel guilty or get in their own minds over self doubt or questioning their decision.
Send them something to help celebrate with them and validate their decision. I’ll send a little video, or homework, or a book in the mail. Something to say: “You did this. You made this step. I’m still here, I got you. I’m still celebrating with you!”
And if they say NO, even after working through their objections with you, remember that there’s nothing wrong with a no. Ask them if they’d like a referral to someone else, and send them on their way with joy and love and peace in your heart.
And remember this: A NO can also sometimes be a future YES, so treat people well. Maybe the person is a NO today, but in six months, they’ll be ready or a perfect fit for a hot YES.
I’ve had lots of women come back to me and say “You were the only coach whose sales call I actually enjoyed, and when I was ready to invest, I picked you.”
Let’s recap!
The 6 steps to closing a sales calls are:
1. Step into your high-vibe self
2. Channel your best coffee tall
3. Lean in and listen
4. Share your offers
5. Get to a clear yes or no
6. Celebrate and honour
And that’s it! Those are the 6 steps to closing a sales call.
It’s not about pushing or coercing, it’s simply about connecting human-to-human and helping someone get clear on where they are stuck, and what support they need to help them get to their next stage in life or business.
After working with a client on implementing this process into her business, she came back to me and said “It feels like I’m having a soul conversation with people now.” How sweet is that?
Not to mention all of the women I’ve supported in moving away from selling one-off sessions for $85/hr, to beautiful paid in full 5-10k packages. That’s freedom. If you’d like to learn more about selling high-ticket, check out my mini sales training, which you can snatch up for $37.
Or, if you’d like to chat further and see how I can support you with your sales and offers, book a discovery call with me. It’s always free and zero pressure!
