I am going to make a YouTube video today about why SEOs and lots of other business fail at making sales but I thought I would talk about it here today also.
Ask yourself, and be honest, when you are in a meeting or on a call with a prospect do you talk more than they do? Or do you ask questions and listen?
Most everyone talks too much.
Let’s use someone that wants to sell SEO as an example.
Which of these do you think will be more successful?
Scenario A
SEO: “Hi Bill. My name is Steve SEO. I am an SEO expert and I can rank your website first page of Google and start bringing you in leads and sales from Google. When can we have a meeting to discuss this further?”
Bill: “Let me think about it and get back to you.”
Scenario B
SEO: “Hey Bill how’s business going?”
Bill: “Going good, could always be better.”
SEO: “I hear ya Bill. Let me ask you this, what do you mean it could be better?”
Bill: “Well they are opening a new set of high rises over on the other side of town but I am not getting any business from them because I don’t have enough trucks and guys to cover that area.”
SEO: “I hear ya Bill. Why exactly would you like to expand into that part of town? ”
Bill: “Well like I said there a bunch of new high rises that need roofing there. If we could get a piece of that action I could add some more staff and not only cover that area better but I could give my guys now a raise since they haven’t had one in 2 years. Also my daughter Samantha is going away to college next year and I’d like to be able to get her some of the things she needs before she goes.”
SEO: “I hear ya Bill. Let me ask you this then. Would you be interested in learning about a way to get a few extra sales a month? Enough that you can buy that new truck and hire a guy for the other side of town?”
Bill: “Depends. How much will it cost? I don’t have a lot of extra cash”
SEO: “I hear ya Bill, I run a business to, so I know how important it is to manage your money. Let’s do this Bill. I’ll swing by your office on Thursday, we’ll sit down for 15 minutes and talk about what we can do to get you that extra cash you need to get Samantha her college stuff. It won’t take much of your time and if you are not interested then no harm done, and if you are we can talk further. Sound good?”
Bill: “As long as it won’t cost anything it can’t hurt to hear what you have to say.”
SEO: “Great Bill. I’ll have my office setup the time. I think you’ll love what I have to say, and if you decide to give it a shot, the only problem you will have is that you can’t hire someone fast enough. Sound good?”
Bill: “Sounds good!”
SEO: “Great Bill I will see you on Thursday.”
So I think its obvious that scenario 2 is much more likely to make the sale than scenario 1.
Some key points to take away from this:
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The SEO did very little talking. He asked questions and let Bill tell him what he needed.
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He kept using his name to build familiarity
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He kept agreeing with him with “I hear ya Bill”
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He repeated back to Bill what Bill told him his end goal was
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He said “Sound good” twice which forces Bill to answer the question
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He overcame objections by again, agreeing with him.
So many people, especially SEOs are SO bad at this because they want to go into all the nerdy details instead of just finding out what someone needs, and giving it to them.
No matter what you sell… and to some extent we all sell something… this is the most effective approach.
Take the time to get better at it and close some more deals!
Talk to you tomorrow.
Best,
CMW