Ask Brett, Part 2 - Written Form!

After two failed attempts to video this (I will get it for part 3!), here’s the written form of ‘Ask Brett’. I actually got almost a dozen questions, so while I’ll only be answering three of them here...I may kick back around for more for Monday (Ok, I will)!

Quick note on this one: I’ve had a lot of managers and reps say that some of the content is a little higher level than where a lot of reps are at. Looking back, that’s totally fair. This one is going to be more 100-level sales...but I think a good read for everyone. I also distilled them way down to their core question. Some of these were great questions...just a ton of words to get there.

Question #1: My manager tells me I need to like no’s. I hate them. Help!

I may swerve here on what you think I would say. I hate ’no’s’, too. They suck. I think they should suck. If you care about your clients, you recommend what they should buy, and they say ‘no’, that should hurt. You put yourself into it. That said, you should hate ‘no’s’ less than ‘maybe’s’. ‘Maybe’s‘ are not hope. ‘Maybe’s‘ are a gigantic waste of our time. You should also love ‘yes’’ so much that they cover any pain from ‘no’s’ that you get. Crave the ‘yes’’, learn from and embrace the ‘no’s’, and despise the ‘maybe’s’. That’s a recipe for success.

One of the phrases that I’ve used in my trainings and consultings is ‘love some blood on the battlefield.’ If you never invest yourself into your clients, ’no’s’ won’t suck. But I don’t think that’s good. If you put everything you’ve got into a potential sale, and it doesn’t work, that should not feel good. Don’t let people tell you otherwise!

Question #2: I was told I need to Build Rapport with clients. Does that mean I just need them to like me?

No. No. Hell no. If they like you...that’s totally fine. It does probably help in some way. But to get people to spend their money? They need to believe that you are an expert and that you can be trusted. Trust and comfort is FAR more important than like. If they like you, but don’t trust you, they’ll just go dark on you because they don’t want to tell you ‘no’. And that’s the absolute worst. If they trust you and believe you’re an expert, they’ll buy from you...or at least have the courtesy to tell you ’no’. They’ll also be the one’s who recommend you to their friends. Don’t believe that rapport is the answer.

Question #3: How do I become more comfortable asking for the sale?

The most uncomfortable thing we do is to ask strangers for money. And that’s how most of us think about it...which makes ‘being comfortable’ almost impossible. I switch it up. At the beginning of each conversation, I tell people that I’m going to be asking them to buy tickets if the conversation is a good one. That takes all the pressure off doing it if it is a good conversation. As Michael Scott shows, there’s no sale without the ask...thus the importance of the agenda. It’s been almost ‘no fail’ for me...so what does that look like?

”The reason for my call is to talk to you about your experiences at our games, learn more about you, and see if you might be a good fit for our ticket programs. How does that sound?’

So...how does that sound?