Full Episode Transcript

The Money Zone: Why Asking for the Sale Feels So Uncomfortable

Imagine that you're with a prospect and you've gone through the front end of your presentation. You've had a great conversation. They like what you are offering. You feel as though you've answered all their questions, and they've given affirmative responses, and really are honestly wanting what you sell. And now, it's time to talk about the M-O-N-E-Y, the money, honey. As you begin to bring up the cost, what happens inside of you?

Last episode, we reframed selling. That is, you absolutely do not have to become a stereotypical salesperson. In fact, just the opposite. You need to become good at conversations that lead to decisions. And I gave you an approach that I call the best friend from high school approach as a bar to set for yourself as to how you should be interacting with all of your prospects.

But here's the reality. When it comes to asking another human being to give you money, there's a big difference between understanding something intellectually and actually remaining comfortable when you're in that situation. You have officially entered what I lovingly call the money zone.

Now, if you've been on this planet long enough to have any formal product presentation, whether it's a larger purchase like, say, a timeshare or maybe something smaller but, you know, decent investment like, say, a higher end appliance when you go to a specialty store, not a big box store, you should know exactly what I'm referring to here. It's that place where an interaction moves from conversational to directional, and all the discussion, all the casual stories and the laughs have been had, and the only thing left is the price. You know it, the prospect knows it, and there's naturally this little tension in that moment. And just know this, that's perfectly normal. It's human nature.

And think about a time when you really, really wanted something. As you learned more about the product and perhaps even experienced it, you became more excited about having it, and you began to think to yourself, "Oh, man, I hope I can afford this. I hope this is a reasonable price."

And I want you to remember that feeling you had as a consumer because now we need to talk about you as the salesperson. And really, I'm talking to those of you who feel uncomfortable asking for the money. I know there are plenty of you who don't have any challenges with asking for the sale. I know I certainly don't. But guess what? Even me, the longtime sales trainer, still has that little tug inside my belly when I get to the close, and it's not because I'm uncomfortable with asking, but because I don't know with certainty whether that person is going to say yes. And this is true no matter how good your presentation is. And I, I'm kind of confessing this to you because I want you to know that for me, asking for the sale is kind of like public speaking. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I always say this, the day I'm not a little nervous about getting up on stage is the day I need to stop doing it or at least start worrying about it. And why is that? Well, because I care. I want to do a great job on stage, and in sales, I want to help this person. And if I've gone through my entire presentation, and I know that they can benefit from my product or service, and they've given me, that's the key, they've given me every indication that they want it, I am a little anxious about their answer, and I, I hope that makes sense.

So why am I taking so much time to make this point? Because experience tells me that more times than not, the salesperson becomes uncomfortable with asking for the sale long before the prospect has even seen the price. And this happens because you're anticipating what might happen, what might that prospect say to you. What if they say it's too expensive? Or what if they need to think about it? Uh, what if they say no? Or, oh my gosh, what if they think I'm being pushy, right? And I gotta tell you, the more expensive the product or service is that you sell, the more likely it is that you're having those types of internal thoughts and conversations.

And this is dangerous for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, you have stopped being present with the person sitting in front of you. And yes, of course, you're literally there, but I'm talking about your focus and your attention, the conversation that you should be having with them, not inside your head. Remember, there's a human being sitting across from you. The moment you go inside and start rehearsing your next response or just worrying about what their objection is going to be, you're no longer fully listening to them. So you've got to learn how to relax and stay present. Think of our high school friend, right?

Now, second, and something we might get deeper into on later episodes, is the impact your thoughts are having on your non-verbal communication. Your thoughts literally change how you show up. You might speak faster. You might tighten your voice. You might have a tightness in your posture, or maybe you sound less certain. The person across from you may feel that shift even if your words haven't changed. And if you start to internally tense up, that's gonna come through at an unconscious level, and whether you think it or not, it is going to negatively impact the energy between you and the prospect.

And speaking of unconscious levels, I think it's important to stop right here and take a minute to discuss the why. Why is it that some people have a harder time asking for money than others? And here I'm talking more about the normal feelings that we addressed. It's, it's a belief, right? Or said more accurately, beliefs, plural. And if you studied any NLP, neuro-linguistic programming, you know that beliefs are the software that operates your hardware. Yes, beliefs drive all of your daily behaviors, and in sales, your beliefs about money absolutely impact how you feel about discussing money.

And let me give you a real-world example. A client hired me, this is some years ago, to train his sales staff because their closing rate was low. This is typically when people call me, right? And they were using my online sales training program, and they did regular role-playing, so knowing how to sell was absolutely not an issue, and this owner just couldn't figure out where the leak in the system was. So I flew in, you know, I arrived, and the entire sales team was in the conference room, and I had them all take out a piece of paper, and I asked them to all answer three questions. Their answers were being private, no one else was going to see them, right? And I'm not going to bore you with all the details of the process that we unfolded, but I do want to share with you the insight. This facility was a high-end place. The questions I asked were designed to spark a conversation about beliefs, and our conversations afterwards helped many of them realize that their beliefs about the membership price was absolutely affecting their sales conversations. A lot of them said they personally wouldn't be able to afford the facility. So even though they loved it and they sold it, in the back of their mind unconsciously, they were thinking, "Wow, this is expensive." And of course, this was unknowingly creating self-sabotage.

So ask yourself, what are your personal beliefs about money and spending it? Do you own or use the very product that you sell? If so, how long did it take you to purchase it? Did you struggle with spending the money or maybe even struggle with getting enough money together to buy it? I guarantee you that your own beliefs and processes around how you buy things are impacting your interactions with the prospects that you're working with, and that belief walks right into the money zone with you.

So after you share the price of your product or service, when that natural tension happens, how do you behave in that moment? I guarantee you there is a correlation. Are you one of those people who can't tolerate that short silence, you know, where the prospect naturally may take a moment to kind of process what you've just said, and you sabotage the moment and start talking nervously instead of letting them respond in their own time? God, that drives me crazy. I say, "Be quiet." You know?

In wellness, these moments where someone is self-reflecting are important because personal decisions are very individual with that person, and they need to walk through their own thoughts without being interrupted by you.

Remember this, silence does not mean no. Let me say that again. Silence does not mean no. In fact, silence means that they're thinking, and that might be just, "Hey, how am I going to pay for this? Which credit card am I going to use," right? Process is not rejection. You should be a lot more concerned with an immediate no than you ever are about someone taking five, 10, 20, 30 seconds or longer to give you a reply.

This person is making an important decision about their health and well-being. When it's you doing the presentation, sometimes it's easy to forget that, especially if you've been doing it for a while, right? And remember what I said earlier, relax, stay present just as you would with that long-term friend. Give them some space. Yes, of course, there's tension in that silence. Your goal is simply to become comfortable enough with that moment that you don't react to the discomfort, right? In essence, get comfortable being uncomfortable, right? Ask for the sale, then give the other person room to answer. That moment of silence may feel awkward to you, but it gives them the space they need to decide.

And here's the good news. Remember we talked about our own internal chatter around what the prospect might say, "Oh my gosh, is it too expensive?" Or, "I need to think about it," or, "I've got to talk to my spouse." Well, all of those fears that you have about hearing those things are gonna dissipate once you know exactly how to handle them.

You see, personally, I'd much rather, I would much rather hear an objection than an immediate no, because an objection gives us something to talk about, right? Maybe the person needs more information. Maybe they need more time, or they're trying to just figure out how to pay for it. We won't know until we ask, and sometimes what sounds like an objection really turns out to be a condition. There's a difference. A condition is when the product may not be right for them, or they may have a constraint that you simply can't solve, and that's okay. Remember the high school friend approach? Your job is to understand what's going on and help them make the right decision, even if that decision is no right now.

But when there is an obstacle that you can help them walk through, you need to know how to have that conversation, and yes, in the next couple of episodes, I'm gonna give you my six-step framework for handling any objection.

When you have the right mindset and the right skill set, you can stay composed in that money zone. And instead of thinking, "Oh, shit, an objection," you can get curious. "Hmm. Okay, tell me more." Right? That's a big difference. That shift from oh, shit to curious keeps you present and in front of them, right? You don't need to eliminate the discomfort, you just need to stop letting it control your behavior and the conversation that unfolds.

For now, what I want you to do is pay attention to what happens inside you when the conversation reaches the price, right? Do you rush? Do you rescue? Do you fill the silence before the other person has even had a chance to think?

Next time, in the next episode I should say, we're going to take that same moment and walk through how to present the decision, how to ask clearly, and then give the person the room to answer. And that is gonna give you not only the calmness, but the confidence.

Until next time, make a difference, make a profit, and remember, wellness means business. This is Casey Conrad. Ciao.