Last September, I had a conversation with a business owner that sells software, but the big money is in selling consulting along with the software. The owner told me that they get leads from the software company but they’re garbage and they never buy.

We’ve been working together since. A couple of weeks ago, we spent some time working on the first phone call. Last week, my client called me and said, “I might deny it if asked, but I’ve been making calls today and I had fun.” I immediately thought, “This one made it!” They realized the truth behind my #1 rule of selling. “If it’s not fun, you’re doing it wrong!“

Then we broke for Thanksgiving. On today’s call, my client starts telling me that last week, she got two of those crappy leads from her software provider. They closed one of them Friday. Huh? That’s right. They closed one of those crappy leads that never buy on Friday.

Wait a minute…..The rest of the story.

My client told me that they called the other ‘crappy lead’ and had a 35 minute conversation (also on Friday) with a CEO that was fully engaged, answering questions freely, and was leaning toward buying. My client asked (I paraphrase.), “So, have you thought about what kind of investment would be necessary and doable to reach your business goals?” The prospect answered, “Not exactly.” My client asked, “Would you like me to help with that?” The prospect answered, “That would be great!” (Are you ready for this?) My client replied, “I’d love to, but I’ve got to get on a call that should have started 5 minutes ago. Would you like to schedule another call next week so we can wrap this up? He agreed and they scheduled a call for tomorrow.

1. They put a CEO ‘on hold’. Awesome posturing. No ‘puppy dog’ selling here. This is peer to peer.
2. They knew to leave the CEO ‘wanting’. The CEO wants the answer to budget and therefore wants the next call. My client told me that theyir plan is to start the next call by asking if anything had changed and recap what was covered on the first call.
3. My client had the presence of mind to schedule the next call AFTER our coaching call so that we could debrief, strategize and rehearse for tomorrow.