If we're going to talk about how to close more sales then it only makes sense to first discuss why we lose sales in the first place.

So to kick this thing off I want to talk about and break down your prospects sales process because your prospect actually has a sales process, a sort of script that they follow when buying.

The first step in your prospects sales process is to tell you a white lie or to withhold information from you. 

We all do this. Don't believe me? 

Have you ever walked into a store, and you're like looking for something? Maybe you need a new belt or some shoes... Or your spouse sent you to the store to grab something for them.

 And you have no idea where the thing that you're looking for is and as you're looking around you see a salesperson walking towards you and they ask, "Oh, can I help you? Is there anything you're looking for today?"

What's your response? If you're like most people your response is something along the lines of "no thanks, I'm good. I'm just looking"

And you spend the next several minutes going up and down the aisles having no clue where to actually be looking. 

See telling that white lie or withholding the truth wasn't even something you consciously chose to do in that moment. It just happened. 

And if we ourselves do that subconsciously do you think our prospects aren't gonna do the same thing as the first step without thinking about it? 

The issue with this is, it's gonna be very difficult for you or I to actually help somebody if we don't know the truth. So that's step number one in your prospects secret sales process.

The second step, in their process is to gather as much information from you as possible. For free might I add. I call this working for free because most of the businesses and entrepreneurs that I work with transfer their knowledge in exchange for payment in the form of some type of coaching or course. 

Many coaches ad experts fall prey to this in their sales calls. They're doing so much coaching aka working for free on that call. And then your prospect feels like they've got an understanding and now can go try this by myself without paying any money for support. 

Which is something that we'd all like to do. If you could get all the coaching, consulting, and support in the world for your business for free you would certainly get it for free right? That's step two. 

The third step in the process is to commit to absolutely nothing. Prospects don't usually say it like that though they something along the lines of "I don't make buying decisions without sleeping on it" or "I never buy when I first meet someone" right away.

 This is nothing more than a smoke screen that usually actually means they either don't trust you or don't believe you can help. Let me prove it.

If that prospect was driving but got stranded because of a gash in their tire. Are they not going to buy a new tire just because it's the first time they've walked into this auto body shop to get a tire? Of course not! That would be silly right? So we know that's not true. 

All of these steps in the process so far are actually somewhat our fault. Businesses and sales professionals often talk about "winning the sale" like it's some battle. If it's a battle and you won the sale does that mean your now new client lost? Not a great way to kickoff a new client relationship. 

Your prospects do these things because we have a strong stigma around sales. Even if it's something we want or need. We feel like we're supposed to initiate some sort of chase. 

The last step is to disappear. These days a lot of entrepreneurs tell me they aren't even hearing "no's" when they make their offers. They hear something like "oh, it sounds really good but I need to think about it, I'll get you an answer on Tuesday". 

And then you contact them on Tuesday... And they're nowhere to be found. 

This is your prospects secret sales process and the reason they're so good at their process is because they've been using and practicing it their entire adults lives. 

And the only reason you're losing sales is because their sales process is superior to the sales process that you're using.

Now that we know why we loses sales and our prospects secret sales process let's start talking about what to do about it so that we can close more sales and work with more people.