Ep 195: A Simple Connection Call Structure That Turns Into Clients [ORIGINALLY LIVE]

Welcome And Uncut Setup

0:01

Hey, hey, hey. This is Sarah Nawa Block, and you are listening to Tiny Marketing. This is the Uncut Summer Series, where you are getting the raw, unfiltered, unedited recordings from our interviews, webinars, and workshops. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ridiculousness

Sarah Noel Block 0:23

Hey, quick note before we dive in this episode was originally recorded as a live stream. If you want to join me live for conversations like this, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel at @sarahnoelblock. I'd love to see you there. Now let's get into it.

0:37

Hello. Hi everybody. Most solo consultants treat connection calls like networking. It's a nice chat, maybe a referral down the road, but some of your best calls never converted because you never asked for that micro yes. Just that little yes, that little confirmation that can move them into the next step of that conversation. Today, I'm showing you how to run a connection call so it can actually turn into a client without it ever feeling like a pitch. There's nothing grosser than getting on a connection call, and then you get

Why Great Calls Do Not Convert

1:17

unsolicited pitch. Like, have you ever been on a call where you had someone pull up their pitch deck and you're like, "Oh, no. It's one of those." We're not doing that. That is not what this is. This is all about reading signals and building a structure around that so you can pull threads and convert it into a sale if it's meant to be a sale. So, by the end, you will have a call structure built to service real client opportunities, plus the exact sentence that moves someone from, "Hey, that was a great conversation," to, "Let's talk about working together." For anybody who's new here, hello. I'm Sarah Noelle Block. I am the founder of Tiny Marketing, the host of the Solo Consultant Summit, and all things Booked Out in Six. It's so good to have you guys here, and before we get into anything too deep, come say hi. Say hi in the chat. You are here. I would love to say... Like, for you to say, "Hello, I'm here," and to tell me where you're from. Have you had a connection call recently that you know afterwards could have been a sale, but it didn't convert because you didn't have the right structure in place for that connection call? So chat, say hi, say where you're from, and let me know, have you had a connection call that just should have converted and didn't? Because we're gonna fix that today Okay. So let's talk a little about a little bit of a reframe. Most solo consultants either go straight into pitch mode, like I was talking about. They get on a call, they're ready to pitch their thing, they even might have a deck pulled up, and it kills what that relationship could've been. Could've been. Or B, they have a great conversation, get a, "We should collab sometime," and never turn into an actual client because the structure wasn't there to be able to pull out what their challenge was, and if you can solve it, and if they even want you to solve it. So we're going to talk about the t- that today. So the strategy that we're going to talk about, it's, it's not about needing to pitch harder. We're actually not pitching at all. I'm all about consent-based sales. We don't do any pitching unless someone asks us to. It's that you're not listening for the signals that someone is a client and not just a connection. Today we're going to fix that. We're going to talk about one, how to run the call, how to hear the signal, and how to make the ask without pitching. Stick around until the end, because I'm going to give you the exact scripting doc at the end of this that I use for these calls and I share with my clients, so you'll have exactly the roadmap on how to structure these calls so they convert if they are meant to convert. Okay? Now, I'm going to pull up the first one, because first we're going to talk about the golden rule.

Golden Rule Let Them Talk First

4:43

Let's see. That is slide one. All right. Let's talk about the why before we talk about the how, the how on how this works. So you gather intel before you share anything about what you do So here, they go first always. That's the golden rule. The person you are talking to, always prompt them to talk first so you can gather all of the information you need, so when it's your turn to talk, you can tailor it to exactly what they need. Next, people are going to remember how you make them feel instead of what you said, so make sure that they feel seen. And then last, listen for any curiosity, and be curious. I was talking to one of my clients the other day, and I was like, "Be Ted Lasso." You wanna be curious, not judgemental. When the other person is... I'm gonna pull this off When the other person is talking about their business, ask questions, pull threads. You want to have as much information as possible that you can about their business and what they need. always have them talk first. Two, be Ted Lasso. Be as curious as you can be, and ask as many questions as you can so you know exactly how to tailor what you do and your portion of that call to them. Because every connection call is basically structured the same way. It's one person tells them about their business, the other person tells them about their business, and then you talk about how... like, how you can help each other. That's how every single connection call is structured. So when you are in charge, and you are always in charge, you want to prompt them to go first. Awesome. Okay.

Connection Call Flow From Open To Close

6:45

Next, let's talk about the connection call flow. So I'm gonna pull up my slide Here we go. So this is the general flow of what you have on connection calls. Open, set the tone, hand them the mic, let them go first. Two, you wanna listen and you wanna pull on those threads as much as possible. So get curious, listen for buying signals, and then next, as you're at asking those questions, you're pulling threads. then next you want to have the bridge. So transition from listening to sharing, and I'm gonna show you everything in a little bit. So I'll show you what that bridge looks like, all of that. so the bridge is where you're transitioning from listening to sharing your thing. The next thing is share. so tell your story, but tailor it to exactly what you have learned from the other person Explore. Find the mutual value. Listen for client, not just contact. So when you're listening for mutual value, it could be, "Hey, I can solve that problem," or it could be, "Hey, I know someone who can solve that problem," or it might be, "Hey, I know someone that they should be connected to." It can look different depending on the situation. Not every connection call is a potential client. And then last, you close, you wanna lock in the next steps, and don't leave it vague. Okay, so let's talk about that a little bit deeper for one second. So what if they prompt you to talk first? You can say... You can, like, reverse it. Uno reverse card. "No, I wanna hear about your business. It's so much more interesting." well, what happens if they don't want to answer any questions and want only the price from you? So that would probably be more likely a direct sales call where they're just... If they're looking at price already, then that's a sales call over a connection call. A connection call is, like, a little higher up in the funnel. So if they're looking for a price from you, you can say, "Starting at..." for that, but that would typically be on a sales call, and this will open up a whole other box of things, but what I would do first is schedule a gateway offer with them, so that's an easy yes entry offer that you have with clients, and don't give them the price until after you have done that gateway offer and you have scoped out exactly what they need. Um, so if they are asking you price, they're obviously interested in working with you, but prompt them to an entry offer first before you give them the full price, because you don't know. You don't know yet what exactly they need. That would be like asking you to, you know, you're a doctor, and they come and say, "My toe is swollen," and you have to prescribe them a medicine for it based off of no information. That's why you need that gateway offer. I keep forgetting to lock in the next step. So when you are on that call and they are interested in moving forward, get directly on your calendar and book something tentatively for them for that next step. So let's say you're on that connection call, they're interested in moving forward. The next thing you wanna do is get it on the calendar, mark it as tentative, so you both have it saved for later. That's the easiest way to do it Okay.

Buying Signals And Thread Pullers

10:34

Moving on to buying signals. So that is a question that I get nearly every day from my clients is how... Like, what are buying signals? What should I be listening to? So let me pull up a little slide first Buying signals. Okay. So they describe a problem that you solve. They're talking about their business, you're pulling threads, and they start talking about a problem that you solve. the doc that I'm handing out at the end of this, it has thread puller questions for you that you can steal. Okay. Buying signals. More. They say, "I've been meaning to fix this." They're signaling that something is wrong that they need solved, or they ask, "How do you usually work with people?" That's an invitation. That is usually what happens on my connection calls. Like, they tell me about their business, and then I tailor my response to what they have given me, and usually the next question is, "How do you work with people typically? What does that look like?" And that's a great signal they're ready to buy Okay. Let's get into thread-pulling questions. So, we have, openers versus thread pullers. So openers, the difference is you're asking them about their business. You're... It would be like, "I'm so excited to connect with you. I'd love to hear about you first. What do you do? Who do you serve? What kind of people are you trying to connect with?" Those are openers. You're just trying to get them to open up about themselves and their business. While thread pul- pullers, that's trying to pull out what challenges they're experiencing. So let's look at... A thread puller could be like, as they're talking about their business, you say, "Well, let's pause right there," as they're describing it. "Let's pause right there. Um, say more about that. What does that look like for you?" When they start talking about, let's say, the... Like, when payroll doesn't line up with invoices getting paid. "What does that look like for you?" If you're in the finance arena. So that's the difference. Openers, you're trying to get people to open up and talk to you. Thread pullers, you're asking questions that get the, that prompt them to talk more, go a little bit deeper, and talk about their challenges and what's going on with them. So it could look something like, "Hmm, say more about that," as they're talking, or, "What's the hardest part about that? That sounds really challenging. How do you go about, like, solving that? Um, when you say X, what do you mean by that?" So ask deepening questions, and I have a bunch on this, on this scripting doc for you. But those are some ways that I do it. I feel like it might come a little bit more naturally to me to do those thread pullers because I'm also a podcaster, so I'm constantly asking questions, constantly talking to people. so it comes naturally to me. But if you aren't podcasting and constantly having... Like, interviewing people, it won't... It's not just gonna flow out of your mouth. So you can u- you can always just have this connection call script pulled up in one of your windows as you're on a connection call, so you can go through and be like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how I'm gonna pull that thread." And then last, let's talk about the rule of curiosity. For ev- for every statement you want to make, earn it with two questions first. You want to learn as much as you can about their business. It doesn't really matter that much about yours. Your goal is to only tell them the parts that matter to them. That's like if you were to give someone a, like a client a proposal, but it's generic. It's the templated proposal. You didn't customize it at all to what they had told you. That's not going to be as effective as if you tailored that proposal to exactly what they need, like the prescription for their challenge. So ask two questions before you have any statements, and if you feel the urge to talk about you, about yourself, that's your cue to ask just one more question. Be as curious as you can be Okay. Next is the bridge statement. So let me pull up the bridge

Echo Connect Open Bridge Statement

16:37

statement. Here we go. All right, so the bridge statement is a three-part system. We have one, echo. Reflect back what they said in their exact words so they feel heard. "It sounds like getting consistent referrals is something you're still trying to figure out." You want to repeat in your own way whatever it is that they said their challenge is. Next, part two of the bridge is connect. Link their situation to what you do. "One of my clients just went through that. I completely get where you're coming from." And then open. That's the third part of the bridge statement. Invite them in. Don't launch into a pitch. You want to ask consent. "Would it be helpful if I shared a bit more about how that works?" Or, "Are you okay if I walk you through the framework that I hel- that I use to help them?" Something like that will help them connect the dots between their challenge and what you do Okay. So again, that's a three-part structure for that bridge. You wanna echo, reflect back the exact words that they used, connect, link their situation to what you do, and three, open up an invitation. Invite them into that next conversation by saying something like, "Is... Do you wanna walk through the framework that I did this with?" Or, "Do you want me to explain, like, what I did with that client? I'm happy to share it with you." And that opens up that next phase. Like, ooh, we're merging into a sales conversation now. So here are a couple rules. Um, use their exact words instead of, uh, paraphrase, so it's really easy to connect the dots. Invite permission and don't just assume it. So I want you to invite them to that next step. Instead of just launching into what you do and how you can fix it, ask them if they wanna hear it. And keep it short, like three sentences max. Does not have to be long. Actually, all things sales, I would have to say the shorter you can be, the more concise, the more likely you are to close the sale Um, okay. So let me see. Okay. When you describe a problem you solve, bridge straight into, "Can I share what I've seen work?" So these are some bridge statements that you can use for your own business. When they ask what you do or how you work with people, this is the green light. Bridge into your share phrase. Explain what it is that you do, what your offer is, how, like, the impact it's had on your clients, any results you can share. You want to we'll go to the next one. It'll come back to me. When there's a clear overlap between their goal and your service, bridge into would it be worth it to have a real conversation about working together? Should we talk about, like, what that next step would look like, or do you feel complete now? Okay, I'm gonna pull up slide five real fast for you. Making the ask, the part most people skip, and I saw in the chat

The Exact Line To Ask

20:06

some of you are skipping this. This is how you close the loop. So a bridge statement opens the door, um, but on a call that could become a client, you have to actually walk through that door. So after your share, don't just explore mutual value in some abstract way. Ask direst- directly. Based on what you've shared, I think I could genuinely help you with this. Would it be worth setting up a real conversation about what that could look like? That's the line that can turn a connection call into a sales call. Said plainly enough that it doesn't feel like a trick. Like, it sounds like I could help you with this, uh, problem. Would it be worth it exploring that? So you've got a lot in your head right now. I walked you through the call flow, the buying signals, the bridge formula, the fastest way to actually use it, um, instead of relying on memory. If you're sitting there thinking, "I want to use this on my next call, but I know I'll blank on it," that's exactly why I put together the whole framework in a doc. It's free, by the way. I'm not charging for this. and you don't have to think about it. You can just have this Google Doc up and use it as you're on these connection calls. So I want you to have an amazing next connection call, so grab it. It's like a cheat sheet. It's... It'll make it very easy for you. Would you roll a connection call into a sales call in one go? Absolutely. Um, I have done that before, and I do that pretty regularly too, actually.

Gateway Offers Tire Kickers Follow Up

21:54

So once I have done that connection call to bridge and that consent based next step, like, "Hey, is it cool if we walk through to this next thing?" I'll... We'll just roll into it. We'll roll into that sales call, and I will book them for a gateway offer right there on that call. So that's another thing I want to point out Make sure that you aren't getting off of that call without already having it at least tentatively in both of your calendars, so you have that scheduled and ready to go for your next step Now, if you don't close them on your gateway offer in that call, that's okay. What I would do as that next step to close the, the loop, like let's say they're interested, but they say, "I want to revisit this in two weeks. I'm really busy right now. I can't handle it at this moment, but I would love to eventually." So I would use either your CRM, I would use Boomerang, um, you could even use your task manager to remind you to follow up in two weeks. I use Boomerang, so I'll use that as an example. You can add your note on there, like interested in gateway offer, ask me to follow up in two weeks. So you make sure to reply to that email. That's another trick that I want to explain to you, is that when you are doing follow-ups on emails for connection calls and sales calls, reply instead of doing a new email, because any emails that have an RE at the beginning is, are a lot more likely to get open. So always reply instead of starting a new email chain. Okay. Yes, it's just... And it also allows you, like my introvert people on here, to not have to be like the star of the show. I think this strategy is so natural to me, 'cause I much prefer asking questions of other people instead of having to talk about myself, so it allows me to do that. I get a lot of tire kickers. Yeah. You know what? Here's the thing. If you get a lot of tire kickers, make sure that all of your connection calls are scheduled for 15 minute max. So as you start to discover, hey, this is just a tire kicker, you have an easy end. It's n- a short call. One way that I would wake them up is asking a lot of questions. Like, don't let them sleep. Um, you could also get on their LinkedIn ahead of time and do a little scouring and see are there any topics that they posted about recently or that you notice from their activity that you can bring up that might excite them? "What if they say right away that they're looking for someone fractional on retainer and need that ASAP? Do you do the gateway offer still?" Yes, I do. The reason I do it this way... so if you know that they are looking for some- like, a retainer or a fractional, a gateway offer is still amazing because it allows you to scope out exactly what that retainer or fractional relationship would look like, and build a strategy around what challenge they're actually going through now before you launch into it. It will make months or years of what you're going to be dealing with with them so much better because you have a plan. And for the gateway offer, um, for retainers or fractionals, I would probably keep it consistent with, like, a 90-day plan, like a 90-day roadmap, because you get any further than that, and things change. They care about different things. So focus in on the first 90 days for the gateway offer Um, is a gateway offer a freebie lead magnet or is a small paid offer? A gateway offer is its own thing altogether. I have an entire, entire mission in Booked Out in Six on different types of offers. So a gateway offer is... generally costs between 10 to 20% of the cost of your main offer. And the reason for that is because it is low enough for f- people to say easy yes, okay, sure, why not? I'd love to h- get a strategy, a solution, a blueprint, a roadmap on how to solve this problem I'm dealing with. Um, but it is high enough that it validates that they're willing to actually pay for your main offer.

Sarah Noel Block 26:48

So not a freebie, you charge. Um, and not low ticket either, 'cause I think low ticket, I think less than a hun- $100. No, it's not that either. It's mid- mid-ticket, 10 to 25 or 10 to 20% of your main offer. If you haven't grabbed the cheat sheet yet, do it. I've been using Gmail snooze function for three months after a connection call to reconnect, and it worked. Yes. I use that snooze function too, and it's amazing. You guys would be surprised how often a sale is missed because you just didn't follow up anou- enough times. You aren't bugging them. So what is the snooze function? The snooze function is built into Gmail, and basically it works like Boomerang. If you have Boomerang, what it'll do is it'll pull it out of your inbox, and then it'll pop it back up, um, at the date and time that you have picked so that you're reminded that it's time to follow up with that client All right.

28:02

You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for spending the last 33 minutes and 22 seconds with me. I will see you next time If you enjoyed this episode, please, please, please remember to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and rate and review. But most importantly, tell your friends. Share this episode with a friend so other people know about Tiny Marketing and our Uncut Summer series. I will see you next week with another great one