Selling Without Selling: My Approach to Sales Calls

I want to share with you a behind-the-scenes look at how I run my “sales calls.”

A colleague of mine shared with a group of fellow business owners about her sales process and said, “I hate sales calls.” In the responses that followed, nobody seemed to question this and talked about everything else she had shared instead. But for me, that’s the only thing I heard.

You see, I love sales calls. Well, if you can call them that. I don’t actually think of the call I have with a prospective client as a sales call at all.

In fact, as I pondered her statement, my first thought was that perhaps she hates them precisely because she sees them as “sales” calls.

I have never described the call I have with someone who is interested in working with me as a sales call. Instead, I call it a Work Together Call, and selling is actually the furthest thing from my mind when I get on those calls.

I’m not sure what my colleague does on her “sales” calls, but my guess is that she’s doing some version of pitching her offer. I don’t pitch. Instead, what I seek to do is serve.

Step 1: The Application Form

Why I use one:

1. I get to collect important information that informs my decision as to whether this person is a good fit or not

2. It sends the message that working together is not a given. It speaks to the fact that I don’t just work with anyone who wants to work with me. I have clarity on who my ideal client is, and I choose only to work with those people.

I’ve learned over the years that working with less-than-ideal clients benefits no one. As the coach, you end up dreading the sessions and fail to perform at your best, and the client also suffers because you are not a fit for them. So what’s left is just a deeply unsatisfactory experience had by all. Not worth the money in my opinion.

Step 2: The Work Together Call

Early on in my coaching career, I realised how sales or “discovery” calls were set up in such a way that it felt like the onus was on the coach to convince the prospective client that working together was a good idea.

I rejected this outright.

For me, more important than getting the sale is determining whether or not we are a fit.

• Is this someone I actually think I can help?

• Is this someone I think will do what they need to do for the coaching relationship to work?

• Is this someone I want to work with long term?

There’s no pitching in this scenario.

Entering Work Together Calls with ascertaining fit as my intention is so different from entering the call with the intention of making the sale.

So if I’m not pitching, what am I doing?

Usually, I’m mentoring. I start the call by saying something along these lines:

“We have around an hour together today and I’ve found that the best way to determine whether or not we’re a fit is to dive right into mentoring you. I’d love to know more about your business and your current struggles and in return, I’ll share my best advice and strategies so you can get a sense of whether or not my approach to business is one that will work for you. There’s also time for you to ask me any questions about how I work if you have them. How does that sound? If there’s anything else you want us to cover on this call, let me know now and we can make sure we save space.”

And that’s what we do. If someone were to listen in to one of my Work Together Calls, they would be hard-pressed to see the difference between that call and a session with a client.

Typically, around the 50–55 minute mark, if I have made the decision that this person is a fit (which thankfully most people who apply are), I’ll say something like:

“I’m just noticing the time and I want to share that I would love to work with you. How are you feeling?”

And usually follow up with:

“There’s no need to make a decision today but I’d just love to check in at this point to see where you are at.”

Most people are already a yes, and I actually have to encourage them to sleep on it. I’m a big believer in slowing down the sale because putting the person and their best interests before the sale is a key principle of what I call conscious business.

Why I Don’t Need to Sell on Calls: My Content Does the Heavy Lifting

Most people who get to the point of applying to work with me have already read a fair amount of my content. And because I write content with the goal of serving people rather than selling to people, they already have a really good sense of how I work. They know my approach and my point of view and, as such, have a good idea of what they will get if they work with me.

At the end of Work Together Calls, when I ask how they’re feeling about working with me, it’s not uncommon to hear:

“I was already a yes to working together before we got on the call.”

It’s not my sales page that sells my offers. It’s not the sales call that sells my offers. It’s more often than not, my content. Time and time again, I see this to be true.

A Final Note

I hope this insight into my process has been helpful and, if you have been dreading or avoiding sales calls, that this offers you a more aligned way.

It’s also worth noting that I use the application + Work Together Call process now, but when I was still building my business and had far fewer clients, I would offer a gift session + a Work Together Call, which you can read more about here.

In fact, if this is something you’re working on actively, you might also be interested in a class I taught called Designing Your People-First Sales Process, which you can watch below.

If you have any questions about what I’ve shared here, leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

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