A Simple Sales Process – In Just 7 Minutes with Benjamin Brown

Resources/Links:

• Unleash Your Full Sales Potential Get Your FREE Strategic Sales Guide 10 Proven Steps That Will Boost Your Sales!: https://www.360salesconsulting.com/freeguide/

Summary

Benjamin Brown is a father of two young children and holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management. He has over 23 years of experience in the sales field from multiple positions from sales reps to sales management.

In this episode, Benjamin shares his proven and tested sales process that can be implemented and adjusted for almost any product or service.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:24 – Benjamin’s ideal client: Entrepreneurs and small business people who don’t have the knowledge or the consistency that they need to improve their sales.
• 01:37 – Problem he helps solve: Confidence and knowledge of actually understanding what sales actually is.
• 02:01 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Benjamin: Well, most people are focusing on marketing, which marketing brings the leads in. And we’re in a good economy right now. So, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit. Everything’s good to go. But basically, when they don’t start noticing until competition cuts in, recession, everything slows down, the market starts getting filled. These little tendencies tell people that they need to focus more on sales and marketing. And that’s where I get the phone call.
• 02:41 – Common mistakes people make when trying to solve that problem: You have to understand that you’re not going to be successful in the beginning and as you move forward, you’ll see small progress. And that’s key, when you work with students, to show them that they can actually do it because anybody can do sales if they learn the skills that they need.
• 03:32 – Benjamin’s Valuable Free Action(VFA): Never assume anything. It’s all ruled out by questions.
• 05:32 – Benjamin’s Valuable Free Resource(VFR): Unleash Your Full Sales Potential Get Your FREE Strategic Sales Guide 10 Proven Steps That Will Boost Your Sales!: https://www.360salesconsulting.com/freeguide/
• 07:32 – Q: “When it comes to sales with people, what is the biggest fears that they have?” A: Normally, it’s the fear of closing. It’s because they haven’t earned the right to ask for the close, because they’ve never asked the important questions before that in your confidence. So, when you get toward the part where you should be asking for the deal, or the close, or the credit card, most people are afraid to do it and they do it the wrong way. And normally, there’s going to be an objection. And if your confidence is not there, you know, normal times you have to go to one or two objections. And they can’t do that either.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Never assume anything. It's all ruled out by questions.” -benjaminbrown Share on X

Info about our correspondent host: Travis has a background in sales, marketing, and strategy, and left the corporate world several years ago to start his own agency. As a copywriter by trade, his biggest skill is putting the right words, in front of the right people, at the right time. Travis has developed go-to-market strategies for grassroots apps to Fortune 500 and helped optimize up to $50k per day in Facebook Ad spend for one of the biggest startups in Asia.

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Travis Bennett: 0:09
Travis Bennett 0:09
Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. My name is Travis Bennett, and I’m rocking it to you out of Yangon, Myanmar, proving you can build a successful business anywhere in the world. I’m joined today by Benjamin Brown. Benjamin, a very, very warm welcome.

Benjamin Brown: 0:23
Thank you, Travis. Everything is good to go here in Florida.

Travis Bennett: 0:27
Excellent. And what’s the weather like today in Florida?

Benjamin Brown: 0:30
Well, it’s all the same, long as it’s not a hurricane. Just a little bit of rain all the time and then anticipate we should cool also.

Travis Bennett: 0:37
Perfect. I’m glad that, that trouble has passed. There’s been a couple of people that we’ve spoken to in that part of the world and it’s been complete chaos with the weather recently there. Anyone listening in who doesn’t know Benjamin, he’s got 23 years’ experience in sales from frontline reps all the way up to management. He wrote a best-selling book called, ‘Master the Art of Closing the Sale’. And he writes a whole bunch of great tips, advice, for salespeople all over the world at 360salesconsulting.com. Benjamin, it’s a pleasure to have you on the show today.

Benjamin Brown: 1:09
Thank you for your time.

Travis Bennett: 1:10
Cool. And we’re going to be talking about, “A Simple Sales Process,” and Benjamin’s going to explain everything in just seven minutes. So, I’m going to hit the timer. And we’re going to jump into question number one, who is your ideal client?

Benjamin Brown:1:24
Entrepreneurs and small business people who don’t have the knowledge or the consistency that they need to improve their sales.

Travis Bennett: 1:32
Perfect. And what’s the problem that you’re solving for these entrepreneurs and business owners?

Benjamin Brown: 1:37

Most of the time its confidence and knowledge of actually understanding what sales actually is. It is a skill, and it should be practiced. And it should be something that you continuously have somebody monitor.

Travis Bennett: 1:48
Gotcha. So, we’ve got six minutes, 30 seconds on the clock. Question number three, what’s the typical symptoms that people experience if they’re not monitoring the sales process if they’re not looking at it properly? What goes wrong?

Benjamin Brown: 2:01
Well, most people are focusing on marketing, which marketing brings the leads in. And we’re in a good economy right now. So, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit. Everything’s good to go. But basically, when they don’t start noticing until competition cuts in, recession, everything slows down, the market starts getting filled. These little tendencies tell people that they need to focus more on sales and marketing. And that’s where I get the phone call.

Travis Bennett: 2:25
Perfect. Perfect. And I guess when they realize this, right, maybe before they call you, they start trying to do this on their own. So, what’re the mistakes that people usually make when they’re going out, and they’re trying to solve selling sales for themselves?

Benjamin Brown: 2:41

Sales is a skill. So, it’s a process you can’t learn from a book. It takes a little bit of work to get it done properly, which some people don’t want to do.

Effort and just willingness to fail because that’s, sales is a numbers game. So, you know, you have to understand that you’re not going to be successful in the beginning and as you move forward, you’ll see small progress. And that’s key, when you work with students, to show them that they can actually do it because anybody can do sales if they learn the skills that they need.

Travis Bennett: 3:09
Okay, okay. And then it’s the confidence that they need to work on the most.

Benjamin Brown: 3:14
Yeah, 60% of sales is confidence, that’s what I say.

Travis Bennett: 3:18
Cool. So, we’re really doing good for time. We’ve got four minutes, 50 seconds on the clock. Question number five, what’s one valuable piece of advice that you can give everyone that’s listening in today that they can go and they can start improving their sales process?

Benjamin Brown: 3:32
The first rule that I tell people when I start working with them is never assume anything. It’s all ruled out by questions. So, you never assume the client is qualified. You never assume that you can’t learn. You never assume anything. And the difference between a good and a great salesperson is the number of questions that you ask. So, the confidence to ask those questions is key that you need.

But the main thing is never assume anything. It’s all ruled out by questions.

Travis Bennett: 3:56
Okay. Okay. So, one thing that they could probably go away and think of is, what are the tips questions they could ask their client? What are the problems that they’re going to be encountering so that they can kind of preempt those and make sure that they get the clarification that they need when you’re speaking to someone on a call like this? Okay. Do you see some common questions that come up? Like when you start going into a sales call? What normally are the things that people should be asking?

Benjamin Brown:4:21

Well, mainly, you need to have a structure, no matter what process you have to have a sales process, because you can’t run off the cuff, if you do that, then you’re just pitching and wishing. And there’s no consistency with that.

And most people don’t record themselves and know what they sound like. So, it’s amazing, once you start doing that, people start realizing how bad they are. And so normally, in my workshops, we start bad around about week three or four and then people start getting like really embarrassed, and that’s what it’s really about is improving that technique. And so, yeah, the main thing is, is being able to go in and actually, you know, understand and have a process that you follow. So, it could be repeat and improve.

Travis Bennett: 5:02
Perfect. Perfect. And it’s a horrifying thing, right? When you actually sit down, watch yourself on film. I know when I look back over these videos and I’m like, “Dear God, that’s my voice.” That’s what I looked like on film. It’s, you know, you have to push through it, you have to push through it. So, we’ve got two minutes, 45 seconds on the clock. Question number six, what’s one valuable free resource that we can direct our listeners to where they can go, basically learn more about you what it is you’re doing, and maybe get some additional help in this whole process?

Benjamin Brown: 5:32
Well, 360salesconsulting.com/freeguide, that they can use, that gives them the guide to the 10-step process that we do, mostly every sale has. And also, people that want to reach out just www.meetwithbenjamin.com. I make it very easy for people to do that. And you can schedule a call and, about 30-minute call, that you can sit down with me and go over and figure out what’s going on. So that resources are the first guide that people understand you need a structure, period.

Travis Bennett: 6:00
Perfect, perfect. So 360salesconsultant.com/freeguide. That’s the 10-step process to nailing your sales process, and if they want to talk more meetwithbenjamin.com. And they can book a time to have a chat with you. That’s awesome. Cool. I mean, we’ve still got a lot of time, a minute, 40 on the clock. Question number seven, what’s one thing I should have asked that I didn’t get to yet on the call?

Benjamin Brown: 6:23
When it comes to sales with people, what is the biggest fears that they have? And normally, it’s the fear of closing, it’s because they haven’t earned the right to ask for the close, because they’ve never asked the important questions before that in your confidence. So, when you get toward the part where you should be asking for the deal, or the close, or the credit card, most people are afraid to do it and they do it the wrong way. And normally, there’s going to be an objection. And if your confidence is not there, you know, normal times you have to go to one or two objections. And they can’t do that either. So, they put more money in the marketing to get more opportunities, to get easier sales, right?

Travis Bennett: 7:04
Perfect. And then that’s wasting their money, it’s wasting their time. When the focus should be on, you know what, I actually need to ask the questions at the start so that as I go through this process, essentially, you hit the objections at the end and you’re confident to close the deal and ask for the sale and say, “That’s it, get your credit card out and book it.”

Benjamin Brown: 7:24
Well, I tell people, it’s simple, but it’s not easy, right? So, it’s simple because you have the steps there. But it’s not easy because it’s a lot of work involved in each one of those steps. But if you follow with it, you can fairly well start seeing the results right away.

Travis Bennett: 7:39
Perfect. Start following the process, start practicing, and meetwithbenjamin.com to talk and learn more.

Benjamin Brown 7:48
Absolutely.

Travis Bennett: 7:48
Perfect. Benjamin, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been a great call. And thanks everyone for listening in. That’s it. Enjoy your week.

Tom Poland: 7:49
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.