The Game with Alex Hormozi - Use THIS to Increase Sales "ACTUALLY" | Ep 171

Episode Date: December 19, 2019

"The best salespeople have conviction. If you can bring that conviction to the table, they will feel it." Today, Alex (@AlexHormozi) discusses the importance of conviction in sales and how to maintain it even when facing potential failure. He emphasizes the need to compare alternatives and sell in the mind against them.Welcome to The Game w/Alex Hormozi, hosted by entrepreneur, founder, investor, author, public speaker, and content creator Alex Hormozi. On this podcast you’ll hear how to get more customers, make more profit per customer, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons Alex has learned on his path from $100M to $1B in net worth.Timestamps:(0:58) - Lack conviction, need to believe in results for sign up.(2:23) - How to maintain conviction with potential failure?(4:01) - Highest conviction leads to highest closure(6:36) - Script doesn't matter, conviction does.(11:05) - Increase closure by analyzing alternatives to signing up.(16:11) - One favorite close: "fair enough."Follow Alex Hormozi’s Socials:LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Acquisition

What's going on, everyone? Happy Monday. Hope you guys had a mania meals weekend. So we just got off the launch for Dene for your meals, which went amazingly well. Just super proud of the team. Like, we went off without a hitch, 18 months of prep, and I'm just super excited to have that out. Now, what I wanted to talk about was sales, right? And this is probably the number one thing that I see that increases closing percentages. And so if there's anything that you ever take from any of the sales messages, this may be, one of the most important ones.

It has to do with belief. And what I mean by that is if I'm looking at a salesperson and I'm trying to analyze how they're doing, typically I'm not going to start with the typical hand-to-hand content, overcoming obstacles, the typical drilling. That stuff's important and you have to have the fundamentals, but it's not like once someone has repeated that, they're an experienced salesperson or they've sold plenty of times.

And you, if you're selling for your business, you probably know the fundamentals, right? Or hopefully you should. But the thing is, and the thing that happens, is that you lack this one thing and that one thing is conviction right is the belief that if the person signs up with you they're going to achieve a result now here's what gets really really tricky all right it gets tricky because the when you're in a coaching business right when you're trying to teach people how to get

a result right and that works with B2B right me trying to help gyms make more money or when you're coaching clients on how to lose weight, right? All of those things, you actually have no control. And that's where it gets kind of tricky with this, right? And what I see this happen a lot of times is that we'll have a, you know, someone signs up and for gym launch, for example, and their closing rate's actually really good. And then all of a sudden, it starts going down, which you think is counter, because they got more reps, they should be selling better, not worse, right? That would be the logical thing. But what happens is not that their skills go down, but their conviction goes down,

because what happens is they start to see people who sign up and then don't get results. All right. So let me give you a bit of truth about gym launch. Not every gym that signs up for gym launch has a crazy transformation. Not every person who signs up at your gym loses weight. Why? Because you can't control everything. Right now, you can do is show the zillions of people who have and they follow the process and it work, right? And so how do you maintain conviction when you know that a certain percentage of people aren't going to achieve a result, right? And so what's interesting is that like I have like when I had my trainers, it was almost like this right of passage, like until they saw the wayout day and they saw

person after person after person lose weight and be happy and lose weight and be happy. And then all of a sudden like sales after a way out day were always like sky high. Why? Because they believed it and they had just experienced it, which is why reading the testimonies in the morning reading and reminding them why we do this is so important. But here's the technique, though, beyond just reading testimonials and being reminded of that, is that you have to sell in your mind against the alternative, right? What's the alternative of this person who's walking in the door?

Susie, right? Susie's coming in. She's trying to lose weight. You may know in the back of your mind that there is a percentage likely that she may not hit it, right? She may not hit the goal. She may not ever achieve the body that she wants, right? It's possible. You saw someone cancel last week.

You saw someone canceled this morning, right? So how do you maintain that while also talking to Susan me like you're going to change your life? This is where the discipline of sales is so important, right? Is that you have to look at it by comparing the alternatives. If she does not sign up, what is the likelihood that she is going to have her life change? Probably significantly lower. If she goes to a non-service-based facility down the street, what is the likelihood that she achieves the result? if she goes and gets an online program or if she gets a, you know, just like buys a course or anything like that, all of the alternatives she has, what is the likelihood that she succeeds?

And so the best reframe that I can give you is this is your best shot, right? Because nothing is guaranteed in life, right? Like I said, there are gyms. There are gyms who have not gotten results using gym. There are also shitloads of gyms who have. What separates them, right? It's the same system, same process. What's separate the two? The person, right? The person owning. They might be at a different

stage in their life. They might have different levels of commitment. They might have different levels of pain. Other things going on in life, et cetera, right? A supportive husband, a supportive business partner, supportive wife, whatever, right? Supportive staff if it's B2B. All of those things factoring in which you have no control over. You can try to influence that person. And that is what your job is as a coach is to fill the gap between we know that calorie deficits work and that you should exercise. Like that part's really simple. All of the hard. hard part is how do I get someone to do that? Right? And knowing full well when you're selling someone that there is no 100% likely to

success. There isn't. It's just a fact. So deconstructing that, the people who have the highest level of conviction closed the most, period. If you've ever seen someone, and like what the easiest way to think about this is if you have someone who's a friend of yours, who's an absolute fundamentalist in a religion, doesn't matter what religion is, if they're truly, They're just so sold. You see how hard they sell it. And it's because of their belief, right? And if someone's super convicted, like crazy convicted, at some point, you start to question

your own beliefs. You're like, what does this person know that I know now? Right? Because their conviction was stronger than yours. And so that is why as a skilled salesperson, you have to know how to manage your own conviction. That also means that if you know that you're doing everything in your power on the fulfillment side, right, to achieve those results, then you know that this person. person who's standing in front of you has the best shot at achieving their thing by working with you. And so that way you can still keep your mind space in a space of absolute conviction while also

addressing reality, right, which is that person may not actually achieve it. But it is still in their best interest and best shot to work with you. Right. So what's interesting about this is that your language changes, the tonality changes, how you address things changes. So I was hired, I think I may have I told the story before, but I'll tell it again. I was hired to consult for a Leeds brokerage. All right. So they were selling leads to mortgage brokers and real estate agents, right? So people want to buy houses.

And so they came in to help me. I was supposed to help them script out the process better. And then I was supposed to, like, that was the first half the day, the second half of day I was just to like motivate the team and get them jazzed up, right? And so they were expecting like, you know, Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, like, always be closers, like, you guys suck, like type of speech from me. And it wasn't really that at all. I kind of sat down and I was like,

John, right? Tell me, how good are the leads, right? And he was like, well, you know, they're certain. And I was like, stop. I already know, you've already unsold me because of your belief, right? I was like, imagine if these leads, right, were so hot that like every person, every one of these leads was going to buy a house. How much would your life change? What would, what would actually change in how you do things? Right? I was like, you probably would be like, shit, oh my God, like these real estate agents are making so much money. These brokers are making so much money. So like my, my uncle Fred is a realtor. So I'm sending him leads. I'm buying leads with my own money, sending him to him and then we're splitting it. I'm studying for my real estate degree so that I can start taking these seats right now so that eventually I can maybe even get out of this job because like the opportunity is so big. Do you see how how you speak changes because of your level of conviction for the thing, right? And so the script only matters insofar as the person is delivering it and their ability to

to convict the other person of their conviction because it doesn't matter if you are so convicted other people will believe you and so all of the hand-to-hand combat of sales all the clothes are clarifying the pain all of those things are just methods to have a conversation but at the end of the day you being able to truly believe in your product and understand that the person in front of you what is their alternative what is the likelihood of success of those alternatives and understanding that you are their best shot then if you can approach the conversation with that framework you have the highest likelihood of success, right? And that is what I look for in salespeople is conviction,

which is why some of the best salespeople for you will be ex-clients who've achieved amazing results because they may not have the in the trenches sales experience, but conviction will be experience and skill seven days a week if they believe, right? Now, what you have to counter that with is not selling hot and overpromising, right? And so I was talking to Mike Arson from Latherom the other day,

And he's a phenomenal salesperson. I mean, I think he's one of the best. He's great. And one of the things he did is like, after he closes, he recloses the sale. What I loved about this is he said, okay, now, you know, Susie, I need you ask me a question. You're okay with that? She's like, okay, cool, what's the question? I need you ask me, what if I want to cancel?

What if I want to cancel? I need you ask me that right now. She's like, okay, you know, what if I want to cancel him? You can. Hey, if you're a return listener and you have not rated or reviewed the show, I want you to know that you should feel absolutely terrible about yourself and everything else in the world. I'm kidding. But it would mean the absolute word to me if you guys would go ahead and do that.

You don't even have to pause the show. You can keep listening and you can just do it with your thumb right now. It'll take you less than 60 seconds. And like I said, the only way that podcast grows through word of mouth and this is you joining hands with me and helping as many entrepreneurs as it possibly can because no one is coming to save us. It's just us. All right. So please go do that now. And let's get back to the show.

Oh my God. It's like they step back. They're like, like what? Yeah. Like you can't cancel. You just selected a year long program and you're getting a discounted rate because of that. So, like, obviously you can't cancel because that's why you're getting this lower rate. Does that make sense?

Like, the only reason that you could cancel is because of, like, because you move, right? And it has to be 20 miles or more. But we also have an online program, so there's really no reason for that. So you can't cancel. Does that make sense? Because life is always going to get in the waste. You can't cancel because that because we have to make this work, right? That's why you're here.

Right? Right. Okay. So what situation would come up where you think that you, that you, that you, that you would cancel, right? And like, and so you're, you're overcoming the reasons in the future that they might consider canceling, right? And then you're like, okay, cool. So you'd understand that, like, if for some reason you came to me and said, like, I'm going to cancel that I would send you to collections.

Does that make sense? And then they're like, you'd send me to collections? And then his response is, you wouldn't hold up your end of the agreement? They're like, oh, yeah. And so imagine the expectations and the strength of that close compared to the, the soft, weak-ass closes that you hear all the time of like, listen, you know, if it doesn't look out, you can always cancel whenever you want. And like, you know, even if you don't pay, we're not going to charge you. Like, you know what I mean? Like, consider the difference in that person. The thing is,

is that if you confront it in the sale, you're still going to close. They already said yes. Right. But they said yes. They're getting these new terms that are that are cheaper because they're doing a longer period of time. So like, make sure that you collect on them. Right. Now, I've never sent people to collections. I never have. But after speaking with him about this, I was like, man, That's actually really interesting. And so I just thought it was absolutely awesome. But that level of conviction that was there, it just seeps through. It's like, Susie, like, if you move away, we have online.

If you get busy, we need to make sure that we can make this work because you're always going to get busy in life. So that's not a reason. Well, what if I don't have the money? Well, you have money now, right? Okay, well, what are the things do you spend money on? You spend money on clothes? Do you spend money on food eating out? Do you spend money on nails, spend money on hair?

Do you spend money on like what are all the things you put me on a lot of things. Okay. So we can agree that you probably take this up because you didn't make a commitment to the hair company, right? You didn't make a commitment to the nail company, right? But you're making any commitment to me right now, which is why you're getting this right. So make sense? Right. So you can understand why we would hold you to this, right? Just like you'd hold it to me to fulfill on my promises, which I plan 100% on doing. Does that make sense?

Right. And so if you want to increase your closing percentages, right? You want to increase your closing. You have to start with you. You have to look at the alternatives that Susie, has and think what other alternatives she has besides signing up here. She may not have a 100% success rate because you don't have one. I don't care what the fuck you say. You don't have 100% success rate because if you are not the one who's solely responsible for delivering the result,

you're not eating the food yourself, you're not working out her body for her, then you don't have control. I can't call the leads. I can't sell for a gym. There's nothing I can do about it. I can't manage their team for them. I can't see if their facility sucks. There's nothing I can do about that. I have no, I do not have 100% control. I can only guide you, right? And I can show you all the things all these other people who've been successful have had, right? But I can say that the likelihood that you were successful with us compared to any alternative that you can present is superior. And so if you want this thing, I'm your best shot.

How bad do you want this? Right. And so your conviction will seep through. And so if you need to check on your team, you need to check on your salespeople, what you need to do is sell them on why this is so important that they sign up with you. because if they don't, what are they going to go to? They're going to go back home. They're going to have a thing of ice cream and they're going to wait three more years

before they get the courage up to do it again. And they're going to be that much worse off because you didn't have the gall or the conviction to sign them up, right? Because you started second guessing yourself. All right. So as a business owner, you've got to be able to take the good and the bad and still move forward. That's part of the discipline of being a business owner, which is why when people start,

they sell better sometimes than they do six. six months in, right? Because they've been beat up, right? And so you have the skill and arguably even more skill, but the thing that you missed, the thing that went down is your conviction. And so if you can bring that conviction to the table, they will feel it. The way you speak will be different. The tonality that you have and even the words you say will change. Because if you're looking at it, when this person walks in the door, and I'm really urging you, if you think about it as a sale, you will lose. If you're like, I got to sell this person. I've got to close this person.

You're operating from the wrong mindset. It's not going to work. But if you come in and you see Susie and you think, what was Susie's life before this, right? She's trying to get to hear. What is the likelihood that she achieves it doing anything but working with me? Probably pretty low. Okay.

Then it is my responsibility. It is my duty because the coaching starts at the sale. The coaching does not start once they are sole. The coaching starts at the sale. That is where the expectations are set. That's where you're saying this is what you're going to do. This is what I'm going to do. And you can imagine how much more committed, Susie is if I say, asking me if you can cancel.

You can't because I'm not going to give up on you, right? Because you have given up on yourself many times in the past. So give me examples of things that would make you think you would cancel, right? Because we're in this, right? I'm going to get you to that goal. That is the commitment I've made to you. So I don't see what life scenarios could come up, right? Can't make it to them.

No worry. We have online and remote. Can't like, you're really. moving away, cool, again, online and remote. You know, I'm super busy. Doesn't matter. You're going to be busy again in your life. You think you're not going to be busy? Right. You want to stick this for life? Yes. All right. You're going to assume you're not going to be busy for the rest of your life?

That's a lie. Well, there's holidays coming up. Right. There's a vacation coming up. Do you think that the rest of your life are not going to go vacation? Of course you are. Right. So that's not a reason to cancel. Right. And if you can address those things up front, you're actually being a good coach while also transferring the conviction to that person that they have this moment where they're like, oh shit, this is going to work. They're going to follow through. I'm actually going to get what I want, which is someone to hold me accountable who's actually going to follow through with me, right? The calorie deficit is not hard to calculate, right? It's just getting them to do that and be committed. And so if you can address that stuff

on the front end, if you can transfer your conviction to the person, knowing that they have no alternative that is better than the solution that you have in front of you, then you will be able to make them believe because you have to believe that. And like the sales simply explained to them why you believe that. Right? Like I had some people were like, how do I, you know, how do I, how do I sell meals? Or there's a question. I'm like, how do you recommend knee sleeves?

You probably are like, well, these are the knee sleeves I use. I've used a bunch of them and these ones are the best. Like they're, you know, they're like, are you even concerned with the price when you're talking to them? Probably not. They're probably not the cheapest sleeves of the ones that you use. You're probably using some nicer ones. Why?

Because they're better. right? And so you don't need to change the way you talk. You just need to transfer and explain to them the same reason you believe. And the issue is that some people don't believe. And they think the hand-to-hand sales combat, they think the closer framework is going to overcome the fact that they lack the conviction in themselves and what they provide. And so you go dial in with your team, make sure your shit's on point so that when you look someone in the eyes, you can say, I know, and I can commit to you that we will try our absolute hardest to get you there. And part of that starts with this. conversation and seeing how committed you are. Fair enough. All right, awesome. And as a total side note, one of my favorite ways to close is saying fair enough, all right? Why? Because I got this from Jordan Belford. Fair enough is not saying, does this sound like the best deal ever? No, because it might not be the best deal ever, right? But if you're saying, does this sound fair? Then it's the lowest level of getting someone to say, yes, this sounds fair. Does it sound reasonable? Sounds reasonable. Okay, but you've got the yes, and then you can close the sale based on saying,

is this fair? And then you're having someone who's less emotional, more rational, who's making the decision, and that is more likely to stick after the emotions of the moment have worn off. So you're explaining why you believe what you believe, and if you do truly believe it, then they have no reason to not believe what you do believe.

So conviction is the thing that you may be missing. Conviction may be the thing that your sales team misses, which is why you should read testimonies to them, which is why you should share the wins every day so that they believe as hard as you believe. and they never will believe like you believe because that's i mean i hope not because if they believe more than you believe then you got some issues all but it all starts with you so guys have an amazing day conviction is the key and i'll catch you guys on the flippy keeping amazing and uh if you're

uh if you were tuning into all of our stuff with the meals launch affiliate dot prestige labs com is where you can sign up to sell meals and become a founding member uh which actually get you twice the incentives. You get twice as many meals for free, which is pretty dope. So if you want you and your trainers and all that stuff to get free meals, go do that. You got to sell three people, your meals are covered, which is pretty fucking badass.

All right, after that, then it's gonna double us be six people, which is still fucking amazing. But just for founders, you get into that. So affiliate dot prestigelabs.com, and you can go sign up. All right, be easy. Love you all. Keep rocking.

Bye.