3 Selling Mistakes & How to Fix Them

You’re listening to The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast with Debbie Sassen, Episode 102.

Welcome to The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast. I’m your host, Debbie Sassen. I went from being a financial adviser, author and chronic underearner to building my business to six figures as a financial planner and money mindset coach. And then, on to multiple six figures as a full-time money and business coach.

I help entrepreneurs create money making businesses and build wealth, using sales and money mindset strategies in alignment with authentic Jewish values. Now, let’s dive in to today’s show.

Hello, my business owners, and welcome back to the podcast. I have a very focused podcast episode for you today, about three selling mistakes that I see my clients make over and over again, and I’m going to give you the fixes for those mistakes.

Selling is the most important skill you can develop as a business owner, because we are always selling something. You are selling your products, you are selling your services, you are selling through your emails, through your copy, through what you write on your website. Even if you hire a copywriter to do that for you, you need to be selling your business, what you do, and how you serve your people.

Being able to close your sales conversations more quickly. Increasing your conversion ratio from 10 or 20 or 30%, which is the norm in our industry. If you can increase from 30 to 50 to 80%, that is my goal for my clients, that they close at 80%. Then, you spend so much less time having sales conversations, and you spend more time serving your ideal clients.

So, this is why we’re talking about sales. But before we get there, I have two announcements. Number one, on Wednesday the 15th of November, I am running a free masterclass. It is called Making Money In a Crisis.

As I record this episode, and as you are listening to it, we are already one month into the war against the Hamas terrorist group that attacked Israel on the 7th of October. We have lost already 1,400 civilians; more than that. And also, many, many, many of our soldiers. We mourn each and every one of them.

We pray for our hostages, over 240 hostages, that are still being held by the Hamas terrorist group. We have thousands of wounded in the hospital, and we pray for their recovery, their emotional and physical healing. And as the saying goes, the show must go on.

My clients, even in the United States, are telling me that they’re distracted by what’s going on. They’re watching the news. It’s hard. They feel emotionally connected to their brethren in Israel. We are one people. We are one nation.

We have survived for thousands of years together, even though we have been dispersed among many lands. And so, we feel like one heart is connected, and where the Jews are, all over the world, are the limbs of our body. And so, we feel each other very, very deeply.

That’s why this masterclass is for everybody. We have to keep going. We have to bring money into our businesses, serving our people, and reducing distractions as much as possible. If you cannot join me live, 10am Eastern Time, 5pm Israel time, then you will get the replay.

Make sure to go to my website DebbieSassen.com/masterclass and sign up. November 15th, please be there. I look forward to seeing you. I want to help you make money, and focus on the only four things you really need to make money in your business. That’s announcement number one.

Announcement number two, is that my group coaching program, Wired for Wealth, is now open for enrollment. I am enrolling four new people in November. That’s it, just four. I want to make sure that you are integrated into the current coaching cohort, and your onboarding experience is smooth, it’s easy, and you feel part of the group.

We will begin the November cohort on the 28th of November, with a one and a half hour class, workshop, specifically on mastering sales conversations. Today, is the precursor of that class, because we’re going to be talking about the three mistakes people make. But if you don’t master sales, it is hard to continue growing and scaling your business, and making the kind of money that you want to make in your business.

When women make money, nothing bad happens. We have been conditioned and socialized for thousands of years to undervalue, undersell, and undercharge for our gifts in the world. My mission is to break that generational pattern.

Women can achieve financial equality through entrepreneurship, their businesses, charging money, receiving money, having money, investing money for their future, and building long-term wealth. That is my goal for you.

If you would like to have more information about Wired for Wealth, I am offering more accessible payment plans for November, because it’s Black Friday, and we’re all here to help everybody. So, be in touch with me. You can get started and Wired for Wealth for as little as $600 a month.

Go to my website, DebbieSassen.com/consult, and sign up for a consult, a sales conversation. Because you know that about me, I love helping you on sales conversations. I want to help you make money in your business for the long term.

All right, my friends, let’s jump into the episode today. We will be covering three mistakes people make in their sales conversations. These have come up with my clients, and that’s why I know if my clients are dealing with these problems, mistakes, glitches, in their sales conversations, you are too.

So, let’s start at the top. Number one, this comes up over and over and over again for women in business, is that they don’t know how to deal with the objection, “I want to talk to my husband.” One of my clients even mentioned to me, in our Slack channel, this week, “I want to offer a fast action bonus.” And that’s mistake number two, we’ll talk about that in a minute.

“I want to offer a fast action bonus, so that she will say yes without consulting her husband.” This, to me, is a big red flag. It’s okay for women to talk to their husbands. I am not here to make any Shalom Bayis problems. I do not want conflict between husbands and wives.

I do believe very strongly that if you are a woman in business… Not all my clients are working business-to-business. Some of them are working business to consumer. But as a business owner, I think it’s okay if you don’t ask your husband, because it’s your business, your profitability, your strategy. You’re the one, at the end of the day, who has to show up every day in your business and make the money.

But whether you decide to do that or not, you and I can talk about that, but here’s the thing, husbands and wives get to talk to each other. They want to consult with each other. This is something that they feel close about.

I believe that if my client is showing up in a sales conversation, she’s not doing anything devious or manipulative or behind his back. She has probably spoken with him and said, “Hey, sweetheart, I’m going to be on a call with Debbie. I’m going to be talking to her about such-and-so.”

I want you to believe that about your clients also, that they are speaking with… Unless maybe you are a divorce coach, and you’re helping women because they’re at the stage in their marriage that they want to separate from their husbands. But other than that, if you are dealing with women in particular, it is 100% okay, legitimate, for them to speak with their husbands.

I don’t want you to ever make this a problem. When you stop making it a problem, and you think in your mind, “Oh, yeah, of course, she’s going to ask her husband. It is so normal for her to ask her husband,” it takes away so much drama around the conversation.

Because when she says, “I need to talk to my husband about it,” you’ll be like, “Yeah, of course, I understand that.” Then, rather than feeling like, “Oh, my gosh, this isn’t going to work. He’s going to say no,” … You cannot be in scarcity. You cannot make it all about you… You can now focus on the woman who was with you on the call, or on Zoom. You can just be in a place of openness, curiosity. You can ask her, “Yeah, I understand. What do you think he’s going to say?”

That is really the way to approach that conversation, is be with her on her side. Don’t judge her, criticize her, and think that there’s something wrong with her because she wants to ask her husband. Believe she’s 100% normal.

For many of us, the work that we’re charging for is a high-ticket program, or package or engagement, and they might have to discuss everything. It’s an agreement that they’ve had, that anything above $100 or $200 or $500 they’re going to discuss with each other. Never, ever make it a problem when a woman wants to ask her husband.

Listen, sometimes, especially in Israel, we have these sales people that call on the phone, and they drill-drill-drill away. Just to get rid of them, especially if they don’t listen to no, I’ll say, “Yeah, I need to speak about that with my husband. Call me back in two or three days.” Usually, it makes them disappear.

But that’s also something important to point out, is that women have been conditioned that if they want to get rid of someone, they’re going to say, “I need to discuss it with my husband.” So, here’s another invitation for you. If a woman says that to you, “I need to speak with my husband,” you can ask yourself, or when you do an evaluation on your sales conversation afterwards, you can say, “Is there anything that I might have done that pushed her away? Made her feel unsafe? Made her feel like I wasn’t the right address for her?”

I think that’s another way to approach it. If you’re getting this objection… Many times women need to ask their husband, and then they come back and say no. This is an opportunity for you to go deeper into your sales conversations. Don’t make it about her. Don’t make it about the people that want to ask their partners if they’re on board.

Make it about you, and see where you can tighten up your sales conversation, drop out of scarcity, getting the sale, and be more open and expansive, believing that she wants to work with you. Just get curious. Ask questions.

So, that’s mistake number one. It is perfectly okay for women to ask their husbands. I think it’s a beautiful thing. It brings partners together.

Sales mistake number two, and I mentioned this, is giving a fast action bonus. Now, I think that sometimes people do need a fast action bonus. We are in November, it’s Black Friday, people will be offering discounts. And then, of course, we jump into December. What happens in December? We get all of the Christmas sales, end of the year sales, and Hanukkah sales in the Jewish world.

Discount do create sales, but you have to be very aware of when, where and why you are offering a fast action bonus. Are you doing it from scarcity? Are you doing it from the belief that the person on the other end of the sales conversation is not going to work with you? Do you believe that she’s never going to pay your full price?

I have a client who, a couple of weeks ago, I told her to lower her price. Now, if you’ve been listening to my podcast for a while, you know that I have a very solid belief about price; there is no right price for your offer, there is only the price that you make right.

But I had been coaching this client for a couple of months on her price, and I could see the drama that she kept going through over and over and over again about her price. I said to her, “You know what? I want you to lower your price.”

I really salute my client because she took the coaching. She lowered her price, and very quickly she signed two clients. That is the power, by the way, of having a coach who is connected with you, watches you, and is monitoring your progress. She will know when it’s time to help you raise your price, and when it’s time for you to lower your price.

So, back to fast action bonuses. You have to understand your motivation. Because if it’s coming from the belief that people will not pay your price, that is scarcity. And when you are feeling scarce, that energy of scarcity, that neediness, that graspingness, that you are showing up with on the call, believing there is no other way to get them on board but by reducing your price, that is going to seep through to your potential clients.

They’re going to feel your energy and they’re going to be repelled by it. The fast action bonus isn’t going to work. Or it will work, they’ll say yes, but it’s going to feel manipulative to them. They might pay you and to ask for a refund. They might say yes, and then say no.

When you are not in a place of feeling that you have enough… Right now, I mean, I’m talking about money. I’m talking about the roof over your head, the clothes on your back. You can even have debt.

But if you’re feeling in this moment, “I’m okay, I’m taking care of. God is on my side. I am sufficient in everything that I have,” then you won’t be in a place of scarcity. And that fast action bonus, which you could offer, will be coming from a place of love and giving and generosity.

That’s why, in November, I’m offering payment plans that are at much better terms than have ever been offered before for Wired for Wealth. Because I know that people have paid my full price, and it’s just November; this is what a lot of people are doing.

I think it’s a great opportunity for people to join the program and get themselves into a routine of showing up for their business, changing the way they think about money, asking for more over time, mastering their sales conversations, and being in that beautiful place of growing their business.

But it’s not a fast action bonus, and it’s for sure, 100%, not coming from scarcity. It’s coming from belief. And that is the difference, when you believe your clients have the money, they have access to money, they can figure it out, and they don’t need a discount.

Discounts are lovely. Who doesn’t love to go to the clothing store? Maybe you were in and out, and in and out, over the last few weeks. You’d been admiring a dress or a pair of shoes, and then all of a sudden, it’s 30% off. Of course, you’re going to take it, because you wanted it and desired it anyway. It was just like the whipped cream and cherry on top of the ice cream; you got what you wanted for a little bit less. And who doesn’t love that?

So, don’t be in scarcity when you’re offering fast action bonuses. Never offer them from a place of ‘I need to make her sign right now.’ Do it from a place of ‘I love my clients so much. This is just going to get more of them into my network.’ From a beautiful, expansive, abundant place.

The third mistake that people make on sales conversations, is talking too much, and telling the person on the other end of the line what they do. I see this specifically with my clients when we review and evaluate their sales conversations.

Their potential client will ask a question. For example, let’s say that you’re a coach. Many of my clients are coaches. If we take the example of a life coach, let’s say. I’m making this up on the spot. There’s a life coach, and she helps women with all sorts of issues in her life, maybe in her business, emotional healing, resilience, and burnout. Her client, potential client, wants to know, what’s the difference between coaching and therapy?

Now, that is a totally legitimate question. Right? Because many people don’t know. And I think that the lines between coaching and therapy have been somewhat blurred. Now, therapists are specifically trained in trauma, coaches are not specifically trained in trauma.

We are trauma-informed, many of us, and some coaches are also therapists. But there is a difference, and there is a lot of crossover between what therapists and coaches do. So, we’re not going to talk here exactly what the differences are.

But when someone is on the line with you, and asks, “What’s the difference?” Don’t tell them. Don’t go into a whole list of why coaching is different from therapy. Ask them a question: Why are you asking?

This goes back to the curiosity from, both mistake number two and three. When people want to know the difference between what you do and what somebody else does… This, by the way, can be if you’re a website designer, if you’re a copywriter, if you are a coach, if you are a strategist, if you help your clients be more productive.

They’re just asking a question, probably because you haven’t been specific enough in telling them, describing to them the results that they’re going to work on and achieve when they work with you. So, they just have more questions.

But when you start telling them, “I do this, and I do this, and I do this, and I do this, and she does…,” what happens is you get into convincing energy. It doesn’t become about openness and expansiveness, and helping them to sell themselves on working with you. You start really hammering away, even if you’re doing it in a quiet, gentle voice, right?

But when you start telling people, it puts them on the defensive. You probably are missing some information, and you want to go back and answer a question with another question. One of the best things you can do is just say, “Tell me more? Why do you want to know? What’s not clear to you?”

You can ask them questions, because there’s obviously something in their mind that’s a little bit fuzzy or confusing. When you can bring that up to the surface, when you can ask them more, and get more information, then you can actually figure out maybe they actually do need therapy, and they don’t need to work with a coach.

Or maybe they don’t need this specific type of service that you offer, because they will be better suited by working with someone else. Because if they’re having a little bit of doubt in their mind, it’s probably because something in your sales conversation didn’t go according to plan in their mind.

You want to uncover what that was. Did you not get all the information? Because I see this a lot. People will have 15 or 20 minute discovery calls with their clients, and think that they can sell a high-ticket package after 20 minutes. I think most people need a little bit more time.

They’re going to be working with you for a while, paying you a nice hefty sum of money, so give them the time to ask all of their questions. Help them to clarify for themselves, and help you clarify for you, exactly what they’re looking for, and making sure that you guys are a good fit for each other.

Again, my belief is that 90% of the people that get on a sales call with you have already done their homework and they want to work with you. But if they still have questions, just find out why they’re asking. Because if somebody isn’t clear on why they should work with you for their website, why you should be the copywriter for them, or why should you be the coach for them, then you have to find out why that is.

That is your responsibility as the service provider. It’s finding out where their doubt and confusion lie, without hammering away, even a gentle hammer, without really trying to convince them that you are the best fit. You want to help them come to the decision for themselves. Asking rather than telling, is the way that you fix those kinds of issues on your sales conversations.

All right, my friends, I hope that this episode has been valuable for you. Let me quickly recap the three mistakes people make on sales conversations, and how you can fix them.

Number one, is wanting to avoid the ‘I need to ask my husband’ objection. Be okay with it. In fact, expect it. I just normalize it. I just imagine that all of the women who come onto the sales calls are going to want to ask their husbands, and it’s never a problem. Right?

If someone doesn’t want to ask her husband, that’s beautiful. I think it’s great. I love that my women who own businesses are showing up for their businesses and really stepping into their CEO leadership and management power. Unless the husband is sitting on the board of directors of your business, you get to manage it yourself. He’s not helping you do the work.

Maybe he’s doing the books for you. I think that happens sometimes. The husbands are behind the scenes doing the admin, and so he is part of your company. But don’t make it a problem ever, ever, ever. If a woman wants to ask her husband, I think it’s a beautiful thing.

Number two, if you’re offering a fast action bonus, do it from abundance and never do it from scarcity. Never do it from convincingness. Never do it from your need to sign the client now. There are tons of clients in the world. If this one doesn’t sign with you next week, next month, more clients are out there who will sign with you.

Finally, ask more questions. Don’t be in the place of telling. Ask them why they’re asking a specific question. What’s unclear? Where do they need more information? Just be open. Spend 80% of the time on your sales call asking questions and listening to the answers. Talk less, listen more, ask more.

All right, my friends, that is the podcast episode for today. I want to remind you that on the 15th of November, I’m offering the masterclass Making Money During a Crisis. And by the way, just like my bonus podcast episode a few weeks ago, crises happen whether it’s a war or health.

There are always things that are happening in our lives and in our businesses. And so, this is going to be very valuable to make sure that you simplify your business, and do only what’s necessary. Go to my website DebbieSassen.com/masterclass and sign up. If you can’t be there live, you will get the recording.

Last but not least, my program Wired for Wealth is open for enrollment. I’m taking only four new clients in the month of November, and there’s a place for you.

I will see you next week. Thank you for tuning in. Bye-bye, for now.

Thanks for listening to The Jewish Entrepreneur Podcast. If you want to stop underselling and underearning and close more sales, you need to clear the limiting money beliefs that are sabotaging your business growth.

Head on over to DebbieSassen.com/mindset and download my free Money Mindset Workbook. Uncover and dissolve money blocks, like hundreds of other entrepreneurs who are now building six-, multi-six-, and seven-figure businesses and creating true financial freedom.