Why Confidence is the Ultimate Sales Call Strategy for Virtual Assistants with Emily Reagan #267

Emily Reagan You say your price and you pause. You say it once, you say it clearly, and you stop talking, because the pause is the power. Hey there. I’m Emily Reagan, and you found the marketing freelancer. This is the podcast for marketing freelancers and service providers who are already making an impact behind the scenes, and want to take their skills, income and business to the next level. Here, we’re all about embracing the unicorn title, a full stack marketer who can do it all, strategy, implementation, creativity and everything in between. We’re the magic makers who know how to deliver real results for clients and are ready to rise as sought after marketing specialist. We’re building a business we’re proud of working with Dream clients with impact and charging rates that reflect our work’s worth. Unicorns, unite. Emily Reagan Hey. Welcome back to the podcast the marketing freelancer. I’ve been doing a series of mini micro episodes that have been solo, that have been fun. We’ve done a couple ask Emily anything, and then the last one we did was about crossover skills. You definitely want to listen to that. This one today is about sales skills, because it goes hand in hand with the success of your business, your ability to pitch yourself or give your elevator pitch, or be able to talk to people and be very clear about what you do and what you offer. And I mean, there’s tons of chat gbts that can help you. You can write the words, you can practice saying the words. But when it comes down to it, there’s a number one rule of sales call, and it’s not about actually selling to other people. So I’m going to explain this, but first, I need to give you the backstory of why I chose this episode. I was talking to my friend who was recently doing some sales calls with different virtual assistants and marketing service providers, some who were in my work group and some who were not. And I asked her for feedback. I’m like, I’m always asking my friends, what are you hearing? What are you seeing? What do you want your team to do? Where are they failing you? Where are they doing? Great. And she gave me some advice, and I’m always trying to look out for the people in my work group and get our new service providers who are coming through the unicorn digital marketing assistant school to be fully prepared. It’s not the same workplace and economy when I started, and we need to address that, because what I did back in the early 2000 10s. Can I say it like that sounds weird. Was different. Like any virtual assistant, all they had to do is call themselves that, and they got hired. It is different. Now, there’s more saturated. There’s more corporate people picking up freelance work. On this side, business owners have been burned. We talk about that a lot on the podcast, and they’re very careful who they bring on the team, right? They’re not just going to bring anyone, and usually, if someone’s willing to bring in somebody brand new, it’s because they’re new and they don’t know any better, or it’s someone with really solid systems who really wants someone to do like a minimal assistant level task or type of role. So what my friend told me about the sales calls that she had with marketing assistants and virtual assistants is she said that the thing she noticed the most was this self deprecation, people not being sure and steadfast about their offer and what they brought to the table. And it was just kind of this overall lack of confidence. And she said a lot of people said, stupid shit, and it just buckled the confidence. It didn’t make her want to hire them. And she said one of them said, Oh, well, I’m not making a lot of money. And it was just clear that they were not projecting their most confident, expert level selves. And I know, I know sales calls can be intimidating, and that’s why you need to jump in and do a few and get practice. That’s why in the unicorn digital marketing assistant school, we bring in my friend Tracy Patterson, teaches sales skills. I have a whole lesson on Discovery calls. Tracy also practices these sales calls with you, and then we get on at the end of our time together, and we practice them again and run through them, because this is crucial. This is crucial to booking the client. And we don’t always get the feedback of how we screw it up. And I will tell you inside Edma school, we also have two other guest trainings that are very valuable. They’re not taught live anymore. And one is when you talk about your price, that moment where you just want to run and hide because you’re scared. We talk about that moment, the pricing confidence, and we talk about just camera confidence, because that can be hard when you’re used to being behind the scenes, when you’re used to being an employee, when you haven’t felt like you had to, like, sell your business, sell yourself. And so I just think this observation, that they’re nervous, that they’re underselling, that they’re saying things like, I’m still new at this. I’m not making much money. It just devalues and underqualifies them. And here’s the truth, if you don’t believe in what you bring to the table, your client won’t either. They’re gonna see right through you on that sales call. They’re gonna see it in the first client meeting. And I want you to know how amazing you are at what you do, so you don’t tank your own sales calls. The number one rule of sales calls I actually got from my friend Sarah Ashman last week, where. Having lunch at the daily in Short Pump Virginia, right outside Richmond. And I always want to record my conversations with Sarah. She is so brilliant, and I promise to bring her on the podcast soon, but she is a creative director. She has worked with all the big names she’s done their photo shoots, and it’s so much more than a photo shoot. It’s people realizing their vision of the business, what they actually stand for and where they’re taking their business and believing in themselves. She’ll say it so much more eloquently, but she said the first sale is always to yourself. That is the number one rule of sales calls. The first sale is you. You have to believe in it. Your confidence sells, and it’s more than charm or scripts or even your experience. It’s what people buy on a sales call. Is that certainty, and that certainty starts with you believing I can actually help this client. I can help move the needle in this business. You’re not just trying to convince someone they already have a problem. You’re showing them that you understand the problem and you can solve it. And if you don’t believe you can solve it, you’re not going to get the job. You have to believe in the offer that you’re putting out there. So I am so passionate about unicorn digital marketing assistant school because I’ve seen the results. I’ve seen people with no experience get out and get clients. I have a whole folder full of testimonials and wins and case studies and and you can go look at the reviews page. You can look at my blog. There are so many people from different walks of life who were able to do it, to learn the marketing, set up the business, and book the client, and that is why I can confidently go out there and open the doors next week, because that first sale is to myself. I believe in it. And it’s not just Emily did it so other people can do it. No, it’s also I’ve taught other people to do it. So that’s my proof, and you have to think about that. When it comes to your services, what is your proof? Because on calls, you don’t want to apologize, you don’t want to explain your inexperience, you don’t want to talk yourself out of the job mid sentence. You don’t want to fill in with nervous chatter. I know I talk fast. You have to pause and breathe and listen and be confident. You don’t present the menu of tasks like we talked about in the last ask Emily, anything. You present outcomes. All those little things add up, but ultimately it’s, do you believe in this? And yeah, I mean, there’s always somebody who can do the job better and more thoroughly, and they’re probably at a higher rate. And I talk about this a lot, good luck finding those people. But be confident about the marketing services you can bring to the table and all those extra soft skills that you bring anything you did in your past life, in your past job experience, and in your education now Udemy school preps you for this moment. Because yes, we have the sales skill, we also have a confidence and mindset coach come in, Jen Grasso, to help you rewire that self deprecating, doubtful energy, and we bake in confidence. And I asked her to come back again, so we do a kickoff call with confidence, and, you know, rewiring your brain. But I asked her to come back in the new year for some laser coaching, especially when it comes to confidence in our unique situations. So yeah, we have the guest talks on pricing and discovery and all of that. But more importantly, you are getting practice and feedback when there’s real money on the line. So you can show up in these calls and believe in yourself. The thing you’re actually, truly wondering, Will I actually be able to sell my services after I take a program or after I learn something new? The answer is up to you that comes deep inside. We can give you all the trainings and the tech walkthroughs. We can teach you marketing. You have to show up with the conviction and know how to talk about what you do with that conviction and that belief, that self belief, listening to your inner mentor tell you what’s possible and remind you that you can do big things and you can do hard things. You’ll know your stuff after UDM a school. You’ll have the language to describe it. You’ll have the confidence because we’ve done the reps inside the school, and you have the backup of a community of tech walkthroughs, of knowing the strategy, so you can think things through. But ultimately, you know yourself. Do you follow up? Do you figure things out innately as a person? Do you naturally do that? And we’ve talked about, even on the show, how we mess things up and how you own it. And if you’re someone who gives excuses and runs away and just quits, the answer is, no, you probably have that doubt in yourself when you’re on that discovery call and the client’s asking you, and that’s probably showing through. So you have to do a deep dive here. Some of us are just better employees being told what to do. Speaker 1 Another portion of us, we don’t like that. Emily Reagan We’re maximize we’re individualists. We like to go figure it out and make things better, and we like to use our brain and step up to the challenge. So when it comes to your discovery calls, I do have five tactical things to fix your calls. We’ve had really good guest experts here on the show, including the most recent episode with Stacey brass Russell. She taught you how to sell high ticket in about community. Communicating your value, but when it comes to your sales call and exuding confidence, you have to stop performing and really come to the table as a partner. It’s not an audition. You have to have the power and act like a collaborator from the very first minute of that call, and you have to believe it in your soul, because people see through that. We see through it. We know when Something’s fishy. We know when someone isn’t confident in themselves. So start off your call. Let’s talk about your business. What’s going on? Where can I help? See you’re not begging for approval. You’re assessing the fit. It’s a mutual discovery. It’s not a performance. And there’s no self deprecation involved. There’s no room to have leaky confidence showing also on your calls always lead with curiosity, not your own. Credentials. Don’t make it all about you. Your resume isn’t the point. You don’t have to go and over explaining all of your experience and your your linear work experience since the day you graduated high school. No, your job is to figure out what their pain points are and then believe that you are the one to solve them. You can ask questions. What’s slowing you down right now? Where are you frustrated? What would feel easier if someone handled it for you? You’re really flipping the power dynamic, and you’re showing that you’re in the driver’s seat and you’re calm, you’re cool, and you’re confident you’re you’re guiding the conversation this way. You don’t need to throw in the extras. Well, I’ve never done this before. You connect the dots out loud, and you don’t assume that the client knows how your skills solve their problems like you do have to showcase this. And this is the part where people can slip into giving strategy away on a call or over explaining. So be very careful here. Go back and listen to that, that episode with Stacy. But you know, if you have a client who needs help with content, right? That’s a big one. That’s one of the main paths we see in the unicorn digital marketing assistant school, an easy way to get started, since you’re struggling to stay consistent with your emails, that’s exactly what I handle. I do the content planning, the scheduling and the metrics, so that you can focus on selling, so that you can focus on creating your course, so you can focus on going on podcast. You’re making your offer the next step, but you don’t have to completely say, like, I know exactly how to do a link, trigger tag and Active Campaign, because I watched a video in medium a school. One thing we do talk about this in the DNA school, but I’m just gonna give it to you right now. You say your price and you pause. You say it once, you say it clearly, and you stop talking. Stacy addressed this too, because the pause is the power. If you keep rambling, you start negotiating with yourself, and you don’t look confident. The silence actually signals confidence and not fear. So practice it. Practice it out loud and always, always end your calls with the next steps. Don’t leave it ended open that shows you don’t know what the f you’re doing. Don’t stop the call. Don’t close out on the Zoom meeting without the next steps. Would you like me to send over a proposal by tomorrow. Do you want to start with a one month test project or a three month package? You’re not waiting for permission. You’re saying exactly what they need to do next, and you’re leading the process. And that’s what confident professionals do. They believe they can do the work, and they already know the next step, and it’s okay if it’s an unknown, like, Hey, I’m going to get in your business. I’m going to take two weeks to audit what’s happening, and then I’m going to present a strategy, not giving you a strategy on this call. Boo, it’s okay if the process is a little bit of a question mark. The first sale is to yourself, and when you trust the value that you bring, your energy changes. And those sales calls go a different way, and that’s what the clients are feeling. That’s what Beth felt on those calls, that doubt. So what do you do to get confident? Surround yourself with people who are doing the work. Do you know what is the industry rate? What is the market like? What do clients expect do the work to learn, invest the time and the energy to learn the service and learn it well, you can’t know everything, but if you have the competency, the confidence will come and putting effort into keeping yourself updated. There’s a big hole in the Freelancer world when we’re deep in the client work and we’re not paying attention or we don’t have the time, I would say, AI is a big thing, right? I want to do this. I want to get better, but I also have a deadline. I need to get this done. Need to go pick up my kid at school at three o’clock. I need to get this done. So that’s why it’s good to be surrounded by people who are using it, who are sharing it, who are gatekeeping it. FYI, we have AI and UD may school. We have aI trainings in the work group, we’re constantly asking our fellow freelancers to share what they’ve discovered in the unicorn digital marketing assistant school, we have an entire module dedicated to stepping into a new client’s business and running this AI playbook. We also are adding some custom gbts to help your business end go faster. But repurposing content, I mean, AI is dominant at that. That’s not hard. The figuring out the best and fastest process that’s hard to do on your own right. So if you have confidence in how you’re doing the work that you know the high level strategy of what needs to happen next, you can run these calls like like a breeze. That is what you need to bring, not a perfect script, not massive amounts of research on all of their funnels. You need to have already sold yourself that you can do it, that you’re the best person for this job. Then it becomes a decision. Do you want to work with that client? We can talk more about client management all day long, all the red flag clients, the green flag clients. We do that a lot in the work group. By the way, if you are already doing this work, please apply. We need you in the work group. We want people like you who are go getters, who have the talent that we can refer and if you need to fill in the marketing services unicorn digital marketing assistant school is where it’s at. The doors are opening October 23 you can also hop on the waitlist to the next time we run it live if you’re listening to this later. Okay, I hope you enjoyed this. I hope deep down in your soul, you believe in what you bring to the table. You can lean into what you already know, and you can always fill in the gaps. All right, I’m Emily Reagan. Thank you for joining me. Please DM me if you felt this was helpful. I’d love to hear from you. We haven’t asked Emily anything, so you can submit a question. I would love to make that a podcast episode to help the audience, and I’ll see you in the next episode, where we’re going to get into actually booking and landing the client. So you can see why I did this now, ha, ha, ha, I am a mastermind. I know what I’m doing. The next question, once you believe in yourself, how do you book the client? It’s coming. I’ll see you then. Thanks for tuning in to the marketing freelancer. If you’re ready to connect with other marketing freelancers, learn advanced strategies and take your business to the next level, check out our digital marketers work group. It’s my exclusive membership where you’ll find the support community and tools to land premium clients and grow your income. Visit marketers workgroup.com to learn more or just use the link in the show notes. Apply today. Step into your power, own your expertise and command the rates your work deserves. See you next time on the marketing Freelancer unicorns, unite. Speaker 1 Sorry. I ghosted soccer. Attorney, turn I meant tournament, okay, actually, shit, go back up. Emily Reagan Okay, maybe don’t do it in my little high pitched voice. I. Transcribed by https://otter.ai