How to close a business owner
The mechanics. The six step call in order, why the math is step four, how to sound like a person instead of a commercial, and the objection move almost everybody skips.
The 15% rule
Say less. Say it later. Then ask him to start.
The more you say, the more you hand him to think about, and most of what he objects to is something he was never going to come up with on his own.
The six steps
Client Diagnosis
His pain and goals, in his words.
Meta Ads and Leads
How it works, explained through the pain he just gave you, not as a feature list.
Fit Check
Three deep rooted pain questions.
The Math
What he is losing right now.
The Price
Three options. You pick his package by his goals, not his budget.
Next Steps
Straight into them, on the call. Not in a follow up email.
Why the math is step four
Notice The Math is step four. Not step one.
A number he did not help you build is a number he does not believe. He has to say the eighteen hundred out loud himself, or it is just your slide.
Too smooth is the problem, not the goal
If you sound like a commercial, he hears a script, and the second he hears a script he stops telling you the truth. The truth is the whole job.
Neutral. Curious. A little unsure. Pause before you answer. Take notes and let him hear you taking them. Say I don't know when you don't know.
And never be more excited than the guy with the payroll. If you are more excited about his business than he is, one of you is not being honest and he knows which one.
Check for agreement instead of monologuing
Short, every couple of minutes. It keeps him talking and it tells you the moment you have lost him.
Clarify before you answer
Most people handle the objection they heard instead of the one he has.
Too expensive can mean four different things and only one of them is money. So before you answer it, ask.
When you say too expensive, how do you mean?
The order, and the order is fixed
On a cold call, your objection handle ends by asking for a meeting. In here you already have the meeting.
Asking a business owner for another fifteen minutes tomorrow is not a close, it is a retreat, and he will let you leave. Then he will not pick up.
The close on this call is a start date. We can get you live Monday or Wednesday, which one is easier on your end?
Isolate it
Find out whether it is the only thing. Other than that, is there anything else keeping you from doing this?
Answer it with his own numbers
Not a generic rebuttal. The figures he gave you twenty minutes ago.
Ask for the start date
Two specific options. Not two meeting times. A date he goes live.
The Set Up standard
Last thing, and it is the reason some of these calls are unclosable before you ever open your mouth. You cannot close a meeting that was never really a meeting.
A booking only counts if all six of these are true. Anything else is a calendar event.