ASKING FOR AND TAKING MONEY

I've gotten a couple of questions about when to ask for money, how to take it, and what
the next step is, so I wanted to address those things in this brief update.

So....away we go....

Money should be asked for and taken ASAP...

Generally the subject of money will come up directly after you have successfully done one
of the following:

1. Answered one of your perspective clients objectives

2. Gotten the green light from the client

Getting the green light means that the client is in agreement that he/she/they are indeed in
need of your services. Usually you will know this right away because they will say
something like:

“how do we proceed from here”

The minute you hear anything that even remotely resembles a statement such as that, the
next words out of your mouth should be something such as the following:

“At this point, I just need you to tell me what package to go ahead with and to write me a
check “

The asking for money after you have answered one of your perspective clients objectives
might be a little harder to grasp for some folks, so I'm going to break that down here a
bit.

Let's say that you have already gone over what you have to offer, and your potential client
is asking you questions, more times than not, in a situation such as this, we refer to these
as objectives – Meaning, something that they either want clarified, or explained better
before they will agree to make a purchase.

After you have told the person what it is you offer, what follows from them will be one of
three things:

1. Buying questions
2. Objectives
3. Lay Down
Now the lay down we have pretty much already covered. You explain to them what you
have, and they pretty much just say OK – In a perfect world, your calls will always go like
that :)

However, it won't always be that easy. In many cases, prior to someone actually handing
you a check, they will ask a mixture of Buying Questions, and Objectives. Below, I'm
going to identify a couple of Buying questions for you and then we will briefly go over
how to move forward when your client asks them of you:

How long will it take?

How Much is it all going to cost me?
Will I get a report when it is completed?

Buying questions like the ones above, are questions that they will ask you when they have
pretty much made their mind up that they are going to use your service, but they are
essentially waiting for you to ask them for the money or sale. These are the kinds of
questions that you want to hear, because 9 times out of 10 when you hear them, it means
that you are only a couple minutes away from either having some cash in your hand, or a
commitment from them to send you some loot – JOB WELL DONE.

Now, lets take an example or a couple here:

Prospect: How long will it take?

You: From the time I start, it will take XX days, do you want me to start today?
Prospect: That would be great! CHA-CHING!!!

But, what if they don't say “that would be great” - if they don't answer in the positive in a
situation like that, more than likely what is going to come next is an objection, and
objections are fine, more or less, they are telling you that they just don't have enough
information to make a decision yet, so...you educate them a bit more. Lets look at an
example:

Prospect: How much is it going to cost me?

You: Well, depending on what package you choose, the cost is as low as $297, which
package would you like?
Prospect: I really don't know, can't I do this myself? <----------------- OBJECTIVE
You: To be honest with you, probably not. It has cost me several thousand dollars in
money, and countless hours of my time perfecting this craft. Have you ever done any SEO
or Website creation before?
Prospect: No, I havn't.
You: What I can tell you is that there are a ton of potential clients out there on the world
wide web looking for you, the only problem is, you don't have anywhere for them to find
you. So, you are more or less putting a ton of money into your competitors pockets who do
have a presence online. Why don't you just start small with the bare minimum package,
let me show you what I can do, and then we can go from there?

At this point, you are either going to get a yes, no, or another objection, if it's a yes, you
take the money, and perform the tasks you have been paid for. If it's a no, you say thank
you for your time, and let them know that you are definitely there if they need you.
Maybe ask if it's ok to follow up with them in a couple weeks, or when you have an
opening.

If it's another objective, you just continue to educate, until they give you a yes or no.

Now...

I've been in sales long enough to know, that for the most part, the biggest obstacle that
someone has to overcome when they are asking for sales (as in this case) is the fear and
uncomfortableness of someone saying NO...

Don't sweat it...

Remember, most of the time you are on the phone, so they don't even know who they said
no to. It's not like they are going to see you out in public and be able to put a face with the
guy/gal that they said no to.

You can't take it personal, you just continue to work, wait for the next call, and continue
to close deals. The more calls you take the more comfortable that you are going to become
with it...simple as that.

The great thing that we have found about offline marketing is that once you land a couple
deals on your own and have a little bit of breathing room, you can actually hire someone
else to do the sales on a COMMISSION ONLY BASIS. The way the economy is right now
there are a ton of very talented, ambitious, and aggressive closers out there that dream
about having a guy on the other end of the phone or across his desk to close.

HOWEVER

Before you can outsource it, you should really understand the process yourself, and to be
comfortable with it.
One way to kind of get yourself in the “groove” so to speak is to either get someone to
“role play” with you or to even role play with yourself in the mirror. As goofy as that
sounds, both of those things are very effective.

Once you hear yourself actually answering questions and handling objectives, you gain
confidence which will allow you to pretty much close deals at will.

I will definitely pop out more updates from time to time, as I get questions that need to be
answered. So, keep an eye out for them :)

Jeremy