Transcript
Use with ChatGPT / Claude Auto-scroll A
The speaker introduces sales as the most important skill and reframes it as helping people make better decisions, not manipulation. He shares his own background and explains why learning to sell changed his career.
There's only one skill that every successful person has and it's not marketing.It's not AI.It's not being reallying productive.It's the ability to sell anything to anyone, even if you aren't a salesperson.Most people think being good at sales is something you're born with.Charisma or having a great personality or the gift of gab, but the best sales people in the world, they just don't wing it.They follow a process.And I'm living proof of that.I grew up as a computer nerd.All I wanted to do was write code.I loved building software because it was safe.I didn't have to talk to anybody.But guess what?Nobody paid me a dime until I learned how to sell.Learning that one skill eventually led to me closing my first $750,000 deal in my 20s to now raising over $400 million in capital and training over 200 salespeople.
All because I pushed through the awkwardness and learned how to sell.So today, I'm going to walk you through my exact process for selling anything to anyone, even if you've never sold before.And at the end, I'm going to show you how to turn this into a system where it is impossible for you not to get better every single time.And it all starts with the biggest misconception people have about selling.Sales isn't manipulation.Most people think sales is about trying to talk somebody into doing something, being the salesperson.Essentially saying anything to get somebody to buy.We've all met these people, the sleazy salesperson.When Daniel Pink asked people for the one word to describe sales, the number one answer he got was pushy.The Mr.transactional.How you doing?Nice to meet you.Hey, my name's Phil.Blah blah blah.No, not that.
When I was in my 20s and I realized I had to learn this is because I had two failed companies.I built great tech.I thought I was doing the right thing, but I couldn't sell anybody on buying it.I couldn't even sell somebody else to join my team.So, out of desperation, I decided to go get a sales audio book, drive around my city in my old 1987 Jetta, and just listen and listen and listen to sales CDs.Found this really cool book by Jeffrey Gimer.It's called the Little Red Book of Selling.And it clicked.Selling is about serving.Write that down.It's about helping people get a result.Sales is just simply helping somebody make a decision.And what's cool is it comes from the Latin word to cut off, meaning you have two options.We're going to cut off the bad option and help you make good decisions.
And what I've discovered is people actually love to buy.They just hate being sold to.There's a difference.When you need the sale, they can feel it.They go on their heels.That's called commission breath.And you know when it's happening.Great salespeople pull people into the vision they want to create for their life and help them make a decision around it.And the truth is is I've never sold a thing in my life.I've just helped thousands of people make decisions.So when you're selling, let me ask you one question to help you orientate yourself.Are you doing it for the sale or are you doing it for the soul?Are you trying to help them make a better decision or you just trying to get paid a commission?The question you want to ask yourself every time you're talking to them is, can I actually help this person?
That's it.If you can, we'll give them their time back.But if you can, it's your responsibility to help them decide.So now we shifted our mind that sales is nothing more than helping people.But how do we actually do that?
This section lays out the core framework for selling: connect, diagnose, prescribe, and commit. It focuses on building trust, controlling the frame, and opening the call with questions that establish credibility.
Pros follow a process.Amateurs freestyle.I think most people feel sales is hard because they think that it's a people skill.Like I either can sell or I can't sell.Then they think sales is really just about hoping and trying to figure it out.And when it doesn't work, they just say to themselves, I just don't have it.I'm not a salesperson.or that they need more leads.It's like a few months ago, a CEO in one of my companies had a sales rep who just couldn't close any deals.And anytime the CEO took over, the deal got closed.Anytime the rep took the call, the deal got lost.When I asked the CEO to show me the process, he couldn't show me anything.He didn't have an answer.It turns out the rep handled every call differently.Duh.He didn't know any better.He just winged it.
He's like, "Here's what it is.Here's why you need it.Here's our benefits.Do you want to buy it?"No.But the CEO, when you listen to that call, followed a process every single time without even knowing it.Top salespeople don't close because of charisma or talent.They close because they can run the same play every single time and they can go from rejection to rejection without losing enthusiasm.When you always follow the same process and then the deal doesn't close, it's easy to see where the deal fell apart to fix it.It reminds me of this quote I heard a long time ago, which is if you don't have a process for selling, your prospect will show you their process for not buying.So, it doesn't matter what you're selling, how small or big your sales are, it follows the same four steps.First, we have to connect.
We have to build trust and control the frame.I'll get into that in a second.Two, we have to diagnose what is the real pain, and it's not what they tell you.Third, we have to prescribe.We need to show them that what they're dealing with is something we've done in a way that's very different and unique to them.And four, we got to get them to commit.We have to get them to make a decision in part with their money.And the key is is we never skip a step.We don't go ahead.We don't come back.That is part of being a professional.Even if it's a friend or a warm lead, we follow the process the same way every time.Which brings us to step one of the process, which is to connect.I've seen a lot of sales reps.They get on their first call and the first thing they do because they're a little insecure is they just talk about themselves, what they've done, how great their company is.
And the problem is is they lose a chance to create a connection with the potential buyer.It's kind of like going on a bad date, right?Imagine on your first date with the person, they just sit there and they're like, "Yes, my job is this and I've accomplished these things and this is my 5-year plan and my vision and my goals.Uh me me."You're sitting there and you can't even get a word in.They don't even ask you a question about you and they're trying to go from like Tinder date to the altar in one night.Unfortunately, that's how most people are selling.I get pitched all the time and it's fascinating to me that people don't stop to ask themselves, "How do I come across to Dan?"The other day, I'm walking in my car and this guy literally comes up to me and he says, "Hey Dan, I'm going to make you a billion dollars."
And I'm like, "Internesting.What's your name?"He introduced himself.I had no idea who he was.And I'm thinking, "I don't even know you."And he thinks that that's the best way to get me to buy into his vision.He didn't ask me a question.He didn't lead with credibility.And yet most salespeople do this to themselves every single call.Our first job is to establish a connection with the person.People lean in to a conversation when they feel seen, heard, and appreciated and also guided.People buy from those they know, like, and trust.And those things happen if we do the other three steps in the sales process.But we first need to ensure that we're connecting and controlling the frame.When I say frame, I want you to understand it's the tonality.It's the structure.It's the why is the person on the call.
You are the expert.The person has a problem.You're the gatekeeper.If you're a salesperson and you work for a neurosurgeon, he's not just going to get on a call with a bunch of people.That's your job.So, you can even say, "Look, my job is to figure out if it's the right fit or not.If it isn't, I'll let you know as soon as possible.But if it is, we can talk about what it looks like to work with him."Your job is to investigate, to set the agenda.You just have to set the frame.For me, the frame I love is the doctor frame.You qualify before they go see a specialist.So, you need to understand their situation before you would even tell them who they need to see.Here's how we open up every sales call to build trust.Cuz trust isn't knowing my favorite sports team or you being a fan of that sports team.
It's are you going to respect my time?Are you knowledgeable?Can I assess that based on the quality of your questions?Do I feel like you understood my situation?And that's what these questions help people to believe.You want to take control of the conversation and make it very clear.One of my favorite questions to ask is why me or why us?Why did you decide to reach out to us?And then you get them to sell you on you.Then I like to ask them why now.What is true about your life right now that makes this a priority?Then they sell you on why now is the right time to make a decision.See how those two questions psychologically help them make a decision.So if you do that, set the frame with the agenda.Ask them the question why me and why now?
You've built that connection.
The speaker explains how to uncover the real pain, stretch the gap between current reality and desired outcome, and present a tailored solution. He also covers how to surface common objections early so they become obstacles instead of surprises.
And now it's time to figure out if you can actually help them, which is when we move to step two, which is diagnose.And in this step, it's always about the problem behind the problem behind the problem.If someone tells you they need more leads, I want you to know it's probably not a leads problem.How do I know that?3,000 sales calls.And what'll happen is that if you just ask the surface question, you'll end up solving the wrong thing.And they'll walk away cuz they don't truly believe that you understand them.Because what people say is the problem usually isn't the problem they actually have.And most people don't know how to explain the pain or the problem they're dealing with.And that's why the doctor frame is so good.It's like when I was mountain biking and I crashed into a tree and broke my hand.
When I went to see the doctor, I thought my problem was with my wrist.And then he grabbed my hand.He started moving my fingers around.I literally had a lightning strike go through my body, the back of my neck.He goes, "No, the wrist is just a byproduct of the amount of pressure that got into your knuckle when you accidentally punched the tree when you fell off your mountain bike."And in that moment, he became the expert because he understood the problem and pain better than I could have ever explained it.Now, I'll tell you, Dr.Alex, because he did that, he's my guy in the future.If I hurt myself in any way, he's the guy I'm going to turn to because he was able to diagnose this way faster than I could ever do it on my own.And here's the reality.
If you know your customer's pain better than they do and can explain it back to them in words they couldn't even use, then you become the expert.The sale is made between their current reality and their desired outcome.This is the gap.Okay.From here all the way to there.And what we're trying to do, I'm going to try to pull without hurting my hand.We're going to pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, AND STRETCH THE GAP.IMAGINE IF I LET IT GO RIGHT NOW.BUT right there, that's where a sales mate.So, here's how we stretch the gap.First is we need to figure out where they want to be.And I'll tell you why.Most people are more likely in the beginning of a call to tell you about their goals than tell you about the worst things that happening in their life right now.
So, we want to ask them in 12 months from now, let's pretend we're celebrating, what are we celebrating?And they're like, what do you mean?It's like, well, you came for me to solve this problem.If we solved it and we sat down and we had a meal and we're cheersing each other and you just had the best year ever, what would have happened?That gets them into visualizing the experience that they want.Then, after I talk about that and get very specific about it, then I'm going to go back to, well, based on where you want to be, tell me where you at today.That creates a logical connection of asking the questions that might feel a little sensitive or private to disclose.Say you want to travel the world 12 weeks out of the year, how many weeks did you travel this year?
And then the ban in the center is like, now that I've stretched the gap, what's currently preventing you from getting there?What have you tried in the past?That is such a powerful question.If we don't ask that question, we don't go deep in the understanding when we go to do the pitch.They won't believe that we truly understand their current situation.If I'm selling to you and I don't ask you what you've tried in the past, then when I make my presentation, then you're going to assume it sounds a lot like things you've done in the past.I'm dealing with an objection that isn't real that I don't even know.But if I make them verbalize that specific thing, it's like, what else is a problem?This, what have you tried in the past?Then I deal with the objection without knowing what they've tried in the past, you're going to be fighting a monster you can't see.
Now, pro tip.When I'm trying to help someone make a decision, I also ask myself in real time based on what we're talking about, do I feel like they're overconfident in their ability to do it themselves?Like they feel like, oh, I could do this myself, or do they feel uncertain about themselves, in their ability to do this?Cuz both of those doesn't allow me to bring them to the center, which I call the buying zone.So, if somebody's overconfident, I need to make a comment or ask them a question that brings them down a peg.Well, it sounds like you have a plan.Why haven't you hit it yet?Or if they're uncertain, I might say something like, "My best clients when they came to me had the same thoughts that you just said.They felt the same way about their situation.And honestly, I'd be concerned if you didn't."
Cuz it's those kind of people that make the investment to show up that actually will do the work to get them the results.In both situations, I'm pulling this person forward and this person, I'm bringing them back.And that buying zone is where the deal is done.And when you ask them everything they've tried or any answer they're giving, please write it down because we're going to need that in a minute.And look, if you're growing your business and you want to move from a founder sales process to a sales team sales process and you want my help, I put together my rocket selling system that I teach every entrepreneurI work with that's literally made my clients millions of dollars.I want to invite you to scan the QR code or click the link below to book a growth session with my team.I'd love to see if we can help you out.
So, now that we've helped somebody feel the gap, it's time to show them how to close it.This is where we prescribe.And look, as a doctor, you can't prescribe until you diagnose because if you do, that's considered malpractice.And the truth is, people will pay more for a painkiller than they will a vitamin.If I've got a migraine, I'll pay whatever for that pill.After you do the whole diagnostic process, most people want to get right into the sales, but I like to give the buyer the perception that they're in control.And the way I do that is I repeat what they just told me.I heard you're here, you want to be here, but this is getting in the way.Did I get that right?And I'll do that for three, four of those items.Then I'll say something like, you know, so far I've been asking a lot of questions.
Why don't we switch roles and you become the asker?Where do you want to go from here?And in that moment, 99% of the time, they give me back control of the call and say, I don't know, what does it look like?Then there's a perception that they're asking you to sell to them or to this next step, which is prescribe.Most salespeople when they get on a call, they're just so excited for the person.They want to tell them about their solution and they start listing features after features after feature.They want to tell them everything, all the options and the bonuses and the comparison.And the problem is is that it overwhelms buyers.And a confused mind never buys.And the more you talk, the less likely they will actually buy.Imagine you hire a real estate agent and they come and they meet with you and instead of asking you any questions or maybe they ask you three or four, they just start showing you hundreds of listings at once
and instead of feeling super clear on what you want, you leave feeling even more confused than before.So, do you think you're going to buy?Your buyers could be experiencing the exact same thing.So, that's why what I recommend is you guide the process.When we asked them where they are and where they want to go, we really double clicked on what was getting in the way and what they needed most.That's when I made the mental note that I told you to write down so that when I prescribe it only maps to those things.I don't confuse them with everything else.You might have 17 other benefits.Guess what?Don't tell them.Unless it's supportive to the decision, it is confusing.And I always say the right information at the right time gets the deal done.So then what I do is when I prescribe, I'm literally going through each one of the roadblocks they gave me.
Because then when I review how we work, I'm literally mapping our offer, the specific benefits to the roadblocks I got them to agree upon.When I go through the solution, it feels like a perfect fit for them.It's like a fine tailored suit.They're like, "Oh my gosh, this is what I've been looking for my whole life."And you're like, "I know."And the best part is the investment is only and I give them the price.Now, amateurs stop right there and they wait.I give them the price and then I move on to another ninja benefit that they're going to get because I know people like them struggle with X.So, because of that, I gave them this Y.For example, I'll say, and that's why the investment is only 25K.And because I know that you also probably need to get your team trained up on this, I also include two extra seats so that you can upskill two people on your team at no extra cost.
See how I made the investment, moved on, gave him some more value.Then I come back to it and I go for the ask.Now, you might have heard people say the first person to talk after you say the price loses a sale.It's the first person to talk after you made the offer loses a sale.The offer for me includes letting you know what the investment is and also let you know about a benefit, but it kind of allows you to say it in a very nonchalant from the heels kind of way.It's like look, the investment is only 50K and because I know that you're probably going to struggle with this, I've also included this so that you get this kind of benefit.So, what car did you want to put that on?See, the other person will want to talk and when they talk, let them talk and say, "I totally understand."
Deal with the objection.Go for the close.Now, to bring this up to the next level, we have to talk about objections because if you do it right, the objections are actually obstacles.If you bring them up early, most people, this is where they jump straight into the offer and where they lose the sale.Once you prescribe and you talk about the price, that's when you usually hear objections.That's what everybody else does.If you deal with it before you prescribe, then it becomes an obstacle.So, I call this the clear common obstacles.When you look at your calls, there's only really three common obstacles.The first one is who else is involved making the decision?Maybe it's I don't have the money.That's obstacle number two.So, you might ask them, did you put a budget aside to solve this problem?If there was a solution presented to you today, what budget would you have available to make an investment in it?
The third one is, do you feel if you had the right solution, you'd have the time to implement it today?How much time could you give me per week?You want to ask them ahead of time so that when you tell them about it, they'll be like, "Well, I don't have enough time."It's like, "You actually said you did and there was other things you were working on that you probably need to stop doing so you had the time to focus on this one."So, they give you the ammunition to deal with it after you give them the prescription.
This chapter focuses on getting commitment, collecting payment on the call, and using assumptive closes without awkwardness. It also includes examples of handling hesitation and securing follow-up commitments when needed.
So, now that we've talked about the offer, we've dropped the price.There's only one thing left to do.Get them to commit.If you've made it this far in the process, you need to collect the money.If you know you can help them, it is your responsibility to help them make a decision.Don't let people be flaky and disappear.Unfortunately, most people in the world, they don't know how to do this and they'd rather make no decision than the wrong decision.When you go to a restaurant and then you're done eating and the waiter brings you the bill, he doesn't just like say, "Yeah, thanks for coming.Hope you pay."He brings you the check and he stands there and he waits to make payment.He collects payment on the spot.High-end restaurants, high-end companies, they collect payment where you're sitting.I don't believe a yes is a sale until you get the money.
And someone's saying they want to move forward and they're like, "This is great."Yeah.I know.Send me a proposal.Mm- No, never send a proposal.Ask them when they want to schedule a time to review the proposal so that you can walk it through with them because information doesn't help people make a decision cuz if it was, then they would just be researchingabout.com all day.Just please don't confuse a promise with a payment.As a Canadian, they're super nice.They tell me all the time, "I love it, Dan.I'm buying."I'm like, "Cool.What card do you want to put that on?"Well, see that?That's not a commitment.Pros collect payment on the call.It could be a deposit if you're selling a proof of concept.It could be the wire details.It could be whatever it needs to be, but you're collecting some kind of payment that makes it a commitment on the call.
And look, if you follow this whole process, this shouldn't feel awkward.This is where the call naturally ends up going anyway.I remember this one time I was talking to this guy named Matt and he wanted to work with me and I was like, "Cool."And I went through the whole process I just walked you through and we got to the point where I was like, "Great.what card do you want to put that on?And he's like, oh, well, I'm driving.I said, cool.Just pull over.Pull out your credit card.I'll wait.You're going to make me pull over?I'm like, uh-huh.And he's like, right now.And I said, look, I just want you not to have another thing on your to-do list that you might not get to.He goes, no, I promise you I'll call you when I get home.
I said, I understand and I believe you.Why don't we just deal with it now?And he's like, but I'm driving.Heard it the first time.Call me crazy, but I have a lot of stuff on my to-do list I never get to, and I want to make sure we get you started.It sounded like it was important to you.If it is, I'll wait.Pull over.pull out the credit card.And I remember the whole time he's like, I can't believe you're asking me to pull over.Like, I would have called you back.And I said, look, I'm a professional.I'm going to teach you how to be a professional.And one of the things we have to make sure is we get a commitment on the call.And I will tell you, if you ever meet Matt, he'll tell you the same thing.
I'm so glad that Dan forced me to make a commitment on the call.I know.I've done this quite a few times.There's like one time I got on a sales call and this guy from Chicago, he's in sales and he's like, "Hey, I'm a sales guy.Just tell me what the pitch is."And I was like, "Bro, I got nothing to sell you."35 minutes later, he's giving me his credit card.He's like, "Wow, that was really good."I said, "I know.I can't wait to teach you."And he's like, "I thought I knew all the things."And I'm like, "I'm just Look, bro, I'm a pro."He's like, "But you said you had nothing to sell me."I didn't at that time.I didn't know if I could help you.That's the whole point.You have to diagnose before you prescribe.And at that point, I had nothing to prescribe.
And guess what?Sales people love to buy.Just go to which car would you like to put that on?It's the assumptive close.I'm assuming I know where you're at, where you want to go, and you want to work with me.I want to work with you.So, all I need to know is what form of payment do you want to use?When you get used to asking for the order, and assuming they're going to then have an objection, which you say totally makes sense, and deal with it, right?Cuz you have your talk tracks, that is when the deal gets done.And for whatever reason, if you couldn't deal with the objections cuz they weren't obstacles or you couldn't get the person to make a decision and you do need to book another call, you have to bam bam.Which means you get the next call scheduled confirmed.
And then you ask them a very simple question.Can I ask you a favor?They go, yeah, what's up?You go, could you do me the honor that if for any reason you can't make our call that you let me know ahead of time so that I can make myself available to the other people that want tochat?Once they make that commitment, their brain goes consistency bias.They're not going to want to break that contract.
The speaker explains how to learn from every lost sale by reviewing transcripts and identifying where the process broke down. He closes by showing how AI can help analyze calls, improve scripts, and turn sales into a repeatable system.
Even when you follow every step, not every call is going to close.So, how do you make sure you're actually getting better?Not just burning leads.Which brings us to the next point.Every lost sale leaves clues.Here's what I see all the time.Amateurs do a call, doesn't work out, and they just run to the next one.They essentially lose a sale, and there's no information.They never find out why the deal didn't close.where was the mistake that they made and then they just keep making on the next call and the next call.I don't know if you know this but Kobe Bryant, one of the best basketball players of our time, used to watch his own game tape from the first half of the game at halftime going into the second periodso that he can see where he was making mistakes against the people he's playing so he can come back in the second half and absolutely crush it.
It's a fast feedback loop and every call will tell you something.Look, if you got to the end of the call and you didn't collect any money, then there are steps that got rushed or skipped.And every lost sale leaves you little tiny breadcrumbs to figure out what was broken in the process.And the best salespeople, the pros, learn from every call, especially the ones that didn't close because they know using the process I'm about to teach you that every no brings you one step closer to a yes.So, we need to do what Kobe did, which is review our game tape.And the best part is we're going to use AI to do it automagically.So the first thing we have to do is collect transcripts from any close one and also close loss transcripts because the worst thing in sales isn't knowing why you're losing.
It's not knowing why you're winning because then you can't replicate it every time.So here's what I want you to do.If you're using Grockbot, nice job.Or use Claude and just point it at these files that I just asked you to collect.So we got to ask these four questions.First, connect.Did I establish trust and control the frame?Second, diagnose.Did I feel real pain and did I create desire for a solution?Three, prescribe.Did I make the solution as clear and simple as possible?And four, commit.Did I ask for the money with confidence?Find the patterns that work and what didn't and give me advice and scripts to improve.If you do that, you will build a self-perpetuating sales manager that will turn you into a weapon.I'm telling you, this process has been codified and deployed across all of my companies in that single process.
I told you at the beginning, this is going to be a gamecher because nobody does this.That simple process will give you the talk tracks, will give you the objection overriding, will give you the frames to be able to go to your next call with confidence and know they're going to buy.And look, here's what I believe.If you know what you do is world class, if you know what you're selling will help people, then I consider it your number one job to get people to make a decision to work with you.I've worked with people that sell in every industry.And the reason why I'm so passionate about this is they're usually incredible people, incredible at their craft.They care about their customers, but unfortunately, they don't know how to follow a process.They don't know how structure, and they don't do it every time.
And that means the person you are talking to unfortunately ends up working with somebody else that doesn't care about them, that's not going to deliver, that's literally just going to take their money and treat them like a number.If that's not you, then it is your responsibility to show up like a pro.And I'm telling you, on the backside of you doing what we just went over, you will help so many freaking people and create so many resources in your life that you will wonder why you waited so long tobecome the best version of yourself.Cuz sales is not just about selling to people.It's about personal development done at scale.And if you know you can help people, you literally would be doing a disservice to not act like a pro.So, I want to hear from everybody below.What part of the sales call do you struggle with the most?
And yes, it's probably objections, but maybe it's connect, maybe it's diagnosed, maybe it's prescribe.Let me know below and tell me in the comments.And remember, if you want help scaling your sales process and growing your business, then scan the QR code or click the link below to book a growth session with my team.And if you want my full course on how to build a business that runs without you, just click here and I'll see you on the other