300: The Sales Call Blueprint to Securing More Brand Deals with Alexandria Drzazgowski

[00:00:00] Bree: Here's the thing. I know that you are freaking brilliant at the content you create. Do you ever wish that you could instill that confidence within yourself and then get brands to believe it and want to work with you as well? Well, then you're going to want to listen to this entire episode because I talk with Alexandria who is a food blogger, but she is also an expert at having success with brand collaborations.

She is going to walk us through her six step framework that teaches you how to have a conversation with a brand. Negotiate a higher paying deal, most likely, and land that deal. So let's dive in.

Welcome to the thrive podcast. If you're a blogger, influencer, you found this show for you. I'm Brie Pear, your host and blogging coach here to help you take your brand to the next level. At Thrive, our mission is to equip bloggers and influencers with practical tactics and strategies that can transform your brand to give you the lifestyle you want.

We offer tutorials, workshops, and a supportive community to accompany you on your journey. I created the thrive podcast to give you simple, actionable steps that you can use to drive real results in your business. I also wanted to give you a peek behind the curtain of others in the industry that you look up to.

Our guests share strategies they've used to grow revenue streams that are working for them and insider info you won't find anywhere else. Now let's get ready to thrive.

Hello, Alexandria. How are you? Hi, I'm doing so good. I'm so excited to be here. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you. You reached out and was like, Hey, I want to talk to your audience about this. And I was like, Oh yes, absolutely. Let's do it. So before we get started in this conversation, can you first like tell our audience about yourself and also where they can follow you while they're listening?

[00:02:11] Alexandria: Yes. Yes. So my name is Alexandria and I've been a food blogger for about a little over five years now. I started my blog in 2018. It's called the foreign fork where I'm cooking a meal from every country in the world. And the reason why I did that is because I graduated from college in 2018 and I had about six months in which I And so I had some time to go and explore before recruiting started for full time jobs.

So I went and backpacked Europe for six months and I took cooking classes in all of the countries that I went to. It was like 15 countries. Um, It was wonderful. Just because I feel like food is such a beautiful way to learn about the world and learn about the history of a place and the people and the culture.

It was such a wonderful experience that when I came home, I knew I wanted to continue that. So I started a food blog when I got home, the foreign fork where I'm cooking a meal from every country in the world. And until this year that had been my sole blog this year, I started a second blog called the domestic spoon, which is the exact opposite of the foreign fork.

It's all of the like American cookies and appetizers and things that are just, Easy to make and good for entertaining and things. So, um, I have two blogs and then I'm here today to talk to you a little bit about sales because I'm opening up a new program called the sealed deal school to talk about how to run a sales meeting.

And we can talk about my experience with sales and why I'm excited to talk to you guys more.

[00:03:35] Bree: about that today. Absolutely. Okay. So can you just remind everybody what's names that they can go and follow?

[00:03:41] Alexandria: Yes. At the foreign fork is probably the best one on Instagram and Tic Tac. Um, that's my largest platform, so you can follow that, but you can also follow the domestic spoon, which is still growing.

Perfect.

[00:03:51] Bree: I love the inspiration behind why you started the foreign fork because that is one of my favorite things. Whenever I like go to visit a friend or if they come to my house. I'm like, can we cook together? Or like, will you, like, I've had friends like introduce me to dishes that are like important to their family or like from their culture.

Like one of my friends is Jamaican. And so she made me like these delicious. Fish flittas is how she pronounces it. So good. And then like another friend made chicken paprikash and that's like one of my favorite like comfort foods now. And so it's like my favorite thing. I'm always asking friends like, what are we cooking when you come?

Yeah, it's

[00:04:34] Alexandria: just like, it's, there's so much, I mean, it's so cliche, but there's so much connection via food. And with like, Cultures and there's just a lot that you can learn through it. So I have a really fun time Experimenting in my kitchen and helping other people kind of see the world through food, too.

[00:04:49] Bree: Yeah. Oh, that's so fun Oh my gosh. Okay, so we're gonna talk about Sales and so if anybody, you know listening is like, okay. Well, what does that mean? Maybe I don't necessarily sell something but if for anybody that is Doing any type of negotiating with brands, if you're doing sponsored posts of any kind.

Um, and then I think just, you know, that's gonna, what you're gonna share with us is also gonna kind of trickle into other things that we do for our businesses. So I'm really excited to jump in and start talking about that. You know, so I would love to just hear from you, you know, why do you think it's so important to you talk about like having that sales meeting?

So to me, that's like, Oh, we need to get on a call instead of just doing everything through email, which I advocate for a hundred percent, but I would love to hear from you. Like, why do you feel like that is so necessary?

[00:05:43] Alexandria: Yes, I definitely think that is necessary. And, um, in order to answer that question, I want to tell you a little bit about my history with sales and why I started.

Started learning about sales kind of my experience and then I will lead into that question But back in 2018 when I started my food blog Actually on the exact same day, which is kind of I don't know why I did this but on the exact same day I started my first full time job as an adult and I also started my food blog.

Oh my goodness Yeah, I know. That's a lot. August, August 22nd, 2018. It lives in the brain forever. It was a big day for me. You should

[00:06:15] Bree: get a tattoo of it.

[00:06:16] Alexandria: Yes, seriously. And at the time, I had started my first full time job in sales, which is not what I had gone to college for. I'd gone to college for professional writing.

Um, basically it was sales. At the time, I didn't realize it was like how to run a blog basically, but that had been my degree. But when it came time to get a full time job, I had started looking, I got, um, some advice from a mentor. They thought I'd be good at sales. So I started looking into it. And so I got a job at a Fortune 500 company, selling a service to our clients and to other business owners.

And, um, I went through a lot of extensive sales training there where we had, you know, every day for months, we had classes on how to do sales. And then it went into weeks and those kinds of weekly meetings and those kinds of things. And I actually did not expect this to happen, but I took to it rather naturally.

And I actually became the fastest promoted person in the company history, um, in my division. And so the record was 30 weeks to get promoted and you get promoted by hitting a certain sales goal. The record was 30 weeks. I did it in 24. I became one of the youngest people to be promoted to the highest level of sales rep.

I was like very motivated by travel, if you can't tell. So when they were trips, trips to win through this company, I would work really hard to win, like a trip to the Bahamas, a trip to Ireland. Like I had really enjoyed sales, but it was not my passion. My passion was my blog. So. Later, I ended up leaving that job and taking my blog full time.

Um, when I was making way less money at it than I was in sales, but I did that because I knew that I could rely on my own sales skills to like get me by while my ad income wasn't as high as I wanted it to be on my blog, I knew that I could rely on the sales skills. skills that I had learned in sales to do photography for other bloggers and brands, videography, do sponsorships, those kinds of things that I knew could supplement my income.

So that's kind of my background with sales. And so the reason why you asked, what is the reason that we should be getting on a call? Um, I think that it's not something that. If you're not, if you haven't been trained in sales, it's not something that a lot of bloggers or content creators or business owners, um, think about because it's easier to email.

A lot of time brands want to just send you an email, tell you what they're looking for, tell you what rate and ask if you'll do it for that amount. Right. Yes. And it's, that's like a way to do it that benefits, benefits the brand in terms of time, but it does not benefit either one of you in terms of actual value.

So, yeah. And so in terms of getting on a call, I recommend that people do that because once you get on a call, it's so much easier to communicate your value that way. Brands can get to know you personally. You can develop like personal connections with them. It makes it easier for you to figure out what they need in order for a successful partnership to happen.

And then for you to communicate your value. And so, sorry, that was a long winded answer with a history lesson in there as well, about my own personal life. But all of that has led me to realize that being in an in person meeting is just so much easier to communicate your value.

[00:09:22] Bree: Yes, no, I'm so glad you shared that because I feel like anybody that's listening is like, oh.

She knows what she's talking about. Okay, I'm going to pay attention. Take some notes. I think, you know, when it comes to having these calls, it's something that I always talk about in my coaching groups because I, and encourage them to do because I'm like, people don't, you know, bloggers, content creators, they don't want to do that,

[00:09:48] Alexandria: right?

[00:09:49] Bree: They're, they, you don't want to hop on a call. It can be awkward and uncomfortable at first and like that, which we're going to talk about like the confidence and like what we can do to like feel confident going into them. But like it's new, right? It's easy to just sit behind an email and to take care of that.

Right. But. There is something very powerful about like, Oh, they want to get on a call with me. Like, you know, as far as like the brand perspective, like they're not used to that either. And you can build a connection with them in a way that you can't over email. You can get to know them a little bit. You can, you know, Even if it's just asking how their day is right like exactly it's putting a face to the name and like having that conversation So, you know with like, okay, if I if I want to start doing this I want to have confidence I don't want to go into this feeling like oh my gosh, like I'm gonna be sick So, how can we have more confidence when going into meetings?

With these brands, like what do we need to do to prepare?

[00:10:50] Alexandria: Yes. So I think, um, obviously the first step is to be prepared for your meeting. So to research the brand ahead of time, figure out what, what launches they have coming up, what their current social media marketing strategy is, if that's what you're going to be discussing, or what their current photography strategy is, if that's what you're going to be discussing, like go into it.

Knowing about the brand and knowing what you, like the preliminary information that you need to know in order to have a productive conversation with them. But that's only one half of it. I think the other half to having confidence in these kinds of conversations is knowing how to run a good meeting in a way where you feel confident expressing your

[00:11:32] Bree: value to them.

That was going to be my question. Like, are we running these meetings? Are they running the meetings? Like, how do we go into this?

[00:11:40] Alexandria: Yes. Okay. So yes, we could definitely talk about that. So to answer that question, I'll tell you that there's a framework that I learned for like the six steps of a sales call that, um, I learned at the company that I was working at, but it is transferred for any.

Anybody that's looking to sell a service to anybody. So in terms of our, the industry that we're in now, this could benefit like knowing this framework, which I'll go over it in a second is beneficial for, like, we've been talking about content creators that want to work with brands, but also. Coaches that want to get more students in their calls or VA is that want to get more content creators that they want to work with those kinds of things.

Anybody that has a service can use this specific like six steps of the sale framework. And so. Step one to that is, um, building rapport with the brand and, or the person that you're speaking with and getting to know them on a personal level. And then step two, to answer your question is, um, setting the agenda.

And so setting the agenda is where you are the one that takes control of that meeting and tells the person that you're meeting with how you want the meeting to run so that they can know what to expect out of the meeting and know that you're the one that like has.

So I can go over the other steps if you'd like, but I want to hear all the steps. Okay. A hundred percent. I'm already like,

[00:13:07] Bree: I'm going to download this transcript and make notes. Okay. But I would love to hear, okay, that part right there. How does that conversation kind of go? Because I can imagine some like I'm, I'm more comfortable now like doing calls, but I've been doing it for a very long time.

So like, how do you go about like, even just having confidence to be like, okay, is it just today? Like on this call, I would love to talk about X, Y, and Z. Yeah. How do we make it sound like casual? I'm not being, I'm like, my brain goes to like somebody coming in with a suit and tie and be like, okay, today we're talking about X, you know what I mean?

But like, how do we make it still like fun? Us? While also being like, okay, here's what we're going to do,

[00:13:45] Alexandria: right? So first, like I said, spend some time like chit chatting with them getting to know about their weekend Their hobbies like just talk to them as a person for a couple of minutes And then when you feel which we've all been in a conversation you feel that like natural ending of that topic Then you say okay.

Well, I just want to say thank you so much for meeting with me I'm, so excited to be talking to you today. So So what I figured we could do today is I will just, um, tell you a little bit about myself and my history with my company and then, or my business or whatever you're talking about. And then I want to spend most of the time just asking you some questions about this campaign that you have coming up, what your goals are.

Um, and based on your answers to those questions, we can then go through my services and figure out what's a good fit. And, um, if it is a good fit, I'll give you some pricing and then hopefully we can move forward with working together. Does that sound good to you? That sounds amazing. Let's do it. And then, yeah, and then that's it.

And then they know, because one of the steps of the sale is asking them questions about themselves. So then they know at that point in time, you've already keyed them up. Like, just, you know, I'm going to be asking you questions about yourself so that they're not sitting in that call thinking, Oh, I don't know.

I don't know why she's asking me so many questions. Like instead they know what to expect and you've kind of teed it up that you're the one that's going to be moving it along.

[00:14:55] Bree: Perfect. Okay. So what are the other steps in your framework?

[00:14:59] Alexandria: Okay. So step one, setting a report. We talked about that. Step two is setting the agenda.

Step three is the executive overview. you. So the executive overview is where you spend just like a A small amount of time. It's not a long time, just a small amount of time bragging about yourself and telling them your history with your business and why you are the right person to be working with. So some impressive statistics about your history in your industry or, um, some examples of great, um, work that you've done before.

[00:15:31] Bree: Is this where you would maybe share like, okay, like a case study, even like if you had a really good collaboration that went Wonderfully with another brand and you could be like, this one did so well. Like, is that where you would kind of share that?

[00:15:42] Alexandria: Yeah. Yeah. So I would spend just like two minutes or so, um, have like a little, you know, a couple of paragraphs in there, like some key points that you want to get across to them that just kind of get them in the mindset to be wowed by you.

So that then when you go into the rest of the conversation, they already have that in their head, like, okay, this girl knows, or this person knows what they're doing in this industry. And it's like a good thing that we're talking to them.

[00:16:05] Bree: So

[00:16:06] Alexandria: that's step three.

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[00:17:19] Alexandria: Step four is probing. So this is where you spend the majority of your meeting. Ask them questions about, I just keep. Using the brand example in this, we'll just keep moving forward with the brand example.

So you would ask them questions about, you know, what they're looking to get from the campaign. What would be a successful campaign to them? What campaigns have they had that have gone well before? Is there any competitors that they're trying to either emulate their style or differentiate themselves from their style?

Like this is where you spend time asking them questions about their hopes, their dreams. their goals for this campaign. And, um, the goal here is to find like three to five points to speak to in your presentation section, which is step five. So in step five, you're presenting your solution. You take what you've learned in that probing step.

Some things that you want to point out that they've communicated to you would be a value to them, either their pain points, things that they need help with, or their, um, goals that they have or things that they're aiming for. And you present your solution to them while speaking to those points in the call.

And then step six is the close where you lay your pricing and then communicate your value to them again, confidently lay your pricing and then, um, request to be able to move forward.

[00:18:32] Bree: Okay. That was going to be my question. How do you successfully wrap up that call? Cause I feel like sometimes even I'll do that.

Be like, okay, do you have any questions? Like, what do you do to like, let's end this call on like, Let's, you know, to either get them to move forward or to be like, be like, you know, go back and talk to whoever you have to talk to and come back to me. How do you kind of end that call?

[00:18:55] Alexandria: Yeah. So I guess it depends on who's in the call with you.

If you have the decision maker in the call, you can like point blank, ask them like, what are your thoughts? Are you leaning One way or another. Is there any questions I can answer that would make you feel more comfortable moving forward and then you start speaking past the sale. So, so this is also why you set the agenda at the beginning.

So that, um, at when, in my example agenda that I was saying, you heard that at the end, I said, and if it makes sense, I'm going to ask you to move forward. So they're already keyed up to know that you're going to ask questions. um, ask them at the end of the call if they would like to move forward, and you do trial closes along the way, like, does that sound good?

Is this something that would benefit you? Those kinds of things throughout the call to get them, um, like in the habit of agreeing with the sounds like something that would work for them.

Get to the actual end of the call. You confidently lay your pricing, ask them if they have any questions and then, um, kind of speak past the sale and say like, okay, so as long as that sounds good, I can go through and get some information from you to fill out this contract, et cetera, and just kind of speak confidently until they tell you that they need to go back and run it by somebody.

And then you just say like, okay, sounds good. I'll follow up with you on this day. Um, if you have any questions before then feel free to reach out or something like that. Okay. Because sometimes if you have the decision maker on the call, sometimes they can agree right then. And so you don't want to like bypass that opportunity if you don't have to.

Right?

[00:20:23] Bree: Yes. That's so true. Yeah. I find that like a lot of calls I get on, I don't necessarily with the brands, I don't necessarily have the decision maker on the call. So I'm usually if they're like, okay, yeah, this sounds good. I'll be like, okay, amazing. I'm going to go ahead and send this. Like maybe it's a contract or invoice over to you so that way you can review it with whomever and then talk about like, okay, so once you sign this, this is what we would do next.

Does that, is that, am I making a good decision with doing that?

[00:20:51] Alexandria: Yeah, exactly. Yes. If they can't make the decision on the call, I tell them like, I will send you a project proposal that details everything we just talked about. And then I tell them I'll follow up with you on this day and then, you know, that way I put it in my calendar.

They know they're going to be hearing from me then.

[00:21:06] Bree: Okay. Amazing. So then in these calls, how do we position ourselves so that the way if let's say it isn't even if it isn't the decision maker, but if it's not, how do we make sure that we're positioning ourselves so that the brand rep wants to advocate for us or if it's a decision maker, you know how that they want to choose us?

[00:21:27] Alexandria: It's a good question. I feel like, um, the calls where I always leave feeling the most confident is the calls where I feel like I've successfully made myself more of a consultant than someone trying to sell something, if that makes sense. Like, I'm not just sitting there pitching my services just because that's what I offer.

Like, I've spent time in a collaborative meeting with them, listening to what they want. listening to what I can offer, figuring out the best, um, like middle ground between those two. If they want one thing, but they had like a couple pain points, like add a suggestion there that's like a genuine, true suggestion.

And you're not just trying to upsell yourself. Like you genuinely believe that this thing that you're offering would Um, fit what they're looking for when it feels like that, those are the meetings that feel good. So I would make sure to just be an active listener and think of yourself as a consultant rather than Someone that is just selling them something.

[00:22:28] Bree: Yeah, that's great advice How flexible are you when you go into those calls? Maybe not necessarily on pricing, but Maybe it's like okay. I have Package A, B, and C, like do you kind of hold to your guns there or do you kind of go into it and like Make up a new package on the fly if you need to.

[00:22:49] Alexandria: Um, yeah, so I do have packages that are set because most brands are looking for like a few things, right?

Like most brands are looking for, um, a tick talk post or sponsorship on your blog, et cetera. Um, so I do have those set and those are, I don't have necessarily pricing on them set, but I do have like, uh, Deliverables that I can speak to for those things, but also there is definitely opportunity for us to like customize a package or um, something along those lines.

So I have like a presentation sheet that I can pull up that details like all the different ways that I can work with them and we can like go through and be like, okay, so you mentioned you want this, so this could be good. This could be good. And we can like customize a package. Do you

[00:23:34] Bree: have pricing on there or do you show them the pricing

[00:23:37] Alexandria: at the end?

Yeah. Um, sometimes. It depends. So, um, I have, like, the same, I have the same sheet, but with, like, three different tiers of pricing based on my conversation with them. So, I have, like, what I obviously am aiming to sell it for, but I also have, like, Something on the lower end in case they have a lower budget that doesn't go beneath like what I think I'm worth But is on the lower end and then I make a choice between those two or three Based on our conversation which one I show them so I make that decision on the fly, but the document is already created It's just whichever one I choose So those are the things that, that the pricing that is set is for those deliverables I told you about before that, like the things that are frequently coming up in these calls, like a tick tock video, I will have pricing for that set, but a couple of different tiers of pricing and I'll pull up whichever one fits their budget.

But then if they want something more, um, concrete or like customizable that I would pull up my options that. Don't have pricing. Sorry, this is kind of confusing. But I pull up my pricing sheet that doesn't have pricing, show them my options, and because I can't do like all of that math in my head to figure out exactly with this plus this plus this, how does that fit into their budget, I still have something to show them for like deliverables that we can do, and then I tell them I will send them a proposal after with pricing.

[00:24:59] Bree: Do you ask them in the call what their budget is? Yes. At what point in the call do you do that?

[00:25:06] Alexandria: Um, kind of like in the middle of probing. I don't want it to be the last question that I ask before I give pricing, because I don't want it to be the only thing that they're thinking about when I give pricing.

But I also don't want it to be the first thing that we talk about, so I kind of throw it in the middle of my questions. I try to give pricing on the call, If I can because I know and that's kind of like some people feel differently about that. Some people don't like giving pricing on the call and they only want to email it after my personal opinion Is that I if I am able to figure out the math With their budget and what's a value to me?

Like if I feel prepared enough to give them pricing on the call I like to do that because then I can deliver pricing in conjunction with the value that I just built Where we like have this rapport right now we've Like, just had a conversation. We're talking naturally. And so if I'm also able to give them pricing in that moment, it's alongside all of that value that I've just communicated.

And then I have an opportunity to, like, overcome any objections that they have on the price in the call, like, while I have their feedback. Undivided attention. Whereas I try not to deliver if I don't have to. Pricing, um, via email because at that point it's like kind of removed from the conversation and they're only looking at the dollar number.

[00:26:21] Bree: Yeah. If that makes sense. So, How do you kind of inject like some confidence whenever it like comes to like, okay, I need to tell them how much this costs now because I know so many of my girls are like, Oh, I just feel like that icky feeling in my stomach and like that anxiety of like, okay, here's how much it costs and almost like, Are they going to think I'm crazy?

Am I, you know, all, all of the things that comes with when we talk about money. So how do you kind of like move through that?

[00:26:51] Alexandria: Yes. I would say, first of all, it's just like repetition and practice, um, and making sure that you come at it with a confident attitude because you kind of have to fake it until you make it.

But also, Knowing that if you've had this conversation and you've run this meeting professionally, then you are giving them something that they need. And when you're giving them something that they need, that's a value. And so you have to tell them your value confidently and not think in your head that it's too much because that will show through in your actions.

Like you have to feel confident in your own value and your own deliverables and what you can offer them because it will shine through when you lay down pricing. Absolutely.

[00:27:34] Bree: Okay. I, I have so many other questions, but I don't want to take too much of your time, so I would love to just like, let's, let's start, let's set an agenda.

Let's start wrapping up this call with, you know, good job. What are we missing out on as content creators when we're either Not taking these calls or not going into them.

[00:27:56] Alexandria: Yes. Um, I would say that you're missing out on opportunities to um Find like better ways to help these companies that also result in more money for you So, um, i'll give you an example a couple of weeks ago.

I was in brazil And I had gotten reached out to by a company that wanted me to like test out their product and um Normally, I would get on a call with them You But I was in Brazil. It was like my first day in Brazil, so I wasn't gonna be home for a week. And I was kind of nervous because I was like, I don't want to make them wait too long before we discuss this.

And so I never send pricing just like via email without talking to them first, but I think I feel more comfortable doing that. So I don't have to make them wait. So I went through, looked at what they were looking at via email. put together pricing. It was like 1, 500. Um, so I typed out an email, put it in a proposal and almost sent it to them.

Like I almost hit send on it. And then last minute I was like, no, I'm not going to hit send on this. Like, I know I feel more comfortable being able to talk to them first before I give them pricing. So last minute I deleted that. Attachment from the email. I like erase everything I had written. And I was like, Hey, I'm out of town right now.

I'm in town next week. Can we talk then? So we scheduled a call and, um, when I got on the call with them, I, they told me all about their new product that they wanted testing on, but that conversation quickly changed into not only did they want me to do product testing, they Then they wanted me to post one time on social and then listening to them.

The conversation then changed into, okay, well, we actually don't need you to do product testing at all. Can you post about it three times on social? And, um, it ended up changing into like almost a 6, 000 deal from that 1, 500 that I almost sent via email. And had I sent that. I, that would have just been what I had, but because I got on a call and learned from them, um, what they want and was able to tell them about ways that I could help, it turned into a lot more.

So I would just use that. Keep that in your brain when you're like,

[00:29:52] Bree: yes,

[00:29:53] Alexandria: not wanting to do

[00:29:54] Bree: it. Just remember amazing motivation, like right there, just 1500 to 600. Right? Be like, there's, I'm leaving money atyou're leaving money on the table essentially by not hopping on these calls. Agreed. A hundred percent.

Plus, like I think when you do hop on these calls you're able to potentially build a long term relationship as well. Definitely. Rather than just like a, oh it's just a one and done checklist off my plate.

[00:30:19] Alexandria: Yes. Agreed with that wholeheartedly because now, like you've talked to each other, you talked Know what each other looks like and use like, you know, just made conversation and things and it's easier for that to turn into a long term relationship.

I agree with that a hundred percent.

[00:30:33] Bree: Yeah. I think even if they say no, like I had a call with a company last week or running ads on the podcast and she was so excited and everything and then needed to like go and run it up the ladder and they weren't able to make it work right now. But I'm like, I agree.

I'm not stressed about it because I'm like, I built a really good connection with her on that call. And so I can follow up with her later. Or I know that whenever they do have the budget and they do want to invest in podcast advertising that she's going to reach out to me because we made that connection.

So never like, even if they say like, Oh, it's not the time right now. Yeah. I feel like you bonded with them more than you would have just through email.

[00:31:12] Alexandria: Yes. That's a good perspective. I like that a lot. And I have a business coach that says that too, where, um, no is often just like a not right now. And it can be a yes later.

So

[00:31:21] Bree: exactly. It's a good perspective. Okay. My last question for you to wrap this call up is what is one thing you think content creators are doing that is ultimately not serving them in these calls?

[00:31:34] Alexandria: Hmm. Hmm.

[00:31:34] Bree: Um, if you had to pick one,

[00:31:37] Alexandria: yeah, I feel like a lot of times as content creators, we go into these meetings wanting to say to our potential client, like, this is every single reason why you should work with me.

And I'm only going to talk about me. And so that's why there's like a step in the sales where you do go in and you brag about yourself and you make them see that you're wonderful, but it's a mild step. Yeah. Yeah. Because then you ask them questions about them. And so I think like a lot of our conversation right now is coming back to that.

Like it's all coming back to having a conversation, learning how you can help them, and then communicating your value through that lens. And oftentimes when, um, content creators feel uncomfortable, they just want to go in and be like, spend the whole meeting, which ends up being like only 10 minutes, just telling them about what they can do.

I can do this, this, and this, and this, Price and that's it. But if you make it more of a conversation about them, they will see the value more. I

[00:32:32] Bree: think yes, I completely agree. I Did, I had a, um, sales psychology coach like help me years ago and that was like one of the things. It's like, ask them questions over and over and over.

Like keep asking them questions, keep probing. And like you mentioned in that call that went from 1, 500 to 6, 000, it's because you kept asking questions. I mean like, Oh, okay. Well I'm sure. Right. Like, and you had to keep digging and digging and digging until like, Oh, we actually just need this. Right. Right.

Right. Yeah. Exactly.

[00:33:00] Alexandria: Yeah. And that's the only way you can figure it out is if you ask about them. And then the good thing too is that people love to talk about themselves and their own projects and those kinds of things. So the more questions you ask about them, the more they're also going to feel connected to you like you have their best interest at heart because you do.

You're asking these questions so that you can figure out how to help them the best. Like it's not fake. It's genuine of learning so that you can help them as best as possible. And it shines

[00:33:23] Bree: through. Yes. And when you do that, you're able to deliver something so much better potentially than if you just like did a quick back and forth on email because then potentially you can make that campaign work even better, right, which creates that longterm growth and relationship with the company.

But then also hopefully the numbers are going to show through and you have a great case study. At the end.

[00:33:50] Alexandria: Exactly. Yeah. You can get on a podcast and talk about

[00:33:52] Bree: this great

[00:33:53] Alexandria: opportunity.

[00:33:54] Bree: You

[00:33:54] Alexandria: had a couple of weeks ago.

[00:33:57] Bree: Exactly. Oh my gosh. Okay. So tell us, you know, you can go follow her at the foreign fork, but then also, so you have a course about sales psychology.

Okay. Tell me about that.

[00:34:09] Alexandria: So I'm, I'm very excited because I've been thinking about this for years and, um, finally got the inspiration and, and to. Start this course this year. That is the first round of it is in October. So if you're listening to this, then, um, feel free to reach out to me. It's called the sealed deal school, and it is a five week course where each week we have a group setting in class, a virtual setting where we go through some slides and talk through one or two steps of the sale and dive way deeper into them than we did today.

And learning a little bit more about how to personalize those to your own process. And then something that I'm very excited about. Cause. Um, I've taken some classes on working with brands and things before, um, and this is the element that I feel like was missing is the practice piece, because it's so easy to listen to me talk about all of this stuff, but then you don't want to like have your first time practicing it being when you have a big deal on the line, like you want to go into that call thinking, feeling like you already know what you're going to say because you've practiced it.

And so part of steel deal school is also, so you, um, each week we learned about one or two steps of the sale and in a class setting, but then in addition to that, after class is over, I have 30 minutes slots on my calendar where you get to book a one on one call with me to role play that step of the sale, practice it, make sure that you feel confident and comfortable.

And then at the end of the five week course, you get an hour with me where you. Are you practicing and I am pretending to be a potential Client and you get to run a whole sales meeting from start to finish with feedback and um things you did great things You can improve upon and that way you have all of the experience that you need in order to go into those meetings confidently.

So.

[00:35:49] Bree: That sounds incredible. Thank you. Okay, where, where do they go to sign up for this?

[00:35:54] Alexandria: Okay, I can give you a link to my Calendly to put in the show notes. And then I also, if you want to book a call with me to learn a little bit more about sealed deal school and how, if it's a good fit for you, or even just talk through your sales process.

Um, in general, even if you're not interested in sealed deal school, we could do a free diagnostic call, um, where we can talk through your current sales process and give you some tips and tricks to make it a little bit better. And then see if enrolling in school is right for you. So I'll give you my calendar to put in the show notes for that.

Um, and then I also do have, um, a freebie that I gave you a link for too. That is some sample probing questions. So if you are interested in, um, learning about some sample probing questions that you can try and like how you can customize that for your business, the link to that, I'm sure. We'll be in the show notes too, maybe?

Absolutely. Okay, okay. That could be in there too. Right below,

[00:36:43] Bree: wherever you guys are listening. You should see them right there. Perfect. So, go click, click, click, click while you're listening and while you're wrapping this up. Oh my gosh. Alexandria, thank you so much for sharing this. This was absolutely incredible and I know it's going to be a huge game changer for anybody listening that's, My, my challenge to you guys that are listening is just go implement it, go do it, go book some calls.

Yes.

[00:37:04] Alexandria: I hope it helps someone. I hope hearing this and, um, realizing that you can have the confidence to do this, help someone steal a deal.

[00:37:13] Bree: A hundred percent. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. All right, you guys. We're going to wrap this up and we'll see you guys back here in a few days with a new episode.

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