How to Mentally Prepare for a Successful Discovery Call | Isaac Ho - 2051

Ep 2051 | Isaac Ho - How to Mentally Prepare for a Successful Discovery Call A therapist-turned-sales-coach walks me through a live, unscripted discovery call role play, and it exposes exactly where most reps go wrong before a single question gets asked. Isaac Ho, who coaches entrepreneurs on the mindset side of high-ticket sales, breaks down what's actually happening in your head before a call and why that matters more than any script. This one has been sitting in the back catalog for a while, and it earns another run because the mindset problems it covers never really go out of style. Your Beliefs Shape What Happens on the Call A buyer isn't reacting to your price as much as he's reacting to the belief you're carrying into the room about your price. A $20,000 piece of gym equipment got sold at a steep discount, not because the buyer pushed back on cost, but because the rep expected a money objection and started slashing the price before anyone asked. That pattern shows up constantly. Whatever belief a rep walks in with about how the call is going to go tends to shape the prospect's actual response to it. Discovery Calls Run on Energy, Not Just Questions Sales is a transfer of energy, and a prospect is reading that energy within the first few minutes of a call, often before a single real question gets asked. Showing up unprepared, distracted, or carrying frustration from somewhere else in life changes your tonality enough for a prospect to feel it and start to disconnect. Dealing with whatever you're carrying into the call before you dial in isn't optional self-care, it's a direct part of doing right by the person on the other end. Preparation Changes How You Show Up in the Room Walking into a call with zero research puts you in a subservient position, fishing for basic information instead of leading a real conversation. A little homework ahead of the call changes both the questions you ask and the way you carry yourself, because you show up believing you belong at the table. It isn't your job to explain your own business model to a prospect who hasn't bothered to look into it. That's homework they should have done before the call, not during it. Curiosity Beats a Preconceived Solution Assuming you already know the problem, like assuming every web services inquiry is really about wanting a new website, skips the real conversation and sells a fix to the wrong issue. A prospect's stated want and their actual problem are often two different things, and only real curiosity closes that gap. The goal of a discovery call is helping someone see their problem differently, because thinking about it the same old way just keeps them stuck in it. The Live Role Play, Broken Down In the role play, a simple opening question, what made you want to set up this call, immediately handed control of the conversation to the prospect instead of the rep. Each follow-up question dug one layer deeper into the actual cost of the problem, from missed family dinners to lost revenue, instead of settling for the first surface-level answer. Asking why you think you're creating that problem lets the prospect arrive at his own insight, which lands far harder than being told the answer outright. Three Things to Clear Before You Dial In Get honest about whether a yes or no answer feels like it's about your own worth. If it does, you'll start treating objections like personal arguments instead of normal parts of a sales conversation. Accept in advance that not everyone will move, even when you handle the call perfectly, because some people see the problem clearly and still choose to stay stuck in it. Know your own shadow and trigger patterns, since suppressed feelings and undealt reactions tend to surface right when a prospect brings up money. "Sales is just a transfer of energy." — Isaac Ho Leadership Advice, Books, and Quotes The core idea behind this episode is that a discovery call is decided before it starts, by whatever belief, energy, and baggage a rep brings into it. Clear your head, set a real intention to understand instead of to sell, and let the prospect arrive at their own answer instead of handing it to them. That shift alone changes how people respond to you on a call. Resources Connect with Isaac Ho on LinkedIn and let him know you heard him on this episode. Tell me what you thought of this role play on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly. Sponsorship Offers This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot. With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/cx/20/09/sales-navigator-podcast?src=re-pod&trk=tse&veh=tse&mcid=6897323946090332160. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation. Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin https://tsesales.typeform.com/to/UCMfjZbX. Credits As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey http://thesalesevangelist.com/survey. https://tsesales.typeform.com/to/lc5yAa8P We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sales-evangelist/id788738885, Google Podcast https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3RoZXNhbGVzZXZhbmdlbGlzdC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5kaXI3Pj2AhVKcjABHW5PDVwQ9sEGegQIARAC, Stitcher https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-sales-evangelist-sales-trainingspeakingbusiness-marketingdonald, or Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1NjzsFjQwVrgboUfDvbzd5?si=LdQOJDc1T-WBPMxr1h3RsA. Audio provided by Free SFX, https://freesfx.co.uk/ Soundstripe https://soundstripe.com/, and Bensound http://www.bensound.com/. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

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• 1:53Speaker 00

  Going into a prep call, you gotta be mentally prepped. Today, my guest Isaac Ho is going to tell us exactly what you should be doing and how to do it effectively. Check it out.

• 2:10Speaker 00

  Hey, hey, hey, everyone. Welcome to another great episode of the Sales Evangelist Podcast. I'm your host, Donald C. Kelly, the Sales Evangelist, and I'm so excited for another great episode. I'm so excited to be here with you today. On this episode, I have the one and only Tyler Ho, who's going to talk to us about this concept of how we prepare mentally for a discovery call. What do you need to do to go into a disco that helps you to be able to go on top of your game? And to help your prospects discover more information about you and you discover about them. If this is your first time listening to our podcast, please go ahead and subscribe and we'll get a chance to notify you every time we drop a new piece of content. If you have been listening for a minute, please share this episode with somebody else. As we dive in, listen to what Isaac has to share and see how this can help you and your team to be able to have better discos.

• 2:56Speaker 00

  Isaac, welcome to the show.

• 2:58Speaker 01

  Hey, thanks, Donald. Great to be here with you, man.

• 3:01Speaker 00

  Of course, man. I'm excited for this. I'm looking forward to the conversation, especially going around this discovery idea. We've been going with the series for the next, for the past several episodes here. And this episode today, we're going to talk about mentally preparing for the discovery call because I feel so, it is such a powerful part of the sales process and we overlook it. So over the series, I've been really excited for the topics that we've been discussing around discovery. But particularly today, I want to hear about your side, the mental side. Talk to us about what you do right now. What are some of the things that you do on a day-to-day basis?

• 3:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, some of the things I do, I have a brick and mortar business that I, that I run and manage the team for. And so I have a sales team and I have execution team. And so managing that passive side of business, I'm also a therapist. So I will actually work with people around, it's really interesting, Donald. Sometimes it'll be around moving positions in life. For example, I had a client that was really just unhappy at her job and really struggling with the confidence to move on. And we were able to get her a 3X return in the job that she moved in by doing certain work around beliefs. And that's kind of some of the work that I might do with someone that's not an entrepreneur. But most of the time, an entrepreneur, when I work with people, it's really around high-ticket sales and mastery and really the mindset around that.

• 4:11Speaker 01

  But how to actually attract high-ticket clients and how to be in conversations that have people seeing you as high-ticket. And so I do coaching consulting as well as therapy. And then I run a passive, passive income business and manage that. So there's a few things that I do and every day can, can look a little bit different. But I find that's the life, as we were talking about, of an entrepreneur.

• 4:32Speaker 00

  Oh, my goodness. Absolutely amazing. Well, I'm really looking forward to talking about this, this part. Let's go dive in, like mentally being prepared, like mentally preparing ourselves for, for like, I mean, a discovery call or whatever part of the sales process or anything in life. Talk to me about, from a therapist's background, why is it so important that we pay attention to the mental side?

• 4:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm glad you're asking this question because this is one of my favorite things to answer. When it comes to beliefs, whether you know someone who's in a relationship and they keep on being stuck in a relationship cycle where it's very painful for them. And it's really interesting. You'll meet people that have great relationships and you'll meet people that always seem to be stuck in the same relationship cascade. And I've been there myself. And one of the things to know is that we're always creating the experience that we're committed to. And many times we may say we want something, but we keep on creating an experience that matches our belief that we're not aware of. And as salespeople going into discovery calls or having ideas of how your market's going to respond or thinking about even what's the average of the market and the program or service that I'm offering,

• 5:37Speaker 01

  or even the product, that creates what happens. And I'll never forget, I bought a pretty high-ticket product. It was a $20,000 piece of equipment for my gym, for my brick and mortar gym.

• 5:47Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  And the salesperson selling it to me, they had kept getting money objection after money objection. So when I was asking them questions, they automatically created the belief that I was struggling with the price. And they kept slashing the price, slashing the price. And I got this thing for a ridiculous deal without even asking her to drop the price. But do you see how like, because she had that belief, she approached every prospect like the price was the problem? And she then created pricing being her problem.

• 6:16Speaker 00

  I love what you said. She created price being a problem. And I think, I mean, when you're saying this, I'm thinking like, bro, I've had so many situations where I fabricated a problem that wasn't really a problem.

• 6:29Speaker 00

  Like, you know, and you know, we've all done it, like, you know, go back to the price or like in a pandemic. This was one of the things that I found like salespeople had a struggle with. And many of them said that there was no opportunities, like nobody's willing to buy. However, there's some sales reps that believe that people still have money and they were still going out there and finding. And those were sales reps that were being successful and people were still willing to buy. I mean, obviously certain industry were a little bit different. You may have to change the way you executed your game. However, people were there. It's just the belief that you have. And I think it's, it's like, you're so, so on point there with that she created that truth or created that reality, the way that she saw it. Come on, bro. That's some good stuff there, man. Like, so now you hit a good chord here and you got me all excited and you got listeners all excited now. The key is now thinking about it for the discovery call.

• 7:14Speaker 00

  Why is it so important for us to be able to get that mental game right before going into a discovery call now? First time I'm sitting down, going through a prospect to get all their details, all their pain.

• 7:23Speaker 01

  Right. Yeah, it's so important because sales is just the transfer of energy.

• 7:27Speaker 00

  And so say one more time for the people in the back.

• 7:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, sales is just a transfer of energy. That's exactly what it is. Like right now, let's just say you and I are in this podcast. We're transferring an idea. People listening to us transferring an idea. How we show up inside this connection between us is going to determine how powerfully our message impacts people and whether they're sold on it or not. So the first thing that happens when you get on a call, a discovery call, to hear about someone's problem, to ask them questions, you've already determined just by your first few minutes of connecting with them, they're subconsciously already inspecting your energy. And when you are unprepared to have that level of service because you're in your own stuff, you come to the sales call and you transfer the wrong energy. Does that make sense?

• 8:15Speaker 00

  So I'm coming, it sure does. So I think it's, one of the feelings that I get is this idea of confidence. Or go back to the preparation, like if I, if I'm meeting with you and I've done no research about your company at all, I'm coming to this, this conversation subservient because I'm coming to just be able to figure stuff out and I'm coming with the wing in it idea. And as opposed to if I came prepared, I've done some research. It's going to change the way I ask questions and it's going to change the way I carry myself because now I feel like I am, I have the opportunity. I feel like I am worthy to be at this table and to be able to have this dialogue with you and that you need to have this conversation with me because I know that I can help you. Rather than I'm coming here just to try to figure out if this, you know, how do you make money? I had somebody ask me that recently. I'm like, no, you missed a point. That's not,

• 8:58Speaker 00

  you need to figure out how I make money before you come into the conversation. That's not my job to teach you that. You know what I mean?

• 9:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Well, I think what I'm hearing from you, Donald, is being prepared plays a huge part of it, like understanding how this person operates and what's going on. I think one of the biggest things about a discovery call is sometimes we can assume we know the answer. And so what happens is we get on the call and we, and I have a lot of clients that work in website services and they actually assume the problem is the person wants a new website, but they're not really asking like, hey, like what's going on in your business that makes you think that you need someone that specializes in web services. You see that? So then they're trying to sell a solution to a preconceived problem when they don't have enough information yet. And so a lot of what we have to do when we go in is be really curious about what's going on with our prospective client. They may be saying one thing, but also understanding they

• 9:49Speaker 01

  have an awareness of their problem that keeps them stuck in their current problem. And until they have a new awareness around what really happens and what goes on, which us as the salespeople, that's one of the coolest things we get to do, especially if you know our industry, is help that person shift off of the way they think about that problem. So they can actually say by the end of the call, I'm clear about why I have the problem. I understand why it would be of service for me to hire you to fix the problem. And because I'm thinking about it in a different way, I now can make a different decision. Because if they think about it with the same thinking that's created the problem, they're going to stay in the problem. See how that works?

• 10:26Speaker 00

  Oh, my goodness. Oh, for sure. So let's go back further. So how do I mentally prepare now for a discovery call?

• 10:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, perfect. So the first thing we want to do is we really want to be clear about what's going inside of us. So what, what is the intention we have for this call? That's the first thing. And actually saying to the client when we get on the call, like what the intention is, but for us, like you were saying earlier, the intention is not just to see like, hey, can I sell you something? The intention is to be curious and get clear with the client on what the client needs. So that first setting that intention and being able to show up from that place. And part of that, a large part of it is also letting go of everything else that you might be holding on to. Like sometimes I'll talk with clients and they'll come in and they have potential sales calls lined up and they're excited for the discovery call, but they're bringing in so

• 11:15Speaker 01

  much stuff from their family life, they're bringing in so much stuff from their relationships, they're bringing all these things in that aren't dealt with, and they may even have frustrations with themselves. It's really common. I'll find, salespeople are high achievers. And they start to get frustrated because they go, I'm not achieving the level yet. And they get on the calls, they know it's a number game, but they start projecting their frustration to the client. And when that frustration shows up, the impact it creates is that tonality will actually, a little whiff of that tonality will cause the client to disconnect on the sales call. So not dealing with this before you get on the discovery call is super hazardous for being able to maintain rapport with your client and create positive connection to actually be in service to them.

• 12:04Speaker 00

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• 12:48Speaker 00

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• 13:07Speaker 00

  You know, going back to you mentioned curiosity, I think it's a, it's one of those things that I find that it is so easily said, it is so challenging to execute effectively. And what I mean is like, so, you know, many sellers, they know this idea of curiosity and the way that you, you know, I got it from you and I framed it. And it's one of the principles we've seen. It's like, if I come to this conversation with this curious idea, I'm not going with my preconceived notion about you, and I'm not going with a preconceived notion that I want to sell you this thing. My curiosity is going to help us to have a natural conversation, which is going to lead to you revealing to me more information that can help me to better serve you, if that makes sense.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely, Donald. That's 100% it. We have to be really in the curious place. And a lot of people, I think we understand the idea, but it's actually practicing that way of being and actually developing it. So that way the sales conversation is really purely of curiosity and in service to the client to get clear on what they really want from it. And sometimes that may mean that you're not the right service provider for them. Sometimes it might mean that they need a different service, but to be curious about why they're there in your experience, because they wouldn't be there if you weren't meant to teach them, or they weren't meant to teach you.

• 14:15Speaker 00

  So Isaac, let's think about it from a conversation. We're going to have our first discussion, first meeting, right? And you're going to come to the table with some curiosity. What kind of questions would you ask me? Say if I'm a, I'm one of your potential customers, and your first time trying to connect with me. Let's just do a quick role play. Is that fair enough?

• 14:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, totally. Let's give it a go. See how it goes.

• 14:36Speaker 00

  Let's do it. Let's do it.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  See you when you do it.

• 14:38Speaker 00

  Let's say, yeah, so frame it up for me. So what kind of client am I? And, you know, say typically for you?

• 14:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. So let's say you're a six-figure entrepreneur. That would be a pretty typical client of mine, who's struggling with burnout, overwhelm, fatigue. They want to reach the multiple six level, or they want to reach seven figures. So that's someone who might reach out to me.

• 14:58Speaker 00

  All right. So he's going to practice curiosity in this situation. Again, we did none of this, so we'll make up some stuff here. So let's go for it. Let's do it.

• 15:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. Hey, Donald, how you doing?

• 15:06Speaker 00

  I'm doing well, man. I appreciate you setting up this time to chat with me, Isaac.

• 15:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, man. So before, so I can make sure that you get the most out of this call, Donald, what made you want to set up a call?

• 15:16Speaker 00

  Well, right now, man, I'm just struggling with burnout. Like I had mentioned in that lead, I, I'm, it's really tough right now. I, the company is growing, the, you know, done well through a pandemic, family's doing well. It's just that now I need to, I need to ease off the gas a little bit. And I want to be able to take, step away from the business and have somebody else run some of the things here. And, and it's, you know, I just don't want it to, I've seen some of my friends, it affect their family life, and I don't want that to affect my family life. So that's where I'm at right now, man.

• 15:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. What does that look like for you in the week? You're talking about that affecting your family life and how you've seen that. What does that actually look like in your business?

• 15:53Speaker 00

  I get up in the morning sometimes at four, you know, start my day, do my morning routine, see my family for a little bit, then I'm outdoor, probably like seven, then I'm not back till like seven in the evening, do the gym, and then try to be there to put my kid down to bed. And, you know, I miss dinner sometimes. And it's just like fires. People call me all times of the day to try to take out, put out some of the fires. And it's just, you know, I need to take that little time. I came into this business so I can have the day offs, you know, that I need and not to, not to keep running.

• 16:24Speaker 01

  Wow, that sounds really hard, Donald. I just heard that, that you're starting at 4:00 AM and you're getting home sometimes at 9:00 PM and missing dinner and not seeing your kids. Like, so, so why do you think you still have that problem? Why do you think you're creating that?

• 16:38Speaker 00

  Oh, you know, I just feel like I gotta do it. I feel like I gotta be the one that's running it.

• 16:43Speaker 01

  Yeah. And that feeling of you have to run it, you have to do these things like this? What's the impact of that on you?

• 16:51Speaker 00

  Well, one, for my physical health, it's a killer because of the stress. And two, sometimes don't get the workout in like I need to. Three, I mentally, I feel like I'm just getting drained. And then, you know, I think, I think it's hurting the company financially, even though we're doing well. I think we could probably do better if I got some of those things, if I got this problem fixed.

• 17:12Speaker 01

  Yeah. And what do you think's going to fix the problem?

• 17:14Speaker 00

  Intervention like this. You know, like, you know, recently we had a situation where one of our team members, she just was fed up with the struggles that was going on. Another team member didn't feel like he was getting the proper ability to practice in his field, because I was taking over and doing all these other tasks. And, you know, it came to the point where we, you know, they're two key individuals. And if they're not in the company, I'm going to have more problems. And I feel that a lot of the issue was self-created from my standpoint.

• 17:44Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Yeah. You see how like we're just diving into it right now?

• 17:48Speaker 00

  Boom. So some of that was real. Some of that wasn't real because over the years of the company, I went through that phase. I went through that burnout entrepreneur phase. So I had to learn the hard way. So I wasn't making all of it up there, guys, but some of it was for, some of it was made up. But the principle that is right because-

• 18:05Speaker 01

  I've been there too. So I totally feel you.

• 18:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, fortunately, that we've been able to get through that phase and it made such a world of difference. Everything that we were talking about was that I was able to get past it. And my wife, she's a Dominican boy. She wouldn't let me stay out that late anyway. She'll be like, you need to get home.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  I don't know if you're really at the gym at 9:00 PM right now.

• 18:25Speaker 00

  Like, you need to be home. You need to be home. I always got home. Family was always important to me. But sometimes you find that it bled over. But the point, though, like in this role play, you dug deeper. And a couple of things that I felt that you said was well, you're like, why do you feel you created this, Donald? Or something to that nature. Do you remember that question?

• 18:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:41Speaker 00

  And then, you know, what do you think is going to happen? It's like, none of these things you were telling me what was going to be the result, because I've coached clients like you all this time, and, you know, boosting ego. It was just like, bro, what do you think's gonna happen? And I was able to divulge it because of the curiosity. But from your perspective with that role play, maybe you can post game us and tell us what are some of those things that you brought to the table that was curious? Or how did you exemplify curiosity?

• 19:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, like for me, being curious about it is oftentimes, I think, as coaches or consultants selling services, it's like, we jump into it and we wanna, we really know what we wanna sell sometimes, don't we? We got, I got X product, I've got Y product. And so then we go, okay, I'm talking to a burnt out entrepreneur. And this is what it looks like. The opt is like, oh, I specialize in burnt out entrepreneurs. So then there's like three things you do with a client, right? So then you go, okay, it's one of these three things. And I'm going to get the person to see it's one of these three things. Now, the problem with that is that we don't know how they're thinking about it. We haven't addressed the way they think about it. So now we're trying to shove our three things into their problem. And so what I am doing in this conversation, be really curious, is I could go, wow, okay, people struggle with being able to

• 19:48Speaker 01

  trust other people. And a lot of times entrepreneurs, they can have a company. And like you were saying, in this role play, you were taking this person, this team member, and you were actually taking away their ability to be proficient by taking over the actual role that he was hired to do. And him being a key member in the company, it's like, okay, we're creating some problems for ourselves if we don't know how to let go of that. Now, I could say, wow, the reason you do that is X. I could say, oh, yeah, I have a program that helps people with that. But what I'm doing there is I'm just saying, hey, these are how I solve a problem. Boom, you should buy it. Okay. What I'm doing in this scenario is I'm actually listening to and understanding,

• 20:29Speaker 01

  why do you think they have the problem? And then I'm gonna ask you questions until you decide that the problem is what you decide it is. And then we agree on changing that. Does that make sense? So I'm not gonna tell you what the problem is. I'm gonna let you decide what it is. And then what we're gonna do is come to an agreement that we're gonna solve that problem together. Does that make sense? And it may be for one of the services that I offer. But what I'm not gonna do is assume that you go, oh, you know what, Donald? This is what a lot of consultants do. You have a time management problem, right? Oh, yeah, you have a time management problem. Oh, you know what, Donald? You have a behavioral style problem. You have a personality problem. Do you see what I'm saying? Like, so then we smash this person into a box, and then we go,

• 21:13Speaker 01

  wow, they didn't buy, because they're actually resistant. Because the reason people buy from us is because we understand their problem better than anyone else. That's why people buy.

• 21:23Speaker 00

  Oh, my goodness.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  And when I take your problem, and I assume I know the answer, then what has happened is I've created disconnect.

• 21:35Speaker 00

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• 22:20Speaker 00

  dynamic buyer network, working just for you. Accelerate your sales with LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator now with a free 60-day trial at LinkedIn.com/sell. That's LinkedIn.com/sell. Terms and conditions apply.

• 22:40Speaker 00

  Since 2013, we launched this podcast. The goal of the podcast was to share wealth of information. And I feel that we've successfully done so. As a natural byproduct, listeners like you would reach out and ask, could I coach them? Could I train their team? Could I come and speak in an S K O? Could I consult for them? And that is how we gain the majority of our business, and still to this day. So in 2019, one of our clients saw what we did and asked, could we do that for them? We experimented with it, and we started a podcast production agency. Now we create podcasts for some of the biggest brands in the world. And it's amazing. I would love to show you and your team how we can create podcasts for you and use it as an entertaining source,

• 23:21Speaker 00

  but also educational and a lead generation. If you're interested, go to bluemangostudios.com. Again, bluemangostudios.com, and our team can show you exactly what we did. It's amazing.

• 23:38Speaker 00

  I love the fact that you come first with the psychological psychologist background, right? Psychologist, want to make sure I said it right? Versus, you're not a salesperson, but the behavior, because you understand human behavior, that enables, enables you, I feel, to be a better seller. Because you're going back to this notion again, I am educating and I'm understanding the problem. And I'm able to understand the problem because I'm able to dig deep and have that deeper discussion with you. So it's like, this, this whole idea, I think, just makes so much of a richer experience. So as a sales rep, you're listening to this episode or watching this video, think of yourself like that psychologist or psychiatrist in this scenario, that can help you with that. I love all of this. And I really like the, these principles here that you just laid out for us, the way that you can frame it out. Because I can feel that,

• 24:21Speaker 00

  no matter what you're selling, whether it's a service or a physical product, or a B to B, B to C, this is very, very applicable, that type of conversation with the prospects. With that being said, I know we're coming up on the end of our episode here, man, and this went so well. And that role play was like money. It was good. But any other advice, any other tips that you can give us to help us mentally prepare? So we, we are coming prepared. We're also having this level of curiosity. And we're understanding what we want to get out of this meeting. What else can I do to mentally prepare before I go into this discovery call?

• 24:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, let me give you, I think, what's gonna be like three, two really helpful tips for people before they come in. So-

• 24:56Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  One, the first thing, and this is especially a huge shift with a lot of clients I work with, when they sell their own services. So if they sell someone else's products, it's like, I've met salespeople that can sell hundreds of thousands of dollars of someone else's products. Then they go to become their own entrepreneur, and all of a sudden, they're just challenged. It's like something shifts inside them. And the reason why that happens, if you're selling your own product, is you start making someone saying yes or no about you being worthy, you being good enough. So before you go into a sales conversation, you have to make sure that you're not coming in with any of that baggage, because you will start responding to objections, you will start responding to solutions that you may present as them actually arguing with you. So

• 25:40Speaker 01

  nobody would die for internet connection. Okay? No one would go and get triggered around internet connection, talking to a rep. But when we own the product or service, we can get triggered. So understanding first, that if you're selling your own product or service, and you need to clear your head before a discovery call, you wanna make sure that you're not making them saying yes or no, or them taking your advice or not taking your advice about you. I think that's one of the biggest things that I would start with. Like, this is really about them. The second thing I would also really get clear on is that someone, you can do everything right psychologically. You can give them the options, they can see how it's creating a problem. Not everyone is going to move. Not everyone's going to move. Some people will see it, they'll know

• 26:24Speaker 01

  why they're creating the problem, they'll know what will change the problem, and they won't move. So one of the things you also have to do, even if you're really, really, really good at, at high-ticket sales, or just sales, is you have to stop making someone's decision to say yes or no about you. And that's in your sales ability, that's in your worthiness. So making sure that you're really going in, and it's really, truly about the other person. And the last thing, I think that is really important with this, is understanding what shadow and understanding what trigger are. Okay, so shadow is when you are suppressing something about yourself, and somebody else displays that to you in a sales call. Like, for example, let's say you were selling HR services, and you got on the call with someone, and they start talking

• 27:08Speaker 01

  about how they don't really care about their staff, and they're just trying to make a profit. And because you're not caring about yourself in some way, you get really upset, and then you lose tonality. You know, that would be example of shadow. So you're suppressing something about yourself, and then you're projecting it into the call. So making sure that you understand what your own shadow is, so you don't sabotage your own sales calls, your own discovery calls. Okay? And then the other one, trigger, that I mentioned, trigger is when you see something, and it's really undealt with, and you respond and overreact. So that would be another piece that's really important. And a lot of times where people really respond poorly, in this case, is when we get to the money conversation. So you get to the end of the discovery call, the person says, I wanna work with you. You get to the actual financial part of it, and then

• 27:52Speaker 01

  the person gets triggered because they have many undealt with money beliefs. And so they start overreacting, and they don't follow a process to actually help that person find the money to be able to hire them. So those are the three big areas that I would really focus on before you get into a sales conversation, because all three of these will kill your sales calls.

• 28:11Speaker 00

  Dude, love it. Absolutely love it. Some amazing things here, man. All the stuff is good. I feel that if anyone listens to this episode, I want you to go back in and listen to this again on repeat, because there's so many gems and so many advices and advice. And go back to that role play, listen to that role play a couple of times, and see how you could take that and apply it to your life in your sales situation. And not only in sales, your sales, I think you could apply this in your personal experiences, and will help you to have better conversation, better relationships, better discovery. Isaac, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show today. If folks listening want to get, get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to go about doing so?

• 28:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, two ways. One, they can find me at isaachohcoaching.com. And that's I S A A C H O, and then coaching. You can also reach out to me. I have a text line set up at 66866, and you can text AND, A N D, and we can connect on how to have a conversation to get more clarity in your business, your health, and your life.

• 29:04Speaker 00

  Love it. Isaac, you're the man, bro. Thank you so much. I appreciate you doing this role play. Appreciate you doing this episode with me, and appreciate you bringing the wisdom to our community.

• 29:12Speaker 01

  Thanks, Donald. Total pleasure, man.

• 29:20Speaker 00

  Hey, that was Isaac Ho. If you haven't done so already, connect with him on LinkedIn, telling me you heard him here on the Sales Evangelist Podcast. And grateful for the opportunity. We have so much in our back catalog of episodes that were amazing. And I bring some of these back time and time again, and this was one of them. Please, again, go ahead and connect with me on LinkedIn, connect with Isaac, tell him you loved the episode. And as always, I want you to thrive, I want you to succeed. But most importantly, I want you to raise your level of thinking. I want you to go out and do big things. See you on the next one.

• 29:50Speaker 00

  The Sales Evangelist Podcast is created by the Sales Evangelist Sales Training Organization. It is produced by TSC Studios. Our podcast production manager is Nancy Paul. Our audio engineer is Jershun Obayal. Our video engineer is Dusan Kunado. Guest management is done by Jill Vito and Kristy Virtus. Our content writer is Carlisa Galberith. Our graphic designer is Yurvish Savalia. And I'm your host and executive producer, Donald C. Kelly.

• 30:25Speaker 00

  Sales Podcast Network.