How to Lead a Sales Call (like Pro Wrestler)

In professional wrestling the flow of the match is key.

Generally the ‘heel’ or the bad guy (the one everyone else is rallying against) will lead the match.

They will be the one to move the match through to its predetermined conclusion.

Working with the face (the good guy) they call the match - from an initial beat down, to a reversal of fortune, to another beat down and then finally the face takes over and wins the match.

If the heel doesn’t lead the match then no one really knows what’s going on and it wouldn’t be entertaining for the crowd or safe for the wrestlers.

(Ok that was just an excuse to talk about wrestling but here’s my main point).

Its best for you and the client if you lead the conversation.

You guide them through the process of uncovering their problem, or challenge, understanding its severity, breaking down the numbers, and proposing a solution.

If you don’t then no one really knows what’s going on.

Or the buyer (prospect) thinks they are running things and all they really want to know is how much?

If you don’t have an agenda - the client will and it can say alot about your process even before you’ve started work.

If you do lead the call well, you feel in control, you show the client that you have a sales process that is just as strong as your creative process.

And they feel like they are in safe hands.

We’ve got to get over the idea of being too ‘professional’ or ‘scripted’ and understand that its in the client’s best interest and our own if we have a plan and run that plan.

We can still be weird, loose and creative with our ideas, and it’s actually a nice juxtaposition for the client who (as I’ve experienced) tell their friends ‘

“they were so professional and structured…”

“They asked more questions and understood me better than any other designer I’ve met”.

Big idea, in my experience if you lead the call with good questions and run a strong agenda, you’re telling the client ‘I got this’ -

I get you, I get business.

And you’ll deal with less challenging clients, less scope creep and less push back.