Listen to the podcast episode here
A good friend of mine runs a Kitchen remodel company. He was referred to a marketing company by another business that had amazing results with them.
The marketing company had created 4 videos for this other company my friend new. The video campaign had just crushed it. They had amazing results and gave a glowing recommendation to my friend.
My kitchen remodel friend contacted this marketing company to see if they’d do the same thing for his business.
The deal was theirs to lose as my friend was very excited about it. He felt everything he’s heard makes this a no-brainer to sign up for. Except one thing… the price.
Watch the video here:
The marketing company did everything right. They did great work, demonstrated amazing results and got a strong referral and did a great job on the pitch. But what they did wrong... they gave him the proposal without closing the deal first.
At the end of the pitch, my friend asked them if they could send him something in writing. So, they did.
And the proposal was nothing more than a colorful price quote. It listed 3 options and what you get for those options.
Option 1 was:
- 5 videos/commercials ($400/additional videos)
- Editing and delivery of videos for use on company website & social media
- Photography Services ($200/job)
And of course, at the bottom of those options was the price. There were two more options, each incrementally more expensive with more stuff.
This was just a very simple one-page document. Nothing special or unique about it at all.
My friend then went to several of his business friends, including me, to ask what we thought of the proposal. He wanted to know if we thought it was worth the price. He also went to other marketing companies to see what they could do based off the proposal.
Here’s the problem. The proposal/quote was the recipe. Any company can now follow that recipe and just beat the price. Which is exactly what happened.
Another company took one look at it and said they could do the same thing for about $500 less. Another company said they could do the exact same thing and add a couple of extras for the same price.
At the end of it, my friend decided to do the videos himself. He figured what the company listed seems simple enough. Figured he could always go back to the lower priced company if what he produces himself doesn’t cut it.
The first company gave him the recipe. They came into the sales pitch poised for massive success. But instead of building value, desire and then gently nudging my friend into immediate action; they gave him a piece of paper with the instructions and a price.
This left my friend wondering if it was even worth it. The marketing company actually unsold a hot prospect.
This is where audIT is actually your best friend. The audIT is what you sell with. It’s a presentation. You combine a baseline (where they are today with their current MSP) and a proposed plan (where you will take them when they hire you).
It is designed to build value, desire and then gently nudge your prospect, (or client if it’s in a business review), into immediate action. When your prospects see the audIT, they are not going to wonder anything other than ‘how do we change that red or yellow to green’. They will want to buy then and there.
This is your sales presentation. But it isn’t a recipe. They can’t take it and shop it around.
When is it time for the proposal? After they say yes to the last page of an audIT. That’s the comparative analysis (aka: the close page). This is where they see where they are and how you’re going to fix it. And this is where they say yes.
Now that they have said yes, many audIT users jump right to the agreement and signing documents. This is the point where the proposal/quote is just helping the prospect understand what they have already decided to sign up for.
Next time you sit with a prospect and they want to think it over, the document they go home with should be an audIT. The proposal/quote is only for them once they say yes.