Do you think Sales calls are scary?
- Erin Stubbs
- Oct 28
- 6 min read
Do you feel comfortable going into a sales call?
Or do you feel these gnawing sensations of:
“What if they think I’m not as experienced as I sound?”
“What if I can’t answer their questions on the spot?”
”What if they think I’m too expensive?”
You know you’re great at what you do. You’re excited to help the prospects unlock a serious transformation through your designs. But going on a sales call is so uncomfortable that you’re secretly staying away from them!
Take a moment to be honest with yourself.
Have you actually sat down and created a PLAN about how to structure your sales calls.
How to start
What questions to ask
When to transition into sales
How to present the final offer
Sales call is a choreographed dance. It works beautifully if all these pieces are working in sync. But if not, it’s chaos all the way!
In today’s newsletter, I’m giving you these pieces.
Now, sales is too big a topic for one newsletter.
Today, we won’t go into HARD sales tactics. This newsletter aims to give you the overarching sales strategy.
Once you understand this, all other sales tactics will start making sense!
We’ll first unbundle WHY most designers find sales calls to be scary, and how you can approach them instead. And then I’ll give you the 7-part structure of a winning sales call!
Ready?
Let’s get started.
3 Reasons Why Most Designers Find Sales Calls To Be Scary
Reason 1: “You are rationalizing winging it because you’re good at it”
Your ability to figure things out on the go, or “winging it” is a BIG skill.
That’s why you’ve been able to do one (or more) of the following things:
learn and improve your design skills
quit your 9-5
started freelancing, or built a design agency
And that’s great!
The problem is when you RELY on it.
When you wing it, you don't REALLY know why something worked or why it didn't. And you've heard me say it a thousand times, you cannot improve a process that doesn't exist.
So by rationalizing winging it on sales calls, you’re rationalizing NOT HAVING A PROCESS.
Which leads to not really knowing what worked or where to improve.
And this ultimately ends up hurting your confidence.
Reason 2: “You’re not mentally prepared to hear a NO”
Prospects saying NO is normal. In fact, it should be expected.
If they were ready to just buy, you wouldn’t need a sales call.
Rejection IS going to be part of the process. We need to recognize that. When a prospect says “no”, they are saying “no” to your offer and NOT to you as a person. You have to be mentally prepare yourself for this.
Without this work, these sales calls might scar you (and we don’t want that).
Reason 3: “You forget that it’s not just them evaluating you, it’s you evaluating them too”
Is this a “HELL YES” for you to work with them?
Every single time I’ve had a rude and unappreciative client, the signs were always always there on the sales call. I just didn’t listen. A sales call is first about you evaluating them, and then if you say YES, they get a chance to evaluate you.
Accepting all business we can is the fastest path towards burnout and frustration.
Now we know how our minds sabotage us, here’s the frame of mind that Strategic Brand Designers adopt, that makes the idea of conducting a sales call 10x easier:
Your ONLY job is to help them make a decision
You’re not on the call to make them buy.
You’re there only to help THEM make a decision.
You can't control what they do, but what you can do is actually try and get them to confront the decision that they've been putting off for a long time.
Every single objection, every reason they state to “think about it”, or to “consult someone on it” is only going to delay the decision. So, instead of being the person who lets them take forever, which might also lead to them ghosting you, you want to keep this mindset and HELP them decide.
From this frame, all “objection handling” to statements like…
Oh, I don’t know if this is for me”
“I need time to think about it”
“I just need to make sure I run this by XYZ”
… is all about being curious.
You simply want to understand what’s stopping them from making a decision and then ask the hard questions that are underlying all these objections. And then make genuine suggestions that will help them get to the decision.
With that in mind, let’s see how to structure an effective sales call.
7-Part Structure of A Winning Sales Call
Think about this pieces as guidelines you need to follow on the sales call. We’ll cover why every piece is important, and what to do in each.
1. Welcome & Building Rapport
Keep this small & to the point.
Open with casual statements like, “Hey! Where are you tuning in from?”. And build some rapport. But don’t do digressing into all kinds of casual talk. We’re here for business.
After a few moments, take control of the call. You say: “So here’s what’s going to happen next…” This signals start of the call.
2. Setting the Agenda & Framing the Call
Make it clear why they’re on the call.
I like to do two things:
Tell them what you have planned for them
Ask them if they want to add anything to make the call THE MOST valuable
Tell them, “We’ll start with some questions. Get to the core of your problems. And evaluate the possible course of action. Cool?”
Once they say yes, we move forward.
3. Discovery & Identifying the Pain
This is the biggest piece where you spend most of your time.
Objective is to uncover 3 things:
Hell: “Why did you book this call? What’s the pain? Can you be more specific?”
Heaven: “In an ideal scene, what would things look like? Can you be more specific?”
Current Strategy: “What have you tried yet? How well has it worked?”
Dig deep in this piece.
Your job is to help them understand core problems, visualize a better future, AND show them that they might need help.
Only when prospects tick all 3, you move forward.
4. Urgency & Cost of Inaction
Now you twist the knife.
Ask them:
“Why do you need to solve this now?”
“What happens if you don’t solve this problem in the next 12 months”
By this time, the prospect gets emotionally involved in the conversation. When you sense that, it’s time for next piece.
5. Permission & Presenting your Offer
VERY important: you never present without permission.
Ask them, “I have the solution. Are you open to hearing what it might look like”
When they say yes, pull up your Project Proposal.
(you must have your proposal ready BEFORE the call. If you don’t have a proposal template or know what to put in a proposal, this is something I provide in Strategic Designer OS)
Now start presenting the proposal.
6. Quote the price and SHUT UP
Show them that you know their problems, you know their concerns, and you have the answers. Don’t rush. Take your time.
When you to come to the price: Quote your price and SHUT UP.
DO NOT try to fill the uncomfortable silence. Let the prospect speak and break the tension you’ve created with your price.
Now 2 things happen:
They say YES: Great!
They say NO: Keep your calm. It’s okay, you expected this. Now understand their concerns and help them make a decision (like we discussed above)!
All you want to do is help them solve their problems.
Either you walk away with a friend, or you walk away with a client.
7. Next steps
Last step: Don’t leave the call without next step.
Do you need another call?
Will you send them an email?
What do they need to do?
Ambiguity kills deals. Always show that you are in control.
Outline the next steps and you’ll wrap up the call 🤝
Those are all the moving pieces. Winning sales calls is just about executing these pieces one-by-one.
With enough practice, you’ll be surprised at how seamlessly you’ll execute this!
Side note: record all you calls and use them to improve.
Like how you can watch game footage and see EXACTLY where you went wrong, do so with your sales calls. You might cringe at yourself, but that’s okay. We’ve all been there!
And I promise, you’ll get better FAST.
Now use this for your next sales call.
(and tell me how it goes?)
Chat soon,
Abi 😊
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