WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.200 Hey guys, welcome back to the game. 2 00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:04.320 Today, I'm going to be talking about the three-pillar pitch 3 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:08.080 and how to simplify a sales script to get more sales people 4 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:10.680 to actually do it and be, get your prospects 5 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:13.520 to actually understand it so that they see buy. 6 00:00:13.520 --> 00:00:17.360 So recently, we improved one of the sales processes 7 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:20.160 in one of our portfolio companies by 2.4x. 8 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.840 So we took a 14% close rate and took it to 35% within four months. 9 00:00:24.840 --> 00:00:26.120 And there's a number of things we did, 10 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.200 but I think one of the most significant things 11 00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:30.160 was we simplified the scripting itself. 12 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.600 And so I want to walk you through some of the things 13 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.120 that we did there so that hopefully you can do the same. 14 00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:37.120 First off, some of the people who were selling at the time, 15 00:00:37.120 --> 00:00:38.520 they were basically feature stacking, 16 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:39.920 they were blabbing all over the place, 17 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.880 they were talking about technical things, features, 18 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:43.800 all this stuff, it was a B2B sale, 19 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:45.280 and business owner of the other side were like, 20 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:46.680 I don't care, right? 21 00:00:46.680 --> 00:00:48.680 First thing we did with the script is we ran it 22 00:00:48.680 --> 00:00:50.680 through Hemingway, which is a reading calculator. 23 00:00:50.680 --> 00:00:53.600 And so we got the grade level of the language we used 24 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.280 in the script itself below third grade. 25 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:57.800 And you'll notice that in a lot of the content 26 00:00:57.800 --> 00:00:59.120 that I make, I purposely do that, 27 00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:01.280 because I also think that it shows the level of mastery, 28 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:02.680 like if you can't explain it to a child, 29 00:01:02.680 --> 00:01:03.640 you don't understand it. 30 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:06.480 And so I think oftentimes, especially salespeople 31 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:07.400 who are newer coming in, 32 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:08.640 as they want to sound impressive, 33 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.400 but all they end up doing is confusing people, 34 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:12.600 because they also are pretty confused themselves. 35 00:01:12.600 --> 00:01:14.120 And so they use these big words that they don't know, 36 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:15.040 and the prospect doesn't know, 37 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:16.840 and both people are just making face noise at each other, 38 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:18.400 and at the end of the day, they don't buy. 39 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.600 And so big thing number one is we simplified the script. 40 00:01:20.600 --> 00:01:22.040 That's the language itself. 41 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:24.280 The second level of simplification that we tried to do 42 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:25.600 is around the pitch itself. 43 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:28.280 And so I've been an advocate of a three-pillar pitch 44 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:30.160 for a very, very, very, very long time, 45 00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:32.240 but I wanna add a little bit of nuance to that today. 46 00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:35.000 The first thing is that what type of thing you sell? 47 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.360 So if you sell, call it consulting, 48 00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:38.640 or heavy implementation, 49 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.280 where you're doing like done few services, 50 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:42.360 like you do all the work, they just pay you, 51 00:01:42.360 --> 00:01:46.160 then this is where you wanna show tremendous detail 52 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:47.800 in all of the stuff that you're gonna do. 53 00:01:47.800 --> 00:01:50.200 And so basically think about it like an education process 54 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.120 where you say every single intricate detail, 55 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:54.800 and you're like, hey, you can do this on your own, 56 00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:57.080 because this is what it takes to get to what you want, 57 00:01:57.080 --> 00:01:59.080 or if you want, we can just do it all for you. 58 00:01:59.080 --> 00:02:01.080 And that gets people to be like, wow, 59 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:03.920 I really believe that this is what it takes to get what I want, 60 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:05.760 and no, I don't wanna do it. 61 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:07.640 And so they'll default to you doing it. 62 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:11.120 The problem is when you try and do that same process 63 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:13.520 to sell something that's do it yourself or done with you. 64 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:15.600 And to be clear, for me, I see done with you 65 00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:17.840 and do it yourself as almost essentially the same sale, 66 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:20.120 and the with you component is really just another feature 67 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:21.720 that you add to the do it yourself component. 68 00:02:21.720 --> 00:02:23.600 So it's like, hey, it's so easy, you could do it on your own, 69 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:25.400 but we're just gonna be there in case you get stuck. 70 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:27.800 So I see done with you is basically insurance 71 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:31.040 on a do it yourself product, where someone can just self start 72 00:02:31.040 --> 00:02:32.520 and take it from, you know, click to close 73 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:34.640 or whatever you wanna say, on their own. 74 00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:36.120 The thing is, is that the pitch style 75 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:39.480 between both of these services are wildly different. 76 00:02:39.480 --> 00:02:41.720 Hopefully at this point you understand the complex version. 77 00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:44.200 You sell 27 steps, 11 steps, and you'll have all the 78 00:02:44.200 --> 00:02:46.400 the sub points and the details, and why it's important, 79 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.000 and why aerating your grass, you know, two times a year, 80 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:50.920 or three times a year actually gets thicker grass, 81 00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:52.680 and that's how you beat the Jones, whatever, all the details. 82 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.960 In a three-pillar pitch, which is anything that's DIY 83 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.400 or done with you, a light pitch, 84 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:02.480 I like to simplify it to three steps, and why three, no idea. 85 00:03:02.480 --> 00:03:05.640 I just know that that seems to work pretty well in my past. 86 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:07.520 Fitness nutrition accountability. 87 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:10.000 The leads are timely, exclusive and qualified. 88 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.880 You want the grass to be cut, you want it to be healthy, 89 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:14.840 and you want it to be resilient, right? 90 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:18.720 Like, whatever it is is like you can almost always chunk up 91 00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:21.720 whatever it is you do, or whatever it is they have to do 92 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:23.080 just three steps. 93 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:25.920 I like to use this as kind of like a three-legged stool, 94 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:28.440 and so there's something called the three-term contingency, 95 00:03:28.440 --> 00:03:29.920 which is before, during, after. 96 00:03:29.920 --> 00:03:31.440 And so you can, a lot of times I get questions 97 00:03:31.440 --> 00:03:32.880 and I'm like, how do you make frameworks? 98 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:35.560 Well, a meta framework is the three-term contingency. 99 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:38.040 Almost every process is something that happens before, 100 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:40.680 something that happens during, and something that happens after. 101 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.280 Right, attract, convert, deliver, pre-pitch, sale, 102 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.000 and then closing, whatever, like there's always, 103 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:46.280 you can usually break it into three 104 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:48.200 because you can always, because it's temporal, 105 00:03:48.200 --> 00:03:49.760 it's always related to time. 106 00:03:49.760 --> 00:03:51.160 All right, so if you're like, I don't know how to do it, 107 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:52.440 just think about it in those terms. 108 00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:54.600 When we do a three-pillar pitch, 109 00:03:54.600 --> 00:03:57.480 the idea is to actually talk as little as possible, 110 00:03:57.480 --> 00:04:00.440 the idea is to get them to understand as quickly as possible. 111 00:04:00.440 --> 00:04:02.680 And so basically, the faster you get them to understand, 112 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:05.400 the faster you get back to them talking and not you talking. 113 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.320 And so the idea is word-consitioned, 114 00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:11.320 and using analogies and metaphors to relate what you just said 115 00:04:11.320 --> 00:04:12.360 to something they understand. 116 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:14.960 And so I think of the three-pillar pitch as basically 117 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.080 three statements that sound clean that you can understand, 118 00:04:18.080 --> 00:04:19.160 and sometimes it's just a word, fit, 119 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:20.480 an institution accountability. 120 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.800 You got to set it up, you got to drive traffic, 121 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.080 and you got to buy inventory. 122 00:04:24.080 --> 00:04:24.920 What are you got to deliver it? 123 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:25.760 Whatever it is, right? 124 00:04:25.760 --> 00:04:28.600 Like you just say the words or the sentence 125 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:32.720 or the phrase that quickly communicates what this step is. 126 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.520 And so when you have a three-pillar pitch, 127 00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:38.000 there's two pillar setups that work. 128 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.560 One is a sequence before or during after. 129 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:42.480 Step one, two, three, that's that. 130 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.920 Or there's requirements for a result, 131 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:47.600 which is you have to do thing one, thing two, and thing three. 132 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:50.160 And once you have all three, then you get the result. 133 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:52.040 For example, fitness, nutrition, and accountability 134 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:54.200 is not a sequence, you have to have all three 135 00:04:54.200 --> 00:04:55.840 or you'll never get the result. 136 00:04:55.840 --> 00:04:58.360 If you have a step-by-step process, 137 00:04:58.360 --> 00:04:59.760 then it's like, well, you can't move to step two 138 00:04:59.760 --> 00:05:00.680 until you do step one. 139 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:03.080 And so think about your product or service 140 00:05:03.080 --> 00:05:05.200 within either of those lenses to come up 141 00:05:05.200 --> 00:05:07.040 with the three-pillar pitch that you have. 142 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:08.200 Underneath of the three-pillar pitch, 143 00:05:08.200 --> 00:05:09.600 when I said the metaphors and the analogies, 144 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:12.480 is like if I'm selling SEO, then I'll say, 145 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.080 okay, so the first thing that we have to do 146 00:05:15.080 --> 00:05:17.240 is we have to get you to understand 147 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:19.080 the difference between you running ads and SEO. 148 00:05:19.080 --> 00:05:21.000 So with search and optimization, 149 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:22.760 your ads is kind of like your paycheck. 150 00:05:22.760 --> 00:05:25.040 You work every month and you get something back, right? 151 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.840 And you get paid for what you do in the moment you stop, 152 00:05:26.840 --> 00:05:28.440 is the moment you stop getting paid. 153 00:05:28.440 --> 00:05:30.840 Whereas with SEO, it's kind of like an investment account, 154 00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:32.720 where you put money in every month, 155 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:34.520 and in the beginning it doesn't really amount to very much, 156 00:05:34.520 --> 00:05:37.360 but over time, eventually it surpasses what you do actively. 157 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:38.960 And so think of this like an investment account. 158 00:05:38.960 --> 00:05:40.800 So that's a metaphor between something they understand, 159 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:43.480 paid ads and working and getting a paycheck 160 00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:45.400 and something they don't understand, SEO, 161 00:05:45.400 --> 00:05:46.840 and something else they understand, 162 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:47.840 which is an investment account. 163 00:05:47.840 --> 00:05:49.560 So three out of the four variables that we explain, 164 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:50.800 hopefully they should understand. 165 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:52.200 And so this makes it easy for them 166 00:05:52.200 --> 00:05:54.560 to have an ecosystem or lattice work 167 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.280 to hang the idea on in their minds. 168 00:05:57.280 --> 00:06:00.920 For each of your points, you should have one to three analogies, 169 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:05.520 that, and this is key, that your prospect understands. 170 00:06:05.520 --> 00:06:08.360 All right, so like if I'm selling women sewing kits, 171 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:10.800 I'm not gonna use a football or a car analogy. 172 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:13.280 And yes, this is me gendering people. 173 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:14.360 So fuck off. 174 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:16.560 And so the point is, is that in general, 175 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:19.440 more guys know about football than women, duh. 176 00:06:19.440 --> 00:06:21.760 And so the idea is you just wanna think about 177 00:06:21.760 --> 00:06:23.600 what is the makeup of your audience? 178 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:27.480 What is the largest common shared experience they all have 179 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:29.520 that you can relate the thing they don't know, 180 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:31.760 your product to the thing they do know 181 00:06:31.760 --> 00:06:33.760 the story narrative analogy or metaphor. 182 00:06:33.760 --> 00:06:34.920 And you'll notice by the way, 183 00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:36.680 that if you listen to some of your best sales, guys, 184 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:39.040 a lot of the best sales people already have this. 185 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:40.600 They either tell a story that relates 186 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:42.360 that kind of communicates the point, 187 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:43.720 and I'll give you an example, something like that. 188 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.080 So if I'm trying to sell accountability, for example, 189 00:06:46.080 --> 00:06:47.560 I say, hey, when you were a kid, right, 190 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:48.800 so there's no getting into a narrative. 191 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:51.320 Hey, when you were a kid, you probably, 192 00:06:51.320 --> 00:06:53.520 or you have kids, you try to get them to brush their teeth 193 00:06:53.520 --> 00:06:55.000 and go, I don't wanna brush my teeth, right? 194 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.160 But then you're like, get out of bed, 195 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:57.400 get in the bathroom, they brush your teeth, 196 00:06:57.400 --> 00:06:58.680 they go, they go to bed. 197 00:06:58.680 --> 00:06:59.880 But now that you're an adult, 198 00:06:59.880 --> 00:07:01.760 you probably brush your own teeth, right? 199 00:07:01.760 --> 00:07:03.760 Well, the thing is is that your parents in the beginning 200 00:07:03.760 --> 00:07:05.880 were kind of the external accountability 201 00:07:05.880 --> 00:07:08.800 that held you accountable to brushing your teeth. 202 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:12.280 And then over time, your internal accountability kicked in 203 00:07:12.280 --> 00:07:14.760 and so then you just start brushing your teeth overall. 204 00:07:14.760 --> 00:07:16.040 And so it becomes a habit. 205 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:18.400 And so what we're trying to do is the exact same thing, 206 00:07:18.400 --> 00:07:20.360 but with this new habit that you're trying to learn. 207 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:21.960 Again, I took something people understand 208 00:07:21.960 --> 00:07:23.600 and many people have had that experience, 209 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.800 and then we related to something that they haven't done yet, 210 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:28.600 but we throw a through line between the two things, 211 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:30.120 so they're like, oh, I get it. 212 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:31.720 And then you can move on to the next step. 213 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:34.600 And so the idea is not to throw nine analogies at them. 214 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:36.280 The idea is to throw the right analogy 215 00:07:36.280 --> 00:07:38.040 that immediately gets me to say, I understand. 216 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:40.600 And then as soon as they do, you move to the next point. 217 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:42.120 And then once you have your three points, 218 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:44.760 whether it's sequence or three requirements, 219 00:07:44.760 --> 00:07:47.160 you then recap the three and basically say, 220 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.840 do you understand that why you need to do step one, step two, 221 00:07:49.840 --> 00:07:51.280 step three in order to get the result 222 00:07:51.280 --> 00:07:54.560 or why you need all three in order to get to where you're going? 223 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:55.760 They've basically closed. 224 00:07:55.760 --> 00:07:58.560 And so at that point, you can just straight up ask for the sale. 225 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:00.440 And then everything after that is, you know, 226 00:08:00.440 --> 00:08:02.960 you overcoming money obstacles, decision maker obstacles, 227 00:08:02.960 --> 00:08:06.080 or past experiences, or finally avoidance. 228 00:08:06.080 --> 00:08:08.240 Like they stall and they say, I need to think about whatever. 229 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:09.960 Fundamentally, once you've done the three pillar bridge, 230 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:11.800 the rest of the time, you're basically just asking 231 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:12.960 for the sale over and over again, 232 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:15.600 and helping overcome whatever concerns they may have. 233 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.680 And so for most of you, if you're looking at your sales script, 234 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:21.240 I would encourage you to one, most of the time, 235 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:22.480 we shorten sales scripts. 236 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:23.720 We shorten the amount of words, 237 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:26.080 and we just do it mostly based on a question framework, 238 00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:27.320 because that's what I want, close to doing. 239 00:08:27.320 --> 00:08:28.880 I want them asking questions, not talking. 240 00:08:28.880 --> 00:08:31.800 All right, because no one can disagree with a question. 241 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:33.720 No one can say, your question is wrong. 242 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:35.320 Now, if you're a little bit more advanced, you can, 243 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:37.400 but most people don't disagree with premises. 244 00:08:37.400 --> 00:08:39.520 But big picture, you simplify the script, 245 00:08:39.520 --> 00:08:42.240 you simplify it to questions, you get under the third grade, 246 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:44.480 you decide whether you're selling a full implementation, 247 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:46.920 in which case, then you are going to say 17,000 steps 248 00:08:46.920 --> 00:08:49.760 and say the details, or you're going to do three pillar pitch, 249 00:08:49.760 --> 00:08:52.640 which is for DIY, or DWI, done with you, 250 00:08:52.640 --> 00:08:54.400 or do it yourself, and you're going to say, 251 00:08:54.400 --> 00:08:56.920 is this a sequence, or is this requirements? 252 00:08:56.920 --> 00:08:59.120 And then once you have that, you tie your analogy 253 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.360 to each one of those three things, 254 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.720 you say you got it, you recap it, you transition. 255 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:04.160 So that being said, I hope that helps you out 256 00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:06.080 with your sale scripting process is something that, 257 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.400 I feel like I do almost in every company that we acquire. 258 00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:10.560 And it just makes me and them a lot more money. 259 00:09:10.560 --> 00:09:12.800 So hopefully it makes you a lot more money.