How to Close the Sale in an Interview Part 1: Connecting

Every VA loves to hear those magic words “I would love to use your virtual assistant services” Who hasn’t hung up the phone and pumped their right arm with that satisfied “YES!” at least once after getting a new client?

I know you may cringe at the thought of “selling,” but the truth is, we are all selling all the time. Whether it’s telling our children why it’s important to eat their vegetables, or sweet-talking a reluctant husband into going to a movie, it’s all sales.

Of course there’s more that goes into getting a client than knowing how to sell yourself in the phone interview, but for this article series, we’ll focus on the interview itself. Be sure and sign up to receive future posts because in the future I’ll be giving lots of hot tips on how to get clients, especially coaches as clients!

For today, let’s look at an interview as though it were a “sales conversation.” After all, that’s what it really is, isn’t it?

If you want to have the wildly successful virtul assistant business you’ve dreamed of (come on, I know you’ve fantasized about buckets of money to spend as you please), then it’s time to call a spade a spade and learn how to use it!

I know you want to learn the magic words, that one thing to say that seals the deal. And I have some of those for you. But, those words won’t work unless you’ve done  the right things throughout the call. So, first things first.

Every successful sales conversation goes through the same five stages, and each stage has to be completed successfully in order to close the deal at the end. Here are the stages:

1. Connecting
2. Getting the scoop (qualifying)
3. The Presentation
4. Handling objections/concerns/considerations
5. Closing

“Connecting,” is the first stage in closing a sale.

The importance of this step for you as a VA is critical. It’s well known in the field of professional sales that if you don’t establish as sense of connection in the beginning with a potential client, you’ve already lost the sale.

This is doubly true if you want to sell a coach on your virtual assistant services, and here’s why: As coaches, we are taught how to connect with our clients, and most of us make it a point to tell our potential clients that a “complimentary session” is to see if the two of us “are a good match.”

When I work with coaching students in my job as a mentor coach, I critique them on how well they connect with their clients. So coaches are many times more aware of that connection –or the lack of it. If you want to land a coach, and this also works for any type of client, you’ll want to pay close attention to how well you’re connecting.

Don’t miss the next four posts in this series, because I’ll be discussing each one of the four remaining stages of an interview, which all add up to closing the sale! For the next in the series, see “Part II: Getting the Scoop.”