I spend a lot of time developing my personal brand. From LinkedIn posts to podcast recordings, our goal is to create content that engages clients and opportunities. why? I’m bad at business! Here’s a quick example of how bad I am.

When I was on the phone with a prospect, they asked for my rate, so I told them. Then they said, “Hey, can you repeat that? You broke up for a minute.” And for some reason they told me a lower rate the second time. I don’t know why, but you must have heard me clearly at first.

That’s why I was so excited to speak with Brian Christiano on this week’s episode of the Launch Your Business Podcast.

Brian is CEO of Bold Worldwide, an advertising and consulting firm that has helped transform many high-profile brands including Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez and the New York Mets. What’s even more impressive is that he started his career at the age of 16 with no connections and just his video camera. He then made a video of him skating which he sold for $40,000. Today, he helps others develop the skills they need to win in business and life.

And if you’re anything like me, he’ll offer some valuable tips on how you can increase your sales.

Here are some key takeaways from the conversation.

How to shorten your sales cycle

The sales cycle is the process used to convert leads into customers. Unfortunately, it can take weeks or months to complete. What are you doing in the meantime? I hope, I hope, I’m waiting

Sure, you could send a generic “just check in” email, but after a while, you’ll run out of excuses to check in or unintentionally go off as a mix of annoying and hopeless. may occur.

So what should you do instead? Brian shares his advice.

“You need to provide value and build long-term relationships. So think about how you can help them even if you are not actually doing business with them. Can you provide resources? Can you connect them with someone? Can you find employees for them? Even if it has nothing to do with your job. I have always found that when I help, the bond in that relationship becomes stronger.

Creating sales is based on building relationships. The more effort you put into building that relationship, the easier it will be to close the deal.

How to get bigger deals

If you want to make more money, you have to solve more expensive problems. Bigger deals often come with bigger, more expensive issues, which makes trading very complicated. Unfortunately, it can lead to long-drawn-out proposals with no guarantee of success.

During our chat, Brian shared a “wedge strategy” designed to help you win bigger deals faster.

The name comes from the process of cutting down trees. I spent two of his summers as a landscaper, but I’ll spare you the details. In short, the easiest way to cut down a tree is to drive a small wedge in first and then cut back the other side.

So instead of spending hours hacking the tree, you can bring down the whole tree faster with one small wedge.

Brian explains how this can be applied to your business. “It’s the same from a sales perspective. What is that wedge? It could be a small part of your solution or product. It just takes the first step, letting them in and showing them that you listen and understand them.”

And once you have that wedge, you can upsell them into bigger projects. will be

how to avoid being ghosted

What’s worse than being disillusioned with a prospect? Disillusioned with a prospect still engaging with your social media content. As you can imagine, I speak from experience and avoid the temptation to rant.

Being a ghost is a frustrating but common situation. Brian shared one of his favorite tactics for avoiding this by commanding and controlling the situation. It all starts with asking the very important question on his first sales call. “When should we start?”

Brian mentions why this is important.

“If you can put a pin on your timeline, you can create an urgency around it. It’s time to say ‘if you want to fix this problem you really need to start doing this in a few weeks’. I have put the team on hold for you.Do you need to move to another location for the next few weeks?” I had hundreds of people send me this type of message and almost 100% of them has replied. ”

Honestly, if they don’t respond, you probably don’t want to work with them. Please save the energy of

what’s next?

These are the key takeaways from our conversation with Brian. To hear the full conversation and access additional resources, watch this week’s episode of the Launch Your Business podcast.

Have questions about starting a business? I have partnered with his ChatterBoss to offer free office hours where you can ask me questions and have them answered live. Learn more and sign up here.