Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hey, Gorgeous. This is episode number 280. And we have the wonderful Nancy Calabrese back on the show today.

Nancy Calabrese [0:09]
Hi, this is Nancy Calabrese and you are listening to Heart Sells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:19]
I’m so looking forward to talking to Nancy again today about the question, can you ditch this script? Is it something you should have in a sales conversation? Is it something you need to have in a sales conversation? Or can you just go freestyle and flow? What will be the results? So I’m super excited to have Nancy back today if you have not yet listened to “Selling Is Just Communicating” the previous podcast episode. I highly recommend you do. But for the moment, stay tuned when we go into the question. Can you ditch the script? Nancy is the creator of one of a kind sales sheet, is passionate about properly executing a pre-sales process where you engage with your prospects where you uncover their needs and turn them into a qualified lead. Her approach is very unique with a positive attitude and relentless attention to detail so you can have much better results. Let’s dive right in. Well, I am thrilled to have you back on the show today. Nancy, welcome.

Nancy Calabrese [1:28]
Well, welcome again.

Christine Schlonski [1:30]
Yes. So you have or we have just in the last episode, touched on scripts and you’ll, we talked about your amazing free gift that you’re providing to the audience called “Ditch The Script” and why it’s so important to have a script and to have a good script because it’s going to help you through a sales conversation, especially if you are not 100% confident and if you like really still have a challenge enjoying sales. So let’s start with what does Heart Sells! mean for you?

Nancy Calabrese [2:10]
I love that. The key in any conversation is to be genuine and to take a genuine interest in the other party, people will snuff you out if you’re not. And you know I can tie in a script and will help make you genuine. So the words may not be your own, it might have been crafted, but you take the words, and if, hey if a word is just not within your vocabulary, change it, but you want to honor the integrity of the flow of the conversation. It’s all deliberate. Selling is psychology. Right, and selling is a way of connecting. And you’re not going to connect with people that seem phony. Or at least I don’t know many people, you know, selling. You have to learn to empathize. And you empathize by actively listening. And basically by asking them questions about them, and letting them do the talking. You know, if you do it over the phone, they can’t see you shaking your head. But you may want to say, gee, wow, you know, let them know that you’ve heard them by repeating back what you’ve heard. So it’s all being genuine.

Christine Schlonski [3:56]
And when you say listening actively and let them do the talking like, how does it look like? What do you mean? Like, do I give them like 50% or 60? Or 70%? Like what? What is a good ratio? So that I know this conversation seems to be successful even though I’m not speaking about myself.

Nancy Calabrese [4:18]
That’s right. You know what the rule of thumb is they should talk 70% of the time you talk 30. Remember where the goal is to make this all about them. And while they’re talking, you’re listening to whether or not they have pain, they have issues. And when they do talk about an issue, a really great way to pull them into the conversation is through saying something like, wow, you know, tell me more about it. How long has it been going on? This sounds like it’s been a huge problem. I mean, what have you done about it? And, again, you’re an actor, but you use your voice to convey listening by asking them to give you more. You’re telling them you’re listening.

Christine Schlonski [5:20]
Yeah.

Nancy Calabrese [5:20]
And at the end, a great way to show it to them is just to summarize what you’ve heard. All this time what you’re really doing, you’re pulling them into the conversation, so that you’re getting them emotional, right? They have a problem, and people buy based on emotion. And you earn their trust to set that appointment.

Christine Schlonski [5:52]
Hmm, yeah, that’s powerful. Do you have like, a favorite power question or something that you love to ask to help people to go deep?

Nancy Calabrese [6:03]
So, we have what we’re called, what’s called a hook question. And if I’m doing my 32nd commercial, and then I say, gee, when I speak with key executives, like you, I often hear one, two and three. And we use, we deliberately use emotion or emotion-evoking words that they’re frustrated, or they’re annoyed, they’re angry, ABC is taking place. And our hook question then becomes, gee, you know, Christine, I don’t want to pretend to know your business, but is any of this relevant and worth the conversation and zip it? And most often, you’re going to hear no, we’re happy. And that’s it. Pretty much could be a blow-off could be genuine. And you know handling objections, a whole different discussion.

Nancy Calabrese [7:07]
But let’s assume you have a problem. You say yeah, actually Well, which one of what I just stated, is most compelling. You want to find out and isolate it. You tell me and I’ll say, wow, well, give me an example. You know, the questions can be the same. That’s the beauty of having a script. You know, give me an example. Can you be more specific? How long has this been going on? Wow, what you know, what have you done to correct it? This must really be making your life miserable. Talk to me about that. Believe it or not, the cold call conversation should last between four to nine minutes and I’m sure many of our listeners are saying holy cow, this is a lot to ask, but it truly isn’t. You can capture what you need to make that decision to say, you know what, Christine, why don’t we both take her calendars out? And let’s look for a time where we can speak about this in more detail. And then you go ahead and you schedule the appointment.

Christine Schlonski [8:21]
Yes, it’s all about appointment scheduling.

Nancy Calabrese [8:24]
Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s the first step. If you don’t have an appointment, you don’t have a pipeline. You need a pipeline to make sales.

Christine Schlonski [8:36]
Yeah. So you mentioned in the first episode that you were not always that confident, like, what did you do to change into becoming this amazing, confident person? Cold Calling was no challenge whatsoever.

Nancy Calabrese [8:54]
You know what? I really have to attribute it to constant training. I’m always hungry to learn something. And I’m fascinated with sales, sales to me are like putting a puzzle together, how we’re going to fit a match.

Christine Schlonski [9:14]
Hmm.

Nancy Calabrese [9:15]
And I started believing in myself. It’s funny when I became a recruiter, a headhunter, my biggest fear was that there were no companies that would hire me. And I was hitting the phones not getting, you know, like winging it. And I learned that people were responsive to me because I appeared genuine. I didn’t profess to know it all. And I asked them to teach me and as I started getting the opportunity to fill orders I realized, Oh, dang, I’m good at this. But I wanted more. So you know, it’s crazy. I love cold calling. I have no problem with it. I can’t. I know a lot of people do. But I know it’s a craft that can be learned.

Christine Schlonski [10:19]
Yeah.

Nancy Calabrese [10:20]
You don’t have to master it or have the passion that I do for it. It just has to be done. I don’t know if that answered your question.

Christine Schlonski [10:30]
Yeah, well, totally. It’s like it’s practice. There’s nothing you’re calling a person. And the worst thing that can happen is that they hang up.

Nancy Calabrese [10:39]
Oh, absolutely. Right.

Christine Schlonski [10:40]
Yep. The best thing that can happen is it can be your next best new client.

Nancy Calabrese [10:46]
Yep.

Christine Schlonski [10:47]
And then there’s everything in between. So if you are prepared to go for somebody hanging up on you, then there’s basically nothing to fear.

Nancy Calabrese [10:57]
What is the hang-up, it’s just a hang-up.

Nancy Calabrese [11:00]
Well, yeah, I bet you know, some people get hung up a bit thinking of the hang-up.

Nancy Calabrese [11:05]
Yeah, you know what you have to look at, okay? When it does happen, and it does happen to all of us, you have to sit back, take a deep breath. And just think about what you could have done differently. Now we happen to have a call recording tool. So in the states that were legally able to do one party call recording, we will deconstruct our phone calls. We are constantly role-playing and practicing. And as you know, education builds confidence. It builds expertise, nothing that I’m telling you about. I invented I just always studied it and there was a turning point for me in my recruiting business that I was introduced to a trainer that didn’t talk about mindset or strategy. He was a nuts and bolts kind of guy. And boy, when I jumped on his bandwagon, it changed the whole trajectory of my company. I just needed the tools, the how-tos. And it was off and it was about creating a process and system. So that’s how I became confident.

Christine Schlonski [12:37]
Yeah, yeah, I heard a while ago, I don’t remember where I heard that but structure creates freedom. And, you know, that’s, that’s so true. Like when you have a structure that you can follow or process. You don’t need to worry about like, is this gonna work? Is this not going to work? Well, if you figured it out, obviously, it’s going to work. So just follow that.

Nancy Calabrese [13:01]
Right. And, you know, it’s funny, we are right in the throes of creating new playbooks for my company. And here’s what there’s a ton to do. It could look like it’s overwhelming. So what do you do? You just chip away at it right? You don’t expect it to be created overnight. Or if you need it overnight, you may want to engage a company that will do it for you. Right? The playbook. The benefit to doing that and having that is it’s a one and done pretty often, you’re going to change some of the messaging, you might add another component, but the template is there. So there’s great value to you know, for anyone that is beginning to get into sales. There’s a great benefit to start with a template and get organized in your mind because that you’re right it’ll free you up you’re not winging it and winging it creates so much stress.

Christine Schlonski [14:11]
Yeah, yeah. So do you remember the very, very first sale you ever made?

Nancy Calabrese [14:18]
Yes. Oh, yes. Her name was Ramona. So funny we always remember our first and I did what a very inexperienced salesperson did so I go back to when I first became a headhunter, and I was given an opportunity to fill a job. I found the candidate, Ramona, and Ramona kept telling me she wanted to be close to home wanting to be close to home. And with my passion and enthusiasm, I found her an opportunity that was not so close to home. She accepted it. And inexperienced Nancy didn’t follow up with her to see how she was doing you know before she just started the job. And sure. He remembers getting that phone call the day before saying she’s not taking the job. She found a job more locally. So kill me, killed me, and the lesson learned. I didn’t listen.

Christine Schlonski [15:34]
Big lesson learned.

Nancy Calabrese [15:35]
Oh, yeah. Early on, and then, well, I’m dating myself, but I got my mojo, really when I was selling about six to nine months. I mean, it’s hit or miss. You’re gonna make mistakes, you’re gonna fall flat on your face. So you’re, you know, and you learn, you pick up and you learned and if anybody tells you they never went through it and they’re not being honest now, now but in six to nine months if you do this, you know consistently you start developing a routine you know, it’s a here’s another thing it creates it takes 21 days to be aware of a habit and change something but if 90 days for it to become more rope so this is practice time for all of you that are just starting

Christine Schlonski [16:36]
Yeah, yeah, totally. And if you can go back further like, is there anything used? Like what was the first thing you ever sold in your life?

Nancy Calabrese [16:48]
Oh, God, I don’t remember that deal. And

Christine Schlonski [16:52]
As a kid like what cookies,

Nancy Calabrese [16:54]
Oh as a kid? Oh,

Christine Schlonski [16:56]
Yeah like the very first thing ever. Where you exchange something for money.

Nancy Calabrese [17:01]
Oh Lordy big. In high school, I walked around from house to house selling cards. I hated it from day one. I got some orders, but I hated it. I just hated it. Maybe that’s why I like phone sales. I don’t know. I hated going door to door. Yeah, but I sold.

Christine Schlonski [17:25]
How did it feel when somebody said yes.

Nancy Calabrese [17:29]
Oh, it’s like, it’s the thrill of the kill. It was a relief, but you have to remember I hated doing it. I was relieved. But now, when somebody says yes, it’s like a rush. And it’s got to be yes. for all the right reasons. Like Yes, you forget about all the pain. You know, before Yes, I did it and enjoyed the moment. Enjoy it but then you have to keep moving on. You can’t just sit back on your laurels and oh, this has been a good thing. Another example I can share in my first year in sales, I did very well, I exceeded Michael in November. And I decided, well, I’m just going to take December off. I’m going to goof off. I went to work every day, but I watch movies. And boy, did that bite me in the butt, come January. You know, so if this is something that’s got to be ongoing, and you’ve got to be committed to continuing the process, and yes, we set a lot of appointments in December, people are festive. We set a lot of appointments the last week in August, people are around, they’re in good moods. All year long. The engines gotta choo choo.

Christine Schlonski [18:58]
Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I’m always like when somebody says yes, I’m always so excited for the client, because now they get the experience now, the transformation they’re looking for. So I, you know, I totally get that yes piece and probably everybody else listening. Someone saying yes to you and your services or your company is just amazing because then you know, this is the moment where they are committed and where you can help them to transform. And that’s the most beautiful thing because they can then become your ambassadors, your fans, they can go out and share your message and really have that or possibility or opportunity to make the difference in their own life that what they were looking for.

Nancy Calabrese [19:42]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [19:43]
With your support, though, that totally gets me like every single time.

Nancy Calabrese [19:47]
Doesn’t it? Yeah. It never gets old.

Christine Schlonski [19:50]
No, it doesn’t

Nancy Calabrese [19:51]
It never gets old.

Christine Schlonski [19:53]
Yeah, it never does. Yeah. So thank you so much, Nancy. I just love talking to you and I want to remind people again, in case you have missed it. But there’s an amazing, amazing free gift that Nancy brought us. It’s called “Ditch the Script”. It’s an Ebook you can get all the links to Nancy and the free gift are at the show notes page, including the transcript and the show notes, obviously, the key points and everything you need to know about Nancy and the ways to connect. So I really, really invite you to hop on over there and check that out and get your own copy. Because it’s going to help you with creating a script that feels aligned to you where you are not just reading something like a robot, but you can read the person. So is there anything you would love to leave us with Nancy?

Nancy Calabrese [20:47]
This has been a lot of fun. Stick with committing to do the activities that will lead you to success. No sales is about a positive mindset. For every NO you get, you’re getting closer to a yes. Hmm. We’ve all been in your shoes and surround yourself with like-minded people. You’re going to be fine.

Christine Schlonski [21:24]
Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so, so much for sharing your golden nuggets and the struggles and how you overcame them. I think that’s so motivating and inspiring for people because often when we are in a situation where it’s challenging, we just think, you know, it’s just us on this planet, and nobody else has these feelings, emotions or whatever. So just know you’re not alone. And everybody who has ever done cold calling has been through probably all of the challenges you’re going through right now. It’s a learnable skill and the more you learn it, and the more you train and perfect it like, professional football player or sports person, right, they all need to train to be where they are at their game.

Christine Schlonski [22:12]
And the more you train, the easier it will become, and the more fun It will create because it becomes natural. Like, Nancy just talked about the habit. So give yourself 90 days. That’s my challenge for you and yourself those 90 days and really connect with Nancy. She has an amazing series where she has these inspirational quotes and motivational, little things are that each and every day, Nancy?

Nancy Calabrese [22:38]
No, it’s a couple of times a week we published Nancy knows you can find it on LinkedIn. You could also find it on my website under the blog, “Little Tips”. We try here every day to post a sales nugget for our clients and our team to get the data off the ground, you know, something that will resonate with what we do to keep them pumped up and motivated. So I really encourage you to either find a resource or follow some excellent people like Christine, who posts so many good words of wisdom and truisms about selling, and you’ll be fine.

Christine Schlonski [23:24]
Thank you so much, Nancy. I can definitely put the links in so people can check that out. And you know, you can never have enough motivation and inspiration, because we all have these moments during the day where we feel a bit flat maybe or the energy is not at the right point. Or maybe you know, somebody just said no, and you so wish they would have said yes, so you can help them change their life, but it wasn’t time yet. So instead of you know, just cuddling with your dog, which you also can do or your cat. You can also go and check out you know one of those inspirational quotes and just know that you can do this. Yeah. And there will be the next client that says yes, if you call, so keep calling. Thank you so, so much Nancy. This was awesome. I appreciate all the wisdom you shared. And yeah, thank you.

Nancy Calabrese [24:15]
Oh, and you’re very welcome. Thank you too.

Christine Schlonski [24:19]
I hope this episode really, really supported you in how you are going about your sales conversations. hop on over to christineschlonski.com. Find the podcast tab and the episodes 279, 280 with Nancy, check them out, get your free, amazing gift, “Ditch the Script” ebook, and also you find the transcripts, the show notes and all the links that lead to Nancy. Once you’re over there, make sure you sign up for the Empowerment Notes. That’s empowerment right into your inbox, where I share more strategies ideas, tools, empowerment, insights, motivation and inspiration so that you really can give more of your gifts to the world in a way that feels great and where sales is not salesy pushy or sleazy, but it is something that is fun, easy and light, and where you actually convert your prospects into a happy paying clients. Have a wonderful day wherever you are in this beautiful world and I’m saying bye for now.