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Alex Goldfayn only needs 5 minutes of your time.
As Alex Goldfayn, best-selling author and the brain behind the “5-Minute Selling” sales system, discusses on the Digital Hospitality podcast that old-fashioned communication method of the proactive phone call still may be the best. Especially in 2020.
The heart of the Digital Hospitality thesis comes from serving others — but the brain is the smartphone.
Since Apple absolutely changed the game for business owners (and the world) with the invention of the original iPhone, a plethora of apps and digital platforms have allowed owners and operators to communicate with customers like never before.
But what about how business owners and operators first communicated on these devices? The original way was the phone call. Remember those?
“People are more reachable than ever,” podcast guest Alex Goldfayn said about COVID times in his conversation with Digital Hospitality host and Cali BBQ Media owner Shawn Walchef. “Nobody’s traveling. Nobody’s flying. Nobody’s going to meetings. Everybody’s reachable.”
Because of this standstill, reaching someone by phone call is easier — and more powerful — than ever.
5-Minute Selling System:
As Alex Goldfayn asserts in his new book “5-Minute Selling: The Proven, Simple System That Can Double Your Sales … Even When You Don’t Have Time” building your business by phone call is as easy as carving out the same amount of time it takes to listen to a song on Spotify.
“Five minutes a day,” says Alex. “It’s about being proactive on outbound communication to your customers and prospects when nothing is wrong. That’s the key.”
Wait a minute – call your customer when nothing’s wrong? Yup, that’s exactly where the sales sweet spot and ability to stand out and build relationships exists.
“If you’re a customer, you tend to hear from those people when something’s wrong,” Alex Goldfayn explains to salespeople and business owners. “I’m suggesting you call when nothing’s wrong.”
So, what’s that look like?
“Say, ‘How are you? I was thinking about you. How’s your family? Now, what do you have going on that I can help you with?’” suggests Alex. “How many times does your phone ring with a service provider or a salesperson that’s trying to help you when nothing’s wrong? You know, when there isn’t an urgent matter? ‘Just checking in with you. I was thinking about you. How are you? How’s your family now? Now, where can I help you? Tell me what you’re working on.’”
Building existing relationships and offering new value is as easy as five minutes of personal communication.
By making these quick calls when nothing is wrong, you have a chance to provide new opportunities with less pressure and get on your customer’s mind.
“90 to 95 percent of people who sell are reactive, which means it’s really easy to stand out from that crowd,” explains Alex. “If you can do five minutes of practice selling, you will put yourself above 90 to 95 percent of the competition, so it’s really easy to stand out in this crowd.”
What makes you different makes you great and standing out is more important than ever in this attention economy.
It’s also a breath of fresh air and flexibility in the world of video meetings.
“A phone call almost has more depth to it than a Zoom meeting,” Alex believes. “I want to be able to hear your voice and move around my office.”
The Two Week Challenge:
While you’ll have to read 5-Minute Selling to get all of Alex’s jewels, putting the general ideas to practice is as easy as his Two-Week Challenge.
“At the beginning of the book, I lay out a two-week challenge that I present to the readers,” says Alex.
Alex Goldfayn’s Two-Week Challenge consists of practicing five minute selling every single workday for two weeks. As expected, the little bit of effort and practice adds up quickly with results.
“10 business days, 50 minutes out of 80 hours,” breaks down Alex. “There’s 80 hours in two workweeks, so give me 50 minutes of proactive communication, the kind of communication that’s in the book.”
This little bit of action can yield big returns.
“Each three second action can be worth thousands of dollars,” Alex Goldfayn says on the quick questions worth asking. “To succeed in any business pursuit, we have to communicate our desire to help people and convince them to be helped by us.”
Letting people know you can help them all starts with a quick phone call.
“When you’re present, you remind people of yourself,” notes Alex. “The competition probably isn’t doing that, are they? The message is that when you are present and when you call and check in and say, ‘What do you need? I’d like to help you.’ You’re literally the only one in that customer’s life doing it.”
Being the only person in your customer’s life that actually calls, checks in and offers value sets you apart. This enthusiasm puts you at the top of their mind and actually makes them more likely to want to do business with you.
“If you’re calling on the right people, people are going to feel like they owe you for your effort,” explains Alex. “Because you’re trying so hard to help them, they are going to look for opportunities to try to help you with their business.”
Why is that?
“People reward effort because it’s so rare,” Alex states simply.
It makes perfect sense and you’re probably nodding your head while you’re reading this.
If it’s so straight forward, why aren’t more of us already doing it?
“We don’t go on intentional offense because we’re afraid to,” states Alex.
Yes, being rejected over a phone call is frightening. We all fear rejection and a cold call makes the letdown all the more likely.
Rather than play guess who with your whole catalog of customers, Alex suggests you build with the ones you’re already close to.
“I’m suggesting we call people that we know,” says Alex. “I think the LinkedIn spammers are looking for shortcuts to building a relationship. I don’t think that’s going to bring you success in the selling business. Why do you think they spam on LinkedIn? It’s because they’re afraid to pick up the phone.”
Fortune favors the bold. Even a bestselling author like Alex still deals with the fear of rejection, but he’s understood how to work with it.
“The confident, bold mindset is I can help these people,” explains Alex. “They need my help and I want to help them so I’m going to go try. I could be calling anybody right now, but I’m going to pick this person and they’re kind of lucky to be hearing from me and I’m kind of lucky because I get the chance to try to help them. That’s a grateful mindset. For me, those positions are stronger than the fear. But they didn’t just happen overnight. I had to build it up.”
So, ready to start your own two-week challenge?
As Alex pointed out, no time is better than now.
“It’s even more effective,” Alex says on making calls during COVID. “It’s incredibly effective in normal times. It’s even more effective now in this environment.”
Find five minutes in your day to hop on that phone and tell your customer you’re thinking about them.
They’ll be thinking about you and that is how it all starts.
— Article by Cali BBQ Media Content Producer Ian Stonebrook. Follow Ian on Instagram @ianstonebrook.
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Alex Goldfayn Online:
- Goldfayn.com Blog
- Sell More Now Podcast
- Alex Goldfayn Consulting
- Subscribe to the Selling Boldly Newsletter
- Shop on Amazon for Alex Goldfayn print books, digital books, and audio books
About Alex Goldfayn:
Alex Goldfayn is the CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute, LLC., a revenue growth consultancy for clients who want to grow quickly. Alex’s average client grows by 15-20% in their first year of working with him.
He is among the top-rated and most requested sales speakers in the world, motivating sales teams, managers, executives and owners to take simple action which will grow their business. Alex delivers more than 50 keynotes speeches and workshops on sales growth per year. (Bio from https://goldfayn.com/about-me/)
