February 9, 2025 • 31 mins
Do you love coaching but hate selling? You’re not alone!
In this episode of Make It Visible, I sit down with sales expert Keith Harrison to break down the sales system every coach needs—and reveal what a closer really is (and why they could be the missing piece in your business).
Meet Our Guest: Keith Harrison
Keith Harrison is a sales coach and operations expert specializing in helping sales teams eliminate the stress of CRM management so they can focus on what truly matters—closing more deals.
Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Keith now lives in Tel Aviv, Startup Nation, where he founded CoFounder Club, a thriving community of 4,000+ tech entrepreneurs. With a sales career spanning nearly a decade, Keith has worked with top companies like WalkMe (Unicorn), ClickedIn (6-figure sales annually), and Salesforce. He is a certified expert in Salesforce, Sandler Sales, and Tony Robbins coaching techniques.
Keith believes mindset matters more than skill, and in this episode, he shares exactly how coaches and entrepreneurs can optimize their sales process, master their CRM, and turn more leads into paying clients.
Connect With Keith Harrison
- Website:https://cfclosers.com
- LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-cfc/
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CRM.Coach.K
- YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@cfclosers
Key Takeaways:
✅ Why most coaches struggle with sales (and how to fix it)
✅ The role of a CRM in making sales easier & more effective
✅ When should you hire a closer for your coaching business?
🔥 Loved this episode? LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE with a coach who needs to hear this!
Drop me a line and share your thoughts!
Meet Your Host:
Hey there! I’m Michelle Kui—Visibility Marketing and Speaker Success Coach.
I’m the founder of Elevate LifeCoaching, where I help coaches like you build a stand-out brand, attract high-quality 5-6 figure clients, and land paid speaking gigs—all by leveraging the #1 most important asset in your business (hint: it’s not JUST social media!).
My Journey into Public Speaking & Visibility
My speaking journey started early—at 9 years old when my dad voluntold me to enter a speech contest (thanks, Dad!). Since then, I became the go-to speaker whenever someone needed a voice on short notice.
From leading corporate workshops to running training sessions, I thrived where most people froze—grabbing the mic while others sat back, hoping not to get called on.
After working with hundreds of coaches, I realized a HUGE missing piece that most entrepreneurs completely overlook—and it’s the #1 strategy top coaches use to grow their business, attract premium clients, and get booked on bigger stages.
Are you using it? If not, let’s change that. 🚀
🐦 SOCIAL STUFF:
Instagram ➔ / elevatelifecoach
Facebook ➔ / coachmichellekuei
Linkedin ➔ ...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michelle (00:03):
Hey, you're listening to Make it Visible Podcast.
I'm your host, michelle Kui.
I am a visibility marketingcoach and soon to be your
business bestie in the coachingbusiness world.
Not knowing how to connect withyour audience, grab people's
attention and get them excitedto buy from you should never be
the reason you give up on yourdream to become a full-time
coach.
I'm all about making marketingthe easiest part of your
(00:25):
coaching business, so that youcan turn a passion for coaching
into a visible and profitablereality.
So buckle up, ladies, let's getstarted.
Today I am excited because Iknow this is a conversation that
a lot of you keep coming backto me and said Michelle, I don't
like the part about selling.
(00:45):
I enjoy everything aboutcoaching business, but not the
sales part.
How do we address that?
Well, honestly, I am not theexpert of sales and I used to
struggle as an introvert.
I used to struggle with salesconversations.
So today I got good news foryou because today I invited a
sales expert who's going to tellyou everything about sales
(01:07):
Keith Harrison.
Keith is actually an expert insales and now sales coach, and
he helps sales teams who don'tlike the hassle of having a CRM
to stress on their plate.
So he is the expert stepping inin helping you to accomplish
that awkward moment of how do Ido this?
So welcome Keith.
Keith (01:28):
Thank you, Michelle.
It's great to be here.
I don't know about everythingin sales, but I'll certainly
answer some questions.
You tell me where you want meto kick it off.
Michelle (01:37):
Well, I think you do mostly everything, at least
everything that coaches need toknow Not just coaches, but
coaches entrepreneurs.
When it comes to sales, there'salways that awkward moment of
how do I do this and how do Itransition?
I know I can offer someonemotivation, coaching, but how do
I transition into thatconversation?
So I would love to hear how didyou get into the industry in
(02:00):
the first place?
Keith (02:02):
So how I got into the industry.
I actually started off inretail.
Believe it or not, the familyback in the day was all in
retail selling clothing.
This is before the internet,where people actually went to
shops to buy their clothings andstuff.
And then I went into retailmyself and I was selling
confection, baklava, dried fruit, nuts, all that kind of thing,
(02:22):
importing it globally.
And then 2007, 2008, kicked in.
If you remember your history.
The whole world went up insmoke and I thought I was a rich
man and went bankruptcompletely.
This is back quite a while ago.
That's what got me into salesat the beginning the fact that I
could actually do somethingwithout holding any stock.
(02:43):
It's just no problem.
This company doesn't work, thisoffer doesn't work.
We move to the end.
So you mentioned a lot about notknowing where to do and
entrepreneurs and differentpeople.
That's why I'm telling you thisstory.
My mindset is totally differenton sales.
I'm like excellent, let's dothis.
I don't have to worry aboutstock and going bankrupt, and
it's kind of like I'm unshackledand I get to enjoy myself.
(03:06):
I kicked off door to door, asyou do back in the old days when
Internet was just a box youused to hold in your hand and if
you want Internet, I haveInternet if you want Internet.
So that's where I actuallystarted.
And then we were speaking beforethe podcast.
A couple of years later.
Europe kept going bankrupt so Idecided to hop on a flight,
(03:30):
move over to sunny Tel Avivwhere we had beautiful weather.
Startup nation got intotechnology sales and then I've
been going through technologysales commission only sales.
One thing leads to another andthen I basically sell things and
I show other people how to sellthings.
That's kind of like six yearscondensed.
(03:51):
The sort of punchline here, whenyou were explaining what I do
and all things sales andentrepreneurs is that when we
think of sales, there's reallytwo things that we want to
consider sales operations andsales skills.
Now the majority of salescoaches and sales trainers
they're talking about salesskills.
This is how you hold aconversation.
This is how you introduce pickup the phone and start dialing.
(04:14):
Rapport introduction,qualification, discovery process
, discovery qualification maybea pain step for a bit of fun.
Start that closing loop,closing process, objection
handling.
There is all those sales skillsand, believe me, I can hold
that conversation.
I do sales training all thetime, but it's the sales
(04:34):
operations that I really focuson and the sales operations.
If you can nail this down, 90%of the sale is actually done for
you just from the operations.
And the operations is acollection of processes.
Before the call, these are thesix things you have to do.
(04:54):
After the call, these are the10 things you got to do.
When someone asks for a quote,you press these six buttons.
So these are all processes.
You put them together, you gotyour sales operations and the
CRM.
Even though people think it'sthe technology for your customer
relationship management, inreality it's actually the
(05:16):
technology that houses our salesoperations.
Now, this is my profession,really what I do for a a living.
I make sure people get thispart down, and once this part is
down now it's super easy towork on your script and perfect
your process.
Whether you're a one-manoperation, whether you're a
(05:38):
sales team, you've got to startwith that sales operation.
Michelle (05:42):
So you're dead in the water there are so many things I
wanted to ask you about the CRMitself, because I do believe
that having the right tools willactually help you work more
efficiently as you're developingthe skill, and I think that's a
very important part of thenotion is that a lot of coaches
they don't realize that theyneed the tools to help them to
(06:04):
make their skills moreefficiently so that they can
work better and smarter and notharder.
But before we go into that, youmentioned that you were in
retail for many, many years andI was wondering what was the
biggest lesson that you havelearned from coming out of
retail and selling thoseconfettis and all the things
that you have done, of retailand selling those confettis and
all the things that you havedone.
Keith (06:24):
It wasn't the only thing I'd sold.
But the biggest lesson Ipromise you is solvency versus
liquidity.
I'm holding stock.
I'm not like.
Why do I love the salesprofession?
You told me before that a lotof your viewers they're afraid
and they worry and they're notsure how to do it, whereas my
mindset is totally different.
(06:46):
I'm free, I don't care.
I speak to someone and they saysomething rude to me, no big
deal, go have a good day.
On to the next, I have no cares.
This is the difference.
This is the lesson that Ilearned in my profession sales.
I can just go out, have somefun all day.
I speak to people.
I profession sales.
I can just go out and have somefun all day.
I speak to people.
(07:06):
I enjoy myself.
I make sure that I solve theirproblems.
It's kind of like that game ofhide and seek.
Okay, you give me 200 numbersto dial.
I know eight to 10 of them needwhat I got.
All I got to do is go find themand at the end of the day, who
cares if there's a problem?
Okay, it's not like I'm holding$50,000 worth of stock.
I'm just good to go on to thenext day and if I have a bad day
(07:28):
okay.
Over the course of a week, amonth, it's all going to balance
out.
So that's the lesson.
This is fun.
Michelle (07:36):
It's interesting because would you say yourself
is more introverted orextroverted.
Keith (07:41):
Oh look, I'm extrovert, I know me, I don't care.
Or extroverted oh look, I'mextrovert, I know me, I don't
care.
I'm happy to say silly stuffand do silly stuff Like we all
have fears.
Okay, I go into every singlesales calls.
What 15 years later?
With butterflies in my stomach.
Every single time especiallywhen I'm on a new offer that
I've never done I get a newclient.
It's a new offer.
(08:02):
First couple of calls, like I'mjust half terrified.
Once you get into theconversation, you go through the
flow.
You know the script, you knowthe processes.
I'm an extrovert.
Michelle (08:15):
Yeah, it's interesting because I asked that question,
because a lot of my audience areintroverted and we find that
extroverts are very attractive.
And they're attractive becausethe way and the methodology that
they use they're just people.
People and introverts are quitethe opposite, where we find
enjoyment for, oh, we'll stayquiet, we'll do video, we'll do
(08:35):
podcast.
But if I have to be given achoice, I would rather do the
podcast because I don't have tobe on the video, right?
But we find inspiration,aspiration from someone who's
extroverted like yourself, who'snot afraid of being out there,
and what you bring to the tableis just so much for us to learn
that you have no idea how manyof the introvert appreciate
(08:56):
extrovert.
We tend to gravitate towardsextrovert.
But let's talk about your CRM,operational aspects of sales.
There's a lot of people outthere thinking about CRM.
I'm immediately jumping into oh, there has to be a program
that's out there that work onthis.
So they're thinking about theprogram itself.
But exactly what is CRM?
Keith (09:18):
So CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager.
What exactly is CRM, which wasyour question?
It's a spreadsheet.
It's nothing more.
It's just a spreadsheet with afancy user interface UI, if
you've heard that term thatmakes it clean.
Ultimately, that's all a CRM is.
If you want to go ahead and usea spreadsheet, google
(09:46):
spreadsheet, go ahead, but it'sgoing to get lost once you got
all these different sheets andlists and details.
So, the right tool for the rightjob.
Michelle, you said it earlieryou ever seen a builder with 20
years of experience trying toscrew in a bolt with a hammer?
I don't care how much skillhe's got or experience, he's not
getting the bolt in there witha hammer.
Okay, he's going to need ascrewdriver.
(10:08):
He's going to need the righttool.
And it's the same thing here.
I don't care how wonderful asales coach you are, you got 20
years of experience.
How wonderful a sales coach youare, you got 20 years of
experience.
You don't keep track of yourleads, contacts, deals in a nice
CRM, a tool.
You're not going to remember tofollow up with these 50 people
(10:29):
a week.
You're just, you're not goingto do it.
So we'll get into the CRM now.
I know this is where we'regoing.
But if you're an entrepreneur,a small business, you're
starting from day one.
If you're a sales team pulling$400,000 or $500,000 a month, it
doesn't matter.
The CRM you have to have or youwill not be able to build and
(10:53):
manage your business.
Michelle (10:54):
You got to have the tool in order to get the job
done and manage your businessLike it, just it's you got to
have the tool in order to getthe job done.
So earlier you talked aboutthere's six steps or six process
in the CRM, whether you do iton a spreadsheet or you do it
inside a program.
What are those six steps?
Keith (11:08):
Did I say six steps?
Let's put it into six steps.
Let's have some fun.
Michelle (11:14):
Hey, I pay attention to those six things that you're
going to need for the operation.
I pay attention, so I am goingto dig, dig as much as I could.
Keith (11:22):
I think I was just coming up with particular examples of
things, but when it comes to thedon't worry, I'm kidding, I get
your question the processeswhich lead into the sales
operations, the first thing youwant to do and again, I have a
few courses, I have freeversions of these courses, so
feel free if any of your userswant to go check them out the
(11:44):
very first thing you want to dois you want to actually map out
your goals.
What do you want your CRM for?
Number one, I want my CRM tokeep track of my leads that come
in from wherever they come.
I want something to be able tosend periodic emails.
I want something to be able tophone people.
I want something to keep trackof deal information.
(12:05):
I want something from me.
I want metrics and reports sothat my partner can see them
whenever they want.
It doesn't matter what.
It is Something that you said acouple of minutes back that the
tools and the technologies andpeople choosing the tools first.
It should be the other wayaround the right tool for the
(12:26):
right job, and that's kind ofwhat I was getting at with that
screwdriver analogy.
First you got to assess what'sthe job I have clients and after
speaking to them, it turns outthey need more marketing
technologies and less CRMtechnologies.
Wonderful, let's go HubSpot.
Let's go high level.
Let's go something there.
(12:46):
Let's go active campaign.
Let's go click funnels.
Okay, if it's a more traditionalsales team, then it's
completely different.
Let's go pipe drive.
Let's go fresh.
Different.
Let's go Pipedrive, let's goFreshSuite, let's go Salesforce.
So you're not really going tohave me be able to say this is
the best CRM and this is the oneyou want to use.
First we need to know what'sthe use case, what do we need?
(13:10):
And then it's no good lookingat all these CRMs and say, well,
I get more features andbenefits with this one.
That's the best one to go.
It's like well, do you need allof that?
Because if you don't, you justpaid for something that's going
to it's bloatware.
It's a waste of your time.
You really need to know whatyou need it for before we ever
(13:30):
talk about what CRM is correct.
Michelle (13:32):
Yeah, yeah.
I think the problem a lot ofcoaches and and entrepreneurs
who knew, or who somewhat knew,is they're managing a small
number of of client relationright, but they hear the crm and
and it sounds so fancy so theyjump right into it.
And I love how you point outthe fact that you have to have a
(13:53):
goal and you have to know whatexactly are you trying to
accomplish in order to pick theright tool.
And I'm curious, because webring up Salesforce and Pipeline
and ActiveCampaign and allthese other marketing software
as well as Sales, pipeline andCRM.
What is your opinion about theall-in-one tool?
Keith (14:15):
In theory it's a wonderful idea.
In practice, it's just, it'snot going to happen.
The problem with an all-in-onetool is that, okay, wonderful,
Are all these seven tools thatcome together good tools, or are
one of them really good or oneof them not so good?
Hubspot is the best example ofthis.
It's awesome for marketing.
So I'm told, but the CRM sideof things, it's like okay, can I
(14:39):
have custom views?
Can I modify this?
They're like no, no, no, no, no, that's not how this works.
I'm like you're supposed to beenterprise-level software.
What's going on here?
So it's yeah, it's that kind oflike.
I specialize in sales teams.
I'm very quick to tell people Iknow marketing.
I very quick to tell people Iknow marketing, I know marketing
systems.
(14:59):
But I'm going to refer you toone of my colleagues or one of
my partners when it comes to themarketing side of things, and
that's why I was giving you thatexample.
You are an entrepreneur,Michelle.
You have a podcast.
Are you calling people andkeeping touch base with them
regularly, or are you puttingthem on mailer lists?
If you're putting them onmailer lists, you need a
marketing technology.
(15:19):
If you're putting them on calllists, you need a CRM technology
.
So, yeah, you really need toknow the use case and all-in-one
technologies.
That's your problem.
If the marketing team arekicking ass on ClickFunnels,
okay, why make them come to adifferent system that they may
or may not be happy with?
(15:40):
Like, who really cares?
At the end of the day, we canconnect the two systems, so let
them be on ClickFunnels.
All of my sales team onSalesforce will do an
integration.
Everybody's happy.
That's my opinion.
I'm not a big fan of all inones.
Michelle (15:56):
I love that.
Neither am I, and I have to saythat hotspot that sales force
because otherwise you're losinga really valuable part of your
(16:22):
business asset and businessrevenue by not having a sales
team on board in your business.
So I would love to hear youtalked about the course, and we
haven't really got in terms ofhow your role comes in for
helping the sales team andhelping entrepreneur.
So I would love for you to talkabout exactly what do you do
and where do you come in, howyour role comes in for helping
the sales team and helpingentrepreneurs.
Keith (16:43):
So I would love for you to talk about exactly what you
do and where do you come in.
So if you go to my website,cfcloserscom, you'll notice I
put a little thing up the topthere for sales teams that don't
want the hassle of CRM stress.
I'll take care of that.
That's kind of the answer tothe question.
Where I come in, I have plentyof free courses and plenty of
(17:04):
paid courses for people who justwant to set up that CRM for the
very first time.
So that's sort of where they'dgo.
It's like look, this is what itis.
I do workshops, I do weekly Q&Aover Zoom for anyone who sort
of just needs that little bit ofhelp getting it up and running.
The reason I'm giving you thatanswer is because in order for
(17:28):
me to be super effective, I needto work with a sales team that
has actual inbound, actual leads, actual activity, as opposed to
just setting it up for the sakeof setting it up.
Think about this logically Ifyou have a team of, let's say,
two people and you've got 10booked calls a day and we can do
the mathematics on how this allgoes through, and 20% close
(17:52):
rates, and each one of thesedeals is, let's say, $5,000.
So if we plug that in over thecourse of a month, well, if I
can build them a system that isgoing to be 5%, 10% more
effective.
Each one of those guys istaking in another three or four
calls every single day, daybetween the two of them.
(18:16):
On a 20% close rate, we cancalculate that up.
That's potentially putting inanother five to 10 deals a month
at five grand a pop.
And that's just quick math,because think about putting your
notes in, we've got AI for that.
Or you just put in a quicksomething Think about looking
(18:37):
for quotes, finding emails,creating templates just boom,
boom, boom.
Salespeople are there to sell.
The majority of salespeoplesell maybe 50 to 60% of the time
.
That's it.
Because they're doing dataentry and silly work and looking
for things and forgettingthings.
If we can have the CRM, just doall of that for them.
Now you can have a salespersonthat can go back to back for
(19:00):
whatever eight to 10 hours.
So yeah, we're talking aboutmoney.
I just want to make that superclear.
Michelle, you bring me in.
When 10, 20, $50,000 a month ison the line, I'm going to come
in and I'm going to plug thatgap immediately within the first
30 days.
That's where I come intypically.
Michelle (19:22):
I love that because I think a lot of people are not
realizing how important it isfor someone to actually jump on
the call.
It's great that you plug yourleads into a mailing list, it's
great that you plug your leadsinto a program and system, but
you need someone to actually bethere to follow up, to create
and build that trust, build thatrelationship afterwards or
(19:45):
beforehand, in order to closethat sales.
I think a lot of what we'retalking about here really it's
brand new for a lot of peoplewho are accustomed to the use of
online internet.
Right, because in the onlineinternet, we emphasize a lot
about lead generation, gettingmore leads, but what do you do
(20:05):
with the leads?
And I think what you bring inis something that is really
valuable and perhaps might benew to some of the people, and
they might have heard the termcloser.
So how is closer different ormaybe it's the same?
What is a closer?
Keith (20:18):
So a closer, also known as an account executive, we're
the guys that actually do thesales calls.
So I don't want to go tootechnical on this, but if we're
going to go down, predictablerevenue, aaron Ross, typical
business sales systems.
You've got inbound teams.
Okay, so also known as BDRs,sdrs, business development reps,
(20:42):
sales development reps,sometimes sales development
managers, whatever you want tocall them.
They deal with leads.
Now, a lead is someone who'spotentially interested in what
you do.
In marketing terminology,there's two types of leads.
I said I was going to try notgoing too technical here, but I
got to go a little technical.
You've got market qualifiedleads MQL and sales qualified
(21:06):
leads SQL BDRs, also known astheir job is to qualify the
leads into the deals oropportunities, the MQLs into the
SQLs.
Everybody starts as a BDRcenter.
(21:26):
I did it for many years.
I kicked off and walked me backin the day in technology and I
did it for quite a few companieson the commission-only circuit.
It's where we all start, thenyou go to the next side of
things.
Only circuit.
It's where we all start, thenyou go to the next side of
things.
Now, instead of working withleads MQLs now we're working
with SQLs sales qualified leads.
So these are typically meetingswith the sales team, with the
(21:49):
use case, and they're basicallycoming to find out if the
product is right or not right.
Our job is to meet with thosepeople and effectively make sure
we guide them to the correctsolution, which should be our
product.
If it's not our product, I meanI'm not going to sell in bad
faith.
But at the same time, let'scall a spade a spade.
If I'm not closing 20 percent,25 percent, I'm out of a job.
(22:13):
There's no second chances,there's no bad months.
So that's the profession Setteris a little bit more forgiving.
There's no second chances,there's no bad months, so that's
the profession Setter is alittle bit more forgiving.
Michelle (22:22):
I'll be honest, I get a lot of email about setters and
closer and a lot of time, upuntil now that you clarified it,
I keep thinking they're allclosers, they're helping you to
close the sales, like even thesetter, and I think that's a
very important distinction,especially for people who are
looking to expand their business, to understand that there's a
(22:43):
difference.
And so what do you want to doin your business and I do love
that number with the closer thatyou can increase the sale by
20%.
I need that 20%.
Everybody can do that.
Keith (22:54):
I kind of remind people that that's what I do.
Oh, so you build fancy CRMs.
It's like, no, I increase showrates.
We're looking for 80, 90%.
Do the mathematics on that?
You're getting 50%.
I boost you to 90%.
All of a sudden, your bottomline's pulling an extra 20 to
50,000 a month.
Like more calls, moreeffectiveness, the CRM I'll go
(23:17):
back to the beginning, Michelle.
The CRM is the technology thathouses our sales operations.
You make that more efficient.
It's like turning up to aracetrack the Formula One in a
Formula One car versus a ToyotaCorolla.
Which do you think is going toget podium?
I'll give you a little hint.
You turn up in that Corolla,you'll get think is going to get
(23:37):
podium.
I'll give you a little hint youturn up in that Corolla, you'll
get around the track.
Sure, but good luck placinganywhere.
This is kind of the profession.
This is what it's all about.
This is what I do.
This is where I come into play.
When I'm having a conversationwith someone, I'm not talking
about the features and benefitsthat you may or may not need.
And, Keith, where do you comein versus where do people start?
(24:00):
You start on the features andbenefits and what you need.
When you need a guy like me.
It's about okay, what's yourclose rate?
How many calls are your guystaking?
What's your automationprocedures?
How much time is your repsdoing data admin versus actually
selling?
What's your call times?
Do we need BDRs to do outreach?
(24:21):
Do we want to just get AIagents, Like I've got
partnerships withtelecommunications companies
using AI agents?
This is voice.
I don't mean SMS, I mean voice.
So that's what guys like meactually do, and I just think
it's pretty insane that peopleare spending, you know, 10, 20,
30,000 a month on leadgeneration, and then another I
(24:45):
don't know, 5, 10,000 a month onthe best sales trainers, and
then let's go budget on our CRMs.
It's like, guys, what are youdoing?
It's like this is the tool tobring home the bacon at the end
of the day.
I'm sorry, I'm kind ofpassionate about this.
Michelle (25:02):
No, no.
I think it's really, reallyvaluable for all the listeners
and viewers who actually thinkabout what is it that you need
and what stage you are in yourbusiness.
Right, because that would beimportant to determine your goal
and whether or not you'relosing that 20 to 30 percent by
just having someone on the teamor in your business to actually
(25:24):
close that revenue, close thattie for you.
I think a lot of entrepreneursare focusing on the small,
immediate picture.
They're not looking at the bigpicture here and a lot of them
hire based on the small,immediate step oh, I want just
to get that three clients orfive clients or 10 clients but
they're not really looking atthe overall structure of how
(25:45):
they're creating their business.
And it goes back to what youtalked about.
You need to have thatoperational first before you
even think about, oh, is thisthe skill that matches this
operation?
You have to set up the systemin order for this to scale on a
large basis.
So I love what you share.
I do want to respect your time.
I would love to hear if someonewho is kind of new or who
(26:10):
haven't thought about workingwith a closer or working with a
sales guy like yourself whatwould be a good step.
I know you kind of covered thisa little bit.
Keith (26:20):
Up the lead flow.
Tell me more.
The best perfect step is up thelead flow.
Okay, the best problem that youcan have in your life is having
10 calls a day back-to-backbookings.
Once you have that problem,then we can start talking about
a closer, because there's nopoint in bringing in a closer if
we don't have bookings for thatcloser to close and if you
(26:44):
don't have leads in order to getthose bookings.
You got to sort out thatproblem and maybe in the middle
you need to hire a person tosort out the leads, to put them
on the calendar.
So, up the lead flow.
Marketing you've got to start atmarketing and if your marketing
is not on point, then we don'tneed to talk about building a
sales team.
(27:04):
It's kind of that simple.
I'm sorry for the blunt answerbut unfortunately you just got
to put the boots on the groundand up that lead flow before
you're ready to get into thisconversation.
It sucks.
The only piece of advice I'llgive those people is that it's
not going to cost you that muchto spend a couple of hours and
just make sure that you have asales operation, a CRM, a
(27:28):
platform.
Hire someone for an hour or twoand just say look, how do I
build a basic sales up for whatI'm trying to do here?
Because if you don't do that,what you're going to be doing
over the next six to 12 monthsis you're going to be building a
house with no foundations, andwe all know how that's going to
go down.
Michelle (27:45):
You're preaching to the choir.
I love that.
So I do have a couple of rapidfire questions that I thought I
would just throw you off alittle bit and put you on the
spot.
So we kind of talked about AI.
So here we go with the rapidfire AI a game changer or a tool
that we overhyped.
Keith (28:05):
Game changer.
Michelle (28:07):
If you could describe your work in one word, what
would it be?
Keith (28:12):
CRM.
Michelle (28:14):
What's your favorite stage, moment or story that you
have shared?
Keith (28:25):
Favorite story that you have shared.
Favorite story that I've shared?
Michelle (28:26):
I don't know about having fun on the formula one
track with a toyota corolla.
Were you there on formula one?
Keith (28:33):
it's not hard to figure out who I am.
Just so that we're clear.
Michelle (28:38):
I was really surprised that you put it onto the form
that I had submitted and I'mlike Formula One Wow, I wish I
was there.
It was in Vegas.
Keith (28:47):
Everything in life can be explained with car analogies
Everything.
Michelle (28:52):
Everything huh.
Keith (28:53):
Everything.
Michelle (28:55):
I'm going to have to invite you back for another
episode.
What's one prediction that youhave for the future business in
the next five years?
Keith (29:01):
I'll be sitting over there having a coffee watching
myself AI do the clothes for me.
Michelle (29:07):
What is one tool or app that you can live without?
Keith (29:11):
Salesforce.
Sorry, but I love it.
Michelle (29:16):
Okay, okay, I'm going to take down the notes.
Looking to Salesforce All right, so if someone who's interested
to work with you or hire you orhave you come in to evaluate
where they are, where would theyfind you?
Keith (29:33):
CFcloserscom is where you can find me all my social links
.
Facebook I'm pretty active on,linkedin I'm a little bit more
reserved on, because we're doingbusiness there and if anybody
just wants to get started,either check out the Facebook
groups we've got or cfcloserscomforward slash U-F-C-R-M.
(29:56):
You'll have to go to the pageand see what it stands for.
I don't know if there's kidspotentially watching this, but
let's just say we're going tofix that CRM and there's a free
course there for anyone whowants to get a better
understanding of how this works.
Michelle (30:11):
Thank you so much, keith, for your time, and I wish
you the best and hopefully I'llsee you in the next F1 race.
Keith (30:18):
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Michelle (30:25):
Thank you for listening to Make it Visible
podcast.
If you love this episode andwant deeper support for your
coaching business, head over toelevatelifecoachingorg and see
how we can partner together toturn your passion into a
profitable business.
I help female coaches launchand scale their coaching
business faster than ever,without wasted time and money,
(30:46):
filling the gaps in yourmarketing strategies, creating a
simple and easy to followsystem so you can accelerate on
the path of coaching businessthat you love to wake up to.
Head over toelevatelifecoachingorg and grab
a free strategy audit today.
Hey, you're listening to Make it Visible Podcast.
I'm your host, michelle Kui.
I am a visibility marketingcoach and soon to be your
business bestie in the coachingbusiness world.
Not knowing how to connect withyour audience, grab people's
attention and get them excitedto buy from you should never be
the reason you give up on yourdream to become a full-time
coach.
I'm all about making marketingthe easiest part of your
(00:25):
coaching business, so that youcan turn a passion for coaching
into a visible and profitablereality.
So buckle up, ladies, let's getstarted.
Today I am excited because Iknow this is a conversation that
a lot of you keep coming backto me and said Michelle, I don't
like the part about selling.
(00:45):
I enjoy everything aboutcoaching business, but not the
sales part.
How do we address that?
Well, honestly, I am not theexpert of sales and I used to
struggle as an introvert.
I used to struggle with salesconversations.
So today I got good news foryou because today I invited a
sales expert who's going to tellyou everything about sales
(01:07):
Keith Harrison.
Keith is actually an expert insales and now sales coach, and
he helps sales teams who don'tlike the hassle of having a CRM
to stress on their plate.
So he is the expert stepping inin helping you to accomplish
that awkward moment of how do Ido this?
So welcome Keith.
Keith (01:28):
Thank you, Michelle.
It's great to be here.
I don't know about everythingin sales, but I'll certainly
answer some questions.
You tell me where you want meto kick it off.
Michelle (01:37):
Well, I think you do mostly everything, at least
everything that coaches need toknow Not just coaches, but
coaches entrepreneurs.
When it comes to sales, there'salways that awkward moment of
how do I do this and how do Itransition?
I know I can offer someonemotivation, coaching, but how do
I transition into thatconversation?
So I would love to hear how didyou get into the industry in
(02:00):
the first place?
Keith (02:02):
So how I got into the industry.
I actually started off inretail.
Believe it or not, the familyback in the day was all in
retail selling clothing.
This is before the internet,where people actually went to
shops to buy their clothings andstuff.
And then I went into retailmyself and I was selling
confection, baklava, dried fruit, nuts, all that kind of thing,
(02:22):
importing it globally.
And then 2007, 2008, kicked in.
If you remember your history.
The whole world went up insmoke and I thought I was a rich
man and went bankruptcompletely.
This is back quite a while ago.
That's what got me into salesat the beginning the fact that I
could actually do somethingwithout holding any stock.
(02:43):
It's just no problem.
This company doesn't work, thisoffer doesn't work.
We move to the end.
So you mentioned a lot about notknowing where to do and
entrepreneurs and differentpeople.
That's why I'm telling you thisstory.
My mindset is totally differenton sales.
I'm like excellent, let's dothis.
I don't have to worry aboutstock and going bankrupt, and
it's kind of like I'm unshackledand I get to enjoy myself.
(03:06):
I kicked off door to door, asyou do back in the old days when
Internet was just a box youused to hold in your hand and if
you want Internet, I haveInternet if you want Internet.
So that's where I actuallystarted.
And then we were speaking beforethe podcast.
A couple of years later.
Europe kept going bankrupt so Idecided to hop on a flight,
(03:30):
move over to sunny Tel Avivwhere we had beautiful weather.
Startup nation got intotechnology sales and then I've
been going through technologysales commission only sales.
One thing leads to another andthen I basically sell things and
I show other people how to sellthings.
That's kind of like six yearscondensed.
(03:51):
The sort of punchline here, whenyou were explaining what I do
and all things sales andentrepreneurs is that when we
think of sales, there's reallytwo things that we want to
consider sales operations andsales skills.
Now the majority of salescoaches and sales trainers
they're talking about salesskills.
This is how you hold aconversation.
This is how you introduce pickup the phone and start dialing.
(04:14):
Rapport introduction,qualification, discovery process
, discovery qualification maybea pain step for a bit of fun.
Start that closing loop,closing process, objection
handling.
There is all those sales skillsand, believe me, I can hold
that conversation.
I do sales training all thetime, but it's the sales
(04:34):
operations that I really focuson and the sales operations.
If you can nail this down, 90%of the sale is actually done for
you just from the operations.
And the operations is acollection of processes.
Before the call, these are thesix things you have to do.
(04:54):
After the call, these are the10 things you got to do.
When someone asks for a quote,you press these six buttons.
So these are all processes.
You put them together, you gotyour sales operations and the
CRM.
Even though people think it'sthe technology for your customer
relationship management, inreality it's actually the
(05:16):
technology that houses our salesoperations.
Now, this is my profession,really what I do for a a living.
I make sure people get thispart down, and once this part is
down now it's super easy towork on your script and perfect
your process.
Whether you're a one-manoperation, whether you're a
(05:38):
sales team, you've got to startwith that sales operation.
Michelle (05:42):
So you're dead in the water there are so many things I
wanted to ask you about the CRMitself, because I do believe
that having the right tools willactually help you work more
efficiently as you're developingthe skill, and I think that's a
very important part of thenotion is that a lot of coaches
they don't realize that theyneed the tools to help them to
(06:04):
make their skills moreefficiently so that they can
work better and smarter and notharder.
But before we go into that, youmentioned that you were in
retail for many, many years andI was wondering what was the
biggest lesson that you havelearned from coming out of
retail and selling thoseconfettis and all the things
that you have done, of retailand selling those confettis and
all the things that you havedone.
Keith (06:24):
It wasn't the only thing I'd sold.
But the biggest lesson Ipromise you is solvency versus
liquidity.
I'm holding stock.
I'm not like.
Why do I love the salesprofession?
You told me before that a lotof your viewers they're afraid
and they worry and they're notsure how to do it, whereas my
mindset is totally different.
(06:46):
I'm free, I don't care.
I speak to someone and they saysomething rude to me, no big
deal, go have a good day.
On to the next, I have no cares.
This is the difference.
This is the lesson that Ilearned in my profession sales.
I can just go out, have somefun all day.
I speak to people.
I profession sales.
I can just go out and have somefun all day.
I speak to people.
(07:06):
I enjoy myself.
I make sure that I solve theirproblems.
It's kind of like that game ofhide and seek.
Okay, you give me 200 numbersto dial.
I know eight to 10 of them needwhat I got.
All I got to do is go find themand at the end of the day, who
cares if there's a problem?
Okay, it's not like I'm holding$50,000 worth of stock.
I'm just good to go on to thenext day and if I have a bad day
(07:28):
okay.
Over the course of a week, amonth, it's all going to balance
out.
So that's the lesson.
This is fun.
Michelle (07:36):
It's interesting because would you say yourself
is more introverted orextroverted.
Keith (07:41):
Oh look, I'm extrovert, I know me, I don't care.
Or extroverted oh look, I'mextrovert, I know me, I don't
care.
I'm happy to say silly stuffand do silly stuff Like we all
have fears.
Okay, I go into every singlesales calls.
What 15 years later?
With butterflies in my stomach.
Every single time especiallywhen I'm on a new offer that
I've never done I get a newclient.
It's a new offer.
(08:02):
First couple of calls, like I'mjust half terrified.
Once you get into theconversation, you go through the
flow.
You know the script, you knowthe processes.
I'm an extrovert.
Michelle (08:15):
Yeah, it's interesting because I asked that question,
because a lot of my audience areintroverted and we find that
extroverts are very attractive.
And they're attractive becausethe way and the methodology that
they use they're just people.
People and introverts are quitethe opposite, where we find
enjoyment for, oh, we'll stayquiet, we'll do video, we'll do
(08:35):
podcast.
But if I have to be given achoice, I would rather do the
podcast because I don't have tobe on the video, right?
But we find inspiration,aspiration from someone who's
extroverted like yourself, who'snot afraid of being out there,
and what you bring to the tableis just so much for us to learn
that you have no idea how manyof the introvert appreciate
(08:56):
extrovert.
We tend to gravitate towardsextrovert.
But let's talk about your CRM,operational aspects of sales.
There's a lot of people outthere thinking about CRM.
I'm immediately jumping into oh, there has to be a program
that's out there that work onthis.
So they're thinking about theprogram itself.
But exactly what is CRM?
Keith (09:18):
So CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager.
What exactly is CRM, which wasyour question?
It's a spreadsheet.
It's nothing more.
It's just a spreadsheet with afancy user interface UI, if
you've heard that term thatmakes it clean.
Ultimately, that's all a CRM is.
If you want to go ahead and usea spreadsheet, google
(09:46):
spreadsheet, go ahead, but it'sgoing to get lost once you got
all these different sheets andlists and details.
So, the right tool for the rightjob.
Michelle, you said it earlieryou ever seen a builder with 20
years of experience trying toscrew in a bolt with a hammer?
I don't care how much skillhe's got or experience, he's not
getting the bolt in there witha hammer.
Okay, he's going to need ascrewdriver.
(10:08):
He's going to need the righttool.
And it's the same thing here.
I don't care how wonderful asales coach you are, you got 20
years of experience.
How wonderful a sales coach youare, you got 20 years of
experience.
You don't keep track of yourleads, contacts, deals in a nice
CRM, a tool.
You're not going to remember tofollow up with these 50 people
(10:29):
a week.
You're just, you're not goingto do it.
So we'll get into the CRM now.
I know this is where we'regoing.
But if you're an entrepreneur,a small business, you're
starting from day one.
If you're a sales team pulling$400,000 or $500,000 a month, it
doesn't matter.
The CRM you have to have or youwill not be able to build and
(10:53):
manage your business.
Michelle (10:54):
You got to have the tool in order to get the job
done and manage your businessLike it, just it's you got to
have the tool in order to getthe job done.
So earlier you talked aboutthere's six steps or six process
in the CRM, whether you do iton a spreadsheet or you do it
inside a program.
What are those six steps?
Keith (11:08):
Did I say six steps?
Let's put it into six steps.
Let's have some fun.
Michelle (11:14):
Hey, I pay attention to those six things that you're
going to need for the operation.
I pay attention, so I am goingto dig, dig as much as I could.
Keith (11:22):
I think I was just coming up with particular examples of
things, but when it comes to thedon't worry, I'm kidding, I get
your question the processeswhich lead into the sales
operations, the first thing youwant to do and again, I have a
few courses, I have freeversions of these courses, so
feel free if any of your userswant to go check them out the
(11:44):
very first thing you want to dois you want to actually map out
your goals.
What do you want your CRM for?
Number one, I want my CRM tokeep track of my leads that come
in from wherever they come.
I want something to be able tosend periodic emails.
I want something to be able tophone people.
I want something to keep trackof deal information.
(12:05):
I want something from me.
I want metrics and reports sothat my partner can see them
whenever they want.
It doesn't matter what.
It is Something that you said acouple of minutes back that the
tools and the technologies andpeople choosing the tools first.
It should be the other wayaround the right tool for the
(12:26):
right job, and that's kind ofwhat I was getting at with that
screwdriver analogy.
First you got to assess what'sthe job I have clients and after
speaking to them, it turns outthey need more marketing
technologies and less CRMtechnologies.
Wonderful, let's go HubSpot.
Let's go high level.
Let's go something there.
(12:46):
Let's go active campaign.
Let's go click funnels.
Okay, if it's a more traditionalsales team, then it's
completely different.
Let's go pipe drive.
Let's go fresh.
Different.
Let's go Pipedrive, let's goFreshSuite, let's go Salesforce.
So you're not really going tohave me be able to say this is
the best CRM and this is the oneyou want to use.
First we need to know what'sthe use case, what do we need?
(13:10):
And then it's no good lookingat all these CRMs and say, well,
I get more features andbenefits with this one.
That's the best one to go.
It's like well, do you need allof that?
Because if you don't, you justpaid for something that's going
to it's bloatware.
It's a waste of your time.
You really need to know whatyou need it for before we ever
(13:30):
talk about what CRM is correct.
Michelle (13:32):
Yeah, yeah.
I think the problem a lot ofcoaches and and entrepreneurs
who knew, or who somewhat knew,is they're managing a small
number of of client relationright, but they hear the crm and
and it sounds so fancy so theyjump right into it.
And I love how you point outthe fact that you have to have a
(13:53):
goal and you have to know whatexactly are you trying to
accomplish in order to pick theright tool.
And I'm curious, because webring up Salesforce and Pipeline
and ActiveCampaign and allthese other marketing software
as well as Sales, pipeline andCRM.
What is your opinion about theall-in-one tool?
Keith (14:15):
In theory it's a wonderful idea.
In practice, it's just, it'snot going to happen.
The problem with an all-in-onetool is that, okay, wonderful,
Are all these seven tools thatcome together good tools, or are
one of them really good or oneof them not so good?
Hubspot is the best example ofthis.
It's awesome for marketing.
So I'm told, but the CRM sideof things, it's like okay, can I
(14:39):
have custom views?
Can I modify this?
They're like no, no, no, no, no, that's not how this works.
I'm like you're supposed to beenterprise-level software.
What's going on here?
So it's yeah, it's that kind oflike.
I specialize in sales teams.
I'm very quick to tell people Iknow marketing.
I very quick to tell people Iknow marketing, I know marketing
systems.
(14:59):
But I'm going to refer you toone of my colleagues or one of
my partners when it comes to themarketing side of things, and
that's why I was giving you thatexample.
You are an entrepreneur,Michelle.
You have a podcast.
Are you calling people andkeeping touch base with them
regularly, or are you puttingthem on mailer lists?
If you're putting them onmailer lists, you need a
marketing technology.
(15:19):
If you're putting them on calllists, you need a CRM technology
.
So, yeah, you really need toknow the use case and all-in-one
technologies.
That's your problem.
If the marketing team arekicking ass on ClickFunnels,
okay, why make them come to adifferent system that they may
or may not be happy with?
(15:40):
Like, who really cares?
At the end of the day, we canconnect the two systems, so let
them be on ClickFunnels.
All of my sales team onSalesforce will do an
integration.
Everybody's happy.
That's my opinion.
I'm not a big fan of all inones.
Michelle (15:56):
I love that.
Neither am I, and I have to saythat hotspot that sales force
because otherwise you're losinga really valuable part of your
(16:22):
business asset and businessrevenue by not having a sales
team on board in your business.
So I would love to hear youtalked about the course, and we
haven't really got in terms ofhow your role comes in for
helping the sales team andhelping entrepreneur.
So I would love for you to talkabout exactly what do you do
and where do you come in, howyour role comes in for helping
the sales team and helpingentrepreneurs.
Keith (16:43):
So I would love for you to talk about exactly what you
do and where do you come in.
So if you go to my website,cfcloserscom, you'll notice I
put a little thing up the topthere for sales teams that don't
want the hassle of CRM stress.
I'll take care of that.
That's kind of the answer tothe question.
Where I come in, I have plentyof free courses and plenty of
(17:04):
paid courses for people who justwant to set up that CRM for the
very first time.
So that's sort of where they'dgo.
It's like look, this is what itis.
I do workshops, I do weekly Q&Aover Zoom for anyone who sort
of just needs that little bit ofhelp getting it up and running.
The reason I'm giving you thatanswer is because in order for
(17:28):
me to be super effective, I needto work with a sales team that
has actual inbound, actual leads, actual activity, as opposed to
just setting it up for the sakeof setting it up.
Think about this logically Ifyou have a team of, let's say,
two people and you've got 10booked calls a day and we can do
the mathematics on how this allgoes through, and 20% close
(17:52):
rates, and each one of thesedeals is, let's say, $5,000.
So if we plug that in over thecourse of a month, well, if I
can build them a system that isgoing to be 5%, 10% more
effective.
Each one of those guys istaking in another three or four
calls every single day, daybetween the two of them.
(18:16):
On a 20% close rate, we cancalculate that up.
That's potentially putting inanother five to 10 deals a month
at five grand a pop.
And that's just quick math,because think about putting your
notes in, we've got AI for that.
Or you just put in a quicksomething Think about looking
(18:37):
for quotes, finding emails,creating templates just boom,
boom, boom.
Salespeople are there to sell.
The majority of salespeoplesell maybe 50 to 60% of the time
.
That's it.
Because they're doing dataentry and silly work and looking
for things and forgettingthings.
If we can have the CRM, just doall of that for them.
Now you can have a salespersonthat can go back to back for
(19:00):
whatever eight to 10 hours.
So yeah, we're talking aboutmoney.
I just want to make that superclear.
Michelle, you bring me in.
When 10, 20, $50,000 a month ison the line, I'm going to come
in and I'm going to plug thatgap immediately within the first
30 days.
That's where I come intypically.
Michelle (19:22):
I love that because I think a lot of people are not
realizing how important it isfor someone to actually jump on
the call.
It's great that you plug yourleads into a mailing list, it's
great that you plug your leadsinto a program and system, but
you need someone to actually bethere to follow up, to create
and build that trust, build thatrelationship afterwards or
(19:45):
beforehand, in order to closethat sales.
I think a lot of what we'retalking about here really it's
brand new for a lot of peoplewho are accustomed to the use of
online internet.
Right, because in the onlineinternet, we emphasize a lot
about lead generation, gettingmore leads, but what do you do
(20:05):
with the leads?
And I think what you bring inis something that is really
valuable and perhaps might benew to some of the people, and
they might have heard the termcloser.
So how is closer different ormaybe it's the same?
What is a closer?
Keith (20:18):
So a closer, also known as an account executive, we're
the guys that actually do thesales calls.
So I don't want to go tootechnical on this, but if we're
going to go down, predictablerevenue, aaron Ross, typical
business sales systems.
You've got inbound teams.
Okay, so also known as BDRs,sdrs, business development reps,
(20:42):
sales development reps,sometimes sales development
managers, whatever you want tocall them.
They deal with leads.
Now, a lead is someone who'spotentially interested in what
you do.
In marketing terminology,there's two types of leads.
I said I was going to try notgoing too technical here, but I
got to go a little technical.
You've got market qualifiedleads MQL and sales qualified
(21:06):
leads SQL BDRs, also known astheir job is to qualify the
leads into the deals oropportunities, the MQLs into the
SQLs.
Everybody starts as a BDRcenter.
(21:26):
I did it for many years.
I kicked off and walked me backin the day in technology and I
did it for quite a few companieson the commission-only circuit.
It's where we all start, thenyou go to the next side of
things.
Only circuit.
It's where we all start, thenyou go to the next side of
things.
Now, instead of working withleads MQLs now we're working
with SQLs sales qualified leads.
So these are typically meetingswith the sales team, with the
(21:49):
use case, and they're basicallycoming to find out if the
product is right or not right.
Our job is to meet with thosepeople and effectively make sure
we guide them to the correctsolution, which should be our
product.
If it's not our product, I meanI'm not going to sell in bad
faith.
But at the same time, let'scall a spade a spade.
If I'm not closing 20 percent,25 percent, I'm out of a job.
(22:13):
There's no second chances,there's no bad months.
So that's the profession Setteris a little bit more forgiving.
There's no second chances,there's no bad months, so that's
the profession Setter is alittle bit more forgiving.
Michelle (22:22):
I'll be honest, I get a lot of email about setters and
closer and a lot of time, upuntil now that you clarified it,
I keep thinking they're allclosers, they're helping you to
close the sales, like even thesetter, and I think that's a
very important distinction,especially for people who are
looking to expand their business, to understand that there's a
(22:43):
difference.
And so what do you want to doin your business and I do love
that number with the closer thatyou can increase the sale by
20%.
I need that 20%.
Everybody can do that.
Keith (22:54):
I kind of remind people that that's what I do.
Oh, so you build fancy CRMs.
It's like, no, I increase showrates.
We're looking for 80, 90%.
Do the mathematics on that?
You're getting 50%.
I boost you to 90%.
All of a sudden, your bottomline's pulling an extra 20 to
50,000 a month.
Like more calls, moreeffectiveness, the CRM I'll go
(23:17):
back to the beginning, Michelle.
The CRM is the technology thathouses our sales operations.
You make that more efficient.
It's like turning up to aracetrack the Formula One in a
Formula One car versus a ToyotaCorolla.
Which do you think is going toget podium?
I'll give you a little hint.
You turn up in that Corolla,you'll get think is going to get
(23:37):
podium.
I'll give you a little hint youturn up in that Corolla, you'll
get around the track.
Sure, but good luck placinganywhere.
This is kind of the profession.
This is what it's all about.
This is what I do.
This is where I come into play.
When I'm having a conversationwith someone, I'm not talking
about the features and benefitsthat you may or may not need.
And, Keith, where do you comein versus where do people start?
(24:00):
You start on the features andbenefits and what you need.
When you need a guy like me.
It's about okay, what's yourclose rate?
How many calls are your guystaking?
What's your automationprocedures?
How much time is your repsdoing data admin versus actually
selling?
What's your call times?
Do we need BDRs to do outreach?
(24:21):
Do we want to just get AIagents, Like I've got
partnerships withtelecommunications companies
using AI agents?
This is voice.
I don't mean SMS, I mean voice.
So that's what guys like meactually do, and I just think
it's pretty insane that peopleare spending, you know, 10, 20,
30,000 a month on leadgeneration, and then another I
(24:45):
don't know, 5, 10,000 a month onthe best sales trainers, and
then let's go budget on our CRMs.
It's like, guys, what are youdoing?
It's like this is the tool tobring home the bacon at the end
of the day.
I'm sorry, I'm kind ofpassionate about this.
Michelle (25:02):
No, no.
I think it's really, reallyvaluable for all the listeners
and viewers who actually thinkabout what is it that you need
and what stage you are in yourbusiness.
Right, because that would beimportant to determine your goal
and whether or not you'relosing that 20 to 30 percent by
just having someone on the teamor in your business to actually
(25:24):
close that revenue, close thattie for you.
I think a lot of entrepreneursare focusing on the small,
immediate picture.
They're not looking at the bigpicture here and a lot of them
hire based on the small,immediate step oh, I want just
to get that three clients orfive clients or 10 clients but
they're not really looking atthe overall structure of how
(25:45):
they're creating their business.
And it goes back to what youtalked about.
You need to have thatoperational first before you
even think about, oh, is thisthe skill that matches this
operation?
You have to set up the systemin order for this to scale on a
large basis.
So I love what you share.
I do want to respect your time.
I would love to hear if someonewho is kind of new or who
(26:10):
haven't thought about workingwith a closer or working with a
sales guy like yourself whatwould be a good step.
I know you kind of covered thisa little bit.
Keith (26:20):
Up the lead flow.
Tell me more.
The best perfect step is up thelead flow.
Okay, the best problem that youcan have in your life is having
10 calls a day back-to-backbookings.
Once you have that problem,then we can start talking about
a closer, because there's nopoint in bringing in a closer if
we don't have bookings for thatcloser to close and if you
(26:44):
don't have leads in order to getthose bookings.
You got to sort out thatproblem and maybe in the middle
you need to hire a person tosort out the leads, to put them
on the calendar.
So, up the lead flow.
Marketing you've got to start atmarketing and if your marketing
is not on point, then we don'tneed to talk about building a
sales team.
(27:04):
It's kind of that simple.
I'm sorry for the blunt answerbut unfortunately you just got
to put the boots on the groundand up that lead flow before
you're ready to get into thisconversation.
It sucks.
The only piece of advice I'llgive those people is that it's
not going to cost you that muchto spend a couple of hours and
just make sure that you have asales operation, a CRM, a
(27:28):
platform.
Hire someone for an hour or twoand just say look, how do I
build a basic sales up for whatI'm trying to do here?
Because if you don't do that,what you're going to be doing
over the next six to 12 monthsis you're going to be building a
house with no foundations, andwe all know how that's going to
go down.
Michelle (27:45):
You're preaching to the choir.
I love that.
So I do have a couple of rapidfire questions that I thought I
would just throw you off alittle bit and put you on the
spot.
So we kind of talked about AI.
So here we go with the rapidfire AI a game changer or a tool
that we overhyped.
Keith (28:05):
Game changer.
Michelle (28:07):
If you could describe your work in one word, what
would it be?
Keith (28:12):
CRM.
Michelle (28:14):
What's your favorite stage, moment or story that you
have shared?
Keith (28:25):
Favorite story that you have shared.
Favorite story that I've shared?
Michelle (28:26):
I don't know about having fun on the formula one
track with a toyota corolla.
Were you there on formula one?
Keith (28:33):
it's not hard to figure out who I am.
Just so that we're clear.
Michelle (28:38):
I was really surprised that you put it onto the form
that I had submitted and I'mlike Formula One Wow, I wish I
was there.
It was in Vegas.
Keith (28:47):
Everything in life can be explained with car analogies
Everything.
Michelle (28:52):
Everything huh.
Keith (28:53):
Everything.
Michelle (28:55):
I'm going to have to invite you back for another
episode.
What's one prediction that youhave for the future business in
the next five years?
Keith (29:01):
I'll be sitting over there having a coffee watching
myself AI do the clothes for me.
Michelle (29:07):
What is one tool or app that you can live without?
Keith (29:11):
Salesforce.
Sorry, but I love it.
Michelle (29:16):
Okay, okay, I'm going to take down the notes.
Looking to Salesforce All right, so if someone who's interested
to work with you or hire you orhave you come in to evaluate
where they are, where would theyfind you?
Keith (29:33):
CFcloserscom is where you can find me all my social links
.
Facebook I'm pretty active on,linkedin I'm a little bit more
reserved on, because we're doingbusiness there and if anybody
just wants to get started,either check out the Facebook
groups we've got or cfcloserscomforward slash U-F-C-R-M.
(29:56):
You'll have to go to the pageand see what it stands for.
I don't know if there's kidspotentially watching this, but
let's just say we're going tofix that CRM and there's a free
course there for anyone whowants to get a better
understanding of how this works.
Michelle (30:11):
Thank you so much, keith, for your time, and I wish
you the best and hopefully I'llsee you in the next F1 race.
Keith (30:18):
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Michelle (30:25):
Thank you for listening to Make it Visible
podcast.
If you love this episode andwant deeper support for your
coaching business, head over toelevatelifecoachingorg and see
how we can partner together toturn your passion into a
profitable business.
I help female coaches launchand scale their coaching
business faster than ever,without wasted time and money,
(30:46):
filling the gaps in yourmarketing strategies, creating a
simple and easy to followsystem so you can accelerate on
the path of coaching businessthat you love to wake up to.
Head over toelevatelifecoachingorg and grab
a free strategy audit today.
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