May 3, 2026 • 31 mins
Get the workshop & resources here.
We share a simple, consent-based way to turn connection calls into sales opportunities without sounding pitchy or forcing a script. We break down the exact moment most of us freeze when a buying signal shows up and give you a repeatable bridge you can practice right away.
• why networking calls stall even when people “need what you do”
• the real issue as structure, not confidence or competence
• how to listen for buying signals while they explain their business
• what to listen for: challenges, signals and shared ICPs
• how to tailor “what I do” to what they just said
• the bridge framework: acknowledge, connect and offer a next step
• permission-based language that keeps it low pressure
• example bridge statements for leads, referrals and content not working
• handling money objections with ROI stories, case studies and options
• practice plan: list your top signals and workshop bridges
If you want to go even deeper, the full workshop, resources, and access to the next Consultant's Mastermind are all available for purchase. You can grab it in the show notes for just $47, or head over to bridge.sarahnoelblock.com to get access.
If this episode made things go a little more doable, I'd love to help you take the next step with the Booked Out Blueprint. It's a practical, low pressure session to clarify your offers, your marketing, and what actually moves the needle. You can book yours through the link in the show notes. You don't have to figure it out alone.
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Over the next Ten Days, we will launch and sell our Gateway Offers with the goal of reaching booked-out status!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
Welcome to the Tiny Marketing Podcast.
I'm Sarah Noal Block, and thisshow is made for solo
consultants who wanna get bookedout without burning out.
If you've ever thought, I justwant this to feel easier, you're
not alone.
Around here, we focus on simple,sustainable growth that actually
fits into your life to growth,feels doable instead of
overwhelming.
Sarah Noel Block (00:21):
Hey there! Just a quick heads up what
you're about to hear is a replayof a live mini workshop.
So sit back, enjoy the training,and I'll catch you on the other
side!
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It is Friday and I'm on,
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Hello.
Thank you for joining me today.
Today's training is a mini one,so I'm gonna keep it tight.
and it came out of this.
And it is when you are on anetworking call or a connection
call and somebody raises theirhand in some way, these signals
(00:56):
that they.
Need your service and youfreeze.
So that is what we're talkingabout today.
We are talking about how toconvert those signals that you
get on connection calls into asales opportunity.
And I'm so excited about thisone.
(01:19):
Before I get into it and I makemy presentation big, can you
guys say hi In the comments,introduce yourself and just let
me.
See you in the world.
And while you're doing that, Iwant to remind you that I am
doing a three sales calls inthree days challenge in just
(01:42):
like a month now.
It's May 18th, so I encourageyou to sign up for that.
It's super cheap.
It's like$15.
and that will be three days oftraining.
It'll be three days of trainingHello, Caitlin.
but that's something that youshould definitely do'cause we're
going to go through trainingsover three days on how to sell
(02:04):
better.
Okay.
With that in mind, I am going tomake this bigger so we can
really get into the meat of it.
I don't have time to talk allday.
Connection, call to sales calls.
Let's talk about how to turnthose conversations that you're
having every day anyway, into asales opportunity without being
(02:26):
salesy, because that is theother thing that I'm hearing
constantly is I'm on thesecalls, they signal that they
need me, but I don't want tosound pitchy or salesy, and
that's totally relatable.
I also have that huge fear thatpeople will think that I'm
getting on these connectioncalls to sell them when that's
(02:48):
not at all the case.
It just like, if the opportunityis there and they need me and
they consent to wanting thatnext step, I need to offer that
to them.
It's a service to be able to dothat.
So let's get into it.
So you're having thesenetworking calls or connection
(03:09):
calls, whatever you call them,but nothing is happening.
They are on the call.
They say that they needsomething that you solve, but
you freeze.
You clam up or you move oninstead of leaning into that.
So it typically looks like this.
You're booking the sales callone month I had 40 networking
(03:30):
calls in one month when I wasdoing my 30 day experiments that
I like to do.
and you're like, okay, I'mmaking progress.
Look at all these calls I have.
They feel good.
You're making friendships.
maybe you're getting somecollabs together.
and then you're talking tosomeone and a need pops up.
They say that they needsomething that you literally
(03:53):
solve and then you freeze.
The moment passes, theconversation ends, nothing
happens, and you're like, okay,maybe I should email them
afterwards and bring it back up.
But it would be so much easierif you leaned into it while on
the call.
(04:14):
It's not really a confidenceproblem because the people who
are coming to me and telling methat this is happening, they're
really freaking good at whatthey do.
They really are.
So I don't think it has anythingto do with your skillset.
It's more of a structure issue.
You're in a friendlyconversation, so when that
signal happens, you get nervousand you don't move forward with
(04:37):
it because you don't want it tomove from like friendly vibes.
We're cool, we're friends into asales conversation and it
doesn't have to be that way.
So the structure issues are youdon't have a system for these
conversations.
They're just happening.
It's like a normal conversationwith your friend.
(04:59):
You don't have a way to connectyour.
The problems that you're hearingon those calls to your offer,
and we have a solution for that,don't worry.
We're getting to that.
And you default to being thenice, friendly person instead of
the useful person, because I'lltell you what, when somebody has
a solution to the problem thatI'm explaining, I don't feel
(05:24):
like you're being salesy orpitchy telling me that you know
how to solve that problem.
I feel relieved.
Okay, so let's talk about thesolve.
I don't use scripts at all, andI am not pushy.
prescribe to consent basedselling.
Unless you give me permission totalk about that next step or
(05:45):
that offer.
I'm not doing it.
So you need a bridge.
You don't need a script.
You need a bridge.
They say that they have aproblem.
You need the bridge that leadsto the solution.
Okay, so I learned this all thehard way, but that's how you
learn sometimes and because Ihad to learn it the hard way,
(06:08):
you don't have to.
So let's go through this realquick before we get into it.
So the climb, I was in corporatemarketing leadership, which is
why I know how to sell into aB2B so well because I was the
one being sold to, and I knowhow it works.
And then I built my consultancyon the side.
I launched that consultancy witha hundred K in contracts already
(06:31):
booked before I left corporatebecause I'm a scared little
chicken.
I couldn't do it without thatalready set there.
a couple years later, I had thisdry spell'cause I was busy.
I was busy with client work.
I wasn't keeping up with myrelationships.
Referrals slowed down, inbound,stopped.
And I realized that I just, Ihad momentum.
(06:53):
I didn't have a system and I wasreally just getting kind of
lucky I would do it in sprints.
That's how I ended up with thosea hundred K in contracts is I
did a sprint to fill in my, whatI would need for salary and then
I stopped.
So when that happened, I had todo an experiment, and that's
what I was telling you about the30 day experiment.
(07:15):
That is when I had 40 networkingcalls in one month, I had daily
conversations and it directlyled to revenue.
I closed$94,000 in those 30days.
And it became a repeatablesystem.
I did it over and over again,and now I have helped 50 plus
(07:37):
other consultants build systemslike this to get booked out.
That's how I created Booked Outin Six.
So when I tell you I sucked atsales, I hated selling so much
and it felt really uncomfortablefor me to turn a friendly
conversation into a salesconversation.
I know'cause I did that, Imessed up.
(07:59):
And then I had to build a systemand repeat it over and over to
get it into a place that feltnatural, not salesy, not pitchy.
So most networking calls looklike this.
They're always structured prettymuch like this.
Tell me about your business.
Then you explain your business,and then how can we help each
(08:23):
other?
Those three things are alwaysbrought up in every single
networking conversation, andthat's fine.
There's something we have to doin the middle though, so this
loop leads to zero revenue.
And this is why nothing happensbecause you're not, you have a
missing piece.
You have a missing piece.
(08:43):
I'll leave it at that.
So you're not being curiousenough during those networking
calls.
Your prime time of selling isn'twhen you're talking about your
business.
It's when they're talking abouttheir business.
That's the very beginning ofthat connection call.
When they're explaining it, youneed to be curious.
(09:06):
You need to ask questions whilethey're talking.
Don't wait to speak until it'syour turn to talk about your
business.
Ask questions.
Listen to what they're saying.
Pull threads that they'retalking about.
Signals will come up during thisportion of the connection call
and then go deeper.
(09:27):
So these are the things that youwant to listen for, and I
encourage you to screenshotthis.
So what do they need help with?
Those are signals that could beeither an opportunity for you or
it could be an opportunity tosend to a referral partner or
connect them with a community.
What value can you give them?
I like to go into these with acouple ideas of what I can offer
(09:52):
them, what they couldpotentially need.
But during this portion of theconnection call, you can usually
pull out what exactly they'dneed.
Who can you refer them to?
What communities would fit them?
Can you send any introductions?
These are opportunities.
These connection calls andnetworking calls are
opportunities not only for youbut for you to send referrals to
(10:15):
other people, for you to helpclose loops for them, for the
person you're on a phone callwith, because they have
challenges that will come upduring this.
So be curious.
And then when it comes time foryou to talk about your business,
answer them instead of yourpitch, your one-liner, your
(10:35):
elevator pitch, whatever youwanna call it, you want to
respond directly to what theytalked about.
So did they talk about aspecific challenge?
Did they mention somethingthey're frustrated about or
they're stuck about?
And if they didn't.
Pull those threads, ask thosequestions while they're talking.
(10:56):
Did they give you any signals?
Did they describe that they'vetried something and it didn't
work?
do you share an ICP?
So that's a big one.
does your, does the person thatyou're on the phone call with
share the same customer as you?
could you partner?
Is that a collaborationopportunity?
(11:18):
So listen for challenges.
listen for signals and listenfor shared ICPs.
So, and then turn your, this iswhat I do into a more, custom
version of it to respond to thechallenges and signals that they
gave you in their section.
So instead of saying, I helpconsultants get more clients
(11:40):
through content marketingsystems, you can tailor it to
them and say, you mentioned yourleads.
Feel consistent.
That's exactly what I helpconsultants fix.
This is how I do it.
So you can pull onto thoselittle signals that they gave
you and weave it into your, thisis what I do, speech.
(12:00):
Okay.
So let's talk about buyingsignals for one second, and I
want a little interaction duringthis portion of it.
So you're gonna hear things asyou are talking about.
Your business and what you do,like, oh, I could use that, or,
that sounds like me, or, I'mdealing with that right now.
(12:22):
we've tried that and it didn'twork.
So what do you do?
that's something that we'restruggling with, like these are
all buying signals that you needto listen for, so you can pull
those threads and dig in deeperin the comments.
I would love to hear some buyingsignals that you heard on your
last couple of connection calls,and if you're brave enough to
(12:44):
put them in there, I'm gonnashow you what kind of bridge
statements that you can use thatwould.
Connect to an offer.
So please put in any buyingsignals that you have heard on
recent calls and what you do,and then in a little bit I will
go into what Bridges would makesense for that.
(13:07):
Okay?
So this is the missing piecewhen you hear those signals,
because happen on pretty muchevery call.
You wanna acknowledge it.
So you mentioned X problem.
You wanna mirror back what theysaid so you can show that you
were listening, but it also, Ilike to use their exact language
(13:28):
so that they can hear themselvesin my response.
Next you wanna connect.
That's something I help with.
So here I have, that's actuallysomething I help with.
One thing I like to use is likedirect examples.
So another way you can do it islike, oh, that happened to a
(13:49):
client of mine recently.
This is what we did and this wasthe result.
So I almost.
With that connection part.
I like to create a study, butthis gives you an example that
anybody can apply.
That's something I help with, ormy client went through that
recently.
Something like that, thatbridges their reality, what they
(14:10):
just explained to you, to yourwork, what you do.
It's not a pitch.
You're just bridging theconnection there.
And then last offer, the nextstep, like wanted me to share
how I'd approach that or do youwanna hear what I did with them
to help them move past thatproblem?
(14:30):
So you can do this in a coupleways.
You can keep it high level, semigeneric where you say, that's
something I help with.
This is how I help them do it.
Or you could do it in a casestudy function.
That's the way I like to do it.
Oh, my client went through this.
Do you wanna hear what we did tomake that work?
It's permission based.
(14:51):
It's low pressure.
It opens a door, but it's notpitching at all and it's not
very salesy.
So acknowledge, connect, andthen offer the next step.
Permission-based offer it.
Okay, okay, so here are thebridges that are examples for
(15:11):
you.
we're not getting consistentleads and then the bridge.
Yeah.
You mentioned your leads havebeen inconsistent.
That's actually something I helpconsultants fix.
Want me to share what I look atfirst or.
Maybe, do you want me to sharewhat the first problem usually
is or the easiest fix is, or thefirst step is something like
(15:34):
that.
Referrals are hit or miss.
That's what you hear.
That's the signal you hear.
A bridge could be.
That makes sense.
Most people don't have systemsbehind the referrals.
I've built a repeatable way togenerate them.
Want me to walk through what Ido?
Or it could be like.
often say, oh, that's so common.
(15:55):
You are in such good company.
Because usually I've heard it athousand times, whatever that
thing is.
So I want them to realize, yeah,you're not alone.
This is such a common problem.
This is not a you problem.
This is like an overall businessproblem.
So that's a bridge statement youcan use.
(16:15):
Here's a signal.
We've tried content, but it'snot working A bridge that's
super common.
Usually it's not the content,it's the system behind it.
That's the problem.
Want me to show you how Idiagnose that?
What I do to fix that, somethinglike that.
You can see that the bridgestatements aren't pushy.
(16:36):
They're permission based, andthey're directly talking about
the signal that they gave andtying into your solution without
pitching the solution yet.
Okay.
So you shared a couple bridgeswith So let's go into those
signals and feel free while I'mdoing this, to start writing
(17:00):
down some of the signals thatyou've heard recently and start
writing some bridges that wouldwork for it.
So.
List your signals.
three to five things that yourideal client tends to say.
When you hear, like when you'reon a connection, call with them,
just the most common ones, andthen start workshopping the
(17:20):
bridges that you can use.
So you want to acknowledge whatthat signal was, what's going on
with them, connect with that,and then.
Use permission based offers.
So do you want me to walk youthrough that?
So keep it conversational, keepit theirs?
okay.
Real fast.
(17:41):
If you guys want to screenshotthis, this would be really
helpful for you as yourworkshopping it.
Okay.
Awesome.
All right, let's go throughthese bridges.
They tell me a story orsituation about something that
their client is going through.
Like, oh, my client could usethis.
Okay.
So with that, your bridge couldbe, Your client, Katie, So
(18:06):
they're telling you a situationthat their client is going
through.
Is this when like you're talkingto an agency and they might need
to outsource it to you?
So I'll ask that question.
Is that the situation in whichthis would come up?
And, while you're answeringthat, I'm gonna go to this one.
(18:27):
when I'm more established ormaking more money, I would love
to work with you.
Okay.
Yeah.
So that, yeah, that's a signalthat they're interested in
working with you and they'reautomatically putting in
objection in place, which isdifficult because they're
clearly saying that.
(18:49):
They can't afford to work withyou yet.
So what I would do in thissituation is, yeah, that has
happened.
I hear that occasionally or whenyou're brand new, it is hard to
invest in your business.
What I usually do when this isthe case, is we start off with
our brand roadmap, and then thatgives you a foundation for where
(19:13):
you can go with your website andfrom there, if you want me to
build it out, we could set up apayment plan through Klarna to
be able to solve that so we can,so the money isn't such a big
issue for you or for a moneyObjection like this.
I'm not established enoughobjection like this.
(19:35):
I'd probably put them into anurture sequence, but yeah, that
makes it a little bit moredifficult since they can't
afford to move forward.
So I would try and address it asbest as I can with.
These are the options.
There's, payment plans availablethat you can do.
We can do the gateway offerfirst to be able to establish
(19:57):
what we would move forward with,and maybe you already know that
they have.
(21:05):
The money available, but maybeit's more of a scarcity issue
and they could afford it.
They're just choosing not to.
That's something where theselling, the brand roadmap would
help them get over that.
They can start seeing like, thisis what could happen.
Another way to get over thisobjection'cause I feel like this
(21:27):
is more of an objection than asignal.
another way to do that is toshow them some of your past
client work and how that hashelped them make more money.
So you can, I would use more ofa case study type of bridge for
this situation so that you canadjust their objection at the
same time as like moving themonto like what the next offer
(21:50):
would be, which would be yourbrand roadmap.
Okay.
Let's see.
I don't seem to be getting anyvalue from my current partner,
but they're probably tooexpensive for us.
Okay, so for this, they're notgetting it.
It sounds like this also soundsmore like they don't see.
(22:13):
They think that they're payingtoo much for their current
partner and the value doesn'tequate to it.
So for this.
I would start talking aboutreturn on investment.
Like for you, for example, youcan say, you know what?
I've heard that before andthat's totally reasonable.
(22:33):
One thing that I do right awayto make sure that you're getting
a return from working with me iswe look at your offers and we
see which ones have the biggestreturn for you, which ones are
the most profitable, so you canfocus on that.
So we focus on increasing yourprofitability first and then
(22:55):
move on to those deep, thatdeeper work.
So that's one thing that youcould do.
Again, that's kind of anobjection, wield into a signal.
Okay.
So for Katie, okay.
Katie's is.
And she said, yeah, when anothermarketing agency or consultant
(23:18):
has a client with a messaging orpositioning problem.
Yeah.
So that sounds like a clear,yes, I need this.
And so for you, I would say, ohyeah, I work with a lot of
agencies.
I am, I'm working on their.
Whatever they're, messagingconstantly.
(23:42):
And these are the results thatwe're getting.
The, if you want, I can walk youthrough what the first step of
working with me would be or howI would get that messaging
really solved for your client.
And then that's when you cantalk about like, building out
the persona.
Okay.
(24:03):
Okay, so on your next networkingcall, I want you to listen for
signals.
So go in, listen and look forany openings that you can pull a
thread on and see if you can getany more information out of it.
use one bridge statement.
So don't try to nail.
(24:24):
Every kind of bridge statement,just choose one and don't
overthink it.
So this is permission based.
It doesn't need to be perfect.
It doesn't need to be a script.
You just need to get them to thenext phase.
Like do want me to walk throughwhat this would look like for
you or, the first thing that Ido is this gateway offer.
(24:49):
Do you want me to walk youthrough what that would look
like?
So those are some ways that youcan do permission based pitching
at the end when they've alreadysignaled for it.
Okay?
So what I want you to do ispractice this.
I actually have a worksheet thatgoes along with this that's
going to be in the email thatfollows this.
(25:11):
And I will also send you thislink to join the Consultants
Mastermind.
It's free, but what I want youto do is practice using these
techniques, this bridgetechnique on your next couple of
sales calls, come to theconsultants Mastermind and bring
your results, bring yourquestions, tell me what worked
(25:33):
and what didn't, so we canrefine it.
Because what we're talking abouttoday, it does take practice.
I mean, I told you when I builtout this bridge statement, I did
40 sales, I did 40 networkingcalls in one month.
It took a lot of practice so wecan refine it and customize it
(25:56):
for you in this consultantmastermind.
Hold on.
Let me see.
The next one is May 26th at 11,so you're gonna get an
invitation for that.
Totally free work on thisworkbook and do that.
and what I want to do real quickbefore we close up is go through
(26:18):
this chat and see if there areany other signals that we should
go over.
So here's one.
when I'm more established ormaking money, I would love to
work with you.
Okay?
So multiple people are hearingthat and it is a, a money
objection and kind of alsoasking you to show that it's
(26:41):
important, that they will getthe value from it.
They're asking you to convincethem that's what it is.
so for both of you.
They want you to one, addressthe objection.
Tell them why it is worth thatvalue.
(27:02):
And then help them figure outwhat is the next step?
What can they do Now, Katie hasa good point here.
I feel like money objections areasking, is it worth it?
And the ROI story is helpful inanswering that.
So when you're creating thosebridge statements, like I talked
about earlier, I said I like touse case study versions of them.
(27:25):
Those are best when you'rehearing some sort of objection
along with the signal.
Use a case study as your bridge.
So let's go back real quickright here in this part two of
the bridge, the connect.
Use a case study to be able tocreate that bridge.
(27:46):
So thank you guys so much forjoining me today.
Do you, if you have any otherquestions, pop them into the
chat real fast.
We're at time, but I can hangout if additional questions come
up.
And remember, you're gonna getaccess to this inside of the
tiny Marketing portal for thepeople who are in booked out in
(28:08):
six.
It's booked out in six.
You'll get that in the fast cashsection.
And then, you're also gonna getan email after this that will
have the replay of thispresentation.
It'll have the invite to theconsultants mastermind.
Which I encourage you to cometo.
I really want you to practicethis and come with, hey, what
(28:29):
didn't work, so we can refine itbecause it takes practice.
And, then you will also get thefast cash challenge.
So if you want to book moresales calls, you're gonna three
different trainings over threedifferent days on different
techniques to be able to dothat.
And it's gonna be a lot of funsince everybody's doing that at,
(28:51):
at once.
Okay, this was excellent.
Made me realize I need to get abetter listening signal, get
better at listening to signalson calls.
Yes, be brave.
Ask for consent to sale, andlisten to those signals while
they're in that first sectionand they're talking about their
business and customize your,about my business based off of
(29:15):
what their signals were.
Awesome.
Thank you, Cindy.
Thank you Kate, Caitlin.
Thank you everybody.
You guys were awesome and sinceno other questions are coming
up, I'll end the stream here,but you're gonna get all of
these resources afterwards alongwith the worksheet.
Okay.
(29:35):
Bye.
Sarah Noel Block (29:36):
If you want to go even deeper, the full
workshop, resources, and accessto the next Consultant's
Mastermind are all available forpurchase.
You can grab it in the shownotes for just$47, or head over
to bridge.sarahnoelblock.com toget access.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
If this episode made things go a little more doable,
I'd love to help you take thenext step with the Booked Out
Blueprint.
It's a practical, low pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it outalone.
Welcome to the Tiny Marketing Podcast.
I'm Sarah Noal Block, and thisshow is made for solo
consultants who wanna get bookedout without burning out.
If you've ever thought, I justwant this to feel easier, you're
not alone.
Around here, we focus on simple,sustainable growth that actually
fits into your life to growth,feels doable instead of
overwhelming.
Sarah Noel Block (00:21):
Hey there! Just a quick heads up what
you're about to hear is a replayof a live mini workshop.
So sit back, enjoy the training,and I'll catch you on the other
side!
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It is Friday and I'm on,
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Hello.
Thank you for joining me today.
Today's training is a mini one,so I'm gonna keep it tight.
and it came out of this.
And it is when you are on anetworking call or a connection
call and somebody raises theirhand in some way, these signals
(00:56):
that they.
Need your service and youfreeze.
So that is what we're talkingabout today.
We are talking about how toconvert those signals that you
get on connection calls into asales opportunity.
And I'm so excited about thisone.
(01:19):
Before I get into it and I makemy presentation big, can you
guys say hi In the comments,introduce yourself and just let
me.
See you in the world.
And while you're doing that, Iwant to remind you that I am
doing a three sales calls inthree days challenge in just
(01:42):
like a month now.
It's May 18th, so I encourageyou to sign up for that.
It's super cheap.
It's like$15.
and that will be three days oftraining.
It'll be three days of trainingHello, Caitlin.
but that's something that youshould definitely do'cause we're
going to go through trainingsover three days on how to sell
(02:04):
better.
Okay.
With that in mind, I am going tomake this bigger so we can
really get into the meat of it.
I don't have time to talk allday.
Connection, call to sales calls.
Let's talk about how to turnthose conversations that you're
having every day anyway, into asales opportunity without being
(02:26):
salesy, because that is theother thing that I'm hearing
constantly is I'm on thesecalls, they signal that they
need me, but I don't want tosound pitchy or salesy, and
that's totally relatable.
I also have that huge fear thatpeople will think that I'm
getting on these connectioncalls to sell them when that's
(02:48):
not at all the case.
It just like, if the opportunityis there and they need me and
they consent to wanting thatnext step, I need to offer that
to them.
It's a service to be able to dothat.
So let's get into it.
So you're having thesenetworking calls or connection
(03:09):
calls, whatever you call them,but nothing is happening.
They are on the call.
They say that they needsomething that you solve, but
you freeze.
You clam up or you move oninstead of leaning into that.
So it typically looks like this.
You're booking the sales callone month I had 40 networking
(03:30):
calls in one month when I wasdoing my 30 day experiments that
I like to do.
and you're like, okay, I'mmaking progress.
Look at all these calls I have.
They feel good.
You're making friendships.
maybe you're getting somecollabs together.
and then you're talking tosomeone and a need pops up.
They say that they needsomething that you literally
(03:53):
solve and then you freeze.
The moment passes, theconversation ends, nothing
happens, and you're like, okay,maybe I should email them
afterwards and bring it back up.
But it would be so much easierif you leaned into it while on
the call.
(04:14):
It's not really a confidenceproblem because the people who
are coming to me and telling methat this is happening, they're
really freaking good at whatthey do.
They really are.
So I don't think it has anythingto do with your skillset.
It's more of a structure issue.
You're in a friendlyconversation, so when that
signal happens, you get nervousand you don't move forward with
(04:37):
it because you don't want it tomove from like friendly vibes.
We're cool, we're friends into asales conversation and it
doesn't have to be that way.
So the structure issues are youdon't have a system for these
conversations.
They're just happening.
It's like a normal conversationwith your friend.
(04:59):
You don't have a way to connectyour.
The problems that you're hearingon those calls to your offer,
and we have a solution for that,don't worry.
We're getting to that.
And you default to being thenice, friendly person instead of
the useful person, because I'lltell you what, when somebody has
a solution to the problem thatI'm explaining, I don't feel
(05:24):
like you're being salesy orpitchy telling me that you know
how to solve that problem.
I feel relieved.
Okay, so let's talk about thesolve.
I don't use scripts at all, andI am not pushy.
prescribe to consent basedselling.
Unless you give me permission totalk about that next step or
(05:45):
that offer.
I'm not doing it.
So you need a bridge.
You don't need a script.
You need a bridge.
They say that they have aproblem.
You need the bridge that leadsto the solution.
Okay, so I learned this all thehard way, but that's how you
learn sometimes and because Ihad to learn it the hard way,
(06:08):
you don't have to.
So let's go through this realquick before we get into it.
So the climb, I was in corporatemarketing leadership, which is
why I know how to sell into aB2B so well because I was the
one being sold to, and I knowhow it works.
And then I built my consultancyon the side.
I launched that consultancy witha hundred K in contracts already
(06:31):
booked before I left corporatebecause I'm a scared little
chicken.
I couldn't do it without thatalready set there.
a couple years later, I had thisdry spell'cause I was busy.
I was busy with client work.
I wasn't keeping up with myrelationships.
Referrals slowed down, inbound,stopped.
And I realized that I just, Ihad momentum.
(06:53):
I didn't have a system and I wasreally just getting kind of
lucky I would do it in sprints.
That's how I ended up with thosea hundred K in contracts is I
did a sprint to fill in my, whatI would need for salary and then
I stopped.
So when that happened, I had todo an experiment, and that's
what I was telling you about the30 day experiment.
(07:15):
That is when I had 40 networkingcalls in one month, I had daily
conversations and it directlyled to revenue.
I closed$94,000 in those 30days.
And it became a repeatablesystem.
I did it over and over again,and now I have helped 50 plus
(07:37):
other consultants build systemslike this to get booked out.
That's how I created Booked Outin Six.
So when I tell you I sucked atsales, I hated selling so much
and it felt really uncomfortablefor me to turn a friendly
conversation into a salesconversation.
I know'cause I did that, Imessed up.
(07:59):
And then I had to build a systemand repeat it over and over to
get it into a place that feltnatural, not salesy, not pitchy.
So most networking calls looklike this.
They're always structured prettymuch like this.
Tell me about your business.
Then you explain your business,and then how can we help each
(08:23):
other?
Those three things are alwaysbrought up in every single
networking conversation, andthat's fine.
There's something we have to doin the middle though, so this
loop leads to zero revenue.
And this is why nothing happensbecause you're not, you have a
missing piece.
You have a missing piece.
(08:43):
I'll leave it at that.
So you're not being curiousenough during those networking
calls.
Your prime time of selling isn'twhen you're talking about your
business.
It's when they're talking abouttheir business.
That's the very beginning ofthat connection call.
When they're explaining it, youneed to be curious.
(09:06):
You need to ask questions whilethey're talking.
Don't wait to speak until it'syour turn to talk about your
business.
Ask questions.
Listen to what they're saying.
Pull threads that they'retalking about.
Signals will come up during thisportion of the connection call
and then go deeper.
(09:27):
So these are the things that youwant to listen for, and I
encourage you to screenshotthis.
So what do they need help with?
Those are signals that could beeither an opportunity for you or
it could be an opportunity tosend to a referral partner or
connect them with a community.
What value can you give them?
I like to go into these with acouple ideas of what I can offer
(09:52):
them, what they couldpotentially need.
But during this portion of theconnection call, you can usually
pull out what exactly they'dneed.
Who can you refer them to?
What communities would fit them?
Can you send any introductions?
These are opportunities.
These connection calls andnetworking calls are
opportunities not only for youbut for you to send referrals to
(10:15):
other people, for you to helpclose loops for them, for the
person you're on a phone callwith, because they have
challenges that will come upduring this.
So be curious.
And then when it comes time foryou to talk about your business,
answer them instead of yourpitch, your one-liner, your
(10:35):
elevator pitch, whatever youwanna call it, you want to
respond directly to what theytalked about.
So did they talk about aspecific challenge?
Did they mention somethingthey're frustrated about or
they're stuck about?
And if they didn't.
Pull those threads, ask thosequestions while they're talking.
(10:56):
Did they give you any signals?
Did they describe that they'vetried something and it didn't
work?
do you share an ICP?
So that's a big one.
does your, does the person thatyou're on the phone call with
share the same customer as you?
could you partner?
Is that a collaborationopportunity?
(11:18):
So listen for challenges.
listen for signals and listenfor shared ICPs.
So, and then turn your, this iswhat I do into a more, custom
version of it to respond to thechallenges and signals that they
gave you in their section.
So instead of saying, I helpconsultants get more clients
(11:40):
through content marketingsystems, you can tailor it to
them and say, you mentioned yourleads.
Feel consistent.
That's exactly what I helpconsultants fix.
This is how I do it.
So you can pull onto thoselittle signals that they gave
you and weave it into your, thisis what I do, speech.
(12:00):
Okay.
So let's talk about buyingsignals for one second, and I
want a little interaction duringthis portion of it.
So you're gonna hear things asyou are talking about.
Your business and what you do,like, oh, I could use that, or,
that sounds like me, or, I'mdealing with that right now.
(12:22):
we've tried that and it didn'twork.
So what do you do?
that's something that we'restruggling with, like these are
all buying signals that you needto listen for, so you can pull
those threads and dig in deeperin the comments.
I would love to hear some buyingsignals that you heard on your
last couple of connection calls,and if you're brave enough to
(12:44):
put them in there, I'm gonnashow you what kind of bridge
statements that you can use thatwould.
Connect to an offer.
So please put in any buyingsignals that you have heard on
recent calls and what you do,and then in a little bit I will
go into what Bridges would makesense for that.
(13:07):
Okay?
So this is the missing piecewhen you hear those signals,
because happen on pretty muchevery call.
You wanna acknowledge it.
So you mentioned X problem.
You wanna mirror back what theysaid so you can show that you
were listening, but it also, Ilike to use their exact language
(13:28):
so that they can hear themselvesin my response.
Next you wanna connect.
That's something I help with.
So here I have, that's actuallysomething I help with.
One thing I like to use is likedirect examples.
So another way you can do it islike, oh, that happened to a
(13:49):
client of mine recently.
This is what we did and this wasthe result.
So I almost.
With that connection part.
I like to create a study, butthis gives you an example that
anybody can apply.
That's something I help with, ormy client went through that
recently.
Something like that, thatbridges their reality, what they
(14:10):
just explained to you, to yourwork, what you do.
It's not a pitch.
You're just bridging theconnection there.
And then last offer, the nextstep, like wanted me to share
how I'd approach that or do youwanna hear what I did with them
to help them move past thatproblem?
(14:30):
So you can do this in a coupleways.
You can keep it high level, semigeneric where you say, that's
something I help with.
This is how I help them do it.
Or you could do it in a casestudy function.
That's the way I like to do it.
Oh, my client went through this.
Do you wanna hear what we did tomake that work?
It's permission based.
(14:51):
It's low pressure.
It opens a door, but it's notpitching at all and it's not
very salesy.
So acknowledge, connect, andthen offer the next step.
Permission-based offer it.
Okay, okay, so here are thebridges that are examples for
(15:11):
you.
we're not getting consistentleads and then the bridge.
Yeah.
You mentioned your leads havebeen inconsistent.
That's actually something I helpconsultants fix.
Want me to share what I look atfirst or.
Maybe, do you want me to sharewhat the first problem usually
is or the easiest fix is, or thefirst step is something like
(15:34):
that.
Referrals are hit or miss.
That's what you hear.
That's the signal you hear.
A bridge could be.
That makes sense.
Most people don't have systemsbehind the referrals.
I've built a repeatable way togenerate them.
Want me to walk through what Ido?
Or it could be like.
often say, oh, that's so common.
(15:55):
You are in such good company.
Because usually I've heard it athousand times, whatever that
thing is.
So I want them to realize, yeah,you're not alone.
This is such a common problem.
This is not a you problem.
This is like an overall businessproblem.
So that's a bridge statement youcan use.
(16:15):
Here's a signal.
We've tried content, but it'snot working A bridge that's
super common.
Usually it's not the content,it's the system behind it.
That's the problem.
Want me to show you how Idiagnose that?
What I do to fix that, somethinglike that.
You can see that the bridgestatements aren't pushy.
(16:36):
They're permission based, andthey're directly talking about
the signal that they gave andtying into your solution without
pitching the solution yet.
Okay.
So you shared a couple bridgeswith So let's go into those
signals and feel free while I'mdoing this, to start writing
(17:00):
down some of the signals thatyou've heard recently and start
writing some bridges that wouldwork for it.
So.
List your signals.
three to five things that yourideal client tends to say.
When you hear, like when you'reon a connection, call with them,
just the most common ones, andthen start workshopping the
(17:20):
bridges that you can use.
So you want to acknowledge whatthat signal was, what's going on
with them, connect with that,and then.
Use permission based offers.
So do you want me to walk youthrough that?
So keep it conversational, keepit theirs?
okay.
Real fast.
(17:41):
If you guys want to screenshotthis, this would be really
helpful for you as yourworkshopping it.
Okay.
Awesome.
All right, let's go throughthese bridges.
They tell me a story orsituation about something that
their client is going through.
Like, oh, my client could usethis.
Okay.
So with that, your bridge couldbe, Your client, Katie, So
(18:06):
they're telling you a situationthat their client is going
through.
Is this when like you're talkingto an agency and they might need
to outsource it to you?
So I'll ask that question.
Is that the situation in whichthis would come up?
And, while you're answeringthat, I'm gonna go to this one.
(18:27):
when I'm more established ormaking more money, I would love
to work with you.
Okay.
Yeah.
So that, yeah, that's a signalthat they're interested in
working with you and they'reautomatically putting in
objection in place, which isdifficult because they're
clearly saying that.
(18:49):
They can't afford to work withyou yet.
So what I would do in thissituation is, yeah, that has
happened.
I hear that occasionally or whenyou're brand new, it is hard to
invest in your business.
What I usually do when this isthe case, is we start off with
our brand roadmap, and then thatgives you a foundation for where
(19:13):
you can go with your website andfrom there, if you want me to
build it out, we could set up apayment plan through Klarna to
be able to solve that so we can,so the money isn't such a big
issue for you or for a moneyObjection like this.
I'm not established enoughobjection like this.
(19:35):
I'd probably put them into anurture sequence, but yeah, that
makes it a little bit moredifficult since they can't
afford to move forward.
So I would try and address it asbest as I can with.
These are the options.
There's, payment plans availablethat you can do.
We can do the gateway offerfirst to be able to establish
(19:57):
what we would move forward with,and maybe you already know that
they have.
(21:05):
The money available, but maybeit's more of a scarcity issue
and they could afford it.
They're just choosing not to.
That's something where theselling, the brand roadmap would
help them get over that.
They can start seeing like, thisis what could happen.
Another way to get over thisobjection'cause I feel like this
(21:27):
is more of an objection than asignal.
another way to do that is toshow them some of your past
client work and how that hashelped them make more money.
So you can, I would use more ofa case study type of bridge for
this situation so that you canadjust their objection at the
same time as like moving themonto like what the next offer
(21:50):
would be, which would be yourbrand roadmap.
Okay.
Let's see.
I don't seem to be getting anyvalue from my current partner,
but they're probably tooexpensive for us.
Okay, so for this, they're notgetting it.
It sounds like this also soundsmore like they don't see.
(22:13):
They think that they're payingtoo much for their current
partner and the value doesn'tequate to it.
So for this.
I would start talking aboutreturn on investment.
Like for you, for example, youcan say, you know what?
I've heard that before andthat's totally reasonable.
(22:33):
One thing that I do right awayto make sure that you're getting
a return from working with me iswe look at your offers and we
see which ones have the biggestreturn for you, which ones are
the most profitable, so you canfocus on that.
So we focus on increasing yourprofitability first and then
(22:55):
move on to those deep, thatdeeper work.
So that's one thing that youcould do.
Again, that's kind of anobjection, wield into a signal.
Okay.
So for Katie, okay.
Katie's is.
And she said, yeah, when anothermarketing agency or consultant
(23:18):
has a client with a messaging orpositioning problem.
Yeah.
So that sounds like a clear,yes, I need this.
And so for you, I would say, ohyeah, I work with a lot of
agencies.
I am, I'm working on their.
Whatever they're, messagingconstantly.
(23:42):
And these are the results thatwe're getting.
The, if you want, I can walk youthrough what the first step of
working with me would be or howI would get that messaging
really solved for your client.
And then that's when you cantalk about like, building out
the persona.
Okay.
(24:03):
Okay, so on your next networkingcall, I want you to listen for
signals.
So go in, listen and look forany openings that you can pull a
thread on and see if you can getany more information out of it.
use one bridge statement.
So don't try to nail.
(24:24):
Every kind of bridge statement,just choose one and don't
overthink it.
So this is permission based.
It doesn't need to be perfect.
It doesn't need to be a script.
You just need to get them to thenext phase.
Like do want me to walk throughwhat this would look like for
you or, the first thing that Ido is this gateway offer.
(24:49):
Do you want me to walk youthrough what that would look
like?
So those are some ways that youcan do permission based pitching
at the end when they've alreadysignaled for it.
Okay?
So what I want you to do ispractice this.
I actually have a worksheet thatgoes along with this that's
going to be in the email thatfollows this.
(25:11):
And I will also send you thislink to join the Consultants
Mastermind.
It's free, but what I want youto do is practice using these
techniques, this bridgetechnique on your next couple of
sales calls, come to theconsultants Mastermind and bring
your results, bring yourquestions, tell me what worked
(25:33):
and what didn't, so we canrefine it.
Because what we're talking abouttoday, it does take practice.
I mean, I told you when I builtout this bridge statement, I did
40 sales, I did 40 networkingcalls in one month.
It took a lot of practice so wecan refine it and customize it
(25:56):
for you in this consultantmastermind.
Hold on.
Let me see.
The next one is May 26th at 11,so you're gonna get an
invitation for that.
Totally free work on thisworkbook and do that.
and what I want to do real quickbefore we close up is go through
(26:18):
this chat and see if there areany other signals that we should
go over.
So here's one.
when I'm more established ormaking money, I would love to
work with you.
Okay?
So multiple people are hearingthat and it is a, a money
objection and kind of alsoasking you to show that it's
(26:41):
important, that they will getthe value from it.
They're asking you to convincethem that's what it is.
so for both of you.
They want you to one, addressthe objection.
Tell them why it is worth thatvalue.
(27:02):
And then help them figure outwhat is the next step?
What can they do Now, Katie hasa good point here.
I feel like money objections areasking, is it worth it?
And the ROI story is helpful inanswering that.
So when you're creating thosebridge statements, like I talked
about earlier, I said I like touse case study versions of them.
(27:25):
Those are best when you'rehearing some sort of objection
along with the signal.
Use a case study as your bridge.
So let's go back real quickright here in this part two of
the bridge, the connect.
Use a case study to be able tocreate that bridge.
(27:46):
So thank you guys so much forjoining me today.
Do you, if you have any otherquestions, pop them into the
chat real fast.
We're at time, but I can hangout if additional questions come
up.
And remember, you're gonna getaccess to this inside of the
tiny Marketing portal for thepeople who are in booked out in
(28:08):
six.
It's booked out in six.
You'll get that in the fast cashsection.
And then, you're also gonna getan email after this that will
have the replay of thispresentation.
It'll have the invite to theconsultants mastermind.
Which I encourage you to cometo.
I really want you to practicethis and come with, hey, what
(28:29):
didn't work, so we can refine itbecause it takes practice.
And, then you will also get thefast cash challenge.
So if you want to book moresales calls, you're gonna three
different trainings over threedifferent days on different
techniques to be able to dothat.
And it's gonna be a lot of funsince everybody's doing that at,
(28:51):
at once.
Okay, this was excellent.
Made me realize I need to get abetter listening signal, get
better at listening to signalson calls.
Yes, be brave.
Ask for consent to sale, andlisten to those signals while
they're in that first sectionand they're talking about their
business and customize your,about my business based off of
(29:15):
what their signals were.
Awesome.
Thank you, Cindy.
Thank you Kate, Caitlin.
Thank you everybody.
You guys were awesome and sinceno other questions are coming
up, I'll end the stream here,but you're gonna get all of
these resources afterwards alongwith the worksheet.
Okay.
(29:35):
Bye.
Sarah Noel Block (29:36):
If you want to go even deeper, the full
workshop, resources, and accessto the next Consultant's
Mastermind are all available forpurchase.
You can grab it in the shownotes for just$47, or head over
to bridge.sarahnoelblock.com toget access.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
If this episode made things go a little more doable,
I'd love to help you take thenext step with the Booked Out
Blueprint.
It's a practical, low pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it outalone.
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