Launching or scaling a company is exhilarating, right up until you realise that a brilliant product means nothing if it doesn’t move off the shelf. In a recent live webinar, serial entrepreneur and ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars unpacked the mindset shifts, communication tools, and repeatable processes that let owners convert more prospects without sliding into discount‑driven desperation. Below you’ll find a cohesive, 1,050‑word narrative that distils the session into practical steps you can implement this quarter.
Brad started with a blunt reminder: your internal narrative leaks into every sales call. If you believe customers are time‑wasters, or that selling is “convincing” people to buy things they don’t need, that energy shows up in your tone and body language. Conversely, if you view yourself as a problem‑solver who trades value for value, prospects sense it and relax.
Quick self‑audit: jot down three adjectives you routinely use to describe (a) customers, (b) salespeople, and (c) money. Any negative words are silent anchors on your conversion rate.
Changing those beliefs matters because, according to Sugars, around 80 percent of buying decisions are emotional. Facts support emotion; they rarely overrule it. Before you tweak a single headline or offer, make sure your mindset generates positive, confident emotion in both you and the prospect.
Great salespeople aren’t just good talkers; they’re agile communicators who adapt to how the buyer processes information. Sugars leans on a simple but powerful VAK model:
Visual buyers use words like see, look, picture. They respond to diagrams, demos, and clear design.
Auditory buyers say hear, sound, ring a bell. They want dialogue, testimonials, and vocal enthusiasm.
Kinesthetic buyers talk about feel, touch, grasp. They need hands‑on interaction and stories that evoke emotion.
Spend the first two minutes listening for those cues, then match your explanations to the dominant style. A visual prospect appreciates a product video; an auditory prospect prefers a conversational walk‑through; a kinesthetic buyer might light up when they physically handle a sample.
Dominant (D) – The Commander
Wants the newest, fastest option and decides quickly. Keep the pitch high‑level, bottom‑line, and let them choose the premium version.
Influencer (I) – The Socialiser
Buys from people they like. Share success stories, emphasise community, and maintain upbeat energy.
Steady (S) – The Stabiliser
Values reliability and harmony. Show how your offer aligns with what already works and provide strong guarantees.
Compliant (C) – The Analyst
Needs data and detail. Offer specs, case studies, and time to review documentation before committing.
Learning to identify and flex between those styles is a low‑cost way to lift conversions almost immediately.
Information pulled is more credible than information pushed. Brad recommends a question funnel that moves from open to specific without ever dropping into interrogation mode:
Open the conversation: “Tell me what prompted the call today.”
Probe for context: “How are you handling that challenge right now?”
Dig to emotion: “And what would fixing it mean for your day‑to‑day workload?”
Play dumb and keep digging: “Interesting—can you give me an example?”
Offer tailored solutions: only after you’ve heard enough to frame the offer in their words.
Check the temperature: “How does that align with what you had in mind?”
Confirm a detail, not the sale: “Would the team prefer Tuesday or Thursday for delivery?”
Because the prospect has supplied the raw material, objections shrink and commitment rises.
Within the first five minutes, lay out how the meeting will run. A concise purpose statement sounds like this:
“Is it okay if I outline the next 30 minutes? First I’ll ask a few questions to understand your situation. Then I’ll suggest two or three options. If we both agree one fits, I’ll ask you to choose your preferred start date and we’ll take payment details so we can move forward today. Does that work?”
The prospect feels respected and informed; you’ve also pre‑framed the close as a normal step, not a surprise.
Charisma might land the occasional deal, but predictable revenue comes from a factory‑style process: identical inputs, identical steps, identical outputs. Brad frames this as a three‑legged stool:
Systems turn selling into an assembly line. Map every repeatable scenario such as walk‑in retail, discovery call, product demo so anyone on your team can deliver the same high‑quality experience without improvising.
Scripts give each system a voice. They’re not canned speeches; they’re guardrails. A good script describes the greeting, the transition to questions, the language for presenting options, and the exact wording that confirms a detail instead of asking, “So…do you want to buy?”
Numbers are the scoreboard. Track how many leads advance from one stage to the next: inquiry → conversation → proposal → closed deal. Wherever the ratio nosedives, return to the script, coach the team, and tweak the system until the bottleneck clears.
Measure daily, review weekly, refine monthly and then watch consistency, confidence, and conversion climb in lock‑step.
Week 1 – Audit beliefs and materials. List negative self‑talk, update product sheets with fresh testimonials, and write a two‑sentence purpose statement for every common meeting type.
Week 2 – Build your question funnel. Draft at least ten open, probing, and emotional questions. Practice them out loud until they feel natural.
Week 3 – Draft micro‑scripts. Craft greetings, discovery transitions, and three detail‑confirmation closes. Role‑play with a colleague until you can slide between D, I, S, and C buyer styles without thinking.
Week 4 – Measure and refine. Log every conversation, noting VAK cues, DISC guesses, and where the call ended. At Friday’s review, adjust scripts based on what stalled and what advanced.
Selling is not about arm‑twisting; it’s about structured empathy. When beliefs align with service, when words mirror how a buyer processes the world, and when questions uncover emotion before logic, conversion rates jump, often in weeks, not years.
If you’d like guided support while you implement Brad Sugars’ framework, ActionCOACH offers a complimentary discovery call. Together we’ll review your current funnel, identify where prospects leak out, and map concrete actions for the next 90 days.
Ready to transform “just looking” into “let’s start”? Request your free discovery call today and learn how to put these principles to work before your next prospect even walks through the door.