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Last week, I spent 4 hours chasing down payment details for a vendor I've paid a dozen times before. Four hours of not building, not creating, not doing the work only I can do—just manually managing something that should've been automated years ago.

If you're manually approving invoices, tracking payments, or managing vendor info, you're not "being hands-on"—you're drowning in finance friction that's keeping you from essential work.

I'm partnering with BILL to share resources on automation over the next few weeks. More soon.

Anxiety, fear, lack of confidence, or cringe.

Do these thoughts/ images come to your mind the moment you think about “Sales”?

Does “Getting on sales calls” and “Pitching your offers” seem like the necessary evil that you HAVE to do, but you definitely don’t WANT to do?

If you’re nodding your head, let me tell you:

Sales is the most misunderstood & wrongly educated vertical of running a business.

Most traditional education paints sales as “hustly” or “harrasy”: Where you run behind prospects and do whatever it takes to get them to buy! Most salespeople you see are doing the same thing. So naturally, you start seeing sales as this icky thing you MUST do.

But what if it’s not sales itself that is icky, but the approach most people take? An approach that, in my view, is BROKEN (and it keeps people broke!).

Think of it this way. Everyone hates feeling like someone is trying to sell them something they don’t want or need.

But everyone LOVES buying stuff they want. It’s empowering and fun.

There’s an art and science to sales. And when it’s done well, sales is an act of service.

You can help your prospects transform in a way where they’ll be eternally grateful that you “sold” to them. And you’ll find there’s nothing “salesy” or “icky” or “painful” about the process.

All you need is a new lens to approach sales.

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to give you this new lens by pointing out the 3 most common mistakes you’ll make with the old, broken approach. These mistakes are the core reasons why you fail to close deals on sales calls. And fixing them will make you an unstoppable closer.

By the end, my goal is for you to:

This one’s super tactical. So read it fully.

Let’s start with mistake #1.

One word: Emotion!

It’s not logic. Emotions make people WANT to buy anything. And after the desire has been generated, then they RATIONALIZE the decision with their logic.

So when you’re selling, your north star is “getting people emotional about the problems you fix with your services”.

Once you do that, the dominoes start falling: Prospect feels emotion → Prospect seeks a change → Prospect sees your solution → Sale is made!

Keep this in mind: EMOTION DRIVES THE SALE

In simplest terms: Problems are logical, and Pain is emotional.

Problems are the unemotional, intellectual representation of the prospect’s challenges. For example: “We struggle with retaining our employees. They leave in 3-5 months”. See how this is an unemotional problem statement?

Pain is the emotional turmoil that prospect goes through because of unsolved problems. For example: “Every 2 months, I have to hire new people, which takes me away from my most valuable (and enjoyable) work. And since I know they just leave, it’s hard to entice them to join. It’s frustrating. I’m starting to hate my job!”

Notice the difference?

If the prospect comes to you with problems, they aren’t yet feeling the emotion. If you turn on your sales mode: You turn them off! And they’ll just think you are being salesy.

So what do you do instead?

This is the art.

Internalize this: You aren’t here to SELL them anything. You are only here to LISTEN to their problems. You EMPOWER them to solve them WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.

And the way you empower them is by helping them take action!

So when prospects start talking about problems, you dig deeper.

You ask them:

Keep digging deep until you help them find their pain. Your value as a salesperson lies in helping them uncover WHY these problems are hurting them. Ask the hard questions that they may not be asking themselves.

After 4-5 questions, the pain will surface. And once it does, prospects will themselves ask you, “What do you think I can do?” or they’ll be ready for you to say, “I think I can help you, are you open to hearing how?”

Since you put their interest and their goals first, they’ll WANT you to show them what you have to sell. And now you have the permission to present your offer!

See how different this feels?

You’re being asked to present what you sell. That’s nothing close to being salesly, right? You present with total conviction now.

Once you present your offer, the second mistake becomes important.

Once you’re discussing the offer on the sales call, there’s “content” and there’s “frame”.

Let’s take an example.

Suppose you are an HR consultant. And you’re on a sales call with a prospect.

Let’s analyze the prospect’s last sentence:

If you respond to the content, you say:

"That's totally fine! You can take your time. I’m here whenever you're ready. In the meantime, want me send over some case studies and my pricing so you can review everything at your own pace?”

Sounds like a fair reply, right? It’s not!

You just accepted their frame. You're now positioned as the eager vendor waiting for them to make a decision. You’ve given away your power and now you are playing the waiting game!

Now let’s see what happens if you respond to the frame. You say:

“I appreciate your honesty. When I hear something like, ‘we’re still exploring our options,’ especially after you’ve shared how costly this problem is for you, what I’ve learned is that it’s usually not about timing, it’s about trust.

Something in what I shared didn’t fully land for you yet. Would you mind sharing what still feels unclear or what you’d need to feel fully confident moving forward?”

See how this reply is like a 💣?

It completely dismantles their frame and brings you back in control of the conversation.

No, it’s not. If you take a closer look, you’ll see it’s the opposite of manipulation. It’s ensuring that everyone has a chance to put all their cards on the table and have an honest conversation about what’s really going on.

Remember, your job is to empower them to take action and make a decision. Most of the time, that requires you to ask the prospects the hard questions. Because NOT answering these questions is probably why they haven’t solved their problems yet.

The tension you create because of these questions helps!

You aren’t doing this just because you want to sell. You genuinely care about the prospects. And it’s your duty to remove all the excuses that keep them from taking action.

This is why sales calls are so important.

Your work actually starts right from this first interaction. You are already coaching them to remove their limiting beliefs. And you do that by responding to the frame.

Never speak to “what’s being said”. Always speak to “what’s being implied”.

Now this is easier said than done.

And if you find asking these questions difficult, it’s because of the last mistake.

It’s time for some tough love.

The only reason you don’t challenge prospects or you’re worried about asking uncomfortable questions is because you're Needy.

And if you dig even deeper, you’ll realize that this neediness comes from operating with a Scarcity Mindset. You are trying to close every prospect. Every prospect feels like your last chance, so you can't afford to lose them.

Prospects sense this. And it hurts your case.

Here’s what you don’t realize: Prospects need YOU more than you need them.

Think about it: What does a prospect actually have to offer? Just their money.

But what do YOU have to offer them:

Money is a commodity. Your expertise is not.

Your time, energy, and mental capacity are VERY valuable. And it’s up to YOU to decide whether the prospect is a good fit for you (NOT the other way around).

But once again, this is easier said than done.

How do you do this? How do you make this shift from scarcity to abundance?

I’m about to share a VERY tactical method for cultivating that abundance mindset, but we often need some mental and emotional reprogramming to make it stick. In The Silent Lie Costing You $10k Monthly, I break down my Inventory and Flip system, which was pivotal in my own trek out of scarcity mindset.

The solution is remarkably simple: One hour a day of outreach and prospecting.

This is why damn near everything we do in Essentialist CEO is designed to get you OUT of the lethal game of referral roulette so you can seize control over your business (and your life). And build that big, juicy, chunky pipeline.

When you have 5-10 qualified conversations happening at once, you stop being attached to any single outcome. You can walk into any sales call with abundance knowing there are more prospects waiting in the pipeline. You don’t NEED their money!

And this abundance will give you:

People want what they think they can't have. When you're not desperate for their business, they want to work with you MORE.

If you correct these 3 mistakes, and just make these actionable changes, you’ll show up as an entirely different person on sales calls

The difference will be clear:

If it’s a “HELL YES” (and only a mutual HELL YES counts here), you’ll get the offer.

If it’s anything else, you’ll move on to the next prospect.

You'll close more deals. You'll work with better clients. And you'll actually ENJOY the sales process.

Because you're not being salesy, you're being of service.

That's the art of sales.

And that’s what makes you an unstoppable closer.

In love & growth,
Kasey

~ PS- If you like homework assignments, here’s one for you:

Do this and report back 😊