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What you’ll learn in this episode:
What if sales didn’t feel salesy — and instead felt like service?
In this power-packed episode of The It’s Your Offer Podcast, I sit down with sales coach and founder of Building Momentum Resources, Brooke Greening, to break down exactly how to create a simple, repeatable sales framework that actually works — without ever feeling manipulative or pushy.
With 20+ years of real-world sales experience (from telemarketing to high-emotion senior care sales), a Masters in Counseling, and a refreshingly human-first approach, Brooke shares how she developed the SERVICE Sales Framework — a step-by-step process designed to help service providers lead sales conversations with clarity, confidence, and connection.
If you’ve ever struggled with inconsistent sales, leaky pipelines, or the pressure to “close” without clarity, this conversation is the game-changer you’ve been waiting for.
In this episode, you will learn to:
- Why most sales conversations fail before they even begin — and how to fix that
- The truth about what builds trust (hint: it’s not small talk)
- Brooke’s SERVICE framework and how to use it to lead confident, value-based conversations
- How to identify the real problem your client wants solved (so you don’t overwhelm or lose them)
- The art of handling objections without getting defensive or derailing the relationship
💬 Loved this episode? Let’s keep the conversation going—DM me on Instagram (@jessicadioguardimiller) and tell me your biggest takeaway!
Mentioned in this episode:
Brooke Greening’s Main Website
Freebies: Sales Conversation Assessment
Work/Connect with me:
Meet Brooke Greening
Brooke is a former counselor turned sales and marketing expert who knows that selling isn’t about pressure—it’s about people. With 20 years in sales and a track record of helping businesses grow 30% year over year, Brooke brings a refreshingly human approach to attracting and closing the right clients. If you’re tired of sleazy sales tactics and marketing that misses the mark, you’re going to love this conversation.
Jessica Miller (00:01.368)
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s podcast episode with Brooke. I am so excited to be here with you. Brooke Greening is here with us in the studio. Brooke, welcome.
Brooke Greening (00:12.142)
Thank you so much Jessica, it’s great to be here. I really appreciate it.
Jessica Miller (00:15.606)
Yeah, Brooke, I’m so glad our paths crossed. I mean, I think we were fast friends the second I came across all of your material. And I’m so excited to tell people, you know, share your genius. For everyone listening, tell us a little bit about you, your business, anything you want everyone to know.
Brooke Greening (00:32.156)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, it’s called building momentum resources and it’s really easy to kind of get stuck in that daily grind sometimes of our work. And so, I come in in regards from that sales coaching side to help build that momentum, specifically like if processes are kind of getting broke in regards to how they’re having their sales conversations. And I just truly believe you don’t have to be a jerk to be good at sales. And so that’s what I bring every day to my clients.
Jessica Miller (00:58.262)
Yeah. Amen. I want to say amen to that. And you had a really interesting background and sort of path to how you got into sales. Tell us a little bit about that because I think you’ve got a great story.
Brooke Greening (01:09.148)
Yeah, thank you. So, I’ve been in sales for over 20 years in a lot of different areas. And then I also have a master’s in counseling. And so, we kind of started pushing all of it together, but I’ve done telemarketing, I’ve done car sales in regards to appointment setting, all helping me to know that’s not what I wanna do with my life. But it gave me an ability to know like, how does the sales process work? And how do I do it in a way that’s authentic to me instead of,
Jessica Miller (01:25.966)
Don’t do that
Brooke Greening (01:38.172)
feeling like it’s gimmicky and it’s pushy. I didn’t wanna do that. And then I also had my master’s in counseling and then went into the senior world of sales. So, like assisted living, rehabs, things like that. And I was there for 10 years, both on the like face-to-face talking to thousands and thousands of families and then joining the corporate side, working with their insurance company that they launched. And then in the end being a sales specialist where you would walk in and literally the place was on fire.
Jessica Miller (01:48.069)
wow.
Brooke Greening (02:04.624)
It was just imploding everywhere, just so many problems. And I was expected to come in, fix it quickly, address the problems, and then train the next team that was coming in. And so, I did that for a while as well. And then we came in and we started our own business, helping service providers in their sales process.
Jessica Miller (02:05.174)
my-
Jessica Miller (02:21.902)
That’s so cool. Was there anything that stuck out to you? Like those are so many different types of roles, but was there anything that you’re like, consistently I saw this across all of them or like good or bad? Like it was there. Yeah.
Brooke Greening (02:32.698)
Yeah, 100%. I threw all of those pieces, even when I was in telemarketing, even when I was in appointment setting with Bill Stasek Chevrolet in Chicago and we had to do tire kicking and crowd likes, what was that called? When they were selling the cars, I can’t remember what that was titled. But anyways, what I saw over and over and over again is you do not have to be gimmicky.
Like I can be myself because all during that time I was also getting my masters in counseling. And so, I was constantly coming back and forth to this isn’t about me. This isn’t about what I want. This isn’t what I’m trying to make you do what you want to do if you want to do it, if you don’t want to do it. This is truly about the problems that you’re facing and how I can be able to help you. And that’s what I learned what I didn’t want to do in telemarketing and in regards to appointment setting. And then when I went into senior sales,
Jessica Miller (03:11.896)
you
Brooke Greening (03:30.236)
I was able to see how we can do that in a way that is serving our clients. And so that’s how it all started kind of coming together. So then when we started coming up with our service sales framework, I wanted it to be completely opposite of gimmicks and manipulation and being salesy. However, I also wanted people to actually make sales. You can’t swing the other way and then be like, I’m not.
Jessica Miller (03:52.78)
Yeah. Hallelujah.
Brooke Greening (03:57.83)
I just don’t have any plan or intention in how this conversation is going to go. You can serve them and still make sales. don’t have to choose between, do I wanna value them or do I need to make a sale? You don’t have to make that decision. And so that is what just came across over and over and over again. And I just wanna share in the telemarketing world, in the sales world, there are still great salespeople in all of those places. I learned from great people there. I also saw
Jessica Miller (04:08.504)
year.
Brooke Greening (04:26.524)
what I had nothing that I wanted to do nothing with. So, there were, there was both.
Jessica Miller (04:29.826)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you bring up a really good point. you know, in the sales world, you need to share those best practices. You need the knowledge. You need people like you who are going to take that and put it into something that’s accessible to people and kind of go out there, sometimes against the grain, and show people how they can do it differently. In a market where, you know, there’s a lot, there’s high stakes, right? People are commission-based. They want to make money.
Brooke Greening (04:57.65)
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Jessica Miller (04:58.652)
the rejection factor is really high. They’ve probably gotten a lot of bad training or done things that didn’t really work that well. So, they’re like, kind of like, you know, shell shocked. but it’s, yeah, when you spend the time with someone who does it right. That kind of learning and mentoring is huge. And I think with all that background that you mentioned, you got to see the good and the bad and you’re like, hey, let’s do this differently. So, you started to move toward.
Brooke Greening (05:07.335)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (05:21.862)
I did. Yes.
Jessica Miller (05:25.686)
your own business and doing it on your own. Let’s talk about that because I think your service sales framework is awesome. And it took all those best practices and it kind of created your own thing. So, tell us about that.
Brooke Greening (05:26.706)
Yeah, yeah.
Brooke Greening (05:36.806)
It did. Yeah. And then the other piece was as we created it, because the service sales framework is an acronym for service. Cause I just want it to be completely obvious for me and for all my clients that when I’m on a sales conversation, it is about them to the point of when I’m doing what we call like our pre-call planning and all of that. I am reminding myself of that, that it’s a service conversation. This is not about me. This is not about how I need them to do. They need to buy from me. I have a certain quota that I have to hit.
Jessica Miller (05:51.085)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (06:05.552)
All of those things may be true, but that does not matter at all to the person that we’re talking to. And so, we have to have to have that reminder all the time. So that’s why we created it. And I also wanted it to be simple because people, I want people to be able to make changes in their sales process quickly. Like we don’t need to be rehashing this for like months. I want to be able to talk to them in one conversation and help them move forward and help them to go make.
Jessica Miller (06:18.296)
Yes.
Jessica Miller (06:26.713)
my gosh,
Brooke Greening (06:35.024)
multiple sales after that conversation. That is the goal and the service framework allows us to do that because it gives us a common language to start being able to talk to and we can go back to it and say, hey, you know what? When we’re talking about verbalizing the value of what you’re doing, this is where it started coming off the rails. When we start talking about identifying the objections and creating the urgency, this is where it started to come apart. It gives us a common language where we can go back because what I found is that anyone I ever talked to,
whether it’s a university, it’s a senior living, it’s a car dealership, it’s a company in Australia, whatever it is, whoever I’ve worked with, that service framework, it’s one of the problems that they’re going to face because sales, no matter where it is, is pretty practical if you’re able to follow the process. So, you don’t have to feel like, my business is really, really special, so it’s not going to work.
Jessica Miller (07:17.472)
yeah.
Brooke Greening (07:34.404)
No, no, no, no. Like there are just problems that come up in sales, no matter what industry you’re in, no matter what you’re doing. And this is how we can be able to start addressing it.
Jessica Miller (07:44.31)
Yeah, I love this point that you’re making because if I could say that there is one thing that I am seeing across pretty much every single person that I’ve ever talked to in a sales capacity where I’m helping them with growth or looking at their sales process or something, it’s the framework. It is the standardization. Like you cannot measure something that you don’t have a framework for. You don’t have a standardized process around that you’re measuring against the best practice or your
Brooke Greening (08:04.114)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (08:13.094)
Right. Yeah.
Jessica Miller (08:13.494)
moving through those pieces. I think you’re absolutely right. And there really are no special snowflakes. There aren’t.
Brooke Greening (08:19.834)
No, they, well, and the reason I say that is because that’s what surprised me. Sometimes I like, cause we’ve been doing this for about five years. So was in sales for 20 years and then we’ve been helping for the last five years. And sometimes as you’re talking to companies, you start to feel like, I don’t know. Like I’ve not talked to this specific industry before. I like, I want to make sure I’m going to be able to help them to grow in their sales. And it’s the same thing.
Jessica Miller (08:38.434)
Right.
Jessica Miller (08:42.894)
Mm-hmm.
Yes. Yeah. Because to your point, I think, and you tell me if I’m wrong here, but at the other end of this are people and people process and they go through a behavioral journey, you know, when they’re making these choices and you’re really just helping them do that better. So as long as there’s a person on the other side, it’s, think it’s very consistent from what I’ve seen.
Brooke Greening (08:52.934)
Yeah.
Brooke Greening (09:00.284)
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. That’s an excellent point. And that is why we focus in regards to the service industries, because it is a little bit different. I’m not talking about, okay, if there’s an e-commerce and they’re trying to sell something on those site and things like that, that’s fantastic. There are great people to be able to help with that. I come in and say, okay, but you need to build a relationship because they’re trusting you.
Jessica Miller (09:17.228)
Sure. Correct. Yes.
Jessica Miller (09:27.298)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (09:27.506)
to help them with whatever problem they have. And this is how we can be able to make sure that you’re able to serve them and move the process forward so that it works. Yeah.
Jessica Miller (09:36.086)
Yeah, yes, very true. I think that makes total sense. tell us a little bit, you started to put this framework together or this approach, like tell us about the pieces of that and how that came together.
Brooke Greening (09:47.674)
Yeah, so it is the acronym of service. And so, the first part is in regards to setting expectations and establishing rapport. You have to be able to do that because no matter what. So, when I was at Wells Fargo Financial and I was doing telemarketing while I was getting my master’s in counseling, I had like three to five seconds for them not to hang up on me. And even though that’s not necessarily happening when we’re talking to business professionals, we are still needing to be able to set them up for success and ourself up for success. And if we don’t do that,
Jessica Miller (10:17.368)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (10:17.64)
Two things are gonna happen. One, they’re gonna take control of the conversation and they’re just gonna like ram it. And you’re gonna be like, okay, I don’t know. Like, what do I do? How do I not, how do I get the conversation back? Or we just lose them. They are just politely disengaged because they’re like, I have no idea where this is actually going. If we’re gonna be talking about investments, whatever’s happening. And so, if we don’t set that expectation in the beginning, we’re gonna lose them. So that is the very first.
Jessica Miller (10:29.59)
Right.
Brooke Greening (10:46.3)
piece of that. that can, sometimes that can make the biggest difference in regards to when people are looking at their sales process. They’re just like, okay. I didn’t know I needed to do that.
Jessica Miller (10:54.806)
Yeah. Yeah. And I think there’s something in there, Brooke, too, that I have found it’s also solidifying what the person, the salesperson’s role is in that call. Right. When you set the expectation, when you let people know how it’s going to go, you put yourself into a leadership position. And that is so important to
Brooke Greening (11:08.198)
Yeah.
Brooke Greening (11:15.08)
Hm.
Jessica Miller (11:17.312)
avoid what you’re talking about, which is like complete mayhem. So, you are the boss, you are the leader, like control the flow of that call. Yeah.
Brooke Greening (11:18.802)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yes, because you’re going to be the boss and the leader if they hire you. Like that is, that’s the point. And I always encourage our onboarding does not start when they sign a contract with us. It’s starting in that very first sales conversation. And so, we have to, we have to graciously be able to take control of the conversation. And I believe you need to control the conversation without doing all of the talking. That’s, and that’s where that service framework comes into play. Cause it helps people to know, okay,
Jessica Miller (11:28.972)
Right, exactly.
Jessica Miller (11:37.901)
Yes.
Jessica Miller (11:47.648)
Agreed.
Brooke Greening (11:52.668)
These are the questions that I’m asking. This is how we’re guiding the conversation, but I’m not the one doing all of the talking. Because then we’re not really serving them at that point. It’s just more of a pitch and that’s not gonna, that’s not what I teach. So yeah.
Jessica Miller (11:58.894)
Yep.
Jessica Miller (12:08.322)
Yeah, and it’s energetic, I think, a lot of times, right? It’s that how you’re setting the tone and what you’re doing. Yeah, that’s awesome to start there. And then what do they do next?
Brooke Greening (12:14.97)
Yeah. Yeah. Then we move into establishing rapport. So, there’s a difference between like we’re having a chit chat and we’re having small talk. That’s good. That’s human. Like that just helps everybody to feel like, okay, we’re just having a regular conversation. But when we start talking about establishing rapport, that’s when we’re saying, hey, I care so much about your business that I did a little bit of homework before we started having this conversation.
Jessica Miller (12:39.287)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (12:41.446)
So just as an example, when I’m working with my clients, if we’re talking about like business to business, you’re looking at what they’re doing. You’re looking at what they’re creating. What’s going on LinkedIn? What’s going on if they’re doing blog posts, videos, whatever it is, and you’re watching it and you have intelligent questions about it. Not to diagnose something, not to fix anything, just to understand what’s important to them. In regards to like when I was in senior living and working with those,
you would usually get information. Like someone would hand you a paper, sometimes like from a place for mom or wherever, and say, this is what’s going on with the family member. You would look at that and be able to have intelligent questions about it. So, it’s just like when we’re like at a doctor’s office and we walk in and they’re like, okay, so Brooke, it looks like, all right, you’re here because, and you’re like, hello.
Jessica Miller (13:35.684)
Yeah
Brooke Greening (13:38.152)
What is going on? Do you know who I am? Do you know what’s going on? And we have that feeling of like, you don’t care and you don’t know who I am. That’s not what we want to be establishing when we’re having our sales conversations. And when we ask questions that we should know the answer to, that’s how it starts to come across. So that’s when we want to do a little bit of a homework with the established rapport. It’s like, and we know this, like HubSpot just came out and they said 5 % of marketers are trusted in the world.
and 3 % of sales professionals are trusted in the world. Awesome, fantastic. So now that means whether you’re actually in a sales role or you’re the business owner and you’re running the sales and you don’t necessarily have sales title, when you are talking to them, they are sizing you up and they are trying to figure out, do I trust you? Can you help me? Those are all the things that are going on in their head because they’ve had so many other sales conversations at this point and it didn’t go well.
and they were asked maybe one question and then they had to, then they were, you know, had a pitch at them for the next 15 minutes or they were asked questions where it was like, why do I have to answer these? Like this is, you should be able to know this. And so that’s what I mean by establishing rapport, to build that trust and to help separate yourself from your competitor. Cause my whole entire goal is when I’m working with my clients, I’m not telling you that they’re not gonna go talk to a competitor. They absolutely are.
Jessica Miller (14:48.428)
Right.
Jessica Miller (15:05.656)
Sure.
Brooke Greening (15:06.041)
My goal is that by using the service framework, they go to that competitor and they’re still thinking about the conversation they’ve had with you. That’s what I want. I want to have that trust. I want to have that type of connection instead of them, because that’s what happens. Like then they’re going to go and they’re going to talk to a competitor and the competitor is going to maybe ask them one or two questions and then just launch in to what they’re going to do to be able to help them. And I guarantee you people will, because it happens all the time, then they’ll come back and they’ll be like, they didn’t care.
they weren’t, they, they could have been less expensive. Like value, all of that, the investment, all of that starts changing when they understand that you actually care about my business. And that is one way that you can be able to do that when you’re establishing the rapport. So, it doesn’t have to take a long time. Those can take like two to three minutes, but it’s important to be able to do those pieces. And then we start going into, okay, now let’s actually talk about what’s going on with your business and the frustrations that you’re facing. And that’s when the recognize the problem comes in.
Jessica Miller (15:42.06)
Right.
Jessica Miller (15:50.424)
Yeah. Right.
Jessica Miller (16:06.22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think, you nailed it with this idea. doesn’t, it’s not a dissertation. You don’t have to research them for a week. You know, just get a sense and really, really, really don’t go into that cold. Like, I mean, you mentioned it. I think really great sales conversations are about asking high quality questions and doing enough homework where people know you actually do care about them because you took the time to actually.
Brooke Greening (16:11.804)
No. No. No.
Brooke Greening (16:18.779)
No.
Brooke Greening (16:31.516)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jessica Miller (16:33.217)
figure out what’s going on in their world so there’s some context and it’s actually an intelligent conversation that respects their time in yours.
Brooke Greening (16:36.573)
Yeah.
Yes. Yeah. And it doesn’t have to be creepy because sometimes people will be like, Brooke, sounds like you’re stalking them. Like I’m not, that’s why I’m saying it’s about their business. We’re not talking about their dog or their birthday or the weather. We are saying, hey, I read this blog article that you read and it made me think about that, that, that, that, I saw that you were on this business retreat. What were some of the things, some of your takeaways? That’s the type of conversation that we’re talking about.
Jessica Miller (16:44.534)
Right. Right. You know, kids, their kids’ names and all this.
Yeah. Right. Right. Right.
Jessica Miller (17:06.668)
Yes, love that. Love that. So, then they move into the next step you mentioned, which is the R.
Brooke Greening (17:09.64)
Yeah. So that’s when we talk about recognize the problem and verbalize the value. And those go into play as well. So, S and E are, that’s one section. And then R and B, go into the next one. Because the main piece to this is everybody’s always trying so hard to talk about the value, to show the value, to do that. And they’ve missed that I got the problem wrong. And if you’re, if you get the problem wrong, it doesn’t matter.
Jessica Miller (17:33.441)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (17:37.34)
how valuable it is, it doesn’t matter even if it’s free because it doesn’t resonate with them. They don’t feel that that’s gonna help them. So, you have to get the problem right. Once you get the problem right, then we can start verbalizing the value because we just go directly back to what they shared with us. And that’s how we do that. But one thing that I encourage when we start about recognizing the problem is one, have good questions, but then two, don’t talk. Ask one question, look at the clock and be like,
I’m not gonna talk for the next five minutes. The only thing I’m going to do is I’m gonna ask a clarify. I’m gonna validate and I’m gonna ask a clarifying question. That’s it. That’s when people will start to actually share what’s going on because the reason, we get the problem wrong is not necessarily because we didn’t ask, it’s because that’s not actually the one that’s actually motivating them and driving them to make that decision. And so, there are underlining concerns that are always going on. And they’re not gonna share that with us in the very beginning, cause we go back to that like three to…
and 5 % of who they trust. They’re just not going to do that in the very beginning. So, you just, you ask your question, you look at your clock and you’re like, I’m not solving this problem for the next five minutes. Cause that’s what we want to do. They share something and we’re like, oh, I can help you with this or I can do this or I can do this. And we don’t give them the space to actually share why they got on the call and what they want to talk about.
Jessica Miller (18:41.09)
Yeah.
Jessica Miller (19:00.11)
Yeah, and do you have any best practices around that, Brooke? Because I think sometimes these conversations, they could start to meander. You’re like, OK, so what prompted you to set up this call? you’re asking people, and then they’re kind of all over the board. How do you bring them back? And how do you know when it’s actually the problem? Do you know what I’m saying? Sometimes people will tell you like 20 things. I might be one of those people.
Brooke Greening (19:10.408)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (19:18.47)
Yeah, yeah, 100%. They can. And that’s okay. And then you can actually say that. can say, whoo, wow. That seems like a lot of different things that we’re talking about. If you had to boil it down to one or two, what do you feel are the biggest things that are like getting in the way of your growth for your business?
It really depends in regards to who the person is talking in regards to the problems that they’re uncovering. But we’re always validating first. So, everything that they’re sharing, absolutely like, well, that sounds frustrating. That seems like a lot. Those type of validating statements and then asking a clarifying question. And I think it’s also good for people to understand because sometimes when we’re talking, I have a counseling background and all of that, they’re like, is just
all of business just awful because we’re talking about problems and frustrations and overwhelm. And this is a time to also recognize when we’re having conversations with people, the problems don’t have to be bad. Like it’s not that your business is getting ready to collapse and it’s you have to decide between ramen noodles or if you’re going to move forward or not. It can be like great problems. Like we’re, continuing to grow. We’re stuck. We don’t exactly know how to be able to do that. We don’t know.
Jessica Miller (20:09.654)
Yeah.
Jessica Miller (20:19.213)
Right.
Brooke Greening (20:35.74)
the next step that we need to take. There can be great problems that customers are facing. And so how you know that it is, it’s when they start sharing more about it. We’re not just talking about the symptoms anymore. We’re talking about how it’s affecting them. What’s driving them to be able to make those decisions, how it’s affecting their personal life and their business life. That’s when we know, okay, now we’re where they’re gonna be making decisions.
Jessica Miller (21:02.028)
Yeah, I love that. Awesome. So, then you get underneath that, you’re validating it. And then a lot of times people repeat back, which I think is really powerful. I’ve seen that work really well. What are your thoughts on that and moving to sort of that next step?
Brooke Greening (21:06.472)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (21:16.528)
Yeah, I always say if we understand really where the problem is, we’re not going to try to solve anything except what they’ve actually just shared with us. Because it’s really easy for us to start then like layering all of the different things that we do. And that’s when we lose them again, because they’re like, but that’s not really what I was sharing. And so, yes, you can absolutely verbalize it back. A lot of times I just say, just so I’m understanding it correctly, it sounds like you’re saying that, that,
Jessica Miller (21:25.046)
Yes.
Jessica Miller (21:32.429)
Right.
Brooke Greening (21:46.536)
I’m like, is that accurate? Because one, I’m doing that because I wanna truly make sure, am I accurate? Did I interpret that correctly? And then it also helps them, a lot of times they’ll be like, yeah, and you clarified it a lot in that moment. Like that’s exactly what I’m struggling with. But yeah, you put it in words better than I could. And so that’s how you know, okay, now we’re gonna talk about, like we’re building that bridge in regards to they’re over here, we’re over here. Now we need to say, okay,
Jessica Miller (21:52.302)
Thank you.
Jessica Miller (22:06.862)
Yep.
Brooke Greening (22:15.546)
this is what I can do in my company. Because notice, like, we don’t even talk about ourselves until step four. And I always encourage people to know that. it’s, we can’t talk and we can’t really share how we can help until we actually know what they need help with. So that’s why we give that space to be able to do that. But now we can say, okay, because of these are the things, this is what we can do to be able to help. And this is the piece where I’m always encouraging, it’s not usually are deliverable exactly because they’ve
Jessica Miller (22:43.373)
Yeah.
Brooke Greening (22:43.732)
usually are telling us some of the problems that they’re facing. So, when we’re in like the service industry, who I’m coaching a lot, it’s because of the customer service or the type of communication or in regards that they didn’t get the results that they were looking for. That’s not actually a tangible deliverable. So that’s how you’re going to be start talking about how your company is able to help with those things. Just what they’ve shared. If we just did that, it would be so much easier to move forward. But when we start
Jessica Miller (23:05.729)
Mm-hmm. I love that.
Brooke Greening (23:13.19)
adding a bunch of things, then they’re like, but I don’t really have a problem with that. Or maybe I do have a problem with that. And we’re like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. They just shared with you what was important to them. So, let’s move on with that.
Jessica Miller (23:24.044)
Yeah, and they get into overwhelm because it becomes like a fire hose. I think the other thing that you touched on, which is really important is often in a sales conversation, you’re collecting some information. You’re gathering good questions that you’re gonna ask to get quality information, but you have to remember it’s not all of it. So, to come up with an answer, like you’re not there to give them an answer or solution to their problem. You’re there to uncover what ways you might be able to help them.
Brooke Greening (23:27.068)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (23:40.732)
Yes.
No.
Brooke Greening (23:49.436)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Jessica Miller (23:53.688)
But doing that from a place of understanding, like you probably don’t actually have all the information to tell them exactly what they need to do to solve this problem. And I think as salespeople are in that role, it takes all the heat out when you realize like you’re not there to tell them all the things, you’re just there to uncover that problem, position yourself as a thought leader and validate like that you get them and you hear them and there’s things that you can do that can help them.
Brooke Greening (24:00.274)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (24:12.989)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (24:21.99)
Yeah, 100%. No, and to help them know, but we can talk about what that’s going to look like. Like these are the things that we can help you with. And this is what those next steps will look like so that they can get off that call feeling more confident that they’re getting closer to getting their problem solved than when they got on the call with you before. And that’s what I’m always encouraging my clients. Like the goal is not to make the sale that exact same time.
Jessica Miller (24:22.658)
but you don’t have the answers to that right now.
Brooke Greening (24:48.176)
Sometimes it will happen and that is fantastic and you need to make sure that you’ve got it set so that that can take place. But there are other times where it’s like, you just wanna make sure that they feel good, that they hang up that phone or they end that coffee chat or they leave Starbucks or they leave the office feeling like I have hope in regards to how I can start getting my problem solved. That’s what we wanna be able to give them.
Jessica Miller (25:09.153)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. And then they move to the next part of the conversation, which is one, what, after they’ve sort of, love the like, I repeating it, validating it, talking about the value. Cause that’s where it gets fun too. Cause you kind of like see their eyes light up if you’ve done it right.
Brooke Greening (25:15.186)
Yeah. Yep.
Yes. If, yeah, if you’ve got the problem right now and you know that you can help them, and then that’s part of that service framework as well, because then that’s when we’re gonna realize I can or I can’t. And we have to know that because that’s part of serving them. Yes, I can help you and this is how we can do it. No, I can’t help you and this is who I’m gonna recommend you to talk to. Like that, that is really important. But then the next piece is the ICE. So, identify objections, create urgency and explain next steps.
Jessica Miller (25:30.146)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Miller (25:35.574)
Right, exactly.
Jessica Miller (25:44.876)
Yeah. Yes.
Brooke Greening (25:53.574)
And the best way to explain this is when I was in senior care, like selling senior living is probably one of the most emotional sales that you can make because you have family members, usually the adult daughter who has, she’s the caregiver for her loved one. She’s got kids who are going off into school.
She’s got a brother who’s probably the financial power of attorney. Like you’ve got this whole thing and they’ve all told their loving mom, I’m never gonna do this. I’m never gonna have to make a decision for you to leave your home and get support somewhere else. So, when they are walking into the community, we are not plan A at all, at all. And then on top of it, you’ve got guilt. Then you’ve got huge financial investments, cause it’s like 10.
to $12,000 a month for the rest of your life. That is it. So, we’re probably selling houses, we’re getting into savings account. Like it’s, is a big process. And then usually there’s also another member, sometimes the black sheep of the family, all he cares about is the inheritance and he doesn’t want anything or she doesn’t want anything going on. So, you have multiple decision makers. You have multiple people who are highly invested for different reasons as to why this would work.
And you can choose to do one thing, one or two things. You can say, I’m just gonna choose to talk to the person who wants to talk to me right now. And I’m just gonna hope that they can get it all figured out and we’re just gonna move forward. Or you say, no, we are going to identify the objections that are gonna be coming down and we’re gonna be able to do that. And that’s the same thing in business conversations as well. You usually have people that you’re talking to. Sometimes you’re talking to the direct decision maker, even if they are.
there are other things that are going on and other pieces that are going to determine what they want to do. So, you have to identify those objections. You can choose to just ignore it and just be like, it was a great conversation and then just keep hoping that it works or you value them and you give them the space to start sharing with you what those objections are. And if I can make this little caveat, I am not saying we create the objections,
Jessica Miller (28:06.605)
Yeah.
Brooke Greening (28:12.388)
I am saying we ask for them. Creating them is different. Creating them is, I don’t know if this is going to work. Maybe my investment is too expensive. they don’t really look like they really want to do this. And then that starts to come out in our sales conversations subconsciously, and it’s going to derail things. I’m saying we say, hey, what questions or concerns do you have before we move forward? And we ask.
As we’re talking about this, sounds like you’re really invested in it, but who else is going to be a part of this decision? Like, we need to know those things. We need to identify those objections proactively instead of just hoping it’s all going to come to play and then it usually implodes. So that’s part of that.
Jessica Miller (28:55.202)
Yeah, think objections are a gift. really are. And you want to get them while you’re in the conversation. I think that’s another really important point that you’re uncovering, which is don’t let them walk out of there with their objections. Don’t hide from them. Like you want them and you want them on the call during the conversation because otherwise you can’t overcome them. like in a situation like you’re talking about, the saddest part is when
Brooke Greening (29:02.726)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (29:09.98)
No.
Brooke Greening (29:14.332)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Miller (29:22.828)
those unfounded objections become the thing standing in the way of everything they either need or want. And that is just like heartbreaking.
Brooke Greening (29:31.732)
And that’s when it can kind of start to become, people can start to feel like it’s salesy or pushy or manipulative. If we’re starting to get like emails or messages on the backend saying, hey, there’s this, this, and then you’re like trying to almost wheel and deal, trying to overcome instead of just having that honest conversation. And it really shows when you are asking for those objections, it’s showing one that you value them. And it’s also showing them that I am not afraid of them.
Jessica Miller (29:42.371)
right.
Jessica Miller (29:59.639)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (30:00.302)
It is okay. Like, I believe I can help you and I believe this is the way that we can move forward. But I understand that you’re going to have questions and I’m not afraid of them. When we don’t ask for them, it looks like we are. It looks like we’re just really hoping that it’s just like, they’re just going to be okay and ready to go. Instead of realizing…
Jessica Miller (30:09.698)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (30:25.754)
humans have objections and they need to be able to voice them. If they don’t voice them to you, they will go to your competitor and they will voice them there. And so, you can’t, you have to be able to give them space. And it does take gumption and courage to say those things, but the more you are asking for them, the easier it becomes. then it’s just, if you’ve done things correctly all the way through,
Jessica Miller (30:34.989)
Absolutely.
Brooke Greening (30:51.932)
they’re trusting you and they’re happy to share those objections with you. And they’re going to say, yeah, you know what? I’m really excited about this, but I have to be able to get this approved by so-and-so, or like, I need to talk to my partner and talk about what that looks like. And then that’s a way to be able to invite them now both into a conversation. Because what happens, a lot of times when objections are coming in, then you start feeling like you’re splitting the decision makers and that’s never gonna go well, ever.
Jessica Miller (30:55.79)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Miller (31:19.404)
Yeah.
Brooke Greening (31:20.998)
Because what will happen is that will take place. Like when we talk about creating urgency and explaining next steps, if we bulldoze and make someone make a decision and they already knew, I’m not actually supposed to be doing that. I made an agreement beforehand that I was gonna talk to my business partner or I was gonna talk to my spouse or whatever the case is. And we like manipulate them to get them to agree right then and there. It never goes well because they’re gonna go back to whoever they said they promised to. They’re gonna get mad at them.
They’re then gonna throw us under the bus. But Brooke did that. And then now you have two people who are angry and upset at you in regards to being able to move things forward instead of bringing them in and saying, hey, the last thing I wanna do is like create division between you and your business partner. Or I don’t wanna cause stress between you and your spouse. What questions do you think they would have? And can we be able to set up a time to be able to have a conversation? Then they go being your advocate.
Jessica Miller (31:53.012)
Right, right. It’s never a good thing. Yeah.
Brooke Greening (32:20.74)
and saying, I told them that I wouldn’t do it and they said it was okay and they want to talk with us. Like now it, it all comes together. So, you have to identify the objections, creating that urgent. All of that is coming in together at the same time because we want to be able to be able to move them forward in a way that’s meaningful for them and is giving them hope and is not manipulative. And that creating urgency piece and overcoming objections piece can really get manipulative pretty quickly. And so
Jessica Miller (32:20.973)
Right.
Brooke Greening (32:50.642)
There’s a way to be able to do that, to value them, and to keep moving it forward.
Jessica Miller (32:54.934)
Yeah. And you mentioned it earlier, a lot of times on the call, maybe the first call or the first interaction, the sale isn’t necessarily going to close, but you want to keep people moving through that journey. How do you suggest people do that at the end? Because I think that’s actually pretty common. mean, it’s great if you, in certain products are, you know, they’re different. It might be the first conversation, then you submit a proposal. Like it’s just part of the sales journey, but how, how is a good way to close that and keep it going?
Brooke Greening (33:03.418)
Mm-mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Brooke Greening (33:22.322)
Yeah, absolutely. That’s the last piece. So that’s explain next steps. That’s the E. And so, I always tell my clients, it is not a lose if the sale doesn’t happen, but it is a loss if you didn’t explain the next step. And so, what I mean by that is every, and everybody’s different in regards to how that’s going to look like in their business, but they have to know, does my potential client know exactly what they need to do next to move forward with me? Date and time. Do I know that?
Jessica Miller (33:39.095)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (33:52.036)
And then, do I know if they’re going to do it? If so, when, and if not, why? If we do not have those two questions answered, we will be lost. We are going to start getting vague follow-up. They are not going to know exactly what to do. So in regards to like when you say a proposal, a lot of times what can happen is people will say, hey, we had a great conversation. I said I was going to send them a proposal and I’m going to follow up next week. I would argue that is vague.
Jessica Miller (34:03.47)
Hmm.
Brooke Greening (34:21.894)
And that is going to not go where you want it to. Instead, absolutely, if you want a proposal, but I just share with them again, cause we’re guiding them and we’re helping them to know our sales process. Nobody knows our sales process. You can’t assume that they do. So, you have to guide them and what that is. And if a proposal is usually in play, then it would be something like, I’m happy to create that proposal. The way that that works is we set up a time right now to be able to review that.
I’ll create it, you can be able to review it. And then we’re gonna meet face to face and we’re gonna go over it. We’re gonna see what questions you have and what those next steps are going to look like. So, I have this date and this date available. Now you know, okay, they’re going to, yes, they’re gonna move forward or no, they’re not ready to. And now you’ve saved yourself from having to go create a proposal and like doing follow-up 15 times because that’s not really where they were. Cause I think a lot of times people say, me a proposal cause it’s their nice way of ending the call.
Jessica Miller (35:20.428)
Right, right.
Brooke Greening (35:20.88)
not because they actually wanna move forward. And so, by doing that, by having those two questions, one, do they know exactly what they need to do to work with me, date and time? And then two, do I know if they’re going to do it? If so, when? And if not, why? That will create that next step in how we’re gonna be able to have the conversation.
Jessica Miller (35:33.282)
Yes. Yep.
Jessica Miller (35:42.126)
Yeah. And I think it also sets people up for success because I have seen so many times as well where like, yep, we’re got a proposal. And then they’re like sending it to people three weeks later. Like, no, get that call on the calendar in the next 72 hours. Now it’s an anchor for you. It’s clarity for them. They’re invested. It’s collaborative, meaning they’ve opted in. And you’re not dragging this thing out because that’s the other part of the problem, I think, sometimes.
Brooke Greening (35:50.709)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Brooke Greening (36:02.204)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (36:05.656)
No, no. Well, and I do because I think that goes back to like, and this is where you absolutely come in when you’re talking to people about having their offers completely solidified and nailed down. Half the time people are just winging what they’re going to be doing. And so, then they’re like, but I need time to create my proposal. And you’re like, but that’s actually not, that’s not going to be the best way to be able to move things forward. You want to be able to…
Jessica Miller (36:20.918)
They totally are, yeah.
Jessica Miller (36:32.919)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (36:34.234)
I understand. am not saying that things are not customizable. I am not, I am not saying that, but you do have to be able to have things set so that you can be able to move things forward. If, my word, if you’ve sent a proposal and it’s been three weeks, that’s gone because they could have talked to one of our clients and they got the or second conversation and they’re, they’re done. And so, you have to know that like, yeah, you want to give
Jessica Miller (36:37.518)
Sure. Sure.
Jessica Miller (36:49.355)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jessica Miller (36:55.2)
Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (37:03.974)
It’s always about serving our clients. For me, my client is those people that are having those sales conversations. And so, I always want to encourage them. You are trying to make it a steep hill for your competitor to climb. So, if you’re responding to them within two hours of when they’ve asked if they can have a meeting with you, and we’ve created the service framework and you’ve walked them through that, you understand their problems and you’re giving them clear next steps. Now you’re already here and now the competitor has just came into play.
Jessica Miller (37:16.662)
Yes.
Brooke Greening (37:33.266)
They have a big hill to climb to meet what you’ve already been able to accomplish with them. And that’s when you wait for three weeks, you’ve not given them, yeah, no.
Jessica Miller (37:44.14)
Yeah, you’ve given them ample time to kind of come in there. I think you mentioned it at the beginning as well, Brooke, and that is there are so many things that we can do to set ourselves up for success from the perspective of sales. Like having a framework, knowing those next steps, having your ducks in a row, doing a little bit of research, having the confidence to know you’ve got it all together. I think those pieces.
Brooke Greening (37:57.576)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Miller (38:11.086)
When the things behind the scene are broken or they’re feeling unsettling, it comes through on those calls. But when you can do the work, work with a professional who knows what they’re doing, get guidance from people like you, you show up differently. And it can be really simple and fun and easy. And you are in service to the person because you’re helping them get out of where they are now, which is not great for them 99 % of the time.
Brooke Greening (38:17.894)
Yeah, 100%.
Brooke Greening (38:38.31)
Right. Right.
Jessica Miller (38:40.118)
and get everything they’ve ever wanted and they’re the hero and so are you. And it’s like the best, it’s the best. It also, you and I talked about this before we got on the mic today, which is this idea that, you know, we’re constantly trying to build and grow our businesses. And a lot of times we will be calling all of these people into a leaky bucket. Like when you’ve got a good sales framework and you feel confident and you know what you’re doing and it’s buttoned up, you don’t need to chase all of these leads, right?
Brooke Greening (39:00.838)
Yes, yes.
Brooke Greening (39:08.934)
No, no.
Jessica Miller (39:10.028)
You can move them through and it’s win-win for everybody.
Brooke Greening (39:12.806)
Yeah. And it’s also important to know, cause we’re talking about like, this is how we’re having sales conversations. This is how we would be having like our second or our third. And so not everybody’s buying timeframe is ours. And so, when you’re so focused on your, what I call your one to 30 day buying timeframe, everything starts to fall apart because we don’t have, so we’re, we’re zoned in. This is what we’re doing. They’ve bought, well, great. But now you feel like you’re restarting it all over again, every single month, instead of when you have these clear conversations.
Jessica Miller (39:24.11)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (39:42.28)
We know they’re not going to be buying within the next 30 days. And it’s not in regards to overcoming objections or anything like that. They’re not doing it. It’s not right for the business. Something’s going on personally, whatever it is. They wanna have a conversation in the next month or in two months. And so, you build your pipeline out so that you’re not just zoned in on one to 30. You have people who you’ve started to work with who are in the 30 to 60 or the 60 to 90 day plus.
Jessica Miller (39:50.51)
Mm-hmm. Right. For various reasons.
Jessica Miller (39:58.19)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Brooke Greening (40:10.022)
and you’re working with them as well. So, you’re not freaking out all the time, but when you have a leaky bucket, you have no idea where people are going. So, it’s not only that we’ve missed the first conversation, there’s no plan in regards to how we would continue to keep working with them afterwards. And I think that’s happened. Sometimes people think, but they said no, or they said not right now. Like that’s…
Jessica Miller (40:17.678)
Totally.
Brooke Greening (40:33.414)
This is when people are like, well, that’s gimmicky or that sounds salesy. And I don’t mean it to be, that literally that’s because now we’ve just started. We haven’t stopped. We are just starting. Yes.
Jessica Miller (40:40.202)
Right. Yes. Yeah. And to your point earlier, it’s a relationship. So, it keeps going. It’s not like a no, not right now, boom, like you’re out of there. You have to keep going.
Brooke Greening (40:49.274)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No. But I think, and that’s where I think people feel like, but I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know. And that’s why I’m saying, but if we don’t, if we don’t set that in that first conversation, that’s why things start getting really wonky. And you can look at people’s database and you can go into their HubSpot or wherever, and you can be like, okay, you have like a hundred, a hundred people that you’ve been talking to, like five, six people have bought like,
Jessica Miller (40:57.964)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jessica Miller (41:09.195)
yeah.
Brooke Greening (41:17.992)
What’s happening with the 95? So, yeah, I always say people have way more customers than they think, but we have to be intentional with them every step of way.
Jessica Miller (41:19.992)
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Jessica Miller (41:27.606)
Yes, and I think your last point is really valid. You need to know where they are in the process. You need to have some control and organization and confidence around what you’re doing, but also the clarity to manage those people, because you’re right. It’s like in some ways you are sitting on a goldmine and it’s money that you’re just leaving on the table if you’re not doing it consistently with a framework and in a way that feels really good and authentic. So, I love that so, so much, Brooke.
Brooke Greening (41:32.392)
Mm-hmm.
Brooke Greening (41:37.895)
Yeah.
Jessica Miller (41:55.15)
Oh my gosh, this is such pure gold. You’re speaking my language. Where can people find you on the interwebs if they want to find you?
Brooke Greening (42:02.106)
Yes, so buildingmomentum.info is our website, but I’m pretty active on LinkedIn. So, I’d love for people to be able to connect with me there. And then I also have our service sales assessment. So, everything that we’ve talked about today, we have it in an assessment framework so that they can take it. It takes about three minutes and then they can see where are they at in each of those pieces. And so that is on my LinkedIn feature section as well, but you can grab it. It’s at buildingmomentum.info.
tom.info slash assessment as well.
Jessica Miller (42:33.804)
this and you all know listening to this podcast how I feel about assessments. So run in there and get Brooke’s assessment and check her out online. We’ll put all that stuff in the show notes. Brooke, thank you so much for coming on and spending the day with us here. This was awesome. I so appreciate you.
Brooke Greening (42:48.656)
it’s my pleasure. Thanks so much, Jessica.
Jessica Miller (42:50.592)
Of course, and for everyone else, we’ll see you next week. Have an awesome, awesome week.
