Dielle Charon: How To Be Great At Sales Without Seeming Salesy

Handle objections confidently: stop being afraid of objections. Start seeing them as an opportunity to understand ideal clients objections and as a chance to practice this skill. Objections are not a no!

As a part of my series about how to be great at closing sales without seeming pushy, obnoxious, or salesy, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dielle Charon.

Dielle Charon, MSW, is a certified life coach and 7 figure sales expert for WOC Coaches. She is the host of the Black, Banked, and Booked Out Podcast and runs two sales programs: Five Figure Freedom and Six Figure Liberation.

Thank you for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this career path?

I started out as a social worker for Duke university. I had finished grad school, taken out student loans, and received the offer for this job that was a salary that would barely pay my student loans. I felt defeated to say the least.

I had a friend send me a podcast about being an online coach and I started to dove into what this meant. I then decided in 2018 to start a side hustle as a coach. I’d finish my 9–5 and come home and Coach my clients. In 2021, I finally became full time and in 2022 I hit seven figures in my business. It has been an incredible ride!

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or takeaway you took out of that story?

I started a rewards based feature to my program called The Double Club. When clients hit double their investment for the program, they receive access to special content and calls with me. This has been something incredible to have so that I can see the success students are having.

I saw a lot of people start to copy the rewards feature for their programs and I knew I was on the right track. This rewards based program makes clients excited to dove into the lifetime content and to really apply it.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I am currently working on a cohort of my six Figure Liberation mastermind. I have my hands inside of a lot of include womens’ business. We are working on sales, launching, marketing and so much more. I see these women gaining confidence, dropping mindset blocks, and hitting income levels they haven’t hit before. I see the way it is changing their life and even their confidence. I love being inside this program!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Sometimes people forget to think how their clients got them here. Every single client since day one has grown me as a coach, taught me more, and has kept me in the know on how to keep clients happy. This business is nothing without happy clients. This community wouldn’t be the same without people passionately wanting to be in it.

For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit why you are an authority on the topic of sales?

I’m an authority on sales because I have had 100% sales call conversions for years. I have hit seven figures as well. I have coached hundreds of women internationally in getting this sand level of success.

Ok. Thanks for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. As you know, nearly any business a person will enter, will involve some form of sales. At the same time, most people have never received any formal education about how to be effective at selling. Why do you think our education system teaches nearly every other arcane subject, but sales, one of the most useful and versatile topics, is totally ignored?

I think most school systems do not think sales will have an applicable day to day use. I’m sure business majors may have some training in this, but many of us use sales all the time, even if we’re not in a direct business field. There’s a misinterpretation that it’s not something we will benefit from.

This discussion, entitled, “How To Be Great At Sales Without Seeming Salesy”, is making an assumption that seeming salesy or pushy is something to be avoided. Do you agree with this assumption? Whether yes, or no, can you articulate why you feel the way you do?

I am a big fan of calling it what it is. Sales.

People try to call it a discovery call or an inquiry call. Let’s give everyone the expectation that we are trying to sell to you. There seems to be a fear of sounding salesy, but there’s an honest way to say, I will be selling to you without being pushy. The success comes from truly listening to their needs and providing them a treatment plan that speaks to them and the sale closes. We also often forget that people want solutions to their problems. People want to be sold to. They want to be offered help.

The seven stages of a sales cycle are usually broken down to versions of Prospecting, Preparation, Approach, Presentation, Handling objections, Closing, and Follow-up. Which stage do you feel that you are best at? What is your unique approach, your “secret sauce”, to that particular skill? Can you explain or give a story?

My unique approach is the treatment plan and handling objections well.

I want you on a call to really listen to the lead’s concerns. From there, think like a doctor and develop a treatment plan that you would help them to execute. When we come from this, people feel truly heard and understood. When you have a solid treatment plan with the result outlined, the value is easily seen.

Provide clear pricing and ask a client on the call whether or not they are ready to see a contract.

Overall, communicate clearly and don’t be afraid to look the idea of sales in the eye.

Lead generation, or prospecting, is one of the basic steps of the sales cycle. Obviously, every industry will be different, but can you share some of the fundamental strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?

My main source of leads are instagram, my podcast, and referrals.

I give free high quality content on Instagram and my podcast. This causes people to see my value at a free level and to want to be able to see what I could offer through a paid gateway.

The other idea is referrals. I serve my clients so well, they can’t help but talk about me. This causes others to join and is a powerful way to draw in more leads.

In my experience, I think the final stages of Handling Objections, Closing, and Follow-up, are the most difficult parts for many people. Why do you think ‘Handling Objections’ is so hard for people? What would you recommend for one to do, to be better at ‘Handling Objections’?

This is my favorite. A lot of people are afraid to lean into handling objections. They become afraid or they take the objection perfectly instead of leaning into it. Objections are going to happen, so we have to get comfortable with them. We have to truly believe that we are valuable and to know how to handle these objections.

A good way to practice is to reflect on every sales call that you take and see where an objection occurred and you could have answered differently, or find objections they may have not said and practice with these.

‘Closing’ is of course the proverbial Holy Grail. Can you suggest 5 things one can do to successfully close a sale without being perceived as pushy? If you can, please share a story or example, ideally from your experience, for each.

1. Treatment plan: have a clear and personalized treatment plan to show them exactly as you can help. If I am a money coach and I hear a client is worried about paying off debt. I’m going to tell them exactly how we will pay off that debt in a set amount of days. I’m not just saying we will pay it off. I’m saying we will create a spreadsheet to track income, we’re opening savings accounts for placing money there into savings, and we’re meeting with your investor to see how your retirement is. I’m giving actionable steps that we will take that aren’t just abstract ideas.
2. Handle objections confidently: stop being afraid of objections. Start seeing them as an opportunity to understand ideal clients objections and as a chance to practice this skill. Objections are not a no!
3. Show you have listened clearly: be in tune with making sure you show your treatment plan shows that you listen clearly. Make them feel understood so that they value this in you.
4. Provide them space to ask questions: Let them feel as though they are a part of the experience. This brings back that feeling of being too pushy because instead, they have power as well in the conversation.
5. Ask them if they’re ready to have a contract: leave it finally in their hands! Do you want me to send over the contract, here’s how much it will be! Keep it clear and end the sales time confidently. If they agree to sending over a contract or closing the sale, that is not you being pushy.

Finally, what are your thoughts about ‘Follow up’? Many businesses get leads who might be interested but things never seem to close. What are some good tips for a business leader to successfully follow up and bring things to a conclusion, without appearing overly pushy or overeager?

I don’t follow up. I let the client make the decision. I do make sure that they know they have 48 hours to close the call before you no longer hold their spot. This applies to even non coaching businesses. Let the client stay in power and provide them a timeline.

As you know there are so many modes of communication today. For example, In-person, phone calls, video calls, emails, and text messages. In your opinion, which of these communication methods should be avoided when attempting to close a sale or follow up? Which are the best ones? Can you explain or give a story?

I always say to close the sale on the virtual video call. You should leave the call knowing if it is a yes or no. This lets the client ride on the excitement of the call and it keeps things clean for you in your mindset. You are not in a spiral and trying to reduce prices, but you know where the sale falls immediately.

Ok, we are nearly done. Here is our final “meaty” question. You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I want to have a movement of women, especially women of color, having financial freedom and very successful businesses that they have built. This would change future generations access to privilege and would give future women an ability to see other successful founders.

How can our readers follow you online?

Make consistent sales even on part time hours: Get our free sales training to get started: www.diellecharon.com/free-training

www.Instagram.com/diellecharon

Five Figure Freedom: www.diellecharon.com/freedom

Six Figure Liberation: www.diellecharon.com/mastermind

Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-banked-booked-out-as-an- online-coach/id1434583342

Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HYeBRQsL6bVPqivJHmPsu?si=wYN- P4FIRaia2gHb0uf3gA

Thank you for the interview. We wish you only continued success!