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Do you want to work less and earn more? Des Vadgama tells us how to secure high ticket clients. Clients who are prepared to pay 5 figures for your services. Des Vadgama is of Indian heritage. His name is thought to come from the Portuguese explorer Vasco  da Gama!. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama

In this episode, Des discusses how you secure high ticket clients.

Des Vadgama – How he got to where he is now

Des started working with entrepreneurs and small business owners in 1987, when he came out of employment. He had previously trained as an Accountant. In 1987, Des started working for himself.

He linked up with a man called Ron Holland. He is an author, consultant and mentor. http://www.ronhollanddirect.com In 1987, they connected and started consulting with small business owners and entrepreneurs. They would rack up the best part of 1,000 miles per week seeing businesses around the country. Looking back, it was crazy. A lot of time travelling with a few hundred pounds per session. A lot of effort for a small return.

From there Des started to refine the model in terms of what it takes to qualify, filter and position better some of the influence process prior to the meeting.

This change was crucial. Sometimes Des spent 12 hours a day travelling to just one or two clients or even prospects. You learn quickly!

His accountancy training made him consider how he was going to get a better reward by streamlining some of these processes.

How to secure high ticket clients with Des Vadgama on the next 100 days podcast with Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith

How to secure high ticket clients with Des Vadgama

When did it all change?

He tried a number of different business models selling, with different price points. The change came in 1994. That’s when he started promoting Tony Robbins speaking events. He became one of the main promoters of Tony Robbins (https://www.tonyrobbins.com) from his base in Central London.

He promoted the seminars almost exclusively by phone. These seminars were priced between £400 all the way up to £8,000. One of the biggest discoveries he made was that there was no need to travel.

That was one of Des’ biggest leverage points in terms of reaching out to prospects and individuals who were a warm target market. One of the reasons Des became one of the most productive sellers of Tony Robbins events is not because he was a great salesperson, but simply because he was passionate about the events.

What was the thing that made Des so successful when he was selling out Tony Robbins events? Tony’s Unleash the Power Within – there is an upsell. He was the only sales guy to have attended the product. He invested serious time and energy immersing himself in the events and courses.

This enabled him to speak with conviction and enthusiasm.

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE

One of the techniques Des used was taking a real interest in the individual. Jay Abraham, https://www.abraham.com talks about falling in love with the client. Being passionate about where they are headed. He asked not just three questions, but 10-20. Where they wanted to be physically, financially etc. This allowed Des to get more clarity to where his prospects were going.

Then he connected the seminar to the client’s future.

Don’t swamp the prospect with dozens of reasons to attend. Often it was only ONE or TWO compelling reasons to attend.  Not over-selling, but making it relevant to the individual.

You don’t want to interrogate. Just have a dialogue. Two individuals having a 2-way conversation. Gain more clarity on where they want to be.

You have to be able to relate everything. Des makes detailed notes about each individual. Tony Robbins talks about compelling reasons to get from A to B. In a conversational way, Des tries to understand this about his prospects. He is a trusted adviser.

Concept Sell

Nowadays he is less passionate product sales-person and more focused on a concept sell. This could be training based, consulting, or a mastermind group. Or it could be a business opportunity that helps someone generate a lot more money.

The big challenge is attention span, so a long book, could be ignored.

Des no longer goes to see people. He now virtually talks to people. He is playing to his strengths. If you do enjoy meetings and you get business that way, then continue. Play to your strengths. Des has refined a remote process. By leveraging the internet, email and phone to generate over 95% if what he does.

Over the years, Des has maximised time in dialogues. He finds dialogues by phone and email is a more elegant way to progress conversations.

How to start conversations

Initially, Des sends some information relevant to the enquiry. Currently on one of his opportunities, Jet Broker, Des gets 100 enquiries per month. Most enquiries are incoming via email.

So, the first stage is sending information by email. It could be pdfs or links to videos or audios.

Then it goes quiet…

Many times, after that initial email it goes quite for a few days. They may be consuming the information or its just about people having a short attention span.

The next stage is to send out a courtesy TEXT message. Saying thanks for enquiring, I have one or two useful ideas for you relating to that detail I sent to you. And basically, arrange a PHONE conversation.

It’s a subtle way of reconnecting.

They are primed, intrigued and then they are on the telephone. These people are often 5 figure clients.

And then the telephone call!

It’s not a 4-hour pitch!

Des has built a script of questions. He has 70-80 questions. He uses just a few of those questions in the call.

The first call there is NO selling or pitching involved. It is an exploratory call to establish where they are at, where they are heading and what the possible solution they need looks like. It is about pitching one fixed idea.

He reverse-sells

Des has reversed it. It’s all about them. Des makes it clear and Des is looking to select one or two individuals. It filters people. Why should they be the one that Des chooses to work with.

Many of the people enquiring are entrepreneurs. Or changing from employed to wanting a business opportunity. How to add an extra £30k or more to their income, usually from home. They may have enquired to one of 10 different business opportunities.

They may have been made redundant. So, Des filters using probing and exploring questions to see whether this programme is right for them.

After the first call, Des will send an email with any details they may be missing. It progresses the dialogue.

Des calls it MUTUAL SELECTION – both parties are looking for a good fit.

Des asks one or two questions in the email to keep the prospect engaged and invested in the dialogue. You don’t want the prospect JUST to consume the information, but be involved…

So, it was good to talk, but why do you want to make another £75,000 per annum.

The email is always specific. Use questions to maintain engagement and investment. Plus, an additional reason. If you start working together, you want them to respond in a timely manner and make the response relevant as well.

If they don’t respond, he sends a text.

Des’s collaboration with property broker David France.

Buying and selling below market properties. David France started and secured about 150 of these deals over the years. He connects buyers and sellers with fees of £3000 each.

Des highlighted David’s opportunity to train others. He used low fees and found prospects would not take action. Below £2000, the cost does not make the individual take the material seriously. Des changed his price point of David’s training. To more at a premium from £8-12k range. This enabled more back up and support in the training.

This generated an extra 6 figures to David’s business. As a bi-product, there are now more people on the programme and take it seriously.

More money means you have the funds to provide a better service.

A higher price point forces a mindset to implement. The rate of implementation has increased. Dave has worked with fewer clients and improve his lifestyle from a home-operated business.

The business opportunity is now a franchise opportunity. His programme gets 60-70 inbound enquiries per month. David might take 2 or 3 clients a month.

MESSAGE: if you are getting a lot of enquiries, then raise your prices.

Pricing is flexible. If the value is clear in terms of benefits and what the client gets out of it. People are missing opportunities because they get caught up in commoditising. Think how you can be different, extra servicing, a different way of positioning the value.

How do you get the leads in the first place?

Targeted advertising.

There are probably 100 marketing channels. The more targeted the better. Des offers business opportunities – therefore the most relevant channel is franchise related sites. The traffic is far more targeted, than a Google Adwords or Facebook.

Des has an ad or profile or offer in these franchise sites. Sometimes a bit more detail about what the offer has.

How would Des advise people to get more high ticket clients in the next 100 days.

The first side are methods and processes.

The second side is mindset.

Think more about the mindset first. Tony Robbins spoke about raising YOUR STANDARDS. In terms of where you want to be.

Look at self-esteem and self-confidence – these are important to having the right mindset.

Secondly, the methods. It could be as simple as raising pricing and add more value into the package. Related, target better.

Specific portals, websites, industry sites. It could be direct mail, such as a postcard mailing to start the conversation.

Maintain cash flows and margins. When does the money flow?

Get a deposit if you can!

Leverage as much as possible – associating with a group or an individual to build more of the value proposition.

Dan Pena

Des connected with $400m entrepreneur Dan Pena http://danpena.com – who Des got to know and work with after his stint promoting Tony Robbins. He had a lot of success. Des attended one of Dan’s £10k events. Up to that moment, Dan had only had Americans come to his Scottish home. Des marketed to UK based people.

Back then, no-one had heard of Dan Pena in the UK. Even Dan said Des would fail! Des launched Dan successfully.

The leverage off Dan’s expertise and track record. But that wasn’t enough. He also positioned a $400m guy was elevated. Des had actually been to Dan’s event. He could talk about it in as much detail. The focus was exponential or fast business growth – and he’d reverse it. If you were looking for 10-20% year. This was about 200-500% growth, then this was what Des looked for by phone and sales report.

  1. If you don’t have a high value product, take someone-else’s, that is leverage.
  2. Immerse yourself in the product, have a deep interest in the product.

The hierarchy of needs. Growth is a big driver to Des. Anything that Des gets involved in has to have a growth element.

Any project has to tick the growth aspect for Des as well.

Des is somebody who understands how to help others grow their business.

Look at this offer!

Take advantage of a FREE CONSULTATION with Des Vadgama

To find out more about Des Vadgama send him an email and mention “the Next 100 Days podcast”.

DO THIS NOW! Des is offering a FREE CONSULTATION to 7 to 10 people, by dropping Des an email at

info@vfactor.co.uk

In your email, outline your situation, name and contact details and how you would like to grow you business.

The Next 100 Days Podcast is brought to you by Graham Arrowsmith and Kevin Appleby