I was catching up with a TCU buddy last week, and somehow the convo turned to a racquetball tournament we played our sophomore year.
Nothing overly official – just a competition organized by the university rec center.
I consider myself a solid racquetball player. And sure enough, I handily defeated the first 3 guys I faced in the tournament. (All other students)
But then the semifinal round came about, and I faced a new foe – one of the professors.
This guy was 3x my age, slightly overweight, not the best physical specimen. I had definitely faced more athletic opponents.
Out of shape? Old? Lookin a little creaky? “Well, this should be easy,” I thought.
Negative, Ghost Rider. Dude wiped the floor with me.
How did he do it? – He controlled the angles.
The guy didn’t have to be fast… or athletic… or even in that great of shape… because he didn’t even have to move. He knew all the angles of the court, and he put them to work. He had me chasing the ball everywhere. Waiting for me to fall on my face so he could place his next shot just out of my reach.
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I learned several useful lessons in that match, all of which apply directly to the folks booking consults and surgeries in your office.
- Working harder doesn’t necessarily win in terms of sheer effort. You can try as hard as you can (me running all over the court), but if you don’t have the knowledge to properly apply the effort, you risk getting run over.
- Determine your strategic advantage. This dude was not gonna “out-athletic” me. He knew if it was a race of sheer agility and strength, I would win. So he didn’t play that game. He played his game – controlling the angles.
- Controlling the Angles is a Key to Winning. This guy won because he knew how to use the angles of the court to position me where he needed me to be in order to accomplish his goal. Sometimes he hit it hard, sometimes soft. High, low. Left, right. But always with intention toward the end goal.
“Control the Angles” is a key concept if you want to increase your conversion rates.
Consider every prospect you engage, it’s like a volley in racquetball.
If I hit the ball as hard as I can, and he hits the ball as hard as he can, and we go back and forth like that until someone messes up, it’s not strategic. You win some, you lose some. It’s too random, not what you want.
But this happens every day on the phones in your office.
Prospect: “How much is LASIK?”
You: “It’s $5500.”
Prospect: “Do you offer financing?”
You: “We work with a company called Care Credit, and they have 2 years no interest.”
Prospect: “OK, thanks, I think that’s all I need to know for now.”
You: “Great, well just give us a call if you want to book a consult!”
/End Call, lost lead, someone who desperately needed our help didn’t get it.
Why? Because that’s just a straightforward volley back and forth. No angles. No strategy. No guidance. No leadership.
And will you book some consults playing a straight-up game? Of course you will.
But you will book more – you will WIN more – if you control the angles and put them to good use.
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What are some examples of controlling the angles? Here are 11.
I’m not gonna give detailed explanations of how to use all these – that’s too much for one email. (Though we dive into all that during our coaching programs). But this will give you enough to get started in controlling the conversation and moving the prospect in the direction you want.
- Incubation Angle – “How long have you been thinking about it?” – Move them to act now (waited long enough)
- Price Angle – “Great question! Mind if I ask a few quick questions so I can answer that accurately for you?” – Giving out price when asked isn’t useful. If you called the Ford dealership and said “How much is a car?” and they gave you a price, would that be helpful? No. Get more info, then you can answer more accurately (or skip past the question altogether).
- Referral Angle – “How did you hear about us?” – Friend, Google review, etc. Then the referral source becomes an angle you can leverage.
- Wear Angle – “What do you wear most often – glasses or contacts? And how long have you worn them?” – Get a pulse on how long they’ve had this problem.
- Open-Ended Angle – “What made you reach out?” – Get them spilling their guts about why they have called you for help.
- Urgency Angle – “Any big events coming up?” – Get this thing taken care of so you’re ready for that wedding, vaca, etc.
- Urgency Angle 2 – “What do you have planned for spring break / summer / etc?” – Another take on urgency.
- New Guest Angle – “Have you ever been in to see us before?” – Establish they are a first timer and that you’re rolling out the red carpet for them.
- Spouse Angle – “What does your husband/wife think about this? Are they so excited for you?” – Spouse is gonna be involved, go ahead and get in front of it (proactive).
- Future Pacing Angle 1 – “What’s the first thing you’re gonna do once you can see?” Get them thinking past the sale about the results they’ll experience.
- Future Pacing Angle 2 – “What are you most looking forward to?” Another take on future pacing.
Angles. That old dude destroyed me on the racquetball court because he knew how to control the angles.
Cool thing about what you do – There doesn’t have to be a “loser” in your game. If you use your angles appropriately, and you help someone make the decision to move forward with the procedure they need and deserve – then you BOTH win.
– Troy “Angle Everything” Cole
PS – There doesn’t have to be a loser, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be. If your people don’t do their job… if they don’t control the angles… if the prospect calls and asks for help, and we didn’t help them at least come in for a consult… and the prospect hangs up the phone and “think about it” for another 3 years… then they’re the loser. And it’s our fault.
PPS – Related to today’s message – you know how it’s darn near impossible to find good hires right now? And it’s putting a strain on your ability to give the highest level of customer service for your premium-priced procedures?
Well… rather than trying to find a new hire (or at least in addition to it), what if you could significantly increase the capacity of your best patient counselor?
We’ve put together a service that does just that. It acts as an “extension” of your patient counselor – we text prospects immediately after they submit one of your web forms, we educate prospects on why to choose you, we continuously reach out to them if they don’t book, etc. Basically all the stuff your current team is too strained to do, but you know needs to be done if you want to increase conversions.
And it’s way more cost-effective than hiring someone anyway (if you can even find anyone awesome to hire). So if you’d like to know more, reply and I’ll send you more details.