Chris Smith - The Conversion Code

After Inman News, I was hired to be a sales coach and public speaker for the inside and outside sales teams at dotloop, a transaction management and electronic signature venture capital–backed SaaS startup. My official job title was “chief paper killer.”

As I taught dotloop's sales and marketing teams the conversion code, you could see the light bulbs going off. They left every sales coaching session empowered and excited to get back on the phones. They would often tell me they “just needed help closing.” But they would leave telling me that my advice was the “best sales coaching ever.” It was a game-changer they could start using on their next call.

During my third year with the company, Zillow acquired dotloop for $108 million. Not quite another billion-dollar experience, but a startup that takes on DocuSign and achieves a nine-figure exit is not too shabby. After leaving dotloop, their founder, Austin Allison (the coauthor of my first book, Peoplework ) cofounded Pacaso, which became the fastest company ever to become a unicorn and reach a billion-dollar valuation.

Nowadays, I teach what you are about to learn in The Conversion Code at workshops, colleges, companies, and conferences. I'm also the cofounder of Curaytor. At Curaytor, we specialize in helping listing agents win more listings. We help them attract clients. We help them stop chasing leads.

We build sales and marketing software, and we offer professional marketing, advertising, and lead conversion services. We get hired by Realtors who are too busy to do everything themselves. They just want their marketing done right. They care tremendously about their brand. They want to be number one in their market. They demand an ROI (return on investment). Or else they churn.

Every month we generate tens of thousands of leads. We manage millions in ad spend. Our customers send hundreds of thousands of emails and have created tens of thousands of pieces of content on our platform.

Simply put, we do the conversion code for them.

Here are a few testimonials from our clients:

“Before using Curaytor, I was making $200,000 a year. It looks like my next 12 months will be in the $600,000–$750,00 range.”

“In the first six months, we bypassed our total sales from last year.”

“My business increased by over 100% in 12 months.”

“This will be our best year ever.”

“My business is up 52% since we partnered with Curaytor, and we are looking at growing another 50% next year!”

“Best investment I've made in my 14 years. Hands down.”

Using the conversion code for ourselves, Curaytor made the Inc. 500 list as the 303rd fastest-growing company in America. To ensure the success of my first startup, I got back on the phone and sold a couple of million in ARR (annual recurring revenue) using the same strategies and scripts in this book.

In the first two sections of The Conversion Code, I will teach you exactly how we generate high-quality leads that are easy to convert. I will detail how we use technology, people, and automation to turn our leads into an endless supply of quality appointments for our sales team.

With that being said, I truly believe automation is overrated and is being used as a crutch. Automation gives you an excuse not to do the actual work of picking up the phone and talking to people about if what you do is the right choice for them. If you want to make more money with digital marketing, social media, and online leads, you have to pick up the phone.

The idea of e-commerce is a myth for most. Sure, we may buy things from Amazon without ever speaking to a sales rep, but if you are in a professional services business like a real estate agent or a loan officer or if you sell B2B (business-to-business) SaaS products and you think you can simply get leads to buy from you without ever talking to them, you're wrong.

You aren't Shopify.

Bottom line? Most companies need to pick up the phone to close a lead but are so obsessed with working smarter, not harder, that they are tripping over nickels to pick up pennies. Conversations are what create customers.

Think of it this way: if you have more usernames and passwords than conversations with prospective clients, you are doing it wrong.

I feel blessed that I learned how to sell before I learned how to market. I learned how to convert leads before I learned how to generate them. So when I became a marketer, I saw a big responsibility in that role.

My marketing approach came from my work in the inside sales cubicle, knowing from firsthand experience how difficult it can be to dial for dollars every single day. I can't bring myself to do marketing that gets very good vanity metrics but very bad leads.

I know my sales script works, and I respect a salesperson's time because I am one, so when I teach you how to generate leads, my goal is quality, not just quantity. Marketing can do a much better job of sending leads to sales that are ready to transact. I bet if most marketers had to call the leads they're generating, they'd want to quit their job or fire themselves.

It's one thing to get someone to “like,” “follow,” or subscribe by email—it's another to get their time and it's a whole other thing to earn someone's business.

Every lead is now an internet lead. We're all online, every day, all day. The world changed. Your strategies need to change, too. Whether someone submits their information through your website or not, every human is now conditioned to look online and on social media before purchasing.

We look at Facebook on our phones more than we look at each other in the face.

We text people more than we talk to people.

Sad, but true.

My advice for you is not to be nostalgic about the past. Instead, be excited about the future.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or brand new, The Conversion Code is your guide to growth if you're in marketing or sales.

Similar to any code, The Conversion Code has multiple steps. There is valuable information in each, but I want to give you the help you need the most right now. I am keenly aware that many salespeople do not have to generate their own leads or even set their own appointments. They simply work for a company (like Quicken Loans or Curaytor) that does that for them.

I am also aware that most marketers never make sales calls. So, think of The Conversion Code as a choose-your-own-adventure book by asking yourself the following questions:

Do you need to generate better leads?

Is your problem that you just don't have enough qualified leads to call?Then start with Section One. After you read and do what you learn in Section One, you'll have a consistent flow of high-quality leads.I know it might seem impossible to get new leads every day; it's not. It's pretty easy when you know what to do.

Do you have leads but need help getting more of them to answer the phone?Then Section Two is where you should start. Using specific tools and tactics, I will teach you how to turn leads into appointments so that you are pitching to new (and old) qualified prospects every single day.

Do you already contact a lot of leads and want to know what to say to increase your conversion rate?You're going to want to start with Section Three, which covers exactly what to say to close more leads. Better conversations are what create better conversion rates. So, I have built an easy-to-follow sales framework you can use starting with your next call.

Inside each section is an easy-to-follow blueprint for improving your business right now.

What does your business need to thrive in today's internet era? It needed the same things a decade ago and will still need a decade from now. Leads, appointments, and sales. In The Conversion Code, I'll teach you how to get all three.