Close Sales Calls Without Endless Follow-ups! with Justine Beauregard

This week’s episode of Win The Hour, Win The Day Podcast interviews, Justine  Beauregard

Sales feels hard when follow up turns into chasing, pressure, and awkward messages. 

Join Kris Ward and Justine Beauregard for a real and honest talk that flips the idea of follow up on its head and shows what actually closes sales.

In this captivating talk, you’ll learn:

-Why “just checking in” hurts your chances instead of helping.

-The difference between follow up and follow through.

-How weak sales calls create endless follow up loops.

-Why most people only close easy buyers and miss the rest.

-How better questions lead to faster yes or no decisions.

-Why helping someone decide now is real service, not pressure.

-How strong sales skills remove the need to chase later.

Get ready for clear thinking, simple examples, and a fresh way to look at sales that feels honest, calm, and human. This episode shows how to close sales without begging, pushing, or circling back forever.

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Justine Beauregard Podcast Interview

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, and I am your host, Kris Ward. And today in the house we have Justine Beauregard and she is a sales expert, and we’re going to really get to it.

It’s gonna be real and raw. I think you’re gonna find this a refreshing conversation. Welcome to the show, Justine. 

[00:00:19] Justine Beauregard: Thank you so much. It’s great to be here. 

[00:00:21] Kris Ward: Okay, so let’s dive in. That’s what we’re known for here. Let’s get to it. Today we’re gonna talk about sales follow up. Where do we wanna start? 

[00:00:33] Justine Beauregard: There’s so many places we could start, but I will say one core belief that I have about follow-ups goes against the traditional advice that we hear a lot, which is the fortune is in the follow-up.

[00:00:44] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:00:45] Justine Beauregard: And in my mind, there’s a lot of fortune being left on the table when we’re getting to second, third, fifth, 10th level follow ups, where we’re just like, essentially at that point we’re chasing people for answers and looking to grasp on to clarity and context that wasn’t gotten earlier in the conversation.

[00:01:07] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:01:08] Justine Beauregard: Yeah, 

[00:01:08] Kris Ward: so I have read all kinds of books ’cause you’re right, they talk about the fortunes and the follow-up and I thought, okay, I must be missing something. ’cause to me it feels like at the very least, I’m twisting somebody’s arm. And worst case I’m begging. And I just never got it. And I wasn’t even smart enough in sales to go.

Alright. What I did was, didn’t do my initial delivery as effective as obviously it should be. I looked at it like they’re just not the right match, or they’re not interested in me, and begging, crying and moaning just makes me look like I need that more than I have to offer. So I never quite got it.

[00:01:48] Justine Beauregard: I think what happens for a lot of pe… this happened for me, so I’ll speak for myself in this instance, is there are times when we miss something and there are times [00:02:00] where people genuinely have action items. Okay. So there’s times when we miss something where we feel, if you don’t get off that call certain, like of course this person is going to message me back in two days.

Once they talk to their partner and they’re gonna pay and it’s all gonna be fine and it’s just a matter of timeframe and my follow up is holding up my end of the bargain and making it as easy as possible for them to follow through with the process they already said yes to. That’s one version of follow up where I feel like of course you still do that follow up.

[00:02:29] Kris Ward: Oh, okay. I agree with you on that. That’s a continuing a conversation. I guess I perceive follow up is like when I believe someone’s given me the plate brush off and I know it and they know it and they’re just trying to get off the call. And then you’re supposed to say a week later I’m circling back, yes. Okay. 

[00:02:46] Justine Beauregard: Yeah, so that just checking in language is always, first of all, I never recommend people say just checking in ’cause it’s very self-serving. I’m checking in, how did you find my offer? Were you prepared to buy my thing? It’s always very me driven. [00:03:00] 

[00:03:00] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:03:00] Justine Beauregard: But there, there’s that version of the follow up, which is basically, you got off that call and you’re not sure where things stand.

That’s what happens 90% of the time when people are following up is they get off the call, the person goes, oh, I need to think about it, or I’m not decided, or whatever. And instead of holding the frame and digging in and grabbing that extra juicy information of what are you thinking about and where are you feeling stuck?

And how can I help you make a decision? You allow them to leave without deciding, and then you have this very open-ended loop that you somehow have to close, right? So you endlessly follow up with them, like, how’s it going? Did you make a decision? I’m just checking in with you. Just circling back on that choice.

And you are not entering in those conversations from like a powerful frame. You’re entering in from like a, I didn’t do my job well, and now I’m here to pick up the pieces if there are any. And here’s what I was gonna say earlier about my experience with [00:04:00] follow-ups. Earlier on in my sales career, there had been times where I did not close a loop or I did miss something, and then I would check in with those people and I would say, how this is a really good kind of magical frame.

Instead of just checking in, how’s it going with? So I would say, how’s it going with whatever that thing was that we had talked about, whether it’s, how’s it going with your sales process, or how’s it going with those three open leads that you were trying to close, or whatever that circumstance might be.

And then they would say, not great, or, I’m still having trouble, or whatever. And then I would reopen the conversation and I would grab that extra context and I would close them on the spot. And so my thinking was, oh, following up was what got me that sale. What got me that sale was not following up, it was getting on another call and basically redoing the entire frame with more context so I could close that deal.

And that’s what most [00:05:00] people miss, is they attribute the win to the wrong thing. They attribute it to the simple message instead of the well done process that follows that message. 

[00:05:10] Kris Ward: So you You did a reshoot. 

[00:05:13] Justine Beauregard: Basically. 

[00:05:14] Kris Ward: Okay. I even would be uncomfortable and maybe I’m an incredibly flawed human being, so it could all be on me with the, Hey, how are it going on this?

Because I would feel like, it’s almost like a loaded question. When you walk outta the grocery store and somebody says, do you care about the environment? And you can donate like. How’s it going with that sales call you had? I know, or I don’t wanna speak to you saying I know what you’re looking for, but I know if I reach out like, Hey, how’s it going with your overwhelm?

’cause you talked about having a team and half the time you’re not gonna answer the email ’cause they’re overwhelmed. But that’s okay. That’s another story. But I, they know what I’m looking for. So even then I felt icky. 

[00:05:51] Justine Beauregard: Okay. There’s two things in that. 

[00:05:53] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:05:54] Justine Beauregard: Number one is. Intention matters. Okay.

Like energy travels. Okay. And if [00:06:00] your energy is yeah, I’m gonna use, how’s it going with as a frame to try to get people in and manipulate them into my offer? That’s very different right? From I genuinely, when I’m sending those messages, my intention is always I genuinely wanna know, did you close the sales?

I would be happy for you either way. If you, 

[00:06:15] Kris Ward: yeah. 

[00:06:16] Justine Beauregard: If you were like, yeah, I closed two outta three, it was awesome. I’d be like, great. Did you still need any, how? It sounds like you’re cruising along pretty well. Yeah, 

[00:06:23] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:06:23] Justine Beauregard: Do you still need support with that or not? And I’m genuinely like open and curious when I’m asking that question, but the detail though of how’s it going with your entire operations department and the stress that you’re feeling with your team?

That’s different. You would need a different frame for that. 

[00:06:40] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:06:41] Justine Beauregard: Versus like in that situation one that you could use instead of how’s it going with the stress you’re feeling across your team, which is too broad. Yeah. How’s it going with is for a very specific thing, you would say something like how are you, how’s your team operating since we last spoke? Are you still feeling overwhelmed? 

[00:06:58] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:06:58] Justine Beauregard: And so that some [00:07:00] more 

[00:07:00] Kris Ward: I do. I did give a bad example was thinking on the spot and trying not to hold up your side of the thing. I just felt that, and I do agree with you, my energy, I do truly why I do what I do is I want people to have fun and business should be fun and it should support your life, not consume it.

So I do agree with you with the intention. And my intention, of course is to get people to the other side so they have fun with their business. I, I agree with you about the intention, and I do also agree with you. I just gave a flippant broad example, but regardless if I had got, I will get more specific.

But even when I get more specific, and this is a problem I work, I have worked through and I don’t do it as much. Thinking for the other person. Like I don’t want them to think, now I’m just like, oh, I don’t care about I you, I’m just fishing. I’m fishing for you to say this so I can then say that.

So anyhow, it’s not about me and I don’t wanna waste time on that. I just think it does get, without it carefully cracked, crafted the follow up can get clunky quick. 

[00:07:55] Justine Beauregard: I think that’s also, it’s also really important, even though it [00:08:00] was for the sake of something general, just to give an example. Yeah.

I think it’s also really important, Simon Sinek talks about the human brain can’t process the negative or it can’t process they, there’s certain things that we focus on. So he gives an example. I saw him live and he said something, I am, if I say, don’t think about a pink elephant, 

[00:08:21] Kris Ward: right.

[00:08:22] Justine Beauregard: You’re gonna think about the pink elephant.

Yeah. That’s all you’re gonna think about. 

[00:08:26] Kris Ward: Right. 

[00:08:26] Justine Beauregard: I just told you not to. 

[00:08:27] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:08:27] Justine Beauregard: So it’s like when we have this broad topical thing that we’re like, I don’t want people to think that I’m being salesy or pushy or whatever. It becomes all we think about whether we’re conscious of it or not. And so there is some sort of graspy.

That’s what I mean about my intention with that question is genuinely, like I, I actually am really curious if you [00:09:00] close those sales or not. I really wanna know how it’s going with this thing. And I’m not, I actually very much, and this is a skill that people have to learn, but it’s compartmentalizing.

Like right now, I’m not trying. I’m not gonna be able to, so I’m not even focused on closing you in a simple follow-up email. 

[00:09:18] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:09:18] Justine Beauregard: Asking you how’s it going with those sales calls is like its own compartmentalized thought of

[00:09:25] Kris Ward: okay, 

[00:09:25] Justine Beauregard: genuinely how’s it going with those sales calls?

Okay. And then if I get feedback like, oh my God, I’m crushing it. I just sold 50 K an offer. I actually had this happen to me. A few months ago, I had a sales call with somebody and she was like, I just have these three deals on the table. And I gave her a couple of quick pointers and I was like, if you still want support, my program would be a great option for you.

And then I followed up with her a few days later as promised. We had drawn a line in the sand about when I was gonna follow up and she didn’t reach out. And I followed up with her and I was like, Hey, how did it go with those three sales? And she was like, I closed all three of them with the advice you gave me.

I just made [00:10:00] $60,000 a couple of days and I was like, great, now I have the option in my mind, which way do I wanna take this? I could either say, there’s more where that came from join my program. 

[00:10:10] Kris Ward: Right. 

[00:10:10] Justine Beauregard: Or it sounds like you’ve got it under control. Which way does my brain wanna go?

And then you get to determine, do I wanna use this as an opportunity to sell or do I wanna see where that happens or leave that loop open?

Depends on what the process demands and like my program is really not for people who already have a great closing framework and can do it and just have a couple of questions because I’m selling my closing framework plus this ongoing support where they can ask questions to me and maybe that might be useful for her.

But if she’s already closing $60,000 in sales, she probably has a framework she’s relying on and is not gonna benefit as much from the program. And I don’t really care about her buying or not. ’cause I’ve got more than enough people coming into the program and I want the right people in there. So it’s really like [00:11:00] discernment and knowing who your process and your programs are for and like what those, there’s so much that goes into selling.

So much that goes into, yeah, the of the psychology and the processes and all of that kind of stuff. We could talk about..

[00:11:12] Kris Ward: I think. I think what we’re talking about here is really important because I, you’re right, you’re going to the negative or whatever, the pink elephant in the room, and I think when I hear follow up, all I ever understood until this conversation right now, to me follow up was, oh, they gave me a polite brush off.

It’s not a good fit. And most people will, most people are just not comfortable to say, yeah, this isn’t good fit for me, or It’s different than what I thought. I, so whatever the call ends and then I just never want to be, it’s I think my conversion rates are pretty healthy now, and we’ve got a reputation and people have said, I get a lot of referrals.

So we’ve got a lot working for us in our favor. However, thinking back to my, when my business is new or whatever. All I understood follow up with to be was they, you didn’t sell them. And so now you’re going to like the guy [00:12:00] that didn’t call, you’re gonna start calling the guy that didn’t call, trying to find out why he didn’t call.

Right? 

[00:12:04] Justine Beauregard: Yeah. 

[00:12:05] Kris Ward: And so that’s how I was like, oh my gosh, that feels traumatizing to me. And it just feels like not a good place. So I think even your distinction of what really is a follow up, I almost really maybe see it as the way you’re describing it is a follow through. We’re following through with this.

[00:12:20] Justine Beauregard: Yeah, that’s a great way to put it. 

[00:12:21] Kris Ward: Instead of a follow up and right away, there is two different worlds we’re talking about. ’cause I believe in the follow through. I just didn’t wanna be, if nothing else damaging a relationship where maybe it’s not the right time for you and because I didn’t harass you and send you those DM messages.

Like you get LinkedIn oh, just circling back and doing this. Then it’s when you are ready or you hear a few more things and it validates where you really should be and you think I’m a good fit. Then you’re okay to come back because you didn’t you haven’t been harassed. You’re like I can’t make that call again.

I’ll never get rid of her. So I think that makes a difference. 

[00:12:55] Justine Beauregard: I think it’s also, it’s a great analogy to sales and dating. I [00:13:00] also say sales and weight loss are really like closely related and have great examples. But when you think about the dating, like there’s the serial daters who never have a relationship is not because.

They’re bad people are like not a good partner. It’s because they haven’t built the skills of communicating those aspects of themselves to someone else, right? And so they go on a date and something goes awry, and then they like follow. They keep following up with the same person and it’s not working.

And then they go to the next date and they think that, oh, this is a different person. It will be a different experience. But it’s not right. We all have a friend like that who just I have another first date and another first date, and the reason they never get past the first date is because they don’t have the skill of dating.

Like they don’t know how to date well. Yeah. 

And so they keep getting themselves into the same scenario with a different person. And that’s what happens with follow-ups a lot of the time is like, 

[00:13:57] Kris Ward: right, 

[00:13:57] Justine Beauregard: they’re just circling back is [00:14:00] language that they’re using because that’s literally what they’re doing. They’re circling back on a dead lead, 

[00:14:08] Kris Ward: right? 

[00:14:08] Justine Beauregard: That they have no skills of resuscitation. They were never taught CPR on the lead, right? So it’s, they’re going back to the same conversation. But they don’t have the skill of grabbing context and moving it to a close and drawing that line in the sand and understanding how to get it to that point.

And so every now and then you have a really good self advocating buyer. Someone who’s just I know what I want. This is what I want. I’m buying it. Come hell or high water, you basically have to be really bad at your job to get me to not buy this thing. And because they’re not really bad at their job, they get a sale.

[00:14:41] Kris Ward: Right. 

[00:14:41] Justine Beauregard: And so that’s how people’s close rates are really poor is they just, they operate off of that top 10% of leads that are self-driven and self advocating, and they already are sold when they get on the call. So it’s like a, the low hanging fruit are, they’re like knocking those people out of the [00:15:00] park.

[00:15:00] Kris Ward: Right? 

[00:15:00] Justine Beauregard: But anyone who has like a slightly more elevated needs structure or they need questions to answer, or answers to questions or they need more leadership on the call. They don’t have those skills, and so even when they circle back, they don’t close because they don’t have that skill and they’re not gonna learn it just by doing more, circling back.

That’s just giving them more of the same opportunities, which is why I say also fulfillment is the new follow up. We don’t wanna be afraid of a no, just as much as we don’t wanna be afraid of a yes, we want to end those calls knowing what people are doing, whether you’re a yes or a no, or an undecided.

It maybe that means we need to book another call to get you decided. Maybe you’re a longer close, maybe slightly less qualified, and that’s something that we learn from and also execute well on. But you don’t wanna be. If someone wants to, we’ll use the weight loss example. If someone wanted to lose a hundred pounds and they’re miserable in their body and they have multiple illnesses [00:16:00] related to their weight, and they meet a weight loss coach who has an offer that’s priced affordably for them.

And has a lot of the inclusions they want, but they’re undecided because they’re stressed and a little ashamed and nervous about what the steps include and all of that. And that weight loss coach says, okay. And they go I really just have to think about it. And they go, okay, take your time. We’ll talk later that stress, anxiety, and shame builds.

[00:16:27] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:16:28] Justine Beauregard: Versus the person that’s okay, I have to think about it. And they go, okay, what are you thinking about?

This is hard. This is a journey. Yeah, it is. 

[00:16:36] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:16:36] Justine Beauregard: But you’re ready now. Like you’re showing me signs of readiness. And they’re moving that to a close. And the most beautiful part of fulfillment is the new follow up is instead of thinking about it for five more weeks, knowing that something has to change or they’re going to either die or be worse off. They end up getting onboarded that day

[00:16:56] Kris Ward: right? 

[00:16:56] Justine Beauregard: They have a plan that week. They’ve actually lost [00:17:00] five pounds by the time they would’ve had their next follow-up call. 

[00:17:03] Kris Ward: Right. 

[00:17:03] Justine Beauregard: How beautiful is that? That’s what we wanna work toward. 

[00:17:07] Kris Ward: That’s so funny to me. ’cause I often, I say that all the time that I will compare an analogy to weight loss.

’cause I’m like, everyone’s wanting to lose five pounds at one point, so let me use that as an analogy. Yeah. I think too, this is a really interesting conversation because it reminds me, somebody said to me once, I said, oh, you’re a really good teacher. And he said, no, you’re just a really good student.

I’m actually not a good teacher. But you’re able to stay focused and pull the concepts together ’cause you’re so hungry to learn. And so I think what’s happening here is. You’re changing the paradigms, really frankly and I’ve read sales books and had people on here. When we talk about sales, it’s always either the gimmicks or the leaning into, or the muscle or the psychology, and it’s here’s the bucket, here’s the framework.

We’ve got this one sales call and how can we manage, manipulate, or do all these things that felt uncomfortable for so many of us. And then you’re [00:18:00] looking at it as a broader, a broader workflow, a broader piece of machinery, and saying you are mislabeling a couple of things. It’s not even you following up with them isn’t the answer.

If they, you do get them on another call, you didn’t do it right the first time, so let’s do it wrong twice. So I think the high level, bigger picture, I think could really be reassuring to a lot of people. ’cause then it’s oh, like re-identifying what the problem is and seeing from a different perspective is really what sheds light.

[00:18:32] Justine Beauregard: Yeah. I think it’s, there’s a lot of reverse engineering going on. 

[00:18:36] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:18:36] Justine Beauregard: And looking back at things and going, okay, so I can close in three calls, like that’s my standard right now. 

[00:18:45] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:18:45] Justine Beauregard: That might be true for some people listening. We can close in three calls. How do we get that to two? 

How do we get the two to one, 

[00:18:54] Kris Ward: right? 

[00:18:54] Justine Beauregard: And so it’s just like looking at the whole thing and going, okay, so in two [00:19:00] calls, what happened differently? I ended up getting this piece of insight, or I ended up having this kind of connection with someone. Okay, what got you there? And it’s like we’re taught all sorts of skills, which is why I struggle with our education system. 

[00:19:16] Kris Ward: Oh yeah. 

[00:19:16] Justine Beauregard: Like worldwide. I struggle with the education system. 

[00:19:19] Kris Ward: Yeah. That would be like a six week Netflix. Netflix series. Yeah. 

[00:19:22] Justine Beauregard: Yes. And it should be. 

[00:19:24] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:19:24] Justine Beauregard: But I think when I think about education, we’re taught like very specific things. And to your point about guests you’ve had on the show, they’ll teach you one very specific thing. Do this, say this, go here. Yeah. Be this way. And it’s all helpful. 

[00:19:42] Kris Ward: Yeah, 

[00:19:43] Justine Beauregard: but it’s not. It’s not learning like 

[00:19:46] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:19:46] Justine Beauregard: What we need to be taught, I think in schools and as entrepreneurs and the way that we shape our learning is like I, and I’m raising two children that are school aged.

[00:19:57] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:19:57] Justine Beauregard: And I could not give [00:20:00] any less care to their homework or the specific problem they’re asking me when my son is saying, mom, how do I solve this math problem? I’m like, how do you think you solve it? What did you learn in school? What are they teaching you? Like I am, he’s seeing me modeling critical thinking and problem solving skills, and that’s really what this comes down to is not do you have the skills, it’s have you been taught.

Or seen modeled the discernment and the critical thinking and problem solving to get to the end result you’re looking for. ’cause I don’t just wanna teach people like, this is just a belief I have. Yeah. I don’t just wanna teach you my framework or I just, I don’t wanna just teach you what to say for a follow up.

Like I gave you that one frame. It might or might not work for you. But if you are the type of person you are, other people are too, where you can hear that and go that won’t work for me, but I think this might. 

[00:20:55] Kris Ward: Right. 

[00:20:55] Justine Beauregard: Or, oh, okay. So what I’m recognizing in that is that I need a way [00:21:00] to follow up with people that feels maybe like a pattern interrupt, or that’s genuinely compassionate and allows me to bridge the gap or whatever.

They might come to different conclusions about that and be able to reformulate that question into something that does fit them. Other people need help learning that. And so there’s different levels of skill building and it depends on like how naturally, like I’m a very, and you are, I can tell a very naturally good critical thinker, problem solver.

You’re very 

[00:21:32] Kris Ward: One moment… dear diary, Justine said, hold on. 

[00:21:37] Justine Beauregard: And so you’re very discerning and it’s like boom. I’ve made all these choices where some other people are not as discerning. Yeah. They’re like I don’t really know what fits me. I need a little bit more time to process things. This doesn’t feel like a comfortable area for me.

And in that situation, they maybe need a little more guidance or a little more help or something else. And so when things don’t work or when they maybe make a tweak to something and it doesn’t go their way, they’re like, okay, [00:22:00] give me another frame. Versus looking at that and going, why didn’t that work?

How do I reverse engineer that? And most people are not trained because our education system doesn’t train us to dive deeper. It trains us to look for someone to tell us what to do.

[00:22:16] Kris Ward: Oh my gosh. We have to have you back. Okay. Do please people share this with a business buddy.

This is. Just solid gold here. You wanna make sure they hear it. Justine, where can people find more of your brilliance?

[00:22:29] Justine Beauregard: I have a podcast called Why You Hate Sales. 

[00:22:31] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:22:32] Justine Beauregard: And it reframes all the reasons you think you hate sales.

‘Cause I have to do endless follow up loops. Actually you don’t, if you just learn this one scale or I’m bad at sales. Actually you probably are, and it’s good to recognize that and then work on it instead of just saying, you know what? I’m not bad at sales. I’m just learning. So there’s a lot of reframes on that show, and it’s just why you hate sales.com or search in any of the major platforms and then you can find me online or on my [00:23:00] website.

Sell with justine.com or at sell with Justine on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, all the places. 

[00:23:05] Kris Ward: Fabulous. And yes, I have become a fast fan of your podcast and it is all that you say. It is. It’s great. Alright, everyone else, we’ll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much. 

[00:23:15] Justine Beauregard: Thank you.