communication Archives | Page 3 of 10

“No-one can read your mind! Half the time you don’t even know what you are thinking, so how do you expect anyone else to do so!”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take

I was talking to Vera, one of my closest friends, the other day and she was complaining about how people who were younger and less experienced were getting promoted ahead of her. She has always put it down to the fact that they were men and getting favoured treatment, but this time it was another woman!

(And yes… That “!” at the end of the paragraph is deliberate)

“She knows she’s not qualified, but she applied anyway and got the role. Just like the men do!”

“Did you apply?” I asked – knowing the answer was no.”

“Of course not!” She snapped. “I didn’t have 5 of the criteria they put in the job description – and all these people who are getting promoted over me have even fewer than I do.”

As the heading says, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Your manager can’t read your mind and is probably too busy to go around thinking about trying to persuade you to apply for new roles anyway. Your prospects are just as busy. If you don’t ask for the sale, you’ll probably miss out… Unless you are important enough for people to seek you out.

How Was I Supposed to Know You Wanted That

Some years ago, Anna came out of a meeting with her boss absolutely fuming.

I asked what had happened, expecting to find out that she had been reprimanded, fired, or had her leave request rejected.

It turned out that she was mad because she was thirsty and her boss hadn’t offered her a drink of water, instead he had turned off the fan.

“Huh,” I said. “That seems odd. Did you ask for a drink?”

“Oh no! But I told him it was draughty.

“You told him it was draughty and you expected him to get you a drink?” I asked… Just to clarify that I hadn’t misheard.

“Yes. And he just ignored that and went on with the conversation.”

Look… People can be really tone deaf. They can miss things we communicate explicitly, but when you say it’s draughty, not many people realise you want a glass of water, so it’s your job to communicate what you want clearly and concisely.

Why I Say that "Sales is the #1 Life Skill"

Both of my friends in the stories above felt they’d received a raw deal. The reality was, neither of them had taken the time or action to prepare a sales pitch or say what they wanted.

Instead of considering how to present her abilities and pitch her readiness for a new position, Vera convinced herself that she wasn’t qualified and never applied for promotion, then she got mad about others who were prepared to put themselves forward.

Instead of telling her boss she was thirsty, Anna got mad because he couldn’t read between the lines and see that she was thirsty, not cold.

AND…

Instead of telling people about the transformation your product and service can make in their life or business for them then asking if they’d like to learn more…

There’s a strong likelihood that you are expecting the other person to take the initiative and getting upset when they don’t respond as you’d like them to.

Conversations, Sales, and Open Doors

Most people aren’t very observant… Or, if they are observant, they’re paranoid about being offensive so they don’t share their observations.

I like to think that’s the reason that networking events and business dinners can be so stressful and boring. It’s not that the people there aren’t interesting, it’s just that they are afraid of offending someone or prying. Zoom meetings, social media, and lockdowns haven’t helped at all! In fact, they’ve made it much worse.

What do you do when someone says something interesting?

Do you ask a follow-on question, or do you just continue with your planned script?

Most people are too busy to see or hear the open door, so they just plough onto the next question… And so they lose the chance to listen, learn, and create a relationship… Which may (or may not) lead to a future sales or other opportunity.

The archetypal pushy salesman of the 70s and 80s with a briefcase full of brochures and the goal of selling whatever they have available ‘no matter what’ learned scripts and stuck to them. They deserved the rejection and avoidance they received – BUT the truth is that those people were never the highest performers.

The most effective and highest-performing sales people have always been the ones who listened, asked appropriate questions to draw out their prospect, and then offered a tailor-made solution that met their needs. Once they had done that, they asked for the sale fully aware that their prospect wanted and needed the solution that was being offered.

Because… If you don’t ask for what you want, you probably won’t get it.

Do You Need to Learn to Ask for the Sale?

I work with a lot of people who tell me up-front, “I’m just not good at selling.” Many of them assume that sales people are born not made, when the truth is no-one is born a sales person. It’s a skill we learn (or choose not to learn).

I’m passionate about teaching people to sell because I believe that confidence in your ability to sell makes life much easier and more pleasant… And we all want our lives to be easier and more pleasant!

I’ve developed a 30-day course called Ready Set Sell that enables even the most reluctant sales person to prove to themselves that they can sell and that closing sales is fun. It’s great for sales-averse individuals who realise that they need to learn to sell because it’s non-threatening, can be applied in any industry or setting, and can even be practiced on your friends and colleagues.

If you’d like to learn more about discovering the hidden sales power within you go to https://lifepuzzle.com.au/ready-set-sell/. I hope to see you inside.

“The thing that makes the biggest difference for most professionals and business owners isn’t learning more skills, it’s learning how to highlight the value of the skills they already have.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

What Skill Would You Choose to Focus on?

I was talking to one of my clients the other day about hiring new staff. He’s the CEO of mid-size company that has doubled its profits over the past 18 months and I’ve been training his sales team for about 21 months. He made the half-joking comment,

“You know, Chandell, I really ought to pay for you to coach the top candidates for every position we advertise so they can master their sales pitch. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that we’re losing some highly qualified candidates who have no idea at all how to sell themselves. That’s bad for them because they’re losing opportunities, and it’s bad for us because we’re losing quality candidates.”

His comment was born out of his awareness that he was no longer just relying on his sales team to sell their services and products. Every member of the team and gone through sales training and could present themselves and the product persuasively. That was the real secret behind their phenomenally successful results.

It works like this, when everyone from your partners and senior staff down to your receptionist and newest hires understands what your core business is about, they understand how to help customers and what needs to happen in order to not merely make a sale, but also improve the product.

What Does That Have to Do With giving Sales Training to Prospective Candidates?

If you’ve ever been responsible for interviewing candidates, you probably know what my client is talking about…

You’ve read the coverletter and CV or Resume… But did they write it themselves?

You’ve seen their work history and qualifications.

You’ve picked (or your recruiting company) has picked the best candidates to interview…

Now, it’s really all down to interview skills. And sometimes, those interviews don’t even take into account the kind of role a person is applying for.

This particular CEO talked about the candidates that had been sent for a technical position. Yes, they need to work with their team and think about the problem in a specific way, but at the core, they are being tasked with a lone-wolf technical job where attention to detail and ability are the essential skills.

“I’d love to put those people in a room with you for 2 hours, Chandell and teach them how to sell me on why their skills and personality is perfect for the job… and I’d like my interviewers and candidate selectors to look at those criteria too.” he told me. “Instead I had to task to see all the applications and pick the ones I wanted to talk to. I found someone, but I believe there is a better way.”

It’s Really Up to You!

My client had a point… From his organisation’s standpoint it would help if the candidates were trained to sell themselves… And how they responded to those sales trainings would tell him more about what he needed to know about them…

BUT…

It isn’t really the firm doing the hiring that is responsible for providing you with skills that will help you achieve your goals, is it?

It comes down to you.

Do you care enough about your future to learn the skills that will help you shine? You’ve invested in your education and training on a professional level, are you prepared to master the ONE skill that will help you move forward along the path to your goal?

In 2020, I was working with a Sales Team that was struggling to adjust to remote work and virtual sales meetings. One of the members, (let’s call him Sam) probably the most talented sales person on the team, was very angry about the changes. He sat through our trainings (mostly silent) and kept right on doing what he had always done. Month after month, his sales trickled in and he presented his results with an “it’s not my fault” attitude. You might have accepted his excuses if it wasn’t for Sally, another member of the team. Sally had her position on probation because the company really needs a sales person and she demonstrated her willingness to learn while openly acknowledging that she struggled to think of herself as a sales person.

Week by week, she took notes, practiced the skills I taught, and made calls. Week by week her results improved and in 3 months her results beat out all the others. After that, everyone but Sam got on board and worked their butts off, not just listening, but applying and refining their pitch and discovering ways of finding qualified prospects.

Sales isn’t just the Province of a Few.

Everyone can learn and change… If they choose to do so. Human’s are uniquely wired to adapt, so why wouldn’t you invest in learning one of the most powerful and useful skills on the planet?

You don’t even need to take a course. You can teach yourself to sell in an authentic and positive way… Your own skills and personality or anything else you want to. Don’t kid yourself that ‘nice people don’t sell’. I was talking to a doctor the other day and he said to me, “You know, if we learned sales skills at medical school, we’d be much better at helping our patients decide what was the best course of action to follow… And our patients would probably be healthier, happier, and more compliant. There’s a book called “Change or Die” that talks about how many strokes and heart attacks could be avoided if doctors understood the art of sales and took their responsibility to sell more seriously.”

What About YOU?

How are your sales skills?

Have you ever considered how much more effective (and profitable) every aspect of your business might be if you developed your own and your team’s ability to sell…

Yourself?
Your ideas?
Your solution?

I’ve noticed that many people today are looking around for a saviour – the government is an obvious candidate – but no Government can do everything for everyone. My solution is to find ways to help people help themselves… And learning to sell is something anyone can and should learn to do.

Sales, and the incorporated skill of communication, are life skills that rarely get taught effectively at school, so it’s probably up to you to learn it for yourself.

“Many people start doing things. Successful people actually keep doing them as long as they’re effective.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Transformation vs Change

Tom called me one day to ask when my next “7-day Results Transformation Challenge” would be taking place.

He took the Challenge last year and suddenly had all the qualified clients he could manage… And a waiting list. As he put it a few weeks later, “I’m set, Chandell! Thanks to you I’ve got a 9 month pipeline and my business has been transformed.”

So, when he called, I asked him what had changed since we last spoke…

“Well, I need more clients. My business has grown, my expenses have grown and although most of my clients are staying with me I need to keep adding more. I really grooved on the daily tasks and interaction and I know your plan works.”

You see, Tom’s business was temporarily transformed by his strategic actions… But deep down, nothing had really changed.

Tom’s story isn’t unusual, lots of people take my challenges, have their best month ever, and then find themselves back on the rollercoaster of feast and famine. Even though they know how to create success, they don’t necessarily keep doing the things that create it. That’s where systems come in.

Creating Lasting Change

If you want to create lasting change, you need to put in place systems that will keep you doing the things that are required to succeed and keep those sales rolling in.

That’s why I developed Confident Conversion: 90 days to More Cash, More Clients, More Impact. The program is designed to walk you through the process of creating structures and systems that turn short-term transformation into lasting change.

When Tom enrolled in Confident Conversion and started following the plan he discovered that it was easy to keep on with the actions that delivered results. Unlike last year where he filled his pipeline and then coasted, he now has a system (actually a series of systems) in place to attract leads, qualify them, close sales, and follow them up to increase long-term retention.

The difference is incredible! Because systems help you keep doing the things that work as long as they’re effective and give you standards by which to measure your progress.

“As Long as They are Effective!”

I hope you noticed that significant phrase.

At the same time that Tom set up his systems, he set up tools to measure his results. Mostly, he’s measuring inputs the things HE controls, but he’s also looking at how long they take, how much energy they demand, and the results they deliver.

Strategically measuring these things has allowed Tom to direct his efforts. He knows that some of his sales and marketing activities are ‘slow-burn’ activities and others deliver fast results but don’t last as long. Over the months, he’s been able to determine what brings in his ideal clients and customers so he’s doing more of those and cutting out some other activities that aren’t as effective.

Measuring and Reviewing his results means that he has data to guide his decisions… In fact, last month he was about to cancel a program that he had grown tired of executing when he realised that it delivered almost 38% of his most qualified leads. He didn’t just keep that initiative running, he doubled down on his efforts in that area.

Pipelines Relieve Stress

Systems. Predictions (accurate ones). Pipelines… They’re all big de-stressers and stress-relievers and these days, we can all benefit from taking some of the stress off our shoulders.

If you are running from one crisis to the next in your lead flow and sales conversions then you need to do two things:

Build a robust pipeline or waiting list so you can confidently plan your cashflow; and
Create a sales system that guides you through the weeks and months of activity, relieving you of the need to depend on your ‘hustle-skills’.

Not only will these two things make your business more sustainable and less stressful, it will also enrich your relationships (because you’ll have more time and energy for them) and improve your lifestyle.

If you need some help with setting up these systems, OR, if you are wondering if you couldn’t improve even further, then consider signing up for Confident Conversion: 90 days to More Cash, More Clients, More Impact and shifting everything (including your peace of mind and ability to relax) up a notch or two!

“If you don’t make sales, your business will go bankrupt. It’s that simple.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

What Makes a Business Successful?

Any business has several essential elements.

These include:

Legal & Banking Compliance Structures
Financial Controls, Budgets, Projections etc.
Products and/or Services that People Want to Buy
Order & Delivery Mechanisms
Future Plans for Growth
Employees for Production and Administration
Marketing and Sales Plans
Etc. Etc. Etc.

BUT… Sooner of later: sooner, if you’re self-funded; later if you are funded by venture capital you actually need to make a profit… Which means that you need to make sales (preferably a growing number of them at a variety of price-points.

If you don’t, you end up bankrupt.

You Can’t Take Likes and Shares to the Bank!

You probably already know that no matter how many followers and fans you have on social media, how many people attend your free webinars etc. None of those things will pay your bills. Plenty of people have said that before me.

On the other hand, you’ve probably also heard people say that “the money is in your list” (both email and physical mail) which is only partly true. The money is actually in your list of buyers. Many of the people on that list are just empty names. If you are sending via email, then all those dormant names aren’t costing you $… But they are affecting your credibility and deliverability. If you are sending physical mail then there is a specific monetary cost attached to those non-buyers names.

This is not the place to talk about my method for qualifying people and distinguishing between:

Buyers,
Not-Yet Buyers, and
Never-Buyers,

But I wanted to get you thinking about these things because I’m seeing people take this “money is in your list” idea way too far.

The ONE Metric That Changes Everything!

= SALES!

If you don’t make sales you can’t afford anything else in your business.

I’ve worked with businesses of all sizes from start-ups to multi-million dollar turnover publicly listed corporations. From lifestyle and make-the-world-a-better-place businesses to profit-driven entities and mission-centric entrepreneurs. Sooner or later all of them realise that when they focus on improving their sales numbers, everything else starts moving in a positive direction.

It’s especially true when you are set on growing and taking your business to the next level:

From start-up to a half-million dollar business
From a half-million dollar business to a one million dollar business
From a one million dollar business to a five million dollar business

The thing you need is… More sales!

Are You Treating Sales as an Afterthought?

I can’t tell you how many people make this mistake.

They act as though sales are just peripheral… And as though sales skills are only useful for the ‘sales professionals’ (often meaning – but not saying – those people who couldn’t do anything more useful with their lives).

Interestingly enough, many of the people who say, act, or think like that either lose their business or come to me and ask for urgent help with their sales either to save their business or so they can create the income and life of their dreams instead of struggling to make ends meet each month.

It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

One of the things that brings me the deepest level of satisfaction is seeing business owners realise that developing their (ethical) sales skills helps them enjoy life more and develop deeper relationships with:

Staff and Colleagues
Prospects
Clients
Friends
Family

That’s because communication is at the heart of successful sales and better communication skills help you in every area of life.

In addition, once you master the art of opening sales conversation and closing sales, the tangible benefits appear in your bank account and your level of stress goes down… Dramatically.

If you’d like to join the thousands of people who have experienced the transformation that comes when you master ethical sales systems and implement them in your business, check out the programs and events I host and join my email list HERE.

“Business owners and sales people who don’t realise that their livelihood depends on provoking the twin emotions of curiosity and inadequacy struggle to make and keep their business profitable and meet their goals.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

The 3-Step Framework for a Confident Close

My goal is to empower people and the number #1 tool of empowerment is confidence in your sales skills. Despite what many people think when they hear the world ‘sales’ there is nothing sleazy or negative about a highly skilled sales person… Sleaze and pushiness belong with those who are desperate, needy, and lack confidence in themselves and the value they bring to the table.

If you want a step-by-step sales guide that does not take into account the particular needs of both your prospect and your product, then you’re about 40 years too late. One-size-fits-all selling was an Industrial Age phenomena that has minimal effectiveness today where customization and personality are at the forefront.

My sales framework has several segments but today we’re looking at how to move from introduction to the next step no matter what stage you are at within the framework. It is just as powerful at helping you create momentum when you are first meeting someone at a networking function and want to set an appointment as it is when you are ready for their signature and first payment.

The Power of Curiosity

There are very few people in this world who wake up looking for things to buy – especially in the business world.

That means, that if you want to close the sale, your first task it to arouse curiosity in the minds of your prospects and of your clients. I’m often asked to work with clients to hone their elevator pitch into a brief statement that opens discussion rather than shuts it down. If your answer to the question, “What do you do?” starts with “I am an…” You’re not only failing to answer the question you’re being asked, you’re also shutting down the conversation which is the very opposite to the goal at which you are aiming.

That’s one side of the curiosity equation, and it’s a powerful way of inviting your prospect to initiate a sales conversation or close the deal. The other side of the equation is even more powerful in some ways: that’s the side where you demonstrate curiosity about your prospect or client and find out what they need and where they are feeling pain or lack of confidence.

Questions that Uncover Possibilities

When you ask appropriate questions, you enable your prospects and clients to help themselves see that they have…

Serious Problems
Unmet Needs
Dangerous Levels of Exposure
Unprotected Vulnerabilities

At this point, you hardly need to sell because they will sell themselves. You just keep silent, listen carefully, and wait for them to say the magic words, “…and that’s why I really need to work with you!”

Along the way, you’ll find the three key sentences that you can use to confirm their decision to work with you after they have finished selling themselves into your program or product.

What are those questions?

There is no ‘one size fits all’, because there really is an art to formulating appropriate questions that will help your prospects SEE the possibilities, FEEL their present pain, and KNOW that you can work with them to solve their problems because you don’t merely have knowledge and experience, you also have insight and wisdom.

Every Interaction Has A Clear Goal

“How will you know when you have achieved your goal?” is a key question that you need to answer before every sales conversation.

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series (you can find that HERE) the business world is shifting rapidly and it’s more important than ever to stay up-to-date with your clients and customers and monitor their need and their pain so that you can solve the problems that are uppermost in their mind.

Sales calls aren’t just used to bring new clients onboard – that is the ultimate goal, but along the way there might be other goals.

I’m always worried when I’m conducting an in-house sales training and more than one person says, “I didn’t close any sales this week, but I had X number of conversations and Y appointments.” The only thing that is worse is when they say, “I had lots of conversations and appointments but no sales.” Both of these responses demonstrate that the sales systems and processes themselves need work and that the building and training process will be extensive.

However, when I hear a detailed breakdown of the goals for each call or appointment around areas including:

Nurturing relationships with clients and prospects,
Discovering more about specific areas of concern or need,
Moving the prospect or client from one sales stage to the next,
Offering clients and prospects an opportunity they might not have heard about otherwise,
Requesting feedback on existing services,
Following established systems and processes to create momentum,
Then I know I’m dealing with an organisation that is truly committed to serving it’s customers and solving their problems and the sales team are usually wanting to take their skills to the next level because they’re true professionals who always want to grow, but they’re working with a system that is supporting their efforts.

“If every unscheduled call is defined as a ‘cold call’ then your sales team are likely to end up out-of-work.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Selling Strategies for a Changing World

As the world slowly regains it’s equilibrium many companies (from multi-national behemoths to smaller or medium sized) find themselves struggling to make the volume of sales they need and they’re calling me in to help them diagnose and solve the problems with their sales team. It’s been a fascinating experience because I’ve been shifting between strategic assessments, overhauling sales systems and processes, and hands-on training so I’ve really had a 360º view of what is going on.

The reality is that things have shifted during the pandemic your sales strategies need to shift to meet the new situation – or at least they do, if you want to survive and thrive.

Here are 3 areas of potential change:

Your clients and customers’ circumstances may have changed meaning that your solution may now be too large or too small for their new needs;
Your team membership may have changed as people retired, moved elsewhere, or came to work with your expanding demand;
Your processes and systems may have changed – or they may need to change – to meet new circumstances;

All of this change means that you cannot take anything for granted, so it’s more important than ever to:

Nurture relationships,
Educate and inform clients as well as prospects about your services,
Assess your offerings and adjust them to meet demand,
Implement sales systems and processes that help you do all of those three things.

Over the past decade of rampant growth, many people have felt comfortable in sales roles because all they’ve needed to do is close leads that have been funnelled to them in almost endless supply. This meant that a 30-50% close rate was still acceptable, because there were always more leads to tap.

BUT… The math changes when the leads (and I’m talking about qualified leads here) dry up.

The Hungry Sales Professional

One of my most popular reports is “How to Talk to 10 Hungry Buyers this Week” (if you’re interested, you can download it HERE). It’s popular, but I’ve noticed that some of the sales professionals in my trainings turn up their nose when they are expected to implement its lessons to increase their close rate… they’ve become so used to the old world of sales that they’ve forgotten (or never learned) that Hungry Sales Professionals can create Hungry Buyers almost out of thin air IF they are willing to do one thing…

Get on the phone and call people.

Cold Calling has an Extended Definition These Days… And it’s Killing Your Sales!

Later in this series we’ll talk about the art of classic ‘cold calling’ and when and where you should consider using it.

Here, I’m going to focus on an attitude I’ve been addressing in many of the business owners (which is possibly expected) and sales professionals (where it’s inexcusable) I’m working with… The idea that they need to wait until someone else schedules a call.

In other words, the new definition of cold calling includes: “all calls which have not been pre-booked by a third party.” I’m extremely keen on attraction marketing and pre-qualifying prospects, but this approach is ridiculous, because it assumes that your prospects and clients know what they need and why they need it!

Let’s get this straight, once and for all:

Unscheduled calls to clients and prospects for the purpose of discovering how they are doing; what they need; and even letting them know about updated packages are NOT cold calls!

In fact, they are beneficial to you because they provide valuable feedback… And productive for the recipient because they have a chance to vent or celebrate.

These calls are extremely valuable opportunities for sales people to hone their conversation, communication, and listening skills, and they often end up yielding sales, referrals, and other opportunities.

The Qualifying Question

I believe that people should enjoy their work and find it satisfying, so… Early on in my sales training (after we’ve talked about the importance of sales skills in every area of life and looked at the way that skill benefits both parties) I ask this question:

Are you committed to changing people’s lives and future enough to step out of your comfort zone?

There’s no right or wrong answer – the choice lies with each person. BUT… If anyone’s answer to that question is, “No. I want to stay in my comfort zone when it comes to sales calls,” then they probably aren’t suited to sales or business ownership unless that attitude changes.

In Part 2, I’m going to talk about how you can use unscheduled calls with clients and prospects to do all that critical information-gathering and keep your organisation in the lead when it comes to service delivery and product offerings in any industry.

“The map appears to us more real than the land.”

~ D.H. Lawrence

What Does This Have to Do with Business and Sales?

In it’s most general term a ‘map’ is any tool that helps us understand and navigate the situation we are facing and the ‘territory’ is our actual situation.

In business and in sales, these maps include:

Sales processes, scripts, and tools
Business processes and protocols
Dress and speech codes
Financial instruments
Lead generation and nurture

The territory would be the actual real-world conversations you have, the sense of rapport you do or do not have, systems glitches, etc.

Every day your business uses a map to function. Even the decision to ‘wing it’ and make up the rules as you go is a map… of sorts.

One of my favourite stories to tell with regard to following a map is about a sales rep named Bob. My friends know him as ‘Bob the photocopier man’. Bob’s map was detailed and fixed in his mind. He went from Point 1 to Point 2 to… Point X without any variation.

I encountered Bob on a day when I was short of staff and short of time. I wanted the answer to a SINGLE question and was ready to sign the purchase order as soon as that was answered. Unfortunately, Bob was so fixated on his map, that he couldn’t read the situation… And lost the sale!

This principle can make the difference between paying your bills… And not doing so.

Reality Check!

When you mistake your map for the reality you actually face, you can get into big trouble.

This is why, in business and sales, there is no such thing as a perfect process or structure. There are frameworks that apply when certain things are true, but if someone says, “Just do x, y, and z, and then you will 100X your profit this year,” then you should run away as quickly as you can.

There are many valuable online courses that promise to help you succeed if you have the confidence and motivation to work at implementing them. Most of them are genuinely effective, but you still have to bring your analytical skills and imagination to them. This is why we insist on pre-qualifying people for our programs: they are designed for people who have specific needs and there are some people whom we cannot help for one reason or another.

In business, your processes, theories, and understanding cannot be divorced from the reality of everyday life. If you try to ignore reality, your business is likely to fail… Fast.

In fact, one of the reasons people often contact me is that the financial reality of a business that does not have a strong sales process and supporting sales structures has become painfully evident. The truth is, you can have a fantastic product or service, but if you can’t actually close sales then you are at risk of failure.

Jumping to Conclusions

A map is like any other model. A quick glance may expose the similarities, but may not give enough information to highlight the differences.

That’s where both parties need to ask good questions to establish their suitability. I’m always rather wary of a high-ticket service business that lets me pay my money too easily, especially when they are going to deliver an outcome. It may be tempting when you need to make sales quickly to take ‘anyone with a pulse’, but it has a negative effect on your positioning and your own confidence in the results you deliver.

This is why the most famous and successful sales and business consultants have a very stringent application process and turn away as many applicants as they accept. Those they do accept are happy to pay astronomical fees because they know they will get results. These companies have set up a process that weeds out all the people who do not fit their profile.

There are other consultants and trainers who offer one-size-fits-all courses and deliver the same advice to everyone without digging into specific situations and needs. Frequently, these people are well-known, but their programs don’t deliver such stellar results and there is rarely any effort to pre-qualify applicants.

There’s a third group of consultants and trainers who offer customised interactive programs that deliver stellar results to members even when they are at different stages (within limits). These consultants and trainers qualify and evaluate candidates and they exclude those they can’t help, but their aim is to fully understand just what the prospect is looking for and where they are in the process.

Who Made the Map?

When it comes to sales training, specifically, it is extremely important to know who made the map you are following… And when it was made.

There was a long period in the 80’s and 90’s when sales training focused on what I call, ‘drag, batter, and kill’ methodologies. The idea was that when you see someone who was a potential prospect, you should corner them, beat them over the head with information, drag them to the desk, and close the sale – preferably on a long-term contract.

Some of these ideas are still practiced and taught today… And I find them out-dated, repulsive, and arrogant.

When you think about your sales strategies, my question is: if you used them to offer your service to your best friend, would you still be friends?

If the answer isn’t a resounding “Yes,” then it’s time to re-evaluate your sales strategy and discover how to tweak (or redesign) your map so that it is truly useful in today’s business territory because sales has never been a more critical skill to develop if you want to succeed.

“Finishing strong is an everyday occurrence as there will never be a race, goal, day, quarter or year that does not come to an end. This means finishing strong is not an act…it’s a habit.”

~ Gary Ryan Blair

What Does Closing have to Do with Finishing?

Michelle looked at me with hostility. I was training and managing the sales team for her organisation and her boss had asked me to have a talk with her. Based on her history, personality, and skill profile, she should have been a top sales performer, but her results were extremely average.

In response to my questions, she had just presented me with a litany of excuses for her uninspiring results that ranged from lousy leads to the economy to her marital problems. Then I had asked her a seeming irrelevant question “How many unfinished projects do you have in your life?”

That provoked another angry outburst culminating in her furious response: “What does closing have to do with finishing anyway?”

She didn’t quite add, “and how is that any business of yours?” But the unspoken words hovered in the air.

I wasn’t willing to back down, though. Her boss, Justin, had asked me to resolve the problem or let Michelle know that the company would be asking her to leave due to her poor performance. I didn’t think Michelle wanted that to happen, so I answered quietly… “The habit of finishing things and the practice of closing a sale are both tied to your overall wellbeing.

Research is exposing more and more the inter-relationship between unfinished tasks and projects in every area of life and people’s mental health and overall performance. It’s behind best practices in goal setting, project management, and task management and it’s part of the reason that many high performers practice daily meditation (the art of letting things go) and micro-meditation (the art of resetting as you move from one task to the next).

Michelle’s sales performance had been stellar. I was trying to discover what had changed – and this was indeed the key.

Judgers, Perceivers, and other Key Indicators

At first, Michelle hid behind the Myers-Briggs concept that she was a perceiver (P), so of course she was comfortable with open loops and unfinished business, but I knew that closing sales hadn’t always been hard for her so I kept digging through the excuses until we reached the root…

Uncertainty had become such an integral part of her life that she had developed the unconscious belief that everything was outside her control. As a result, she had developed a habit of blaming anything and everything on someone else and delegating as much as possible. Over the past few months that habit had spilled over into smaller and smaller projects and tasks until now, she acknowledged that closing a sale seemed to in the realm of ‘out of my control’.

“It’s easy for John,” she went on (talking about her colleague) “he likes everything neat and tidy, so he just won’t quit until he has closed a sale any more than he will quit before he wins an argument.”

I had to smile. She had summed up John’s judger personality perfectly, but the reality was that Michelle had always delivered a far higher number of high value sales than John – simply because she was willing to see the other point of view, read the situation, and circle back – either later in the conversation or on another day.

I was committed to working this through for her sake, not just for the organisation’s. It turned out, that once Michelle was aware of the shift in her belief and habits, she was also willing to address the issue and do the work required.

Why Does Everyone Get So Caught Up with Closing Sales?

Sales is far broader than simply the need to bring clients on board or sell produces and packages.

When you realise that sales skill are necessary to:

Get a job in the first place
Land a promotion or salary raise
Lead a team or organisation
Persuade friends, family, and children to take action
Shape beliefs and adopt habits
Communicate ideas and offer alternative paths…

You also realise that the ability to close sales is a very important skill that affects your happiness, opportunities, influence, and much much more.

There are many different ways to “close” and they are shaped by context and personality, but choosing not to close sales at all is a recipe for unhappiness and a deep-seated realisation that you have chosen to play small when you could have had a greater positive effect on your world.

That’s why I’m so passionate about closing sales… For me, it’s about helping you to be, do, and have all you can be: to fulfil your potential in every arena!

YOU should also be caught up with closing sales!

That idea you had that would solve your business’s lead generation problems…
The lifestyle change that would enable both you and your partner to lose weight and become healthier…
That new prospect you know will experience total transformation if he buys…
That hobby that will help your son make friends and feel valued…
That restaurant you really want to dine at…
That credential you believe would create exciting opportunities…

They’re all sales you could close… If only you had the beliefs and habits to support you.

AND…

If you don’t close them?

You develop the habit of letting other people – other forces – control your life instead of taking the reins yourself and choosing your own direction!

Cultivating the Closing Habit

If there’s one thing that the pandemic has taken from many people, it’s that sense of control.

Robert, a successful CEO, said as much to me last week. “I used to believe and act with the confidence that if we went ahead, we could work things out. Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m saying, ‘Let’s wait and see about …’ disturbingly often. My habits have changed and so have my beliefs about what’s possible. I liked the old Robert better, and I think that there’s a new Robert inside me somewhere that would be even better than that one. Can you help me find him?”

We’ve only just started working together, but already things have started to shift – not just at work, but at home too.

In my program, Confident Conversion, we actually don’t spend very much at all talking about sales tactics. The focus is on your beliefs about yourself and your product, your positioning (and the tools to help you communicate the value you deliver), your qualifying process (so you never sell to anyone you can’t help), and several other important elements that increase your confidence and deliver results.

If you’d like to find out more, visit https://lifepuzzle.com.au/13-week-profitable-business-accelerator-program/

“Sales isn’t an activity, it’s an exchange of value: your money for my solution.

In addition, your money is also solving problems for my family.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

The Pricing Conundrum

Price may be one of the most studied and tested areas of product development. It’s certainly one of the first questions that most clients and students ask me.

I get questions like…

Am I charging enough?
Am I charging too much?
Why do some people say, “Is that all it costs!” And others say, “That’s way too expensive!”?
How much should I charge?
Should I feel guilty because my price is 2X what my competitors charge?
I can hardly pay my bills, can I raise my prices so I’m not working for $0?
How do I overcome objections to my prices?
What’s the perfect price point for my product or service?

If these questions are raging in your head… You’re not alone!

These same questions have been keeping economists up at night for centuries and have consumed billions of words, millions of pages and hours.

There’s a good reason for all that angst, too… Because the answer is quite simple
AND very disturbing for economists and governments…

It depends!

What do I mean?

Well….

Once Upon a Time...

Back in prehistoric times and in pre-currency days if you wanted something you had to trade.

So… You went to your neighbour with a dozen eggs and asked if you could exchange the eggs for a new blanket (which his family makes). Unfortunately, he keeps chickens too, so he doesn’t want any eggs, but after some probing, he tells you that he’d be happy to exchange the blanket for 2 litres of milk.

BUT… none of the people who have milk cows are interested in eggs, although one of them says he’d take a quantity of spun wool. Eventually, you are able to exchange your

Eggs for a basket of apples;
Apples for a sack of fleece;
Fleece for a bag of flour;
Flour for spun wool;
Wool for 2 litres of milk…

And hours later, you go back to your neighbour and exchange the milk for the blanket!

Phew!! (Lucky he hadn’t sold it to anyone in the interval.)

That was a complex process, wasn’t it?

A weekly market, made all that swapping a lot faster because you didn’t have to walk nearly as far to make those exchanges, but it wasn’t until money came into being that it became absolutely simple.

Because now…

The only thing you need to decide is how much ‘currency’ you are willing to take in return for your blanket. And, if lots of people want your blanket, you might be able to exchange it for enough currency to buy 3 litres of milk (or to save some currency for another day).

How this Affects YOU and Why it Matters

The reality is that ‘the perfect price’ depends on who you are selling to and how much they want a solution.

Think of some of the ‘Go Fund Me’ campaigns and look at the situations people are raising money for and the generous responses they receive.

I saw one person donate $100,000 to help a child get cancer treatment in the USA. Why? For that person the opportunity to solve the problem was worth that much money and, although they didn’t know the child, helping him out make them feel good.

Price | Value | Quality | Quantity…

They’re all heavily dependant on:

WHO you are selling to
HOW you are selling
The CONTEXT in which you are selling

… Far more than they depend on WHAT you are selling.

So the bad news is that there isn’t a single ‘perfect price’.

And the good news is that you can set your own ‘perfect price’.

The Price is Right!

Possibly you found the previous section depressingly uncertain if you were hoping I’d give you a formula.

The other way of looking at it, though, is that this opens a world of possibility for you.

Imagine that you know how much money you need, and how much time you are willing to invest to make it… So that you still have time for family, friends, travel, hobbies and other things that are important to you.

Now, you just need to find people who need and want the product or service you offer and are in a position to pay the price you have set… And let me tell you a secret:

“It is not 10 times harder to sell 1/10 volume at 10 times the price – in fact, it’s much easier.”

When you know how much you want to charge each client, then you simply find the people who will recognise the value you deliver at that price. Once you’ve found one person like that, it’s easy to clone them and keep the sales rolling in.

“Plant a tiny seed in the right spot and it will grow without coaxing.

~ B.J. Fogg

Confident, Congruent Sales in Business and Life

Sales is not just about money.

In fact, in many ways sales is hardly about money at all (see my previous blog: “The #1 Life Skill” to discover what I mean). I believe that failing to understand this important truth is one of the major reasons that many people have a visceral anti-selling response. I mean, I don’t know how many times when I tell someone, “I’m a sales trainer and speaker who helps people get more of what they want,” they just about step back with their hands up to ward me off and say with disappointment, “But you seem like such a pleasant person! I was looking forward to talking to you some more.”

The real problem most people have with selling (or at least with closing sales) is that they only know how to do it in ways that they know are not congruent with who they are and how they want to treat people. What I do, is to help people discover how to sell their ideas, plans, products, services, and dreams in a way that is comfortable and congruent with their values and goals so that they can confidently reach toward their loftiest ambitions and gain a horde of excited followers along the way.

Should I Repair, Renovate, or Re-build My Sales Process?

To some degree, the answer depends on what your current sales process looks like.

At the same time, I’m a big fan of using organic growth wherever possible… Especially when it comes to closing sales.

I remember one delightful woman who came to my Confident Closing workshop who hadn’t closed a sale in months! (Luckily, Jenna wasn’t dependent on her start-up to live or she would have starved.) On the first day, we worked through her client avatar and elevator pitch and by 1pm the next afternoon she had closed a sale for several thousand dollars just by rejigging her approach. Over the next week she closed 5 more sales – 2 had been pending for months and 3 came as referrals – just by making small changes.

As we worked together over the next few years, her pipeline grew, the channels that fed it expanded, and her sales increased in both number and value. Today, her sales process looks completely different from those first struggling efforts, but we never set out to rebuild the whole thing in one go.

The 1% Option

In many ways, sales are like habits. You can totally transform your life by starting from scratch and developing new ways of doing everything from brushing your teeth, to exercise, to food, to work… And sometimes that is forced on you by calamity or by a major change in your life. Most transformation coaches, therapists, and trainers suggest that you take more of an incremental approach if you want to create lasting change. That process lets you change one or two key things which lead to a significant outcome, and then slowly add or subtract other habits and behaviours.

I call this the 1% option – and it’s one of the most powerful concepts in many areas of life. In a sales situation (going back to Jenna, the woman I talked about earlier), this means setting sales goals that will help you build confidence along the way.

As I said, Jenna hadn’t closed a sale in months and her previous sale was $1,000 per month for 6 months. We talked about how much she wanted to charge and what her competitors were charging, but it was clear that she didn’t think she could make that jump. In the end, she decided that she could confidently ask for a setup fee of $1,100 + $1,100 per month for 6 months (meaning that her contract value jumped from $6,000 to $7,700).

Her subsequent sales over that week steadily increased in value and the last one of those 5 she closed was worth $15,000 over 6 months.

What Exponential Growth Looks Like

1% doesn’t seem a lot, does it?

Actually, it builds up quite quickly over time as an ancient Indian king discovered when he played chess with a visiting sage. The bet was that if the sage won, the king would place 1 grain of rice on the first square of the board, then double the number of grains on each subsequent square, which seemed like quite a modest wager.

However, when the king lost, he quickly realised that all the rice in the kingdom was not sufficient to pay his winnings and the sage made an agreement that the king would pay back the debt with interest to himself and his heirs.

Of course, that story represents 50% growth, and 1% growth is a lot smaller than 50%, but imagine that every week you added a 1% increase to each of the 7 key metrics of your business… In a week, you’d hardly notice anything, but in a year each metric would show substantial change and your total income and influence transformation would be dramatic – even though it had happened almost invisibly.

The Confident Closing Challenge

I run the 5-day Confident Closing Challenge regularly to help people see how easily they can dramatically increase both the frequency and value of their sales. In just 5-days, you can see the increase in confidence and optimism as sales flow in and participants realise that ‘confident,’ ‘congruent,’ and ‘sales’ really can coexist… And that the art of Confident Closing is something they can master and enjoy.

To learn more about the 5-day Confident Closing Challenge go HERE to sign up for out next challenge.

You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take

How Was I Supposed to Know You Wanted That

Why I Say that "Sales is the #1 Life Skill"

Conversations, Sales, and Open Doors

Do You Need to Learn to Ask for the Sale?

What Skill Would You Choose to Focus on?

What Does That Have to Do With giving Sales Training to Prospective Candidates?

It’s Really Up to You!

Sales isn’t just the Province of a Few.

What About YOU?

Transformation vs Change

Creating Lasting Change

“As Long as They are Effective!”

Pipelines Relieve Stress

What Makes a Business Successful?

You Can’t Take Likes and Shares to the Bank!

The ONE Metric That Changes Everything!

Are You Treating Sales as an Afterthought?

It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

The 3-Step Framework for a Confident Close

The Power of Curiosity

Questions that Uncover Possibilities

Every Interaction Has A Clear Goal

Selling Strategies for a Changing World

The Hungry Sales Professional

Cold Calling has an Extended Definition These Days… And it’s Killing Your Sales!

The Qualifying Question

What Does This Have to Do with Business and Sales?

Reality Check!

Jumping to Conclusions

Who Made the Map?

What Does Closing have to Do with Finishing?

Judgers, Perceivers, and other Key Indicators

Why Does Everyone Get So Caught Up with Closing Sales?

Cultivating the Closing Habit

The Pricing Conundrum

Once Upon a Time...

How this Affects YOU and Why it Matters

The Price is Right!

Confident, Congruent Sales in Business and Life

Should I Repair, Renovate, or Re-build My Sales Process?

The 1% Option

What Exponential Growth Looks Like

The Confident Closing Challenge

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