Members Portal

Book a Call
Ui Logo Tn
TEL +61 3 7036 7778
Burger Menu

“Learning to sell effectively isn’t really about improving your income (although it does that very effectively), it’s mostly about increasing your happiness and satisfaction with your life, results, and relationships.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

What Do Life and Business Have in Common?

Maybe you’ve already guessed what I’m going to say, but let me tell you about two friends of mine…

Alison really does have everything she wants. She has a well-paid, flexible job in financial planning that is satisfying, her husband adores her, her 3 children are well-behaved and do well at school and basically her life has just the right blend of adventure and stability for her.

Matt is also married, is CFO of a major company but worries about getting overtaken in his position by younger men who seem to be moving ahead faster, an attractive wife who also works, and 2 children who never seem to be doing as well as he’d like them to do.

Both have similar backgrounds, but where Matt feels as though it’s always a struggle to get what he wants, Alison is confident that when she wants something, she’ll get it… including more money and responsibilities if and when she goes back to full-time work because she knows how to sell her ideas, skills, and products whether she’s trying to persuade her children to do homework or chores, her colleagues to pursue a specific course of action, or her husband to agree to holiday plans.

You can call it persuasion or influence – both marketing terms that put a gloss of sophistication on the subject – but really, what Alison has that makes every aspect of her life easier and Matt does not, is the ability to sell. This one skill has immense power not only to help you get what you want, but also to help other people get what they want as well.

That’s why I say that Sales is the #1 Life Skill that can make your life easier, more satisfying, and can also make the world a better place.

So let’s look at sales in a few different contexts:

Sales and Human Psychology

Psychological research tells us that people generally respond far more positively to their own ideas than to ideas that come from outside themselves, and they actively resist adopting ideas or actions that are forced on them… Even things that, in different circumstances, they might welcome (like food or exercise).

This is why prisoners sometimes go on hunger strikes or find other ways of asserting their independence. It’s why some children refuse to cooperate with teachers and parents, and it’s why some work-places have a culture of stubborn resistance to change.

Parents and teachers know that the best way to get children to cooperate enthusiastically, is to engage their interest and provide an appropriate level of challenge so that the children feel as though they are the ones deciding to commit to the project. They also know what happens when they fail to get that intrinsic commitment: every step becomes another struggle.

The art and science of successful sales in any arena involves piquing interest and creating a sense that the desire to be, do, or have any specific thing comes from within the person to whom you want to sell. After all, if you truly believe that your solution or course of action is appropriate, don’t you want other people to adopt the same perspective?

Sales @Home and in the Wider World

Here I’m talking about selling ideas and habits to your friends and family. Following are some common ideas or actions you might want them to adopt:

  • Doing homework in a timely fashion
  • Getting adequate exercise and sleep
  • Reducing the amount of alcohol or soft drink consumed
  • Making healthy snack and meal choices
  • Doing housework and cleaning up after themselves
  • Resisting bad influences
    Pursuing hobbies and interests
  • Serving other people
  • Limiting screen time
  • Developing friendships and having fun…

In any of these cases you have the option to force a pathway on others, or you can ’sell’ them the positive course of action in such a way that they feel as though they chose it themselves. If you make people do (or avoid) these things, then it’s only a matter of time before they go behind your back or openly rebel against the decree so selling creates far greater compliance and diligence and leads to better outcomes.

Sales @Work

From landing your initial role, to gaining promotions, and building your reputation and portfolio, your ability to sell your personality, skills, and experience is always a factor. You initially do this through your resume and interview, but often the person who gets the position is the one with the best sales skills, not the best technical skills.

It doesn’t matter whether you like that reality or not… But you do have a choice: you can wail about how unfair it is that you are being surpassed by people with a lesser skillset, or you can improve your sales skills and give yourself a chance to shine.

One of my clients was fed up at having her ideas ignored or passed over when she shared them, and then enthusiastically applauded when one of her colleagues put them forward. I pointed out that she could complain till the cows came home and nothing would change… OR… She could improve her sales skills so that people listened when she shared anything. She chose the latter course, and moved up the hierarchy at dizzying speed as her true capability and quality became visible.

The truth is that sales skills help you become more visible and valued and work and that brings along a host of other benefits like higher salary, more opportunities, and the satisfaction of seeing your ideas adopted.

Classic Sales Contexts

You can bludgeon someone into a single purchase, but if you want them to come back again and again and be a valuable lifelong customer, it’s better to use more subtle tactics.

Contrary to popular opinion, sales people are made not born… And that means that there is hope for everyone. I believe that anyone can learn to sell effectively, confidently, and congruently as long as they believe in the product or service they are selling to solve a prospect’s problem.

My own closing rate is over 100% (thanks to delighted clients referring me to others) even though there are times when I use my selling skills to convince a prospect not to buy. You see, desperation and ignorance are the two main reasons why people use selling techniques that make them feel uncomfortable.

  • Desperation or Neediness: is when you feel that you simply must make the sale even if you realise that it’s not the best course of action for your prospect. If that’s your sales modus operandi  then, of course you hate selling, and you hate yourself when you sell… And you should!
  • Ignorance: is when you simply don’t know how to sell effectively so you stumble around with no process or system. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you have no idea why.

When you solve these two sales problems then suddenly your confidence grows, your sales pipeline and closing rates both increase and your job security and income increase (if you’re a member of a sales team) or your business grows in value, if you’re a business owner.

If sales is such an important skill, what are you doing to increase your mastery?

Complacency is the enemy of mastery.

  • I know enough;
  • I’ve done enough;
  • I’ve practice enough;
  • I’m good enough;

These are all the enemies of mastery. Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist, famously said, “If I miss one day’s practice, I can hear it; if I miss two days’ practice the critics can hear it; if I miss three days’ practice my audience can hear it. As a result, I do everything I can never to miss a day, and never to just go through the motions of practicing.”

Sales skill growth is a bit like that (but not quite so intense). If you don’t commit to investing time, resources, energy and money to improving your skills they grow cold. I make a point of investing every week into something that will help me improve my sales skills and hone my ability to teach others to do the same. I share these tips and learnings in my courses, challenges, and semi-weekly emails.

“When you lose sight of your objective, you discover hidden weaknesses in your systems… This can be a positive thing, but it can also be very dangerous.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

The REAL Problem with Distraction

There’s no denying that there are plenty of distractions around these days. In someways lockdowns and social distancing magnify distractions rather than eliminating them which makes it more likely that distraction will morph into mistakes.

The following story might be funny… if it wasn’t very nearly disastrous:

Angela had several sales conversations going on concurrently, each of which had multiple stakeholders and was in a different stage in her pipeline. Her company had also set up a strong lead generation system which was delivering her sales team more than 20 hot leads per week because her target market was feeling extremely vulnerable to IT security holes and wanted everything fixed yesterday. Her diary was full and she was running at full speed to take advantage of the opportunities being offered as were all the other members of the team.

On Monday she took a call from the project lead on a new client who had just signed their contract the previous week and had their on-boarding scheduled for Wednesday. The moment she picked up the phone she knew from his tone that she had a major problem brewing…

And she was correct!

“Angela, it’s Gavin here. We signed that contract in good faith last week. Today, I discovered that you have sent another, much cheaper, proposal to us. Can you explain the differences?”

Angela got the full story from Gavin, asked him to give her a couple of hours to look into things, and to send her through the two proposals, then she set up a call for later that day. It turned out that another sales rep had been talking to the same company and had also sent through a proposal for a much smaller project scope.

The sales team had been so busy that they hadn’t gone through things carefully during their daily standup and both Angela and her colleague had failed to follow the ‘Company Cross-Check’ Process that was designed to prevent this kind of incident.

During her call with Gavin, she was able to explain the differences in the two proposals’ scope satisfactorily and remind him that they had talked about the lower value project during the process of arriving at the contract they signed so that everything was resolved satisfactorily. Fortunately, they had a good relationship and plenty of trust already… But it wasn’t the way Angela wanted to start the delivery process.

Are Your Sales Systems Good Enough?

The real power of systems is that they provide support when humans are busy and distracted. The problem is that you have to follow them if you expect them to work.

Angela’s problem began when the team got busy and distracted and they set their sales management systems aside. Two of the important elements that they let slip were their daily stand-ups and their prospect cross-checks: even though Angela and her colleague were speaking to different people in the company, they could have discovered their mistake sooner and avoided any misunderstanding.

I’ve seen this kind of confusion happen even when there is only one person doing the sales. A business owner I worked with a few years ago realised that he needed to work on his systems when he provided two different quotes to a single company for the third time in a month – he was confused by the different representatives and, in the press of business, simply didn’t make the connection.

As well as setting up a simple tracking system for his sales (critical, since he wanted to hire someone for that part of the process), we refined his sales process in ways that increased each segment:

  • Lead flow increased by 5%
  • Conversion shifted from 35% to 74%
  • Average Sale value increased by 45%

… Resulting in a dramatic increase in revenue and profits.

It all came from keeping the objective front and centre – and ensuring that systems to support their process were in place.

Why Focus Affects Sales

When you’re talking about high-value projects, developing trust plays an important role in the sales process. Your product or service can be head and shoulders above those of your competitors, but if your sales process creates doubt about your level of organisation and integrity you can lose the sale.

That’s the cost of losing focus and not getting your sales process right in the eyes of your prospective customers.

But what about the cost when your sales people lose sight of the objective?

The hallmark of a well-run sales team is their laser-focus on the primary and secondary objectives of the business as well as their own personal and team goals. When you lose sight of that, there’s a strong probability that you will start to see the results at every stage of the sales process. It won’t necessarily show immediately, but 1-2% slippages compound over time and can make a big difference to your revenue and profitability.

Sales teams are particularly susceptible to this loss of focus because they are always results driven… And sometimes those results are affected by other parts of the business. This is why it is so important to have systems and processes in place to protect them from distraction and enhance their focus.

“Random sales techniques create desperation, desperation creates pushiness, and pushiness undermines long-term buyer-seller relationships.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Do You Follow a Process During Sales Appointments?

Sarah called me to ask for some business advice. She was struggling to make her business profitable and a friend

had recommended my coaching program. At the start of our conversation she told me how much she hates selling and being sold to.

Later on she told me about the experience she had when she took her dog to the vet for an infected paw.

“They were just amazing! They treated Lucy’s paw and identified the problem and then they went over her history and suggested that she was probably deficient in some key minerals which made her susceptible to these infections. They suggested I change her food and give her a supplement when I give her worm and tick medication.”

It turned out that Sarah had spent nearly $200 over and above the bill for the vet’s service and she had signed up for a dog-food subscription plan.

BUT… she never felt that she had been ‘sold’ to, all they did was offer a solution to a problem.

When I pointed out to Sarah that the vet had simply followed a clear process that helped Sarah get what she wanted (a healthy dog), and the vet surgery get what they wanted (product sales and ongoing income) she was shocked at how comfortable she felt with the process.

“Could I do that in my business?” she asked.

The Danger of Random Acts of Selling

I love novelty and experience and I have a high tolerance for risk… otherwise, I’d probably be working for a corporation

BUT…

When it comes to sales (which I believe is too important to risk failing at on a personal or professional level)…

There is nothing like a clear process for creating profitable predictable outcomes without any pushiness or hard feelings. That’s where Sarah was confused.

When you don’t have a clear process that includes diagnosing whether the person you are talking to actually needs what you are selling, you easily slip into hype and exaggeration in an effort to raise the value of whatever you’re selling, and when that temptation is combined with a need to bolster your bank account you’re in big trouble when it comes to sales.

Here are some of the ugly things that happen when you don’t have a clear sales process:

  • You wind up trying to sell to people who don’t need your product or service;
  • You hear yourself exaggerating your results or even downright lying;
  • Discounting is your favourite closing technique (Piling on extras is your second favourite);
  • You avoid thinking constructively about your bank balance;
  • You are vulnerable to anyone offering an instant, shiny solution in exchange for your dwindling supply of cash or credit;
  • Every day you feel less respect and affection for the person you see in the mirror.

It doesn’t have to be like that and it’s never too late to regain your self-respect as you implement a clear sales process that works like magic.

Like it or Not, Sales is the #1 Life Skill

“But wait,” I hear you say, “I’m not a sales professional. I’m a [doctor, vet, accountant, IT consultant…] and I don’t like pushy sales people.”

That’s true.

BUT… I bet you

  • Have some great ideas that you’d like other people to adopt;
  • Would like a promotion or pay raise at work;
  • Need your children to develop good habits or work, exercise, and play;
  • Have friends, family, and loved ones you’d like to influence;
  • Want more business and greater co-operation from your employees;
  • Want to help your customers and clients get the outcomes they want.

And if you see yourself needing any of those critical things, then you can see why I believe that selling is the #1 Life Skill – not an unpleasant necessity.

In fact, the greater your desire to help others and your conviction that you have a valuable solution, the more urgent and essential it is for you to perfect your sales process.

A Brief Example of a Sales Process

We all want to find solutions to problems that are bothering us, even solutions to serious problems that we didn’t realise we had until someone kindly pointed them out.

Medical specialists are often very good at this sales process because they know that their patient’s life and health rest on prompt action in response to practiced selling.

The really good specialists… The ones you want to see have a process for informing you whether:

  • You need to take immediate action – or else!
  • Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.
  • Sorry, I can’t help you… And I don’t think anyone else can either.

In each of these situations they aren’t just winging it, they’re following a process that has room for personalisation built in.

They don’t need to be pushy. They just need to diagnose the problem accurately, help you see your options clearly, and make it easy for you to choose and proceed with the option that will deliver the most desirable outcome.

You can do this too.

In fact, if you do it effectively you’ll find your customers thanking you profusely and actively looking for other services you can help them with.

Confident Conversion: 90 Days to a Clear Sales Process (and other desirable outcomes)

I’m a big believer in empowering my clients to learn the sales skills they need to attract ideal clients and build unbreakable long-term relationships with them. The ability to sell with confidence and clarity is essential for every leader, and every business owner is a leader. It’s a bit like oxygen masks on planes: Until you have those skills, there’s very little point equipping your team; once you have them, then you can work on passing them on.

In my Confident Conversion: 90 days to More Cash, More Clients, More Impact program, the focus is on helping you put together a clear sales process for your product or service. What my clients discover, is that that same process can be applied to all the other ‘sales’ environments they find themselves in, so by the end of the 90 days they find everyone around them is paying greater attention to their words and actions.

Interested in learning more?

Book a Call with one of my team: https://www.scheduleyou.in/xFCUDhmP

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

~ B.J. Fogg

The Motivation / Willpower Problem

One of the principles I teach in my NLP classes is that your willpower is finite. This is important because it helps people understand why it’s so easy to break your exercise, diet, or productivity chain when you’re tired, unhappy, or otherwise under stress. It’s also why I periodically run courses and challenges on building habits because the more you focus on creating constructive habitual behaviours, the less friction there is between you and your goals.

Unlike willpower, motivation isn’t finite, and your motivation goes a long way toward keeping you focused, but motivation has to be supported too. One of the biggest ways of keeping your motivation high also comes back to creating habits – like reviewing your goals and reminding yourself why you care in the first place.

I’ve noticed that the biggest reason why people don’t sell is… They’re depending on finite (or exhausted) supplies of motivation and willpower and they haven’t developed the mindset, habits, and tools to help them sell effortlessly!

Why Did I Lose THAT Sale!

Have you ever gone through your sales process…

Seen the enthusiasm and buy-in in every line of your prospect’s face and every word they spoke…

Then waited… And waited… And waited for a “Yes, we’re in” that never comes?

It’s true, even I don’t get a 100% close rate if you count every appointment I schedule, but I do get a 100% close rate on every appointment with suitable prospects – and I can see those rejections in advance.

Effortless Selling is not about forcing people to do business with you, or only selling to people who are certain to buy (often people teach this practice and suggest you lower your prices) – it’s about understanding WHO will benefit and HOW they will experience that benefit and setting up a system that HIGHLIGHTS those things.

When you apply the Effortless Selling Formula you’ll be able to know without question who is going to buy now, who needs more time, and who will never buy – so you can tailor your follow-up accordingly.

This is critical information because it falls into the ‘trash-talk prevention strategy’ playbook. Sales people have exceptionally high burnout and turnover because every time they lose a sale, what I call the itty-bitty-shitty committee kicks in and tells them what went wrong (usually focusing on ‘what you did wrong’). This saps your motivation and your willpower.

The Effortless Selling Formula nips that trash-talk in the bud by providing a framework for assessing your process and specific tools to help you improve if you realise that there’s something you need to change.

How Habits Help You Sell Effortlessly

There are specific habits you need to incorporate into your sales process if you want it to be effortless, but in this article I’m going to focus on how these habits support your selling process. Your effortless selling habits address your:

  • Mindset
  • Preparation
  • Questions
  • Presentation
  • Close

When each of these becomes part of a process that is at once automatic, rigid, and flexible then your path from the start of the sale to the close is like one of those ‘choose your own adventure’ games. From the inside there are infinite options, from the outside everything is clearly programmed.

Since you are on the outside, you can see clearly what is going to happen next and one action or reaction triggers the next step in your process right up to the sale.

Effortless Selling is NOT a Natural Gift

The old adage, “Salesman are born not made;” is simply not true.

ANYONE can learn to be an effective sales person – if they choose to apply themselves – and it’s one of those skills (like riding a bicycle) that you never lose.

I could go over all the things that effortless selling is NOT (eg. Pushy, obnoxious, manipulative…) but I’d rather focus on why it’s imperative that you learn to sell effortlessly right now…

You see…

…In the Industrial Age selling was the province of sales people – that’s where the whole pushy, sleazy, manipulative idea came from, but in the Knowledge Age (now) it doesn’t matter what profession you are in, sales is a skill you must develop and integrate into every part of your life unless you want to be left behind and deprived of opportunities not just to succeed, but to contribute.

I talk about this extensively in my sales trainings because sales skills are now imperative in everything from IT to Banking, medicine to construction and that’s why it’s so critical that you learn to sell with effortless authenticity and skill.

“The biggest obstacle to making sales is confidence and the greatest confidence booster is the awareness that you haven’t seriously considered all the possibilities yet.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

IF 'Perception is Projection’ is True, THEN...

… it logically follows that your outcomes and results will be limited by your perception of what is possible.

But…

What if your current view of the possibilities is limited?

This would mean that you won’t be able to see past your current reality and shift your thinking, so you really will be trapped at your existing level. This is a real problem, and the saddest part of it is that it makes people feel helplessly trapped in whatever their current situation may be even when people outside can see things that can be changed.

It’s true that you can’t see what you can’t see, but what if there was a way to change the possibilities you can see, and open up your perception to a whole suite of new opportunities?

Do You Value Your Own Insight Enough?

Alden is one of my Confident Conversion: 90 days to More Cash, More Clients, More Impact self-study students and recently he sent an email with his take-away from one of the sessions. He realised that he was spending the bulk of his time and energies on low-value prospects and over-delivering to clients who didn’t value the extras he was adding.

Once he became aware of that, new possibilities opened up that enabled him to raise prices and also split off his products and services in ways that gave him more time, more money, and helped him solve problems for more clients.

That particular module includes an assignment that helped Alden evaluate all his activities and made decisions about which ones should be eliminated, which ones he could delegate, and (most importantly) how to discover the ones in which he should invest heavily.

Alden realised that he simply didn’t value his unique genius enough – it was something he’d been doing for years, and it was so obvious to him, that he couldn’t see how unique it was until he went through this exercise.

Are You a Victim or a Victor?

Whether you’re directly in sales, own a business, or are employed by another person (or even if you’re a stay-at-home parent or a student) you have a choice to make: will you react to whatever comes… or will you be resourceful and take control?

On the surface, it may not make a difference. You do the same tasks, say the same things, stick to the same schedule. Underneath, however, many things change. One you decide that you’ll be a victor and take control of the situation, your attitude shifts and you become much more aware of possibilities and resourceful about following your options.

I see it all the time in my sales trainings and in people’s actions during my courses. Nothing externally changes about people’s situation, but their results sky-rocket and they shape the demand and lead people where they need to go.

As Michelle put it, “Where have you been all my life, Chandell? When I listened to the session and decided that I was going to take control of my sales call rather than just listening, suddenly I was closing sales left, right, and centre – and even telling people that I couldn’t help them. I wasn’t rude, I just took control of the process and stopped being needy.”

Michelle’s example is not unique. Neediness kills sales, and nothing yells ’Needy!’ Louder than letting your prospects take control of the conversation.

It’s not that you don’t listen. Listening is vital if you want to learn what the market needs. But you also need to be ready to interrupt when you have the information you need and resourceful enough to guide the conversation.

Changing Your Outcomes

These three principles of action are just part of the journey to dauntless determination in life and sales on which I lead my students and clients.

You see, until you are aware of the possibilities that lie just beyond the horizon of your current visions it doesn’t seem as though change is possible. You can’t see or feel it, and you can’t even hear it calling you, so how can you respond?

Social media and sticking to just a few news sources or guides puts us in an echo chamber of both opportunity and tactics and this will always limit your perception of reality. That’s why it’s important to look outside your current experience for solutions when you want to change.

Expanding your perception of possibility also helps you identify where you are undervaluing the true contribution of your expertise and that helps you take control of your market, workplace, and family, and act constructively.

Confident Conversion

My flagship program, Confident Conversion has changed the lives and transformed the results and businesses of students. It’s unique because it focuses on mindset, sales, and business simultaneously providing a powerful context for personal and life transformation in the broader sense.

From C-suite executives and department managers to beauty therapists and sales teams in just about every industry and company size, this strategy has enabled people to increase their income and impact, while spending more time doing the activities they enjoy with the people they love most.

To learn more visit: https://lifepuzzle.com.au/confident-conversion-find-out-more/

“Confident people are made, not born… And that means that Confidence is something you can build  and strengthen for yourself!”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Two Teachers - Two Approaches to Confidence: What do you think?

Teacher #1:

“Carly has clearly outperformed the other children in her spelling performance and she should be recognised for both her hard work and her achievement. Recognition will build her confidence and spur her on to keep working hard.”

Teacher #2:

“Carly won the Spelling Bee by a mile and knows it. She has had all the recognition she needs. The next child in line should also be recognised so Carly doesn’t get puffed up and John feels a sense of accomplishment too.”

This is not just a school-based attitude, it happens all the time in workplaces, too. I have heard managers use these same two arguments with respect to their teams, especially when it comes to sales personnel.

BUT… There’s a problem with both of these approaches. They place you at the mercy of the kind of manager you have, and their philosophy of recognition and praise.

That’s why my goal is to instill the kind of elemental confidence that is fueled every day by your own actions and responses and is not dependent on anyone else. Because even if people are not deliberately unkind, they’re busy – and often they just don’t stop to think about what kind of boost your confidence might need.

Four Stages of Confidence Building

Why do you feel nervous when you walk into a new job, client, or situation?

It’s usually not because you’ve lied about your experience and skill and don’t know how to do the things you’re claiming you can do, it’s because you (wisely) recognise that you’ll encounter some things that are different or challenging.

In my NLP courses I talk about the four stages of learning – and your confidence follows the same pattern:

  1. You don’t know what you don’t know. In this stage you are simply unaware of any gaps in your skill. Depending on your personality you might bound in filled with unfounded confidence or you might be scared and nervous because you’re expecting to have some level of ignorance exposed and you have no idea what that will be. Being ready to admit what you don’t know and tie it into what you do know will build your confidence because whatever it is, you know you can figure it out!
  2. You know what you don’t know. Now that you are aware of specific things that you know you don’t know, you can have confidence that you won’t be taken by surprise when those areas come up, you can even prepare some questions to help fill in the gaps in your knowledge which builds your confidence in two ways: first, you are prepared to admit your deficiency; and second, you know what you will need to learn and master.
  3. You know what to do, but it takes conscious effort to accomplish it. This is a big confidence booster because you know that you will succeed. It may be hard work, but you know what it will take and you’ve done it before.
  4. You are thoroughly familiar with this, and have a deep seated confidence in your ability to perform with effortless excellence. At this stage, your confidence is unstoppable! You have done this so many times, that you know that you will be successful.

That’s the kind of confidence that people who have attended my sales trainings and done the work achieve – they know, beyond any shadow of doubt, that any given sales conversation will end up as a win. Either the sale will be closed, OR both sides will realise that they are not a good fit for each other.

Yes, there’s still plenty to learn, but you can be sure of your ability to learn it, and confident that you know the stage you are in and are able to grow further.

Confidence and You

Did you know that confidence is one of the biggest indicators of success or failure in an activity at any stage of life?

That realisation amplifies the importance of getting this right, doesn’t it?

If you think about it, you probably know it’s true. You can remember times when you started out doing something hesitantly, and if no one encouraged you, you quickly gave up and decided you weren’t cut out for that pursuit so you quit. At other times you started with a great desire to learn that gave you the confidence to persevere and figure it out and set you on the path to mastery.

More than 80% of our communication is non-verbal, so even if your words express confidence, any inner hesitancy will communicate itself to your clients or colleagues. That’s why it’s important to be ready to ask for help and acknowledge the things you don’t know – other people will pick it up, even if you don’t tell them. And trying to pretend will only erode their trust.

Confident Conversion

As you can see, confidence is one of those things you simply can’t fake. Yet, many people are dependent on external affirmation and recognition to bolster their confidence and, particularly at work, that is often insufficient.

I first started running my Confident Closing workshops, to help people work towards stage 3 and 4 levels of confidence in sales. I quickly realised that there was an even greater need: the need to develop unstoppable confidence about every aspect of the sale – including your results and outcomes, your product, and your process.

The Confident Closing online program is designed to make every part of your selling process effortless… And it also ensures that you have everything in place in your business to make those sales profitable and delivery seamless.

“Resourceful people are happier, more successful, and have more satisfying relationships.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Yes, You CAN Become Resourceful… if You Want To!

Before you waste your time reading this article, let me ask you a question:

Do you actually WANT to become resourceful?

Not too long ago… In fact, not much more than 12 months ago, most people who read this article would have said, “Yes!”

These days, I’m finding that people like the ‘idea’ but not the reality.

It’s amazing what uncertainty, a global pandemic, and government interventions can do!

Here are three quick questions to test your mettle:

Are you willing to own your current results… Or do you blame others for them?
Do you take action… Or do you wait for direction, permission, or circumstances?
Are you ready to change your behaviour… Or do you hope that you can keep doing the same things and yet achieve different results?

If your answers were weighted to the right hand side, and you are happy with those behaviours then you’re probably not ready to make the shift from reactive to resourceful. On the other hand, if you still think that you’d like a little more control over your life, then maybe you should rethink your willingness to change.

What Does This Change Demand of You?

Resourcefulness is really about control and ownership.

One of my favourite sayings is, “You can’t control the wind, but you can control the sails.” In today’s terms that means that you can’t control what governments, authorities, and germs will do to your circumstances, but you can control your actions.

So, creating change demands VISION, COMMITMENT, and ACTION.

The surprising thing for many people is that you can become more resourceful just by practicing a few tiny (but transformational) habits.

Step #1: VISION

What was the first thing you did when you arrived at work this morning?

If you opened emails or other communication channels to decide what you would tackle first, then you’re becoming the victim of other people’s priorities and the chances are you are not completing your own high value activities.

This usually happens because you don’t have a clear vision or goal for your role, or at least for your day.

  1. The first step to becoming more resourceful is to clarify your vision and then make sure that you set your task for the first hour of the next day according to your goals before you leave (or stop) work each evening.
  2. When you do this, you are telling yourself that you have something important to do… And you are also triggering a resourceful response to interruptions, distractions, and derailments.

Step #2: COMMITMENT

Start by taking control of your day in small steps. You can commit to one hour of self-determination for a month (your first hour) even if you aren’t yet ready to take control of a larger chunk.

Once you see how effective that mental decision is and how it helps you discover resourceful ways of deferring interruptions, you’ll be motivated to take bigger steps, but it’s important to start with a “No matter what” commitment… And I really do mean, “No matter what!” Unless you are dead or dying, don’t let anything derail that commitment!

Step #3: ACTION

Just do it!

Don’t think about it. Don’t write about it. Don’t talk about it. DO IT!

… Now notice what you accomplished.

  • Was it enough?
  • Was it more than you expected?
  • Was it less than you expected?
  • What will you change about the way you set your goal tonight?
  • Will you do something different tomorrow?

Spend a few minutes journaling about your experience, then feel free to go back to your usual schedule – until tomorrow morning.

You’ll be surprised at how your entries change over the course of the next 30 days… And you’ll be ready to decide whether resourcefulness and control is something you want to pursue, or whether you’re happy reacting to whatever the universe sends your way.

“Either you own your work, your time, and your results, or you delegate ownership to other people. When you take ownership, you become resourceful because success or failure are in your own hands.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Your Actions Tell the Story

If you wanted to predict the long term success of an employee, colleague, family member… or even yourself, you might be surprised to learn that there’s an easy way to do it.

Find out if they’re reactive or resourceful.

Resourceful people are generally happier, more productive, and more likely to achieve their goals than those who spend their days reacting to people, news, and circumstances.

Let’s start by defining our terms:

A reactive person:

  • Keeps an eye on their email or message system to discover what they need to work on each day;
  • Is easily interruptible and highly distracted because they make other people’s problems their priorities;
  • Often fails to complete their tasks and meet deadlines causing problems for colleagues;
  • Has a long list of excuses (or reasons) why things didn’t work out.

A resourceful person:

  • Starts each day with a plan (often formulated the night before) – which might involve troubleshooting an issue or responding to someone else;
  • Focuses on the most important things and responds to emergencies appropriately and decisively because they have clarity;
  • Meets deadlines consistently and makes their colleagues lives’ easier;
  • Takes responsibility for failures and mistakes and makes a plan to avoid future occurrences;
  • Celebrates successes.

Which group did you fall into?

Attitude Underlies Action

Your actions show your resourcefulness. Your attitudes determine your resourcefulness.

IF you believe…

  • That other people should pay the price for your mistakes
  • That you should follow instructions blindly even when there is no urgency about the situation
  • That it’s not your place to make suggestions or point out potential pitfalls
  • That you should wait for direction and not proactively look for tasks that need to be completed…

THEN… you will always have a long list of reasons why things do or do not work out.

That may shield you comfortably from any blame, but it will also erode your self-esteem and make long-term success unlikely. It may be a sliding scale, rather than a binary choice, but most people are consistent through all areas of their life.

Reactivity and the Erosion of Self-Esteem

When Adrian came to see me, he was worried about all the work that needed to get finished so that he could support his family and spend more time with them. He felt as though he was struggling to perform at work and at home and every day he felt more of a failure. It was clear that he was so busy reacting to the world around him that he felt totally unresourceful and it was also clear that his diminishing self-respect was going to catch up with him even though he presented a confident and decisive face to the world.

As we talked about what was going on at work, it was clear that Adrian was showing up each day and checking email to decide what his first task would be. By the time he got around to the tasks that would create momentum (when he was able to do so) it was already late in the day, time was short and his energy was at a low level. He knew that he was not making the contribution he wanted to and day by day his self-esteem was slipping away. Toward the end of our first session, he finally shared the incident that was the tipping point for him – the evidence that he needed outside help:

“You know the old joke about ‘the dog ate my homework’? I’ve found myself tempted to make excuses and blame other people whenever there’s a stuff-up.

Once upon a time (not very long ago), my attitude was, ‘If I worked on it, then I own it.’ Now I’ve slipped into the habit of ‘shared work, shared responsibility’. The problem with that is that if no-one honestly owns the work, then you can’t fix it.

I don’t want to be that person because:

1. It really does affect the way I see myself and flow over into all my relationships; and

2. I get mad when I hear other people shifting blame.”

Can you help me go back to where I used to be?

Adrian’s Intervention

I was impressed by Adrian’s openness and self-awareness.

He had seen the erosion of his self-esteem and decided to ask for help because, although he had identified his unwanted behaviour correctly, he wasn’t sure about the cure. In addition, he was worried because the behaviours he hated in himself were evident in those around him as well: blame shifting, making excuses, wasted effort…

I shared with Adrian a simple, yet powerful technique that I teach in my coaching and online programs that helped him become more resourceful… And the results were fast and fantastic!

Within a month his:

  • Depression vanished;
  • Interest and engagement with his wife and kids was renewed – along with an increased awareness of their respect for him;
  • Productivity skyrocketed;
  • Sense of self-esteem, purpose and clarity increased;
  • Work offered him a promotion and pay rise.

And do you know what… When his inner landscape changed, so did his income and;

Internal Accountability

All the talk of the Pandemic and the many ways that governments have intervened to overturn previously autonomous businesses has eroded people’s sense of resourcefulness and personal power at an alarming rate. I’m concerned about the impact on businesses and even more concerned about the effect on people’s mental and emotional health that is evident in the way people are responding to challenges.

At the end of the day, the only person whom you can really be accountable for is yourself. Internal accountability is hard work, which is why most people turn to coaches and mentors for external accountability. The problem is that sometimes a coach or mentor will take your excuses and the stories you tell yourself on board because they don’t want to be the bad guy. That’s why my programs provide accountability, but are designed to help you become your own accountability partner: aware, determined, and resourceful rather than dependent on an external source.

Next week we’re going to talk about how you can change those unresourceful attitudes and actions so that you can create the success you want, and build your self-esteem quickly, without expensive therapy.

Discover what’s next – https://lifepuzzle.com.au/3-steps-to-becoming-resourceful/

“Do not let yourself be a slave to chance, but let your dauntless mind shape the triumphant future you choose.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta (paraphrase of William Shakespeare)

You: A Walled Fortress

In one of her essays, Simone Weil, Jewish-French philosopher and holocaust survivor reflects on the role of walls in our lives. When I read her thought-provoking reflection, I was reminded of many clients I’ve worked with over the years. Some used walls as an excuse to hide, others used them to communicate, still others smashed the walls wide open.

This is a paraphrase of Weil’s thoughts applied to people I know and clients I’ve worked with – including the ones who choose NOT to CHANGE.

When you are shut up in a row of cells, there is a wall that separates you from the prisoner in the next cell. Sometimes prisoners develop codes for communicating with other prisoners, creating a sense of community in their suffering, Sometimes ,prisoners are able to tunnel under the walls and communicate secretly, but more extensively. Sometimes, a miracle happens, the walls disintegrate, sunlight enters, and the prisoner is freed.

When that happens, the question is: how will the prisoner respond to freedom?

My goal (and the purpose for which I built LifePuzzle) isn’t to ‘influence’ people.

It’s to create change!

I’ve seen too many people who had all the resources, gifts, talents, and time they needed, choose to stay inside the walls of their self-confessed prison to think that ‘influence’ will be enough.

The Cost of Security and Self-Protection

For a prisoner, a wall can be frustrating as it stops them from building relationships and achieving their dreams.

So… Maybe you have built walls around you like a fortress, for protection from your fears. Unfortunately, the walls that shut others out, also shut you inside and stop you from achieving your dreams – or even setting your feet on the path toward them.

I’m not suggesting that you ignore precautions and recklessly go out in search of danger. Fear is an appropriate response to danger. The challenge lies in learning to trust yourself enough to distinguish between the fear that tells you to run from danger, and that which you need to over face and conquer.

The Call of Freedom

The history-makers of this world – those dauntless men and women who refused to be tamed by fear, bullied into silence or suppression of their gifts are the ones who are free. Free to serve others, free to share with others, and free to change and grow.

There is a price to be paid for that tantalising prospect of freedom. That price is CHANGE.

Do YOU want to be free?

Like anything else that is worthwhile, the price is high.

I train people to speak in public as well as providing sales training. In the context of developing both of those skills, I frequently share the statistic that over 70% of the population fear public speaking more than they fear death.

It’s an interesting contrast… because both of those dreaded outcomes involved a willingness to change, to grow, and to face the unknown. Neither of them ignore the reality of fear, but they both involve applying dauntless courage to that fear and moving forward in the face of it.

That is the cost of freedom.

Dauntless: Overcoming Fear

What is stopping you, from being, doing, and having everything you want?

It’s usually fear. That might be fear of:

  • failure,
  • others’ mockery or criticism,
  • yourself,
  • hunger, misery, poverty…

BUT… Imagine what YOU could accomplish if you were dauntless – experiencing fear, but not letting it tame you.

  1. What goals would you set?
  2. What risks would you take?
  3. What tasks would you accomplish?
  4. What would change?

And finally…

What is stopping you from being that person and doing those things?

All it takes is a willingness to step out and be yourself with dauntless determination.

“Momentum is what makes an avalanche so dangerous, a galloping horse so unstoppable, and social movements so powerful.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Your Three Minds… the Key to Your Success and Achievement

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) we illustrate the concept of your three minds with three intersecting circles shown below:

The3minds 768x744

The 3 Minds

As shown these three minds are the critical faculty, the conscious mind, and the unconscious mind and at the intersection of these is our true self which grows and develops in accordance with our decisions to trust and honour ourselves (which leads to growth) or to distrust ourselves (which leads to diminishment).

Any time you successfully harness the power of all three minds in your efforts, you create a degree of momentum that virtually ensures successful completion. So, the question becomes…

How does each of these three minds contribute to my success, and what steps do I need to take to shift from striving to achieving?

Your Conscious Mind: Goals, Plans and Actions

Setting goals has to do with vision and it’s helpful if your goals have a sense of inevitability. An avalanche heads downhill, following the line of least resistance until its momentum is exhausted. A galloping horse runs for the horizon until it can run no further. A social movement grows in noise and power until it achieves its object. In the same way, your goals, plans, and actions provide you with a destination and a path to follow.

The biggest reason why people don’t make progress toward their goals is that they lack a clear picture of their destination and path.

This leaves their conscious mind without direction and makes them easy to distract.

Your Unconscious Mind: Motivation and Emotional Connection

Have you noticed how much harder you are to distract when you are intent on getting an answer or achieving something you really care about?

One of my colleagues is always jumping around and never seems to get anything done when you ask her to submit reports and complete administrative tasks. However, put her in front of a room of c-suite executives to sell her ideas, or ask her to prepare a sales presentation and she is focused, insightful, and 100% engaged.

What’s the difference?

The difference is the emotional connection between her actions, goals, and effort. When she is preparing a presentation or delivering a sales pitch she is totally invested in engaging the audience and delivering a result. Admin is just a chore.

With her permission, we decided to run a test and create an emotional motivational connection between submitting those reports (which are tied to her presentations and sales results). The difference was phenomenal!

Your Critical Faculty: Formed and Filtered by You!

Psychologists tell us that until the age of seven our minds uncritically accept whatever ideas they are fed. After that we develop the ability to filter ideas and decide what to accept and what to reject. However, we are still dependent on the outside world to present ideas to us.

You’ve probably heard people talk about the echo-chamber effect – which can be exacerbated by AI on the internet. Facebook uses this extensively and it is the reason why you see more of certain people and related ideas and less of others. Every time you respond to a post, you increase the probability that you will see more posts and products along those lines. The problem with living in an echo-chamber is that your critical faculty is being conditioned to only accept certain lines of thinking.

This also presents an exciting opportunity for you to determine where your thinking will take you. The more you present yourself with material that affirms your goals, supports your belief that they are both possible and desirable, and directs your course of action towards them, the more probable (even inevitable) it is that you will achieve them easily and effortlessly.

Your True Self: Integration of Desire and Reality

Fantasies are fun to indulge… But Fairy Tales are even better because they could actually come true.

When you harness the power of your three minds, deliberately set out to design your success and create a path that leads to that success, you are creating your own fairy tale and making yourself deliberately lucky.

You have more control over your future… and even your present… circumstances than you imagine.

What will you make of them?

Logo
1800 000 000
Footer Logo
BOOK A 15 MIN POWER CALL TODAY
Contact

ABOUT US

Chandell’s Story
Meet our Team
What We Do
How We Get Results
Experience
Self Study & Online Courses
Media

Share This

Select your desired option below to share a direct link to this page.
Your friends or family will thank you later.