“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.

“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.

“If your habits don’t line up with your dream, then you need to either change your habits or change your dream.”

~ John Maxwell

Too Big, Too Small, or Just Right - Why Size Matters.

Recently, I was reflecting on a comment that Brittany Smith, a cognitive scientist with ADHD, made about habits that reinforced something I had already realised.

If your ‘habit chunks’ are too small, you don’t see any change and give up.

If your ‘habit chunks’ are too big, you get overwhelmed and discouraged.

BUT…

If your ‘habit chunks’ are just right… you get results that keep your motivation high and find yourself kicking goals week after week!

I see this frequently with my coaching and training clients:

Right habit chunk size = SUCCESS

Wrong habit chunk size = FAILURE

So, how can you know if you’ve picked the appropriate chunk size for each of your habits?

Signs that Your Habits Chunks are Too Small:

Habit chunks that are too small are usually related to pre-existing habits in any area of our life. We all have habits that drive how we act and react in every area of life and these are so much a part of us that we are hardly even aware of their existence.

The beauty of these tiny habit chunks is that when we decide we want to change something we can simply expand the habit we already have in place no matter what it is.

***

Sandra was extremely frustrated because she was trying to grow her referral program and couldn’t get the traction, she wanted so she started looking around for yet another tool or strategy to help her.

When we looked closely at what she was doing to generate referrals it was clear that she didn’t need to start over, she simply needed to amplify her existing referral strategy with one additional step. Once that was in place, the referrals started to flow.

***

It happens in every area of life:

  • Exercise programs;
  • Diet & nutrition;
  • Learning and retention;
  • Budgeting and saving;
  • Productivity…

If you feel frustrated with the results you are seeing and know that your strategy has worked for other people, then you can often see the transformation you want simply by amplifying the habits surrounding it.

If Your Habits Chunks are Too Big, Then...

…You’ll probably quit before you see results!

Oversized habit chunks are usually part of a new habit that you’re trying to establish to reach an important goal. Many habit-tracking apps will alert you if you consistently miss your goals and suggest that you edit the habit in order to succeed and you should pay attention to these alerts.

***

Al read the book Shorter and decided that he wanted to restructure his workday and test the hypothesis because the idea of accomplishing more important work in 30 hours than he was currently doing in 60 hours appealed to him.

He plugged the habits he wanted to establish in order to accomplish this into his habit tracker and got down to business… only to discover that day after day he was failing to check off half of the components he’d identified.

When we pruned those habits back to a smaller milestone goal and he was accomplishing them all, Al’s sense of accomplishment and confidence grew and he was soon ready to add another chunk to his habit, and then another.

The habit of success motivated him far more than his failures had and now he does have all the components of that original habit chunk in place.

***

When Your Habits Chunks are Just Right, Then…

Like Sandra and Al, you experience success – not just in achieving the outcome, but in the personal satisfaction of accomplishing a goal. This gives you the same kind of dopamine hit that some people get from checking Facebook, the news, or drugs.

Skipping your habit one day isn’t a disaster, but looking at your week and realizing that you’ve skipped more days than you’ve executed creates a negative neuro-feedback loop that actually saps your motivation to stick to your habit. That’s why you want a habit tracking mechanism that allows you skip days that you choose to without giving you a sense of guilt.

Contrary to popular practice, guilt is a terrible motivator. It’s when you feel good about your accomplishments that confidence grows – and with that confidence the ability to achieve even more.

Habit Transformation Challenge

Habits are such an important aspect of building lives and businesses that serve our goals. Habit-creation tools are one of the most powerful aspects of NLP because once established, habits run on auto-pilot and enable us to progress towards our goals faster and with less friction.

At LifePuzzle, we consider habit transformation so important that it is a part of many of our courses and trainings (both paid and free) including:

  • Periodic 5-Day Habit Transformation Challenges
  • NLP Mastery Academy Group program
  • NLP Certification courses
  • Confident Conversion Sales Academy
  • Outsourced Sales Manager and In-House Sales Trainings

If you are interested in our habit transformation resources, fill in the form below and we’ll let you know when we are running our next course.

I’m Interested in Habit Transformation

“Today you have the chance to ask: What’s next? And to answer that in a way that creatively plays to your strengths. Of course, you can also stay in your comfort zone…

And pay the price of complacency.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

The Speed of Change

This has been an extraordinary year, but don’t let the drama of 2020 blind you to the radical changes that have been taking place all around us for several years and the possibilities they hold for the future.

A few months ago Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler published their latest book, “The Future is Faster Than You Think” in which they talk about the converging technologies that are transforming our world at an unimaginable speed. The book is worth reading if you are feeling complacent about where you are today and what you have already achieved.

Here are a few interesting facts to reflect on when it comes to the future:

  • Almost all the companies profiled in the business school bible “In Search of Excellence” of the 1980s and 90s are no longer in existence.
  • Since 2000, 52% of the Fortune 500 have either gone bankrupt, been acquired, or ceased to exist.
  • Today, the world’s largest media company does not create any content; the world’s largest taxi company owns no cars; and the world’s most valuable retailer has no inventory.

If those facts don’t make you stop and wonder what’s possible for you, then they should.

Business, Career and Future Proofing in a World of Change

One of my Confident Conversion graduates has taken the idea of playing to her strengths and making her own rules to double her income in the past 6 months by focusing on the things she does well and delegating or dropping tasks she doesn’t enjoy.

Like Uber, Facebook, and Alibaba she stopped looking at what everyone else in her industry was doing and asked what was possible for her to accomplish and then shaped her own reality around those goals.

You may not want to be the ‘biggest’ anything and that’s fine… But if there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, it’s that addiction to comfort may be our biggest threat to survival so we need to rethink our approach to business and career and focus on:

  • Learning new skills,
  • Evaluating existing skills and modes of thought,
  • Searching for new technologies and opportunities that are revolutionising your industry.

Complacency is always dangerous. Now it’s a death sentence

Selling Yourself

If you were brutally honest with yourself, why would anyone (employer or client) hire you?

If you don’t have a persuasive answer for that question, then you have some work to do.

It’s increasingly clear that most people are far less interested in your qualifications than in your  network, motivation, experience, and skill-development potential. This is a completely appropriate response to the rapid pace of change.

The good news is that, in many fields, you can create opportunities for yourself through self-directed learning and by demonstrating your openness to new technologies and methodologies. A growth mindset (as described by Carol Dweck) is one of the biggest selling points because it demonstrates that you are open to evaluate (rather than mindlessly adopt) something new. When this is balanced by passion, proven diligence, deep thinking, and perseverance, then you become worthy of consideration.

So,…

Can YOU demonstrate those qualities?

And if not, what do you need to do and learn to be able to showcase your credibility so that you open doors to the future.

In my book, Confident Closing: Sales secrets that grew a business by 400% in six months and how they can work for you! I made the comment “We’re all in sales now whether we like it or not.” That sentence attracted a lot of negative feedback from people who think of sales as sleazy or pushy, but it’s really not a question of “Will you sell yourself?” But of “How will you sell yourself?”

Once you come to terms with that reality, you discover how important it is to work on your selling skills for the new era.

Making a Plan for the Next Stage

What is next for you both personally and professionally?

If you threw out all your existing blueprints, what would you love to do that would have value to others?

How could you do it in a way that was insanely profitable?

The end of the year is always a good time to re-evaluate your goals and dreams, and a disruptive year like we’ve just had is a particularly important time to do so.

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