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“Actions speak louder than words!

As a sales person, your best metric of success is sales, not praise.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Your Perspective is Showing

Last week I received a call from Kayla, one of the HR reps at a company that had asked me to work with their sales team to increase motivation and conversion. They had recently hired a new sales manager who has worked with me before and who knew that I could deliver the training his team needed to accelerate their results. I had discussed everything with him, told him my terms, and provided a course overview. The purchase was approved and I expected that Kayla was calling to discuss the start date.

Oh boy, was I wrong!

Thirty seconds into the call I realised that Kayla is one of those people who doesn’t have a sales person’s bone in her body… She also thinks that sales people are sleazy. For all I know, based on her tone of voice, she thinks they should all burn in hell. I could hear the disdain in her voice from the moment we started the call and it wouldn’t have bothered me except that…

Her first sentence began with: “I really think that you should change…” and she went on to tell me all the things she didn’t like about my 8-week program based on the 3-page program overview and her disgust for sales.

Whether your attitude to a topic is enthusiastic, neutral, or negative will communicate itself clearly to your prospects, just as Kayla’s disgust communicated itself to me. That’s why surveys and forums are often unhelpful and why you want to make sure to put yourself in a positive mindset before making a sales call so that you don’t sabotage your own results.

All Feedback is a Gift… AND

You should evaluate it carefully before you act on it.

Sometimes positive feedback is helpful. Sometimes it isn’t.

Sometimes negative feedback should be acted on. Sometimes you should ignore it.

You are responsible for your results, and therefore you are responsible for evaluating and considering the feedback you receive and deciding what to do about it.

One of my clients completely changed the name and content of her products and services based on advice from another coach who had his own hang-ups about what this person did. Her coach was never going to buy her services, but she took the advice he gave her and it cost her several years of progress and nearly sent her into bankruptcy. When she came to work with me, it was immediately clear that this coach had undermined her self-confidence because he didn’t value her particular specialty and the result was that she doubted all her hard-won knowledge and experience.

In our Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and coaching trainings we emphasize strongly that you should never work with a client whom you don’t believe can succeed because your belief (or lack of it) will communicate itself to them and affect their results. For this reason, I will reject clients whom I might like to work with, if I am convinced they do not have what it takes to succeed in their undertaking because I know that that belief is a critical component in their success.

Non-Buyers Can Help You Evaluate Your Sales Process

People who don’t buy can provide valuable feedback about your sales process.

One of the organisations I worked with had a conversion rate of just 3%. The first assignment I gave the team members was to call all the people who they had talked to who hadn’t bought and ask them why.

It turned out that the biggest problem was that they were talking to unqualified buyers. Eighty-six percent of the non-buyers were not and never would be, candidates for their service. When we evaluated our list and tightened up our qualification process, their conversion rate leaped to 82% even before we changed anything about the process. When we took into account the other negative responses from qualified buyers we were able to strengthen their sales pitch, follow up, and we got some valuable enhancements for the content of the program.

Even though you should always remember that the responses given in focus groups and through surveys are often not confirmed by behaviour, you can always learn something new.

Before You Refine or Change Your Product…

’The road to hell is paved with good intentions’ and even the best-intentioned people (both buyers and non-buyers) can lead you astray so think carefully before you act on the advice and feedback you receive.

Here are some key factors to start with:

  • What is your vision for this product? Do the critics understand that vision?
  • What is the core use of this product? Do your evaluators share or appreciate this need?
  • Where does your product fit in the marketplace?
  • How does it compare with its real competitors?

The less similar to existing products or services yours is, the more likely it is that criticism is based on misunderstanding.

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, and other trailblazers did not ask the marketplace what was required: they built on the basis of their own vision, knowing that most people would have to see the results in order to appreciate the power of their product.

If you want to innovate, it is important for you to trust your own vision and know where to take feedback and from whom, and when your best course is simply to forge ahead as planned and keep seeking ideal prospects who will get excited about the results and solutions you offer. This is why at the heart of all my programs, there is a strong emphasis on building self-confidence, creating a powerful positive mindset, and learning how to accept and evaluate feedback so you can maximise your mileage.

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

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

What Makes a Business Successful?

Any business has several essential elements.

These include:

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

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

If you don’t, you end up bankrupt.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ONE Metric That Changes Everything!

= SALES!

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

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

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

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

The thing you need is… More sales!

Are You Treating Sales as an Afterthought?

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

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

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

It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

 


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

  • Staff and Colleagues
  • Prospects
  • Clients
  • Friends
  • Family

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

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

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

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”

~ Jim Rohn

Preparation is Key!

Some people close some sales quickly and easily some of the time.

A few people close almost every sale all the time.

The difference is mostly in their level of preparation for their sales calls and their skill in communicating effectively with others. You might be surprised to know that many of the most effective sales people are not normally extroverts, they’re introverts who understand that if you close nearly 100% of your sales calls you don’t need to make very many of them to be highly successful.

There are three primary areas in which every sale is won or lost:

  1. Your Mind; (see Part 3 for more details)
  2. Your Preparation and Presentation;
  3. Your Prospect’s Need.

Qualify Your Audience

I believe that the most important part of any sale is determining whether your prospect actually needs what you have to sell… or if they don’t. I call this process ‘qualifying the client’.

An effective qualifying process means that you are not trying to sell people things they don’t

need and that has two positive outcomes:

  • You don’t feel sleazy;
  • Prospects trust your recommendations.
  • I’ve been known to convince prospects not to buy things when it was in my immediate interest to make the sale. As a result, they’ve often come back to me when circumstances changed to find out if now would be a good time to work with me.
  • I can guarantee that that doesn’t happen when you push people to buy things they don’t really need, or that aren’t fit for purpose to meet your own sales and income quotas.

Know Your Audience

Before you talk to someone, it is a good idea to do a little bit of research and learn about the company or maybe even the type of person that you are contacting. This will help you find the “hot buttons” that will motivate them to take the next step in your sales process once you have qualified them (whatever that step may be).

For example, if you are talking to a CFO, your best opening is to point out difference between the financials of the prospect’s firm and other firms in the same industry. These things will differ based on your product, your industry and what your outcome for the call is. Knowing these things will be the stuff that sets you apart from your competition.

Know Your Message Thoroughly

It should go without saying, that you need to have a thorough knowledge of your product, its ideal applications, and its benefits… but that isn’t always the case. I’ve worked with sales teams where their response to technical questions is either ‘I don’t know I’ll have to ask a technician’ or else they read aloud from a slide or brochure with no real understanding.

Don’t let that be you!

If you know your audience thoroughly, you will have a better idea of how to structure your message as well as of the information they will be interested in hearing. One of the sales teams I have trained was selling complex IT solutions. The sales people certainly didn’t have the technical expertise to do the work, but they thoroughly understood the problems their system solved and they could express the essential points in laymen’s terms.

I recommend mapping out a script that covers the basic conversation, potential objections, and the “close” on whatever action would fulfil the goal of your call.

Practice Until Confident

Once you have your script map ready, you should go through the process until you are thoroughly familiar with the flow of your calls. This is where internal sales teams have a massive advantage because you can role play extensively and every actual call (whether it is a success or a failure) provides you with more information.

Rehearsal and repetition will help you master the script and the rhythm of the call and turn it into a natural dialogue form which your statements and questions flow naturally. This will give you the confidence that comes from competence and that confidence will project onto your prospect whether you are meeting face-to-face, over the phone, or via Zoom.

Put Time in Your Calendar

Making sales calls demands a focused mindset and positive energy as well as appropriate preparation. Successful sales people tend to block off a period of time to make these calls so they can create momentum. That means that you also need to have a list of names/companies to contact and then set a goal for the total number to contact in a given time period.

If your company provides this list for you, that makes it easy. However, if you are also responsible for finding people or companies to call, my suggestion is that you separate the research and compilation of the list from the actual calling. That way, when the time comes to make calls you can use the momentum to further develop your confidence and rhythm.

After the Call

Treat every call as an opportunity to learn and experiment and don’t sweat the rejections. Not every prospects you call will turn into new business opportunities. In fact, a cold call that eliminates a prospect is almost better than a cold call that puts a ‘maybe’ prospect into your pipeline.

Make notes after each call whether you set an appointment or not. After a while, you will get a feel for the prospects who are saying encouraging things and even agreeing to take the next step, but who are unlikely to move forward. In addition, be sure to celebrate your wins. If cold calling is a struggle for you, then every time you pick up the phone you score a victory over yourself. If your prospect moved to the next step or you closed a sale, it’s relatively easy to celebrate, yet surprisingly few people do so… Even if you received a “no” or a “maybe” you still did the work and that’s yet another reason to reinforce your achievement.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.

Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”

~ Jim Rohn

When Referrals Are Not Enough

Does your business rely on a steady flow of new clients to make a profit?

Are you relying on referrals for all of those new clients?

Does it impact upon you when referrals quieten down or things become less busy?

Recently, a prospective client called me and explained that he was relying on referral business to get new clients. This strategy had been working fairly well, but when Covid hit, and networking was restricted, his referrals dried up and he had no new clients to do business with. This presented a major problem!

After going through our client qualification process we determined that we were a good fit for each other and started working together with clear goals for the number and type of clients he was looking for. I worked with his team and we identified a pool of ideal prospects and a process for reaching out to them.

When he implemented these steps he was managed to increase his team’s call to appointment ratio from 12% to a whopping 85% success rate in just one week (This means that for every seven calls they used to make they now only need to make one!) and he also realised how much more effective and profitable this strategy was than his former networking process.

Taking the ‘Cold” Out of Cold Calling

I’ve done a lot sales calls in my time. At a former job my manager expected every person on the sales team to make 50 calls every other day, so that they could book 5 appointments for the next day – he based that on the calculation that we would close 1 appointment for every 10 calls.

My problem was that if I made 50 calls, I would end up with closer to 30 appointments, but he still wanted me to keep making the calls and my calendar was quickly booked out for months ahead. When I moved into a team manager role, I didn’t make the same mistake!

My best-selling book Confident Closing: Sales secrets that grew a business by 400% in six months and how they can work for you! tells the story of later adventure, but when I was first made manager I told my team,
“Appointments are the things that generate income. You need to make as many calls as you need to book 15 appointments per week with qualified buyers.” I then taught them how to take the ‘cold’ out of cold calling so that they could make fewer calls and set more appointments.

Not only did that make my sales team happy, it also meant that they closed a phenomenal number of sales because we worked on how to turn more appointments into closed business as well.

DON’T 'Start at the Very Beginning’...

I’ve done a lot sales calls in my time. At a former job my manager expected every person on the sales team to make 50 calls every other day, so that they could book 5 appointments for the next day – he based that on the calculation that we would close 1 appointment for every 10 calls.

My problem was that if I made 50 calls, I would end up with closer to 30 appointments, but he still wanted me to keep making the calls and my calendar was quickly booked out for months ahead. When I moved into a team manager role, I didn’t make the same mistake!

My best-selling book Confident Closing: Sales secrets that grew a business by 400% in six months and how they can work for you! tells the story of later adventure, but when I was first made manager I told my team,
“Appointments are the things that generate income. You need to make as many calls as you need to book 15 appointments per week with qualified buyers.” I then taught them how to take the ‘cold’ out of cold calling so that they could make fewer calls and set more appointments.

Not only did that make my sales team happy, it also meant that they closed a phenomenal number of sales because we worked on how to turn more appointments into closed business as well.

Success in Sales (and many other things) Starts in Your Head

Have you ever noticed that when you are having a good day and feeling really positive that you have better conversations with people?

It’s not just that you are looking at yourself with more kindness, it’s based on the reality that people tend to pick up unconsciously on the way that you are feeling no matter what you say (or how much you smile). If they don’t get a positive projection from you then (regardless of how much they need what you are selling) they will often say “No,” to you and go out looking for an alternative provider. All your conversation did was to make them aware of their need.

That is why it is absolutely essential for you to get you in the right frame of mind before you call anyone.

When you do a simple activity to raise your energy and prepare for the call, you raise your confidence, raise your awareness… and you will see the difference in your results. One of my colleagues used to make cold calls from under his desk if he needed to change his state of mind – he claimed it raised his call to appointment ratio by more than 25%.

Jim Rohn’s Secret of Success is True in Sales

There’s a simple reason why this series is entitled “How Much Do You Want That Sale?”

I’ve noticed that most of the time when people don’t get what they say they want it’s because they aren’t willing to do the work it takes to achieve their goal. This doesn’t mean they’re lazy… Many people work very hard… But they focus on the wrong things.

The people who get what they want are willing to do the things that are hard or go against their natural talents. They’re always learning, always growing their skills, and they’re willing to try something new even if it feels unnatural.

If you want to succeed in sales (and after all, sales is the #1 life skill) then there are just a few key areas to focus on. I’ve already covered most of them and we’ll look at the last 2 areas in the next segment.

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

~ D.H. Lawrence

What Does This Have to Do with Business and Sales?

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

In business and in sales, these maps include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reality Check!

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

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

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

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

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

Jumping to Conclusions

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

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

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

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

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

Who Made the Map?

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

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

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

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

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

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

~ Gary Ryan Blair

What Does Closing have to Do with Finishing?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Judgers, Perceivers, and other Key Indicators

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

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

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

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

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

Why Does Everyone Get So Caught Up with Closing Sales?

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

When you realise that sales skill are necessary to:

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

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

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

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

YOU should also be caught up with closing sales!

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

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

AND…

If you don’t close them?

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

Cultivating the Closing Habit

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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