Archives for March 2021

Business Skills 2021 The Importance of Sales

Are you up to date with how to sell in 2021? Last time, you gained insight about sales, building a team and how to teach your team how to sell. We are going to start with sales! Why? Because sales equals income. This is not just for you, this is also about teaching those who sell for you or your team. There are three key things to look at for sales. The first is who is your customer. Then, what is the psychology of your market or your sales team.  Thirdly, it is about your mindset.  What does your “little voice” tell you about what you can or can’t do? Your results will never exceed your mindset.  After 2020, all three of these things have changed significantly.

Let’s look at the customer. Your customers are changing and you have to be vigilant. The days of securely knowing your customers is over. It is important to continually take a poll of who are your best customers. Who are they? What do they want? Those who had ideals before, may now just be wondering how to survive. Understanding what they want will change your language with them because their wants are different. Why are customers different? The psychology is different.

Fear is a major thing in the market right now. Fear of shut downs and losing sales. You need to understand and access the space. This is why the language in sales is changing. People are not just looking for value anymore, they are looking for safety. A customer needs to feel that you are their best insurance possible. People want to feel safe in a time when nearly everything is a greater risk. You have to be able to put yourself in a position to secure them. There are many little voices going on talking about fear and worry.  And, you need to be able to assess these things without going in as a doom and gloom person. Everyone is struggling, but you have to remember that when things collapse, something new will emerge. We know that we are going through a cycle and acknowledge that to your customer and tell them to stick with you for the next cycle that is coming.

The process breaks down into a selling cycle. There are three areas, we want to attract, convert and we want to retain. This has not changed, but how we do it has changed. We have to be able to attract clients one to many. This is a given part of the entire idea. You have to learn, adapt and change to where your clients are now. You have to be vigilant because things are picking up speed. The flow of money may slow down, but the speed of things happen faster at lower prices. So, what do you do? Who are the people that you are going to attract? What is the process there? There are many different processes in which you can attract new customers. You have to know where you need to be to find them. You have to build the right team that understands how the new psychology works. If you’re going to be a successful entrepreneur, you need a team that supports you.

When it comes to conversion, that has changed too. Based on psychology, we have to promote safety as a part of what we are doing. There needs to be deep value involved in what you are selling. The old ways of selling are not relevant anymore. People want straight information. Your job is to give value to the customer that the customer is not even thinking about. What is the deep value that you provide that even the customer is not thinking about? This needs to be part of your conversation.

Let’s take a look at retention and how that has changed. Maintaining your customers requires more communication with them. Talking to existing customers is always easier than bringing in new clients. Give your current customers more value and a higher level of communication. My team started meeting every single week during covid, checking in with one another. Now, we are at once a month, but frequency is a big part of retention. Value also has to go up, give them more. The big secret is that your customers become your team. You have a code of honor with them, you meet with them and support them. You create more than just customers, you create a movement. Do you provide a level of service that you provide to your own team and to your customers as well? You need awareness, direction and effort.

Your number one asset is your community. In order to succeed in sales, it’s the process, the customer and the psychology. Until then, remember sales equals income. Income equals your team. Be awesome.

Business Success Series

Big business or little business does not matter. If you are going to be a leader and you want to have success over the next 12 months, there are several things that you have to know. We have tested this for over 25 years in countries all over the world. Today, we are giving you an overview. There are three primary skills that apply to everything in business and in life. Anywhere I have ever gone, this is the system that works. There is no replacement for the key strategies that lead to success in any business no matter your demographic,nor your skillset. This is for business success and will help you utilize the right plan and goals for 2021.

The most important thing is sales. If there are no sales, there is no income.  If there is no income, there is no business.  And, without a business, there is no team. Sales is critical. Sales is not just products and services. Sales is about creating a trust with your clients and staff as well. This is what gets you out of bed each and every morning. This is the first key skill you need in order to have business success. This is still only one of the critical skills that we are going to discuss in the overview.

The second critical skill that you need for business success is your team. You need a great team! What do I mean by that? I don’t care if your team is 22 people or 22,000 people, many of the rules for building teams are the same. A lot of people end up taking on too much themselves because they have the skills. Due to this, most people end up taking on too much and wind up burning out. This is why you have to gain the ability to hire and train a team that can manage everything without you burning out on top of it all. Your team is your number one asset. This is what will bail you out when you run out of ideas.

The third and most overlooked skill is learning how to teach. Teach your team how to sell. Teach your team how to touch the world with your mission. Now this is for you as the leader and the other skills that you will need to acquire. There are many systems that you have to acquire and document them as a system. If you do not have a system, then everything funnels though you and you will never be able to have downtime. Demand a high level of accountability from your team. Particularly, if you are going to make money you need to have accountability on money. I have worked with brands all over the world over the last 35 years and the formula that I am going over with you remains the same.

What holds all of this together is something that I have learned by studying great teams, cultures and governments. This is a set of internal rules that we refer to as the, “Team Code of Honor.” The code of honor is a simple set of rules based upon your core values. Look at the Ten Commandments, ten simple rules created several thousand years ago and are still in place today. It’s one thing to have the code of honor, it is another to hold people accountable to it. These rules will be a foundation when times are hard. In the absence of rules, people will make up their own. This will allow you to scale and as a leader you have to make an agreement with your team to follow your code of honor.

There is one problem with this formula. The number one liability, the number one thing that blows this up is subconscious thinking of the brain. Let’s say that ten percent is the conscious part of the brain, the rest is the subconscious. Have you ever had your heart broken, lost money or loaned money? We roll with these punches in our lives. We go into business and these unconscious memories affect our ability to do business. This has nothing to do with the other person or team members, this has to do with your subconscious mind. We call this our, “Little Voice.” Some of us have more than one “little voice” that causes a stir in our mind rather than making rational business decisions. Your “little voice” works to run the game.

In order to be a great leader or teacher, the business skills are important but you also have to address the personal development side. There are little voices going on for everyone shouting things like fear or depression as we go through these crazy volatile times. If you are looking at good leaders, they will understand this. You have to work with your team to help them and yourself gain control over the “Little Voice.” We revert back to old thinking that no longer works anymore. Group environments or team environments that most of us were not trained in unless we were in sports teams. I’ll share more about how to have a strong focus on Little Voice Mastery.

The tools I share will help you develop the techniques you need.  Techniques to not only teach you how to run your business and build systems, but also grow in your own personal development. My goal is to teach you to be a great leader and teacher. I will give you the tools to teach as you go, how to get your team to sell, and how to generate more income while everyone else is in panic mode.

Losing the Audience

There are mistakes that nearly every presenter makes. If you understand these mistakes and handle them beforehand, you have the ability to be a powerful presenter everytime that you step onto that stage. This is the idea! When you are prepared, you are powerful! My goal is to train you so that you can train the world. In order to train the world, you need to be able to speak to your audience in a way that keeps them engaged while still being upfront and giving them the information they need. Do not fall into the pattern of giving them the information they want to try to keep them in front of you and failing to give them the information that they actually need.

There are two ways that you can “lose the room,” whether it is online or offline. The first way is the silent way that we have gone over in the past as well. This is when you have an audience that is bored or not engaged at all. If your audience is not engaged, then they are not paying attention to what you are saying at all. All that they care about is the time the clock strikes so that they can leave. They may be physically in the room but they are not present with you.  Every presenter is at least aware on some level when this happens. They get a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach and they try all the wrong ways to re-engage the room. Some people choose to get louder to try to grab their attention. If they are already disengaged, then this will simply drive them further away.

The second way that you will lose the audience is the non-silent way. This is when people in the room may simply just not like what you have to say. Some of the audience may even decide to simply burst out and take their stance against you in front of the entire room. They tell you that you do not know what you are talking about or that what you are saying does not apply to them. For most presenters, this is one of the scariest situations that can occur. Most people have an innate fear of public humiliation. This is natural but there is a better way to handle the situation. If you lose the room this way, you can end up with chaos.

This can be a contagion that can ripple through the audience. One person can disagree and spread that negativity through the room. This can be very devastating and they can go into lecture mode where they only deliver without giving the opportunity to engage. Most speakers will avoid or ask to take the conversation online. One of the big mistakes that people make in this scenario is to argue. Even if you are right, do not argue. Instead, ask them questions. Even if you are right, do not argue. All this does is make them angry. Try to understand the point of view they are coming from. Arguing has nothing to do with your role as a presenter.

Do not try to ignore it or roll over and shut it down. Watch other presenters, find new ways to condition yourselves to be calm if the situation arises. These are things that you can actually practice. Another wrong way to react is to let the participants off of the hook. Ask them questions and get other people involved in the conversation. They may not be happy, but they are engaged. You acknowledge the engagement and create a conversation. When people ask questions, I hardly answer any questions. I can answer most questions in ten seconds, but I do not because this lets them off the hook. If you give them all of the answers, this robs them of the opportunity to find the answer. Ask them questions so that they think and engage and become an active participant in the presentation.

There is a time to give answers. For the most part, when I train people, I teach them to solicit the answers from the room. In virtual conversations, set them up in breakout rooms so they can discuss the questions. During the presentation, make sure that you are asking them questions. Keep your audience engaged. Why do we do this? This is to engage the brain. When you engage the brain, it thinks. Your job as a teacher, trainer and facilitator is to make people learn while making learning fun. It is their excitement around the material that allows them to produce results.

Do not let them off of the hook! Resist the temptation to show your knowledge. Get them to discover the answer themselves. This is how you bring them on the road to discovery. They will remember a lot more about what they discover rather than what you simply tell them. Assume that they are able to find the answer, acknowledge everything that they are engaging with you. Remember this, there is not a problem in the world that cannot be solved by people that engage together.