Tag: sales

I absolutely love sales. It totally lifts my spirit, because it is the first step to change in a person’s life.

Without the sale, nothing happens.

The prospects just sit in their prison cells, never realizing that the life they want is attainable, if they’d just shift their perspective and reach outside their bars.

Fortunately, they have you.

Clarity Brings Urgency
When you’re successful during a discovery conversation with a prospective client, you’ve brought them to clarity about their situation, which, in turn, gives them the urgency to change.

Let me say that again, with clarity comes the urgency to change.

Part of the reason that people stay stuck is they’ve pushed their problem so far into the future that they can’t see it. One day, they’ll make enough money to take vacations. One day.

The problem is, “one day” will never come. Your prospects will stay stuck until they finally realize that there is only now.

If they want to increase their income, if they want the life of their dreams, now is the time to act.

To help guide them to that clarity, which, again, they have to realize for themselves, you want to ask them four simple questions. Here are the first two:

Question 1
The first question you ask during the discovery conversation with a prospect is some version of “What are you looking to accomplish?” It’s plain, simple and direct.

You do want to tailor that question to your specific business, product or service. For example, if you’re a financial planner, it makes sense to ask, “How much money do you want to make?”

Regardless of the wording you choose, after you ask the question, be quiet. Just listen, and they will tell you what you need to know about them.

Question 2
Next, you want to ask, “What is the biggest problem in your business (or life) right now?”

With this question, you’re finding out what they want and need, but, more important, they’re beginning to get clear about their problem.

After you ask the question, again, don’t say a word. Let them tell you what they think their problem is.

If you think that they’re incorrect about the nature of their problem, don’t tell them that or argue with them, because that does no good.

In fact, almost everyone’s answers to one or more of these questions will be wrong. That doesn’t matter.

What matters is that they’re starting to get clear in their minds that they have a problem, and they’re bringing that problem from some nebulous future into the present, where they can finally face it.

Look at it this way, if you have to tell them what their problem is, they haven’t accepted it yet in their mind.

And if they haven’t accepted it yet, if they’re saying, “I want to think about it” they still have unanswered questions. And, if that’s the case, there’s no way they’re moving forward.

In order to bring them to clarity and urgency and clinch the sale, you need to ask them two more questions. You’ll find those here next time.

What can I do to have a breakthrough in sales? I'm a new entrepreneur; I sell service-based trainings to corporations. I'm great at facilitating the trainings, but brand new to sales. I have a sales coach and I'm learning great sales technique, but I have a huge emotional and or psychological block to pick up the phone and make the calls.

How do I get over this self sabotage…this non identification with the sales piece?

Thanks!

You must go THROUGH it.

Think about it like this: You know you have an irrational fear of making calls, you know you need sales to grow your business, and you know that you’re not “comfortable” making calls.

So what if you just got comfortable being uncomfortable? How would things change?

What if instead of trying to get over the self-sabotage, you simply blew right through it?

I see so many entrepreneurs avoiding making sales calls because it’s uncomfortable, when in fact, making sales means doing something FOR someone rather than TO someone.

So why wouldn’t you get up each morning excited to pick up the phone and HELP someone?

Don’t spend time trying to figure out why you don’t want to make sales or how you can be comfortable; simply pick up the phone and connect with someone.

Have a meaningful conversation that’s in service to THEM, and walk right through that fear of making those calls.

The more you study sales strategy and the more you pick up the phone, the easier it will get, and you will be excited to make those calls.

PS: The Neagle Code: Directions for Life is a weekly no-cost program that is open to everyone! Each week, I'll select and personally respond to one question received via the above “The Neagle Code” page that I feel in my heart will help the most people. (You may choose to remain anonymous if you wish, with our full support.) It is my deep, heartfelt intention that ~ in answering your questions ~ I may provide you with the Universal Truths that in committed application, will set you free. Simply submit YOUR burning question at: www.DavidNeagle.com/ask-david to participate.

When you have the desire to do or have something, but your personal or financial situation indicates to you that you can’t, you’re in prison.

You want something. You can’t have it. You’re stuck.

As your ideal prospects contemplate buying your service or product, many of them are in a prison of their situation too. They want or need what you’re got, but they think that they don’t have the money or their spouse won’t let them do it or the funds are earmarked for something else.

Whatever their prison is, they believe it. Those bars are very real for them.

If you haven’t integrated the Five Pillars of Influence, their prison may be real for you too. In fact, you’re probably in there with them, agreeing with their assessment or trying to convince them that they’re wrong. Either way, you’re losing the sale while they miss out on the solution that would change their life.

Fortunately, there’s an alternative.

Become Your Own Power of Influence

As I said last time, you need to bring them to clarity to bridge the gap between their prison and your solution, so that they naturally influence themselves. They buy from you and they feel really good about it.

The first step to doing that is Pillar 1: Become Your Own Power of Influence. That means, you learn how to influence yourself.

Think about it, how can you coax someone out of their prison, unless you have coaxed yourself out of yours?

You can’t. To help them, you must first help yourself.

How I Became My Own Power of Influence

Listen, I have been there. When I first started as an entrepreneur, nobody knew who I was. I didn’t have a cultivated market. I didn’t have a website.

I literally started off making cold calls, and, because I was completely broke, I needed to make sales right out of the gate.

The other thing you have to understand is that I was not a born salesperson. I had dabbled in sales, and I was okay at it, but I hated it with a passion. That’s right. I could not stand sales.

Then one day, early in our work together, my mentor asked me why I didn’t like to sell. I told him that I had no idea. “I just don’t like to do it,” I said.

He shook his head and said, “I know why you don’t like it. It’s because you think sales is something that you do to somebody, but it’s not. Sales is not something that you do to someone. It’s something that you do for them.”

In that moment the dots connected for me and my thinking shifted so dramatically that it allowed me to come at sales from a completely different perspective.

I finally understood what had been holding me back. As long as I felt that I was doing something to prospects, sales felt bad. It felt bad to sell to somebody.

But once I realized that I was offering my ideal prospects a solution that they actually need and want ~ I was offering them a way out of their own prisons ~ I came not only to love sales, but became very good at it, and my income skyrocketed.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I had also just taken the first step toward becoming my own power of influence. I’ll show you how you can start doing that for yourself next time.

In this new series, I’m going to show you the secrets to closing 80-100% of your perfect prospects in 15 minutes.

Sound implausible? It’s not.

It’s absolutely possible, if you integrate and apply the Five Pillars of Influence, which I’ll explore and explain over the next several weeks.

What Exactly Is Influence?

Influence is simply the capacity to have an effect on someone. In the context of sales, it is the art of equating in the mind of your ideal clients the fact that you have the solution they need.

Influence is not pressure. It’s not asserting or forcing your ideal prospects to buy something they don’t need.

Contrary to what you may have heard or been taught, force is actually counterproductive to sales. It doesn’t work in the long-run. In fact, it often backfires, because it stems from what I call “reaction energy.”

Influence Energy Versus Reaction Energy

Reaction energy is the way most people navigate through life. They react to everything, never realizing the power they have at their fingertips to create the life they desire.

When you’re in reaction energy, you’re not in your power, and you think that force is the answer — the way to get whatever it is that you want. I’ll explore all this again in detail in a later article; but, in short, if you carry reaction energy into your sales conversations, it won’t feel good to your prospects, and they will resist you, coming up with objection after objection, none of which is the real issue at all.

If you’re in reaction energy, though, you’ll just swat at the objections, all the while trying to convince your prospects that they’re wrong and employing all kinds of other techniques, thinking you’re getting somewhere, but you’re actually not.

To get to the sale, you need to come from a place of “influence energy,” which means that you sit in your power with the highest good of the prospects in mind, and direct the conversation in a way that lets the prospects influence themselves. As a result, they feel that you’re trying to help them and are extremely grateful, and they end up selling themselves.

They Already Want What You Have

Influence energy is your best sales tool, in part, because your ideal prospects already want or need your product or service. (That’s why they’re ideal for you.) They may not realize that yet, however, because they’re in a prison of their own situation.

That means, their solution is outside the bars of their prison, and they simply can’t see it.

That’s where you come in.

Empowered by the energy of influence and its five pillars, you bridge the gap between your prospect’s prison and their solution. And once they finally see the solution, you’re right there with it — with exactly what they need and want.

But to get to that place, where you’re harnessing the power of influence, you must first influence yourself. I’ll pick it up here next time.

Hi David!

How does a prosperous business recover from losing a major client?

Let me explain.

So many business owners have a mindset of just getting by, and if they are just getting by, that’s good enough.

Then one client backs out or one setback creeps in, and suddenly they are in crisis.

To have a truly prosperous business you need to consistently be selling MORE than you need, always setting money aside and always looking for that next person who needs your product or service.

A prosperous business has a cushion built in, so that if a major client is lost, the business is not devastated.

If you’re in a business that does not have that cushion built in, and you do lose a major source of income because a major client backs out, your solution is clear.

You must bring in the necessary funds to cover your losses. In most instances this refers to making more sales. Sometimes it looks like taking out a line of credit to buy you some time to bring in the necessary sales to close that gap. It just depends on your situation.

But in all seriousness, the solution to this problem is actually to prevent it from happening in the first place by not stopping when you’re in a place of “good enough”.

Set your sales goals high, build in a cushion, and this will never be an issue.

Just Believe,^®

PS: The Neagle Code: Directions for Life is a weekly no-cost program that is open to everyone! Each week, I'll select and personally respond to one question received via the above “The Neagle Code” page that I feel in my heart will help the most people. (You may choose to remain anonymous if you wish, with our full support.) It is my deep, heartfelt intention that ~ in answering your questions ~ I may provide you with the Universal Truths that in committed application, will set you free. Simply submit YOUR burning question at: www.DavidNeagle.com/ask-david to participate.

Hi David, I just read your answer to a question about “pushing away” negative thoughts and I have a follow-up question for you. Sometimes when we have a negative feeling like fear, the solution is simply to change focus to the positive. Other times, focusing on the positive can be an escape from having to face a fear and deal with it.

How can I tell whether to turn away from a negative thought/feeling, or to face it?

Turning your back on the fear simply means to not let it control what you’re thinking or doing.

I think it may be helpful to use an example.

Let’s say Beth wants to build a business, and to build that business, she knows she needs to make sales.

However, sales is something Beth is very much afraid of, as she’s very concerned about what people may think of her. The thought of making someone angry or feeling “salesy”, causes Beth to have a really hard time engaging in sales conversations both in person and on the phone, which in turn is negatively affecting her ability to make money.

Beth needs to recognize that the fear is a lie, turn her back on it, not allow it to control her and pick up the phone or make the contact regardless of the fear.

She should only focus on the positive outcomes she wants, not on worrying about angering someone or what they may think of her.

Focusing on the positive doesn’t mean she’s not “dealing” with something she needs to deal with; she’s stepping right through what’s causing her to feel the fear. And as soon as she does that, the fear loses its power.

You see fear rears its head when you’re on the cusp of growth. Never turn away from that growth because of the fear. Instead, turn your back on the fear, tell it to get behind you and keep going!

Never deal with the fear itself…deal with what’s causing the fear.

Just Believe,^®

PS: The Neagle Code: Directions for Life is a weekly no-cost program that is open to everyone! Each week, I'll select and personally respond to one question received via the above “The Neagle Code” page that I feel in my heart will help the most people. (You may choose to remain anonymous if you wish, with our full support.) It is my deep, heartfelt intention that ~ in answering your questions ~ I may provide you with the Universal Truths that in committed application, will set you free. Simply submit YOUR burning question at: www.DavidNeagle.com/ask-david to participate.