Hi David!

I have been plagued by the same challenge for several months now…not enough clients. It’s to the point where I need to start cutting back on my spending which feels constricting and based in lack. The biggest problem: I can’t figure out how to overcome this challenge and it is SO frustrating…what is going on?

Thanks so much!

1) They are necessary for growth.
2) They hold hidden lessons that you need to learn about yourself.
3) They are neither good or bad…they just “are”.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a challenge as: a stimulating task or problem.

But here’s what I want you to see:

You are experiencing this challenge because there is something that you need to learn about yourself, and the challenge keeps recurring because you are resisting learning what the challenge itself is trying to get you to see.

Each challenge we are faced with has a hidden message…a hidden lesson that we need to learn in order to become the person we need to become to fulfill our dreams.

If you find yourself with the same challenge over and over, you need to take a deep look into what you may be resisting hearing, seeing, doing or being, that’s keeping that challenge in your life.

In this instance, you may be resisting something within your sales conversation.

You may be resisting reaching out to prospects.

You may be resisting being seen..

The list could go on.

Look deep into your challenge to identify what you may be resisting and reach out for help if you still can’t identify the resistance from someone who is a qualified coach.

If you are reading this, chances are you are faced with a challenge that you are seeking to solve. Post your challenge below and I’ll do my best to explain what that challenge may be trying to tell you.

Or if you prefer to remain anonymous, simply send an email containing your challenge to [email protected] and I’ll respond.

Let’s overcome these challenges together and make miracles happen!

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.

In this series, I’ve been showing you how to close sales in 15-20 minutes. That’s how long it should take you to ask the four main questions of the discovery conversation, which I shared with you last time.

If you asked the fourth question, “How badly do you want your situation to change,” with a compassionate authority that encourages your prospects to be authentic, they’re likely to have an emotional reaction.

They may be in tears. They may be excited. Or somewhere in between. But however they respond, by that response, you will know whether or not they’re in.

Secure the Sale
Let’s say they are going to buy. That’s the outcome I’m fully expecting you to experience as you apply these five pillars.

With their authenticity, with their laughter or tears, they’re saying to you, “Yes! This is what I want. I’m committing to you emotionally. Give me a directive as to what to do.”

In a moment, I’ll demonstrate the wording to use, but what you need to do at this point is secure their commitment. Ask them for their credit card number.

Ideally, you can turn the call over to an assistant, who can get the number, give the person a contract, and get him or her on your calendar.

But whether or not you’re the one taking their details, it’s crucial that after you secure their commitment and before you get off the phone with them, you take the next step of creating momentum.

Create Momentum
Creating momentum means that you give them something to do that gives them an immediate taste of the transformation that’s to come.

If you don’t create momentum for your clients right away, if they have to wait weeks before your event or program begins, they’re very likely to go into buyer’s remorse and start wondering if they’ve made the right decision.

So give them a step of their solution immediately, perhaps an exercise to do, and at the end of the call, briefly describe the powerful outcome the client should expect.

Commitment + Momentum = Powerful Outcomes for All

For instance, I might say:
“That’s great, Helen. Give me a credit card, and let’s get this going. I’m so excited for you right now that you’ve made this decision. Your life is going to be so different over the next year that you’re not going to believe it.

“I’m going to pass you on to Liz, now, who is going to get every call for the year set up for you and give you the first exercise I want you to do. So we’ll be set up for our very first call, and I’ll talk to you in a couple of days. Sound great? Perfect.”

That’s it.

Don’t go fishing for doubt by asking them if they have any questions. Any questions they have can be dealt with after the call.

Leave them on that high note of feeling that they’ve gotten what they wanted.

Let them relish in their commitment and the beginning of the powerful momentum that will take them where they’ve been wanting to go for a very long time.

Hi David!

The good news about me is that I’m really ready to grow my team. The bad news is that I don’t have much experience hiring, and the hires I’ve made in the past…well…let’s just say they haven’t been the best hires. Do you have any guidelines on hiring or advice you could share with me as I grow my team?

Thanks much!

Are you the right person to do the hiring? Be honest.

Do you have a poor track record of turn over within your business?

Businesses lose money every time they have to fire and hire, so at times, it’s often less time consuming and more cost effective to turn to a professional to assist you in hiring.

Most people don’t even realize this is an option.

An outside hiring service is skilled at not only knowing what questions to ask you to make sure you attract qualified people, but also what questions to ask the potential employee.

They can be more objective and know how to “read between the lines” in an interview so that only qualified people who will match your culture make the cut.

If you feel like you are the person to do the hiring, sit down and make a list of all the qualities and skills you’re looking for in the “right” person.

Be specific. When hiring you want to be able to clearly explain both duties and expectations.

I once had the honor of having my friend Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com speak from my stage and he always encourages people to hire slow and fire fast.

I couldn’t agree more.

If you find that you are still having difficulty finding the right person to fill a role in your company, you may need to take a long hard look at why you are attracting the situation.

Are you keeping yourself the bottleneck in your company so you feel important?

Do you have issues with trusting someone else to do a job that you know you can do well?

Remember, everything starts with you, so the more clear and honest you can be with yourself and others, the easier that position will be to fill.

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 feel like my business is swallowing me up, and it’s to the point now that I can’t see a difference between my personal life and my business life. Even my friendships and relationships are steeped in my business to the point where I feel like I can’t have a genuine conversation without someone in my life asking for coaching or business tips. I know I need to untangle this, but am unsure of the steps.

Thanks!

Your business life should be your business life, and your personal life should be your personal life.

Here are some suggestions on how to set proper boundaries.

1) Have a set start and end time to your day. Do not let your work invade your personal time. Work will always fill the time you allot it, so you may find that you are much more efficient when you have a limited time to work on your business. Use your calendar and stick to it!

2) Get involved in something outside your business. If you like travel, join a travel club. If you like to read, join a book club. If you like to hike, join a hiking club. This will expose you to people who know nothing about your business, but still share the same interests that you do. They won’t want anything from you except your thoughts on your favorite destination, book, or hiking trail.

3) Schedule time with your current friends and gently let them know that you’re not open to a conversation about your business, and you don’t feel you can be their coach and their friend at the same time. You’d much rather be their friend. If you’re worried about what you’ll talk about, think about purchasing a small box of conversation starters. They are great to spark new and interesting conversations.

4) Do some journaling about who you are outside of your business. You need to begin to realize that your business is not your identity.

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.

Your goal during discovery sales conversations is to bring prospective clients to clarity about their situation, so that they can face it and feel the urgency to change.

You accomplish that by asking them four main questions.

Last time, I shared the first two: “What are you looking to accomplish?” and “What is the biggest problem in your business right now?”

Here are the other two questions:

Question 3
With the third question, you’re assessing their awareness while helping them get clear. You ask, “Why do you think you have that problem?”

Again, don’t argue with them or challenge their perception.

You’re not trying to show how wrong they are or how smart you are.

You want to draw the clarity out of them, which isn’t going to happen if you’re making them feel defensive.

You can tell them what’s wrong with their business until you’re blue in the face. But until they see it for themselves, there’s no sale.

So even if you think they’re wrong, listen to what they’re saying.

The Art of Listening
In order to listen, you have to be out of your own head.

If you have a clatter of mental noise, if you’re thinking, Is this person going to buy? or What do I say next? you’re only listening to yourself.

You want to listen to them, but even more than that, you want to really hear them. Remember, we listen with our ears, but we hear with our emotions.

If you can hear what your prospective client is saying with your own feelings, and then give that empathy back to them in the form of the fourth question, you will influence them every single time.

Question 4
When you ask the fourth question with empathy, your prospects will feel permission from you to be authentic, and to tell you the truth.

At the same time, you want to convey a tone of authority, so that they feel confident in you as well.
So energetically, you lean in, and with that compassionate yet authoritative tone, you ask:

“How badly do you want this to change?”

If you’re compassionate and they’re authentic, the question will elicit emotion. There may be tears. There may be anger. There may be excitement.

And you will know instantly if the person is ready to make the change. If they are ready to buy.

Don’t respond by, then, going into a lot of detail about your product or service. People are not buying based on what your product or service contains.

They’re buying the outcome that they finally feel is possible for them.

If you start going into the details, you’re going to destroy that urgency to change that you’ve been building over the entire conversation.

Like sticking a pin into a balloon, the urgency is gone, and you’ve lost the sale.

What you want to do is stay present with them and solidify the commitment. Begin the relationship that will enrich both of your lives.

Hi David!

I’m beginning to realize that I have a deep need for appreciation. I go out of my way for others to the point of sacrificing my own desires, and when I get no thanks or appreciation, I can feel the anger welling up inside me. I know this need is spilling over into my business. How do transform this and put a stop to needing others to appreciate me?

The problem is that no matter how much others tell us that we did a good job, deep down we don’t believe it.

When a person doesn’t get the appreciation they are looking for it can be extremely painful or even devastating. This causes them to feel resentful and that leads to anger.

A person who is really trying to overcome this in their life has to be aware of the cycle and all the places in their life where this shows up. They have to know how the cycle works.

I’m going to share an integration exercise with you that will help you overcome the need for appreciation if you really want to overcome it.

A) For every person who comes into your life, find one thing you can honestly appreciate about them in that moment.

B) Start journaling what you’re finding to appreciate in other people, and begin to see these qualities in yourself.

C) Start to take a look at how wonderful you really are as a human being and an individual.

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 feel really stuck. I have LOTS of ideas for my business, and yet, I sit paralyzed because I can’t make a decision about what I should do first. I’m afraid I’m going to choose “WRONG”.
HELP!!!

So you must first DECIDE.

Choose ONE of your ideas. It doesn’t really matter which one, just choose one that inspires you the most.

Then take ACTION on that decision. Don’t worry about the results, don’t fret about what people will think, and don’t stop.

You see Spirit won’t give you your entire plan. You must take action on the first step before the 2nd step will be shown. If you never take action, you’ll never see the next opportunity.

If you should fall flat on your first idea, be grateful for what you’ve learned from it, and continue to look for the next opportunity. It WILL be there.

You will either win or you will learn, in which case, either outcome is a GIFT.

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!

Thanks so much for the opportunity to ask you this question. My question is around fear. I would LOVE to control the fear that I feel. I believe it keeps me from my success. Do you have any suggestions pertaining to HOW I can control the fear I feel?

The definition of fear is: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

Fear is an emotion, just like happiness, sadness, joy, or anger. Because fear is an emotion, you can choose whether or not you’re going to allow yourself to be overcome by it.

Let me explain…

Typically entrepreneurs feel fear when they are faced with their own growth or when they know they must change. They feel this fear because their ego is programmed to view these opportunities for growth or change as a threat, and therefore they feel fear to keep from growing and being “at risk”.

The important thing to note in the definition is that it says the emotion is triggered whether the threat is real or IMAGINED.

Most of the time, unless your life is endangered, the fear that we feel is not real.

Here are a few truths that will help you put fear in its place so that you’re not controlled by it:

1) Spirit will never speak to you through fear.

2) When you begin to feel fear, CHOOSE to focus only on the solution or the positive in the situation, and the fear will subside.

3) Always remember that fear is a lie, so if you see yourself getting sucked into that dark place, remind yourself that it’s not real and ask yourself why you’re allowing it to control you. How is it serving you to be paralyzed by fear? You are the creator of your reality, thus the fear is created between your own ears.

4) The only way to neutralize the fear is to step through it. Fighting it or resisting it only gives it energy. For example: If you’re feeling fear about making a sales call, MAKE THE CALL and the fear will disappear.

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.

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.

Hi David!

I’ve been studying your teachings for some time now, but my wife has no interest in wealth mindset. We both have very different beliefs around money and it’s starting to create a wedge in our relationship. Do you have any suggestions on how to meet her halfway and maintain the integrity of our relationship?

If you and your wife have different beliefs around money, I recommend that you both start taking responsibility for yourselves.

Make your own money, have your own banking accounts, and split the joint bills and expenses.

If you want to save for a trip and she doesn’t, go without her, but be prepared for her to do the same.

So many couples struggle with money, especially if one partner makes more than the other. Sometimes it works great and other times it’s incredibly disempowering for the person who is not the breadwinner.

If you feel like your decisions are limited by your wife’s money mindset, you need to have a heart to heart conversation with her, and let her know that from now on, you’ll both be responsible for the bills, but that everything else will go into separate accounts.

This gives her the freedom to do what she wants with her income, and it gives you the freedom as well.

It’s against the laws to ask her to change, this way, you’ll both have the freedom to believe what you want about money and spend as save as you wish.

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.