In this live coaching session, the presenter explains that effective selling starts with understanding the buyer’s problem and motivations rather than focusing on the seller’s product. He outlines how buyers are driven by needs and the psychological costs (money, status, fear) associated with solving those needs. The speaker emphasizes mapping both the logical and emotional client journey—from initial problem awareness, through questioning, decision, and post‑purchase reflection—to create a clear, efficient buying process that can end in either a yes or a no, both of which indicate a well‑designed system. He illustrates the concept with a mortgage‑broker example that addresses trust concerns, and provides a set of interview questions to uncover client concerns at each stage. The goal for participants is to capture and map these logical and emotional steps so they can act as a “business Sherpa,” guiding future clients through the buying experience.
Chapters
Good morning, people of Facebook. Here I am in my car, and I am not driving. I'm parked, I promise. On my way into the beautiful city of Melbourne, and wow, what a beautiful day we have here today. So hope you are enjoying it wherever you are. So today, thanks for coming along, and what I wanted to talk to you about today. So we've kind of. Talked about you and why you need to be a sales champion and your clients and those sort of things. But if we're going to— one of the things that I teach people is that great selling is helping people buy, and that's awesome, and it makes you feel so much more comfortable. But if we're really going to understand and help people buy, then we need to know what that looks like for them. So we're going to run through that. This morning. So let's kick off, and if anyone's got any questions or comments, please feel free to jump in and ask those or say hello or whatever. So how do people buy? So let's not start with how, let's— why do people do things? Why are people motivated to do something? Well, they're motivated to do something because they have a problem or a need. So, um, it's something that, you know, they need a new dress for, um, an event that they're going to, or they, you know, they're hungry, or they're thirsty, or they need a new computer system, or whatever that happens to be. So they have a need or a problem that they're trying to solve. So how does that help us? Well, When I'm teaching people, and as I'm teaching you here today, how to sell in a way that people— helps people to buy, then that's where we should start. We should start with what problem do we solve? How do we actually help people come across and solve that problem? How do we let them know that we really understand that problem and we've dealt with it before? And that's where we start. We don't start with what you do And, and your business. You start with them. What's their problem? How do you help people? I help people who have this particular problem, and I help them solve it in this particular way. Okay, so someone has a problem, and then they're motivated at some point to do something about it. And depending on what that problem is and how big it is and how long it's been going on and the psychological costs, etc., etc., sometimes people need a lot of motivation to actually do something about it. Particularly if it's personal. So we need to be gentle and help people discover that when you address that problem with me, whatever that might be, that the value that you get out of that and how you overcome that is actually worthwhile. So what we— we know that people have a problem and they have a need, but Also, in solving that problem and need, there's costs. So that cost might be money, but equally that cost might be social status, or it might be feeling awkward because I've never spoken to anyone about this before, or it might be overcoming some fears that they have. So think through all the logical costs. Obviously, you know, the money and all of those sort of things, but also think through, and probably more importantly, the psychological costs. What are some of the fears that people have about people in your industry, and how do you overcome that? So the more you can help people understand how you help them, how you create value for them, and how you decrease the costs. So here's a good example. I was working with a real estate sorry, a mortgage broker. And this mortgage broker doesn't take any commissions. So one of the perceptions of, you know, mortgage brokers is that they get kickbacks and rewards from, say, real estate agents or other people that they're aligned with. And if we can alleviate or take away some of that fear by saying we don't do that, then That helps the potential client who they're talking to to relax. It helps them to trust what that person is saying in a bit more detail and a bit with a bit more heart. So I suppose what I'm saying is have a think about not what you do, but what your client's journey is. Where do they start? How do they get in contact with you? How do they? Where do they start from themselves? Are they fearful? Or are they excited? And how do you help them use that energy, whether it's the fear energy or the excited energy, to— In 400 meters, turn right onto Station Street. That's my navigation. I should have turned it off. Note to self. So help them walk through what you do in your business, and that walkthrough again is centered on them. How does that help them walk through their buying journey and to come to a good decision. So often when I'm teaching people about their client journey and how to think about that, what I want you to think about is how do you help people make an awesome buying decision about your product or service? And that buying decision might be yes or might be no, and both of those outcomes are okay. So a good process helps you or helps them to go through that buying decision and come to a decision. So you know you've got a good process when people come in, they move through, and they exit either by saying yes and signing up with you or saying no. And both of those outcomes are great because that just means you've got an efficient process. I'm not saying that There's often areas within that process that you can improve and work on. But just have a think through how your client walks through your company and engages with you and the question— types of questions that they ask. And I suppose what I'm saying is that if we're focusing on people's problems and helping them, then what we're really doing is coming up with a viable solution and a solution that, yes, we, we can stand behind and agree with and put our heart into, but more importantly, something that your clients resonate with. And if you're unsure, a great thing to do is go and talk to some people you've already worked with and ask them. So some great questions might be, So tell me, before you, you know, when you first started looking for someone to work with you on whatever you do, product or service, what are the types of questions or concerns that you had? Because you want to know where they were at the start of the journey. And then say, well, given that that was your concern and your questions, what was it about me and potentially working with me that intrigued you, that interested you? Then, so that's kind of before. Then, you know, in the engagement process and when we first started talking, what were the couple of the things that really stood out for you that you thought, yes, this is the person that I want to work with and buy from? And then ask them about the process. How did you feel about going through the processes with us? What were some of the things that we could, you know, that really stood out that that you loved about that process? What are some areas that we could improve on in that process? Um, and then at the end, uh, you know, once they've used your product or service, then talking to them about, well, you know, at the beginning of the process you said that you felt like this, you were fearful of whatever it might be, or you were interested in whatever it might be. Now that you've used the product or service, can you tell me what your experience is now? How do you feel about it now? So as you can see, I'm taking— it's a logical journey because they go from, you know, interest or problem, assessing that, working out, choosing to buy from someone, and then assessing how it went and how they feel afterwards. So that's a logical journey, and I want you to capture that. But more importantly, I want you to capture their emotional journey. What were the things, you know, when were they Fears heightened? What were the things that surprised them about working with you? What were the things that they loved about it? What were the things that they— that were hard but necessary? And if you can map both the logical and the emotional journey, then you can help others through it. You will be your business Sherpa, and you will take people up that mountain and help them navigate all those tricky bits. because you intimately know how your clients do that. So, my beautiful people, that's your job for this week. Think about mapping that client journey and really getting in touch with how people feel and how they respond to those feelings with actions throughout that, that buying process. So, I hope you have a wonderful week, and I look forward to seeing you all next week. Have a great day. Bye now.
