More Sales Less Marketing. Introduction & Chapter 1 | Audiobook Reading

Hello. So I'm starting More Sales Less Marketing from the beginning, the introduction and chapter 1. The introduction. If we walk far enough, says Dorothy, we shall sometime come to someplace. And that's a quote from The Wizard of Oz. Thank you for choosing this book. You won't regret it. In this book, we will walk together and come to some place that helps you be better in sales and business. This book is for all of you who squirm when you think of being salesy. Sales doesn't have to be like that. Read on and let me show you. I hope you all love the movie The Wizard of Oz as much as I love it. Many years ago, I started using the characters and storyline to help explain selling in a new way. Even if you don't like it or love it, I'm sure you will understand the use of archetypes and stories to support your new love of selling. This book is in 3 sections. 1, exploring your relationship with sales and how to change that. 2, helping you understand the key elements of great selling— how to think, feel, and do great selling. And 3, taking it to the streets and walking with your client on your sales journey. Section 1 is about you and your relationship with sales. By reading these chapters, you will better understand why so many people hate selling and how to change that. We will examine what great selling is and why learning more about it is imperative for you and your business. This section gives you the critical foundations of great selling that we will use as we move through the book's other sections. We all fear things in life and business. Just like Dorothy, I will take you into a brand new world. In Technicolor. You will meet new characters, and better yet, you will learn new things about yourself. You will discover that you can sell and that you had it inside you the whole time. Section 2 is about getting to know your business from your client's perspective. We explore why business people often forget the customer and how to build a client-focused So you don't ever forget again. This section also starts to flesh out some reasons people fail in business and selling and what to do about it. One of the things I love about business is the different characters you meet along your path. Some are kind, some are not. Some think they are a pussycat, brainless, or heartless. Sometimes they are, but most often they aren't. The gold lies in your client, partner, and colleague relationships. This section— that's Section 2— helps you to explore these. Section 3 encourages you to take these ideas and skills to the streets and learn more about your clients. How they buy, and what and how they are interested in buying from you. It walks you through each step of the great selling process and shows you how to do this in a way that makes you feel comfortable and successful. Great selling is about knowing and sharing your yellow brick road. It starts with understanding what your client wants. And what they are willing to do to solve their problem. Your job in selling isn't to push them down that road. It's simply to introduce the concept and encourage them to start. So, dear reader, put on your ruby slippers and come with me. Section 1, Your Relationship with Sales. Love it or hate it, and I'm tipping that if you've picked up this book, you are in the second category. The truth is that all businesses sell to stay alive. Selling is one of the oldest professions, professions known to humankind. There is nothing wrong with selling. And here's the truth. Once you understand this, you will find that owning this role in your business is liberating. More than that, following the yellow brick road outlined in this book will allow you to grow and to prosper without feeling like you are selling your soul. So I encourage you to read on, embrace your feelings, and work with me through this book. Let me take you to the movie The Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy first lands in Oz, she's frightened. Everything has turned from black and white to Technicolor. The only familiar things are Toto and her house. To add to this, she has killed someone, and there is the murmur of people she can't see twittering around her. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, comes floating down in a magnificent frock in her bubble. Her first job is to get Dorothy off her porch. She doesn't need to answer every question just to get Dorothy to take her first step. Let me be your Glinda. Come off the porch and let me show you the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City of loving selling. Chapter 1, I Hate Selling. People lose a lot of time in hating others. And there's no fun in it at all. That's a quote from L. Frank Baum, who is the author of The Wizard of Oz. Now, what to do about that? This chapter and book is for business owners who cringe at the very idea of selling. Because of that, they don't sell. I'm sure you have heard the advertisements on the radio stating proudly, We don't have salespeople. This always makes me laugh. Then I think to myself, how are you in business? Every business started by selling something to someone. The business owner overcame their fear, talked to people, and asked them to buy. When I write it like this, it sounds so easy, right? But I know you picked up this book because you don't feel this way. You don't want to push people. You fear that they will think you selfish or demanding, pushy and salesy if you ask. Selling or being seen as salesy is one of the greatest fears for new and highly accomplished business people. And yet they overcome this fear. Why? Their desire to change the world. Be of service and offer value helps them to overcome it. But here's something I know: the business people who don't overcome this fear fail. You can learn to love selling. I have spoken with so many people who hate selling, and I have been able to turn them around to loving it. That's a bold statement, I know, but I have seen it time and time again. Connecting what you do with why people want to buy from you opens up a whole kaleidoscope of new options and adventures. It offers freedom to both your clients and you. Your job now is to trust me, suspend that doubt, do the work, and reap the rewards. Why people hate to sell. I have learned 3 things from working with and helping people reframe their distrust of selling. People hate to sell because they think it is about manipulating people into buying from them something that they don't need or can't afford or don't want. In their minds, they conjure up a picture of the dodgiest, slimiest salesperson in the world and then try everything in their power over their words, actions, and intentions for people not to think of them in that way. 2, people hate to sell because they don't like the idea of someone saying no or asking questions that might interfere with their perception of the value they deliver to their customers. And lastly, 3, people hate to sell because they focus on themselves, the seller, and not their client, the buyer. The truth is that people are often so scared of what others might think of them That they might see them as pushy or salesy. This stops them from even trying because the idea is so irksome. These thoughts prevent— these thoughts prevent them from selling the right way and often actually create exactly the experience that they are trying to avoid. Where do these ideas come from? The truth is that there is great selling and bad selling. I'm sure you have had the experience of walking into a shop and feeling like you are being targeted. You feel that the salesperson in the shop is only interested in what's in your wallet and how much you have to spend. Equally, there are times when you walk into a shop and feel totally out of place, like you are not welcome because the salesperson in that shop shows you exactly what they are thinking. That they are disinterested and think you are a waste of their time. Both of these are examples of bad selling. What is bad selling? They talk at you. Bad sellers start by talking. They talk at you. They try to push you down a particular path before understanding you and your needs. They make it about them. They make it, they make it about what they want and not what you need. They need the sale or the money. They show you that in their words and actions. They focus on the quickest path to what they want. They don't give you time to ask questions, explore, or discover. They use all the tactics and ploys to achieve their end as quickly as 4, they handle objections. Objections are obstacles to what they want. Objections are the enemy of the sale. They treat them with disdain and with the disrespect they think they deserve. I call bad selling crocodiles and dinosaurs. Bad selling has been around forever. It has had successes, but these are diminishing. It is an attitude and methodology that has had its day. In short, bad sellers are dinosaurs. Yes, this way of selling still exists, but— and it's a big but— their time is over. When I hear people talk about this, I remind them about crocodiles and dinosaurs. Yes, there are crocodiles. And just because there are crocodiles still on Earth, that doesn't mean we're in the age of the dinosaurs. The truth is that bad selling is dying. It is dying because it is no longer effective, because it doesn't represent who and what we are as consumers. And it isn't what businesses and business owners want to be a part of. Today's consumers are more intelligent, better researched, and savvier. They see through the shim sham and vote with their feet and their wallets. I'm sure all of you have experienced bad selling, but you don't have to choose to be like this to succeed. I encourage you not to. Business success comes from embracing great selling. This book will convince you that there is such a thing as great selling. It is accessible and possible for you to implement, and you can start today. The 3 keys to great selling. There are 3 areas to work on when you approach great selling. 1, mindset. Thinking like a salesperson and eliminating the flim-flam dodgy image in your mind. Activity. Once you have your mind right, it's time to take actions that follow and reinforce this mindset. Results. Lastly, we must reframe how you view your sales results. Getting the desired results from actions aligning with your values creates a virtuous cycle. When you get this virtuous cycle working for you, you will see the true power of great selling, and it will feel less yucky. You will enjoy or even love selling. I had countless people tell me just that. I never thought that I would actually say that I love selling. So let's take this journey together and I will release you and your business. It starts in the mind. This step is imperative. If you approach your client when you are not in the right frame of mind, you will waste your time, frustrate yourself, and reconfirm the idea that you can't do selling. You will reinforce the crocodile of bad selling and falter before you start. We will cover this in more detail in Chapter 3 with some exercises and ideas to explore, but here are the 3 key steps. Step 1, think like a salesperson. Know what you think. Be honest with yourself about how you feel about sales and selling. Once we have that out on the table, We can change it. Choose to think differently about sales. Great selling is not pushy, interruptive, manipulative, or painful. Great selling is helping someone who has a problem fix that problem or fulfill a need. It's that simple. Stop thinking about it as selling and start thinking about it as helping people buy. The key to thinking like a salesperson is to focus on your client and not make it about you. Step 2, activity. Focus on doing the right things. Okay, so now you have your head in the right space. Now let's get out there and use your new attitude for good. Get organized. Make time to go out and talk to current and prospective clients about what you do. Have daily, weekly, and monthly targets for staying in contact with people by picking up the phone or seeing them. More on this in Chapter 8. Be open and transparent about your sales process. You are there to guide your client. So build a client roadmap, a step-by-step guide on how you engage with them. There's more on that in Chapter 7. Follow up. Have a strategy for following up with your clients. An easy way to do this is to ensure that you have the next step set up with your client. And there's more detail in that, Chapter 12. Step 3, results and rewards. You have the right mindset and you're doing the work. Well done! Now keep going. One great way to help you focus is to have clarity on what you are trying to achieve and to reward yourself for taking steps towards that. Know what you want to achieve. Set goals. How many new clients do you want to sign up and in what timeframe? What extra income does your business need? Make it crunchy. More on this on chapter 8. Break down your goals. Set and track monthly and weekly goals so you can see and reward your progress. Make yourself accountable. Put a big poster on the wall with your targets and your achievements. Make it public. Reward yourself each new client meeting you attend, each new proposal you get out there, and phone calls. Each of those takes you closer to your goal. Celebrate whatever your poison is— hot chocolate or champagne or both. Be sure to let people know by doing a happy dance or whatever your preferred method is. Great selling is helping people buy. When I am working with teams, I often ask them to tell me about a great sales experience they have had, and very often they can't. The reason is that when you are the recipient of a great sales experience, It feels like someone has helped you to buy something you need or want by helping you understand how they help you to get that. Right there is the essence of great selling. It isn't pushy or self-orientated. It focuses on helping the other person solve a problem or fulfill a need. It focuses on them and their buying process. Helping them make a good buying decision irrespective of the outcome. Great selling has a process. As we run through this process, I want you to keep this front and center in your mind. Great selling is helping people buy. It's about them, not about you. It's about helping them fix a problem or fulfill a need. When you get this first piece of the puzzle right, the rest of the process follows logically. It feels better because it is better. There are 4 steps to great selling. Step 1. Listening. If you are going to help someone, you first need to know what they do and don't want. Sometimes this is an easy process. Sometimes you must glean it from their actions and reactions. Listening involves all your senses and is isolated from the rest of the sales process. I mean that until you are sure you understand the person, you cannot move to the next step. People buy something because they have a problem or a need. You are there to help them uncover and understand that need. That's listening. And I've got more detail on that in chapter 11. Step 2, find a fit. Where are you? They have a problem and you have a potential solution to that problem. Now the question is, does it fit? Walk with your client through the fit to their budget, timeframe, and other needs. Fitting things together is about explaining how your solution meets their needs and solves their problem. The best way to demonstrate this is to use stories of people you have helped. What was their problem? How did you help them? What was the result? There will never be one story that encapsulates your client's needs and motivations. So it's really important to explore different solutions until you are sure you are on the right track. Sometimes there just isn't a fit. When this happens, Be honest and say so. You can still be helpful by helping your client find someone else who might be able to help them. How do you know when you're on the right track? Well, that involves more listening. Listen with your eyes and brain to see and interpret facial expressions and body language. And I've got some more detail on that in Chapter 14. Step three, look for objections. Yes, look for objections. They are there waiting. The sooner you get your client to bring them out, the sooner you can answer them. If there are common objections that I think will be relevant to this client, I often try to bring this up first. And here's one way that I might say that. I have worked with several clients that have a similar business, and initially they were worried about— Once we had been through the solution and they had spoken to some of our clients, they were happy that this wouldn't happen with our solution. Once you have uncovered and answered one objection, it creates trust and allows for more discussions and objections. And there's more on that in chapter 14. Step 4 in the Great Selling Process is create value. You know when a sales relationship works well because you create value for all parties. At a minimum, this is you, the client, and your business. However, this may well encompass the community and other stakeholders as well. A great sale is one where everyone wins. If you take this view, you are always looking to create value, then the other precursor steps make perfect sense. In Australia, it is estimated that 20% of new small businesses will fail in their first year, and up to 60% of startup businesses fail within 5 years of launching. These numbers come from the Australian Small Business and Family Ombudsman. Failure in business can be avoided if we just get out there and embrace our clients and help them to understand all the value that we have to offer. But in order to do this, you first have to understand the value, not from your perspective, but theirs. I know that I have put a lot into this first chapter, and there is a reason for that. I really want you to keep going. The rest of the book is about helping you break down all of these new ideas and put things into action. You can do this, and I can help you, but only if you keep reading or listening. But more than that, you have to do the work. Mindsets don't change from reading a book. They change because the ideas spark a light. We follow the light and we try new things. We try these new things on for size and see how they feel. We make mistakes and have new experiences which help to remodel our brain and work and educate us to make better choices. I can change the way you think, feel, and do selling, but only if you come on the journey with me. I have already mentioned The Wizard of Oz. It is one of my favorite movies. If you have ever heard me speak, I'm sure you will have heard me talk about it. So for the duration of this book, You are Dorothy. But there would be no story if Dorothy chose to stay in fear and not get off her porch. If she had decided not to explore and stayed with Toto, she wouldn't have discovered anything new about herself, She wouldn't have had the adventures, discovered her strength, and found her way home. I ask you to take my hand and get off the porch. Let me introduce you to the yellow brick road of great selling. I know that you will thank me.