40: Becoming Unstoppable At Sales - #GrowYourLife

Hello and welcome to the Grow youw Life podcast. On this podcast, I help you grow in your life and in your business. If you've never listened to this podcast before, make sure that you join the GrowYourLife community on Facebook. There's over a thousand people just like yourself that are growing in their life and in their business. Listen. I believe that if you grow in a business, you live a bigger life and do a lot more and go after your dreams. Nothing is impossible for you, but you have to get what's between your two ears right and on track. I don't believe in work life balance. I think it's a scam, in fact, and one of the biggest that's been sold to people over the last hundred years. When you grow in your life and business together and you make them work together, you live a bigger life. Make your priorities, be your family, your relationships and your life and your business will grow. It all works together and that's what this podcast is for. And if you want to win free coaching with me on this to reach your goals, I want to help you. I can help you get to the next level. Go to my Instagram instagram.com jeremycrack or eremycrack J E R E M Y K R A K. It's an abbreviation of my last name. Leave grow your life in the comments on my Instagram. You can win a free 30 minute coaching session with me. Full coaching session. If you want to coach with me, go to my website, click on coaching and you can schedule a 30 minute introductory discovery call where we can talk about your goals and schedule some full coaching sessions. It's not the same as the 30 minute coaching that you win. This is more of a get to know you type of a call. If you want to win a full coaching session, do that on my Instagram. If you want to start coaching with me consistently, go to my website and register for that free call. On this episode, I want to talk to you about selling products and getting more sales in a business. You see, for you to have a business, you got to make money because you're not going to be able to help other people and go after your goals without making money. One of the biggest things that people deal with is this money block. I have an episode about this. If making money is one of those things that you struggle with that you're dealing with, please go back and listen to the episode that I talked about about why you need to make money. You have to get past this for you to start to have a successful Business. I'm going to recap it here real quick for you. Is this, is that if your perception is that making money is bad, you're not going to make it. That's just counterintuitive. You're not going to do something that you believe is bad. So you have to deal with that belief system. And that comes from observing oftentimes people that have made money in the past, seeing how they are and saying, I don't ever want to be like them or what you've seen that it takes to make money maybe from other people. And you've judged other people, so you're judging yourself. And it's this loop of never doing that. It's a lie. Here's the thing is, is that you can make a lot of money and be a great person. You can make a lot of money and help a bunch of people, but you got to make your goal of making money bigger than yourself. It has to be about how I can impact other people. And that's where the key is. Where's your heart positioning on that. Once you get through that, now we can start to talk about how we make money. And that's what this episode is about, is how to start to make money, how to bring in sales. You have to get good at sales for you to make money. It's just there's no way around this one, my friends. There's no way around it. You have to become an expert at reading people, communication, negotiation and talking and selling. And these all work hand in hand. There's not a single business on the planet that does not have sales as its focus. And if they don't, then it's a nonprofit. And even then nonprofits need to be good at sales. Oh, whoa, what? What are you talking about? So I work with a lot of my coaching clients and consulting clients are nonprofits. And we have to sell people on the vision of what people are partnering with for them to be successful. And so everything is sales and negotiation. There's a book that I read and I'm going to recommend it to you. It's going to be on my website, on my blog called Never Split the Difference. It's by an FBI negotiator. His name is, I don't want to mess up his name, Chris Voss, either Charles or Chris Voss. And he is absolutely incredible. Formal former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new field tested approach to high stakes negotiations. And what this is, is learning how to sell empathetically. That's what the whole book is about is everything is negotiation. In fact, I'm gonna give you a little hint into this. When everything that I do, my podcast, my videos, they're all me negotiating with you, being empathetic about what you're going through to help you see the light that is going to help you. And that's what sales is about, is you have something that's gonna help somebody else go to the next level, reach their goals, and so you actually have a moral obligation to close them on that deal. Now, sometimes there's people where they're not ready for what you're selling. I actually talk to people all the time like this. When I get on sales calls with people, they're not ready to buy coaching with me, and I recommend they listen to my podcast. But when I know that somebody needs to go to the next level and buy a product, maybe buy a course, or buy coaching with me, I have a moral obligation to make sure that they take that path and make that buying decision. In fact, I can't feel right myself without them doing that. And that's where you have to get to. You see, when I sell something to somebody, there's not a single moment where I'm like, oh, I feel bad that they bought from me and they gave me their money. It doesn't even go through my head. If it's not the right fit for them, I'm gonna tell them, hey, I don't think that this is the right fit. I just had a deal with somebody the other day. We had about three conversations. It was probably gonna be about five, six thousand dollars a month retainer deal. And it was for me to help them grow their business. And I was like, okay, this is awesome. I'm gonna help you do this. And about the third call, first off, they weren't fully honest with me about all the details, the first two calls. And so I started to pull some of that out of them and start to understand more their perspective. You see, a lot of times in negotiation, people aren't always laying all their cards on the table. And so what I'll do is I'll lay all my cards on the table and I'll say, hey, listen, I personally don't think that this is a good fit for us. And they were like, they immediately their guard came down and they were like, you're right, we don't either. I was like, but I think it might be a good fit 30 to 60 days from now when you get a few of these pieces in order. And they're like, wow, I really appreciate Your authenticity and honesty. And a lot of times when our mission and goal in sales is just, how can I get money? We're so focused on the get money side of it that we miss how the other person feels. For you to become a good, you have to learn to feel what the other person feels and put yourself simultaneously in their shoes, and you'll be able to know how to sell to them better. That's what I do whenever I do these podcasts, whenever I make content. As I put myself in your shoes now, before that feels weird, you're like, wait, wait, wait, what do you mean by that? I keep in mind about 30 to 40 different people that I've had conversations with. What are they feeling? What are they going through? And I have, a lot of times people are like, how did you know how to speak? To exactly what I needed? Because I've cultivated that in myself, that empathetic response that having empathy for the other person's situation. And that's how I know how to sell really well what people need, create products that deliver what they need and help other people. And I've made a career of doing this. You see, sales is about having a product that somebody needs, showing it to them, and then increasing their certainty and trust in you that you can help deliver on what you promise. At the same time, there's some bad teaching out there about manipulating people to close deals. And I refuse. I've actually had a moral line that I draw. Where I refuse to cross is into that place of manipulation, into that place of doing whatever it takes to get the deal closed. And this, I believe, is what separates me from a lot of other people out there that are teaching you sales is. I'm never going to teach you anything that crosses over that line of ethics, morals, or into manipulation. I refuse to, and I refuse to do that with any sales interactions that I have with other people. I care about how other people feel, what their choices are, what they're going through, because it matters. It really does matter. The objections matter. You have to feel why somebody is giving you the objection and decide based on what they've told you if it's valid or not, or if they're just trying to beat around the bush because they're scared, to tell you the truth. I had another deal that I talked to the other day. Somebody was like, you know what? I'm just not sure if this is a good fit for us. But everything else about what they told me for two hours while we talked the last few times said that it was a Good fit. And so I took that into account and I said, you know what? It sounds like maybe you're just not sure if this is going to work out. And they're like, yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. That's what I feel. And so what I like to do is this is I like to take a look at how somebody's feeling, not try to manipulate them away from their feeling, but actually feel what they're feeling to help bring them into alignment with what I know to be true. And that's what sales is, is you increase the level of trust and certainty in you, your product or your company or. And your company about what you can sell somebody. Now, this applies with manipulation. And somebody could take what I'm saying and put this into a framework of manipulation based on their. Their goals. I would really ask you to not do that. Personally, I don't feel right about that. But it does work that way. And sadly, this is where people get, oh, in their mind, mixed up when it comes to sales. Because the same thing that manipulates is the same thing that works. Which is why you have to take ownership in your life over your convictions. And you have to decide how far am I willing to go and choose that. You're not going to go into that place of manipulation. You have to choose that. I'm never going to be so desperate for a deal, to close a deal that I would do something that goes against my morals and ethics. At the same time, when you know that somebody needs to buy this product from you and it will be the answer to the things that they have been wanting to. All the things that they've been telling you their goals are, you have a moral obligation to close that deal. You have a moral obligation to say, hey, listen, it sounds like maybe you're not sure about this, but you told me that you want to go on the vacation, that you want to have more time, freedom, that you want to have more clarity in your business. Whatever it is in sales, you want to repeat back to the person what they told you their goals are. And so what I like to do in sales is I always have a notebook when I'm selling to somebody and I write down, if it's face to face, I'll mentally log it, but I'll write down what they told me their goals are. And so you have to make the sales process getting to know somebody more than just closing the deal. There's a lot of training out there about, you know, using family, occupation, recreation, message. And I'm really not a big Fan of. Of form is what that is. It's an acronym. Family occupation, recreation message. You ask them about their family, about their occupation, about what they like to do for fun, and then you give your sales pitch by building that rapport. I'm really not a big fan of that type of system. I prefer just really being real and having a conversation with somebody and enjoying the conversation. And wherever it goes, it goes. If family is what they love, that's great. Let's talk about their family. If. If their work is what they love, if their fun is what they love. And so what I like to do is I like to kind of. I like to kind of hone in on what motivates somebody, what drives them, and get to know that person. And this is the. This is the barrier that I see a lot of people are at when they're in selling. There's this. There's these two sides to the barrier here. And if you're watching on video, the one side is me, the other side is them. Selling is actually never about you, ever, except to help the other person have trust in you. That's it. And so your goal and your mission is to increase the level of trust and certainty that the person that you're selling has in you and what you are selling. You have to get it out of your head entirely that you need to close this deal. My friends, I've sold big packages and deals when I needed to pay the bills, but I did it with ethics and morals, and I'm still working with those clients to this day. I would say 18, 19 months later, when I had no income, 18, 19 months ago, nothing was coming in. I made some phone calls, and there were some people, and I told them, hey, listen, I'm on a hard time right here. I need to make some money. I actually was honest with them about that. Now, this doesn't always work in sales, but these were friends of mine that were business owners. I said, hey, listen, do you know anybody that needs help? I'll give you a kickback. And we negotiated a deal, a partnership, and I'm still working with those clients and with those people to this day. Because of the honesty and the integrity. You have to stop trying to look good to everybody. But you also have to do the thing that helps increase the level of trust that people have in you. And this is that fine line that you're toting right here between you and them, your goals and them, and building that level of trust and relationship. You have to be empathetic. You have to meet them where they're at. They don't need to feel what you feel. You need to feel what they feel and show them that they can trust you. And then you sell to them, and then they open up to you about what they're interested in, whether it's family, occupation, recreation. You know, you have to decide, is this a good fit for this person? When I'm selling, I'm looking for more no's because I don't want to waste my time with a no. So when I do lead generation, I use tools like Facebook ads and the algorithm to weed out people that are not my target market, to find the ones that I can help the most. For example, that's how I found you. That's how you and I are interacting together. Every conversation that I have, and you're gonna start to be more aware of this now that I've kind of given you and opened the lid off on this. Every single post that I make, every single podcast episode that I make, every single conversation that I have with people is based on this framework of finding the right people. First off, and I believe that if you're listening to this right now, you are the right person for what I sell, and then helping people see what's possible for them and then increasing the level of trust that people have in me to then say, listen, I can take you to the next level, and I know that I can for the people that this is not the right fit for what I teach. I don't even try to validate myself to those people. And this is where a lot of people miss it in sales. They're so focused on validating themselves to the other person that they don't do what it takes to close the deal. And you might be saying, hey, wait a sec, didn't you say I have to increase the level of trust the person has in me to close the deal? I did. I did say that validating yourself to somebody else is the opposite of increasing the level of trust they have in you. Whoa, that's like a mind melder right there. If you. If you think about that, and this is why I'm constantly pushing, you need to stop trying to get permission from other people. Validating yourself and other people. Other people trusting you in a sales deal is not them validating you at all. You need to have confidence in yourself and what you're offering and believe in what you're selling. And believe in yourself enough that you don't project your insecurity that you're trying to get validation and rather be the One that validates them. I'm going to say that again. Your goal in the sales conversation is to validate the other person. Anytime that your conversation is around, based around you trying to get validation yourself, you're going to have a hard time selling to somebody because they can read it, they can say they can sense this person doesn't believe in what they're talking about. I don't know if I should either. They're trying too hard. And this is the nonverbal communication that comes across in selling. Most of selling is nonverbal communication. It's what's between the lines. What matters more to closing deals is not what you say, but what you're not saying. And so you have to learn to grow in confidence in yourself. Get past the fear of closing deals and trust in yourself first. That's the first step before anyone else is ever going to trust in what you're selling. You have to believe in yourself first. And that's why all of my content, all of my podcast, all of that is based around growing and confidence in yourself and believing in what you're doing. Because for you to close a deal, to sell, to grow in your business, you have to believe in what you're selling first before you'll ever get anyone else to believe in it. And that, my friends, is the key to successful sales. Once you believe in it yourself, you're not seeking validation from other people. You see, seeking validation and getting them to trust you are diametrically opposed emotions. One of them is trying to make yourself feel good about what you're doing. The other one, caring about another person enough to say, hey, listen, I have the answer to the goals that you've been looking for. I have the balm that you've been looking for. I have your solution. And I know that it's going to work for you because it's worked with other people. And that's where you come in with testimonials, with stories, with negotiation, because you're on a mission to. To feel what the other person is feeling. It doesn't matter what you feel, my friends. You have to get past this, worried about how other people see you and believe in yourself. And this is where people miss it with sales. They're like, well, if I'm supposed to increase the level of trust they have in me, that I have to prove myself to other people. No, you don't. No, you don't. Not at all. You don't need anybody's permission to sell to them. You don't need any. Any. You don't need to prove yourself to anybody else to validate yourself. You have to believe in yourself. Believe in what you're offering people first so much that nobody can tell you otherwise. That's the first step, okay? And then once we get there, then we can sell. I honed so much on this, my friends, this whole believing in yourself thing, because you're never going to sell until you believe in yourself more than the person you're selling to. You will constantly struggle to sell at the level that you don't believe in yourself. You know, for the last year and a half, every area that I've struggled to sell, and when I'm coaching and consulting, I have to sell people on the solution that I'm giving them, while I'm giving it bought from me. But now I'm how I'm still selling them on what I'm saying as the solution, with confidence, with knowing that it's going to work for people. You see, you have to prove it to yourself before you can prove it to other people. But you don't need anybody's permission to go after your goals. I talked about that all the time on this podcast. Last week's episode was about that. The week before that was about that. I put that every day on my social media. You're gonna make mistakes. You have to be okay with failure. You have to be okay with looking stupid. You have to be okay with rejection. And learn from it. Learn, okay, why did this person reject me? What did I project? What came across? What was I putting off in this conversation? Before? You can sell to other people, and then what? Once you believe in yourself, once you believe in yourself now, you can sell to somebody because you care about that other person more than you care about how you feel inside. You care about that other person more than you care about them. Validating you. And you can say, hey, listen, either this is not a good fit or it is a good fit. And you can be authentic with people and you can be real with them and you can level with them, and you're not worried about how you look to other people. And you're not worried about getting money in your bank account, and you're not worried about closing the deal. You're worried about helping another person. Actually, you're not worried I'm gonna get rid of that word on this one. You're not worried about helping another person. You know that you can help the other person reach their goals. You're not worried about anything. And all it is is you talking to somebody else and helping Increase the level of trust that they have in you, your product, and your company. And saying, I can help you. Not I hope I can help you. I can help you. And whenever I'm selling to somebody, my coaching, I know that. I know that. I know that this stuff works. I know that everything that I talk about in this podcast is true. I know that it's going to help people. There's not a single moment of question in my mind about that. And that's the level of confidence that you need to get to believe in yourself first. And then you can help another person see that, because then you're not worried about how you feel. You care more about how the other person feels. You say, listen, it sounds like you're saying this, or I hear you. All people care about in a sales interaction is being heard and understood. And then you can negotiate them to see your side. That's what that book never split the difference is about. And I highly recommend it to you from Chris Voss. He talks about this. How you can't accept less than the best when working with other people when negotiating. Listen, if, If. If the best choice is not them going into debt. I've seen people, man, they. They try to sell people into going into debt for $15,000 programs so they can buy another yacht. And hurting other people in the process, that's not helping anybody. I do not believe in that at all. But I do believe in that. If you can offer a solution, a product or a service to somebody, then you have a moral obligation to close them on that deal. Now, how do we do that? We. We increase their level of certainty in what you're talking about. And it's looping and you loop around. And I got that from Jordan Belfort. He's a. He's a. He's the Wolf of Wall Street. And maybe you. You don't trust him or the e of what he did. Maybe you saw the movie or you didn't. His sales teaching is actually exceptional, whether it's manipulative or not. What he teaches is not manipulative. It's about looping people around to the level of certainty that they have in what you're talking about. And I've been doing that throughout this whole podcast episode with you is selling you on this fact that you have to grow in the confidence that you have in yourself and then you can help another person. Been doing it the whole time. I do it on every single podcast. I talk about episode number two of my podcast. I talked about that you have to increase the confidence that you have in what you do that you're not afraid of looking bad to other people, but you care about helping other people. And if you want to check out Jordan's teaching man, he's really good about it. I talk about it. I summarized it a little bit in episode number two. I'm sharing a kind of a condensed, kind of my own version of what he teaches in this episode. You have to increase the level of certainty that people have in you, your product, and your company to sell them, because you have a moral obligation to say, if I can offer something that's going to help somebody get to that next level, I have to. I don't have a choice not to. And until you give yourself that choice, if you say, I have a choice of losing, you're never going to win. You have to remove losing off the table and choose to win and say, listen, I know that when I'm selling to somebody is going to help them, whether they buy it from me today or next month or next week. I need to help this person get to that next level. You know, if what I'm selling to somebody is going to help them make more money in their business and pay off their debt and. And pay off their credit cards and put their kids through school and live a better life, then I have a moral obligation to help them do that. And, you know, some people are going to judge me for it. That's okay. Some people are going to say that I'm not being truthful with them, and that's okay. It's not my place to prove or validate myself to other people. I have a moral obligation to feel what other people feel to help them get to that next level, to increase their level of certainty in what I'm selling. And that's what you have to do is anything that you're selling, you say, listen, this is a solution for the problem that you said that you had. It's gonna help you. I know it is, because it's helped so and so. And tell stories, facts tell, but they're horrible at selling. Stories are what sell. And telling stories about how they can get to that next level is what works. You have to paint a picture in people's minds and impart vision to them of what's possible for them. You have to show people with the words that you say what's possible. And sometimes that comes from showing maybe a lifestyle or a testimonial or telling a story about how you did something. You have to be able to show people what's possible for them what their goals are, that comes from repeating back to them their goals. You know, you say some, maybe somebody says, hey listen, I want to get out of this dead end job. I want to, I want to put my kids through college. I want to go on a vacation maybe once in a year. You say, hey listen, I know you said you want to pay off that debt, you want to put the kids through college and you want to quit that job and go on vacation. This is going to help you get to that next level. I know it. And you repeat back to them their goals. You don't do this in a robotic, non caring way. You actually care about other people. You care about what you're saying to these people. You care about how they're feeling. And you make sure that you say it in a way that meets them where they're at and helps them get to that next level. You have a moral obligation to meet somebody where they're at to help them get to that next level. If you have a solution for what they, they say that they needed, then you have to learn to sell to people. You have to learn to get past the fear and worry about how you look to other people, about how they might perceive you, but what the false beliefs that they might have, whatever that is, it's not good enough. It's not good enough. And that's how you can close sales. And for you to scale your business to the next level, you have to learn to sell to the one person. You have to learn to meet people where they're at and test and sell. Sales, my friends, is the number one skill that you have to learn to grow in a business. And then once you sell to one person, maybe two people, maybe three people, now we can start to add in marketing and advertising and start to automate the sales process and start to get 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 people in the door. You know, for me, with my coaching, with my consulting, with my courses, before I could sell to a hundred people, to a thousand people, I sold to one person. I sold the five people. And so you have to, when you have a big goal, you have to learn, hey, I know I can sell to 5,000 people, but I got to sell to 500. If you never sold the 500, you got to sell to five, you gotta sell to one. And you have to learn what it takes to do that. You have to make a commitment to grow in the skill and the knowledge in sales. You have to make a commitment that you're going to do what it takes to get there. You're going, you're going to get past the fear of what other people think about you. You're going to get past the worry about people judging you. You're going to get past the shame and the guilt or the judgment that maybe you've had about other people, made money that has held you back. And you're going to do what it takes to close deals, to bring cash in. You see, the cash flow is about leverage, because then once you bring cash in, then you can invest it to reach more people. You can start to run advertising, you're going to start to hire staff, you can start to hire salespeople. If you don't like doing the sales before you can hire a salesperson, you got to sell yourself and you got to grow in those skills. And that's where you know there's. There's businesses like network marketing, like coaching, like making courses. These are, these are educational to you for selling. That's why I tell people you have to make videos on your social media. You have to get good at communicating on video. You have to learn to grow in the confidence to tell people what they need, to point them to the solution, to close them on the deal, to increase their level of certainty, to impart vision for the solution that you offer. And if you don't know how to do that, you have to humble yourself, to ask for help, to say, listen, I need help in this area. I struggle with this. I don't know how to get there. I don't know how to. I need a system, I need a mentor, I need a coach. I need to listen to more podcasts, I need to read more books, like, never split the difference. You know, reading some stuff and watching some videos from Jordan Belfort or Chris Voss or Grant Cardone or Tai Lopez or these different mentors that are out there, my friends, these are people that I've learned from, different people that I've learned selling from. And I've been in sales and marketing for 15, 17 years. Sometimes I'm so used to it that I, like, forget, what was it like being afraid of rejection, being afraid of what other people would think about me? Getting past that, the number one thing is to try to find more nos. Because when somebody's a maybe, you can increase their level of certainty, but you want to get rid of the people that are a no and sell to the ones that are a maybe and go where you're celebrated, not just where you're being tolerated. Stop wasting your time with the no's. Stop wasting their time. You don't need to prove or validate yourself to other people. Talk to people that are interested in what you're selling. Sell to people that care about what you offer. That's where marketing comes in. You start to find and you start to show people, hey, listen, we have a solution for what you've said that you want to do. I work with a number of colleges and educational institutes and academies. And so what we're looking for is constantly the people that want to learn, that have made a commitment to learning and to growth. That's why I constantly, I don't give away everything right up front in my, my teaching. You always have to get to the end of my podcast episodes because if I gave it away right up front, people would, would not have that level of commitment to do what it takes to get to that next level. I want to find the people that are committed to growing, committed to learning new things, committed to growing in their beliefs about themselves and about what it takes to get to the next level. I want to find the people that get to the end of my podcast episodes, the ones that are ready to take it to the next level, that leave growyourlife on my Instagram, the people that join me for a 30 minute discovery call that are willing to talk about what it takes, the people that are in my GrowYourLife community on Facebook. And if you're somebody that's listening to this episode right now, 36 minutes in, you're my type of person. You're somebody that I can help get to the next level. There's over 40 podcast episodes. If you haven't listened through those, scroll through them, read the titles, read the ones that resonate the most with you. Depending on where you're at, go through those, post questions in the Grow youw Life community. Post comments on my Facebook page, on my Instagram, ask questions, send me a dm. Or maybe you're ready to take this relationship to the next level and have me coach you and be your coach and help you become a better salesperson, a better marketer. Grow in your life and your business. I want to work with you and I can help you get to the next level because I've done it for thousands of people before. Listen. This episode's not a sales pitch, but at the same time, you know, I'm selling. I'm always selling. I'm always selling to people because I know that if you can grow in your ability to sell, you can get to the next level. If you have a website that presents yourself in a way that works you can grow in an online business if you get a coach and a mentor. You can accelerate your goals if you listen through my podcast. Go listen to episode number two of the podcast. I give a whole blueprint and framework on sales and selling with the words that you say, and I break down the system of imparting vision. It's an hour, hour and a half long, increasing the level of certainty that people have that I got from Jordan Belfort and I. I tweaked it a little bit from some of the sales training that I've gotten from some other people. Read audiobooks, listen to books, read them on Kindle, listen to more podcasts, my friends. Watch the videos that I do every single day on my Facebook, on my Instagram. Leave grow your life and take this to the next level. I want to get on the phone with you and work with you and talk with you how to reach your goals. I want to help coach you, but you have to say, I'm ready to take this to the next level. You're the one that has to make that next step. I can't help people that don't take that next step. Maybe there's a question that you have. Maybe you're like, I want to learn how to grow in this way. You know, I've listened to all your podcasts, Jeremiah, but I'm still stuck in this one area. Send me a dm, leave me a comment. Let me know what that is. Leave it in the hashtag grow your life group on Facebook. I believe in you, and I know that we can get you to that next level together if you're willing to go to that next level. Grow your life, everybody, and we'll talk soon.