Business Minded Bonus 7: Sell Without Being Salesy

I’m Jody Moore and this is a Business Minded Bonus episode 7: Sell Without Being Salesy.

This is Business Minded, a series of bonus podcast episodes designed to help you achieve your business goals, whether you’re a photographer, you participate in a network marketing business, a coach, or any other kind of entrepreneur. Join me where I will be sharing my best tips and practices to achieve what you want to in your business. Let’s go.

Who wants to sell more, anybody? Anybody whose business could benefit from selling more? Now, listen, you don’t have to be an entrepreneur actually to benefit from this conversation because every single one of us is in sales all day every day. If you’re a mother you try to sell your kids on behaving the way you want them to behave. Or you try to sell your spouse if you’re married on doing what you want to do, going to dinner where you want to go to dinner. We try to sell people on giving us what we want pretty much all day every day.

Sometimes we try to sell ourselves on behaving in the way that we want to behave. But I’m going to talk about this today of course with regards to a business situation. If you have a business, you’re selling something. And sales is one of the areas that I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with. A lot of people think they don’t like this part of being a business owner. And so, I wanted to speak to it here on the podcast. Now, I want to just preface by saying that I have a lot of experience in sales.

I actually had my first real sales job I would say in college as a telemarketer. I was one of those people that would answer the phone if you called in off of an infomercial, looking to buy a treadmill. And the place where I worked used to, because we were a bunch of college kids, their turnover was really high. So instead of transferring all the leads to your name they would just have you take on the name of the person who was there before.

So that if a customer had been talking to someone for a little while about maybe buying a treadmill, they didn’t know that it was a new person now that they were talking to. That I would simply go into the computer, read the notes so that I could get up to speed on what was going on with this customer and I would take on that other person’s name. So, my name was Terra on the phone and I sold treadmills. And I’ll just tell you that I had no idea what I was doing. But I learned a lot about sales in that job and I learned that I could do it actually pretty well.

And then I went on to sell shoes at Nordstrom and eventually worked in corporate in many different jobs, but ended up in a sales position, saw a lot of success there. And then went on to train salespeople at that corporate job for many years before I became a leadership coach. So, I’m telling you all this just to say that I’m bringing a broad array of experience. Of course, I also have sold a lot in my own business. But I’ve a lot of different kind of experience that I hope will benefit you here today, that’s by no means to say that I’m the best and that I don’t have a lot to learn. I absolutely do.

But I’ve done all different kinds of sales. And what I’m offering to you today here is a pattern that I’ve seen in all different types of sales settings that I think will help you no matter what type of business you have. And that is this thought that I hear over, and over, and over again when I train salespeople is not a useful thought. The thought is I just don’t want to be salesy. I’m just afraid that I’ll come across salesy. I am afraid that they’ll think that I’m pushy. I’m afraid the customer will think, fill in the blank, about me.

So, I get it, I used to have that same fear but I want to talk to you about what that does, and where that’s coming from, and how to shift it. Because as soon as we say, “I don’t want to be salesy. I don’t want the customer to think that I’m being pushy.” We’ve now made this about us. And on the other end of that same stick is I really need them to buy something. I really need this sale, or I really need to hit this number that I have in my business or in my job. And so how do I do that?

How do I achieve what I need to, achieve my goals, sell what I need to sell to make the revenue in my business and not have the client think that I’m being pushy or salesy? I’m emphasizing salesy because that’s the word that people always use, which by the way, salesy is not even a real word. It’s just a made up word. See how we’ve made it about us? We always get into trouble, pretty much always in life, but especially in business when we make it about us. It’s just not a good way to think about things because it’s scary if it’s about us.

We know all of our mess and we’re always going to question our own value and our own worth, we just will. If you’re mentally healthy, if you don’t have mental illness then you will question yourself at times, every human being does. So, making it about us is never going to work. We’re not trying to grow a business for us. I mean yeah, you’re going to benefit from it, there are going to be benefits in your life. But if you’re doing it for you you’re doing the wrong thing. There’s so many easier ways to make your life pleasurable, to get what you want.

Building a business is the hard way, don’t do that, don’t do if it’s for you. Now, again, are you going to get some fulfilment and joy out of it? I hope so. Are you going to grow out of it? Yeah, and that will be a huge benefit. Are you going to make money and have freedom and all the things that you want in your life? Yes, yes, and yes, but it’s still not about you. If that’s your motivator, if the money or whatever else is your motivator just change course right now. Just go get a job somewhere.

Just go figure out how to invest in the stock market or in real estate or something. It’s a much easier, fast – I don’t know if it’s easier. But I think in terms of the personal growth required, it’s an easier way to achieve those things. So, the reason that you’re starting a business or that you have a business in the first place is because you’re passionate about your product, or your offer, or your service. Or you feel called and excited about helping people in the way that you help people. That’s it. So, it’s really not about you.

If you have this thought, I don’t want to be salesy, I don’t want to be pushy, you’re making it about you. Do you see that? If you have the thought, I really need to hit this number, I really need to make this money, I really need this client to buy, you’re making it about you and what you need. And that’s why you’re not very effective at selling.

Sometimes when I hear people talk about this I point out that they’re discussing it. They’re like, “Well, I mean I feel bad. I just, I don’t want the person to think that I’m being pushy, they signed up for this free call, or this free course, or whatever and I just don’t want to now turn around and start selling them something.” I’m like, “Notice how you’ve just made it about you?”

As though the part where you sell something, the part where you make your offer is for you instead of what it really is, which is for them. It’s for them. It’s because we want them to know that this thing is available and that it could help them, or that they might want it before it sells out, or that it’s awesome, or that it will make their life better or easier, or that we believe in them that they could be successful with this thing. And that’s why we sell them on it, for them. People aren’t doing you a favor when they buy. And if you feel that way you’ve just got some work to do.

I remember feeling this way. One of the other jobs I’ve had was I sold Norwex. It’s a direct sales situation. So, it’s like a business in a box. So, when I sold Norwex I felt like I needed people to do me a favor. I would ask my friends and family, “Could we have a party? Could you invite your friends over?” And I felt that like I don’t want to ask them because I knew my friends and family, the ones I was asking anyway, didn’t really want to have a Norwex party. They were just doing it to help me out. That is not a fun feeling. That’s not how I want you building your business.

Not that you can’t approach friends and family but I don’t want you doing it from the energy, and the thought, oh, maybe they’ll do me this favor and have this party for me because I need it. That’s not what I’m talking about. You have to redirect your brain. Why would they possibly want to have a party? What’s in it for them? That’s what you need to be thinking about. Listen, sister, here’s what you get if you have a party. Here’s why you are going to want to be the one to host. Here’s why I’m giving you first dibs.

The truth is, and you have to believe this in your mind, if you don’t believe this, don’t just make it up. But if you understand listen, hosting a party is awesome because of all the benefits you get, because of all the free product you get because of whatever other benefits there are. And I’m going to let you have first dibs at it. If you don’t want it, that’s okay, I’ll take it to someone else but it’s pretty awesome, let me tell you why. You see the shift there?

Now, again, if you don’t believe that in your mind you’ve got to ask yourself why not and you need to do some work until you do believe it. I don’t want you making stuff up and lying. But that’s the honest truth. I don’t know what it’s like today but back when I sold Norwex, those programs set it up so that the host gets pretty well hooked up. So, you want to emphasize that. You want to make it about them. Now, we can only do that when we’re coming from an abundant place.

Notice I had to shift my mind away from, “Would you be willing to do me this favor, sister, because I don’t really know who else to ask?” Into, “There’s so many people I could ask, so many people that would benefit from this. Anyone would be foolish to pass it up because it’s such a great opportunity. Would you like it? I’m giving you first dibs. If you don’t, that’s okay, there’s plenty of other people I know who would.” See the shift from scarcity to abundance? When you get to abundance you make it about them.

I don’t need my sister to host a party as much as I want my sister to benefit from all the things that I know she’ll get by hosting that party. That’s when I am effective at selling. But I want that to be honestly true for you. You’re not trying to trick people when you sell something. Please don’t do that. You’re not trying to get them to do you a favor. You’re just trying to help them benefit their lives in the way that you know you could benefit their lives with this product or service. So, if you don’t believe that, don’t sell the thing.

And there might be products or services, or things that you sell in your business that you know are awesome for the majority of your target client. But every now and then there will still be one that you feel like this isn’t for them, I don’t think they should spend their money on this. Or I don’t think they should sell it. But I think it might be a hardship for them, or I don’t think they can afford it. Do not think that you need to sell to those people. Please don’t do that.

I am never afraid to say to potential clients, “You know what? It doesn’t sound like this is the right time for you. I don’t know that this is the best use of your money. I’d be happy to tell you about it if you want to. But I don’t know. It sounds like you may not be in a position to do this right now and that’s okay.” Don’t make assumptions. Don’t pull a pretty woman like you can’t afford anything here. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying, I’m not going to sell somebody something if I don’t think it’s right for them because it’s not about me.

There are plenty of people out there who I know will benefit and can afford it, and it is right for them. So, I don’t need to try to talk the person into it who’s not. Those people are few and far between anyway. And because I’m not afraid to honestly tell people, “I don’t know that this is really what you need. I wouldn’t recommend necessarily that you invest your money in this way.” I’m also not afraid to tell everybody else, “Listen, you’ve got to take advantage of this offer, I promise you this will change your life in the way that this thing…” That might be an exaggeration for some products.

“But I promise you, you will love this. I promise you, you will not regret this. I promise you this will be worth more than what you pay.” So, if we make it about them then we can have a real honest firm conversation. In the Business Minded program, we have a whole module on sales, several different videos where I’m going to walk you through a lot more about this sales mindset. I’m going to give you the step by step process of exactly what to say or how to take what I used to say and put it into your own words and fit your own personality in various situations.

I’m going to teach you how to sell if you sell things one-on-one, if you sell in groups, if you sell on a website or something. I’m going to teach you all that because you do need to learn that. That’s something you’ll need to learn. But the most important part of it all is where is your head? Is your head in the right space? Are you making it about you or are you making it about your client? The easiest way to redirect your head is just with simply the thought, oh, this isn’t about me. And there are plenty of people who need or want what I offer.

And if this person doesn’t want it, that’s okay. But it’s my responsibility to explain to this person and help them see how it would help them if I think that’s true. And if I don’t do that, I’m not doing right by my potential customer or client. I truly believe that you guys.

So, here’s the analogy that I used to use all the time when I worked for the Life Coach School training life coaches on their business, which I still do a little bit of. But I used to do a lot more and we came up with this analogy that we started teaching coaches about their business which is, listen, you have to get yourself to a place where you believe that your product is like a $100 bill. Or whatever, I’m just using $100 as example. We have different products at different price points, different programs that are worth different amounts.

But make sure that you create an offer that’s so good that it’s basically like selling a $100 bill for $50. So, I want you to imagine, if you’re talking to me on the phone and I’m a potential client or customer and I don’t really understand what you do or I’m not sure yet if it’s going to be valuable for me. I’m not sure if I want to buy it. And you know that it’s a $100 bill and it costs $50. And I don’t really understand $100 bills. Then you’re going to take the time to explain to me, “This is a $100 bill.” And I’m going to say, “Yeah, but will I be able, I don’t know, I need to buy groceries.”

And you’re going to say, “No, listen, I don’t think you understand. It only costs $50 and then you’re going to have a $100 to be able to spend on whatever you want.” And they’ll say, “But I don’t know, $50 is a lot of money. I don’t know if I have $50.” What would you say to me? “Okay, yeah, I understand it is a lot of money but I understand you might have to figure out how to come up with it.

But I really want to encourage you to do so because let me try and explain again that this is a $100 bill. It’s worth double the amount you’re going to spend on it. It will improve. It’s not taking away from your money, it’s actually going to give you even more money.” Now, of course it’s not literally money. But we’re saying, “We’re not taking away value from your life, we’re going to add value.” And those aren’t the words that you’ll use. You’ll have to use the words that describe what you offer.

But if you believed that you were offering $100 bills for $50 would you say, “Well, I don’t know, I just don’t want to sound salesy or pushy. I’m just afraid if I really explain it to people they’ll think I’m being pushy.” No, you’d be like, “Listen, my friend, I apologize if I’m not doing a good job of explaining this to you but let me just try one more time.”

And when they say, “Well, I’m going to have to ask my husband. I don’t know if he’ll let me spend $50 on this.” You’d say, “Okay, yeah, totally, ask your husband, I think you should. But also make sure you explain to him that what you’re going to get for your $50 is a $100 bill. And if he has any questions and he doesn’t understand $100 bills, he’s welcome to reach out to me and I’d be happy to try and explain it to him too.”

Now, the other thing you have to do is not be afraid of getting a no. Don’t be afraid of a no, it’s okay to get a no. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some people are just – they’re going to be like, “You know what? It sounds great. I think $100 bills, I believe you, it sounds awesome but I just don’t know if I can spend $50 right now.” Now, what would you think at the end of the call if that were the situation? You’d think, alright, well, too bad for them, they’re missing out, but that’s alright, I’ll go on and find the next person.

I know there’s so many people who want this $100 for $50. That’s it. That’s how you have to think about whatever it is that you offer you guys, because so many people just still won’t see it, or they won’t understand, or they won’t trust themselves enough. Or for whatever reason, they just won’t move forward. That’s okay. We’re not here trying to convince people. We’re just trying to make sure we’ve done our due diligence to better inform them as to what they get for their $50 or for their, whatever it is that your program costs, or your product costs. Are you with me?

The last few tips I want to give you and then like I said, I have so much more to teach you about sales. But just a couple more things I’ll leave you with here on the podcast which is be confident about what you offer. Be confident about your pricing. Be confident about how it works. Have a process. If it’s a product, have a process for how they purchase it, and when they’re going to get it, and what that looks like. And you explain that to your customers.

If it’s a service or some kind of offer like that then again, have a process and explain. This is what it costs, this is how it works, this is what you’re going to get. And you want to make your customer or client feel like you’re taking care of them. So many entrepreneurs, especially when their businesses are smaller, they’re sort of apologetic about their offer. They say things like, “Well, I mean I don’t know, I’m not sure. Normally I charge this amount but maybe we could talk about it. Or I don’t even know what it.”

So many people don’t even know their pricing, I can’t even tell you. As an entrepreneur, as a business owner myself, I contact a lot of different vendors for a lot of services. And so many of them are just like, “I don’t really know what I would charge for that.” And they don’t even really have an offer. They have a service or a product they provide but they don’t have a formal offer. I want them to say to me, “This is what I offer. This is how I take care of you. This is what it costs and this is what you get.”

Do you know why? I don’t know their industry as well as they do. You need to take them by the hand and take care of them. You know who’s really good at doing this? Doctors, they never say, “Well, I mean how long do you want to wear that cast? What is your goal?” They don’t say that. They just say, “Okay listen, we’re going to fix that broken arm. Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to put a cast on your arm and you’re going to wear that cast for six weeks.

And at the end of six weeks, we’re going to reassess whether or not the bone has healed. And if so we’ll take it off. And if not, we might even have to wear it longer. And the cost is going to be this much”, whatever it is. That’s it. There’s no like, “Well, do you want to wear it for four weeks? I mean maybe we could.” Maybe it would cost less if we only wear it for four weeks. No. I want the doctor to tell me what we’re going to do here and how long. And they don’t ever ask me or say, “Maybe I could give you a deal or a discount.”

You see what I’m saying? He’s not apologetic like, “I’m really sorry, you’re going to have to wear it this long.” No, he’s just like, “This is what we’ve got to do and this is what it costs. Are you in? I highly recommend we go through this because here’s why. Here’s what it will do for your broken bone. And here’s what might happen if we don’t go through this.” He’s not afraid to sell us on the treatment that he recommends, he or she I should say.

Okay, so don’t be apologetic. I’m going to give one other really great example of this. In just a couple days in Utah I’m going to be with some of my clients in Be Bold who have been in my program for six months or longer. They achieved VIP status and they get to come to our VIP event. And this year it’s going to be off the hook, we’re doing it at the Salt Palace. We have Brooke White and her band coming to play and a bunch of other surprises. And I’m so excited.

And we have a lot of people coming. And so, we decided this year for the first time to hire an event planner. We have an event person, Jennifer who we love, who manages our events. But we decided we need an event management company that does the whole production and the stage and all of that. And so, we’ve just loved working with Mike Underwood of Underwood Events, Underwood, excuse me, Events.

And the reason why is because he’s done exactly what I’m describing here which is, when we reached out to him saying, “We want to put on a live event that’s going to be a lot bigger than anything we’ve ever done before. And we know we need help but we don’t even know what we need and we have no idea what it’s going to cost. We know it’s going to cost a lot more than we’ve ever spent. This is kind of our budget of what we’re hoping to spend. But we would love if you could guide us.”

We had a very substantial budget and we are spending more than double that. And I’m so happy to do it. You know why? Mike took us by the hand, he said, “I’ve got you. I will take care of you. Here’s how this is going to work. We’re going to talk about your vision and what you’re trying to accomplish. And I’m going to put together a proposal of what we could do that’s going to be over the top amazing. And I’ll tell you what that would cost.

And then you go through and you say, “This doesn’t matter to me, this doesn’t matter to me.” Let’s scale back here until we get it down to what you are willing to spend. But I’m going to show you what we could do.” I love that so much. So many people – he started from the most abundant place. This is what’s possible. This is, if we spend top dollar and we go best of the best this is what we could create for you.

So many people start at the opposite end, they start at the scarcity end like, “Well, let’s, you know, maybe if we do this I could get you a deal and I could cut here and there. And we could just simply cut out this and we don’t have to do that.” Now, I get it, we all have budgets. I’m not saying that we should spend unlimited amounts of money. I’m saying, when you go to offer something to your clients, do it from abundance.

And you can let them know, “Now, listen, I’m going to tell you first the highest price to offer. And I’m going to tell you why it’s the best deal and why it would be awesome. And you may not want that, that’s okay. I have other options too if that’s the case.” So, approach selling from abundance, abundance for yourself first of all, that there are plenty of clients and customers because there are you guys. There are so many people out there who want what you offer.

If that’s not true, we need to change your offer, or change your positioning, or change your target client. There should be tons of people out there who want what you offer. It might take us some time to find them, that’s called marketing, which I’ll be teaching you in Business Minded. But don’t be afraid to tell the person you’re talking to when you’re in a sales situation why they don’t want to miss this because if you don’t you are not serving your client or customer to the fullest.

Alright, there you go. Sell without being salesy. It’s really easy, just don’t make it about you. Alright, we’re getting down to the wire. Next week I am going to give you some dates to write down about info calls that will be coming up where I’m going to give all the details. We’ve gotten so many questions from people. “How’s it going to work? What it’s going to cost? How do I get in?” And I’ll be giving you the dates of when all that will be available so stay tuned, I will see you then. Have a beautiful rest of your week. Bye bye.

Thanks for joining me today. Don’t forget to sign up at jodymoore.com/business so you don’t miss out on any of the exciting things I have coming to help you achieve your business goals.