Transcript Ep #202: 5 Strategies to Supercharge Your Selling Skills

1:45  

Well, hey, friend, welcome back to another episode. We are at show number 202. I cannot believe it’s just still blows my mind that we have over 200 episodes here on the podcast. And again, I know I say this all the time. But I’m just I’m so grateful for you. I’m so freaking grateful for you. And also, this is gonna sound very cheesy to start our day together but I’m also really excited for you and your next chapter. I’m excited for me and my next chapter. 

As you probably know, last week, I dropped the bomb that I have been, not really been secret about it but I have kind of kept under wraps that I am pregnant with baby number three last week and I got a couple of messages from y’all that I teased that there was a really good story behind it. I promise I will share that here soon. But I really wanted to make sure that we had a series of podcast episodes that were tangible that were helpful and are going to help you get better results in your business because we’re halfway through the year, at this point more than halfway through the year. 

2:42  

And I don’t know about you, but I definitely take my foot off the gas pedal very intentionally in the month of July and August. For me, I have kids at home. We’re also in the middle of a move so I am really going super light this summer. And I know that’s really true for a lot of online business owners that I work many of them are parents or just looking for a pace change and summertime is typically when the weather is beautiful and we want to go out and and enjoy. The life that we’re building a big reason of why we build these businesses is to give us that flexibility to to live, you know outside of the laptop, outside of our phones.

So if you’re in that season, cheers, me too. If you want to follow along to my adventures in our new town, Bend, Oregon which we’ll be moving in a couple of weeks, be sure that we’re connected on Instagram. I’d also love to hear what you’re up to this summer you have anything fun and exciting planned. I don’t know I’m that geek that likes to hear other people’s plans. I’m a normal person in terms of I don’t necessarily love to sit down and go through somebody’s vacation photos with them. I don’t think anybody actually likes that but I do love hearing the stories. 

2:43  

I love this, okay, this is something about me. I love talking about the future because we’re all excited about the future. The future is our place where we get to dream, where we get to creative, we get to be creative, we get to think about like anything is possible. So whether that’s your plans for the summer, your plans for your business, your plans for your health, your plans with your goals, I just think the more we talk about the future, the more we start acting, I think more in integrity with that future. This is something. Okay. 

I’m gonna go off and I’m going to tangent here I know. We’re gonna get to sales. That is what the focus of this episode is, but I just feel very inspired to have this little chit chat with you. You know, during the pandemic, things were very hard for, I mean, pretty much everyone. But what was interesting is in our house specifically, my husband and I were talking, kind of post pandemic, around man that was like, that was like heavy, that was like heavy survival. 

I mean, when there were a lot of beautiful things cuz that came out for us for the pandemic but there was one thing that we started noticing we were bickering, like tension was high. Kids were around all the time. Again, very normal that was experienced for most people. But when James and I, my husband James, when we were chatting about, like getting back into, like, quote-unquote, normal groove again, one thing stood out very, very clearly that we had not noticed. 

4:39  

You see, pre pandemic, James and I would go on walks all the time. When we would go on vacation, we would like put the kids on bikes or in strollers and when we walk, we talk, and James and I are both future oriented people. So in our entire relationship, we’ve always dreamed about the future, dreamed about the possibility. 

That’s how we ended up, fun side note, to my side, side side note, when we were headed in our 20s, we got old draggy, drag at Christmas time and chugging wine. We booked tickets flights for, to Europe, to go to Italy, that spring for like three weeks because we had talked about it on our first date, but we had never had it like we didn’t, it had been years and years and years, and we had made it happen so it just took a little liquid courage for that to happen. 

6:17  

Anyways, we always talk about our goals, our dreams, that future orientation and that’s always been a connection point for us. It always gives us something to lean into and it opens up the door for us to have constructive conversations around who we need to be to make that happen and what we need to be in each other, that future orientation really makes it easy to give another person feedback because it’s for a purpose. It’s not just nagging. 

So in the pandemic, we were not leaning into that future piece. We were just in bunker down survival mode and it impacted how we showed up. It impacted our enthusiasm, it impacted our happiness, it impacted our satisfaction. We started complaining more, we started nitpicking more, all these things kind of bogged down. 

7:03  

So when we realized that and said, we really need to start dreaming about the future. That is a big reason why we are now moving across the state to Bend is because those conversations came back into play in 2021. We’ve been dreaming about this move for two years. But I bring this up to date because I want you to be dreaming about your future. And I think there’s this normal kind of tone online sometimes when we start dreaming about our futures, it’s instantly met by disappointment that we’re not there yet. 

But my friend, the whole point about the future is it’s not here yet. Dreaming and planning and like getting excited about what’s possible in the future, that is that pull for you to stand up one more time and keep going. It’s the ability for you to say, you know what, I’ve been in a rut lately and I don’t want to be in a rut anymore. I want to do something differently with my health or with my habits, or with my relationships or with my offers in my business, with where I’m spending my time how I feel about things, when I open up my laptop. 

8:12  

When you start dreaming about what you want the future, it gives you permission to do a reset. You do not need a new year, a new month, a new quarter for you to like, come up with a new goal list. You just need to make the decision that today is the day that I choose differently. So whoever needed to hear that today, clearly that needed to come out of me. 

I want you to hear this loud and clear that if you’re in a rut right now or you’re right on the cusp of starting something new, one, maybe you’re one of the people that have been following along with me these last few weeks and you’re jumping into one of my favorite programs under the sun, Business by Design. I’ve been yammering on for weeks. 

If you’re listening to the show at the time it goes live on Thursday 12, 13, 14, 15, the 15th of June. It is the last day to register for Business by Design and swooped up my friggin phenomenal bonus package this year. But if you miss that window, it’s cool too. Don’t worry, like there’s still there’s to be great opportunity for you and if you listen to this later in the year, just keep an eye out. I’ll be talking about it again next year when it comes out. 

9:17  

But the point I want to make here is start thinking about your future more. Your future is the place for possibility and so much power lives and I think the more we really think about that, the more we’re likely to change your behaviors in the present, and it’s with those changes in your behaviors that you start making that future a reality. 

So whatever that looks like for you, if you’re in a health slump, if you’re an energetic slump, if you’re in a business slump, if you’re in a relationship slump, you’re any kind of slump right now or you’re feeling sluggish, or you’re feeling like a little bit of Groundhog’s Day where it’s like what the hell am I doing? It’s the same thing over and over again. If you’ve lost that gusto or that pizzazz and that enthusiasm for when you get up and you’re building something, even heading into a potentially slow-ish season in summer, if that’s you, you should still feel excited and enthusiastic and we don’t need to be on autopilot. 

So let this be your kick in the ass a bit to reconnect with whatever that zest is for you, and let’s have a damn good summer, my friend. I know we have a, we have a really good lineup of podcast episodes for you this summer. It’s going to be a mix of solo episodes for me, along with I have some guests lined up that I’m very, very excited for you to hear from so it’s gonna be good fun. 

10:44  

So let’s dive into the official topic of today’s episode. I want to talk about sales, specifically the skill of selling. I, for sure see this as the biggest, big fat, biggest opportunity for pretty much every business owner that I speak with, work with, consult with, talk to, already said that in a different way but you get what I see here. 

This is an opportunity for pretty much everyone, even me, and I’ll tell you this with confidence. I know, especially the last couple months and last year, too. I talk a lot about my quote-unquote success in business which I laugh at that because I mean, success is just such a funny word, right? It’s in our own definition. But on on paper, my quote-unquote rise up in the online space was like a rocket ship. 

In fact, I called it a rocket ship in one of my emails here recently around 2019 for me was a huge year. And I don’t mean like a huge year, I’m not out here making millions of dollars online. I don’t have a million dollar business. I’ll be fully transparent about that. I have a multiple six figure business and I’m very happy with that. I work part time. It’s a great pace for me and I’m still building. 

But the point I want to make is I very quickly solidified my offers online and started making money. I’ve paid myself a very good salary from day one. I replaced my executive job salary very quickly and have since grown it. But the thing that I don’t say often enough that I will, moving forward, is that I had a I would say a very unfair advantage coming to the online space and I think a lot of people don’t really talk about the skills they bring to this online business party enough. I think we’re kind of sold this whole idea of just, just do this thing and you too will be quote-unquote successful which is bullshit, right? 

12:50  

Business building is based off of skill building and the reality is the skills you bring to the table. I don’t know what those are. I don’t know where they are. We don’t really know the skills that people have when we see these big, huge testimonials online. 

But what I can tell you is when you pinpoint what skills to work on, which if you listen to the show, often you know I talk about skill building all the time. It’s so unsexy, but oh my gosh, it is so sexy when you start working on it and you see the results from putting in the effort to build the skills, whether those are your speaking skills, your selling skills, those types of things, right, but those who really find success online, they have the fundamental skill of selling. 

And as I said, kind of starting off this conversation. This is the weakest skill for most of the business owners, well all. I will say hands down with confidence. All the business owners that I see struggling online or that I work with in my private consulting or my programs, they’re not making money. It’s because they are weak at selling. And I don’t say that to like be like, oh, girl, are you bad at selling. It’s not you. It’s not a you thing. It’s not personal. It’s the skill. This skill is weak, just like a muscle. 

14:05  

My friend, if you, I use my example. Okay. This is mildly embarrassing. I have a very weak butt. I just said it but I have a weak butt. The muscle of my butt is weak. I have very long legs, a very short torso. This I’m laughing a bit because this is a constant hilarious conversation between my husband and I because oh my gosh, James, if you’re listening, I’m so sorry. 

But my husband was a baseball player his entire life and he has the epitome of a baseball player bubble butt and it is hard as a mother freaking rock, but it’s because he does squats. He does, I don’t know the other things like lunges, all these, he’s got a very, they’re like, he’s got muscular legs but his butt is hard as a mother freaking rock. It’s a muscle and he has worked it and he worked for a very long time at it. He’s like, my husband is really big in health and fitness. He loves lifting weights. He also loves talking about those things. 

15:04  

Anyways, comparison to me, I have never had strong legs. I have never had like a strong butt. I would say I’m have a nice butt. It’s not strong, right? It’s a squish. It’s a squish, squish thing. And does that mean that I’m like a terrible person? No, it’s just my butt muscles, like I haven’t figured it out like, even when I squat, we laugh because my husband is like, you just do this. And I’m like, I see what you’re doing. 

I understand the words. I even see the move but when I do it, that is not what happens. And you might be laughing hysterically as you’re listening to this because oh my gosh, yes, I am having like a full on conversation with you about mine and my husband’s butt which is probably a little weird, but also very on brand for me. 

Let’s just be honest. I want you to imagine right now, where my husband is standing in our dining room, he’s doing squats. I’m showing him, look, I see what you’re doing. I’m trying to do it too, but it’s just not working. I come off like around this to say. I’m working on my butt muscles, which are very important with your core, especially caring another child. 

I’m like close to 40. I’m gonna pop out this baby and turn 40. So it’s a different ballgame, carrying a child at what they call a, what do they say, the old old maternal, what is it called? It’s the word, geriatric. I have a geriatric pregnancy. Oh my gosh. 

Anyways, I say all this to you is because when I say that most likely, my friend, you’re weak at selling. It’s like my butt. I just said it’s like my butt. It’s just the muscle is under developed. It’s not saying that you’re bad at business. It’s not saying that you’re bad at whatever it is. It’s not a personal attack, just like me stating the fact that my muscles are weak. It just is what it is. I have to strengthen the muscle. There are very specific exercises I have to do. There’s also a very specific, like a mind to muscle connection that I have to reconnect because I also have issues with my pelvic floor and my abdominals after being pregnant multiple times and birthing babies. 

17:25  

I circle this back around to you is because if you get a little like offended, if you get a little like prickly at the idea, if I say that there is a high probability that you suck at sales, I just want to tell you that it isn’t you. It is the skill of selling and quite simply it is that maybe you haven’t learned how to sell, maybe you haven’t learned tools or strategies that feel right to you. 

So here’s what I find most business owners that are uncomfortable with selling or we’ll just say it directly, kind of suck at it. It’s not their fault. They just haven’t learned. and most likely, it’s that who they learned from. They didn’t really resonate with that selling style but what I hear all the time from people, it’s like, well, this is what I have to do to sell and they cringe when making like saying things or using phrasing or lines or cringe sales scripts that just don’t sound like them but they feel like that’s what they have to do. 

18:33  

I don’t know if you resonate with any of that, but it’s just selling doesn’t have to be cringy. But it does, it is going to be uncomfortable if you haven’t done it before. So let me give you a metaphor here. I was listening to, if you if you know me, I read a lot and I’ve actually taken a break the last couple months as I’ve been making a lot of changes in my life and in my business. I just needed a mental, I need some mental peace without a lot of inputs for me to really figure out what my next chapter is and insert, hello, the next chapter is a new baby which is why I needed a lot of space, apparently. 

But here’s the thing I, so I’ve been reading and one of the books that I am listening to right now on Audible and I friggin love it. I’ve had this book for a very long time and it’s been in the queue but I haven’t listened to it yet. And it’s it’s Ed Mylett, love Ed Mylett. He’s like a bro’s bro, but he’s also like a teddy bear. He’s really great. His podcast is really incredible too. But his book is called The Power of One More. 

I had the opportunity to listen to Ed Mylett’s keynote talk months back and it was extremely powerful and I knew right away I’m like, Ooh, I gotta get the book because it was it was just chilling.  The Power of One More, there’s so many good things with it. I’ll let you, if you’re so inspired, grab the book. It’s really really worth it. He talks about so many things. I just think they are super practical and really helpful, but there was a metaphor he used in the book that I’m gonna recap here and expand upon. 

20:10  

He talks about the the pinata analogy and I want you to imagine this. Think about like a kid’s birthday party. That’s what he talks about in the book is with a kid’s birthday party. If there’s a penny out of there, right? You have the little kid steps up to bat and takes a whack at the pinata and nothing typically happens, right? So then you go through the whole line of all the kids walking in the pinata, and bit by bit, blow by blow, you can start seeing those invitations until you maybe go through the line one or two times they bring back out the birthday boy, the birthday girl and they take a big whack, and finally, that pinata cracks. And then what happens, all the kids go flooding in to reap the rewards of the pinata, find out, is that the crap candy or the good candy? Who knows? I don’t think they care. Either way, it’s just the joy of being able to like swoop in and get that candy. 

21:00  

Well, what’s funny is, there was pinata a couple years ago when my oldest was playing baseball. His first year playing like actual baseball, not tee ball. And James, my husband, was coaching. And one of the moms the very, very last game they decide to throw a party at the park, and one of the moms got a pinata and they hung it up in a tree and all the kids are like it’s whack, whack, whack and this pinata is not fricking budging. 

I mean, it’s shaped like a baseball. It was super cute, very on brand like baseball pinata and whack, whack, whack, and the point happens where the kids are first excited and then it starts getting frustrating because they just can’t make progress. And you just see collectively this group of six year olds, they’re just trying to make progress and it’s not working, and finally the mom kind of got her bush. She’s like, oh my gosh, I think I like maybe duct taped it too much. And we’re like what, evidently, it was a home pinata making kit and she didn’t want it to fall apart like so quickly. She wanted him to work for it so she had wrapped the thing in duct tape before the paper mache layer. 

So this thing was like MacGyver sealed, there was like no getting into it and so after a while these kids just try and try and try and try. They finally all looked at coach aka my husband. Yeah, you know, the bubble butt guy. He, they give him the bat and he walks over and he’s like, whack, whack, and it’s still not going and finally he gets a good whack on it and then they just have to like, take their hand and split open the pinata and make it rain on all the kids and then finally that moment came where they get all the candy. 

22:43  

Okay, what is this metaphor? Why am I yammering on about pinatas and also my husband’s ass, apparently. I want you to think about this so much in our lives and specifically for you, I want you to think about your business. We think about what’s possible when the pinata breaks. This is the dreaming we talk about so much. 

I was yammering on about, just dreaming about what’s possible. We know what we’re building our business, the possibility is there. If only we could crack the mother fricking pinata, then the financial success, the abundance comes out, the authority, the clout, the significance, the time freedom, that label of oh, I made it, whether that’s intrinsic or it’s external. 

This idea that we know, we have a pinata in front of us if we could just motherfreakin crack it. And that struggle for so many of us in business is that we’re whacking up the pinata but nothing is happening or there’s like we see a little bit of a crack but we’re not getting the progress. We’re not like, it’s not raining on us with that success. 

23:55  

And in the book, Ed talks about how the power of one more is standing up the pinata and taking one more whack, having the confidence of saying it’s gonna break. Ultimately, if you whack that damn pinata enough times, inevitably, it has to crack unless it’s friggin wrapped in duct tape but let’s just ignore that reality. 

Sometimes our goals are wrapped up in duct tape, so we got to get creative a bit. But when it comes to our businesses, I want you to think about two things. What’s the pinata for you? And secondly, what’s the bat or the instrument you’re using to whack it? Wow, that was the phrase I just said we’re going to go with it. 

24:43  

So let’s talk about what the pinata is. Chances are, you’re pretty clear around the type of business you’re building. You’re pretty clear around what you want your business to create for you in your life. And if you’re not clear on that, that’s an area that you should always be seeking clarity on. What am I going for here? What does success look like for me at home? at work? with my clients? What do I really, what am I building? What is that measure of success? What am I whacking towards? 

And the thing is, you have to keep showing up. Again, you gotta keep showing up and that’s what we talk about so often in business is business is about continuing to show up for your audience. Okay? Showing up. How often are you showing up for your audience? When are you showing up? Where are you showing up? Are you showing up in their inboxes? Are you showing up in ads? Are you showing up on social media? Are you showing up on LinkedIn? Are you physically showing up at events? 

I’m not saying any of those are right or wrong? I’m just asking the question, how often are you showing up in front of your audience? And if you’re having a sales problem, ie., you’re not making the revenue that you desire, the first question we have to ask, are we stepping up to bat at the pinata? If we are only showing up randomly and sporadically and half acidly in our business, how can you expect for the pinata to break. People will not go on a search party adventure to find you. You have to continue to show up but that is part number one. 

26:19  

The second part of when you are showing up is how often are you talking clearly about your offers? I think this is a big mistake a lot of people make in this online business space is there’s a confusion thinking that online business meaning, means that we have to be like super active on social media. We see people all the time, specifically, Instagram or Tiktok, or social media coaches telling you like show up. 

It’s quantities game. Just show up, show up, show up, show up show up and it’s not really whether or not it’s quality show up. It’s just show up and they tell you that quantity is the game? Well, the question is, if you’re showing up all the time, is your show up goal is the pinata to have a shit ton of followers on social media. All right, then show up, show up, show up, show up and just keep cranking stuff out. 

But I have no desire, I’d like my goal, my metric is never oh my gosh, I want a shit ton of followers online. I mean, if that that’s a outcome that may one day happen. For me, if I continue at the pace that I’m going but that’s not my goal. My goal is impact with my clients. My goal is revenue. My goal is time with my family, time for my health, time with my new baby, time with my boys when they get home from school, time for adventure, time with my husband and his cute adorable butt. I’m in measure of that. 

27:42  

So here’s the thought is if you are feeling overwhelmed with oh my gosh, what do I post on social? Oh my gosh, I have to keep cranking out content. Do you? I don’t know the answer to that but are you getting the results from it that you want, ie., the sales? Because if we’re showing up, showing up, showing up, we got to think of what we’re showing up for. I think that when you show up, what a problem, if a problem is a lack of sales, I would say that if you are showing up a lot and you’re not getting sales, the first problem we have to look at is what are you talking about when you show up? Is it clear that you have offers? Are you talking about how you help people? Are you talking about the clients that you work with? Are you using social proof? 

Now that’s a buzzword, but essentially, are you jump off a client call? Are you talking about hey, I was just on a client call and XYZ here. Hey, here’s a tip from that. By the way, I do these kinds of calls all the time. Are you interested in booking one? Hit reply. I think so many people are afraid to say that because they’re gonna seem so salesy, but my friend, if you are in business, it is your duty to sell. 

You are not a just a content creator online, you’re running a business, and principle number one is a business needs money. There has to be an exchange of money to like they have to know you have a service and given the opportunity to pay for it. 

29:06  

We have to be bolder, more confident talking about our offers. With that, how often are you actually making the ask of hit reply, or talking about your specific offers, or are you actively launching your offers? Are you actively promoting your offers or are we just hiding behind a Linnkedin bio hoping that hey, if they resonate with my reel, with my three tips for blah, blah, blah, then they’ll search and go and figure out how to work with me. 

I mean, that does happen but I don’t know about you, I’m not leaving things to chance. I got really confident in talking about my offers and sure, does it feel like sometimes of here goes Heather again. She’s talking about the Signature Talk Accelerator or here goes Heather again. She’s yammering about BBD and her bonuses and sign up for this. 

Yeah, yeah, the thought crosses my mind all the time but also, I’m a business, y’all. I’m a person who runs a business and I think this is a struggle for personal brand based entrepreneurs. I’m in this bucket. You probably are too where it does feel weird because we do see quote-unquote, influencers online, we also probably are connected with our friends and family on social media and when we like, it’s weird, because you’re like, I don’t want to be talking about my services all the time because I don’t want my high school, whatever people to think that I’m like, trying to get them to buy stuff. 

Well, you’re, you’re not trying to get them to buy his stuff. I’m gonna encourage you not to go after like the people you went to high school with, if they happen to be in your audience, let them make the choice if it’s still relevant to be connected with you. But you’re here as a business owner and you have a fiscal responsibility. 

That’s a fancy way to say you have a duty to make money. Otherwise, your business does not exist and cannot continue, like it doesn’t. You don’t have a business, you have a hobby. And I say that with all the love in the world, but my clients tell me, they need spicy Heather in their life more and spicy Heather is a tough love coach that tells it to you stray, not going to cuddle you and tell you that it’s okay for you to sit here and have a hobby if you want to have a mother fricking business.

31:15  

So we have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and I know that sounds super like dumb but that is how you get started with growing your skills, strengthening your skills with selling, is just accepting that it will be uncomfortable. 

But my friend just like me growing my ass muscle, it’s going to hurt a bit. It’s going to be uncomfortable. I’m going to be sore for a while but I swear one moment, I’m going to be like, oh, look at that ass the mirror like I see some progress happening. Okay, I, well, now I’ve now talked about that multiple times this episode which I know I’m going to get messages from you so if you were just laughing at all of my butt comments, like, just I mean, you feel free to send me a note. Please don’t tell me about your ass unless you also relate with the weak butt comments. I digress here. Let’s go back to you. 

32:10  

So showing up to the pinata aka your business, showing up for your audience, that is step number one, my friend. If you are not making the kind of sales, the consistent sales in your business, one that you’re like, yes, I’m on track. If you’re still struggling a bit, or you’re still seeking more consistency in your business, number one, you have to show up to bat in order for you to make a direct connection to that pinata, like you cannot wish your way to the pinata breaking aka sales, reigning in over your head. You have to show up and it can’t be half assed. It can’t be every once in a while you have to show up. 

Now let me just be clear, I know I use a social media example but showing up doesn’t have to just be social media or it doesn’t have to be social media at all. You have to choose what are the platforms and how you show up. So for me great example, I consistently show up on my podcast non like negotiable outside of maybe two instances in the last 202 episodes. I show up, rain or shine, analogies, weird, grape, and all rambles, whatever else. I show mother frickin up for you every single week. 

33:21  

Some episodes are stellar. I’m sure some of them are like, meh, that wasn’t my best but that doesn’t like you’re not gonna bat a thousand every single time, right? You’re not gonna have magic every single time but you’d have to show up. So whether it’s what’s your podcast, your email, that was the other thing I said that I was really focused on this year was really leveling up my email connection game with my audience. 

I want you to really think about how are you consistently showing up? And when you do, are you making your offers clear? Now I’m not just saying you talk about your freebie or talk about your program one time before you sell it in a launch, like you got to consistently be talking about it. There is, I can’t remember where it came from but it said that your customers and or still leadership quote that I had heard a year or so ago that you have to talk about something seven times in order for your team to actually take you seriously. 

I was at a leadership seminar in Minnesota years ago and I remember that in saying that, look, you think that you’re like repeating yourself or you think like, oh, my gosh, I said it’s a bajillion times, but the first time your team hears it, they’re like, Hey, okay, whatever. They tune you out. They forget it. The second time, they’re like, oh, that sounds familiar. The third time they’re like, oh, man, they brought this up multiple times. It must be serious. The fourth time they start, like, I should probably pay attention to this. The fifth time, they’re like, all right, I’m like, okay, she’s really with this. She’s sticking with it. The sixth like it keeps going. 

34:46  

You have to be very repetitive. I learned that in leadership if you want to have clear expectations with your team, but I also learned that in the selling process. It’s why they say in marketing it takes so many touchpoints for someone to even remember or for you’re marketing to show up on their radar. Keep showing up. That is pinata rule number one. 

If you want to break open the pinata aka the future success you want in your business, frickin keep showing up. And if you are showing up and you’re not getting results, the first question to ask is how am I using my moment when I am showing up? Am I explicitly talking about how people can pay me money? What I have to offer? That is, those are the first few steps. show up. 

35:32  

Second step is okay, now, what am I talking about when I show up? It doesn’t mean every time you show up, you should be making offer but it should be clear what your offers are? How people can pay your money. Now, we’re gonna go a third phase here, because I think you’re ready for it. And most likely, you are already making sales in your business to some degree and you’re actively at a level where you’re like, I’m doing good, but it’s time for you to really get comfortable with your sales game. 

Now, I’m a huge fan, I’ve talked about this over the last month that I know a lot of people online. They try to remove the human element of selling ie., how do we automate? How do we systematize? How do we not get on sales calls? And it’s gonna be no surprise to you. 

I am a huge advocate of getting your tush on sales call so you can get into conversations with real people. The gold that you will mine in these conversations will be business changing for you. Understanding the questions that people ask, the worries they have, what they focus on, it’ll transform what you think is important to them that really is important if you’re willing to listen. So I think that all business owners should go through to some degree of sales calls. 

36:52  

Now I say that with a big fat asterisk and it really determines on your model, right? So if you’re selling a 27 digital product, no, you did not need to do any kind of sales calls. If you’re doing a couple $100 digital course, no, you do not need to do sales calls, right. So don’t take this as a third, I have to do sales calls. 

However, if there’s somewhere in your business where you have some kind of higher ticker offer, could be a group call program, it could be a coaching service, something where your person, your ideal person would benefit from a conversation to make a confident decision, I would add some kind of sales call element into the process. It might not be long term in a scalable system, but short term, it will be your biggest teacher in selling if you let.

37:38  

So what I’m going to do is I’m going to share with you five strategies that will strengthen your selling process. Now you can use these in a one on one conversation but I think you can apply these in any element of any kind of sales system that you have. These come from my experience, not only selling on my own. 

But also if you didn’t know this about me, before I started my business, I talk all the time about how I’ve delivered more than a thousand of presentations on stages around the world in the last 15 years. I work with entrepreneurs, on leadership, on communication, on sales, the number one thing I taught on stages and in my trainings was a selling process. It can be deemed as quote-unquote, high ticket sales, specifically for doctors. 

38:23  

Now, here’s the funny part, doctors are some of the most uncomfortable people with the idea of selling. I worked in an industry that was super unique in the medical space with audiologists who are one of the only medical practitioners professionals that had a widget to sell aka a product. 

They were selling hearing aids and hearing aids, I don’t know if you know about that but they’re not really covered much by insurance here in the US because our whole medical system is a motherfreakin train wreck and I’m dealing with okay, what does this look like for me as an entrepreneur having a baby? 

Anyways, I digress. But I’m telling you this because I have known and experienced a few objections in my day and a few difficult conversations with professionals, experts, some of the best of the best in a world who struggle articulating their value and making sales, even when they know the solution that they provide is the absolute game changer for the person in front of them. This is very, very normal. 

39:24  

So hey, so if you struggle with this, too, here’s a couple things that I notice. The top five struggles that I see with people when it comes to selling specifically experts and entrepreneurs is number one fear, I’m gonna get the strategies in the second by the way. Strategies are coming but here, see if you resonate with this. Number one people are like, I don’t want to be rejected the fear of hearing no from someone, it makes people not want to promote their products because like who wants to be told no, like, it feels very personal. It feels like oh, they don’t like us or my offer sucks or whatever else like that is a very real thing so just get present with that. Are you uncomfortable with being quote-unquote turned down by someone? Very, very normal. 

40:06  

Okay, number two, people don’t step up to the bat or step up to the pinata, if you will, and sell because they’re uncomfortable with their confidence that they have a very lack of confidence with selling. They start doubting, well, am I good enough? Can I really get this transformation? Is my system good enough? I couldn’t charge that month, much for it for this. They possibly wouldn’t pay. They wouldn’t pay me for that. So that feeling of inadequacy or that inability to convey their expertise or their experience to a potential customer that feels super sticky.

40:41  

Number three struggle that I definitely see happen across the board is difficulty in communicating their value. This is a big one. This is what I teach you all is how do you communicate your expertise in a way that really lands with other? How do you communicate the value of your services? 

Now, a few episodes back, you’ve probably heard me like ramble on about the word value. I won’t get into it but I have a big issue with that word, and how most people using this in space, but for the sake of this conversation, if you are feeling uncomfortable with but how do I talk about my stuff in a way that really connects and motivates another person to action, you’re not alone in this. It is clunky. It also is a skill to develop. 

41:26  

You also might feel a struggle, this is number four, that you’re not quite finding an approach to sales that works for you. So maybe you have been doing sales calls and mother frick, you hate them, maybe you need a different strategy, maybe you’ve been only trying to sell via webinar, and you’re hearing crickets or maybe you’re only selling through an application page and you’re then you’re sending people an email, and it’s crickets, maybe the method or the approach to selling your course membership coaching programs service, whatever it is, maybe the method is not working for you so you’re like, ah, I hate selling. Of course you do, because it’s not working, lke we don’t love things that aren’t working do that’s normal. 

42:05  

But the sneaky, the sneaky struggle that I see so many business owners really internally struggle with is that balance between that authority and sales, meaning that they know they need to come across as more confident, more competent, more like strong, like recommendation based more conviction, that’d be a better word but they don’t want to come across as pushy, or salesy, or schmucky, or bro marketer, or whatever word you want to infuse there. 

So they hold back and they let the customer drive the car. Now, I’ll say that carefully, because it is a customer led process but most people take that way too, literally, and just provide information and say you make a decision. As a consumer, we do not want that I’ll give you some backup for that here in a moment. But what we have to do is find that balance between being an authority and effectively selling, those are where the struggles come in. 

43:10  

So based off of that, let me share with you five strategies, these are kind of main ideas that I want you to try on for yourself and say, how could this work for me? How could I infuse this into strength in my own competence muscle, aka your butt muscle of selling? How could you use these to start practicing the skill of selling because practice is how you’re going to grow that muscle. So in no particular order, and no order of significance or priority or whatever, these are just five ideas that have helped me tremendously and there are things that I infuse when working with clients, one on one of my consulting. These also come up in my group coaching programs calls. It is just an area of sales. It is a huge opportunity. 

43:57  

So number one, this one is a frickin biggie and I would say this one is a non negotiable. To strengthen your selling process, you need to package up what you do in to a process. Now, what does that mean exactly? This could be your method, it could be your approach, but people aren’t going to buy you. They’re going to buy the transformation that you offer through what you teach or what you do. And one of the struggles that I see a lot of service providers or a lot of coaches or even educators is they just say hey, here’s a course. It’s six modules where I teach you X, Y and Z or in like a coaching process. It’s like we’re gonna meet weekly and chat it out, and I’m gonna listen and I’m gonna coach you through blah, blah, blah, or in a service provider, it’s like Oh, I’m gonna write you up page. Let’s sales page. Let’s say you’re a copywriter. 

44:59  

All those things I mean, it’s not terrible, it is true but what’s going to be more compelling is if you actually talk about the process around how people get the transformation. Let me give you an example around this. My one on one coaching, I do not do very much anymore and in fact, very, very, very soon, I’m taking one on one off of my menu as I prepare for maternity leave, and I won’t be doing one on one most likely, outside of one day intensives in 2024. However, I have sold a lot of coaching packages and I’ve sold a lot of group program packages and what I focus on when I sell it’s, I’m selling the process. 

45:41  

So for me, I have a method called the Magnetic Talk formula, the magnetic speaking method. It’s one of those two things. Sometimes it’s interchangeable but essentially, I have four elements that I work with people on and they are the pillars, if you will, around what I coach on. So for example, if somebody comes to me because they want to improve their webinar or somebody comes to me because they want to improve their stage presence and their articulation and their confidence and how they speak so they can make more sales, I’m not just going to be like, yeah, we can work together in six sessions and I’ll give you a feedback. I mean, if I developed enough demand for what I do, I could probably sell it like that. But at the beginning, people are like, I don’t know, you, I don’t know that you get results, what’s that look like? So by me having a process or a method, it allows me to talk about, okay, there are four specific things that I work on with clients. It allows me to differentiate myself as a coach. It also starts helping them see maybe where their gaps are and where they’re like, Ooh, I want to work on that. 

46:44  

So for example, my process is specifically around strategy so connecting speaking to actual results in the business and most business owners do not have a connection between the two which is why they’re not making sales and the answer isn’t to speak more, it’s to understand what you want speaking to doing your business, whether it’s virtual or otherwise, we have to start there so helping them get really crystal clear, talk about that, number one. 

47:06  

Number two, structure of the content. I’m giving this example, by the way, I’m a speaking coach, I help business owners make money with their voice by speaking on stages, creating a signature talk. Okay, that’s your context. So number two, in my process is we work on structure. Now, depending on the type of person I’m working with that structure could be in a talk they’re creating, or it can be how they structure their message when they show up on more micro stages, like a podcast or a YouTube video or something like that. But understand the structure of what they’re saying, there is a rhyme and reason, there is a science behind how you structure your ideas. That’s the second part of my method. The third is infusing storytelling. The fourth is the actual delivery skills and I even have a method under that one, actually, methods underneath all of these. 

47:53  

The point that I’m making here is when I talk about my Magnetic Method for speaking, people have confidence in me that, one, I know what I’m talking about, but two, I can help them get results because it’s not just me shooting from the hip of saying, yeah, we’re gonna just work on some stuff. There are now four specific lenses that we’re going to work on, that are going to strengthen their speaking muscle so how does this apply for you. 

48:18  

If you do not have a method in your business, if you do not have a method or a process that you use to help people get results, I’m gonna invite you to explore this. In fact, in my walk this morning, I was so, this kept going back in my mind. I’m like, oh, I need to create a method masterclass, like helping people really, really dial this in because this is instrumental. Side note, I teach a tiny bit of this in the Signature Talk Accelerator. We scratched the surface to get your method, your process, your framework in order so that it makes your talk even more effective but I kind of have this gut feeling that I need to create a masterclass around this. If that would be interested to you. If you’re like, ah, I want to have my like signature method, I really want to have my thing that I can seamlessly sell my stuff, whether it’s one on one or programs, if that would be interesting for you, would you just shoot me a direct message on Instagram? Just let me know because based off your feedback, if you all are like, yeah, that could be a fun one. 

49:20  

Okay, anyway, so number one, strategy packaging up what you do. Now, if you were, let’s say, a coach or a service provider, you’re like, I don’t know the method. I do think that the the method could be a process of for example, if you’re a copywriter, your method would be in phases, right? So phase number one would be the, like, the alignment or research phase where you understand their business and their audience and blah, blah, blah. Phase two is the shitty rough draft phase where you’re, I don’t know putting stuff together and phase three is when it’s like the critique slash connection phase with your client where you’re getting the feedback and you’re infusing their tone of voice and blah, blah, blah into it in. Phase four is the copy launch phase where you’re at putting it out into the world for designed blahdy, blah, blah. So I’m walking you through, there’s just four phases that we go through in our quote-unquote service. 

50:09  

So there are different ways to approach a method but my friend, if you do not have some kind of method, you are missing out on sales because fundamentally, when you are trying to sell yourself and your time, you are going to be fighting a much bigger battle and it’s going to be harder for you to really address that fear of rejection, that lack of confidence, that articulating your value, that finding that right approach, that authority piece because you’re inherently selling you, but when you introduce a process or a method and you start selling, that, it takes that sting off. It makes it easier to talk about the method. It also makes it easier to do what I’m gonna say a strategy number two, strategy number two, is you can start bringing in examples of others. 

51:01  

Okay, so let’s move on method is important, system, process, whatever you want to call it. Number two strategy to strengthen your selling process is to like normalize that you work with people and talk about what your other successful clients do. Okay, now, how you do this is a strategy, how you tactically do this, it can be a lot of different things but let me give an example here. When I’m on sales calls, I will normalize things around, so with many of my clients, here’s how we approach it, or many of my clients try it this way, or what I find a work with my clients is X, Y, and Z. I’m referencing the clients that I work with, to normalize that, one, I work with people and two people apply this. People are already using this. When you have a process and you refer to other clients, you are skyrocketing your trust in your authority with the person you’re talking with. 

51:55  

So I want you to start thinking about how can I start incorporating language that normalizes the process? Now, I know I have a resource to help you with this. If you haven’t yet grabbed my 19 magnetic phrases to help you when you’re speaking on live video podcasts, all those things, those phrases will help you with actually two of the strategies I’m talking about today. One of the ones here is I’m talking about what little phrases can you use to normalize the ‘we, with working with other people. So there are specifically phrases on there, if you want to grab that cheat sheet, you can grab it the link in the show notes, heathersager.com/ magnet, but if you want to grab that it’s in the show notes. But there are some phrases you can use to help you with that, quote-unquote normalizing that this is something people do, that really helps the sales process and it takes the pressure off of you because you’re talking about other people getting success that you’ve worked with. 

52:50  

Strategy number three, strategy number three, this one is really importantn and I think more people think they’re doing it, but they’re not. Strategy number three is I want you to make a strong recommendation. Part of the struggle with the sales conversation is most people want to be like suggestion, or suggestive and be like, oh, yeah, here’s the information, make a choice. But here’s the thing, they only know what they know and you’re the expert on this topic and you’re the one who have worked with other people, and have seen other people succeed and fail with this information that you teach. So they’re looking to you to tell them, what do you think based around what you’ve discussed? What do you think? What do you think they should do? What do you think is their next step? How, where should they focus? So making a strong recommendation in your sales process is important. 

53:43  

Now what that looks like, for me personally, what I teach in my selling masterclass is around giving people two options, and those two options aren’t like what you hear on a webinar around, you have two options. You can go fumble your way, trying to figure it out on YouTube and act like a dummy or you can do it the right way which is buy on program. That it’s not how you do it, right? But on a sales call. Let’s say you’re giving people choices, maybe those choices are option one is they can work with you one on one or option two, they can work with you on a group program. And based around the conversations that you’ve had on your call, right? You got to ask them questions, make the recommendation that you think would be the best match for them, not based off of their budget, but based around what they have told you is the significant problem and their specific goals. That’s how you want to make the recommendation. And then you might be thinking but Heather, what if they can’t afford it? Let me go into strategy number four. 

54:43  

If you want to become a better seller, if you want to strengthen your selling skills, you need to address objections head on. Too many business owners are terrified of people like having objections or quote-unquote rejecting that say no or that will work for me or that’s too expensive. They’re fearful of it but objections simply are an answered questions. You want to encourage these. You want to ask people any hesitations you have or what’s tripping you up? So going back to the two options example, if somebody says, Oh, I see how, yeah, I see that that option would be good for me but to be honest, I just don’t think I can afford that, right. So let’s say use the example that you’re offering them your high ticket service, one on one, or the option of working with you and a group structure and they’ve said for you that one on one was really, really importan, them having a personalized feedback, yada, yada, yada, you make the recommendation that you think it’d be a great fit for the one on one and they’re going, I just, I just not, I just don’t think it works for me.

55:52  

Well, the bold route would go of asking the question, totally understand. I’m just curious, what were you hoping to spend of the types of things we talked about today? You know, it’s how I instead of trying to combat it, I just asked what were you hoping to spend? And maybe they said, let’s just put some numbers on here. Let’s say your one on one is 10,000, just for an even number and let’s say your group program is 3000. Okay, I’m not endorsing these prices, by any means I’m just using a mathematic equation so you can follow my math. You can follow my my logic here. And you say, well, what were you hoping to spend and they say, I was really hoping to not go over five. I totally get that. Validate them. I totally get that. 

56:32  

Now, here’s here’s the thing. With with one on one on that price point, I can see how having a one on one feedback was really helpful for you. I can see how like, that’s a really, really important piece for you. Budget wise with that budget of 5000, the one on one is probably not in the cards. However, let’s talk about what the group program would look like and how with that, you can still get most of what you’re looking for. And then you can have a conversation with him the group offer, maybe you could do a group offer and you can sell in one on one upgrade because now you know, their budget is 5000, right? Asking the questions, addressing the objection head on invites further conversation weighed in to the uncomfortable conversation with your prospect. Most people are unwilling to do that. They want to slap down an answer to the question or the objection and move on. They want to hide from it. They want to get the hell out of dodge as fast as possible because I’m uncomfortable because they’re rejecting me. What I do really, really well and what I want to hear you say yes, Heather, I commit to being uncomfortable. I want you to wade into the uncomfortable conversation because it’s in that that the frickin magic happens. It’s in that where you come up with a solution that your prospect freaking is thrilled about. Wade into it. So address objections head on as a discussion. Be curious, ask more questions, that strategy number four. 

58:03  

Strategy number five is the most simple but probably the one that you’re going to struggle with the most, and that is you making the ask. Asking for the commitment asking for the decision because if you don’t human nature is for us not to make decisions until we have to, hello to my procrastinators who need deadlines in the world. We’re all pretty wired around that and if we don’t have a compelling reason to make a decision, we’re just going to like not, because unless shits on fire, they’re not phoning you, the fire department to put out their fire. They’re probably curious around solving a problem, but it’s not super mother freaking pressing, except for it is. It is pressing, they just don’t see it as a pressing thing because they’ve been living with a problem for so long that it’s like nah, what’s a few more months or a few more years. So strategy number five, if you want to make more sells. If you want to get better with your skill of selling, you need to start making the ask now what could that look like? You don’t have to be like, make a decision today. I hate the whole like, give me your credit card number right now. I’m going to sit here while you do it. I hate that style. Selling does not work for me. Some people works great. And if you do that and you feel comfortable with that, good on you don’t change it but if you’re like I was told to do that, and I fucking hate it, sorry for the F bomb but like seriously. If you’re like no, I don’t want to, then don’t. 

59:31  

Now what I do on my sales calls is I actually make sure I have room on the calendar. I, My commitment is I schedule my first session with my one on one client so that we have it locked in. I say I’m going to put you down here. Any other questions that you’re hesitating on? I asked what else, what other questions can be answered? What would help you make a confident decision? That’s one of my favorite questions. What would help you make a confident decision? And if they’re going, I just want to sleep on it. I’m going to say great. We’ll go ahead and get this first session. I’m going to keep it on the calendar here so we have it. And I’m going to follow up with you, let’s say by Friday, does that feel good? We feel like we can make a decision by Friday. Great. I’m gonna hold your spot. So the only thing I need from you is also do summary of the conversation. Use your reply, yes, hell yes, I’m in Heather, and then I’ll send you over the contract and the link to the invoice. Great. And I said, if for any other reason, something pops up where you’re unsure or you have more questions, just hit reply and we can just have a Voxer message or chat via Instagram DMs to make sure that you feel confident in whatever decision you choose. 

1:00:32  

How much lighter does that feel? We don’t need to do pressure sales but we do need to help our people make a decision. So given a deadline for that decision, and it’s not like you have to decide by here, but you are busy. You have other things on your calendars. You cannot have these like  unending, like potential client lists floating out there in the world that you never hear back on. Give people a deadline for that. And that means that you also have to be a little confident and saying, all right, well, if it comes to Friday, and they say no, what am I gonna do, right? Explore it, explore, what would you do? What does that look like for you. But if you implement or come up with some ideas around these five strategies, number one, creating your process your method. Number two, normalizing how you work with people by referencing the people you work with. Number three, making a strong recommendation. Number four, addressing and inviting objections, so you can turn them into conversations. And number five, asking for the sale, aka asking for a decision. If you start with that, my friend, that was a master motherfreakin class in itself on sales. Do not underestimate the power of simplicity. These things work so well and they are rooted in integrity, because they’re rooted in you owning your expertise and owning conversations with your ideal person. 

1:02:02  

The last thing I want to leave you with is this. One of the most fundamental important things that I found in selling is be honest and have integrity. And what I mean by that is if you ever find yourself feeling like you need to say something that is partially true or a little bogus, or you’re having to use a tactic that you’re like, I don’t know what I’m supposed to say this. Trust your gut. You were a good frickin human and people love that. People love good real frickin humans. People love it when you’re honest with them, and I find the more honest, you can be in the selling process, the more people respect you. 

1:02:42  

So for example, in my selling processes, I do not promise the world. In fact, I’m pretty clear that if somebody has super high expectations that they’re going to go book a TEDx talk on the number one TEDx stage, after three sessions, probably not going to happen, or if they want to become a $25,000 keynote speaker and they’ve never been paid for a speaking gig nor spoken on stage in their life, I’m not gonna make promises that my method is going to do that. I am real with it. But with that realness, I talk about what that would look like I talk about what we can actually do together and they connect it to their goals. I’m also real that if somebody has a shoestring budget that has Louis Vuitton expectations, it is not going to serve either one of us if I promise them Louis Vuitton, but they’re paying for like Target prices. 

1:03:35  

You have to be comfortable around managing expectations while empowering the person you’re talking to to dream bigger and help them be successful. And that means oftentimes you need to tell the truth but you tell the truth and connect it aspirationally to what they want. People love the tough love, real talk that sometimes too if that’s not you, if you’re a people pleaser and you just want to tell them all the nice things that might be something that you want to work on, right. But being honest and having integrity in your sales process, I find you’re gonna attract even better people. 

1:04:09  

Okay, my friend we covered a lot of ground today from my husband’s ass, to pinatas, to their struggles in selling it to my favorite, that’s not necessarily my favorite. They’re just I think, these are the five that came to me today that I know are compelling. These are the five areas that I want you to start working on and skill building and if you love today’s episode, this really was a masterclass on selling. A couple things, one, I want you to follow up with me if you would like maybe to explore that method masterclass around how to build your own process and also if you want me to hear more on selling is this an area that you want to learn more from me. I frickin love this topic and I don’t actually talk about it a ton on the podcast or in any of my like, I don’t have any workshops publicly around this. So those are some things I would love to hear from you on. These are areas that I would love to explore but I only want to build it if it’s something that you would like so please send over that feedback. I’m always open ears on Instagram @theheathersager. I love your love notes whether it’s a voicemail or a text message. Please send it over I would love to hear from you and hey, if this episode really fired you up in a good way to think, dream big, to think about your experience with pinatas but more importantly get you fired up for selling in your business and you think another business owner would benefit for them because from this because they have good shit that should be out in the world too, send this episode to them. Screenshot it, share it with your followers tell them why they have to hear this beyond you know the really weird, maybe it’s because of the weird metaphors. I have no idea but if you think it would be a good fit, please share. I appreciate you so freakin much and I will see you in the next episode.