How to Sell Anything

You don’t have to like selling or marketing, but when you own a business you at least have to get comfortable with selling and marketing. It can be uncomfortable learning new things, but embrace the hard!

Because selling is not about you.

You have to sell something in order to serve the people you know you are meant to serve.

People buying from you, is not for you, it’s for them.

Read that again.

It’s not about you.

Why so many people get squirrely when it comes to selling their product, program or service boils down to one simple thing- they are thinking about themselves more than their prospect.

A good way to think about it is this…

The last time you bought a new phone, were you embarrassed or offended because the sales person took your money? No!

You were grateful they did, because now you have a dope new phone that you can’t wait to show your friends.

People like to buy, but they don’t like to be sold… Unless of course you are a salesperson who literally evaluates every single sales conversation you have to hone and refine your own skills. In which case you are crazy and I love you!

There are a several different schools of thought when it comes to selling, but most of them can agree on a few things.

1. Create Need

2. Give Value

3. Ask Permission

4. Offer

5. Shut Up and wait

Last but not least, don’t let your desperation come out like a teenage girl waiting for her crush to ask her to the school dance. It wasn’t sexy then, and it’s not sexy now.

I gave you the briefest overview possible, but I find that some people like do go in the weed on details, to speed up the process you can get my High Value Sales Script here or read on.

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1. Create Need

   Creating a need with your prospect starts with understanding what your prospect actually needs, and determining if your product, program or service can actually help them. Bottom line, pick your head up from your phone and start asking pointed questions. Take and honest interest in the person in from of you or on the phone with you.

   Rant: The simplicity of buying online has taken the conversation piece out of selling, which means most people are just guessing what the prospect really wants and is making assumptions. One of the best parts of selling- is establishing the need, and getting to know the person in front of you.

2. Give Value

   Once you know what your prospect needs it’s time to provide them value, and to riff on what their problems are and how your product, program or service can solve it for them. Typically this is a 3-4 prong approach where you explain the benefits of working with you.

   I was recently on a sales call- where the gal I who was trying to sell me, was attempting to give value, and ended up insulting and belittling me, she actually had the audacity to laugh at my pain and tell me I was stupid- but not to worry- she could help educate me and make me less dumb…. For the love of all sales people, never and I mean NEVER belittle, demean or devalue your prospect. Not only will they not buy from you, but they will have nothing nice to say about you to any of their friends… and some people may actually storm the internet and leave a bad review, telling the world about what you did.

3. Ask permission

   I know it sounds odd and perhaps silly but inserting this simple question, “Thank you so much for sharing that with me, do you mind if I tell you about what this (program) can do for you?”

   People will actually beg you to, and say something along the lines of, “I thought you would never ask.”

   Then ask them, if they have any questions, before moving on to make your offer.

4. Make your offer.

   This is the part where you talk about price, duration, all the house keeping details.

   Present your offer then…

5. Shut up

   Shut up and wait for their response- so many sales are lost on the field of jibber jabber. Stop talking and actually let your prospect think. Some will say “yes, sign me up!” others will toss out their favorite objections- money, spouse, time, religion, think about it, you name it- you will hear it.

   Then the game becomes throwing down objections like a ninja or collecting their payment information.

I remember back in the day day, when I was working in the pawnshop, I would lead with flirting- it worked as a persuasive technique, but only on a small customer base. I suppose flirting with people is a way of establishing need, and creating value albeit the lowest form of it, but it was a place to start.

Sales are one of those things, that is a skill and with any skill you can’t expect to nail it the first time or everytime. Sales are a practice in serving but not giving unsolicited advice, and in human communication and at times persuasion.

Need help creating a more detailed sales system? I have opened up 3 spots to my Elite Sales & Marketing Intensive where you and I will take a deep dive into your products, your offers and your approach to maximize your sales and profits almost instantly. Interested in determining if this intensive is right for you, click here to apply.

Want to go it alone? No problem, you can get my High Ticket Sales Script that I have used to sell Millions of Dollars in programs, products and services over the last 16 years. Click here to download your copy now.

Can Working With Family Work?

Many small businesses on main street are the good ole family run mom and pop shops, but many marriages are ruined on the field of business.

It’s hard to work for family and it’s hard to work with family.

You love your family, you wish you could spend more time with them, and maybe you have even paid family members to do odd jobs in your business when you were short on time but long on tasks.

When you work with family, there is no escaping. So if your family relationships are challenging on the best of days, proceed with caution.

I have worked with and for family to various degrees over the last 16 years. One of my early jobs was with my Dad, working the counter at one of his pawnshops, I learned some incredible things working in the pawnshop from how to sweep and mop a floor, merchandise, value products, negotiate, buy low and sell high.

I also learned the as my fathers daughter, he will always expect more from me than anyone else- because I should know better- even when I didn’t know.

I learned, while working for my dad I could not be his daughter and his employee. I was his employee then his daughter, but working in the shops also allowed me to spend time with my dad that I never had before.

i remember when I wanted to change careers, and exit my Dad’s wing of protection- I was terrified to have the conversation- because I didn’t want to disappoint him or let him down. I needed to forge my own path out of his shadow.

Then when I started my gym I had my little brother come on as a trainer for me. It was good until it wasn’t. I was a terrible leader at that time, and terrible communicator, and left to many holes and unanswered questions. At that time, I would tell people who worked for me, even my brother, to do what they wanted as opposed to what I wanted and needed them to do.

So many lessons were learned.

I ended up having to release my brother to industry when I realized we did not have a shared vision for my company. It sucked- we didn’t talk for 2 years after that.

If I ended the story there- you would think I strongly advise against working with family, but I don’t.

About 5 years the experience with my brother, I had worked hard on becoming a better leader, manager, communicator and decided I would give this working with family thing another shot.

I asked my husband to come into the business full time, and work with me… and he said yes. Turns out I had learned from my previous experiences, and working with my husband turned into one of the greatest blessings and treasures of my life.

We grew closer as partners, in work and home.

I think working with family can work, but a few things need to be established early on.

• Communication cycles

• Job Description

• Expectations

• How you plan to nurture your relationship at home, not just in the office

• Boundaries

• Clear plan to address conflicts and issues as they arise

The biggest and I mean the BIGGEST thing you must do if you intend to make working with family a positive experience for everyone involved- you, your family member, and other employees- is to create crystal clear boundaries and expectations early on.

When I was working with my Dad and brother- the expectations, boundaries and communication was laughable at best. We were a hot mess of disfunction, disorder, and mind games. Though none of it was intentionally malicious- the fact that nobody thought to communicate better ultimate caused major riffs and breakdowns.

When my husband came to work with me, we had 2 cautionary tales behind us, and an agreement that divorce isn’t an option- and killing each other was also off the table. We had to be proactive in meeting the problems that would be meet us along the way, by addressing them before we got to them.

The first week of my husband coming into the business was spent locked in the office laying the ground work.

For any other hire- the foundation and structures would have been established prior to even posting a help wanted ad.

In this case though we needed to be 100 % on the same page.

So on some giant sticky notes we broke down every aspect of our lives together from the bedroom to the boardroom.

• Clearly defined both of our roles- what were the tasks only I could do, what were the tasks that only he would do, and what were tasks that we shared

• Scheduled week business meetings to discuss what working, what wasn’t and get help.

• Planned for date night and intimate time

• Placed boundaries on when we would talk about work when we got home

• Clearly defined how we would handle conflict between

• Review and edited our org chart to reflect our new roles in the company

• We also clearly spelled out what winning at work would be and what winning at home would be

• Set our schedules and work times

• I took the time to communicated the companies vision, core values, and client centric mission- just like I would with any new hire.

Without taking the time to instill these expectations and systems- working together would have never worked.

Can you work with family?

I believe you can.

It’s crucial though, if you are going to choose to work with family that all parties involved are on the same page. Being family- doesn’t mean you are on the same page. It just means you share the same DNA.

We have to be just as intentional, if not more intentional when we bring a family member on to work with us. Because an rift between family members can make the workplace a battlefield for other team members and employees.

Want to work with your family- but don’t know where to start- let’s hop on a call, and discuss how you can bring your family into the fold of your business without blowing up your family or blowing up your business (in a bad way.) Click here to book your call.

You can also connect with me and my community over on facebook in my Momma Boss Collective Facebook Group