7 Minutes to better Selling Podcast Ep. 6

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the 7 Minutes to Better Selling podcast. We have an exciting

conversation planned for all of you. Okay, so the exciting part of today is our guest

We have Mike Collette joining us. Mike is an entrepreneur, a business owner, and he owns

one of the most successful gyms in Massachusetts, and those businesses continue to grow out of

that business. So I'm real excited to have Mike join us. So Mike, thanks for being here

We're excited about our conversation. Okay. So with all that in mind, Mike, my question to you

is a two-part question. Maybe, you know, like a minute on yourself, if you will, share some of

that stuff and like how you get to where you are in this amazing entrepreneurial role that you find

yourself in. Yeah, no, there's definitely a lot going on. So first off, thanks for having me again

Colin. This is great to be on here chatting with you. So, you know, my journey starts in

Obviously, in the fitness world, I started as a personal trainer, and I did that for a couple of years and then started my own company, Prototype Training Systems, home of CrossFit Prototypes or CrossFit Affiliate

I've been in business for nine years. Over those nine years, I've been involved in several other business ventures

I've gone through business separations. I've been in sales roles. I've dabbled in the financial services industry and different industries throughout those nine years

This year, I launched another business that, like you mentioned, that kind of stemmed from a prototype

That business is called Empowered RX. And so I've been in a bunch of different roles at different capacities, and I've seen things change

And per your question, the biggest thing that I've kind of found or the thing that's been helpful for me

especially being in the fitness space, is to develop community. And I can say enough about that And there a few things I like to talk about around building communities one is you building trust and as it relates to sales you know there there whenever you say that word and someone that not a salesperson hears

it I think they immediately go to use car sales I think that is like the like

the the the definition that everyone kind of goes to so like you know it's

like this like this it has this negative connotation in so many different

circles. Yeah, exactly. But at the end of the day, we're selling every single day. I'm selling

my wife on what Netflix show to watch. You might be selling your kids to eat their vegetables

So you're always selling. It's just the perspective. But at the end of the day

in order to be successful in sales, you have to create trust and you have to be able to establish

buy-in. But as you establish a community, you start creating relationships within

those relationships that you've built. And the more relationships you're able to create

the stickier is able to become. And now you have a tribe of people that are followers of you and

what you're doing and saying as the leader. How were you able to connect, not just yourself to

them, but them to each other? Have you done such a good job at making all of that stuff work

not just connected to you, but connected to one another and rooting for each other and working

with one another? First of all, I think you need to understand or have a vision for what you're

trying to do. And when I started in the fitness space and started a prototype, I wanted to create

something that was, I refer to it as exclusively inclusive, meaning that like you feel

they're part of this exclusive club, but it's inclusive to a ton of different people. One

number two is there's commonalities between the people. And you've probably heard this before

you kind of, the people that you surround yourself with, or it was the five people you surround yourself with or something like that is like you know that who you are So if you establish you know this environment of people that you have these shared values shared connections with the closer those people are going to become And then you

as like the leader, and you can even say as like the salesperson, if you're able to make connections

with your clients for their needs. So for example, I know Colin is an amazing entrepreneur himself

He's an amazing leader. And I see an opportunity for him to connect with one of my clients' kids

for an internship or mentorship or something along those lines. I can create that connection

And who knows what spawns from there. If you can help people in other ways beyond your job role and job description, you're

going to create deeper levels of trust. And if you create deeper levels of trust, that's how you get more referrals, right

So, you know, it all kind of comes back together. But from the bottom line is if you're coming from a place of help first mentality that you

want to help your clients in a deeper and more meaningful way than just selling them your

services, they can have a bigger impact overall. Man, by the way, Mike, that's a common theme

on this podcast is this ability to help your clients get what they want versus you worried

about what you want. Okay. So like take something outside of the industry, take something outside of

like what you do. Like you're a fitness coach. Like people would say, Mike needs to help people

get better fit or eat better. Like, cause that's what that world's all about. But you're saying

Colin needs more services. He might need a, an intern. And this client of mine needs their son

to get some more experience. Those two things meet, they have nothing to do with fitness and

I help them do that. And that's, you know, even in the financial services industry, I'm not worried

about helping you just get your portfolio right. I'm helping you, um, you know, with ways that

improve your child life at college while they there trying to figure out how to get their whatever you know that a really really important thought because like the idea of idea of getting helping people get what they want is there how to do it is the hardest thing that what you just nailed you know what are the things that you can do to continue to

facilitate those those relationships and again um kovin 19 kind of expediated that a little bit

and now that everyone's kind of used to this kind of zoom digital format and communicating this way

um it's even easier now to make introductions to set up these sort of meetings all over the world

and even make more connections than you may not have been thinking of prior to what would you say

from an opportunity perspective um would be like the core thing or the one thing that you would

leave folks with so you know i think i mentioned it earlier about the the community side of things

But also kind of adding to that is like the culture in which you're creating as the sales person within your client relationships

And if you're able to cultivate a culture where this is a normal practice, where you're the facilitator and making these sorts of connections, and you are setting yourself up as this person that is doing more for their clients than selling them your services or doing something for them that just pertains to benefiting yourself, it's going to pay major dividends

When you talk about leading and lagging indicators, we're talking about lagging indicators here

It's putting in that work and doing those things behind the scenes that will lead to better results down the road

That's awesome. That's awesome. And maybe the synopsis of all of this is when you're willing to help your clients get what they want

and you're willing to do it in things that don't directly impact the business you're in or the thing that you're selling

you build trust and good selling. Good selling