7 Minutes to Better Selling Podcast Ep. 29

Thank you

Hey, welcome everybody to the 7 Minutes to Better Selling podcast

I'm your host and also the president and founder of Developing the Next Leaders

As many of you know, who are return visitors to the show, our firm and I am on this mission

of helping salespeople love what they do for a living. And when you're not very good at something

or you're not doing something at your peak of expected performance, it's hard to like it

let alone love it. And so our job is we work with individuals, leaders, teams, and organizations in

the sales world, helping them love what they do by improving every day. So from a logistics

perspective, our title says we're the 7 Minutes of Better Selling podcast, but typically we're

around 7 to 10, 7 to 12 minutes. This show is an exciting one. We have the show Ninja on with me

Simon. Simon's kind of like Madonna or Pele, just needs one name. He is the best of the best on with

me for today. And we're going to talk about the best of the best ideas over the last couple of

shows that we've spent together. And so I'm really, really excited about what we're going to do for

all of you in the next, say, maybe nine minutes or so from now. All right. So, Simon, are you right

Hi, Colin. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. And by the way, I'd like everyone to notice the beautiful shirt that Simon has on

today. Yeah, baby, there's some swag. I've come branded. I've come branded on your show

There's the swag. You can get one of those, but you have to kill someone in order to get one

way to get it um yeah so call in right i've been i've been watching your uh podcast right this is

a podcast number 29 you have had some great episodes in the past right but i you get to ask

a lot of tough questions to your guests right so we're gonna flip sides today i'm gonna put you on

the hot seat and let's do something different in this episode i'm gonna ask you some tough questions

okay i swear to you for that i love it and and call it market you only have 90 seconds to answer

each question and you have to be short, fast and very precise. Let's get started, Colin

Here's the very first question coming up. What do you do when the market is down? Hmm. That is going to be a timely one. That's a really, really timely one because almost every

market we look at is in fact down. I'll point to episode, I think it was 23. We had Mahesh

on there. Mahesh is this. There you go. There's Mahesh. Mahesh is a serial entrepreneur. He is

leading the charge in terms of innovation in multiple different markets. Now in the

Bitcoin or crypto market, he's done some great things there. He's really, really an intelligent

guy The thing that he said Simon that I think answers that question as simply as possible is when the market is down you have to be innovative Yeah In other words you got to change

You got to do something different. You got to do something that everyone else isn't doing. Everyone else is kind of like pulling back

Everyone else is tightening the strings. And what Mahesh said is you've got to figure out a way to innovate, be a little bit smarter, be a lot different, and you will succeed and grow through the tough market

100% Colin and for folks who don't know Mahesh is also my boss and one thing that he also says

that Simon never complained right don't come up with any complaints all right Colin that was well

answered let's move to the next question that is how do you break through when you meet a new client

hmm all right so that also is kind of like near and dear to my heart I

as folks know who listen to the show and and you know quite well I coach a lot of sales people I

I coach a lot of sales executives. I coach a lot of entrepreneurs

And one of the things they're always asking me is, I'd like to break through to this person

or I'd like to meet this person or I can't get in to see this person. And so how do I do that

And if you all remember, we had, I believe it was episode 24, we had Michael Zhang on

the show and he said two things, which I thought were really, really good as it relates to

that topic, is research them. I know that sounds like, oh, really

Like I always research my people, but he does this in-depth research

He doesn't just Google them. He doesn't just look on their LinkedIn. He doesn't just look at their website

He takes a full 360 view on everything he can to learn as much as he can about them

And then once he does that, that's one, is he does his research. He takes about five to seven minutes per person that he's trying to meet

Then he takes one or two nuggets from that research and then he sends them something personal to them about the research he's done

For example, he met a client or had known about a client, was looking to meet that client live

and understood that that client had a large passion for a specific charity

Mike learned that through lots of research. Mike made a donation to that charity and let him know that one of the ways that he's looking to make an impact in life is by investing in the businesses or the charities or the movements that his clients are interested in

And so in that name, he made an investment in that charity. He immediately took the call and that person has now become a client

But research and personalization of the outreach is really what's working today

Wow, that was on the spot. And for folks who don't know where are these podcasts, you can go ahead and find it on

developingthenextletals.com podcast. You can find all the podcasts are right over there

So Colin, you've been answering all the questions, all under 90 seconds

Now let's move to the next one. It's going to be a little challenging. And that is what problem with clients' rights and how best to solve them

Right. And that's inevitable. Eventually, a mistake is going to be made either by you or by your company when working with the client

And then even sometimes, Simon, like the person, your client themselves, make the mistake and they still want you to fix it

Like it's their mistake, but they want you to fix it. So tell me about it, my boss and me

Was that a shot at me, Simon? No, no. Like I said, you're a ninja

You do all things so wonderfully for us. So, but yeah, maybe two things to share

And this comes from the episode. We just posted this episode on LinkedIn as well from Tim Malone

Tim Malone if you remember he served the United States for like 23 years He was in the military He was a pilot and he a heck of a heck of a guy I known him all my life He leading a sales organization

called Pilot. And so he's, you know, he says problems arise all the time when working with

clients or potential clients. And he says, the one thing I realized is that the best relationships

that I have have come from troublesome situations. I've had a client who's had a service issue

I dealt with the service issue as amazingly as I possibly could. They felt that way. They felt

like I did everything I could on their behalf and the best relationships have flourished from that

So the first thing you said is when you do have a problem, remember, it's an amazing opportunity

to really create and strengthen relationships. That was the first thing. The second thing

and ready for this one, Simon? I thought this was so good. He said, I asked them two things

One is what is the ideal outcome of this scenario? And he lets them answer

just to make sure they don't have outsized or outrageous expectations. He has to set the expectations

but he doesn't want to set the expectations. He wants them to do it and then work from there

That's one. And then two is he says, how would you like me to keep you in the loop

as we work together to solve this problem. How good is that

How would you like us to do it? And then how often do you want us to keep communicating with you

throughout the process? And then he executes on that. And he says relationships flourish

through problems. He says, I see every problem we have with the client or every service issue we have with the client

as a major opportunity. Great one. I lost you. I can't hear you

Now, just checking if you can, if you can read my lips, but nevermind. But, which is a very important client

I'm 100% with you, right? Also, when we work with clients, we only make sure we understand what are their needs

But sometimes, Colin, you know, you get to work with a lot of clients. So my next question comes from there

that how do you show true interest when you're working with clients or prospect

There's a lot of answers to this. I'm going to go to Christopher Fu, Chris Fu

He was episode, do you remember that? 25, I believe. Yeah, he was 25

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, Christopher, Chris Fu was on the podcast. He's a wealth advisor out on the West Coast in the United States

He's out in California. And he launched his business in one of the worst markets we've seen, like 2008

when the whole global crisis was happening and the credit crisis and things were really, really, really bad

And he said, the easiest way to describe how I grew my business, the easiest way to explain what happened, where I went from no clients to a lot of clients, is he said, I fully listened to every one of the people I was talking to in three different places

when they ask the question, I let them fully ask the question. In other words, many times

people start asking a question and someone starts answering it before they get done asking it

He said, I let everyone finish every question they ask. That's one. Two is he said, people love to

tell their story. People love to tell like where they came from and how they got the money that

they have or how they've grown to the successful person they've had or the struggles they've gone through

And he said he would simply just ask people, tell me a little bit about your story

Tell them about who you are. And he would listen to that so intently

And then the third thing is sometimes people just want to be heard as it relates to their knowledge in a specific field So if you selling technology products financial products whatever it happens to be he would ask them what your experience with

this product? Or what's your experience in this industry? What's your experience with using these tools? And he said, once I asked that question, people wanted to share their knowledge. And he

said, I listened fully and intently all the way through. I never interrupted anybody. And over time

people love listeners. People love people who are interested. And so that's what Chris figured out

And that enabled him to show that true interest in these clients and prospects and ultimately

strengthen relationships with clients and turn prospects into clients. People want to be heard

fully. He did that. He had the patience to listen all the way through. And so the answer to that one

is how do you show true interest? Listen patiently and carefully. Wow. That's one statement I would

like to take from there. People like to be heard, right? So listen to them, right? I think that

that's very important and I would take it from there. So now, Colin, we have learned how to do

some, have some backgrounds, right? Go ahead and learn about your client's background. We've also

learned how your relationship is very important and we also know how to go and show interest

Now, the final stage is how do we make our clients come in? Now, that's very challenging, right

Oh, man. Like how do you help them take the next step? Right. Yeah. All right. So I'm going to this was our most recent was Mike Hammond our most recent podcast. Was that our last one? Mike? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, from Asset Matt. Mike Hammond had an expression, by the way, it's an old sales expression. And he said, you know, if I'm looking to get someone to commit to something. There we go. Yeah, that's that's Mike

If I'm looking to get someone to commit to something, I always begin with the end in mind

Again, that's that old expression. I always begin with the end in mind. Okay

What he meant by that is he'll say to someone, if you were going to put this in place, when would you do it

And then Simon, they'll answer. They'll say, well, if I was going, I'm not saying I'm going to do it. I'm not committing to anything

But if I was going to do it, I probably wouldn't be able to do it until June of 2023

Okay, so like June of 2023, what would the process look like from June 2023 from there to like now

Like what steps would it take to actually make that happen? He starts taking people through the steps

They start walking them through the steps. He never even like, you know, they didn't even know he was trying to close them

He never even got them. He never even knew that he was trying to get them to commit. Yet they were committing to all the steps to ultimately get the things implemented

at it. He sells software programs. I thought it was great, Simon. It's like, just ask people

if you were going to do something, what would it look like? And then let them start telling you the

steps. They start telling you the steps. You start taking notes and then you help them take

those steps and ultimately get them to commit. And I thought that was great for Mike Emmert and

AssetMap. Wow, Colin, that was absolutely great. You answered all the questions very nicely. And I

think you just summarized all the last three to four episodes that we have done. And there's some

Really good takeaways to take from this podcast. Any file that you want to plug in before we end the podcast today, a special episode

Well, I do know our next three shows are spoken for, but we are always looking for guests

always looking for amazing guests to talk about wonderful ways to sell better and communicate with clients more effectively

So that would be one thing. Second thing is thank you for the wonderful questions you asked

And again, if you want one of those t-shirts, reach out to Simon or I and we'll make sure

to take good care of you. Good selling, everyone. I wanted to do it

Do it, do it, Simon. I always wanted to do it. Thank you so much, Colin, for your time today

It was lovely hosting you, and good selling, everyone