There's two types of people who hear consensual sales in the first go, Oh, Eww, Shawna, that is not what you want to say. There are better words to use and the second type here, consensual sales and say, you know what? You're right. I don't want to talk my way into the sale. I don't want to memorize a script. You just want to work with clients who are excited to work with you. Now that's consensual sales.
First thing to the person out there listening to this podcast. Thank you. Like literally from the bottom of my heart. I just want you to know how much I appreciate you.
(00:34): listening to this podcast because it's absolutely nerve wrecking. Wondering if there are people out there even listening to this and I know that there are, I'm seeing my stats, I'm seeing the reviews and ratings come in, so I just want you to know that I appreciate you being here with me then that we're in this together and because of that, what I'm going to do from here on out is I'm going to give a special shout out to somebody who is somebody who rated and reviewed podcasts on iTunes and so today I'm just going to rattle off. Yeah, Alison Hardy, thank you so much for leaving a review and this is what she says. I love Shauna's practical, simple and heart centered approach to selling. I'm so stoked that she started a podcast, one of my new favorite top fives for sure. Thank you Allison. You're amazing.
(01:16): I think the world of you and anybody else who hasn't yet rated and reviewed the podcast, go do that quick. If you like it, if you don't like it, then well that's extra. Both of us that you're still here listening to me, but anyway, let's jump right in and talk about this special topic about how do you convince somebody to like give you money? How do you convince somebody that you are worthy, that they should part with their money to hire you, right? How do you convince them that you're the one for the job? Well, I'm so glad that you asked that because I'm going to answer that in three specific ways today in this episode. So pull up a chair, take a sip of your coffee [inaudible] and let's jump right in. Starting with the good news. The good news is that people don't want you to have to talk them into the sale, okay?
(02:03): Nobody wants you to have to convince them to buy your stuff and there's a reason for this is because imagine that somebody hasn't bought your service and you're trying to tell them that you should buy their service. What you're essentially doing is you're telling them maybe not directly about how wrong they are. They haven't bought your service yet. That's what it feels like when somebody tries talking you into buying something, you have to go from not buying to buying and by pointing out how wrong that person is that they haven't bought yet or why they should, it forces the other person to essentially like dig their heels into the ground and justify why they currently haven't bought. So the last thing that you want to do is try to talk your way into the sale and try to like do these mental jump through hoops or overcoming objections and like smooth talking your way.
(02:53): Like you don't have to do any of that because what we need to do is we need to draw awareness around somebody's decision to purchase. Like what do they need to believe to finally love the idea of purchasing from you. Okay? They have to come to that own conclusion themselves. So the way that we do this, there's a couple of ways. The first way is that you have to ask questions. You have to be able to gather enough information. So when you go to suggest to like give a recommendation for you to invite them into a conversation about your offer, they have to feel heard and understood long enough to suspend their own belief and hear your own. Now, if like if you've ever had a conversation about politics with your high school buddy, like who is, I'm thinking of you, Nate, I miss you so much.
(03:57): But if you've ever had those political opinions with friends and you're trying to discuss, there's no way that you can get somebody to believe what you're saying, right? The only way that you can even start that conversation as if somebody feels heard long enough to now hear your suggestions. Does that make sense? Are you following me here? So I want to elaborate a little bit on this point about asking questions. Okay? Imagine and I didn't come up with this idea. If you guys have ever read the book win without pitching a manifesto, it's a really great book. And basically in the book he says that you never ever, ever, you never extend your offer until you have fully diagnosed what is happening in the other's person's life. So just like if you go to a doctor, imagine that you go to a doctor and you have a headache, right?
(04:43): And you walk into the doctor and that doctor just says, okay, tell me what you have done to treat your headaches. And you tell, you know, you're telling me to do all your, you put a hot washcloth on your head. You took this medicine, you took that ibuprofen, I don't know. And he goes, okay, thanks for letting me know. And here's your prescription. And you walk out with this new medicine, right? Well imagine if you had a different doctor who said, what medicine have you taken? What have you tried? What do you eat? What's your exercise regimen like? Does this run in your family? How long have you been suffering from this? How has this impacted other parts of your life? Like if you can ask questions in a way that gets the other person to share what's happening. And they also feel heard and cared about.
(05:26): When you go to give that prescription or you go to give that recommendation or, or in our case like put an offer on the table, how much more likely do you think that person is going to be open to receiving what you're saying? Infinitely more. Infinitely more, right. It sorta reminds me of, I'm in the middle, just like me personally, I'm in the middle of trying to grow my membership, right? I've got this month to month sales sort of coaching membership where I support you in negotiating terms and prices from your back pocket. So I have a goal of what I'm trying to reach, right? And somebody was, Oh, let's talk on the phone and we can brainstorm like ways in which you know, I might be able to help you. He asked me three questions and it was like, you need a course, you need to create a course and you need to have this Facebook group and you need to funnel people into this Facebook group.
(06:14): And he started telling me like all this stuff and I was [inaudible] dude, you didn't even ask me about what I want. You didn't even ask what I'm trying to accomplish. All of a sudden you're just trying to shove this service or this product down my throat and like I don't even want it. And I have no, I've shared this before in the previous episodes if you haven't listened yet, go back. But there's one sort of talk about that if you are selling something and the person isn't open to receiving it, if they haven't said, yeah, you're right. That is true. That is what I'm going through. If you skip that part, it's like creating problems for the other person that they don't have and it will, it will piss them off. Okay, so that brings me to my next point. Number two, you have to make sure when you are trying to like showcase, really showcase when you're trying to convince somebody of why they should hire you, it's also important that you turn over every single stone, right?
(07:09): So maybe you're asking questions and you think that you've got all the information, but there might be more questions that this person wants to share with you that you need to make sure that they have a chance to share them. Turn over every stone because sales is putting truth on the table. You need to put it all up on the table. Okay, so I like some sort of little nuances that I like to say just for myself on the call is like, is there anything else that I should know? What else have I asked? Everything that's important to you. If you are getting resistance at the end of the sale and it's awkward or they're just sort of like hemming and Hein, often it's because they haven't told you everything and it's your job in the conversation to make sure that they feel comfortable enough to tell you anything.
(08:01): So sometimes I'll just say, I want you to know that this is a really casual, honest conversation about what's happening in your business and your life. Althea, if you're listening, who is a florist in our community, what kind of flowers you want for your wedding. Right. And I mean when you do that, there's goals and dreams that people have that they have never ever even told their partner. Right. And so they're going to love you. Like if you give people a chance to share, they'll tell you, and we know this because people will always want to talk about what's important to them and here you are giving them that chance. Okay. There's this like short story that goes along with this, but I don't know if I was like last year or two years ago, I'm trying to remember the story because one or two years ago basically feels like eight years ago my daughter, my oldest daughter was supposed to get off the bus and was supposed to come home and she wasn't home.
(08:58): You know, I've got like bunch of kids everywhere and I thought, Oh, you know, I'll just give her like 10 minutes and she's like, walk in or she's coming up the road or maybe the buses were late so I wasn't freaking out. Like a half hour goes by and she's still not home. So I called the school and I was like, where's you know, like, did you know Jane get off the bus? Like what's happening? And they're like, yeah, she got on the bus, like don't know where she is. And I was like, what the heck? So I grabbed all the kids, I put them in the car and the bus stops, a couple blocks from her house and she likes to visit her friend who like lives on the corner sometimes. She likes to go there, whatever. And I went to that house and went to the door.
(09:32): Nobody was there. And I was like, what the heck is going on? I'm like, where is she? She's not at school. She's not at home. She's not at this friend's house. Like, where is she? So I get home, well, I called John on my way home. I don't know where Jane is and call the police. Like I still, I'm not, what's the word? I don't get easily panicked. Like I'm not easily afraid. So I call the police. I'm still calm. My husband's like, where is she? And it's like I called the police like I'm not worried, but I don't know where. I don't know where she is. Anyway, long story short, are you guys following this story? Anyway, as I'm waiting for the police to show up, my daughter pulls up with the friend's parents, right? And they pull it into the house and I'm like staring at her and I knew instantly, just based on what I told you about sales, I knew instantly if I would have come at her like, where were you?
(10:20): What were you doing? Why didn't you tell me? If I would've just started freaking out, I knew that she would hold on to her position. I could not point out how wrong she was. I couldn't be the source of her pain if I wanted her to tell me the truth. So she gets inside, he's like shit out. I don't even say anything. And she starts like spewing off like lies. Right? Like, like I told you about, I told you I was going to my friend's house and I knew that she did it. I knew that that was alive. I remember everything. And I sat there for a minute and I said, you really wanted to go to your friends, did you? And that was enough for the tears to come falling down her face. And for her to admit that she just wanted to go to her friends.
(11:06): But the mom was sleeping. Because she had an overnight shift. So they were out back and they didn't hear the doorbell rang and got to the truth and created a safe space for her to tell me like what was happening. Okay. So it's your job when you're settling to put truth on the table and to create a space where people feel safe enough to tell you the truth without judgment. And it doesn't have to be profound. It could just be as simple as whatever you tell me. I'm not going to judge you. Whatever you tell me, it's a totally safe, comfortable space for you to tell me whatever you're thinking, what's on your brain right now? What are you thinking? Get it out. Let's talk about it. Right? So that brings me to the third thing. And the third thing is most people when they hire you, they just want to know that it's going to be great and that you are going to do your job and take good care of them.
(11:59): And so when you're trying to convince somebody that you're the one for the job, they have to believe that you care about them and that you care about the outcome. So sometimes that just means saying the most honest thing that you can say. I know that you care a lot about the work that we're going to be doing together. And I care about that too. That's why if I get it wrong or it's not right, I'm going to keep working until it's great. Okay. Now there's like a whole nother conversation about like boundaries and standards and like not letting people take advantage of you. But we're talking about when somebody is about to pull out their money, what do they need to hear? They need to hear that you care about their outcome, that you're gonna do your job. Most people don't do their job and most people are not very good at their job.
(12:51): So by emphasizing that they're going to be taken care of and that you're going to do your job, it's just like a huge relief to feel people are in your corner doing what they say that they're going to do. So again, this isn't about how you convince people and like smooth talk your way into the sale and have like the slickest, sharpest, smoothest, awesome. His argument, it's not about that. It's about showing up in a way where you're asking questions that make people feel heard and understood, right? Where you're drawing your question in a way that draws their own self-awareness. So it brings us to the second point. So when we turn over every stone and get them to tell you the truth. And then the third thing is just emphasizing your own passion for their project. How? By helping them. It helps you do what you want to do.
(13:44): It's going to be great that you're going to take care of them. Okay, now I think that's all I'm going to share today. What is next week's episode? How do I convince them I'm the best one for the job? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So next week, tune in Monday morning, we are talking to Becky. She's a good friend. Oh my gosh, you guys are gonna love her. She's from seduce your market and we are talking about how you were able to get somebody interested in your service and now they want to pay you, but how can we make sure that that relationship is mutually beneficial? How? By helping someone else get what they want. How can you make sure that you get what you want? Okay, so this conversation, Oh my gosh. Every time I talked to Becky I learned something new and she's one of my favorite people. So next week, show up
(14:28): and let's learn some stuff about making more money, right? I'm out somewhat tend to door. Who's their clients are banging on your door, ready to give you money and book your service, but they're asking you hard questions like, how much is it? Who are you and how do I know you can help? For sure. Your brain melts and you feel a lot like deer in headlights. You work way too hard for this opportunity. You cannot let it slip away. So here's what you need to do right now. Grab your phone, text five, five, five, eight, eight, eight that's triple five, triple eight and texts, consensual sales. One word, and I'll tell you exactly what to say to book those clients and make more money. You'll literally, you'll get me and I'm happy to help you. Okay? Triple five, triple eight text consensual sales, and I'll meet you there.
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