Sales Skills: Mastering Influence

1. Why Take This Course?: Oafella once said, The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee, and I am willing to pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun. What specific things can you do to get people to like you, trust you, and want to do business with you? Have you ever wondered why some make friends and charm people without effort while others can't seem to click? Imagine if you could, by observing very few clues, know what's on people's minds. My name is Aus Amro. For over 15 years, I've carved out a top tier sales career in the competitive mortgage industry. My earnings pure commission. And I've been in Canada's top 3% income earners consistently. There is a whole science to how you talk and connect with others. It's a skill that you can study and improve, and people have been perfecting it for thousands of years. What you will learn in this course will transform not only your career and income, but also your relationships, your love life, and your daily encounters. Two years ago, I became a proud father to a wonderful daughter. Every day, I am amazed at how relevant sales skills are in helping me deal with her, even at such a young age. What sets this course apart is its efficiency and focus. Each lecture is concise and filled with practical ideas that you can implement right away. Unlike other courses that stretch over 10 hours, this course delivers value quickly. It took me over a year to build this course and offer you strategies that are actionable from day one. With great power comes great responsibility. This course will give you that power. I urge you to use it responsibly. 2. Have You Test Closed? : Originally, this lecture was at the end of the course because the technique I'm about to share with you is part of the final stages of the sales process. However, this technique influenced my ability so much that I wanted to share it with you at the beginning, because I don't want anyone to miss it. The technique I'm talking about is test closing. There is a big difference between a test close and a regular close. Knowing that difference is vital. Even though many will close the sale just by asking a closing question, many others will miss what would have eventually resulted in a sale, simply because they closed too early. In real estate, they say, location, location, location. In sales, it's timing, timing, timing. A test close is an opinion gathering question. A regular close is a decision making question. You always want to test close first because when you're test closing, you have a way out. You are not asking for a final decision. You are just testing where your buyer is. It shows you their current level of desire. You are not asking for a yes or no decision. You are simply testing the temperature and asking for their opinion. You can make anything a test close by adding the phrase, in your opinion, do you feel? For example, would you like it in red or would you prefer it in blue is a hard close. You have asked for a decision, whereas, in your opinion, if you were to go ahead, would you get it in red or would you get it in blue? That is a TAs clause. The difference between them is subtle yet profound. Here is another example for a hard close. If I can get you the payment terms you are seeking, will you buy, instead, to make it a TAs clause, you would say, How do you feel about the payment terms? You are not asking for the sale, but rather asking how the prospect feels about one element of the sale. During your time with a prospect, you should constantly be test closing to determine if they are cold, warm or hot and react accordingly. Without test closing, you are lost and risk going for the closes while the prospect is still cold and still has questions and objections in her head. Test clothes are always open ended questions rather than yes no questions. They are easy to ask, making the sales process more enjoyable to the client and the salesperson. They remove the pressure and tension that an ill timed hard close question creates. You can use test closes right at the beginning. An opening test close is where you start upfront and find out where the buyer is. It shows you their current level of desire and want and gives you a baseline to start from. For example, how long have you been considering owning a house? Or why are you seriously considering making this investment? Here are some of my favorite task clauses. How do you feel about what we have discussed so far? What do you think about the solution I've shared with you? How does what we've talked about sound to you? Based on what you've heard so far, what are your questions? If you had your way, what changes would you make to the proposal? Really easy questions to ask. When you get a favorable response from the task close, then and only then you move to the closing question. You never want to close until the prospect is ready to buy write down and practice delivering many test closing questions related to your specific product or service. So you can approach this from many different angles. How to close is easy. When to close is the real question. Done effectively, Test closing allows you to perfect your timing. Test closes are easy and allow you to test the temperature of the prospect. If the temperature is hot enough, it's time to move to the close. 3. How Deep Does Learning Go?: We will start by learning how to learn so that you can get maximum results from this course. There are four levels to learning. This model of learning applies to everything in your life. The first level is unconscious incompetence. This is where you do not know what you do not know. You are unaware that there is a body of knowledge out there addressing the issue. When I first started in sales, I did not know that there is a whole science out there about people. I took business in university, and not once was I offered a class about sales or people skills. I thought it was something you're born with, and there is no way to enhance and refine it. This belief was shattered when I joined ACN, which was a network marketing company. I scheduled a meeting with one of my professors, Mr. Koppel, and tried to sell him on the concept. When we met, I started presenting the concept right away. Mr. Koppel was kind to me. He listened patiently. When I finished, he said, Os, I admire your courage. However, this is not how you sell. A better idea would have been to gather intelligence first and then maybe set up a second meeting to present your concept to me. You should read a book to hone your sales skills. And he recommended a book. That's when I move to the second level of learning, which is conscious incompetence. You do not understand something, but you recognize the deficit. You realize there is information that you don't know, and you believe that consuming that information will enhance your skills. That was me while leaving Mr. Koppel's office and heading to the bookstore. The third level of learning is conscious competence. That's when you were exposed to information and you know something. However, demonstrating the knowledge requires concentration. It is broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill. Think back to the time you learned how to drive your car. Someone gave you information like, here's the gas. Here's the brake, and that's how you drive. You needed to put all your brain power and concentration to use, to be able to perform. Someone would talk to you and you would say, I'm driving. Every concept I've learned from reading books about selling, I had to think consciously off before applying it. My brain would be like, Okay, now I have to make sure I ask discovery questions before presenting. Now I have to test close. Now I have to mirror the body language. I had to think about stuff to be able to apply concepts. The fourth level of learning is unconscious competence. The individual has had so much practice, and now it's second nature. You can perform without thinking. It is part of who you are. When you drive a car right now, you can talk to the passengers. You can listen to music, and you can think about other things. You don't have to consciously think about the next step. And that's the goal of this course. You don't want information for the sake of information. The goal is to have you internalize the habits and strategies, so they become part of your character, and you become highly skilled in dealing with people. In each lecture, you will get exposed to a new idea or concept. At the beginning, you will have to bring that information to your conscious brain every time you want to apply it. You will also be clumsy. Don't let that discourage you. Everything worth doing well is worth doing poorly at the beginning. It will be up to you to apply the skills and strategies over and over until you become unconsciously competent. We want these skills to become part of who you are. If you keep practicing, I'm confident that one day, you will catch yourself using these skills unconsciously. 4. What's Your Sales Mindset?: Yes. Henry Ford once said, whether you believe you can do it or not, you're probably right. The first concept you need to know is the concept of beliefs. Beliefs are the meanings that we feel certain will come from situations. They are what determines what we're willing to try, what we're willing to do, and what we expect from the world around us. If I told you, do these three things, and I will give you a check for $100 million, and you felt absolutely certain that you will get that check. You will do anything to do these actions. The key word here is certain. When you're absolutely certain that if you take a specific action, you will get a result and that result is important enough for you, you will take that action. If you think it's not going to work, you won't take the action. The gray area in the middle is what kills most people. If you are uncertain, it will work. You will take wishy washy actions. You won't be consistent or committed enough. For centuries, people have been trying to run the four minute mile. Roger Bannister does it, and within two years, 37 other people do it. Why is that? Because they are now certain that it is possible for a human being to run a four minute mile. Each one of your beliefs is like a table. The table is held by legs. Each experience idea or result you have in your head that supports that belief is a leg. They are the proof that you have in your head about the belief. For example, in your head, the belief I am a good father is supported by a good father spends quality time with their kids. A good father teach their kids with patience and empathy, even when their actions drive him nuts. A good father reads a good night story for their kids. A good father loves their mother. Notice how the rules are unique to each individual. Two fathers can believe they are good and reach that belief with totally different sets of rules. The key is to uncover the rules that you have for each of your beliefs and make sure the beliefs are empowering you and the rules are not impossible to achieve. What if you have to travel for work and can't read the story for your kid every night? Does that make you a bad father? No, not necessarily. But in your head, reading every night is a rule for you to believe you are a good father, and that will make you feel you're a bad father, although you might be doing 100 other things that make you an exceptionally good father. It is important to bring your beliefs to consciousness by thinking about them, writing them down, and writing the rules that make you believe the belief, and then examining all of that. It's a good idea to do this exercise with everything important in your life. But since this course is about people, we will focus on that. Start by asking yourself, what do I believe about do I believe people are generally good or bad? What experiences in my life made me believe that? What am I basing this belief on? Are these beliefs empowering me or limiting me? What do I believe about my communication skills? Do I believe people like me? Why or why not do I believe that? Write down your existing empowering and disempowering beliefs about people. To get rid of a belief, examine the rules or the legs that the belief stands on. To adopt a belief, find enough legs to make it strong in your head. For example, I knew a woman who thinks that all men are liars. Why does she think that? Because her ex husband, whom she loved and trusted, cheated on her, and it broke her heart. That experience became a very strong leg that supports the belief that all men are liars. But is it true? No, it's not true. Does that one experience when this one man represent all the men in the world? No, yet that belief is keeping her from having an amazing relationship with someone else. Let's say you believe sales calls are not effective and are a waste of time, or you believe you're not good enough on the phone. Even if you do sales calls because your boss wants you to do them, your execution will be weak, wishy washy, and it will show in your results. You will never achieve the results that a salesperson with the belief that sales calls are the lifeline of her business and that she is powerful and she is very good on the phone will achieve. Examine your beliefs. This type of examination to your unconscious operating system requires deep thought and introspection. It is worth it because your beliefs are the lenses you see the world through. Ask yourself, what top salespeople who have produced the results I'm after believe here are three empowering beliefs that I'm certain are true, and you should adopt before moving forward with this course. Number one, people's skills are learnable and you can dramatically improve and become more persuasive. I know 100% it's true because I've improved dramatically throughout the years. Number two, every person you meet is reacting to the energy and communication you put out. When you change that, the person's reaction will change. It's all under your control. Number three, anyone can be successful in sales. Being a shy introvert can be a huge strength if you know how to utilize it. There is no one personality trait that puts you at a disadvantage. Only your beliefs about your limitations will do that. Every single vision in your life starts with a simple understanding that it's obtainable, that you can make it real. That's the beginning of everything. We only move towards outcomes that we believe to be possible. The communication skills you will learn in this course will make you a master persuader, no matter what type of personality you have or your current skill set. It is possible for you. Believe that. 5. Harnessing Feelings to Drive Sales: Emotions are contagious. Your emotional state impacts the state of everyone around you. When you're out there selling, your job is to first put yourself in a peak emotional state and second, to transfer that state to your client. On the most basic level, influence is the transference of emotions from one person to another. People can feel your energy, and whether you like it or not, you are emitting energy all the time. If you don't have a bold, enthusiastic, high energy presence, you won't have positive influence. If you're not enthusiastic, what does it say? My product sucks, my life sucks. I'm not a winner. No one wants to work with a loser. Most people live in a disempowered state. When you come in with positive, cheerful and upbeat emotions, you brighten their day. There are two ways to manage your emotions. The first one is managing your physiology. In 1905, the famous psychologist William James made a remarkable discovery. He said that the best way to experience an emotion if you don't actually feel it is to pretend as if you already feel it until it becomes a reality. The act as if principle states that if you act as if you already felt a particular way, your actions will soon trigger the feelings to go with them. Start by smiling. When you smile, even if you force it, your body releases dopamine, the feel good hormone. Lift your shoulders and sit up straight and look up. This posture will trigger the emotions of confidence, clarity, certainty, and conviction. Fake it till you make it. Even if you do not have these feelings, if you manage your body as if you do, you will trigger them. The second way to manage your state is to ask yourself better questions. Questions, control your focus, and what you're feeling. Thinking is the process of asking and answering questions in your head. Even if you think in statements, if you examine your thoughts, they are really questions and not statements. You have the thought, I am hungry. But it's really a question. Am I hungry? Or how hungry am I? You have the thought, I like the person, but really you are asking yourself, do I like this person? Or what do I like about this person? All your thoughts start as questions and then you answer them. You are not the voice that speaks inside your head. You are an independent observer. You can observe the questions and answers and decide what to reject and what to accept. If you ask good questions, you will get good answers. If you ask lousy questions, you will get lousy answers. Two people can have the same exact experience and circumstance and totally different emotions as a result of the questions they ask. For example, two people have a car accident. One can ask, why me? Why do bad things always happen to me? And because it's a lousy question, he will get a lousy answer, like, because you're unlucky or because your life sucks, another person can have the same accident and say, How lucky am I that nothing happened to me? How lucky am I that the car is total, but I still can walk and go back home to my kids? Same circumstance, totally different outlooks. Get into the habit of asking yourself questions that put you in an empowered state, especially before meeting your clients. Build your own list of favorite questions. Here are some of mine. What am I grateful about in my life? What am I happy about today? What do I admire about this client? How can I get this stranger to like me, trust me, and want to do business with me? How can I help this client and make a new friend in the process? In later lectures, you will learn how to enter someone's world and affect their state. How to observe them, take whatever energy someone is in and move it a degree or two higher and be the uplifting spirit for them. For now, be conscious of the energy you are transmitting to your prospect. Manage your emotions by controlling your physiology and asking yourself preconceived, well thought out questions to put you in peak state. The strongest clothes in the world is your feelings, and you can't give somebody what you don't have. Increase your influence by bringing an upbeat, uplifting energy to all your interactions. 6. Rapport: Art or Science?: A wise man once said, People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Selling is the process of making friends, and the deeper the friendships we make, the more money we make. People will do business with people they like and feel they care. If you get somebody you're just meeting to feel like you really sincerely care about them right from the beginning, you won't believe the kind of impact you will have. If they don't trust you, they won't buy from you. The problem is, you can't explicitly tell someone to trust you. That won't work. Trust is something you build in a subtle way through what you say and how you act. It happens mostly on an unconscious level. So how do you build trust? First, keep in mind that people like people who are like them. When people are not like each other, they tend not to like each other. The more differences a person feels they have between you and themselves, the less rapport you will have. The first step is to find things in common. This isn't about talking about someone's life and things that are unrelated to your product or service. An expert wouldn't spend her time with a stranger talking about random stuff. Imagine you go to your doctor or your lawyer, and he spends half an hour talking to you about fishing. You might enjoy the conversation if you really like fishing, but you won't feel that the person values their time like an expert does. In sales, you develop rapport with someone when they realize that you care about them, that you understand them 100% and understand their point of view, and that you're an expert that can help them achieve their goals. These are the three things you have to convey to your clients to be able to influence them. You care, you understand, and you're an expert. In the next few lectures, I will show you how to convey these things in a subtle indirect way. 7. Silence That is Louder Than What You Say: Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. The first question the prospect is asking herself is, Whose interest does he have in mind? Does he really care about me, or is he in it just to make a sale and earn a commission? That's the first question you need to answer. You answer that question in her head by managing the twins of unconscious communication, body language and tonality. In this lecture, we will discuss body language. So what is it anyway? It's the ability to impact people the right way through how you move, how you carry yourself, how you make eye contact, and your facial expressions. This is where the money is. The words are easy. You can think them through and script them. Mastering body language, on the other hand, is hard. It is also more powerful than words. It hits us in the guts. It bypasses our conscious mind. It's unconscious and based on 500 million years of evolutionary data. There is a part of your brain. Some people call it the primitive brain that makes a snap judgment about everyone around it based on several factors. It decides, should we approach this person? Are they going to be good or should we retreat? Because there are going to be a huge risk. There are four categories that your primal brain categorizes people in. The first one is a friend. Your brain will signal you to trust these people and approach them. The second one, you've guessed it, enemy. Your brain will signal you to retreat from these people. The third one is attraction. There are specific triggers for attraction that are interesting but outside the scope of this course. The fourth category is indifference, which is how you perceive most people in your world. You are preprogrammed to be indifferent towards most people. Now, since we know that in sales, people buy from people they perceive as friends, the question becomes, how do we trigger in a stranger, someone we've never met before, the friendly response. The first thing you need to do is have a good first impression. People judge you from the first few seconds based on what you're wearing and how you carry yourself. Pay attention to how you look. You need to dress and act in a way that is congruent with how experts in your profession are expected to act. If you work in a bank, wear a suit, a tie, and clean shiny shoes. If you sell farming equipment to farmers, wear something more casual and suited to that role. Second, have good body language. In ancient times, when strangers met, they had to be very careful. You never knew if someone was dangerous. So what people would do is they would open up their arms when they met a new person to show there are no concealed weapons. And to indicate friendliness. Today, we shake hands, and if you're wondering why we shake with the right hand, it's because for most people, it's the sword or the gun hand. So when you're meeting someone new, deliberately open up your arms. When you open your arms, you are communicating with their unconscious brain and saying, I'm open to what you're saying. I perceive you as a friend. When you shake hands, don't shake like a dead fish like your arm is dead from the elbow down. Also, do not have an aggressive handshake where you're shaking very strongly that you're going to rip the other person's arm off. Shake the corporor handshake. Firm, but not out of whack firm. Your grip needs to also be firm, but don't squeeze too hard. It's a delicate balance. Another thing you should do is smile. Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you. Work on developing an above average smile. Remember, emotions are contagious. When you see somebody smile, you instantly have a state change. Smile, even when you're selling on the phone. It's weird but true. People can perceive your smile just from your voice on the phone. Now, when it comes to body language, there is an important distinction I want to make about the difference between interacting with men and women. When you're selling to a woman, stand in front of her and not to the side. Also, be very careful not to invade her personal space. Stay 2.5 feet back. She needs to see your hands. Otherwise, you will trigger her retreat response. For men, it's the opposite. Do not stand directly in front of them. This will trigger the confrontation response. Instead, stand to the side at an angle. Now, let's talk about the biggest mistake salespeople make when it comes to body language. It is they violate the simple and all powerful rule of congruency. Dress, look, and talk in a congruent manner. Body language and tonal congruency mean that when you say something, your voice, your body, and your mind are all saying the same thing. What you're saying on the outside needs to match what you're saying and feeling on the inside. Otherwise, people's primal brain will pick up on this subtle incongruency and you lose trust. For example, the customer asks you, is this the best price you can get? And you become shifty, or you say, Yeah, I think so. Not very convincing. Practice delivering your points with congruency by videotaping yourself and watching the videos. Another form of body language you should be aware of when you're talking to someone is eye contact. 70% of the time, you must have eye contact. If they are the one talking and you are the one listening, then keep the eye contact at 100%. Imagine that you're in a cocoon with the person speaking. No one exists in the world but him and listen as though every word he says is important and needs your undivided attention. When you're the one doing the talking, the look aside is a powerful communication technique. When you momentarily redirect your focus from the person's eyes to the side of the face, it's not meant to give you the opportunity to look at other things or people. Rather, it's meant to release the listener from too much intensity coming from you. Remember, first impressions are important. Dress for the role, have an open body language, shake the corporator's handshake, smile, and be congruent. See you in the next lecture. 8. How to Communicate Using Tonality: Peter Ducker once said, the most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. Tonality is the way you speak that allows you to take control of the conversation and convey certain attributes, not with your words, but with your tone of voice. Studies have shown that human communication is 45% body language, 45% tonality, and only 10% words. Words matter when you are speaking. Speak clearly simply and directly. If the other person uses ordinary language without complicated words, you must do the same. Nothing can create a barrier more rapidly than sounding superior by using big words. Deep away from any language that cuts the other person out of the loop. There are four main tonalities that we use all the time in sales, and when you use them at the right time, you become incredibly persuasive. The first tonal pattern you need to master is certainty. Certainty is the most powerful state for a salesperson to have. In any interaction, the person who is most certain will convince the other person. You project certainty by emphasizing certain words, letters or syllables while you're speaking. For example, consider the set of words spoken in a neutral tone. I can't tell you. You have no idea how incredible this product is. Now, contrast that with, I can't tell you you have no idea how incredible this product is. Which one is more compelling? Notice how I've emphasized the words no idea and incredible. You can play back the video if you like. It's subtle, but powerful difference. Here's another example. Based on everything you've just said to me, this is definitely a perfect fit for you or based on everything you've just said to me, this is definitely a perfect fit for you. Which one sounds more compelling? When you apply the tonality of certainty to the same set of words, it becomes way more convincing. Also, notice how I've used my hand like this to generate certainty. This is unconscious, and it's something I've noticed in myself. Each person uses physiology with different gestures to create different states. You need to notice the gestures you use for each tonal pattern. Knowing this allows you to muster that tone whenever you want with your physiology and gestures. The second tonality is what I call the friendly tone. When you call somebody or knock at their door, you're entering their world. You want to be friendly and upbeat, not boring. You want to have energy in your voice. There is power in bottled enthusiasm. Contrast, hello. This is Aus Amro calling from XYZ with Hello. This is Aus Amro calling from XYZ. When you raise your voice at the end of the phrase and pause it as a question, the client's unconscious dialogue searches for, should I know this? It makes you more familiar on an unconscious level. Also, it is best to address people by their first name. You want the interaction to be in the familiar like you're a friend talking to a friend. The third tonal pattern you should be aware of is the reasonable man tone. It is best to illustrate this with an example. Imagine you're with someone and you are asking for permission to tell him about your product or idea because when you are a pro, you always start pitching by asking for permission. You don't just start blabbing. Here's what it is. No, we ask for permission first. We say, you know, if you have 60 seconds, I would like to share an idea with you. You have a minute? Notice my tonality. I say, Got a minute. It's the reasonable man tonality. You got a minute. I got a minute. Everyone has a minute. We're reasonable. You want to come across as the reasonable, caring, helpful person, not the annoying pest who is pushing himself on people. You want to pull, not push. Another example is, let's say you're closing, and it's your closing remark. You say, Listen, John, you're going to be very, very impressed. Sounds fair enough. Look at my hands. That's my gesture for the reasonable man tonality. Again, you're implying, I'm reasonable. You're reasonable. Let's close this. That's how you affect people's internal dialogues. Certainty, you're going to be very, very impressed, John. Then you lay off. Sound fair enough. It's that low energy, reasonable man tone that gets them to collapse into the energy vacuum you've created. Be soft at the end. You cannot close someone with high pressure. It doesn't work. Be soft, B mellow. That's how you become persuasive. The fourth tonality is the tonality of scarcity. They say, if you want someone to listen to you, yell. If you want them to really listen to you, then whisper. By dropping your voice, you imply that you have something that is a secret. It is scarce. There is only five of these left versus there's only five of these left. It's very subtle yet a very powerful influencing technique on an unconscious level. All right. To recap, in this lecture, we've talked about the four tonalities that you can utilize to control people's internal dialogues. They are certainty, you emphasize words, the reasonable ban, you pull back and create an energy vacuum with your tone. The friendly tone, you raise the end of the phrase or sentence and pause it as a question and the scarcity tonality, you lower your voice to imply scarcity. Remember, there are physiological gestures for each tonality that differ from person to person. Once you know your own gesture, you can create the state anytime you want. It's motion that creates the emotion, not the other way around. Your physiology always leads everything else. See you in the next lecture. 9. The One Thing That Guarantees Rapport: Someone wise once said. Through matching and mirroring, we can non verbally tell others that we share their feelings and emotions. So what is matching and mirroring? Matching and mirroring mean you match portions of the other person's behavior. For example, matching someone's body language might mean adopting a relaxed posture if they have a relaxed posture. Mirroring their body language might mean putting your arms or legs in the same position as they do. This one thing will take your sales game to a whole new level. The person who pointed this concept out is a psychiatrist called Milton Ericson. He understood that you have both a conscious and an unconscious mind, and he knew that the unconscious is more powerful. Milton began to notice that when human beings got together, if they got in rapport, they became physiologically like each other in a variety of ways. We naturally mirror each other when we are in rapport. Our physical body language becomes the same but here is the problem. Most people wait until they have enough words in common, and after that, they put the voice and the body in common. Effective salespeople reverse that process. They match the physiology first. When you do that, others will not know why, but they will feel comfortable. I know what you're thinking. You are asking yourself, wouldn't people notice if you copy their body language? The answer is no, they don't because mirroring is a natural process that happens when people are in rapport. When you're mirroring someone, be elegant. That means you have a delay. Let's say they close their legs or close their arms. You don't mirror them in the same moment. Wait a bit. Also, you need to start where the other person is emotionally. If you walk in and someone is down, don't be all excited. Align with them first and then redirect their focus. You want to start where they are at their energy level and their physiology. And after a while, you can change slightly and they will follow you. We call that process pacing and leading. If they are down, I'm not saying to be down, but bring your body to a similar place. If they are slow, don't speed up. Be where they are at least at the start to make the connection so they can hear your message. I'm naturally loud and I talk fast. My wife is quiet and mellow. Because I've internalized what I'm teaching you, I always notice myself slowing down and lowering my voice unconsciously to match hers. When people are upset, sometimes it's appropriate to align with them and get upset, too. An upset customer says, Your company does this and that and this, and you say, I hate it when people have that perception. That's horrible if we have done that. It's something horrible and has to stop. Align with people, get on their side. As soon as they attack, come over and be with them. Don't be fighting them. So the first step for effective mirroring is aligning. Here are the important physiological aspects that you have to pay attention to and mirror. Number one is the pace and speed of what you say. They talk slow, you talk slow. They talk fast, you talk fast. Number two is volume. Match their voice volume. If they are speaking loudly, speak loudly. If they are quiet, lower your voice. Number three is key words they use. Try to use their favorite words in your sentences. Number four is your body language. The way you hold your body and the posture you have and the gestures mirror someone's gestures. If they close their arms, close your arms. If they cross their legs, do the same. Number five is the facial expressions, especially eye contact. If they stare, you stare back for as long as they do. If they shift their eyes, match the pace they are using. Number six, proximity, how close you get to somebody. Some people are not comfortable until they get very close. Others may want some distance. We all have a certain amount of space that we think we need. Notice how close people get to you. If they get to a specific distance, don't violate that distance. Number seven is touching. There are people in our culture who touching for them is the single most enjoyable feeling in the world, even from a stranger. They are screaming for contact. Scientists call it skin hunger. With these people, a touch like a handshake or a touch on the shoulder will build more rapport than anything you might say to them. I don't mean a sexual touch or a touch that can be interpreted that way. I mean a friendship touch. On the other hand, if you touch somebody that normally does not get touch and you just assume that they are a touchy person, you will lose rapport. So let them initiate. Also, be conscious of different cultures when it comes to touch. Use your sensory acuity. Be acutely sensitive for the impact that your present communication style is having on the prospect. After you've mirrored for a while, and when you feel, you are in rapport to test your feelings, change your body language, and see if the prospect will follow. If they do, you are in sync. For example, they start with their arms crossed. You cross your arms and match as many of the other aspects we've discussed. After a while, change your posture and open your arms. If you are in rapport, they will follow you. That's how pros test whether they are in rapport or not with their clients. It's like magic the first time you experience it. I want you to go out and test this today. Test it on your friends or with your spouse or your next client. Don't be like most people who wait until they got enough words in common to finally being able to justify putting their voices and body in the same place. You want to reverse the process. You can be guaranteed rapport if all you do is mirror them. If you mirror someone consistently, they don't have a choice but to like you. 10. Are You Using the Right Drivers?: In this section, I will give you some important distinctions and things to notice when you're listening to clients. Different people have different communication styles, and when you are able to notice clues from what the client says, you can uncover these styles and adapt your communication style to suit them. Let's start with the two forces that are behind all human action. The primary motivating factor in all human beings is the desire to avoid pain and the desire to gain pleasure. These twin forces are what drives all human behavior. In selling, we cannot assume we know what's going to be painful for one person and pleasurable for another. That's why we use questions to find out the client's beliefs and values and what gets them to feel pain or pleasure. An important distinction we need to make here is this. While everyone will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure, there are two types of people moving towards people and moving away from people. Moving towards people get motivated by pleasure and envisioning themselves moving towards it. Moving away people, get motivated by pain and envisioning themselves moving away from it. The way to find out if a person is moving towards or moving away is to ask them questions, a general question as part of your discovery. You can adapt this question depending on what you're selling. Ask them, what do you want in for example, what do you want in a car? The answer will revere their moving away or moving towards preference. A moving towards person would say something like, I want a car that is reliable. I want a car that is fuel efficient. I want a car that is spacious from inside. A moving away person would answer, I don't want a car that keeps breaking down, or I don't want a guys guzzler, or I don't want a car that is tight from inside. Notice that they both gave essentially the same answer. However, they arrived at the answer using a totally different thought process. Pay attention to how someone answers your questions and take note of whether they are moving towards or moving away. Later on, you will use that in personalizing your presentation to suit their style. Moving on. 11. How the Brain Makes Sense of the World: In this lecture, we are going to discuss the four focusing patterns that people have. While these are generalizations that changed based on context, identifying these patterns through active listening gives you an edge. The first pattern is moving towards versus moving away. This is the most important because if you violate it, you will create a very clear negative response. I've discussed this in a previous lecture, so we're not going to discuss it here. Let's move on. The second focusing pattern is internal or external frames of reference. Where does a person focus their attention to know if something is right or wrong? Internal people go inside to decide if something is good or bad. External people focus on what other people think. This frame of reference is very easy to spot. Usually, external people ask what your other clients do or which model your other clients like the most. If you can't spot this, you can ask questions to find out, for example, you can ask, how do you know if you like the product or how do you know if it's a good purchase? If they answer something like, I will know if my wife likes it, or I will know if others comment on it, or I will know if X person or X people say it's good, then you know they have an external frame of reference. Showing them what others say about you or your product and how others use it will help you tremendously. The third frame of reference is matcher or mismatcher. Matchers are people who look for sameness, how things are alike. In any situation, they tend to see how things are alike to learn. Mismatchers are people who focus on how things are different. A mismatcher will be looking for flaws in your presentation. Generally, mismatchers first response is to exception to the rule or the potentially false premise you are basing your point upon. Matchers will often generalize on a large scale. The way to deal with them is to agree and to offer another thing that they can match to. You tell them, our product is like, and you insert something you know they love. Now, let's go to mismatchers. They are tougher to sell to and require quite a bit of tax whatever you say to mismatchers, they take the opposite side. The way you deal with them is to congruently say the opposite. Tell them to do the exact opposite of what you want them to do. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's very effective. Phrase your requests and ideas in the negative. Add these phrases before suggesting anything. You are probably not going to like this, or you are probably not going to agree with this. Or I had an idea that probably won't work, but I wanted to see what you think. Or this may be the worst idea that I've ever had. Or I don't know if this is something you'd be involved in. Using reverse psychology works very well with mismatches. The fourth frame of reference is general or specific. General people focus on the big picture. They don't want you to tell them all the details. That will bore the hell out of them. Somebody who is specific wants the details. If you tell them broad stroke ideas about your product or service, they will think you are concealing something and as a result, mistrust you. To find out which type your client is, you can notice if they are asking about the details, or are they asking more general questions? You can also ask them directly. Do you want to start with the big picture or do you want to start with the details? So to recap, in this lecture, we've discussed the four focusing patterns that people have moving towards and moving away. Internal and external matcher and mismatch, general and specific. These are distinctions you need to be alert to when you're actively listening to your client and how they phrase their sentences and the type of questions they ask so that you can personalize and cater your presentation to the unique individual in front of you when it's time to present. Don't worry. If for now, this seems hard to do, remember, you first have to be consciously competent, which you are right now. And later with practice, you will start unconsciously picking up the subtle differences in language patterns when you're talking to people. Be patient with yourself and practice, practice, practice. See you in the next lecture. 12. Hunting For Gold : Jim Roane once said, to succeed in sales, simply talk to lots of people every day. And here's what's exciting. There are lots of people. The first step in a successful sales career is to find people to talk to about your product or service. Without people to talk to, you will not sell anything. Here is the formula for success in sales. Success equals your skill level times the number of contacts you make. To be more successful, you either increase your skill level, so you close a higher percentage of people, which is what you're doing, studying this course, or you increase the number of people you talk to, and that's what prospecting is all about. So what is prospecting? An interesting fact is that the original use of the term Prospector refers to the efforts of individuals to find gold by visually scanning creek beds and rock formations. When gold was spotted, the prospectors would spend time sifting through the dirt to find the valuable nuggets that were left behind when dirt was washed away. That's what the modern day sales prospectors do. They sift through large list of potential clients to try and uncover those who are interested and ready to buy. A big mistake salespeople make when prospecting is trying to turn non buyers into buyers. Don't try to turn dirt into gold. Effective prospecting is about finding out people who are interested and more importantly, weeding out people who are not interested or don't qualify for whatever it is you are offering. Effective prospecting is the most important high level task for a salesperson because it keeps your pipeline full. If you don't prospect, you will be desperate for people to speak to thinking that each prospect matters so much. This desperation will show in your tone. People smell desperation, energy a mile away. And in the prospects had, you cannot be successful and desperate at the same time. If you are dependent on this one sale, so much you will lack confidence and come across as a struggling beginner. No one wants to do business with a beginner. People want to do business with the expert, the top dog in any industry. Depending on what you're selling, prospecting can be done through the phone, email messages, and social media or face to face. I like the phone the most, as it is the perfect balance between efficient and personal. In an hour, you can make a lot more contacts, calling people than knocking on their doors. Every top salesperson I know have specific prospecting goals every day. There are a few of them who have them divided into weekly goals, but almost all had them broken down to the day. In the short term, it may feel hard to make calls. It's like exercising. But how do you feel after you go to the gym? Almost always, you feel incredible. The same applies with calls. After you've made contacts and you've gotten people's attention, you feel phenomenal. I often do my prospecting calls first thing in the morning before I start my day. It gives me a great feeling throughout the day and sets me up mentally for success. One pitfall that I see salespeople make is not managing their state and energy level when making calls. Make sure that every call you make, you make it at a level ten state. Remember, it might be your 11th call and your energy will naturally shift down the more calls you make. You need to actively resist that. The prospect you are calling, it's the first time they hear your voice. They don't know you, and it's their first impression of you. You need to come across as enthusiastic, sharp, and a figure of authority. And that will not happen if your energy level is down. Every person has specific ways to raise their energy. For me, it's pacing. Whenever I'm calling, I pace back and forth. I use my physiology to affect my energy. Find your own energy multiplier and do it. Make sure your physiology is in check. Do not slouch in your chair or make calls while laying down. It will come across in your voice. Use your physiology to your advantage. A lot of salespeople have call reluctance. There's a saying that goes, reluctant salespeople have skinny kids. Whatever story you have in your head of why you don't want to do your calls or why calls are not for you, it's just that a story a common story that salespeople tell themselves is that they are bothering people when they call them or that people do not have time to listen to them. That is simply not true. People always have time if you're interesting enough. The higher your skill level, the more interesting you become. When you're calling, have fun. Don't be mechanical like a robot. Try to be funny and interesting. Ask yourself, how can I get this person's attention and make her want to listen to what I have to say? Always be courteous and start your call by asking for permission. Say, Hi. My name is Aus Amro. I'm calling from XYZ. Then pause. For as long as it takes, do not say another word. Notice the friendly tone. I pose it as a question. Hi, my name is Aus Amro. I'm calling from XYZ. Because you pause it as a question, the client will unconsciously be thinking, should I know this person? They will eventually say, Yeah, or okay, or how can I help you? And depending on what you're selling, you have to insert a short to the point and effective reason for your call. Followed by, do you have a minute to discuss that? For example, I'm calling to see if I can save you some money on your mortgage. Do you have a minute to discuss that? Or I'm calling to inform you about the crazy discount we currently have on our cars. Do you have a minute to discuss that? Always, give them the option to opt out of the call by asking if they have the time to talk to you about it right now. Always stay under a minute. Your goal from prospecting is not to sell anything. Your goal is to create enough interest to book an appointment. They will either say, yes, I have a minute or no, I don't have a minute. If they say yes, offer another benefit, followed by, let's book an appointment to discuss it. For example, mortgage rates have not been that low in over two years, and I've been able to save a lot of other clients thousands of dollars. I will need to know your rate on your current mortgage and the mortgage balance to calculate whether I can save you some money or not. Let's book an appointment to discuss it. If they say no, they don't have a minute. You can say, when is a good time to call you back? Always call back at the time and date they specify. Do not let your story stop you from the number one job you have as a salesperson. Prospect. Realize that in sales, massive action cures all, and your success is a function of your skill level and the number of contacts you make every day. That's how new salespeople become rookies of the year. They are paranoid about their sales, so they make a lot more contacts than everyone else. The more contacts you make, the more practice you get, the more you hone your skills, which results in a higher income. It's all in your control. There is not one top producer that I know that does not have daily or weekly prospecting goals that they never break. This is the main differentiator between the top 1% money earners and the rest. While you're doing this course, I challenge you to make a lot more contacts than you usually do. This will accelerate your learning as you will practice more. Think of a new contact per day number that you will never break and throughout this course, always make more calls than that number. See you in the next lecture. 13. Questions Are The Answer: Someone Wise once said, telling is not selling. Asking questions is selling. Remember the three points you have to convey to your clients when you first meet them? You care about them. You 100% understand their point of view and what they are trying to achieve, and you're an expert that can help them achieve their goals. We've already discussed building rapport, which conveys that you care. In the next couple of lectures, I will show you how to demonstrate the second point that you 100% understand their point of view and what they are trying to achieve. Imagine you go to a doctor. You sit down on the bench waiting for him. The doctor comes, says hello, and starts examining you. The doctor does not ask you any questions. After he finishes, he prescribes a drug, says by, and walks out. How confident would you feel about the doctor? Even if the diagnosis is accurate and even if it's the right drug for you, without first asking about your symptoms, you will not feel understood. Therefore, you will not be confident about the drug prescribed. It is the same with sales. Your clients need to feel that you 100% understand their situation and what problem they are trying to solve. Without them being certain that you understand them, you can't influence them. Master persuaders never shoot in the dark or start presenting without knowing enough about the prospect. It is very common for average salespeople to jump ahead of themselves in their sales process and begin their presentation before doing a thorough discovery. Don't be that girl or guy. Don't present before the client feels 100% understood. So how do you demonstrate understanding through questions. Questions allow you to control the encounter. When you're in control, you're asking well thought out questions, and it's the prospect that's doing most of the talking. You're just gathering intelligence. You need to find out the core emotion that drives that person. What is their core emotional need? What is important for them right now? How do they perceive the world? Give the prospect the chance to speak, and more importantly, to feel heard, 80% of the time you're with a customer, they should be talking. Only 20% of the time, you should be talking. When you ask a prospect their opinion, you are inducing the law of reciprocation because now by you listening to their opinion, if they feel you're really hearing them, they're going to listen to you as well. Start by getting permission to pro. Never assume that you have the permission to ask personal questions. You can say something as simple as, can I ask you some questions? Start off with big picture questions and slowly move into specific questions. Ask the questions in an off handed manner. Tonality is important here. Use the friendly or reasonable man tonality. How much are you trading with right now? Makes you sound like an impersonal detective. Contrast this with, by the way, out of curiosity, how much are you trading with right now? Approximately. Notice the difference. If you are competing for their business with another provider, find out what they currently like about their product or service with the competition and what they don't like, because later on, you're going to be using their likes and dislikes to personalize your presentation. What did you dislike about it? What would you change or improve with your current provider? Let the prospect talk. Most people don't ever get to be heard. Listen to them. At this stage, you want to ask open ended questions, not yes and no questions. Examples are, what's your biggest headache with? What's your ultimate objective? What would be your ideal program? Of all the factors, what's the most important to you? What about that makes you happy? How does that make you feel? Construct your own list of favorite open ended questions that are related to your product or service. When they are answering your questions, listen actively, which is the subject of our next lecture. See you there. 14. How to Listen Like a Pro: Stephen Covey once said, most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply. Don't be like most people. As I mentioned in the last lecture, it is important to let the clients talk. They know about their business and problems more than you do. Ask them questions and let them tell you a few things. If you disagree with the prospect, you may be tempted to interrupt. Don't. It is dangerous. They don't pay attention to you while they still have a lot of ideas to express. Listen patiently and with an open mind. Be sincere about it. Encourage them to express their ideas fully. You may also at times be tempted to add to people's thoughts while they are talking or maybe finish their sentences when they pause. Don't pause before replying rather than jumping in as soon as the other person takes a breath. Pause for three to 5 seconds. Allow a silence to exist. Just breathe and relax. First, by pausing, you avoid interrupting if the client is just pausing to reorganize his thoughts before continuing. Second, you convey to the person that what he said was important and that you are considering it carefully. You also need to be actively listening, which means using vocal and verbal acknowledgments and reassurances, such as Mm hmm. Yes, of course, and the like. These simple remarks let the other person know that you are fully engaged. Vocal reassurances are clear indicators of someone who is paying close attention. Good active listeners always make little noises. Remembering what someone says is only a part of listening. If nothing in your behavior confirms you are listening, you are being a lousy listener. If there aren't any signals coming from you, let's say, you're paying attention, you are not actively listening. When it comes to charming people, attention is perhaps the most important quality of all. When you pay close attention to another person, they feel valuable and important, and that feeling makes them like you. Imagine that your eyes are sun lamps and you are giving the person's face a tan. How much eye contact is right, you may ask. When you are listening, there is no such thing as too much. Ideally, it should be 100%. If you look away too often or for too long, the other person will begin to think that you're bored. What you can do is flicker. Flickering is the act of shifting your gaze from one of the person's eyes to the other while you are listening. Question for clarification. Never assume that you know exactly what the person meant by what he said. Instead, help him to expand on what he said by asking, What do you mean exactly? Another tip is to lean your body forward towards someone. When you lean toward someone, it is as though you are saying with your body, I find you fascinating. You are drawing me towards you with magnetic force. Leaning away may suggest I'm bored. I can think of a dozen things I'd rather be doing than talking to you. Poor listeners make the mistake of turning their heads towards the speaker but allowing their body to be inclined away. This suggests that you don't really care about what the person is saying, but you're only pretending that you care. Make sure both your face and your body is pointed towards the speaker. When the person is done talking, feed what she said back. Paraphrase what the client said in your own words. That is the maximum test for effective listening, the proof that you were really paying attention. Do not start talking before paraphrasing and getting verbal acknowledgment from the speaker that you understood her point. Look for confirmations from the client, like, exactly or right on, or you got it. If you can articulate the pain a prospect is feeling accurately back to them, they will almost always buy what you're offering. The point from effective questioning, listening to the answers and then paraphrasing is for the client to feel understood. Do not move forward before achieving that. On a personal level, keep in mind that in a conversation, every person is more interested in what they have to say than anyone else. People love to talk. The more you can make them talk, the more they will like you. The next time someone comes to you with a problem or difficult choice, instead of giving advice, turn it around and ask, What do you think you should do and then listen patiently without interrupting? Notice how most of the time they will talk themselves into an answer. They will also think you are a great person to converse with, even though they did all the talking. The key to being a good conversationalist is to be a good listener, not a good talker. I'll leave you with that. 15. How to Customize Your Presentation: Hello, and welcome back. So far, you've built rapport and got the client to like you and trust you. You've also asked well thought out questions which allowed you to gather intelligence and demonstrate to the client that you 100% understand her point of view and what she is trying to achieve. Now it's time to offer your product or service. When you transition from gathering information to presenting, keep it simple. You can say, after everything you've just told me, this seems like a perfect fit for you. First thing to remember, do not make this the focal point of your presentation. Some people make this too important and they go on forever. They turn it into some sort of keynote speech where they talk for 45 minutes until the client is tired and bored. Don't do that. It should maximum be a few minutes long. In any product, there are many features and benefits you can talk about. But what you have to do is narrow it down to the few points that are uniquely important to the client in front of you. Zoom in on what they told you is important for them. Get to the heart of the matter. Here is the framework you should use. Problem, agitate, solve. Let's say you're selling a solution for boldness in males, a cream or something that stops or cures hair loss. By the way, just shave it off and it will be fine. But let's say you're selling a solution that cures baldness. First, state the problem. You're losing hair, then agitate it through questions. Agitating it means you're putting salt on the wound. You go into all these insecurities they might face. You know these because you've uncovered them when you were in the questioning phase. You might have asked. So for you, what is the main reason you want to sort this out? Why do you want to fix this problem? And they might have said, Well, losing hair makes me less attractive and I feel less confident. And then your next question would have been. Yeah, I get it. I hear that all the time from other clients. Like, for you personally, have you noticed other things in your life that are harder because you're losing hair? Or do you expect other things to become harder? And you just go into the problem with them and they give you the stuff that they're annoyed about. Maybe it's costing them romantic relationships. Maybe it makes them feel less confident. Maybe they want to feel younger again. You want to agitate that. In the agitate phase, you sort of feed their words back to them, and then you go into the solution. This stuff is super annoying and it's costing you X, Y, and Z. And that's exactly the reason why we made this service or this product because this solves all these and it does it in a very particular way. Let me tell you about it. Sales is a t and heal business, identifying the t, agitating it, and then healing it for them. At this stage, keep your powder dry. Keeping your powder dry is an old military saying about not firing off all your MO when you are miles away from the enemy. Save your best and most effective stuff. Do not give them everything great about your product all upfront because once they say no, they will stay consistent with that no, and you will have no way back unless you add more benefits. Better to leave some stuff. So when they say no, you say, Okay, let me tell you something else, and you add another benefit. Paint a picture in their head of how life will be without these paints that they just told you about. Unleash their imagination. Keep in mind that people run movies in their head, and in a split second, imagine what it's going to be like and how they're going to feel after the purchase. How will I feel after using this product is where the client's brain goes subconsciously? Great persuaders do not leave this unanswered. They future pace what's going to happen after the client buys the product. The way to make it real is to get them to tell you. If you tell them, they have to evaluate it. If they tell you, it's true. Use questions strategically to get them to tell you. For example, if you were to actually invest in this product right now, tell me something. What would be the best benefit of that? Come up with ways that you could get someone to experience owning your product already. There is a car salesman that my family has been dealing with for years. He would say, here, take this car and park it in your house and use it when you need it. And if you like it, pay me later. If you don't like it, just return it. How are you going to say no to this offer? And, yeah, we never end up returning it. Remember, when you're presenting, state the problem, agitate it, and then solve it. See you in the next lecture. 16. What's the Tipping Point?: In this lecture, we are going to discuss the concept of the scale and how people are always in a balancing act of indecision. The scale is a good metaphor to visualize where your buyer is in terms of decision making at any point of time. Whether someone buys or not comes down to this. Imagine a scale. On one side, there are the reasons to buy now. On the other side, there are the reasons to avoid buying. When you are selling, the first thing to look for is the emotional reasons to buy now. People buy with their emotions and justify their decision with logic. Look for a want or a desire and the hurt in it. Remember, you have to make sure they are feeling the hurt. Stir it up and magnify it. The challenge that salespeople run into usually is that they treat everybody like they have the same ones. Mistakenly, average salespeople try to sell what they love about their products instead of finding out what is important for their clients. Also, as we've discussed before, without your client's input, the client will not feel that you understand her needs. You need to find out what is something this person wants and is not getting. You need to stir this up and then show them how to solve it through your product or service. What is it that is very important to this person? What are their most important values and beliefs? Sometimes the emotional reasons are hidden. Some people will buy because they always want the best. Some people will buy because they want friendship. They buy because they want to be friends with you. Some people buy because the emotion that they really want is they want to feel intelligent. Those are the people that at first glance, you think they have no emotion, but the emotion is they have to feel intelligent. If they don't, they are really in pain. Some people will make a choice because they want confidence. They think if they do this, they will be more successful. Some people make a purchase because it's about survival for them. Whatever decisions people make, they are emotional and they justify them with logic. You need to dig for that emotion. You want to find it and disturb it by asking questions. Now, people are weighing their unique reasons to buy now against the reasons to avoid buying. Maybe they think if I buy, it's going to mean pain. If I buy, it will cause me hardship financially, or maybe if I buy, it's not going to be worth it. Or if I buy, maybe it's not going to produce the result that were promised to me. Or if I buy, what if other people judge me negatively? Or what if I buy and I don't really need it right now? What's happening is that people have certain fears, and whether they buy or not is going to be based simply on one thing, which side the scale tilts to? We are in a balancing act of indecision, and there is always an action threshold. Action threshold is an unconscious set point that somebody has for taking action. When you're going through a sales presentation, what you're doing is you're knocking out negatives, building up positives, and aligning their values and beliefs with your product or service, all at the same time without them knowing until you tip the scale and reach the action threshold, you can always test where you are on the scale by using test clauses effectively. 17. The Art of the Perfect Close : Welcome back. In this lecture, we will discuss the stage some salespeople are afraid of closing the sale. The reason they get timid is that they open themselves up for rejection in this stage. A big misconception is that closing the sale is the most important part of your presentation. Wrong. If you must close hard at the end, it's because you haven't done your job upfront. Closing starts the instant you meet the client. Every word that you utter and every gesture is about getting to the close. I personally don't like the word closing the sale. The reason is closing implies that something is closed. Final, over. This way of thinking misses the gold mine, referral opportunities. If you want to build a long term, successful enterprise, you don't close a sale. You open a relationship. You never want to close until the prospect is ready to buy. Closing techniques that you read about online are numerous and sadly outdated. Today's consumers are highly educated, and techniques that sound like techniques turn them off. People want to buy but do not want to be sold to. Your clothes has to flow naturally and not sound like a clothes. People want to be guided towards making a decision. They don't want and they don't like to make a decision themselves. They want the expert who has their best interest at heart to advise them on the best course of action without making them feel that they are being sold to. When you've checked all the marks that we've talked about in previous lectures, you've built rapport, you've positioned yourself as an expert. You've came across as enthusiastic and sharp. You've listened, you've uncovered what's important to your client. You've presented your product in a way that tailors it to the specific individual in front of you. You've explained the features and benefits and how they relate to your client's unique situation carefully. You've gauged temperature by test closing. You've determined that the customer is ready now and only now you can move to close. There are different ways you can approach closing. Assuming the sale is by far the best approach. What does assuming the sale mean? It means letting the buyer know that they are buying without asking them to buy. It's not a question. It's a statement. You intentionally assume that the customer has already said yes. For example, you might say, give me your credit card, and I'll get the paperwork started. Or how about next Monday for delivery? Another approach to this is to offer them one of two options. Do you want it in blue or green? Do you want delivery on Friday or Thursday? To implement this effectively, you must have a clear understanding of the customer's needs and desires beforehand and high levels of trust and rapport. When you reach the closing stage, there is nothing more to discuss with the customer except for how they intend to pay. If you did your job right, you are the giver, not the taker, and there shouldn't be any hesitation in moving forward. Do not confuse assuming the sale with not asking for the sale at all. You would be surprised the number of salespeople who do a great job presenting then are too afraid to actually ask for the sale. To know that you've correctly assumed the sale, you will have one of two responses from the client. You either get a purchase or the client has to stop you and say no, we are not moving forward. If you get a purchase, great. Congratulate them for a wise decision. Make it fun. If you got someone to laugh at the end of the process, you're making it enjoyable. If the client says no or brings up another objection, never attack them. Change your approach, answer the objection, loop the conversation back and try to add more reasons to buy now. If you get a hard no, it means that you have not tried your customer correctly. Your ideal closing ratio is 100% of the time. If a deal was not going to close, you should have uncovered that during the test closing stage. When you reach the closing stage, all deals should close, period. If they say they want to think about it or they want to discuss it with someone, it is important to keep the ball in your court. Keep the next step with you. You could tell them, Okay, that is fine. Shall I call you back in a week? Or how long do you think you need to make a decision? When you phone them back, you can say, I'm calling you as promised. That way, you have a reason to call them, and it makes you look organized and efficient. Always stick to the date and time they told you. Always make sure you do phone them back. It's amazing how many salespeople don't phone back because of fear of rejection. In sales, the money is in the follow up. Some people always say no initially because they want to take their time and think about things. That's their nature. So make the phone call. Always stay professional, never get defensive or angry. Keep the door open and provide a way for the client to come back if they change their mind without feeling uneasy or ashamed of coming back. Never burn a bridge. Let them be, give them space and time and a way to come back easily. 18. How to Overcome Any Objection: In this lecture, we will discuss handling objections. First things first, objections are your new best friend. Objections aren't bad or negative. When people make objections, they are simply asking for more information. Top salespeople see objections as something that is welcome and something that has to happen before the sale is made. The sale actually starts when they say no. If they buy right away, then you're not a salesperson. You're an order taker. An objection is an opportunity to know what's really going on in someone's mind. It is also an opportunity to understand what people's beliefs are and the fears they are having right now. Whatever objection somebody gives you align with their beliefs. The first step in answering an objection is to make them feel you're on their side, not fighting them. The biggest mistake that most salespeople make is that when somebody gives them an objection, the first thing they do is try to directly debunk it. That is a huge mistake. The whole key to influencing people is to align with them and be on their side and see things from their perspective. If you answer the objection directly, you seem pushy. Top persuaders do not answer objections. They take people's objections and turn them into questions. You can't answer an objection, but you can answer a question. For example, you give the guy the presentation, and he says, I want to think about it. You don't say why you want to think about it. That's answering the objection directly. You do not want to do that. Your first step is to deflect the objection. Put it off on the side. It's not important. It's not a real objection. No matter what he says, your answer is, I hear what you're saying. Let me ask you a question. Does the idea make sense to you? Do you like the idea? The best way to deflect an objection is to answer it before the client brings it up. Anticipate all objections and loop them into your presentation and knock them out before the client even brings them up. Write every objection that your clients have given you throughout time, and you will have a list of all the possible objections that exist for your product or service. Brainstorm that list and write down a few ways to handle each objection and practice so you become effective with their delivery. Brag about an objection in advance. For example, I used to sell credit cards. We had a credit card that had a big annual fee. Rather than wait until the client brings up the fee, I used to get in front of it and mention it at the beginning by saying, This is our best credit card. With this amazing card, you have a lot of feature. We charge $400 annually for this, and it's worth every penny. Let me show you why. This approach utilizes the fee objection right off the bat and turns it into a selling point. It's amazing. That's why it's expensive. Most of the time, the client will give you an objection, but it's not the real objection in their head. So be aware of that. Your goal is to find out the real barriers that are stopping this person from taking action. Here are the eight steps to effectively handling objections. Number one, ignore it. They might not mean it. Hear the person out, then feed it back to them nicely in the form of a question. They say, it costs too much. You say it costs too much. That puts the objection right back with the client. They will have to defend it or explain it. Many times in trying to explain the objection, they talk themselves out of it. Number two, question it. For example, I know you have your reasons for saying that. Do you mind if I ask what they are? This will allow you to dig a step deeper and uncover another layer of how the client is thinking. Number three, make it a final objection. For example, just suppose we can handle XYZ and we met your needs in this area. Then, would you want to go ahead? They say yes or they would say no and give you the real objection. Number four, align with your prospect and put them at ease so they don't feel tension between you. Say things like, I often hear that, or you're right. You need to communicate that you appreciate your respect and you agree with their line of thinking. For example, I appreciate how you feel about that. Can you elaborate on why you feel this way? Number five, turn the objection into a question. For example, client says it costs too much. You say, you're absolutely right. I hear that from a lot of people. This is a major investment, and this brings up a question which is, in spite of the cost, isn't the real issue, whether it is possible for you to be able to get much more benefit than what you're investing? Number six, turn the objection back at them. For example, I can't afford it. Answer. Well, maybe that's the reason you should get the program. Number seven, outweigh it. For example, I know you're concerned about blank, but isn't Blank more important? I know you're concerned about the price of the car, but with a new baby coming or a new baby on the way, isn't safety more important? Number eight, minimize it. For example, you can say something like, you're absolutely right. It's a large investment. It's going to be how much, 1,000. How many years are you going to use it? Ten years? That's $100 a year and about $9 a month and about $0.30 a day. It's much less than a homemade cup of coffee. The key is to think in advance about many ways to handle objections and then utilize the best way depending on the client in front of you. In this lecture, we talked about handling objections and how objections are nothing more than questions in disguise. Remember, the best way to answer objections is to front them, mention them before they are even asked. And no matter what someone says, be on their side. Don't try to crush the objection. Whatever objection somebody gives you, you align with the prospect, appreciate, respect, and agree. See you in the next lecture. 19. The Money is in the Follow-up: A few weeks ago, I met a personal trainer that works in my gym in one of the parenting groups I attend with my little daughter. That personal trainer has an impressive physique, and I revealed to him that I was looking to buy a year long personal training package to take my fitness to the next level. Long story short, we set up an appointment, and because my membership was on pause at that gym at that time, I was not able to enter the gym. I couldn't reach the personal trainer by phone, and the appointment was very early in the morning. So there was no one to open the door. It was also freezing cold because it's winter in Canada. So I had to go back home. I messaged him when I got back home, and we agreed to set up another appointment. I was very busy that week, so I told him, we will set it up next week. Next week came and he never followed up. I was very surprised. I'm right there a super easy sale. I want to set up a year long commitment with you. That's thousands of dollars in potential business. And you never followed up nothing agitates me more than bad salesmanship. So I let it go and decided to hire a coach online instead. A few weeks later, he saw me at the gym, and I think he remembered that there is this potential customer that I forgot about. That day, he sent me a message later on, asking if I was still interested in personal training. How sad is that? He missed out on thousands of dollars because he never followed up. When a salesperson doesn't follow up, what does a customer think that he is not important enough, that the salesperson is not organized, that the salesperson does not care enough. In sales, the money is in the follow up. Statistically, 48% of salespeople never follow up. If you make a decision today to say, I'm going to follow up, you have now separated yourself from 48% of other salespeople in your marketplace. 25% of salespeople who do follow up make only two contacts. One in eight salespeople make three contacts. Now, consider that eight out of ten sales from all companies were made between the fifth and the 12th contact. What does that mean to you? It means you got to get your follow up game on, and you better have at least 12 contacts scheduled with your lead when you get one. That will set you apart from virtually everyone in your industry. 20. Are Scripts the Secret Weapon?: Welcome back. In this lecture, we are going to talk about the effective use of scripting. Scripting is basically you writing down what you want to say at each point of the presentation. A script gives you the opportunity to go through the entire sale from A to Z and think through the plan and your interaction, creating airtight, logical and emotional cases for your product or service. This frees your brain to make effective use of tonality and body language. A script makes you sound certain that you know what you're talking about and never run out of intelligent things to say. Effectively using a script means you cannot sound like you are reading. You have to write it in such a way that it sounds natural and pleasing to the ear. When you are writing a script, remember that when you write words down, it's slightly different than the spoken word. Certain words are contracted and some words are completely dropped in conversations. That's why reading your script out loud and refining it to be pleasing to the ear is very important. Now, you might think you're good enough and can say things from the top of your head without a script. That's what I thought for the longest time. I've realized I was wrong. You won't deliver with as much certainty as you would if you were reading from a script or you had it memorized. You want to know the script so well that you say the words automatically without conscious thought. This will allow the rest of your brain to focus on tonality, body language, and effective listening to read your client and gather intelligence rather than being caught up in your own head. If you're thinking about the words, your conscious brain has only so much processing power, and you'll find that without a script, you'll be missing those vital and subtle cues that can tell you a lot about the other person. The best way to master a script is to practice by reading it out loud. That way, you refine it removing tongue twisters and sentences that aren't flowing correctly. Keep rewriting until you make sure that every single word in the script flows seamlessly. Remember, to always start from big picture questions and lead into the more specific. Don't be domineering or preachy with your questions. Your tonality is always very important. Also, make sure your script is not front loaded. Save your most potent points for when you really need them. Keep the body of your presentation short. Don't give them benefit after benefit and start talking about every single feature. You would be preaching about your product, and eventually they will tune out. The flow of your script is really important. Instead of giving several powerful statements in a row, begin with one idea and then insert a stopping point where you can ask, Do you follow me or make sense? Or are you with me? These stopping points keep the conversation from being one sided and get the client saying yes to you. Write your script and record yourself delivering it, and then start tweaking, paying extra attention to the tonality and body language when you're delivering it. If you do that, in no time, you will have a powerful script, and with enough practice, your delivery will be flawless. Your body, tonality, and words will all be saying the same thing, and that my friend is power. 21. How to Get Introduced, not Rejected: Welcome back. In this lecture, we are going to talk about something near and dear to my heart, referrals. The reason it is near and dear to my heart is because that's how I met my wife. One of my closest friends got married, and when I met his wife, I learned that her closest friend lives in my city. Being a salesperson, I knew the power of referrals, and I asked to be introduced with a good recommendation. Two years later, we got married. When someone refers you to their friends or family, you instantly have high levels of trust and rapport. Some of the trust the person referring has with the person being referred to gets transferred to you. Referrals allow you to take your business to the next level. It's a good thing to get a client from cold calling all morning. It's a better thing to get a client while you're brushing your teeth in the morning. It's an easier way to do business. It's the low hanging fruit. It also creates leverage, which can magnify your efforts. Getting your own sales is limited by the amount of time one person yourself works. Alternatively, if you have 100 or 1,000 past clients and referral partners referring to you, your sales become no longer dependent only on your effort. You induce leverage which has no limits. After a few years in the business, you reach a point where most of your sales are coming from referrals, especially if you manage your database well and have a stay in touch system. As with everything else, mindset is important. When you ask for a referral, you must believe deep down that they will give them to you. Otherwise, your tonality and body language will not be convincing. Describe to your clients in detail the kind of people you want to do business with. That makes them remember you when they come across someone that fits your description. Also, teach them how to introduce you and what to say about you. As part of your stay in touch system with your past clients, provide material and information they can share with their network. One question you might have is, when should you ask for a referral? I usually start positioning referrals right at the beginning. I say something like my business is built 100% on happy clients who refer me to the next set of happy clients. If you are placed in the best possible position and you are happy with my service, all I ask is that you give me a ton of referrals because that's how I build my business. Sounds fair enough. Bringing this up at the beginning introduces the idea of referrals right off the bat. Who knows? Maybe they know someone who is shopping for what you're selling right now. You are also telling them in a subtle indirect way that your goal is to make them happy, and their happiness is aligned with your interests because if they are not happy, you will not get any referrals. You are essentially saying that their happiness affects your bottom line. After you close the sale, bring up the subject of referrals again. You can say something like, as I told you before, the only way I'm able to build my business is by people who are satisfied with me, who feel that I've done a good job and refer other people they care about. Let me ask you something. Have I done a good job for you? I would love to assist your family and friends, and I will deal with them with the same integrity I've dealt with you. I will make sure you look good referring me. I know trusting me with your inner circle is a big privilege, and I never take that level of trust for granted. Will you help me? Depending on which industry you are in, you should also anticipate objections with regards to referrals and answer them before they even come up. For example, in the financial services industry, one of the concerns clients might have about referring someone is privacy. They won't want their friends and family to know their personal financial situation. Therefore, I make sure I bring that objection up and answer. I add something along the lines of. Although I depend on happy clients talking about me, it is important that you know that I will never talk about you, not about any of your personal details, financial or otherwise, with anyone. Your privacy is paramount. If you refer anyone to me, I will not share your information with them or their information with you. If you render more and better service than what is expected of you and find a way to cause your clients to really feel they can support you, they owe you, and they can make a difference by helping you with a few referrals, you will have no trouble getting appointments. Never skip asking for referrals, and do not assume that your clients will automatically refer to you. Ask and you shall receive. Receiving is reserved for those who ask. You would be surprised how many salespeople skip asking for referrals altogether, or do not put enough effort into the asking of referrals part of their presentation. If you are good and give amazing service, people appreciate that, and they will want to help you out. Make sure your focus is on creating long term relationships that generate future business for you. Remember, happy clients are your source for the next set of happy clients. 22. The Power of Praise : Welcome back. Imagine that you are in a new city. You need to find a place to eat. You notice two restaurants next to each other. You don't know either of them. You quickly notice that there is one big difference. One is jam packed with people while the other has no customers. Which restaurant would you choose? If you are not in a hurry, you intuitively know that the busy restaurant is a better option. The reason your brain is able to quickly evaluate both restaurants and make a confident decision is something we call social proof. When faced with a choice, people tend to copy each other, and they attempt to make the right decision by doing so. In essence, it's the notion that since others are doing it, I should be doing it, too, or since others decided to like this person, trust this person, and want to do business with this person, then it must be the correct decision. When many other people agree on something, it triggers the brain to reduce the perception of risk associated with the idea or activity. It is the reason we are all drawn to best selling books, blockbuster movies, crowded restaurants and businesses that have many satisfied customers. When people shop, they look for reviews, recommendations, and ways that others have used the product. When you provide proof that you are an expert or your clients are happy or your product is highly rated, you establish social proof and move your client one step forward towards purchasing from you. In this digital age, it is easy to look up people online and read what past customers have said about them. Use that to your advantage, control the online conversation about you. Make sure your social and online presence is in good shape. Google yourself and see what comes up. When you have a satisfied customer, ask him or her to leave a review for you online. One study found that nine out of ten satisfied customers are willing to provide an online review when asked to do so. After you build a portfolio of recommendations, find a way to showcase them. If you tell someone you are great, they might believe you. If another person, especially a past client says you are great, it is way more believable as it is a third party validation. Make sure you put thought to building a portfolio of testimonials that access to, and you can show to clients proof. 23. Closing Thoughts : Congratulations on finishing this course. Some final words before we part ways. The key to success in sales and with people is you take out as many variables as you can from the equation. You control what you can control because there's a lot of stuff you can't control. During this course, I've attempted to teach you a system. The key with the system is that it allows you with a predictable set of actions to basically get the same result every single time. Therefore, the most important thing you can do to increase your effectiveness is to put in thought and effort into planning out the steps in your sales cycle. What would a perfect sale look like? You can do that by mapping out and writing scripts for each step of your sales process and then practicing the delivery of your script so that you are congruent. Your words, your body, and your tone are all saying the same thing. Remember, flexibility is the ultimate power in dealing with human beings. The person who is most flexible and most adaptable controls the situation. There is always a way if you're flexible enough. You want to keep changing your approach until you get the result. Keep in mind the length of your sales cycle. Sometimes a salesperson's success depends on immediate sales if the item being sold is not expensive and is not a major decision like selling credit cards in airports, for example, other times, the sales cycle is longer when you are selling higher ticket items like mortgages or software to companies. When the sales cycle is longer, follow up becomes key. The money is in the follow up. An important thing to remember is that sales is a learnable skill, and like any other skill, it will take time and practice for you to become good. Be patient with yourself. Enjoy the process while you commit and get the outcome. Life is a process, not an outcome or a goal. The process of getting better is the fun part. Use your day to day interactions to test what you've learned and practice your skills. Ideally, test in a risk free environment where the stakes are not too high. This will make your interactions interesting, and every encounter becomes an opportunity to apply knowledge and refine skills. These skills are not just for making more money. They are for making a difference for the people you care about by making you more effective and able to have an impact and leave a mark. In the end, influence is not about getting what you want. It's about serving. It's about finding out what's important to another person and giving it to them. I hope that this course has touched your heart and impacted your destiny. It's been an honor and a privilege for me. Please do not forget to leave a review, and I will see you in one of my other courses. Cheers. 24. Bonus Lecture: Imagine two salespeople, Bob and Stephanie, both work for competing companies that sell accounting systems at a local networking event, they meet Jack, the vice president of accounting for a large manufacturing company. Eager to sign him as a client, they both take his business card and follow up. Bob approached Jack the way he handled all his leads through immediate personal contact. The day after the event, Bob stopped by Jack's office unannounced. With a packed schedule, Jack was mildly annoyed but managed to spare a few minutes for Bob. Bob quickly pitched his company's system, but the intrusion left Jack unimpressed. Stephanie, on the other hand, quickly recognized Jack's personality type. She saw him as a thoughtful, methodical, organized and practical person who values data, facts, and demonstrated experience. Knowing Jack would appreciate time to think, Stephanie wrote him a detailed letter highlighting the practical benefits of her system, including its long term track record. She followed up by scheduling a meeting to address any questions or concerns. Stephanie's approach won her the account. What made Stephanie more effective in this situation? It was her understanding of Jack's personality and decision making style. But how did she know this after just a brief meeting? Initially, I hesitated to include a lecture on this topic because it's complex and not easy to explain in one lecture, or even a few. However, I realized that a course on sales wouldn't be complete without introducing you to this powerful tool. The single most important body of knowledge I've learned in my adult life is the Meyers and Briggs type indicator. Because it allows you to first understand yourself and then to understand others and adapt your behavior to suit the person in front of you. It is a personality assessment tool based on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Young. It categorizes individuals into 16 personality types based on their preferences in four key dimensions extroversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling. Judging or perceiving. Using your preferred site on any of these dimensions come naturally. When you're required to use the opposite site, it takes extra effort and feels less satisfying. Mastering this provides invaluable insights into others, allowing accurate generalizations with minimal data by observing their appearance, vocabulary, body language, and interests. For example, judgers like closure and making decisions fast, perceivers like keeping their options open and get stressed when it's decision making time. This preference is easy to spot as judgers are usually buttoned up and dressed to the t. Their hair is organized, especially if they are a sensing judger. Their walk is purposeful and almost mechanical. Perceivers, on the other hand, might wear comfortable clothes and have a messy look. When I have a client who I've classified as a perceiver, my opening is always the same. I say, today is just for sharing information, so you know all your available options. You don't need to decide today. This is a major decision, and it's important to weigh all your options. We can book a follow up appointment so that you can go home and think about everything I will share today and we will finalize in our second appointment. Sounds fair enough. This lowers the perceiver's guard, opens her up, and you can see the signs of relief on her face. Usually, perceivers must reject salespeople and fight for time and space they desperately need. I relieve them of that and lower their guard by immediately giving them what they need. This is just one small example to show you how powerful that stuff is. MBTI is a complex subject that deserves its own course. In the future, I plan to create a comprehensive course diving deep into the subject. For now, I've included PDF documents that detail each dimension, how to spot it, and how to cater to it. It gets more complicated because preferences interact with each other to create different characteristics. But my PDFs will give you an overview and some practical ideas to test in your interactions. If you want to further your knowledge and you can't wait, I recommend two excellent books, Type Doc and the Art of speed reading P. Enjoy. And I look forward to seeing you in one of my other courses.