THE 5 STEP PROCESS TO SALES WITH GUEST BOB BURG: MAKINGBANK S1E38
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Summary
The art of the sale is not the art of convincing people how to buy what they don’t need.
It’s about narrowing down your customer base to find those few individuals who willtruly benefit from your product or service.
So with that in mind, today we’re going to discuss how successful salespeople sell, sell, SELL…
And the one thing these incredibly sales people have in common…
The ability to look outward.
They look outward to add value to their customers’ lives—NOT bring in revenue. Financial gain becomes a byproduct of offering value to others.
As you learn to embrace this idea of “adding value” with open arms, and start working to serve others through the medium of your business, you’ll discover the money starts to pour in naturally.
In today’s episode of Making Bank, Bob Burg, author of The Go-Giver, will walk us through the five laws of success for your business.
These empowering laws revolve around the idea that the more we give to others in business, the more we get back.
Highlights from this episode of Making Bank include:
· A 5-step process to finding the right prospects
· How to shift your focus to care about your customers
· The 5 laws of stratospheric success
· The mindset of successful salespeople
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Transcription
I am Josh Felber with Making Bank. In sales so many of you focus on the wrong area. What I mean by that is, most people focus on the sales that got away. What we want to talk about today is how you can increase your sales by focusing and whittling down who you focus on to that top one percent. What I mean by that is, we want to start excluding prospects that do not fit our criteria. Sales is not a convincing people process, it’s about a disqualification process. The focused percentage of who we go after needs to be on that one to five percent of people that are actually interested in what you’re selling. What you want to do is start to whittle down, so say you have fourteen percent of the people interested in what you sell, then we want to take a look at, what is their urgency? What is their excitement level? What is their interest level? We keep whittling it down till we hit that one to five percent range and then from there we look at it and say, “Okay, why are these people buying? Why are these people interested? Why are they urgent?” We utilize that to go out and target and go after more of those same prospects.
We want to start to work smarter, not harder. Once you know this we can start to really figure from the top down who will be our best potential prospects. The person at the top will be fifty times more interested in purchasing from us than the bottom half. I want you to think about that for a minute. They’re going to have more dollars, they’re going to have a bigger problem for you to solve with your solution or your product than the bottom half, so they’re going to be more ideal clients or ideal prospects that your services would fit with. When we’re focusing on the prospects with that sense of urgency you want them to have such an urgency to buy, to have that new solution, they’re almost out there banging on your door. That prospect that likes your product but isn’t interested to buy, a lot of us we go out and we continually chase those, and we continuously chase them, and we continuously chase them. They’re not going to put food on the table, they’re not going to put money in your pocket. They’re going to create a miserable sales career for you. I want to help you alleviate that with a five step process that you can use to own it and go after the prospects or clients that fit exactly who you should be selling to or connecting with.
The top five steps are: Number one: you want to make the first move. The faster you connect with a potential client the more likely they are to convert. You have a client or a prospect that expresses interest in your solution or product, connect with them right away, don’t wait that two or three or four weeks, you want to strike while that interest is there and while that excitement level is hot. Number two: you want to take your focus and shift it from what you’re getting to what your giving towards that prospect or that potential client. You want to be able to create as much of value for them, or more value than you’re getting back out of it. One of the things I like to say is, you want to become obsessed, you want to become obsessed with the value that you’re creating for your prospects or your clients, because that in turn is going to help move you forward and help inspire them as well.
Number three: you want to make it personal. You want to create that personal connection with that potential client or prospect. We don’t want to force a conversation and make it feel clunky and make it hard to interact with each other. We want to be able to connect with them, and how we do that is we want to listen, we want to listen intently, we want to hear what that prospect or that potential client has to say. This will help you connect and start breaking down barriers. Number four: we also want to be respectful and make use of your prospect’s time. When you plan to meet with them keep your appointments, don’t reschedule unless it’s a major emergency, show up on time, early to your appointments, as well as know what the focus of each conversation is. Go into that conversation or that meeting with your prospect, understanding where you want to go, what value you want to deliver, and how you’re going to be able to help them based on what you’ve already currently listened and were able to understand from them.
Number five: plan. The worst thing you can do is not knowing what you have tomorrow, what you have the next day, and what you have the following day after. That’ll never move you forward and never be able to help create value for your prospects or potential clients. The first thing we want to do is plan our follow-up. When are we going to connect back with this person? When are we going to connect and follow up with this person? Where are we taking and moving towards next? We want to make sure that we have our days planned out, our weeks planned out. For me, I have six months worth of contacts, planning, meetings, planned out for that time frame so I know where I’m going at all times. One of the things I want to leave you with Perry Marshall said was, “Losers try to convince people that they’re thirsty, where winners sell ice water in the desert.” I’m excited, next up we have Bob Burg author of The Go-Giver, he’s going to talk to you more about how you can increase your sales through giving. Changing your mindset from getting to giving. I’m Josh Felber and we’ll be right back.
I am Josh Felber host of Making Bank, and I am really excited today to have Bob Burg author of The Go-Giver. One of the questions is, we were talking earlier about how you can increase your sales, how you can increase your profitability. My question is, “Can you get a subtle shift in the focus that really makes a big difference in your business, in your income?” Our guest Bob says, “Definitely yes.” Bob Burg is a sought after speaker at company leadership sales conferences, he regularly addresses anywhere from fifty to over sixteen thousand people. He has shared the platform with notables including top today’s leaders, broadcast personalities, Olympic athletes, political leaders, and the former United States President. He’s also co-authored an awesome international bestseller The Go-Giver, the Go-Givers Sell More, and author of Endless Referrals and numerous other books that have sold millions of copies to date.
The Go-Giver has also been translated into over twenty-one different languages. Bob has a new book, Adversaries Into Allies: Win People Over Without Manipulation or Coercion. Bob is an advocate, supporter, and defender of free enterprise, as well as a believer in the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve. He also is an unapologetic animal fanatic and serves as Vice-President of the board of Directors of Furry Friends and Adoption Clinic in his town of Jupiter, Florida. Welcome Bob, I am excited to have you on Making Bank today.
Bob: Thank you Josh, great to be with you.
Josh: I’ve read The Go-Giver, I’ve read the Go-Giver Sell More. The book is just chocked full of so much incredible information, strategies and ideas to help us move forward. I’d like to just touch base briefly on the five laws of stratospheric success, and how our listeners can apply that to themselves, to do more, to sell more, to create more value for others.
Bob: It really begins with that shift in focus. It’s what we call moving from an I focus or a me focus to an other focus. In the base of the free market economy in which we live there’s only one reason why someone’s going to do business with you and that is because they feel, they believe that in doing so they’re receiving more value than what they’re paying for, or else why would they do it? This is why people voluntarily, which is the sign of a free mind, they voluntarily exchange products, services, goods, money and so forth. When you can shift your focus in a genuine authentic way and really care about that person, put their interests ahead of your own, then that’s actually going to result in a very lucrative business as well as a business that just feels really good. We do this with the five laws as you mentioned, the laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity, and receptivity.
Josh: Awesome. With the law of value, can you give us a overview of what that is and how we can apply that.
Bob: Absolutely. The law of value says that your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. When you first hear that it’s a bit counter-intuitive, because the person might ask, “Wait a second, how do I give more in value than I take in payment and survive in business? It sounds like a recipe for bankruptcy.” We simply have to understand the difference between price and value, and this is very significant. Price as you know is a dollar figure, it’s a dollar amount, it’s finite. Value on the other hand is the relative worth or desirability of something to the end user or the holder, in other words, what is it about this thing, this product, service, concept, opportunity, idea, what have you, that brings so much value, that brings so much worth that someone will willingly exchange their money for it if they’re a customer and be ecstatic that they did, while you make a very healthy profit. Can I give you a very quick example how that would work?
Josh: Oh for sure, definitely. I know we’re all excited.
Bob: Okay. Let’s say you hire an accountant to do your taxes, and this accountant charges you, I’m just going to name a round figure, a thousand dollars. This thousand dollars is his fee or literally his price, a thousand dollars. What value does he give you in exchange for this so that you both come out ahead? Through his diligence, years of study, hard work, getting to know you and your company and what you’re looking to accomplish. He is able to save you five thousand dollars in taxes. He saves you countless hours of time freeing you up to do what you do best, what you’d rather be doing, what you can do more productively, and he provides you with security and the peace of mind in knowing it was done correctly and that to you probably holds more value than even the money that you saved.
We see first here that while price again is finite, value can be both concrete in terms of that five thousand dollars, but it can also be very conceptual in terms of that peace of mind. What he did is he gave you well over five thousand dollars in value or use value in exchange for a thousand dollar price or cash value, so you come away from it feeling fantastic and he made a very healthy profit which he should. It all starts from what you mentioned earlier that shift in focus, he’s focusing not on his fee, he’s focusing on providing you great value, but that’s why we say … John David Mann my fantastic co-author and I say that money is simply an echo of value, it’s the thunder to value’s lightning, which means the value must come first and the money you receive is simply a very natural and direct result of the value you’ve provided.
Josh: Awesome. I think that’s a great part of what we start out with, that’s one of the things that I’ve always tried to convey to my audience is, you have to become obsessed with creating value for others. Once you’re able to do that, then like you said, the money will follow and help you grow as well. I know that we have several other laws, the law of compensation, the law of influence, the law authenticity, and what I’d like to do right after we break here is get into those. In your teachings your processes break some of the normal paradigms about sales and so when we get back I’d love to touch base on that initially and then go into some of the other laws as well for sure. I really appreciate you being on the show and it’s honor to have you. I’m Josh Felber and we’ll be right back after this break.
Welcome back. I am Josh Felber, we’ve been speaking with Bob Burg and the five laws of stratospheric success from The Go-Giver. Bob had initially touched base on the law of value and we were going to touch base on the other four laws as well and some of his different teachings that are breaking the paradigm of the normal sales thoughts and strategies. Welcome back Bob.
Bob: Thank you, pleasure to be with you.
Josh: Awesome. I guess, tell me a little bit about, in your teachings how is this changing the normal way people sell?
Bob: I think that if it’s changing it it’s just it’s understanding that the focus just has to be on the other person. Nobody’s going to buy from you because you have a quota to meet, they’re not going to buy from you because you need the money, and they’re not going to buy from you because you happen they should buy. They’re going to buy because you have done a fantastic job of connecting the benefits of your product or service with their wants, needs, and desires. That’s what a good salesperson does. I’m don’t think it’s changing the way successful people sell, that is how successful people sell, but what it’s maybe doing is bringing out to a more general group of people that this is really what selling is, where a lot of people come into it kind of think, “Oh, I love what I do, but I just don’t like to sell.” That’s because they’re looking at selling as something you do to someone, rather than as something you do for someone.
Josh: Awesome. I think that’s a great piece of wisdom, especially when entrepreneurs are going out, they’re starting their business, everything else, the big part of it is sales that they need to go out and do but they’re so afraid and worried about, “Oh, what are people going to think? I can’t be that salesperson.” I think that’s an awesome way to really look at it and position it as how we’re helping in creating value for those other people out there. I’d like to dive in and understand some of the other laws and how our listeners can apply that to help take their business to the next level.
Bob: Sure. The law of compensation, law number two, simply says, your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them. While law number one says, give more in value than you take in payment, law number two tells us that the more people who’s lives you touch with this exceptional value, the more money you will receive, the more income you’ll earn. It’s a matter of first providing great value, but also impacting a lot of lives with that value, which is why building a referral based business is so important. Law number three is the law of influence, this says your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first. Again, that sounds counter-intuitive, but when you think of the great leaders, top influencers, and most profitable sales people, this is simply how they run their lives and conduct their businesses. They’re always looking at it in terms of, “How can I make my win about the other person’s win? How can I focus on bringing value to them?”
When we say placing other people’s interests first, we do not mean you should be a doormat, a martyr, or self sacrificial in any way, it’s simply that as one of the mentors in the story, in The Go-Giver told Joe, “All things being equal people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust.” There’s no faster, more powerful, or more effective way to elicit those feelings toward you and others than by genuinely moving from an I focus to an other focus. This goes into the law of authenticity, law number four which is, the most valuable gift you have to offer gives you sales. It’s got to be real, it’s got to be genuine. One of the characters in the story, one of mentors Debra Davenport shared that she learned early in her career that all the skills in the world, the sales skills, technical skills, people skills, as important as they are, and of course they all are very very important, they’re also all for not if you don’t come at it from your true authentic core. It’s important to know yourself and be yourself and show up as yourself.
Law number five is the law of receptivity, this simply says the key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving. It’s not just a matter of giving and providing value and placing other people’s interests first, but making yourself receptive, understanding that if you have served a lot of people you have the right, you’ve earned the right, not the entitlement but the right to receive in like measure. In the story we use the example of breathing out and trying not to breathe in, well you can’t do that, you wouldn’t survive. We breathe out and we breathe in. Giving and receiving are not opposite concepts, they’re simply two sides of the very same coin. It’s not that, are you a giver or a receiver? No. You’re a giver and a receiver. The key goes back to where the focus is. Focus on the giving of value, focus on the giving, and then make sure you allow the receiving.
Josh: That’s awesome. One of the things is, along your entrepreneurial path when did you realize, “Wow, these five laws, really what have made me successful, and I want to be able to share that.” How did you come up with that and get to the point where you wanted to put this in a book and tell the world about it?
Bob: I’ve been very fortunate to learn from a lot of great people. I’m constantly studying and learning and applying. You see a lot of things that work, and you also see a lot of things that don’t work. I’ve certainly had many failures on my way to success and I still have the failures and I still have the successes, so I don’t think the learning process ever stops. When John and I put this book together and we came up with these five laws, these are nothing new, these are laws that have been used since time immemorial from people who’ve been successful. What we did is we took what we’ve learned, what we’ve done, what we’ve studied, and of course we get to both speak at different events and meet very successful people, and you get an idea of what it is that works on an ongoing universal basis.
Josh: Awesome. With Making Bank obviously our focus is in helping and encouraging and empowering entrepreneurs to get out, be successful, create more value, also create and build their businesses overall. Through your career as an entrepreneur, what is one magic secret or one piece that you have found that really has stood above and beyond everything else that has helped push you and catapult you forward?
Bob: I think it’s to understand that as entrepreneurs we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Anything we want to do has already been done by someone, so the best thing we can do is seek out the information, find the system if you will, and I define the system as simply the process of predictably achieving a goal based on a logical and specific set of how to principles, the key being predictability, if it’s been proven that by doing A you’ll get the desired results of B then that’s the thing you need to do and you’ll get those desired results. Find out who’s doing what you want to do, and so long as their values are concordant with your values then you know you’ve learned from them.
Josh: That’s awesome. Just like yourself I’ve always had mentors and everything as well. I always encourage people to step out, find that mentor that they connect with, and really learn and understand and study them. You’ve been one of my mentors along the way.
Bob: Well, thank you.
Josh: Being able to take your information and really use it in my life as well as be able to teach other people, I think is just such an awesome piece of what we do. One of the things I saw when I as introducing you is, you love the furry friends, the animals. What’s your best part, and what’s your favorite animal?
Bob: I love all animals, I just really do, I adore them. I’m probably a little bit more partial to dogs because I grew up with dogs, but I don’t want to say that too loudly because my shelter cat is sleeping right next to me here in his little thing that I got there for him, so I don’t want to offend him. Yeah, I just love animals, I just think they’re the best.
Josh: Awesome. That’s cool. Do you have dogs now too?
Bob: No, because I travel all the time and I live alone, so it’s a little bit difficult to do that, so I don’t have a dog. I foster them from time to time, but when I’m on the road too much it’s just not fair to leave the dog, so no. I’ve had stray cats, and now the shelter cat. No, don’t get to have a dog, so I guess I have all the dogs at the shelter are kind of my dogs.
Josh: There you go, that’s awesome. My daughter made us get a dog, so we have dogs and multiple cats as well. Bob, I’m really excited, it’s been a honor to have you on the show and a privilege. I’m really excited to have this episode air and be able to drive this awesome information that you were able to share today to our listeners. When you guys are out there listening takes notes, Bob is awesome, and utilize his information in your life and in your business will help propel you forward. Bob, again, thank you for being on the show today.
Bob: Josh, thank you, I love the work you’re doing.
Josh: I’m Josh Felber host of Making Bank.
