This is the final post in my blog series about creating a system of selling without feeling salesy.  If you need to get up-to-speed on the previous posts, here ya go! My Story , All About Value, Connect to The Dream, and The Secret Sauce.

Step 5 – TAKE A STAND FOR THEM. Notice that steps 1 and 5 are about you and your way of being. Taking a stand for them means just that. You STAND for their success. It means not backing down and getting nervous when they throw out an objection. It means seeing the possibility of their life free of the pain/problems and moving into the solution. It looks like sometimes calling them on some patterns that they are doing to sabotage their stuff if that’s the case. Mostly it means being absolutely committed to them getting their goals met. At this point for me it doesn’t have anything to do with them giving me money. (Though that’s always lovely!) It has to do with helping break free the thing that is in the way. I often stay very ‘coach-like’ and show people where they are self-sabotaging, buying into limits, and staying safe and small. And I have to say that this is the very place I totally used to break down. Why? Because it used to be about me. Me and my comfort level. Today the shift is that it’s about my prospect and me in that moment giving them my all and being a “pit bull for the potential” and a “bulldog for their brilliance!”

A lot to digest?  Yeah!  Getting comfortable with this selling stuff takes practice and someone to walk you through it. And going forward I’ll be rolling out some programs specifically designed to work with this very necessary skill set because imagine being confident at the sales conversation? It’s really a game changer!

If you’re just joining this blog series, please take a few moments to read over the previous posts.  You can find them here:  My Story, All About Value, Connect to The Dream.

Once you own YOUR value and help them connect with THEIR dreams, Steps 3 and 4 will likely feel like a natural progression.  So here we go…

Step 3 – FIND THEIR PAIN.  Here’s my secret….I really believe that we all tolerate WAY too much crap! We get used to stuff under-functioning, accept less than great service, allow things to slip, etc. Women in particular are especially adept at being ok taking seconds, so this is the space where I shine a light on what’s not working. This is the time when I make the deep dive in to how it’s feeling NOT to have that $100k. Discovering the cost of that in the financial life, emotional life, relationship life, etc. is the key to piercing the denial that your prospects are likely in.

When you are asking these questions focus on the thing they most want (which you will have gotten if you do step 2 well) and amplify the cost of not having it. Because no one is depressed they don’t have that $100k (I know, you think you are, but it’s really not the $100k). They are in pain because they are working so hard that they can’t spend time with the kids (ask “what’s that costing you”) or they are doubting that they can do the business (what’s the cost of losing confidence) or the work they are supposed to get out in the world is sitting inside of them (find the pain of living an unfulfilled life)……THAT’s where you focus. And when you have in a very respectful way found this, then you move on to step four.

Step 4 – SHOW THEM HOW YOU CAN SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS.  Now’s the time you take what they want plus what they are suffering with, and show them the picture of what’s possible if they work with you. Of course, throughout the whole conversation you need to be seeding this, but here’s where you address solving their problems to get their dreams. Can you see that if you haven’t taken the time to set up steps 1 and 2, that you may not have buy-in? You roll out that dollar amount they’ll have to shell out and they immediately go to the COST and not the opportunity or the reduction in pain that you can provide.  Ready to learn the final step in the process?  Here’s a hint…it’s about YOU again!  Click here to read it.