TRANSCRIPT: 

00:04

Hello, welcome to the sales show. I'm Maree Kirkpatrick, your sales and business strategist. I'm a mom, a wife, and a multi-business owner myself.

00:13

With over 15 years of experience in sales and business, I have worked with startups all the way through to multimillion-dollar companies. I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I love helping service-based businesses make an income as well as an impact. Let's jump into talking about all things sales and business. Hello, and welcome back to the sales Show. 

00:36

I'm your host, Maree Kirkpatrick. And in today's episode, I want to answer a question that came through from a beautiful lady that I was talking to over Instagram, she popped this message through my direct message. And I thought it was something that was really interesting because as soon as she asked it, I knew exactly what my answer was. So it wasn't something that I really had to think about. But I also wonder how many other people are thinking that. So the question was, do I think that sales is a mindset, or a skill that you need to learn, or a bit of both, as she has so many coaches say in the industry, that it's a mindset situation? 

01:13

Now, a lot of coaches I find that are in many different industries will probably say it's a mindset situation because they're not highly trained in sales. So as a salesperson and someone that does a lot of my own personal development, I truly believe it's both. And so you need to have the right mindset to execute the sale. But I think you also need to have the skills and the strategies to know exactly what it is that you need to do to get more clients coming in and to convert and to actually make the sales. So if we look at it from a mindset perspective first, and we'll touch on both the mindset and then the sales, and then how they integrate into both. And so I think from a mindset perspective, you need to be in the right frame of mind to be able to make sales, right?

01:58

 So you need to have the confidence to be able to talk about your products and services really easily, you need to be clear on how you can help people move through from where they are to where they want to be, or to buy your products and services based on a desire or a need that they're looking for. You also need to have and I know this sounds a little bit silly, sometimes when someone says you need to have a little bit of resilience, and I'm like, what does that actually mean? Resilience for me is being able to not take things so personally because yes, as a business owner, and especially a woman in business, sometimes we can take everything that people say to us. So personally, I get it, right. I mean business too, obviously. 

02:41

And there are times where I think, wow, that one really stung. But at the end of the day, sometimes people aren't in the right space to move forward with us, or it's just not the right time or their mindsets not ready for it. Or you know, there's money beliefs, and all that sort of stuff that comes in, but we need to be able to go okay, just because someone says no doesn't mean that they don't like me, it just means it may be not now not yet down the track, or that we're not the right person for them. And that's okay, too. So you need to be able to go, Okay, people will say no to me, I want people to be able to say no to you. Because if everyone's saying yes to you, then that creates other issues. And it would make me question exactly what it is that you're doing. Because maybe you're too cheap. Maybe you're trying to serve everyone, we want to have a good mix between the yeses in the nose and, obviously, more yeses when people want to work with us. But also be able to know that rejection can just potentially be a change of path and changing the way that we do things or changing who it is that we're looking to work with. So you need to be able to have a little bit of resilience when it comes to your mindset.

03:43

 The other thing that I really believe from a mindset perspective is you need to be able to have self-belief. Now this morning, I did a meditation about the difference between ego and true self. Now normally, I would be like, yeah, cool, whatever. And it wouldn't kind of I don't know, it had more of an impact than what I expected. And so this morning when I was thinking about it, and we're going into the launch of her sales club, and so sometimes things come up for me from a mindset perspective around can the sales chick actually sell stuff, right? And so when I actually looked at it, I thought, wow, it's not my true self talking. It's my ego, my egos worried about what will other people think what will people say about me if I start talking about money, if I start saying to people, what I really feel along the lines of You don't need to be buying all these courses and programs and memberships and all that sort of stuff. You actually need to learn to sell what it is that you do from a really connected and relationship-focused space. And so having that self-belief and knowing deep down within yourself that you're really freaking good at what you do, and that you know, compared to other people in your industry, you know that you can help a lot of people in a much better-connected heart space right and So I really believe when it comes to sales, you need to have that self-belief in your abilities in your expertise in your ability to grow business.

05:11

 And so if you struggle with the self-belief side of it, maybe look at ways that you can increase your mindset or work on your mindset for me things like meditation, journaling, talking to people, he's even getting professional help counselors, psychologists, or that sort of stuff to help you work through that can be really beneficial. But I believe if you don't have that self-belief, and the ability to know deep down inside, like your true self, that you can do a really great job for your clients, then you'll really struggle from a sales perspective. Another thing is, from a mindset perspective is I think you need to be able to be adaptable, you need to be able to pivot, optimize tweak things, if they're not working, you can't be set in stone in business for 10 years, or five years or even two years. These days, the industry changes the way people buy and sell changes, the market changes, the economy changes, like there are a lot of things going on. So I think you need to be really adaptable and to look at ways that you can constantly improve, optimize, strategize, streamline, all those sorts of things to make sure that your business is in the best shape it can possibly be. And the final thing is, I think you need to look at the outlook that you have on sales and life and business in general, a lot of people will say to me, I hate selling, I don't enjoy it, it makes me feel really uncomfortable. And I get that I totally get that I know when I first started in sales, the person that taught me to sell used to sit beside me and listen to every single word that I said to potential clients on calls. And then when I'd hang up, she'd give me feedback and advice and tell me like what I should be doing and what I shouldn't be doing. And I didn't do this. And I didn't do that. And it felt really gross, it felt hard, it felt inauthentic, I felt like I had to be someone that I'm not. And so over the years, I've realized that I can be exactly who I am. And I know that I will draw in the right people based on my outlook on life based on what my values and beliefs and things like that are.

07:13

 So I think it's really important to keep a positive attitude, knowing that you will attract the right sort of people, but also having that strategy to back you up to make sure that you are converting and that you are calling in those right people with your messaging and your positioning and all that sort of stuff. Now, if we look at the other side, which is obviously my specialty, the sales side of it, sales is a skill, right? Like No one wakes up or comes out of the womb as a natural born salespeople person who will say, Maree, say to me, Maree, it's really easy for you, like you're so natural at it, you just have this ability to talk to people and to connect with people. No, this is something that I have mastered for over 17 years. This is something that I constantly work on. This is something that I constantly look to improve and look for strategies and ways that I can work on myself, as well as helping my clients and the people that I work with. So if we look at sales overall, there's a couple of key points, right? 

08:10

There's the way that we communicate to people. So the language that we use, the way that we communicate our messaging, the way that we draw our beautiful clients in and make sure that the people we're talking to are our people, there are times where I know and I went out for a coffee this morning with my beautiful husband and I have had an inquiry come through. And for some reason, it's just not feeling right. For me. It feels hard, it feels heavy. I feel like I'm trying to convince someone and I know it's not right for me. And he turned around and said, but you've been doing this for so long,

08:43

you know what you need to do? The answer is obviously no, your body's telling you that the answer is no. And I'm like, okay, cool. The way I need to communicate that to her will make a really big difference between whether she absolutely gets really mad or frustrated with me, or whether she says great, I really appreciate that we're not a great fit. Is there someone else that you can recommend? And so having those skills and that communication ability, I think is really really important. One of my clients yesterday that I was talking to going over some of her proposals and her pitch decks and some documents that she was sending out to potential clients. And we were talking about her language and the language that she was using, and not from like naughty swear words or anything like that. But the way that she talks about her products and services way that she asked her questions can really change the way a client or potential client connects and feels about your products, services and business. 

09:34

And so fine tune that communication to make sure that you are getting the best opportunities to connect and build that relationship with people. The second thing about sales for me is really understanding what is that strategy that you're going to use within your business. What does it look like? How do you take people from one opportunity or you know where they currently are all the way through to where they want to be? 

09:56

Or how do we show them that your vehicle and the V equal is a product or service that you sell, right? So they may be on one side of what I call the bridge at point A. And we want to get them to point B, which is working with us purchasing from us in our community, in our tribe, or that sort of stuff. And so the bridge is our product or service. And it's about showing them that our bridge and holding our hand is potentially the best option for them. So we want to make sure that the strategies that we use clearly define that. And it means that when we start talking to people, we know what the steps are that we're going to be taking people through to get them from A to B to show them, the bridges really well structured, it's got some great frameworks in there for them, it's going to be a beautiful journey, you're going to have some nice scenery along the way and a bit of fun as we go. But it's really about being clear, or what does that look like for them? And how do we communicate that across? That's part of our strategy. The other part of our strategy is also looking at? How do we find ways to keep generating cash within our business? That's another part of sales. So what are we selling? When are we selling it? How are we selling it? How are we marketing it? How are we communicating our unique value propositions or our unique selling points? 

11:11

How do we show people what we do, how we do it, and why we're an expert in our industry, that is all part of your sales strategy. So I think the skill set around having a strategy and being able to implement the correct strategy for you within your business is a really big skill set that a lot of people in business near, they think that they need to focus on their messaging, they think that they need to focus on doing a copywriting course, or they need to pay someone for Facebook ads, or they need to work on their branding, or their website or all that sort of stuff when really they need to learn the skill set of sales and how to sell what it is that they do with still being true to who they are, and still staying within their businesses, values, and beliefs. It's not about working with everyone, it's about working with the right people. Another skill set, which I love in business is negotiation skills. Now, this is not about negotiating necessarily prices and things like that, and finding ways to get people to pay you more money or anything along those lines. Negotiation sometimes can be around how you deliver your product or services, or making sure that we tailor our products and services based on what it is that our client is looking for.

12:23

 And that is all about negotiation is that two-way dance of talking to people and communicating in a really beautiful way that shows people that you are the right option. And you can be flexible, and you can be adaptable along that. And I think the final thing when it comes to sales is actually learning as I've mentioned before, learning how to communicate your value, how to communicate why you are the best option. And really understanding how people buy why people buy what you need to do to get people to take that next step with you from a high converting because we want to make sure that our leads and our inquiries are converting and to also understand that sales is a skill set. It is something that needs to be implemented into your business. It's not something that just happens in your business. I had a inquiry that I've been talking to about when she goes to networking events, she struggles to people are interested in what she does, but she struggles to turn them into clients. 

13:26

And I say this when people do a lot of work on social media, or they do a lot of marketing on LinkedIn and things like that. And they're like, well, people say that they're interested in what I do, but they're not actually paying me they're not actually becoming my clients are not actually working together. And that for me shows that we haven't actually learned the skill set of selling. We haven't actually been clear about how we turn someone to be interested in what we do into Yeah, shut up and take my money cave. 

13:51

So you stop. Right. So I think making sure that we have both the mindset stuff sorted, as well as learning the skill set of sales. It is absolutely a skill. It's one of those things that kind of like when you learn to drive a car right at the start, you've got lots going on, you've got brakes, you've got GIS, you've got indicators, you've got other cars on the road, you've got to know the road rules, you've got to understand which way you need to give which side you need to give way to all that sort of stuff. And at the start, it can be really overwhelming. But once you learn how to drive end up jumping in the car, turning on the car and going Yep, cool. 

14:28

It just becomes second nature to you. And that's the joy and excitement that can happen with salespeople once they actually learn it as surprised about how quickly and easily they can make more money and make more sales within their business while still staying so true to them and who they are and the person that they want to be based around their business and all that sort of stuff too. So I absolutely believe that it is a bit of both you need to have the mindset but you also really need to have that sales skill set and strategy and stuff behind as well. So for me, it's about combining the two, how do you combine that positive mindset with the learned sales skill set to create a really powerful relationship between the two to have great overall success. 

15:14

Basically, it also means that you've got a strong mindset to be able to show up. And I know show up sometimes sounds a little bit like, Oh, I've got to show up, I've got to be on camera. I've got to be doing all the dancing on reels and all that sort of stuff. It doesn't have to be like that. It means that when people inquire with your business, you're ready to jump in, you're ready to have those conversations, you're ready to show people the best aspects of what you do and why you are the expert in your industry, why are you the best option to work with. So make sure that you're keeping on track with your mindset, but also make sure and obviously, like this is coming from the sales check, I get it. But make sure that you're also constantly working on that skill set of sales and developing your knowledge around it and looking at your sales strategy and your processes within your business. What can you tweak? What can you optimize what needs to be changed up a little bit, your messaging will have changed over the past 12 to 18 months, the type of client you work with may have changed over the past 12 to 18 months, the way that you market yourself may need to change over the next 12 to 18 months, you need to be able to be a little bit adaptable with that. But you also need to have the mindset in place to be able to implement those things along the lines as well. 

16:28

So that is all for me today. I really enjoyed this podcast today. I love talking about mindset and the way that people work. I'm one of those people that will go and sit down and grab a hot chocolate or cafe with hobby and we'll talk and we'll watch people and we observe because that for me shows so much about people, people's body language talks so much about what they're thinking and what they're feeling and the way that they communicate. I think that's really, really powerful. So mindset for me is something that I love.

16:57

 And obviously, sales is something that I don't know, it gets me really excited. Like I love having phone calls with clients. I had one on Friday where one of my clients said to me, it's the first sales meeting that I've walked out of thinking that went really, really well. And he's ended up winning some client work from that. And that was from one simple conversation we had. And we're going to be working together for the next couple of months within his business and looking at it and thinking, wow, this guy has no idea we haven't even scratched the surface. 

17:30

So that sort of stuff obviously excites me, we are opening the door to her Sales Cloud, which is where I will be sharing all this sort of stuff with you, we will cover mindset because as I said, I think it's really, really important. And obviously, we'll be covering the strategy and the actual sales skill set that you need within your business, I have actually developed it on a couple of different levels and made it really available. Hopefully, for most people in business, I find that there's this chicken and the egg thing, right, people need to learn how to sell to get cash flow, but they also need to have the cash flow to be able to pay to learn how to sell right. And so I've tried to make it as available to everyone as possible. We've got a couple of different levels, where we've just got the essentials. So that's where you'll learn just the basics of how to sell how people buy how you can communicate and use your language and increase your conversion rates and things like that all the way through, then we've got a middle section that is around mastering the art of sales. So what can you do to take your sales to that next level? How can you increase your turnover? How can you double your launches? How can you convert more of your database and your email list and then all the way through to a strategy level where I sit with these clients one on one? 

18:46

Every month we map out their sales strategy, we look at their cash calendar, what they need to do to really boost the cash flow within their business. We do SEO dates together, we do 90-day planning strategy sessions together. So we've got a couple of different levels and I really hope that it is accessible to most women in business around the world. I'm really passionate about helping women in sales. I really believe that having women create more income in this world is such a powerful thing because it means that they can make a lot more impact on this world as well.

19:21

 And so we are opening the doors we kick off on the 12th of March and I cannot wait if you would like to jump on the waitlist I will have a whole heap of bonuses available to people on the waitlist. So it's the best way to come into her sales club. 

19:33

Just jump on to www.Mareekirkpatrick.com/club and you'll be able to register your interest there and we'll send you through some emails and things like that as well. 

19:44

So until the next episode of the sales show Keep Smiling keeps selling from a connected and relationship-focused space.

19:54

 Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the sales show. Please share it on social media for your friends to see Make sure you tag me at Mareekirkpatrick so I can personally say if you would like to show me some love, leave me a review on Apple podcast. I'd love to hear from you email me at [email protected]. And if you'd like to work with me further or see any of the free resources mentioned on today's show, they can be found at Mareekirkpatrick.com I truly hope this podcast provides useful information and so much value to you. So you can build a business with impact and Income