How we are always selling. Pt. 8

Welcome to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. I'm your host, Ralph Owens, along with Terry Baylor. In today's episode, we'll touch on topics such as how avoiding arguments can help you close the deal, why you must identify the main issue, the power of creating tension between the big problem and the desired outcome, and the art of using questions to uncover the customer's desired outcome. Enjoy the show.

So so moving on to to the last point, closing the deal. So again, you know, we're talking about in the context of, selling as a profession, but we're using these techniques in our everyday life. So closing the deal, number one bullet point, avoiding arguments. Instead of engaging in arguments, focusing on finding common ground and solutions that benefits both parties. So I wanna give you the story that he he gave in in the book.

He talked about how this one real estate agent, wanted to sell this house to this executive. Right? And he asked the executive about what what do what does the executive like even before they ever saw the house. And the executive talked about how he loved trees. He just loved trees.

I guess where he grew up at, he didn't have a lot of trees and he really, really loved trees. Okay. So real estate agent takes him to the house and, the house, it fits it checks off the boxes that the executive wanted. But more than anything else, it had these beautiful trees. I think it was like 12 of them in the backyard.

So when the executive asked, okay, well how much is the house? The the real estate agent told him the price and the executive was like, I mean, I'll never there's no way in the world I'd ever pay that much money. So the real estate agent goes directly back to, but look at those trees. Let's just count them together. One, two, three.

So fast forward, the executive buys the house and says, basically what I did is I bought the trees and you threw the house in. Right? Because the real estate agent realized what was most important to that person. Was the trees not the house. Right?

Yes. So not getting into an argument about the price but really focusing on the common ground. The piece that was the most important to the person helps you to close the deal. Terry, what do you think about when you hear that?

Yeah, I think about again, what is the big problem? The big problem was the guy didn't have trees. What was the big solution? Get in my house with some trees.

Get some trees, yeah. But look at how intentional that is though. Mean it's so easy to just be cookie cutter and back into this example of a real estate agent. I'm just selling houses. I'm just gonna sell everybody a house.

No, you sell that person a solution to what they're looking for. The house may just be a part of that solution. Right? So now that's great. The second, point is letting your customers talk.

Giving your customers the opportunity to express their thoughts and concern. This allows you to understand their perspective and address any objections effectively. Again, going back to asking the word why, asking questions, getting them to talk more than you're talking so that you can be learning and almost data mining from the things that they're giving you so that you can understand what the big problem is, to your point too. I mean, any thoughts about that letting your customers talk?

Yeah, think one of the things that he did too is, and this is a great technique here, he brought the buyer from the problem state to the solution state. So was so important about that is this, right? You wanna have the same level of intensity and excitement about the problem state is when you get to the solution state. You want that to be an anti climactic event, So he could have started going down the fact that, man, this is a great house. You're gonna have so much acreage.

No, he went from the intense aspect of no trees to the just the exciting and climactic aspect of, but look at the trees. So what exactly did he do in that state? He basically created the tension between the problem. The greater you can create the tension between the problem and the outcome that's gonna motivate your buyer more. So let's talk about what the big problem is and then let's talk about what your big solution looks like or your big outcome looks like rather.

So if we can get that tension in play, right? Because those are two of the biggest motivating factors for buying. What is my big problem and what is my desired outcome? If you can keep your potential buyer or in the relationship, right? So let's bring it home to relationships.

There's tension between you and maybe your son or your daughter. Right. And they want to go to whatever, some event. You want some outcome at home. Right.

So let's talk through. Okay, you want this big outcome to be to go to this event. Right. And then the big problem is, though, what I need at home is not being done. What's the solution?

So if we highlight those two things, right? You can have this if I can get this. You know what I'm I think in how to win friends and influence people, they call it an eager want.

That's right, that's exactly what he calls it. Gotta figure it out. Yep.

Gotta get to that eager want man and the way to get to that eager want is highlighting as best you can the big problem with the desired outcome. So no, I totally agree.

Yep. Okay. That's good. That's good. And that last bullet point is help your customers understand their own needs.

So guide your customers towards the best solution for their specific situation by providing valuable insights and recommendations. You can help them, make an informed decision. Again, to me, this is where this is where the highest levels of skill around asking questions can be used as a tool to help educate your customer on what they want for themselves. Right? So you may have a person who says, hey, want this.

But what you really know is that now they they think they want that but they really want this. Right? So let me ask some questions to kinda lead them in this direction to help them understand what it is they really want themselves. Right? You know, Terry and I are big fans of Steve Jobs, and the things that he's done in his life.

And, you know, one of the things that he used to talk about was you have to know what your customer needs before they know it. Right? He talked about how somebody had the foresight to say, everybody in the world is riding a horse and buggy. They don't want they think they want another horse and buggy but what they really want is a car. Right?

So they introduced this concept of a car and help people to understand that now you what you want you don't want another horse. This is what you really want. Right? Right. Right.

Even when he dropped the iPhone, when Apple dropped the iPhone, it was the intersection between a phone, a music player, and a GPS device. Had never been done before. Right? He was basically saying, No, you don't want another phone. What you want is something that can do this and change the world.

Right?

Yes.

You know, so so being able to skillfully use questions to help your your customer understand their own needs and get them to that desired outcome. But Terry, tell me are thoughts on that?

No, I think it's brilliant, man. And I think that's understanding the trends. I think that's one of the things that we talked about a little earlier. Understanding what are the main external trends that create the pressure for your buyers, right? For your customers, asking, what is your desired outcome?

Do you Again, don't So part of the challenge, especially for technologists, we tend to always lead with the solution. It's not about your gadgets or your widgets Or anyone who's a subject matter expert may tend to drive towards what is, I'm gonna fix this with my tool. Understand what the outcome is. What is the customer's desired outcome? And I think we understand that by asking those questions.

That's right. Yeah. All right. So that was the last point, for today. Some additional tips, you know, about staying organized, effective time management prioritization is essential for maximum productivity Achieving your goals, that goes without saying, we've talked about that before.

Continuous learning, staying up to date on the best practice in emerging technologies and maintaining competitive edge. There's this point, in a book that I read called, No Excuses by Brian Tracy. I'll never forget this and I'll always continue to, reiterate this. He said in that book, he said, if you take if you can commit to take three to 5% of your income per year and invest that in your own education in the discipline that you do. Right?

So let's say you're an accountant. You take three to 5% of how much you make in a year and you invest that into going to seminars, reading books, taking courses on accounting. Okay? Because 99% of the people who are in your field do not take the time to develop sales, You will shoot past your competitors at an amazing speed. Not only that, he says that within five years you'll double your salary.

Okay?

Wow.

I did this. I actually did this myself. Right? By investing in books, investing in trainings, investing in educations and seminars and things that I went to, I was able to double my salary in five years. Absolutely 100% worse.

Right? So, continuous learning is not a if you're gonna be successful, continuous learning is not an option. It's 100 a must. Right? And then, appreciating your competitors.

Right? When you, get into conversations with people and they want to talk about your competitor, never down never never downplay your competitor. Right? Always show appreciation for them. Learn from your competitor strengths and avoid negative comparisons.

By adopting a positive and constructive mindset, you can foster a spirit of collaboration and innovation. Right? Because when you start to put your other competitors down, it makes you look a little risky. Like, okay, well what's this person up to? That type of thing.

Man. Any further thoughts there?

Yeah, so I would say, here's the deal right? At the end of the day what's for you is for you and I believe in enthusiasm is going to maintain a positive approach. Right now, if you want to identify what the differences are between a product or this or that, yeah, that's natural. Hey, our widgets are blue, their widgets are green. It's just pure data facts, right?

But when you get into a scenario where it's character kind of situation or you're debasing, just being negative that energy doesn't produce It's not gonna produce the maximum outcome. It just doesn't. Yeah, Ralph, I totally agree with that. And I think the ability to applaud because here's the thing, competition makes us better. And everything that someone's doing is not gonna be bad.

They do that well. And the way you approach that is well, how we're different is this. Yes, that's a great tool. How we're different is we take these measures. Our tool does this.

We have a philosophy in this direction. So again, I love what we've talked about today. Selling is serving. I would just leave with that. Selling is serving.

Serve your gift the best you can. Ralph, you've been an inspiration to me and I love the stories that you've shared, And I hope for everyone who's listening that these stories and books and the information that we've shared has been impactful. I also just want to give the title, author of Inspire Your Buyers. It's not a very long book. It's a great read though.

Bruce Scheer. That's S C H P E R. I think that's how you say his name is Scheer. So Bruce Scheer is the author of that book. Inspire Your Buyers.

No, that's great. That's great. I also wanted to give, the, book reference for the last book that I just, talked about. It's called, No Excuses, The Power of Self Discipline by Brian Tracy. So you can find that, anywhere you buy your books as well.

Alright.

Great show today.

Yeah. Great show. Great show. I appreciate

your material.

Go sell. Go serve. Go sell. Go serve. Go sell.

Go serve.

Alright. We'll end it on that. Take care, everybody.

Thank you for listening to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. We hope that you not only enjoyed the content but gained something to help you on your personal leadership journey. Feel free to reach out to us on X and Instagram under the handles Leadership Sovereignty. Until next time, stay safe, peace, and blessings.