Do You Exhibit a Cheesey Sales Spiel or a Classy Sales Skill?

1 00:00:11,314 --> 00:00:15,414 And welcome to the sell, this is all podcast. 2 00:00:15,919 --> 00:00:20,339 This is the show if you want to sell an idea, a product, or a service. 3 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,804 We're gonna share sales techniques with you so that you can be a sizzling success. 4 00:00:26,265 --> 00:00:27,245 Let's go. 5 00:00:29,385 --> 00:00:31,304 And welcome to this week's show. 6 00:00:31,304 --> 00:00:37,869 This is Mick Holly, your host, and I'm gonna be talking to you today, sir, about the difference 7 00:00:38,009 --> 00:00:41,710 between sales skill and sales spiel. 8 00:00:42,554 --> 00:00:45,135 What do you think of when you think sales spiel? 9 00:00:45,515 --> 00:00:48,655 People talk about, oh, he's got a he's got a sales spiel. 10 00:00:50,060 --> 00:00:51,980 I mean, do you feel positive about that? 11 00:00:51,980 --> 00:00:54,539 What does it conjure up in in your mind? 12 00:00:54,539 --> 00:00:56,380 I know what it conjures up in my mind. 13 00:00:56,380 --> 00:01:00,134 It's it's kind of feels oily and in sincere. 14 00:01:00,835 --> 00:01:01,795 So I thought, you know what? 15 00:01:01,795 --> 00:01:08,260 I'm gonna go and have a look in the dictionary, and I've got merriam Webster's dictionary on my 16 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:20,064 iPhone, and I put in spiel, s p I e l, and it says a Holly line of dravagant talk, otherwise 17 00:01:20,685 --> 00:01:21,745 known as pitch. 18 00:01:22,765 --> 00:01:28,969 So it's it it implies that it's loud, brash bragging. 19 00:01:29,510 --> 00:01:35,094 It's a and and when you when people have a sales spiel, it feels like they've got a 20 00:01:35,094 --> 00:01:40,155 prewritten script or canned presentation that comes across as insincere. 21 00:01:41,790 --> 00:01:46,510 And you know that you've been in those situations where you somebody's trying to sell 22 00:01:46,510 --> 00:01:53,165 you something at a store or on the phone and they just they they they they you can actually 23 00:01:53,625 --> 00:01:59,269 feel them reading something from a piece of paper, and they go at it so quickly, like a 24 00:01:59,269 --> 00:02:06,075 hundred miles of out an hour in the hopes that all of the features and benefits they've got 25 00:02:06,155 --> 00:02:11,594 listed there, if they say enough of them in a short amount of time, one of them will hit the 26 00:02:11,594 --> 00:02:12,094 target. 27 00:02:12,555 --> 00:02:20,409 And there is no There is no leeway for them to pause to ask questions to reflect. 28 00:02:20,950 --> 00:02:28,784 And so you feel disengaged disenchanted, almost very, very uncomfortable, almost almost 29 00:02:28,925 --> 00:02:29,425 nauseous. 30 00:02:30,604 --> 00:02:34,340 Now compare that to sales skill. 31 00:02:35,039 --> 00:02:38,580 When somebody well, just let's just take skill in general. 32 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:46,784 When somebody is highly skilled, they seem to be effortless in practicing their craft. 33 00:02:47,405 --> 00:02:55,479 It seems easy, you know, the best swimmers, the best runners, the best salespeople, they they 34 00:02:55,479 --> 00:02:58,039 don't seem as though they're stressed at all. 35 00:02:58,039 --> 00:02:59,259 They just do it. 36 00:02:59,384 --> 00:03:03,564 And they as if they've done it a thousand times before, which, of course, they have. 37 00:03:04,185 --> 00:03:05,784 And I was reading this book. 38 00:03:05,784 --> 00:03:16,129 It's called with winning in Mick, by Lanie Bassham, and he he was a an Olympic rifle 39 00:03:16,129 --> 00:03:23,754 shooter and he's put together this mental management model that allows you to mentally be 40 00:03:23,754 --> 00:03:28,360 at the top of your game right when you need it to be. 41 00:03:28,819 --> 00:03:32,740 So with winning in mind, I I would advocate reading it. 42 00:03:32,740 --> 00:03:35,000 It's it's short book, but very, very powerful. 43 00:03:36,135 --> 00:03:40,235 But here's one of the things that I drew out of it. 44 00:03:41,254 --> 00:03:45,060 Where where does skill reside. 45 00:03:45,439 --> 00:03:48,580 Where'd you draw your skill from? 46 00:03:49,520 --> 00:04:03,419 And he says that your skill resides entirely in your subconscious mind. 47 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:13,694 And I don't know if you know this, but no 90% over 90% of our thoughts, you know, and and 48 00:04:13,694 --> 00:04:17,629 decisions happen in our subconscious mind. 49 00:04:17,629 --> 00:04:21,870 I mean, we're consciously thinking about something, but in the background, that 50 00:04:21,870 --> 00:04:27,955 supercomputer that is your brain he's doing a 1,000,000 zillion other things. 51 00:04:28,574 --> 00:04:35,269 And so when when when when when you're when you've got a spiel, What it means is that that 52 00:04:35,269 --> 00:04:37,769 that hasn't been built into a skill. 53 00:04:37,829 --> 00:04:44,024 It sits in your conscious Mick, and so you have to think about it And when you think about it, 54 00:04:44,024 --> 00:04:47,004 all you can think about is one thing at a time. 55 00:04:47,064 --> 00:04:52,125 See, the conscious mind can only concentrate on one thing at a time. 56 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:59,360 And that's, as an aside, if you're thinking positively, at the same time, you can't have a 57 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:00,339 negative thought. 58 00:05:01,355 --> 00:05:06,235 The corollary of that is if you're thinking negatively, you can't have a positive thought. 59 00:05:06,235 --> 00:05:07,835 So you can make your conscious. 60 00:05:07,835 --> 00:05:12,800 You can be actively controlling and directing your conscious thought to always be thinking 61 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:14,800 about, positive things. 62 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:21,824 But if you're if you're new in sales or or or you're not really sure about what you're gonna 63 00:05:21,824 --> 00:05:26,704 say, then consciously, you have to think through the words. 64 00:05:26,704 --> 00:05:28,750 You have to think through the sentences. 65 00:05:29,449 --> 00:05:34,910 You have to think through the pauses, and you think one thing at a time. 66 00:05:36,009 --> 00:05:43,275 So a spiel when you're in that conscious frame of mind where you're reading the script, right, 67 00:05:43,275 --> 00:05:44,875 it it comes over. 68 00:05:44,875 --> 00:05:50,939 It it I mean, there's a number of elements that distinguish it from a a genuine sales skill. 69 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:58,555 So the first thing would be you know, it it appears to be rote memorization, which leads to 70 00:05:58,555 --> 00:06:02,680 a robotic, very impersonal interaction. 71 00:06:03,860 --> 00:06:07,479 The second thing is is there's an overemphasis on persuasion. 72 00:06:08,180 --> 00:06:09,300 You know, it's oily. 73 00:06:09,300 --> 00:06:10,099 They're pressing you. 74 00:06:10,099 --> 00:06:11,074 They're forcing you. 75 00:06:11,074 --> 00:06:11,975 They're not listening. 76 00:06:12,115 --> 00:06:18,855 It relies too heavily on persuasive tactics without addressing the customer's real needs. 77 00:06:19,980 --> 00:06:22,000 Thirdly, it's a lack of authenticity. 78 00:06:23,100 --> 00:06:25,040 It comes across as unoriginal. 79 00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:26,720 It's like a recital. 80 00:06:28,314 --> 00:06:30,414 Point number 4, it's inflexible. 81 00:06:30,954 --> 00:06:33,354 It doesn't adapt to customer's questions. 82 00:06:33,354 --> 00:06:36,894 In fact, you completely ignore the customer's questions most of the time. 83 00:06:37,229 --> 00:06:39,470 And lastly, it's very short term focus. 84 00:06:39,470 --> 00:06:39,709 Right? 85 00:06:39,709 --> 00:06:45,649 We're going for a close that deal rather than build a a a long term relationship. 86 00:06:46,274 --> 00:06:52,435 So when we very new at something, we're gonna be very conscious, and we do have to use a 87 00:06:52,435 --> 00:06:57,839 script But if you if you haven't practiced it, it's gonna sound like that. 88 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:04,125 Now when sales, sales skill is The skill of selling is very nuanced. 89 00:07:04,824 --> 00:07:12,009 There are many things that you're doing when you're trying to, you know, work with a 90 00:07:12,310 --> 00:07:12,810 customer. 91 00:07:16,310 --> 00:07:19,529 You're practicing active listening. 92 00:07:20,675 --> 00:07:24,834 You you you're you're trying to understand what is the customer telling you? 93 00:07:24,834 --> 00:07:26,535 You're trying to process that. 94 00:07:26,754 --> 00:07:28,615 You're generating empathy. 95 00:07:29,330 --> 00:07:34,689 You are playing back some of their words and saying that you understand your body language, 96 00:07:34,689 --> 00:07:38,764 your nonverbals, is communicating that empathy. 97 00:07:38,904 --> 00:07:48,779 You're if the call is going in a different direction to where it would be normally, and 98 00:07:48,779 --> 00:07:54,724 you have the ability to spot that and adapt it you are expressing product knowledge. 99 00:07:54,724 --> 00:07:59,944 You're providing the information that the buyer needs in order to come to a decision. 100 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,580 And together, you're solving problems. 101 00:08:04,279 --> 00:08:07,720 Now that's a lot of things all happening at once. 102 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:12,274 And do you remember what I said about the conscious mind. 103 00:08:12,274 --> 00:08:15,654 The conscious mind can only think of one thing at once. 104 00:08:15,954 --> 00:08:23,930 So unless you have got those things in your subconscious, you're just not gonna be able to 105 00:08:23,930 --> 00:08:29,035 do them all at once, and all you're gonna be thinking about is that next sentence. 106 00:08:29,495 --> 00:08:32,455 Now the subconscious mind is incredibly powerful. 107 00:08:32,455 --> 00:08:34,855 It's managing hundreds of things. 108 00:08:34,855 --> 00:08:36,715 It's managing your body chemistry. 109 00:08:37,095 --> 00:08:40,019 It's managing your your nervous system. 110 00:08:40,019 --> 00:08:42,120 It's managing your breathing. 111 00:08:42,259 --> 00:08:45,299 It's managing everything that's going on. 112 00:08:45,299 --> 00:08:50,144 It's it's it's it's it's it's absorbing through your eyes. 113 00:08:50,144 --> 00:08:55,429 All of those images and testing to see does that image look like something threatening. 114 00:08:55,490 --> 00:08:57,029 Is it something that I recognize? 115 00:08:57,490 --> 00:08:59,669 It's putting those images into boxes. 116 00:08:59,730 --> 00:09:06,595 It's forming ideas and feelings, and it does all of this In the background, it's like a a a 117 00:09:06,754 --> 00:09:08,855 it's it's a program that runs. 118 00:09:09,235 --> 00:09:14,929 And like any program, you know, it can be it can be it can be coded. 119 00:09:14,929 --> 00:09:15,990 It can be trained. 120 00:09:16,370 --> 00:09:20,855 But the beauty of it is is that that subconscious is doing all of that. 121 00:09:21,014 --> 00:09:21,754 Is listening. 122 00:09:21,815 --> 00:09:22,554 It's adaptability. 123 00:09:22,934 --> 00:09:24,054 It's providing project. 124 00:09:24,054 --> 00:09:26,074 It's doing all of those things at once. 125 00:09:26,294 --> 00:09:31,660 You know, when I find that I'm in a flow state and I'm using my skills. 126 00:09:32,279 --> 00:09:39,000 I actually, it it feels a little strange, but I I can sometimes, like, I have an out of body 127 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:46,125 experience whereby I seem to be looking on the conversation that I'm having with a prospect 128 00:09:46,125 --> 00:09:48,205 from up on, you know, the ceiling. 129 00:09:48,205 --> 00:09:53,899 And I'm looking down, and I can actually see my body language and whether I'm in sync, I've got 130 00:09:53,899 --> 00:10:00,174 ideas going through my brain about what kind of message are they trying to express Where are 131 00:10:00,174 --> 00:10:01,714 they in the sales process? 132 00:10:02,414 --> 00:10:07,720 My subconscious mind is doing all that because I've built a skill. 133 00:10:08,500 --> 00:10:13,540 And the beautiful thing is you can you can do this. 134 00:10:13,540 --> 00:10:16,004 You can build this this sales skills. 135 00:10:16,004 --> 00:10:26,470 So, okay, how do we go from having an oily, unintaging sales spiel to a rainmaker sales 136 00:10:26,610 --> 00:10:27,110 skill. 137 00:10:27,649 --> 00:10:34,904 Well, you'd be surprised when I tell you that the first thing that you need is a sales 138 00:10:35,044 --> 00:10:35,544 script. 139 00:10:36,004 --> 00:10:36,745 I know. 140 00:10:37,444 --> 00:10:38,565 You're reading the script. 141 00:10:38,565 --> 00:10:39,704 It sounds wooden. 142 00:10:39,845 --> 00:10:40,664 I know. 143 00:10:41,179 --> 00:10:45,980 But you have to start with a script, whether you're a newbie or you're a veteran. 144 00:10:45,980 --> 00:10:51,705 I bet many of you, you know, you don't have a script for a for a cold telephone call. 145 00:10:51,705 --> 00:10:54,585 You don't have a script for a follow-up call. 146 00:10:54,585 --> 00:10:59,800 You don't have a script for a a customer onboarding call. 147 00:10:59,860 --> 00:11:00,840 You need 1. 148 00:11:00,980 --> 00:11:01,480 Why? 149 00:11:02,259 --> 00:11:10,154 Because you have to be able to have a standard process. 150 00:11:10,375 --> 00:11:18,409 So if you can map that standard process and you know those steps, it can be duplicated. 151 00:11:19,509 --> 00:11:25,274 And if you can duplicate it, it means you can deliver it with consistent see. 152 00:11:25,975 --> 00:11:36,659 And when you've got sales process consistent, see, it leads to winning So I've been in 153 00:11:36,659 --> 00:11:43,745 organizations where, you know, the top salesman is selling 10 to 20 times more than everybody 154 00:11:43,804 --> 00:11:44,304 else. 155 00:11:44,764 --> 00:11:52,129 And because they have a sales skill and they've imprinted, they've they've out those steps, and 156 00:11:52,129 --> 00:12:00,585 they follow those steps every time until it becomes innate So what you need to do, this is 157 00:12:00,585 --> 00:12:01,304 how you need it. 158 00:12:01,304 --> 00:12:08,830 You start with that script, but you have to but you have to imprint So the conscious mind, 159 00:12:09,289 --> 00:12:14,269 right, folk, what you want to do is get the conscious mind focusing on that process. 160 00:12:14,330 --> 00:12:20,764 You've mapped the ideal sales process, the ideal sales steps, the ideal sales thought. 161 00:12:21,144 --> 00:12:21,464 Right? 162 00:12:21,464 --> 00:12:28,910 Now you want to imprint that conscious thought in to your subconscious. 163 00:12:29,210 --> 00:12:35,370 So every time you do it and you rehearse it, when you rehearse it, don't just be reading it, 164 00:12:35,370 --> 00:12:38,904 but enbibe how it feels? 165 00:12:38,904 --> 00:12:44,365 How does it feel when you say that with conviction so that you're training your 166 00:12:44,424 --> 00:12:51,669 subconscious on all of those feelings and emotions around those steps so that your 167 00:12:51,669 --> 00:12:54,855 subconscious mind starts to learn. 168 00:12:55,235 --> 00:13:04,440 And the more that you imprint, the more indelibly it sits in your subconscious. 169 00:13:05,139 --> 00:13:08,179 And then it's no longer wrote. 170 00:13:08,179 --> 00:13:17,144 It has become a skill you can draw upon it anytime that you want with consistency. 171 00:13:18,070 --> 00:13:21,450 So you need to be thinking about training. 172 00:13:21,830 --> 00:13:23,350 So it doesn't sound canned. 173 00:13:23,350 --> 00:13:28,764 I've talked about this before, but what I want you to think of, it's almost less of a role 174 00:13:28,764 --> 00:13:35,410 play and more of a rehearsal in a rehearsal you want to know how you're projecting into the 175 00:13:35,410 --> 00:13:35,889 audience. 176 00:13:35,889 --> 00:13:39,509 You want to feel how your message resounds. 177 00:13:39,730 --> 00:13:45,394 You want to feel the dialogue that's going on with your role playing partner. 178 00:13:46,095 --> 00:13:51,929 So you can really, really program that supercomputer So it becomes an innate 179 00:13:51,929 --> 00:13:58,029 subconscious routine that you can rely on every single time. 180 00:13:58,330 --> 00:14:01,034 Now The brain is plastic. 181 00:14:01,735 --> 00:14:05,914 By that, it means the computer can be programmed and reprogrammed. 182 00:14:06,649 --> 00:14:12,509 So if you start thinking negative thoughts and, you can't do things and you start practicing 183 00:14:12,649 --> 00:14:18,745 some things that are not the best way you'll still imprint that on the brain. 184 00:14:18,745 --> 00:14:20,924 Let me give you an example of how that works. 185 00:14:22,424 --> 00:14:24,745 Let's, you know, play a play a bit of golf. 186 00:14:24,745 --> 00:14:30,370 You might be a tennis player or something, something else that he might, you know, do. 187 00:14:30,590 --> 00:14:33,384 But when you hit a bad shot, Right? 188 00:14:33,384 --> 00:14:34,825 You go, oh, damn it. 189 00:14:34,825 --> 00:14:35,884 That was terrible. 190 00:14:36,105 --> 00:14:37,785 Oh, what what did I do? 191 00:14:37,785 --> 00:14:38,825 I did this wrong. 192 00:14:38,985 --> 00:14:40,285 Came down too steeply. 193 00:14:40,740 --> 00:14:42,339 You know, and I I Mick the ball. 194 00:14:42,339 --> 00:14:44,039 All I wasn't looking at it. 195 00:14:44,740 --> 00:14:50,774 That's not helpful because you're imprinting all of those negative process thoughts and 196 00:14:50,774 --> 00:14:52,375 steps into your brain. 197 00:14:52,375 --> 00:14:54,794 It's like you you you're looking down the fairway. 198 00:14:55,334 --> 00:14:59,914 If you say, oh, there's a bunker on the right, better not hit it right. 199 00:15:00,519 --> 00:15:02,279 The ball's gonna go right every time. 200 00:15:02,279 --> 00:15:04,139 You you focus positively. 201 00:15:04,679 --> 00:15:06,360 I I can see the center of the fairway. 202 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,540 You can see exactly where it's gonna land. 203 00:15:08,625 --> 00:15:08,945 Right? 204 00:15:08,945 --> 00:15:14,965 So you want to be imprinting the right things so that that subconscious routine is always 205 00:15:15,504 --> 00:15:20,179 manifesting the right level of repeatable dependable skill. 206 00:15:20,879 --> 00:15:22,000 So how do you train it? 207 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:22,639 How do you train? 208 00:15:22,639 --> 00:15:25,700 Well, it's it's determined by the quality of the training. 209 00:15:25,995 --> 00:15:26,235 Right? 210 00:15:26,235 --> 00:15:28,415 Where are you getting your sales training from? 211 00:15:28,715 --> 00:15:30,235 Are you getting it from me? 212 00:15:30,235 --> 00:15:31,855 Are you getting it from a book? 213 00:15:31,995 --> 00:15:33,615 Does the trainer have experience? 214 00:15:33,835 --> 00:15:36,169 Do you understand what what they're saying. 215 00:15:36,230 --> 00:15:37,669 Do you even do any training? 216 00:15:37,669 --> 00:15:39,269 Do you even do any reading? 217 00:15:39,269 --> 00:15:41,269 Or you think, oh, no, I got it. 218 00:15:41,269 --> 00:15:41,830 I'm there. 219 00:15:41,830 --> 00:15:42,490 I'm good. 220 00:15:42,945 --> 00:15:43,184 Right. 221 00:15:43,184 --> 00:15:46,304 You don't get to be an Olympian by standing still. 222 00:15:46,304 --> 00:15:46,465 Right? 223 00:15:46,465 --> 00:15:53,620 You you you've gotta continually reinforce reprogram, retrench, make those skills 224 00:15:54,159 --> 00:15:57,839 indelible and perform at higher and higher levels. 225 00:15:57,839 --> 00:15:59,279 You just gotta keep doing it. 226 00:15:59,279 --> 00:16:06,184 So if you haven't done any sales training, for for years, then, you know, you need to you need 227 00:16:06,184 --> 00:16:12,060 to get me involved so I can give you some exercises and some training So quality of the 228 00:16:12,060 --> 00:16:13,899 training material is important. 229 00:16:13,899 --> 00:16:20,735 You want to be programming the right kind of experiences into your subconscious And then the 230 00:16:20,735 --> 00:16:26,975 quantity of the training, people will tell me, yeah, we went on a sailing we had a sales 231 00:16:26,975 --> 00:16:31,720 seminar, you know, last year or last quarter, you've gotta be training every day. 232 00:16:32,980 --> 00:16:34,980 Europeans don't stop training. 233 00:16:34,980 --> 00:16:41,465 I think somebody told me the other day that Michael fell swam every day for 6 years to win 234 00:16:41,465 --> 00:16:43,785 those all those medals every day for 6 years. 235 00:16:43,785 --> 00:16:45,420 That's what you should be doing with sales. 236 00:16:45,420 --> 00:16:49,360 Every day, you should be roleplaying, you should be rehearsing, should be studying. 237 00:16:49,420 --> 00:16:54,215 In fact, every day, you should you should wake up If you're in sales and you should open your 238 00:16:54,215 --> 00:17:00,629 success journal, your personal log, and look at your goals, so that they inspire you. 239 00:17:00,629 --> 00:17:05,190 There should be big goals that inspire you, and you know that that's and if your goals are big, 240 00:17:05,190 --> 00:17:10,994 they they overpower any problems that you might have And, you know, you write down your 241 00:17:10,994 --> 00:17:15,335 thoughts and actions in that in that log, and you need to do those daily practices. 242 00:17:15,394 --> 00:17:19,490 You need to go through your role plays your rehearsals, your script. 243 00:17:19,789 --> 00:17:20,990 Keep on practicing it. 244 00:17:20,990 --> 00:17:23,329 So it goes from spiel to skill. 245 00:17:24,190 --> 00:17:27,384 And then the efficiency of the training Right? 246 00:17:27,684 --> 00:17:33,285 You don't wanna be watching videos and and and and then being distracted by something else on 247 00:17:33,285 --> 00:17:34,880 on YouTube or your half. 248 00:17:35,039 --> 00:17:35,680 You're half in. 249 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:40,339 When you're there, when you're training, you need to be totally focused because that 250 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:49,265 conscious thinking is now gonna imprint itself on your subconscious So, hopefully, you've got 251 00:17:49,265 --> 00:17:53,490 something out of that in order to build sales skill Right? 252 00:17:53,490 --> 00:17:59,670 It requires you to program your powerful supercomputer so that skill can be applied 253 00:17:59,890 --> 00:18:02,549 consistently, dependably in the background. 254 00:18:02,610 --> 00:18:05,305 Those skills reside in your subconscious. 255 00:18:05,845 --> 00:18:11,545 The only way those skills can build in your subconscious is if your conscious mind programs 256 00:18:11,684 --> 00:18:16,880 it So your conscious mind needs to do those rehearsals and practices, and you need to be 257 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:21,335 thinking about the positive thoughts and actions so that that goes into your 258 00:18:21,335 --> 00:18:21,835 subconscious. 259 00:18:22,134 --> 00:18:23,335 You do that enough times. 260 00:18:23,335 --> 00:18:28,555 You do that repeatedly, and it will become a rock solid skill. 261 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:34,119 Hey, if you want somebody to role play, rehearse, you need sales training, you wanna 262 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:38,265 take your game to the next level, I'm the guy. 263 00:18:38,644 --> 00:18:39,545 Sell the sizzle. 264 00:18:40,085 --> 00:18:43,785 I'm here until I see you next week.