What can sales training teach you about influence?

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training help you be more influential?

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Well, if you've ever been through

sales training, you probably

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already know the answer to this.

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And if you haven't, you may

not want to be putting yourself

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through sales training to find out.

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So I'm going to share with you how

sales training has helped me and some

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of the lessons and experience I had

in my time working in sales with a few

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different companies that have helped

me to improve my influence ability,

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and I've seen benefits that

in other areas of my life.

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It's also helped me to become a better

coach and a better communicator.

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So if you want to know how my

sales training can help you become

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more influential a communicator,

then stay tuned to the show.

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Welcome to Present Influence, the show

that helps business leaders develop

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the skills to influence and inspire.

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I'm John Ball, a presentation skills

and keynote coach, professional

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speaker, and your guide on the

journey to leadership level

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communication and presentation skills.

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My mission is to provide rising

business leaders like you with

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everything you need to maximize your

impact and present with influence.

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Follow the show on your favorite

podcast app for weekly episodes and

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interviews with influence experts.

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If you've never had to make a sales

call before, you might not understand

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the fear and dread that many people

feel about making those kinds of calls,

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especially the dreaded cold call.

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Happily, I've never had to do too

many of those and mostly had warm

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or at least tepid leads to call.

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But even then, I very much felt a sense

of resistance and hesitation to making

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the calls and getting started with my day.

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And it's one that is very common

to people in sales, especially

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making sales calls, even though

it may seem completely irrational.

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Now in 2022, I decided that I wanted to

work full time in the world of podcasting.

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Luckily enough, I received an

email around that time that one

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of my favorite podcasters was

hiring for people to join his team.

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Now I didn't know what the role

was at the time, but it turned

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out the role was being a setter.

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Now, if you don't know what a setter is,

it's someone who sets sales appointments

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for the closers, who then close the deal.

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It's a sometimes completely often mainly

commission based role that people will

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end up finding themselves doing and me

never really having done sales before,

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it was a bit interesting and a challenge.

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So the role meant that I would qualify

suitable prospects to fill out the

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calendars of the closing team and

then make commissions from the sales

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that they would go on to close.

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So, apart from selling duty free on the

plane when I used to be a flight attendant

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And a very unsuccessful stint in multi

level marketing, I had never really done

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professional sales before, and it felt

like I was entering a whole new world.

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So luckily I was about to receive

some top sales training from

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Cole Gordon's team at closers.

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io.

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Now, even though I ultimately

decided that my future wasn't in

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full time sales, I learned so many

valuable things from my experience

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that I'm still finding useful today.

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I want to share with you the top eight

things that I learned in that time

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that have helped me to improve my own

influence and impact and also helped me

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to become a better coach and communicator.

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The first thing I want to share is

to stop thinking and start doing.

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This is not just a lesson from sales,

but for any part of life, especially

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those of us who are in business

for ourselves and by ourselves.

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One of the first hurdles I had

to leap was influencing myself

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to make the flipping calls.

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The best answer to this was also

the simplest one, which is that

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you just need to get started.

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When you have a call quota and

targets to meet, you really just

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need to get your day started ASAP.

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And the best way to hit that flow state

is to already be in motion, moving.

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Sometimes the hardest thing to do with

any project is just getting started.

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But once you do, you

find you can get into it.

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You figure a way through.

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In my first week of making live

sales calls with that company, I

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certainly had a lot of resistance.

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I even had some pretty challenging,

I'd even say horrific experiences

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on a few calls with people who were

sometimes a bit of hostile sometimes

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very aggressive at least, or assertive.

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certainly had some experiences that would

have validated that fear, even during my

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first week of going live with sales calls.

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However, you have to keep going but

I'm aware that I've also had that

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experience sometimes with doing

prospecting for my own business,

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with prospecting for reaching out

for coaching clients, reaching out

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for speaking opportunities and the

likes that the fear starts to come up.

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Will they like me?

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Who am I to be doing this?

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The imposter comes up and all of

those things that can be very hard

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to sometimes motivate ourselves

into doing what we need to do.

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Really, the best thing is to make

sure that we have a start time for

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doing the work that we're going

to do and that we get it done.

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Now, look, if your business requires

you to do some level of prospecting

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or outreach, one of the best

practices you can have for yourself

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is to have a prospecting power hour.

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in your day.

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Ideally the same time every day

and one hour or even 30 minutes

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if that's all you can manage.

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Where that's all you're doing, you're

doing your outreach, you're doing

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your prospecting and that's all you're

doing because you only have that time

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and that's what needs to be done.

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And you need to know what you're

going to be doing in that time

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before you get to it as well.

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So that you don't spend your

allocated time just figuring out what

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I'm actually going to do with it.

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So it can be very hard to get yourself

to do the things that you don't

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necessarily really want to do, but know

that you need to do for your business.

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However, the more we can cajole ourselves

into doing these things, the easier

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it becomes to keep doing them . The

next thing is to go unscripted.

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Now it's having a script can

be really, really helpful.

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If you've ever been on the other end of

a scripted sales call where the person

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you're speaking to is not going to

deviate from their script, no matter what

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you say, no matter what you interrupt

them with, they're going to keep going.

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That's no fun.

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You might as well be listening to a robot,

because that's what they're there to be.

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Starting with the script, though, can

be very helpful because it's really

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useful to know what you're going to say.

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If you're a professional speaker,

you may want to practice your speech

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that you're going to be delivering

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word for word.

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You may want to practice it as you've

written it, but that's not really

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how you want to be delivering it.

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Otherwise you're going to be reading

from an auto cue the whole time, where

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you're going to be reading from your

notes, and that's going to really

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damage your ability to connect and

communicate with your audience is

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going to damage your influence and it's

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certainly a huge hit on your credibility.

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So having a script can be great for

helping you to practice, but you really

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do need to do that and make it your own.

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So practice it so well that you can

improvise around it so that you can

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have some flow with it and so that it

doesn't come out exactly the same way

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every single time because you're not

an actor repeating lines on the screen.

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And even then top actors will very

often make something their own

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unless you're performing Shakespeare

where people are likely to know the

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lines and you don't want to take

too much artistic license with that.

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Then you want to be able to

make a part your own sometimes

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where it's possible to do that.

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So having a framework or a checklist

Those are the things that can actually

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allow you to go where you want a need

to go in the conversation without

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the need for you to have a script and

to be able to follow that exactly.

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We want to be natural on the

calls, natural with the people

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that we're talking to because

we're looking to connect with them.

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We're looking to build a

level of rapport with them.

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We want to be we want to be making

real connections with real people.

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We are real people.

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Let's connect with people as real people.

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One of the times where I really see the

whole scripted stuff come off badly for

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people are having a podcast like this I

have a lot of people who want to be guests

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on the show and that's wonderful I'm

Spoiled when it comes to having people who

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want to be on the show and being able to

choose the best from all those people who

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do apply the people who I really want to

speak to and want you to hear from and so

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many of the Applications I receive from

people are just copy and paste stuff.

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In a way, it's similar to, receiving

unsolicited emails or those, if you're

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on LinkedIn, getting those LinkedIn

messages from people who don't know

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you offering products or services

saying, Hey, I can help you with this.

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And you have no idea who they are,

they want to connect with you.

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There's no relationship there.

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So that's why we have to connect to

develop some relationship with people.

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A really useful skill in terms

of sales is that of finding the

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pain points and labeling them.

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Your job on a sales call to some

degree is to diagnose the pain and

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circumstances of the person on the

other end of the prospect, as we will

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often call them in the sales world.

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On the other end of the line and

see if what you have to offer is

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actually the solution that they need.

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So you do need to be able

to diagnose really well.

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This also means that we need to

find out what they really want.

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We also need to find out what

they've already tried, some of

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their challenges, their desire for

change, all those kinds of things.

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And certainly we need to find out

what their means are to be able to

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proceed with a product or a service

that we may be offering them.

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But then we need to label

what comes up for us as well.

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And there's a way to do that.

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And if you've ever come across

Chris Voss's book, Split the

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Difference, he talks about

something called tactical empathy.

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But that's where we're

going to employ that here.

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And so we might say something

like, Hey, Phil, it seems like.

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It seems like you feel that

no one listens to you at work.

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Is that right?

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If there's no pain, there's no sale.

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Simple, right?

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So tactical empathy.

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Let's see that we need to put the

tact into tactical empathy as well.

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So we don't just want to dive into pain.

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I can tell you probably the most

pushback I ever got on sales calls

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with people was going too quick into

trying to poke at their pain where

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people do generally recognize now

that that's what you're trying to do

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You're trying to get their pain points.

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You're trying to pull them out and

certainly if you have what we'd call

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a smart customer who Understand sales

maybe has is in sales themselves,

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it's just gonna be like a red rag

to a bull And they're probably going

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to get pretty pissed off with you.

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So be tactful about this.

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Your goal is to create some

relationship here as well.

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But you need to lead into these

things or talking about their

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problems in a natural way.

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Rather than just I'm just trying

to turn up your pain points here.

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I do recommend because this

is relevant to negotiations.

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It's certainly relevant to all

sorts of levels of communication.

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Episode 103 of the show back

when it was still podfluence

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with a guy called Mike Lander.

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Mike's amazing, a really, really good

negotiator, has some different opinions to

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Chris Voss in this sense about splitting

the difference and such, but still

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some great negotiation skills and some

practical applications of things you can

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do to improve your negotiation skills.

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If that's relevant to you,

it's episode 103 of the show.

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Now , here's something that surprised me

too much rapport can derail your results.

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Now, sure, you want to be friendly with

people, but if you get too friendly,

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you can find yourself spending half

your time or more in small talk and

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in sales situations that can mean

becoming less detached and evaluating

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and potentially helping the person

on the call with you because the more

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you like them, the more you want to

see them be able to get what you want

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to help them with and get through.

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Which can mean you end up qualifying

people who really aren't qualified.

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We just want enough rapport to have a

good conversation, but enough distance

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to be able to maintain control of

the conversation, because we want to

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be the person asking the questions.

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And we also want to have enough distance

that they don't just feel that we're

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there to, that we're going to give them

whatever they need or whatever they want.

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They need to know there is still

a professional distance there, you

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kind of like the distance that A

director might have between someone

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on a much lower level in the company.

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They could be friendly.

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They could be really welcoming.

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It could be the nicest people

possible, but they have a

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professional distance from you.

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So you can still have the

rapport, there's still that gap.

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You can still like each other.

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But, , when you're talking to them,

you're there to talk business,

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you're there to get on with stuff.

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So sometimes those lines get blurred

in professional relationships as well,

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not just in sales situations where we

can find ourselves being called into

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all sorts of conversations and problems

that are going on in people's lives.

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It's been shown in studies that one

of the biggest productivity problems

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in a lot of businesses, especially open

plan offices is people talking to each

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other, not their mobile phones, but

people actually just talking to each

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other because people get caught up

in each other's lives and problems.

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And quite often, a lot of us would

much rather be talking to someone

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else than getting on with our work.

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So That can be a huge drain on our

productivity and on our ability to

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create and certainly on our ability

to have influence with the people.

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Because if we're too involved,

we're not leading them anymore.

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We're too much on the same level.

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We still need to be in a position

where we're able to ask the questions,

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we're able to lead them to where

we need the conversation to go.

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Your time is too valuable to be wasted

on long and unnecessary conversations.

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So just remember that the number

one time killer in office is too

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much rapport, too much small talk

and conversation with other people.

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And in coaching, if you're a professional

coach, or if you have some kind of

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consultancy, similar kind of thing,

it just ends up being a very expensive

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coffee for the person who's doing

business with you or vice versa.

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You can end up being paying a lot

of money when all you're really

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getting is, Oh, Hey, how are you?

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How are things going?

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What have you been doing this week?

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How's things with your partner?

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How's things with the kids?

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Whatever the conversation

ends up going to.

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It isn't always relevant to what

you're there to do professionally.

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One important lesson that just came up

for me time and time again, not just in

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sales, but in, in a number of situations

was about caring and I framed it up in

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this way, like trying to give a crap.

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If you don't like the

language, that's fine.

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There's right.

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There are other podcasts, right?

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But try to give a crap about the

people that you are talking to.

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Try to show them that you care.

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One reason that people have so much

shit around sales and sales people is

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they think That it's all about those

people getting them to buy something

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that they don't really want or need.

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And that's not what sales is about.

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That's what a confidence trickster does.

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That really is more about negatively

manipulating and forcing people to

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go a direction that you want to go.

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Sales is really supposed to

be about helping people to

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get what they really want.

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So.

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If you let someone know that your

product or service isn't right for them,

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you might lose a sale in the moment.

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But here's what that is

going to generate instead.

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Trust, respect, referrals in the long

term, because those people know, Hey,

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you didn't try and push that sale on me.

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You didn't try to force

me over the line here.

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I felt like very comfortable.

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In fact, you knew what was best for me.

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I said, no, this isn't right for you.

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And I feel more confident about

being able to send other people

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your way who you might be right for.

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Because you didn't just go for the sale.

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So it's often said that people don't

care until they know how much you care.

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And I don't know how completely true that

is, but there is certainly a ring of truth

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to it that needy people can sometimes

get caught up in their own outcomes.

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And so you may find this

in conversations as well.

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It's relevant to sales is relevant to all

parts of your life that people are caught

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up in their own lives and their own stuff.

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And it's one thing to care

and show that you care.

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Also, you don't want to be pulled into

that either, so we want to talk about that

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distance before we want to have emotional

intelligence around these things.

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We want to show some level of

sympathy and concern, but we don't

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want to get drawn in certainly

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judge things by the situation and the

level of your friendship or connection

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that you already have with the person

as to where that conversation is going

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to go and how deep it's going to go.

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But in terms of if you're communicating

to a team or to a large group of people,

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You still want to show that you care about

who they are as people and not just about

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what the bottom line is of the company.

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Now, If you care about values in your

business, and hopefully you do, whether

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you're a solo operator or whether you

have a team or whether you have a larger

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company, it's essential that you live by

those values and that you hold to them and

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I'll be honest, this is something that's

actually come up from fairly recently.

304

: 00:16:38

Even when times are tough, you still

need to hold to the values because if you

305

: 00:16:42

don't, here's what you're going to do.

306

: 00:16:45

You're going to damage

your whole company culture.

307

: 00:16:48

If you don't stick to the values that you

purport to have, just because you want

308

: 00:16:53

to improve the bottom line of the company

or the sales margins or whatever it is.

309

: 00:16:58

So it's absolutely essential.

310

: 00:17:01

Absolutely essential that if you want to

let your values shine in your business,

311

: 00:17:05

they need to shine even when you're not

in a golden time, even when some things

312

: 00:17:08

are a little more challenging or the

numbers are a little tighter, you still

313

: 00:17:12

need to stick with that and show the

people that you work with that you care.

314

: 00:17:16

And maintain a culture in your business

that shows that you care about people

315

: 00:17:20

and you care about the culture of

the people working with as well.

316

: 00:17:23

Because one thing you don't want to have

is a culture where people feel like,

317

: 00:17:27

we say we have these values, but we

don't actually follow through with them.

318

: 00:17:31

We say we look after people,

but I don't feel safe in my job.

319

: 00:17:34

It's not good, not healthy.

320

: 00:17:38

Now, every good boy and girl scout knows

this motto, which is to be prepared.

321

: 00:17:43

And this is equally, this is

such an important life motto.

322

: 00:17:47

It certainly applies in sales.

323

: 00:17:48

It applies in so many other areas as well.

324

: 00:17:50

So in sales, it means really making

sure that you're ready for the day

325

: 00:17:54

ahead, that you are emotionally

ready, that you are armed with

326

: 00:17:58

all the information that you need.

327

: 00:17:59

And that you have a good

sense of how your day will go.

328

: 00:18:03

So this can relate very much to your

competence and a few things will

329

: 00:18:08

lose you influence quicker than not

seeming competent in what you do

330

: 00:18:12

and seeming somewhat unprepared.

331

: 00:18:13

So I have had one, one experience very

early on in my professional sales life

332

: 00:18:21

with a lady, she was in based in Vegas.

333

: 00:18:23

She clearly knew what she

was on about with sales.

334

: 00:18:26

And she actually had some of

her team with her in the car.

335

: 00:18:28

Whilst we were talking, she put

me on loudspeaker, timed out

336

: 00:18:31

the pressure on me a little bit,

still very new and fresh in sales.

337

: 00:18:36

And I was a little nervous.

338

: 00:18:37

I won't lie.

339

: 00:18:38

And she was asking me for specific

information that really, had I been

340

: 00:18:43

there longer, I probably would have

known, but I was not prepared for it.

341

: 00:18:47

Now I can make all the excuses for this

and say I was new and I just didn't know

342

: 00:18:50

enough stuff yet, but realistically, I

probably should have made more effort to

343

: 00:18:54

have been that bit more prepared for it,

because when she called me out, she was

344

: 00:18:59

absolutely right with what she said, and

certainly it was tough on me and she was

345

: 00:19:03

super assertive about it to the point

of being, rude to me, but, she felt like

346

: 00:19:09

her time had been wasted, however that's

the sort of thing that could put you off

347

: 00:19:14

doing sales altogether, but you have to

take that as what can I learn from that?

348

: 00:19:18

I learned from that situation

that I need to show up prepared.

349

: 00:19:22

I know people in the speaking world who

will, say, oh, I can show up and I can

350

: 00:19:26

deliver a talk off the top of my head.

351

: 00:19:28

And there's, I know my stuff so well.

352

: 00:19:29

Well, that's great.

353

: 00:19:31

But there's a huge difference between

professional speakers who have

354

: 00:19:35

several well mastered and crafted

and practiced keynote presentations

355

: 00:19:40

There's someone who just says, oh,

well, we'll give you a topic, roll with

356

: 00:19:42

it, talk to us for 45 minutes on this.

357

: 00:19:45

And they might be able to do it and they

might still be able to do a reasonable job

358

: 00:19:48

with it But they're never gonna be able to

do it with enough polish As a professional

359

: 00:19:55

keynote presenter who has practiced

their talk and is prepared to deliver it.

360

: 00:20:01

And able to do that smoothly, able to

improvise around what they're doing.

361

: 00:20:06

Practice and preparation are so important.

362

: 00:20:09

So always be prepared with your

coaching calls, be prepared for those.

363

: 00:20:12

If you are going into a meeting, be

prepared for that as best you can.

364

: 00:20:16

Now, I know there's always going to be

situations where you just don't have the

365

: 00:20:18

time or the opportunity and we have to

roll with those punches, that's life.

366

: 00:20:23

But whenever we do have the ability

to practice and prepare for any

367

: 00:20:28

communication based situation that

we're going into, then we should

368

: 00:20:31

certainly take advantage of that.

369

: 00:20:34

Because it's going to massively

improve our outcomes and therefore

370

: 00:20:39

our impact and influence.

371

: 00:20:42

Yeah, this principle is one

that is good for life as well.

372

: 00:20:45

And it's but it's certainly

very relevant in sales.

373

: 00:20:49

And it certainly also can really

help you with your communication.

374

: 00:20:52

It can help you with your networking.

375

: 00:20:54

But it's to let go of your assumptions

about people, because their first

376

: 00:20:57

impressions really very often are

wrong, but they're hard to let go of.

377

: 00:21:02

And they're hard to overcome.

378

: 00:21:04

It's hard to come back from

a bad first impression.

379

: 00:21:07

It's possible, but it's hard.

380

: 00:21:09

And obviously sometimes first impressions

can be quite correct, and some things

381

: 00:21:13

will give way, but, we tend to make

a lot of assumptions about people

382

: 00:21:17

based on how they present themselves.

383

: 00:21:19

The way someone presents

themselves can really lead to all

384

: 00:21:21

sorts of incorrect assumptions.

385

: 00:21:23

We make judgments about people based

on their looks, the way they speak,

386

: 00:21:27

their body shape, their gender, or

their non gender conforming, or their

387

: 00:21:31

age, or their financial situation.

388

: 00:21:33

And more besides,

389

: 00:21:35

We really can't effectively evaluate

situations or even people if we've already

390

: 00:21:38

judged them as being one thing or another.

391

: 00:21:42

And I'll say that one example I have

of this from my own life for those

392

: 00:21:45

of you who may not know, I used to

be a flight attendant with British

393

: 00:21:48

Airways long time ago, a lot of fun,

great job, and had the best time.

394

: 00:21:53

And very often I would be working in

first class on the planes and quite

395

: 00:21:57

often in the kitchen, sometimes out

in the cabin serving people as well.

396

: 00:22:02

And one of the things I would always

notice is the people who regularly

397

: 00:22:05

traveled in first class, the people who

could honestly afford it and, rich as

398

: 00:22:08

anything could afford to be up there.

399

: 00:22:11

They didn't need to dress or look the

part, and they very often wouldn't, unless

400

: 00:22:15

they were dignitaries or politicians

or the likes, they really would often

401

: 00:22:18

just be in the most casual clothes,

or maybe even ripped jeans today.

402

: 00:22:22

Certainly the Hollywood stars and the

likes, jeans and t shirts, casual stuff,

403

: 00:22:26

they did not have to make an effort.

404

: 00:22:29

But you compare that, were they

generally better dressed or not

405

: 00:22:31

than the people in business class?

406

: 00:22:33

Probably not.

407

: 00:22:33

Like the people in business class

who weren't in first, either maybe

408

: 00:22:37

they couldn't get there, maybe their

first class cabin was booked, but but

409

: 00:22:40

often it was the people who, people

in business class often wanted to be

410

: 00:22:43

the people who'd be in first, and they

would be very often the people in suits.

411

: 00:22:47

Even though they might not

actually be coming or going to

412

: 00:22:50

work, they would often travel.

413

: 00:22:51

In business attire because they want to

look the part there and they want to feel

414

: 00:22:56

like they're suitable for upgrade as well.

415

: 00:22:58

Should that opportunity arrive?

416

: 00:22:59

Fair enough.

417

: 00:23:00

However, if you were to put those

people side by side as well, who has

418

: 00:23:04

the most money, who says, who has the

most influence, who has the most power?

419

: 00:23:07

Unless you know who the person was,

if you judged it on how they were

420

: 00:23:10

dressed, you would potentially think

that the business class passenger

421

: 00:23:14

had more money and influence and

power than the person in first class

422

: 00:23:17

who potentially has a lot more.

423

: 00:23:19

But again, you just don't know

it could be the case, but it

424

: 00:23:22

also very well may not be.

425

: 00:23:25

Is making those judgments based on how

people appear to you like I used to that

426

: 00:23:29

guy who was on several businesses, really,

really successful guy and would always

427

: 00:23:34

show up to some of the poshest places

in a white t shirt and ripped jeans.

428

: 00:23:39

Sometimes people would even

try and turn them away.

429

: 00:23:41

Even got turned away from a car showroom,

wanting to test drive a really posh

430

: 00:23:45

sports car because he didn't look like

someone who had that kind of money.

431

: 00:23:51

Be careful of making these kinds

of assumptions about people.

432

: 00:23:55

Now I'm not saying that you should

just assume that everyone has lots of

433

: 00:23:57

money and is rich, just saying, just

try and be aware that if you're making

434

: 00:24:01

assumptions, you don't really know.

435

: 00:24:03

We sometimes make assumptions about

people based on how attractive they

436

: 00:24:06

are, and often they can be wrong

because someone's attractiveness can

437

: 00:24:10

sometimes cause us to think better

of them than perhaps we should.

438

: 00:24:15

Sometimes we'll make assumptions about

people thinking that they look very well

439

: 00:24:19

polished and maybe look very attractive.

440

: 00:24:21

They maybe look in great shape and we

think they must have a perfect life.

441

: 00:24:25

Maybe they have an attractive

partner, beautiful looking

442

: 00:24:27

children, all those kinds of things.

443

: 00:24:29

Oh, how wonderful and

perfect may their life be?

444

: 00:24:31

And that is an assumption.

445

: 00:24:33

that Everyone has got stuff going

on in their lives, pain in their

446

: 00:24:36

lives that if you knew other

people's reality, you wouldn't

447

: 00:24:39

trade places with them in a moment.

448

: 00:24:41

We all know our own pain.

449

: 00:24:42

It's like sometimes we may overestimate

just how bad our own situation is,

450

: 00:24:46

but we never really know what's

going on with other people as well.

451

: 00:24:49

So we can.

452

: 00:24:50

Don't make assumptions, and certainly

have met the celebrities in my life

453

: 00:24:54

who I thought would be was super

excited to be and just thought

454

: 00:24:57

would be the loveliest people.

455

: 00:24:58

That hasn't always turned out

to be the same, to be the case.

456

: 00:25:01

And some celebrities I met, and I

will have one particular, I will

457

: 00:25:04

say a name here, one particular time

that I met a celebrity who I thought

458

: 00:25:07

was going to be not very nice.

459

: 00:25:08

That was Vinnie Jones, the former

footballer, and now that's been

460

: 00:25:12

in loads and loads of films.

461

: 00:25:14

And then my encounter with him,

he was absolutely delightful.

462

: 00:25:18

I had a preformed judgment about

him from the media, I guess.

463

: 00:25:22

that turned out to very

much not be the case.

464

: 00:25:24

He was really nice to speak

to and a super nice guy.

465

: 00:25:27

So, it's very easy to potentially make

bad judgements about people, like someone

466

: 00:25:33

who I didn't think much of before,

ended up coming away really liking.

467

: 00:25:36

I'm thinking, what a nice person.

468

: 00:25:38

So yeah, in terms of how does that

help us with influence and impact.

469

: 00:25:42

I think it's important for people to be

able to see that we're not making those

470

: 00:25:46

snap judgments, high tech people in my

own life, even I try to stay away from

471

: 00:25:50

doing this myself who do negatively

judge and vocalize those judgments about

472

: 00:25:55

other people in all kinds of situations.

473

: 00:25:58

People on the TV particularly get

get commented and criticized and

474

: 00:26:03

it's all really negative stuff

or stuff that doesn't, they don't

475

: 00:26:07

fit to your idea of how people

are supposed to be showing up or.

476

: 00:26:10

What they should look like, or

how they should act or behave.

477

: 00:26:14

If we can let go of that and be somewhat

less judgmental, that really can help

478

: 00:26:20

in people, our ability to connect with

people because we take away people's

479

: 00:26:24

fear of being negatively judged by us.

480

: 00:26:26

Something to think about.

481

: 00:26:29

One of the toughest things that

I've come across in all my years of

482

: 00:26:33

personal development, and certainly

is very relevant in the world of

483

: 00:26:36

sales as well, is about taking

charge of your emotional state.

484

: 00:26:41

And I alluded to this somewhat with the

be prepared stuff about how you start

485

: 00:26:44

your day as a sales person, because so

much of the sales game is the mental game.

486

: 00:26:49

So much of our lives is the mental

game, the inner game that our emotional

487

: 00:26:53

state in general governs our life

results, whether we like it or not.

488

: 00:26:57

And I know the word mindset has been

so overused and even abused that some

489

: 00:27:02

people just switch off when they hear it.

490

: 00:27:04

So let's not use mindset, let's

just call it your emotional state.

491

: 00:27:08

One of the biggest reasons why

people often don't get stuff done

492

: 00:27:11

is because they don't feel like it.

493

: 00:27:13

They feel a bit down and they feel

a little tired or a little off.

494

: 00:27:16

And we end up not doing the stuff

that we probably should be doing

495

: 00:27:19

because we don't feel super energized.

496

: 00:27:21

And then sometimes we get those

days where we feel super energized,

497

: 00:27:23

we're ready to go for it.

498

: 00:27:24

We.

499

: 00:27:25

Can go and get a load of stuff done.

500

: 00:27:28

If we can take more control over

our emotional state, we can have

501

: 00:27:33

far more of those days where we can

get into our flow and feel better

502

: 00:27:38

about ourselves and our lives.

503

: 00:27:39

What stops a bad day in sales from

becoming a bad week or a bad month?

504

: 00:27:44

Your emotional state.

505

: 00:27:46

Inevitably, there are going to be hits

to our confidence that we're going

506

: 00:27:49

to take from time to time in sales.

507

: 00:27:52

And I've seen this with closers

who I've worked with, people can

508

: 00:27:55

really can get into a rut in sales.

509

: 00:27:56

And if you've ever worked

in sales, you may have even

510

: 00:27:58

experienced this for yourself.

511

: 00:28:00

And it can be really hard to break out

of that rut, which is why we must work

512

: 00:28:04

so hard on our mental game, because

when our bubble of confidence bursts,

513

: 00:28:09

it echoes into all of our following

calls, unless we do something to take

514

: 00:28:14

charge and build ourselves back up.

515

: 00:28:15

So reading testimonials, playing back

successful recordings of past closes or

516

: 00:28:22

shaking off the dark clouds of doubt,

these are all essential elements to your

517

: 00:28:27

results and to your clients as well.

518

: 00:28:31

I've already shared with you a

bit about the experience I've

519

: 00:28:33

seen with closers as well.

520

: 00:28:34

I've seen people get into sales

ruts and I've had some limited

521

: 00:28:37

experience with that because I wasn't

in sales for a super long time.

522

: 00:28:40

But one of the things that becomes

a reality when you do start to take

523

: 00:28:45

control of your emotional state and

decide that you're going to be happy,

524

: 00:28:48

even if there's not, you're going

to be happy and energized, even when

525

: 00:28:52

there's not always cause in your

life or the world to be that way.

526

: 00:28:56

Some people are going to

start to think you're weird.

527

: 00:28:59

It's just, that's just how it is.

528

: 00:29:01

Some people will think you

are weird and there's probably

529

: 00:29:03

not a lot you can do about it.

530

: 00:29:05

Why are you happy when this is, this

horrible thing is going on in the world

531

: 00:29:08

or this is happening in your life or

when you've got no money or when your

532

: 00:29:11

partner's just left you or whatever it is.

533

: 00:29:13

How can you be happy?

534

: 00:29:15

Your life is shit.

535

: 00:29:16

Why are you happy?

536

: 00:29:17

It's like people don't get it.

537

: 00:29:18

You just did an accident.

538

: 00:29:19

How can you be happy?

539

: 00:29:20

Your medical bills are going to be huge.

540

: 00:29:22

How can you be happy?

541

: 00:29:23

Because you're choosing to be, and

you do have to make that choice.

542

: 00:29:26

And it is really hard,

really, really hard.

543

: 00:29:30

And sometimes we're going to do

better at it than other times.

544

: 00:29:32

And sometimes we're going

to fail miserably at it.

545

: 00:29:35

But the more we can actively, consciously

control our emotional state and show

546

: 00:29:41

up with good energy and show up with

motivation and enthusiasm, show up

547

: 00:29:46

with a smile and some happiness.

548

: 00:29:49

The better our results are going to be.

549

: 00:29:51

Now, if you've ever had that experience

of feeling like you're in flow, feeling

550

: 00:29:54

like things are going well, like

you're floating on cloud nine, your

551

: 00:29:57

life is going well, there's no real

problems and everything's just great.

552

: 00:30:00

we all know that those

things don't last forever.

553

: 00:30:02

Sure, there's going to be good

times, but when we have those

554

: 00:30:04

good times, great, it's so easy.

555

: 00:30:08

We can still feel like that, even

when life isn't going like that.

556

: 00:30:13

Because otherwise, every experience

that we have is always going to be

557

: 00:30:17

dependent on what's going on around us.

558

: 00:30:20

Our emotions are going to be determined

by our environment and by others,

559

: 00:30:24

if we don't take control of that.

560

: 00:30:26

This is that principle that Tony

Robbins calls your personal power.

561

: 00:30:29

You can call it being at cause rather

than being in effect in your life,

562

: 00:30:33

whatever you want to call it, but

really it is about taking charge of

563

: 00:30:36

your emotional state to show up as the

best version of you that you can manage

564

: 00:30:42

to show up as on a day to day basis.

565

: 00:30:45

It is.

566

: 00:30:45

The more we practice this,

the better we'll get.

567

: 00:30:48

And certainly I'm not going to

talk in this episode about the

568

: 00:30:50

kinds of tools that can help you

to do that, but they are out there.

569

: 00:30:55

So look, one of the reasons why

sales trading is not a one and done

570

: 00:30:58

event is the implementation of these

kinds of concepts and principles

571

: 00:31:02

just doesn't happen all at once.

572

: 00:31:04

It really does take time.

573

: 00:31:06

To build them up and certain elements

in sales have to be practiced.

574

: 00:31:09

And certainly what I've shared

here in this episode is by no

575

: 00:31:13

means exhaustive of all the things

that might help you generally your

576

: 00:31:17

communication and your influence and

your coaching, wherever else you do,

577

: 00:31:21

in relation to influence and impact.

578

: 00:31:24

So everything here, everything

we've talked about needs to be

579

: 00:31:27

practiced, focused, worked on.

580

: 00:31:29

One of the things I really loved there's

a journal that I've used a few times,

581

: 00:31:32

which is the Daily Stoic Journal.

582

: 00:31:34

And really liked it.

583

: 00:31:35

But one of the things I really took

away from that was going and practicing.

584

: 00:31:38

particular skills, particular thoughts

and ideas and concepts and take them into

585

: 00:31:43

the day because they need to be practiced.

586

: 00:31:45

Really is one thing to know something

in your head, but quite another

587

: 00:31:48

to live it and to practice it.

588

: 00:31:49

If you took just one of these

principles or elements this week,

589

: 00:31:52

that is one that you maybe know you

don't do so well at, and perhaps it's

590

: 00:31:57

about not making judgments on other

people, perhaps it's about practice.

591

: 00:32:03

And focus on just growing and

improving on that over the next week.

592

: 00:32:06

Forget about the others.

593

: 00:32:07

Come back to those another time.

594

: 00:32:10

You're going to make some big

improvements with that one area.

595

: 00:32:13

Focus makes a huge difference.

596

: 00:32:15

If you try and implement all of these

eight principles or ideas in one time,

597

: 00:32:19

you're not going to see a lot of change.

598

: 00:32:21

You're just going to have the

concept of it, but you're not

599

: 00:32:23

going to see a lot of change.

600

: 00:32:24

You're just going to know it consciously.

601

: 00:32:26

But you may not do it, but taking

one of these concepts can be very

602

: 00:32:31

transformative and you can then

continue to build up on that.

603

: 00:32:34

So as you get better at it, if you

take emotional state management as a

604

: 00:32:38

concept to focus on this week, work

on that every day, this week, they do

605

: 00:32:42

something, maybe you're going to use

some music, maybe you're going to use

606

: 00:32:45

some declarations or affirmations.

607

: 00:32:47

Maybe you've got some testimonials or

some handwritten notes or some client

608

: 00:32:53

recordings, you can listen to that.

609

: 00:32:55

When, of course, that went really well

or meetings that went really well for you

610

: 00:32:59

use those to build yourself up and look

at what went well and how good you felt

611

: 00:33:03

this time and relive those emotions, put

yourself back into those positive states,

612

: 00:33:08

you're going to feel so much better.

613

: 00:33:10

So pick your one element that you're

going to work on this week and

614

: 00:33:15

see if you can make some serious

progress by focusing on that.

615

: 00:33:17

Nah.

616

: 00:33:18

If you're really up for

this, , let's check in again

617

: 00:33:21

next week and see how you got on.

618

: 00:33:22

So the show, is back,

renamed and rebranded.

619

: 00:33:25

Now, this podcast has probably been

through at least four name changes.

620

: 00:33:31

and a few different pivots.

621

: 00:33:32

And yet I've always really tried to

keep things very much directed towards

622

: 00:33:36

improving influence and persuasion skills.

623

: 00:33:38

And I really want to focus that

in now on helping those of you who

624

: 00:33:42

are either at leadership levels

or want to be at leadership levels

625

: 00:33:46

in terms of your communication

skills, your presentation ability.

626

: 00:33:50

To develop you and help you turn up

the dials to be able to reach those

627

: 00:33:54

heights because you absolutely can.

628

: 00:33:57

So I'm going to be bringing on more

guests in the future who are going

629

: 00:34:00

to help you to do that as well.

630

: 00:34:01

So I'm moving things a little away

from focusing podcast guesting,

631

: 00:34:05

although that may still come up

from time to time and much more into

632

: 00:34:08

leadership level communication skills.

633

: 00:34:10

Present Influence is back with

weekly shows to help you boost

634

: 00:34:14

your influence and impact.

635

: 00:34:16

I hope you'll join me.

636

: 00:34:16

I look forward to seeing you next time.

637

: 00:34:18

Have an amazing week.