The way that we communicate has changed demonstrably. The business world operates in new exciting ways that just keep expanding and evolving.
It is likely that your industry, like many others, is experiencing huge amounts of change right now. And what’s more, your customers are experiencing change as well.
But here’s a question for you. Does anybody actually like change?
Change, at best, is uncomfortable and your role whether as a leader, partner, or service provider, is to help other people navigate change.
Change is inevitable.
Does your business depend on the fact that other people’s circumstances are continuing to change? If so, then this blog is going to help you.
Two Tiny Massive Lessons
A successful business leader is always striving for growth in some form. Most desirable is the growth of results, and this often means driving more sales to increase revenue.
More sales means selling, and with that, you have to become a salesperson.
Unfortunately, salespeople get a bad rep. Words such as sleazy, dishonest, pushy, and obnoxious are associated with a stereotypical salesperson.
It’s not great, is it?
Could it be possible that if these same people were to describe a professional salesperson, the words could be different?
You might start to move away from words like insincere, slick, and annoying and move towards helpful, engaging, and dedicated.
To become a professional salesperson, however, you might have to change your approach to selling.
So, what are the two tiny massive lessons?
The first is this: being a salesperson is not a bad thing.
The second is that it’s the perception of being a salesperson that’s the problem.
If somebody tells you that you are a great salesperson, that might not necessarily be positive. You should stop looking for applause for your selling strategy and start looking for gratitude instead.
If you focus instead on getting more thank-yous, your focus will be on the client, and that is most important.
What changes could you implement for your sales team?
MAGIC WORDS
When you’re implementing changes in your organization, you need to be intentional in your conversations. That means better planning and execution when it counts.
When is the absolute worst time to think about the thing you’re going to say? It’s usually in the moment that you are saying it. How many times have you stepped away from a conversation and wished it had gone differently?
It is almost impossible to debrief a conversation and change it, yet you could likely pre-brief that same conversation and make changes ahead of time. And this is where the use of good conversation comes in handy.
At EWTS, we often refer to magic words, but what exactly are they?
They are words that talk straight towards the subconscious brain, and this is important because the subconscious brain is powerful in the decision-making process.
It has a yes output and a no output. There is no maybe in the subconscious.
Most people think that no is the enemy of yes in the world of sales, influence or persuasion, but that isn’t the real enemy.
The real enemy is indecision.
If more of those people made a positive decision in one direction or the other, it would speed things up considerably.
If you can increase the rate of decision, you can increase the rate of action. And if you can increase the rate of action, you can increase the rate of transaction.
Learning to speak to other people’s subconscious brain is what can give you a fair advantage in almost any moment of influence. It will help you with your prospects, and it will help you with your team.
Your success is directly correlated to the quantity of quality asks that you make in your life.
Do you know what stops most people from asking? It is usually any or all of the following:
Fear, rejection, or fear of rejection.
Embrace The Fear
Is there something in your world that, once upon a time, you were very scared to do but now you are remarkably good at?
Most people have experienced this, and guess what? Fear is the fertilizer of growth.
If you are scared to try something new, you’re growing. If you’re stepping into a situation that makes you feel nervous, anxious, or uncomfortable, you are growing.
The only way you got to be good at the thing that you’re currently awesome at is because, at one time, you were a little bit frightened to even be able to try it.
If you are not feeling a little bit scared, then you are probably not growing.
Rejection-Free Opening Formulas
That said, there are techniques, like rejection-free questions, that you could use to help ease the fear.
Rejection-free opening formulas are simple sequences of words you can use to get just about anybody to take a look at just about anything.
Here are a few examples to help you manage change more efficiently.
If you wanted somebody to take a look at one of your ideas, you wouldn’t ask them directly. Instead, you should preface your ask with the words:
I’m not sure if it’s for you…
If you preface an ask with the words ‘I’m not sure if it’s for you’, it does a couple of things to the little voice in the other person’s head.
The first thing it does is say, ‘Well, I’ll be the judge of that.’ It takes full personal responsibility for the fact that a decision needs to be made, and that decision is theirs to make.
The second thing it does is create curiosity in whatever you are suggesting.
Another rejection-free formula is to preface your ask with how open-minded would you be to… Almost the whole world likes to see themselves as open-minded.
It doesn’t mean that they all are, but it means they like to see themselves as such. So preface your ask with this and most people will be hard-pressed to not hear you out.
Intentional language choices will help you manage change more efficiently and it’s remarkably easy to do.
Just remember that the worst time to think about the thing you’re gonna do is in the moment that you are doing it or saying it. So, slow the process down and catch a beat.
Get yourself ready, ready, ready for the conversations that are coming next.
What’s The Motivation?
Another tool for managing change efficiently is offering the right encouragement, but how do you get just about anybody to do just about anything?
It’s all in the right motivation. What is their reason for moving?
The good news is that there are only three reasons that anybody would move to do anything.
The first is to run towards something that will make them more comfortable. The second is to run away from something, usually through fear.
And if it’s not to run towards something or to run away from something, then it’s to do something that will light them up and make their heart sing.
If you can unlock their reason to move, you can get just about anybody to do just about anything.
Knowing those things are true, how are you going to put them into practice to help manage your change more effectively?
