Fuel for the Fire

It isn’t a matter of if we will suffer loss, but when.

Loss is a fact of life. We all lose something. Whether we lose a business, friendship, lover, career, spouse, parent, child, or fortune we all lose at some point. Sometimes in the deepest, scariest, darkest places of loss we feel as though we cannot go on. We think we cannot live without that something or someone we feel was so vital to us. Maybe we feel that something or someone defined our existence, our joy, our reason for being. The pain and anguish of loss can be and is devastating. I mean really, there aren’t 7 stages of grief (shock, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression, and acceptance) for no reason, right? It’s a real thing and far too often I meet people who move from their loss to denial and begin internalizing the balance until they are unable to envision success let alone function at a high level.

My hope is to be part of the solution.

Whenever I suffer a loss at a level that shakes me to my core, spoken or unspoken, I mourn the loss for what it was. If I begin with the end in mind and accept the loss as a loss I am more quickly able to move to my next step - reflection. I take some time and reflect on what was lost and envision it as my most beloved childhood tree - fallen and laying shattered on the ground. I see it as the tree I had in my backyard growing up where I loved spending endless hours laughing, playing, and dreaming. I remember all of the great things about what I lost and why it is so significant and why I feel the vacancy of its presence which allows me to move to action. All of the positive energy generated from those memories and all of the warmth and comfort created through visualizing that beloved tree are then used as fuel to burn my fire for where I am going and what I am doing.  Hotter and brighter than ever before. That loss is now the fuel for my next step. For me, I am drawn to the heat and power of a fire and I want mine, the one I exude, to be as strong and as bright as a Phoenix rising. When I use my losses as fuel for my next step, having mourned and accepted them, I become unstoppable.

There is no greater remedy for the depths of loss than the heights of success.  

The ingredients of WOW

Most people don’t buy based on price unless we force them to.

The supreme buyer and the average buyer will absolutely buy on price when forced to and the timid buyer will probably just not buy.  However it doesn’t have to be this way.  When we engage excellence in the sale, inspire our buyers, move them to action, and set the expectation of result we create the environment for a great sales experience.  When we use the 3 phases of the WOW Sales Cycle to build the bond with the buyer, regardless if they’re a supreme, average, or timid buyer we magnify by infinite amounts the likelihood the buyer finds what they are looking for with us.

When I begin the sales process with what I believe or the inspiration as to why I am doing what I am doing I find the buyer begins to believe as well.  They often align with me and why I am in business.  It builds a bond which is strong and deep.  This creates a mutual “like” between us and that like goes miles to building the kind of relationship with the buyer which builds advocacy for me and my brand.  It will do the same for you.  We must get our buyers to like us in order to move them to action beyond simply best price.

Once the buyer likes us the next move is to share with them how we will solve their problem.  Whatever the problem is, the bigger the better, they must believe that we are the ones to help them solve it.  The bigger the problem the bigger the solution the bigger the payoff for both the buyer and for us.  If we have the buyer connect with us through the inspiration we provide it becomes natural for the buyer to believe in us and our ability to take action to provide a solution to their situation.  Once they believe us it becomes exponentially easier for them to place their trust in us for results.

The WOW Sales Cycle ends where the conventional sales process begins.  With the result.  When we have a buyer like us it allows them more comfort to believe in us.  Once they believe we will provide the right solution for them they will more willingly place their trust in the result we say we will provide.  We set the expectation of outcome (result) and then over deliver on the result thus exceeding expectations.  We all talk about exceeding expectations and then complain the buyer is never satisfied.  Yet we fail to set the expectation through the expert execution of the sales process and then wonder why our buyers feel let down or less than thrilled.  This could also be why they so often revert back to the one expectation they can always control - price.  When they trust we will over deliver on our promises of results because they believe us and like us we set the table for an on going advocacy level relationship with the buyer which provides us with rock solid stability and massive sales growth in a shaky and contracting economy.  Master this now and imagine how much further ahead we will be when things come back.

The WOW Sales Cycle is about inspiration, action, and results.  The successful execution of WOW is the differentiator in the new economy.  When buyers like us, believe us, and trust us they buy more willingly and more often.  It’s not about price.      

What's the difference?

Recently I was asked by a friend and colleague “what’s the difference between you and all the other ‘trainers’ I have wasted my money on in the past?”  I thought the question, while directed rather harshly, was a great question.  Frankly speaking it is not a question I haven’t heard before.  The training industry is filled with well intentioned men and woman who are trying to help and add to their clients repertoire.  Men and women who desire to see the business world a better place.  The issue is the business world has changed.  The marketplace is not looking for the same thing they have heard before.  They are looking for something different.  They are not looking for what worked 5 years ago they are looking for what works now.  They are looking for inspiration.

Our buyers are looking for inspiration as well.  Buyers rarely buy features.  They rarely buy what something does.  If buyers are forced to buy on feature alone they look for the cheapest way to obtain the feature and without the proper training we chase after their price concessions in the hopes of the deal rather than the lasting loyal relationship.  Buyers often don’t buy benefits alone either.  How many of us have the greatest product in the world with the greatest benefits ever and buyers still only concern themselves with price?  

Here’s the thing - in the new economy buyers don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.  They buy inspiration.

Science proves what we know to be true through our own experiences.  The part of our brain which is responsible for reason and logic also controls speech.  A sales process focused solely on feature and price completely misses the point and costs us deals and dollars.  If we only engage the neocortex we miss the entire limbic brain which controls decision making and emotion and has no capacity for language.  We call it our gut.  It has nothing to do with our stomachs.  We have all paid more for something because of a great experience, a loyal relationship, and gone out of our way - even inconvenienced ourselves to buy a certain thing at a certain place.  WHY?  Because is just felt right.  We were inspired.  As buyers we will happily pay more for inspiration or at the very least we will no longer be focused on the price because the price no longer matters.  We align ourselves with the product or service deep in places in our brains for which there is no language and therefore rationalize or justify the purchase with the parts of our brain which can.

In this new economy I choose to start with inspiration rather than the result I will create.  I start with why I believe what I do about excellence and why excellence is the differentiator in the marketplace rather than what you should do to do to sell an item.  What’s the difference?  Inspiration.