conversations | marketingforhippies.com

Networking for Hippies

By: Tad | Published: October 5, 2010 · 5 Comments

My pal Bill Baren (pictured here) hits a huge homerun in this latest email I got from him about networking.

So much networking is a waste of time. But read this article and it doesn’t need to be anymore. This one article could double your practice in the next year if you used it.

I rarely see networking work really well.

It’s true, the majority of business owners I speak to either network sporadically (“pitch and run”) or they spend a lot of time networking… and …

<< drumroll >>

They rarely get many clients through their networking efforts.

I see you investing your time and effort into networking that doesn’t result in new clients and worse yet, it results in you losing faith that networking can work for you.

Networking doesn’t work unless you follow certain basic principles of enrollment.

1. Go to networking events regularly with organizations that have repeat visitors and a community
2. Then concentrate on creating relationships
3. Have a compelling “elevator pitch” that leaves the people in your tribe (your target audience) wanting more
4. Have a unique business card with a call to action on it (see below)
5. Follow up and schedule a “get to know you” session with potential clients

Is your business card getting tossed within 24 hours?

A business card specifically created for networking can be an incredible tool to build your credibility, help you stand out and also build an audience of people who are actually looking for the results your service offers.

Here’s how to take a plain, boring business card and turn it into a client generating machine.

Front of the Card ideas

1. Put a picture on the front of your card that showcases your personality. This is so people you meet remember you better.

2. Write on the front of the business card: “I gave you this card because I enjoyed meeting you. I’d love to see you again, so look for me.” This line along with the picture will cement you in their memory and it also invites them to seek you out at the next event.

3. Include a phone # or an email address (one or the other). You want to encourage people to use the mode of communication that you respond faster to.

Back of the Card ideas

1. You want to include a “call to action”, so that when the person you gave the card to goes home and looks at your card again, they actually do something with the card instead of just filing it somewhere or throwing it out.

2. I recommend that you include a link to a web page offering a high quality free gift like an ebook or audio from you.

3. Nothing else should be placed on the back of the card, other than the URL where they should go for that action, and a short description of the benefits.

Here’s an example of the Back of a Business Card (using me as an example)

If you are coach, healer or small business owner who really wants to make a difference with your service and you are wasting your time doing free consultations and are not getting any clients out of it…

My free video training series will help you have your prospects say yes to investing in your service without you doing any selling.

http://www.masterofenrollment.com/videoseries.html

Here are the benefits of having a card like this:

* You get to stand out in a sea of networkers
* You are inviting people who have met you once to come seek you out
* You are developing relationships quicker
* You are establishing yourself as an expert
* You get to build your list when people you meet opt-in to your call to action. And only the people who want what you have will opt-in and get on your email list.
* You get to finally make networking work for you

Now, let’s get more advanced

I shared some basic networking principles up above, now here’s a more advanced strategy.

These days, I never network to attract clients. (Although networking for clients is a perfectly good approach.)

I network to create relationships with strategic alliance partners.

A great partner is someone that you trust and have a fantastic working relationship with.

Where we can work together on a long-term basis and mutually support both of our businesses.

And with a great partner, you can double the size of the audience you can reach.

So when you’re at a networking event, keep your eyes open for the people who are “centers of influence” and who can tap into an audience you’d like to connect with.

And get things rolling by thinking about how you can help them! (Be creative!)

Let the unveiling begin

Next week, I will unveil my free video training that I used in the business card example above.

So if you want to know more of my advanced secrets on how to easily enroll new clients, you’re going to love what I have prepared for you.

Stay tuned, my friend. Stay tuned…

Warmly,
~Bill

| Categories: holistic practitioners, marketing tactics, Networking - Tags: building trust, conversations, generosity based business, holistic practitioners, pink spoons, pressure free, safety

The Top 10 Points About Becoming the Host of a Network

By: Tad | Published: September 26, 2010 · 2 Comments

Thomas Leonard (1955 - 2003)

Thomas Leonard is a bit of a hero of mine. We spoke a number of times over the phone and shared a passion for the Dave Matthews Band. His book The 28 Laws of Attraction remains one of the best books I’ve ever read. Half of the people to whom I lend it have a significant life breakthrough. I was one of the first class leaders on teleseminar.com and Thomas listened to a few of my calls and offered for me to take over a tour he was doing – which floored me. In the end I couldn’t. He passed away a few years ago before we ever got a chance to meet in person but left behind him such an incredible wealth of practical wisdom and distinctions.

And this piece you’re about to read on hosting a network planted some of the earliest seeds in my mind around ‘becoming a hub’. This man was a genius.

In some of the classes I teach, I often refer to the practice-building strategy (and general success strategy) of becoming the host of your network, and I get lots of questions about what I mean by this and how one becomes the host of their network.

This Top 10 List explains the idea and how to put it into practice.

1.   First, a little bit about networking in general. Traditional networking is when you meet people, get their business card or name/phone and put it in your Rolodex. People are viewed as contacts, as resources. The next level of networking is when you help out individuals as you meet them, or later, with referrals, information, support, connections, resources, etc. Sometimes they do the same for you; sometimes they do not. You network among your friends, at breakfast meetings, support groups, professional associations, etc. Lots of saying hi and shaking hands and getting to know people at some level.

Networking is positive in many ways, although it can take a lot of time and energy to keep “getting out there” and meeting and greeting. And for us shy ones, it’s difficult to do emotionally.

2.   So, that’s networking, but being the host of a network is quite different. I don’t have much time or taste for networking. True, I should spend more time on it, but I don’t want to. I’d rather be providing a service or product to people. I’d rather be delivering than meeting and greeting someone I’m not going to be really close with. (Call me timid. Call me cold. Call me easily bored.) At the same time, I know it’s fun/nourishing to know a lot of people and from a business standpoint, it’s gold.

So, I said to myself, “Thomas, why don’t you just establish yourself as the host of a network and start serving the people who want to hang around you or buy what you’re offering?“

Well, I didn’t really ask myself that question, but if I was clear enough about this concept 2 years ago, I would have. But if you look at what I’ve done in the past 2 years, you’ll see that I have been extending my network. It started when I began broadcasting these Top 10 Lists (15,000+ people receive them every day now).

Many people who read them, write me.

We connected.

They “joined” my network — without consciously knowing it, perhaps. Some of them hired me as their coach; some of them signed up for my TeleClasses, some of them entered Coach University. And some (most) of them did absolutely nothing, but that’s ok because it takes me ZERO extra time to “serve” them with my top tens. And I’ve developed quite a Capillary Marketing System (aka Attraction) in the process. So, then came the 2 books last year.

More people in my network — those who read the book, and those who responded to the offer of a free TeleClass on Attraction on the back cover. And did I tell you that at least a dozen of them entered Coach University as a result of the book (so far)?

3.   Okay, is this making a little more sense now? What I am saying is that it is possible to attract and serve 1,000-10,000 or even more people with not that much effort on your part. Some of you will need to stick with the marketing approach that you’re using, because this “host of a network” thing takes a little while to get up and running. But those of you spending far too much time on marketing, or who don’t like to market, becoming the host of your network is the best investment you’ll ever make.

There is a bit of a learning curve, especially when it comes to finding out exactly how to serve the people in your network, but once you get good at listening, surveying and experimenting, you’ll find your sea legs. The mistake that most people make when they do this, is that they already have in mind what they want to sell or offer their network and try to push that on their “prospects.”

Bad form and it destroys trust.

The people in your network, even if you never meet them and if they never buy anything from you, are not prospects. They are human beings, just like you, who have wants and dreams and needs and problems. Better to overrespond (one of the Attraction Principles) to what your network wants, than try to foist your good ideas and products on them. (In my early years, I was a masterful failure at “foisting.” Not pretty.)

4.   The first change to make is in your thinking. Get out of the marketing business and into the network-building and serving business. Get your arms around the notion of being the host of your network, instead of just being part of a network or networks. Make the decision to help the people in your network. Remember the line that goes something like “one of the best ways to become successful is to help enough people become successful.” What a perfect approach! You may be saying to yourself, “Well, that SOUNDS good, but how do I build a network and how do I make it worth my while financially?” That’s a good question, but first ask yourself, “Am I willing to help 10,000 people succeed in any way I can, assuming it would help me financially as well?” If the answer is yes, then you’re on your way to becoming a very successful host of a network. But you have to care about other people’s success, not just your own. You have to be willing to use technology (the Internet, email) in order to serve your network effectively. You have to be willing to share a lot of what you know in your areas of expertise and give much of it away for free, in virtual formats. You have to be willing to be a builder. You have to be efficient (or else, you’ll drown in serving the needs of 10,000 people). And you have to be willing to learn from your network, not just offer what you have been offering. Being the host of a network is a whole ‘nother ballgame. It’s an evolutionary step in both marketing and in living. And it takes a little getting used to.

5.   Your first goal should be to build between 1,000 and 10,000 people in your network, many of whom you’ll never meet. You need a fairly large number of people to make this “host of a network” strategy work. In other words, if you want a full practice, enough people need to know about you and be in contact with you in some way on a regular basis so they “remember” you when it comes time for them to hire you or to make a referral.

What you want is 99% of your new clients to come from those “out of the blue” calls we love to get. Your network IS that “blue.” At this point, you may be wondering exactly how one attracts 1,000-10,000 people to “join” your network.

The simplest, best, easiest, least expensive, and fastest way to do this is to start a daily or weekly email newsletter or tip broadcast on the subject(s) of your choice. Most of the coaches who I’ve advised/helped to set this up will have between 500 and 2,000 subscribers within one year. One coach has 5,500 subscribers to his list in the first year, and expects to earn $75,000 in 1999 from coaching services and TeleClass revenue that come exclusively from this network of people HE NEVER KNEW BEFORE.

Such is the power of the Internet.

People on the Internet are eager to join something because they want to learn stuff for free and they want the chance to connect with others who share their interests and/or problems. It’s not uncommon for a person to be a part of 10 or 20 “networks.” Why not yours?

6.   So, you’re saying that if I start an email newsletter or tip broadcast, I’ll make $75,000 a year? Some will, some won’t. Some will make less, some will make more. But what I am saying is that if you are looking for more clients and for a “system” that continually sends you clients and students, then the email newsletter/tip broadcast is one of the best ways to go. (Another great way is to write a book, but that takes time and connections and there’s less of a guarantee that it will sell.)

The idea is to start building toward 10,000 subscribers who like what you are writing about. That makes you attractive. That bonds them to you a bit and creates trust. All I can say is that if you have 10,000 subscribers you’ll have reached critical mass and you’ll have enough people in your network who will buy SOMETHING from you. (Well, on average 5% of them will buy something from you, but 5% of 10,000 is 500 people! That adds up.)

And the best thing about this approach is that your network will only grow over time. So, it’s like having an annuity that’s building. New folks will come in, some folks will drop off, but on balance, your network will grow. It’s just how it works.

7.   The trick is to find out what the people in your network need and want and then provide that for them. One of the best lines I’ve ever heard related to the Internet and marketing is “It’s better to find out what 1,000,000 people want to buy and provide that to them, than to try to get 1,000,000 people to buy what you’re trying to sell them.” This holds true for your network of 10,000. You CAN bond with them enough to learn what types of classes, tips, information, support, coaching, discussions, etc., that they most want and need. They WILL tell you if you ask — and be impressed that you did ask. And you can create the stuff they want, they WILL buy something from you.

Think of your 10,000 people as your R&D team that helps you create products and services to attract even MORE people. I did this with the Attraction Course I led in the fall of 1997. I had a contract to write a book on that subject (called The Portable Coach) from Scribner, and I knew I needed “real people” to help me co-create and test out my theories so they’d be practical and attractive vs just a figment of my imagination. 400 people signed up for my class that fall and I taught them all about Attraction, and they taught me what I had to do to make the concepts stronger, more practical and more easily understood.

Since July 1998 when the book was released, over 20,000 copies of the books have been purchased, mostly by people I don’t know and will never know. But some of them have joined my network via subscribers and TeleClass participants. See how well the whole idea of being the host of your network builds on itself? The synergy is awesome.

8.   People want to be part of a network where the host looks out for, and ahead for, them. People join networks because they want to learn something and have a connection with people with similar needs, interests or problems. But they also like having a “leader” or host — someone who is thinking ahead, and looking out for their well-being and success. As a coach or other professional, you are in a perfect position to do this.

You know cool stuff that others want to know.

You know how to communicate and touch people. You are already progressive and forward thinking so you’re probably ahead of the curve (which makes you very attractive to people who want to catch up or keep up). Part of what you get to do as host is to ask yourself, “What do the people in my network need to know in order to be more successful/happier over the next 3 years?” In other words, what information, support, tools, 1-1 help, questions, programs, assessments, etc., do they need to handle what’s coming down the pike or to resolve whatever’s blocking their progress?

As you get to know your network, you’ll start creating perfectly-fitting solutions for them. You just will. Some of these solutions will be free and some of them will carry a fee. If you focus on the 10,000 people and offer a mix of free and fee, you can earn between $25,000 and $100,000 a year (perhaps even $1,000,000) “from” your network, without abusing them.

9.   Okay, let’s get practical. How can I “harvest” my network so that I can make a living at this? There’s a smart way to earn money via your network, and a dumb way. The dumb way is to be too generous and give everything you do away for free, in the “hope” that someone will hire you because you’ve been so nice and generous. Another dumb way is to hard-sell your products and services to your network. They’ll flee. But the smart way is to start offering creative, non-threatening, trust-creating ways for your “members” to connect with you.

Here are 11 examples of what I mean:

Free single-session TeleClasses on any subject that your members will respond to.

Fee-based 4-12 week TeleClasses or TelePrograms on subjects that your members are willing to pay for.

Free “hotline hours” on Fridays from 12 to 3 p.m. where anyone can call you for help on a specific topic/problem.

Fee-based Group Coaching (up to 10 people) on a very specific subject.

Offers to provide free referrals of any kind to anyone in your network who needs an expert in something.

Free showcasing of selected members of your network, so people get to know each other.

Fee or free TeleSupport Groups for members sharing a similar problem.

Additional tips/information/broadcasts/topten list on subjects of interest to your network.

A free 1-1 coaching session, as a special offer.

A free or special offer from one or more of your members available to other members.

A content-rich website with stuff that your network really can use.

See?

Most of these things don’t take a lot of time and they go a long way to engender trust which results in direct business and referrals. I’d much rather spend my time offering these types of goodies than to spend a single minute cold-calling or marketing for clients.

NO thanks!

Again, I’d rather deliver services for free and benefit from the goodwill, flow, value-added, than to market myself directly. What you’ll find is that people take you up on the free stuff and then start buying the fee stuff once they realize that you know what you’re talking about. And, as your network grows and you offer more free and fee stuff to them, about 2-4% of your network will buy more than one product/service/class from you.

10.   Whew. There’s a lot to this idea of becoming the host of your network! Yes, it’s both a new concept to grasp and there is some work needed to set it up. But I can say that it’s entirely worth it, and the emergence of the Internet really makes it possible to serve this many people, in relatively very little time. The trick is to get started and the best/easiest way to get started is to offer a free weekly tip or newsletter via email and start building your subscriber base. (I teach a TeleClass on exactly how to do this called Internet Marketing for Professionals — visit http://www.thomasleonard.com.) The key to becoming the host of a large network is to get started. Let me know how I can help YOU get started.

About the Submitter: Submitted by Thomas Leonard

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing strategy - Tags: becoming a hub, building trust, conversations, marketing 2.0, safety

Open Space Sales Technology

By: Tad | Published: September 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment

There’s a wonderful book called “Open Space Technology” by Harrison Owen.

In 1983, he was asked to organize an international conference for 250 participants. After a year of intense labor, logistical details, dealing with big egos [including his own] and basic frustrations he swore to himself that he would never do so again.

The sentiment was further entrenched when he received the conference evaluations.

Somehow, even though people thought the conference had been fantastic, the highest rated part of the conference were the “coffee breaks” – the one part he’d had nothing to do with. Consistently people told him that that was the truly useful part of the event.

He was understandably upset.

But, then he got curious. What if he could organize a conference to be more like a coffee break? What if he could identify the basic mechanisms of a coffee break and build them into an approach for conference organizing? So he began his search for answers and, by modeling the behavior he saw in rural villages in West Africa and conversations he witnessed and enjoyed at cafes, he created what he called “Open Space Technology”.

But, would these same principles work on a mass level with limited time? Certainly, a conversation is wonderful — but does it produce any results?

So, it was promptly put to the test at a Meeting of the National Education Association where 420 teachers, school board members and administrators from all across the United States gathered for one day around the theme “Education for America.” When they arrived, there was no agenda. There was no schedule. There was no “script” for the day. They were told that the agenda would be created and self managed by themselves – the participants. And, in one day, they co-created and self-ran 85 workshops. By the end of the day — with an average rating of 9.3 out of 10 — the participants agreed it was the most successful, productive and energizing conference they had ever attended.

What exactly was it that allowed such stunning success? According to Harrison Owen it was four simple pressure-free principles he had developed:

The Four Principles Of Open Space:

1) When it begins when it begins. Instead of sticking to a rigid schedule he allowed participants to govern themselves. They would organize their own sessions and govern the start time themselves. This meant that was very little stress. It felt more natural, organic and the day developed a wonderful and humanizing flow to it.

TRANSLATION FOR SELLING: In selling, it’s easy to get up-tight if a client or prospect is late for an appointment. After all, if they have to leave at two o’clock , and they show up at 15 minutes to two [instead of one o'clock] you only have 15 minutes. But 15 minutes to do what? If you’re feeling stressed, it’s because you think you only have a quarter of an hour to… close them. Think about it.

2) Whoever shows up is exactly who is supposed to show up. Because the workshops were organized in such a loose manner it was never clear , who was going to show up at any given moment. In fact, people often walked in and out of sessions. There was no one making anyone do anything. There was just a general sense of perfection and ease in who showed up.

TRANSLATION FOR SELLING: When we are selling, it can be all too easy to get frustrated if a prospect does not turn into a client. If it’s clear that someone isn’t interested — it’s a waste of time. We should have spent that time with somebody else. Here’s an intriguing question: What would happen if you let go of that and decided that whoever you talk to is exactly who you were supposed to talk to?

From another angle: a lot of people freak about about figuring out there niche – but when I have them step back and look at who is already coming to them they say, ‘oh! there are a lot of ______ group here.’ and they find their niche that way. And who knows who the person you’re talking with is connected to. This doesn’t mean you don’t be strategic in who you connect with. But it means you bring your full presence to whomever you’re connecting with. If you do a workshop and only three people show up – make it the best possible for them. One of them might bring you ten new clients.

3) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. One of the biggest challenges that Harrison Owen found at most conferences was a try to impose an agenda on the group. Certainly, this is essential in some situations, but he found it was done indiscriminately. Before the event ever happened, the result was pre-decided.

If the gathering was bringing together young leaders from around the United States — the goal was to create a unified statement from this diverse group of young people. But, what if these young people were not unified in their beliefs? What if they disagreed with each other? Well, that just wouldn’t do.

You see?

The structure and goals of were decided , well before they even knew who the participants would be. They were not decided by the participants. As a result, the goals were most often not relevant to the lives and the work of these young people. The result? Very few of the youth took the process seriously.

TRANSLATION FOR SELLING: The implications of this notion in selling are even more profound. What happens if you walk into a selling situation with a specific objective in mind? What happens if you decide how you want the transaction to end before you’ve ever met the person or learn the truth about their situation? What happens when you try to maneuver people — whether subtly or aggressively — into doing what you want them to do?

It creates pressure.

It’s important to start with the mindset that, in any given interaction, it’s either a match or it isn’t. You can either help them or you can’t. It’s inherently there… or it isn’t.

Another way to put this is that the future of any business transaction is contained in the present — just as the tree is contained in the seed. Trying to make an oak tree from an apple tree is futile. The clearer you are about the present — and what’s actually happening in it — the more the future opens itself up to you and reveals itself. This sounds obvious, but when you’re focused exclusively on making the sale — you’re not noticing whether or not it’s a match.

Your job is not to so much create something as to uncover the truth of what already so — and to feel at peace with the fact that whatever happened is the only thing that could have happened.

Michelangelo’s “David”: There is an often told story about the famous artist Michelangelo. He was once asked how he created the masterpiece David from a single block of marble? Michelangelo responded that he had not created David at all. David had already been in the block. He saw that his role was merely to carve away all of the excess. His job was to carve away all that wasn’t David, until only David remained.

Your job is not to create a sale — your job is to help chip away anything that is not the truth in the situation. That’s what Michelangelo did — he might not be a bad person to model. Selling has become so scientific and technical. It has lost any sense of art. And, make no mistake, an authentic, honest conversation is a profound art form. Getting quickly and naturally to the truth is an art form.

This applies on the personal level too — you’ve probably met people who are trying so hard to be a “better person,” that they’ve lost their humanness. They’ve sort of, “healthied themselves sick”. This often emerges from some idea that we need to become someone who we aren’t. Instead of accepting that we are an oak tree we keep trying to be an apple tree.

In sales, you were likely taught that the first person you needed to sell on the value of your products and service was yourself. If you didn’t believe in yourself the same lesson applied – sell yourself on your own worth. I’m suggesting the opposite. I’m suggesting that you might want to stop pressuring people to do what you want them to do — starting with yourself.

Just as you need to accept the truth about any selling situation — you might find it useful to simply accept the truth about yourself with an attitude of loving kindness. If you do this, you’ll find that you will evolve without trying to improve. It may Sound counterintuitive — but I think you’ll find that it works. And that there’s no pressure involved.

“The outcome will be what it will be, regardless of your expectations and fears.”
Chin-Ning Chu

4) When it’s over, it’s over. Instead of imposing a rigid schedule for when the session had to end — he let the conversations naturally take their course. Some conversations lost their momentum and/or quickly resolved the issues discussed. Other conversations seemed to tap into an issue so relevant to everyone involved that the conversation went on and on. There was a reasonable amount of space given for when the conversation ended.

TRANSLATION FOR SELLING: Imagine if you apply this to selling? Imagine if you give yourself the freedom to simply “walk away clean”. To bless and release. Imagine if you give yourself the freedom to simply ignored “this conversation is over.” Haven’t you felt that before? You’re having a conversation with a prospect — and your script says you should keep going — but you have a deep inward sense that the conversation is over. You’re not afraid — you just know there isn’t any more to discuss. When it’s over, it’s over.

But here’s the best part. The total pre-conference planning time for creating the agenda was: zero hours.

The results from this form of organizing are consistent. Is it appropriate in every situation? No. But, it does highlight the power of the humble conversation. Not everything needs to be planned and structured — even huge conferences with hundreds of people.

It raises the question: how much do you need to plan and prepare for your selling situations? The answer – you still need to prepare but it’s a different kind of preparation. It focuses first on your mindset and second on your language. In old sales, a great deal of time is spent on your script of presentation. With this approach the focus is on the Art of Conversation.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: Sales - Tags: authenticity, building trust, conversations, pressure free, real, safety

Getting Real: Why Most Sales Training is Dehumanizing

By: Tad | Published: September 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment

“Most people are silently asking the wrong question. They’re asking themselves, “Why is it that I am so seldom the person I want to be.” A better question would be, “Why is it I so seldom want to be the person I am.” The answer? Because you don’t believe it’s enough.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

TRYING TO BE SOMEBODY:

Unfortunately, the bulk of sales training — and much of the world of personal development is based on a sort of “self pressuring”. We are often taught to try to appear or sound like someone who — in truth — we aren’t yet, and perhaps never will be.

Maybe you have attended a sales training or motivational speech — where you were told to “go for it!” — and then found yourself wishing your more like that person. So many people are trying to “be somebody”. It’s possible to admire people with a certain style or who’ve accomplished a great deal while still having confidence that there is a very special and worthwhile somebody inside you.

A weak self-esteem can be temporary, we boosted by pretense — but it usually exhausts your spirit. Plus, it takes a great deal of energy to sustain an image when you’re having a conversation with someone. What would happen if, instead, you invested that energy into understanding the truth about the other person’s situation? Too many people feel phony when they’re selling.

Stop trying to be somebody who you aren’t. You’re just fine the way you are — really.

Putting on a false front can actually increase the feelings of insecurity they’re meant to mask. It can be very expensive to your own humanity. Plus: when you judge yourself for your weaknesses you also become incredibly judgmental of others.

Here’s a metaphor to help you out. Have you ever woken up in the morning and your arm was totally asleep? You couldn’t feel a thing. You couldn’t even move it. Obviously, you had slept on it and cut off the circulation. So, you start moving it, and massaging it to get the blood to flow back into the arm, don’t you? And how does it feel when you do that? I don’t know about you, but for me it feels extremely uncomfortable — almost painful.

So, why do we bother?

If we wake up with our arm numb, why don’t we simply put a tourniquet around our shoulder to make sure that the arm stays numb all day (then we don’t have to go through the painful waking up process.) After all, aren’t there some tremendous benefits to having your arm numb? What if someone stabs you in the arm? You don’t feel it! If somehow someone chopped off your arm? No problem! If it got slammed in the door? Who cares!

Hey, look at all those benefits! Who wouldn’t want a numb arm?

Well, having a numb arm also comes with a few problems. Sure, you can’t feel pain, but what if you put your hand on a burner without realizing it? You might not notice that your hand was on fire until it was too late. You might cut yourself while you were dicing vegetables and not realize it. You might bump into people without knowing you did it. And they might not like that. They might want to pick a fight. Even try to fight someone with a numb arm?

If your arm is awake — yes, it’s going to be more sensitive to pain. Yes, it’s going to feel uncomfortable waking up. But it will also allow you to pick things up, to caress the face of someone you love, to brush your hair. In fact, it is precisely the sensitivity of an awake at arm that protects it from damage and makes it aware that it has damaged others.

I’m not just talking about arms now, am I?

In sales, most of us have adopted a mindset and practice a series of techniques, which keep us numb and unaware of what’s happening around us. You might find yourself feeling like you’re wearing a mask or like every day you put on your professional “sales jacket” and engage in conversations that, somehow, don’t feel natural.

Our focus on “closing the sale” becomes like a set of blinders that horses wear in races. We can only look straight ahead. We can’t look side to side. We only see what’s in front of us. We get fixed on “the sale.” We hope we get it. For some of us, this hope becomes a sort of drug. I call it “hopeium.” We use it to stimulate us and give us energy. We meet with someone, we think the conversation goes well, we send them a proposal and we sit back and hope that it works out. Most salespeople have so many great possibilities “in the pipeline” that never end up working out. Somehow, right at the very end, we end up losing the sale to somebody else. And then we crash. We were up high and now we’re down low. The bigger the deal that fell through, the more down and depressed we feel. How do we get out of our “low”? More “hopeium.” It literally becomes addictive.

“I feel much better now that I’ve given up hope.”
– Ashleigh Brilliant

The truth is, if we had been a little more sensitive to what was happening during the conversation — things could have turned out very differently.

“Tolerating is essentially about desensitizing yourself. If you put some beautiful music on your stereo and suddenly a lot of racket fills the air — horns honking, people yakking, whatever — you’re going to have to strain to tune out those unwanted noises. Part of your energy is going into hearing, part into not hearing. Since some of the musical notes are going to be of the same frequencies as the unwanted noises, you’ll hear much less music. In the same way, tolerations make you block out a lot of life’s happiness, just because you’re trying not to be affected by what annoys you. Because gaining the kind of life you want means becoming more sensitive, not less, tolerations have got to go! Only then will you have the maximum energy on tap for whatever is most important to you. WHEN YOU TOLERATE: you and your work become mediocre. Your natural creativity is squelched. You are too often tired. WHEN YOU STOP: you’ll be happier, more fun to be around! You won’t be busy tending to ego bruises, so you have extra energy to express your values. You have the edge: you’ll waste no energy stepping over and around things. The more you feel, the more you’ll notice and respond to the many opportunities in the present.”
Thomas Leonard

When you stop drugging yourself with “hopeium” you start to sense things earlier than the average person. You get inklings — little pre-intuitive notions that allow you to respond earlier and more effectively to the truth of the situation.

Things like caffeine, alcohol, narcotics and refined sugar are proven numb-ers. So are overstimulating activities like watching television, overeating or other types of addiction. Sure, you might just be able to use them without experiencing any obvious problems. But, there I a potential problem. Your body’s natural ability to feel the present and give you “inklings” has been compromised.

This is something that is almost never covered in sales training: believing that your feelings are worthwhile. In fact, I suggest that they’re so worthwhile it’s worth being an expert on them. Given time, you might just come to rely on your “gut feelings” as much as you do the numbers, facts and statistics you come across.

“Being numb” and “hyping” in sales prevents you from feeling rejected but that comes at a heavy cost:

• It desensitizes you, which – ironically- cause us to behave in ways which bring more rejection…so you need more drugs.

• It prevents you from being present.

• Opportunities pass you by before you have a chance to respond to them.

• Your ignorance is perpetuated.

• You waste a great deal of time with unqualified leads.

• You have delayed reactions.

• You miss out on nuances and subtleties that could unlock a whole world of opportunities.

• You have to endure the constant emotional highs and lows.

Here’s the bottom line: the less sensitive, the more numbed out you are the less you are going to be aware of what’s actually happening around you.

It’s important here to differentiate between awareness and knowledge. So much of sales training is focused on “gathering knowledge”. Knowledge is based on facts, and information. Awareness means that you are present. You’re conscious of what’s really going on, both inside and outside of yourself. You’re “tuned in”.

In sales most people tend to focus almost exclusively on gathering knowledge. Both are critically important. Having a high level of both can be extremely powerful.

I’m not saying there aren’t benefits to the old way of selling. There really are. I’m saying there are some tremendous benefits to living a numb life — but is that what you want?

I’m saying that there are far more benefits to being awake in life.

Yes, it makes you more sensitive to pain, but, magically, what you also find is that your sensitivity comes with many rewards.

AS YOU SENSITIZE YOURSELF:

• You begin to understand the signals your body is giving you, which allows you to make decisions more easily.

• You instantly sense when you have made a wrong turn in the conversation and can correct it quickly.

• You become masterful at qualifying people quickly and only spend significant time with high quality leads.

• You begin to hear what people aren’t saying – what’s being communicated between the lines.

• It makes you much more aware of your impact on other people — and that means you hurt them less — that means that when you hurt them or cause them to feel pressured you become conscious of it rapidly, and can make amends.

• It means that you learn from your life’s experiences, very quickly instead of becoming an automaton — a juggernaut of unrelenting certainty. — it means you become more human. And that is a very, very beautiful thing.

| Categories: Sales, Tad's Rants - Tags: authenticity, building trust, conversations, empathy, pressure free, real, safety

3 Essential Questions to Ask Before Sharing What You Do

By: Tad | Published: September 22, 2010 · 1 Comment

So, Jesse Koren and Sharla Jacobs (pictured here) are a bit brilliant.

This amazing husband and wife team run Rejuvenate Training and help holistic practitioners to build a practice where they make $10,000/month working only three days per week.

When I first met them I learned a bit about their notion of ‘heart selling’ vs. ‘hard selling’. And what follows is, I think, a particularly brilliant piece of what they share. If you want more – I recommend checking out their site and getting in touch with them. They offer some pretty amazing workshops.

3 Essential Questions to Ask Before Sharing What You Do

- by Jesse Koren and Sharla Jacobs

We’ve all been there. You’re at a party and the person you’re talking with is an obvious match as a potential client. And instead of feeling awkward transitioning the social conversation into a Heartselling™ conversation, you want to do it gracefully, without seeming intrusive or pushy.

It might go something like this: you’ve just met Jane at your friend’s party and you’re having a friendly conversation. She’s tells you a little about herself, including how she knows the host and what she does for a living. You’re both feeling pretty connected with each other.

Then she mentions that she can’t eat the cream cheese-filled appetizer because she had her gallbladder removed three years ago and hasn’t been able to eat fats since that time. She seems to feel comfortable with you because you’ve become an amazing Heartseller™, so she shares some other health concerns that have come up since her surgery.

YOU happen to specialize in helping women with these types of digestive problems. So how do you transition from what she says into share about what you do?

First, if you remember from the article in our last edition of the 6-Figure Practice Ezine, one of the reasons it’s so important to solve a problem for people is that it becomes very obvious when people are your potential clients and when they’re not.

And if you’re in a conversation and you believe that you can solve a problem the person is sharing with you, this creates a great opportunity to segue from a social conversation into a Heartselling™ conversation.

If your potential client says a phrase that indicates that you can help, you can continue to get curious with them and now take the time to share about what you do.

But before you tell her you can support her with the solution to her problem, you’ve got to dig a little deeper so she is really hungry for your services.

When someone shares a variation of one of the phrases that indicates they are a potential client (see last week’s article), there are 3 essential questions to ask so they are eager to learn more about what you do:

Question 1: “How is that for you?”
“Wow, that sounds _________________________(challenging, terrible, frustrating, etc.) Say some more about that.”

Question 2: “What do you want instead?”

This puts them on the track of possibility and excitement…and they’ll get present to the solution they want.

Question 3: “How would your life change if you had that?”

Once they’ve answered these questions, their problem will be more in the forefront of their mind, and you will increase their desire for the solution to that problem. They will be primed for Stage 3 (of the 6 Stages of Heartselling™), which is where you get to share what you do as a resource to support them to get what they said they wanted.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: holistic practitioners, marketing tactics, Sales - Tags: building trust, conversations, empathy, pressure free, real, safety

Tad Talks About Green Drinks

By: Tad | Published: September 21, 2010 · 2 Comments

Green Drinks Edmonton is a monthly event that brings together environmentally-minded Edmontonians in a relaxed, agenda-free evening of networking and merriment.

Whether they work in the environmental field or are just breaking in, it’s a chance to mingle with a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business, share information and make friends. Although Green Drinks Edmonton is an organic, casual event, many people have found employment, developed new ideas, made business connections, and had moments of serendipity!

We join together the Edmonton environmental community and have fun doing it!

Green Drinks started years ago in San Francisco, I believe, and is now in over 600 cities world wide. The premise is simple: bring your tribe together over drinks. Easy. In this video, I talk about why I think it’s such a cool idea. It was filmed and put up by the good Luca Levesque.

Why not see if there’s a Green Drinks in your area: just CLICK HERE.

| Categories: becoming a hub, green economy, local economies, Tad's Rants - Tags: becoming a hub, building trust, conversations, green economy, safety

5 Ways People Avoid Dealing with Pain (and what to do about it)

By: Tad | Published: September 9, 2010 · 1 Comment

Everyone has a shell. Some protective mechanisms to keep them out of pain.

And, when you begin a conversation around new and better possibilities for people, it brings them face-to-face with their current reality. It brings them face-to-face with the quality of life that they are currently settling for. Most people know that more is possible — which makes it all the more painful to look at the level they have decided to live at.

This will bring up pain for people.

So, it’s important to realize the mechanisms that people have for dealing with pain. In fact, these mechanisms are probably what caused them to settle in the first place. Basically, there are…

5 Ways People Avoid Dealing with Pain:

1.   Denial: People try to pretend that it’s not there. They pretend that it doesn’t hurt. It’s like the old Aesop’s fable about the Fox trying to get the grapes. He tries to trick the crow into dropping them but, when unsuccessful, walks away saying, “I didn’t want those grapes anyway.” I have heard people describe denial by using it as an acronym for Don’t Even Notice I Am Lying.
People will go to amazing lengths to pretend they don’t have a problem. Whether it’s as extreme as alcoholism, the state of their physical health or the state of their finances. People seem to believe that if they don’t look at the problem it will simply go away. Denial is the ostrich sticking its head in the sand.
2.   Sedatives and Numbing Out: They use sedatives of “food”, alcohol, drugs etc. to lower their level of pain. The use of any of these once a while, isn’t the issue. The issue is that people use these as a consistent pattern. But perhaps the worst drug of all is when people| tell themselves “it’s okay”. When people have attempted to create a result again and again and failed – they tend to give up.
When people try to handle their finances in countless ways and can’t seem to get it together they will either step up and take another cut the ball or they will step down and deal with their pain by saying, “it’s okay. It’s not really that bad.”

They will reinforce this by hanging around with a peer group that has equally low expectations of life. This peer group will say things like, “Hey, don’t be so hard in yourself. Quit working so hard. Relax once a while.” But the peer group is not really saying these things out of any sense of true caring for the person the because they don’t want to look at the fact that they are also in pain.

3.   Rationalize And Tell Themselves Stories: you can hear a rationalization a million miles away. They almost always start with the words “Well it’s not like I…” or “At least I . . .” (followed by the one strong standard they have).

They’ll say things like, “Sure I smoke once in awhile, but it’s not like I’m one of those people who smokes three packs a day.” Or when looking at their finances, they’ll say, “Sure my finances are a mess but it’s not like I’m $100,000 in debt on credit cards.” Or they’ll look at their romantic relationships and say, “Sure, it’s not the most fulfilling relationship in the world but it’s not like we’re fighting all the time and hate each other.”

The easiest way to rationalize lowering our standards is to compare ourselves with people who have even lower standards.

4.   Justify: They give their reasons: “I mean I should do this but…” in whatever comes after that “but” is their “excuse” for not taking action. So, at least they acknowledge that there is a problem, but the way they choose to deal with it is to prove to other people, and themselves, why they can’t do anything about it.

5.   They Use Softeners: They say, “I’m big boned…” vs. “I’m fat”. They say, “I’m having a few problems with my finances.” As opposed to, “My personal finances are a disaster.” People will use the language that softens the emotional impact — and so they will never ever connect with the pain that could actually drive them to create the change they want in their lives. Until people face, and ultimately embrace, the pain they are currently experiencing they will never have the energy or motivation to create the level of change they want.

Your job is to get them back to the truth. Your job is to “tell it like it is” and help them get honest with themselves. Of course, it’s important that you do this skillfully and elegantly but you must also do it powerfully.

For example, most business owners are abysmal at marketing. Their efforts are scattered, reactive and ineffective. But they don’t realize it. If I simply tell them “your marketing sucks” they may or may not believe it. I have had to – over the years – create more elegant and compelling ways to help them “get it”. I have spent considerable effort creating self diagnostic tests and, in fact, an entire introductory evening based on them doing a marketing “self assessment”. There is an art to this that, as you master it, will make you rich and your clients much, much happier.

You’ve got to be there to say “Look, more is possible.” And then show them why it’s possible. Reawaken hope. Remember, show don’t tell. Show them how it could be better in their life, in their home, with their financial realities. Your job is to help paint the “sufficiency gap”.

In essence you say, “You’re here. Here is wonderful, beautiful and enough. It’s perfect. Over there is a higher possibility. Something that would expand, add to and deepen the current level of richness in your life. I can help you get there. You’re an acorn – acorns are great and I see within you an oak. Which would you like to be?”

Your role is to help them feel powerful in closing that gap by:

1. Affirming the Current Sufficiency – you don’t want them to feel stupid or foolish for where they are or what they’ve done. You want to feel good and clear. You don’t want them to feel poor and impoverished in their current state – you want them to feel wealthy and grateful. Why?

People don’t spend money – or take risks – when they feel poor.

You don’t want them to be caught up in a drama about their suffering but rather their sufficiency. Most people never even start on a dream because they think, “I’m not good enough. I don’t have enough time or money or friends, etc.” Your job is to affirm that they actually have the perfect amount – the exact right amount.

2. Inviting them to imagine a greater possibility.

3. Clearly pointing out the gap between their sufficiency and their vision. Help them get honest and inspired.

4. Showing how it could be filled, step by step, with your help. Many people avoid making a big decision because they don’t want to appear foolish. They need to really “get” that doing business with you will “feel good” and meet their deepest emotional needs.

People are always looking for a better, simpler, easier way to get the results they’re after.

An important shift to make is from a transactional relationship to a transformational relationship in which you are both influenced by each other.

If you are truly a trusted advisor – if you’re truly an expert not only in your product/service but in your industry – then you know much more about it than your client don’t you? So, you often have a much greater and clearer sense of what is possible than they do.

Sometimes, it’s so much easier to see what’s possible for people from the outside. We’ve all had times in our lives, when all of our friends could see what the problem was, but we simply couldn’t see the forest for the trees. When you’re not involved in the problem emotionally, the solution and resolution of that problem is often much easier to see.

And, sometimes, people simply don’t even know about the existence of certain options. Imagine that you have been going to certain restaurant regularly for the past 10 years. Every day you get there, you open up the menu and you order the food on. It’s a bit of a greasy spoon, and all they really have is burgers and fries. But, it’s really close to where you work and it’s cheap. Then one day, you’re going to the bathroom, but you accidentally walk into the kitchen. And you are stunned with what you see. You see fruit, pastas, the most incredible salads you’ve ever seen, curries and rice dishes… you’re overwhelmed.

And you realize the only reason you never received that kind of food is you didn’t ask. But the reason you didn’t ask was because it was never on the menu. People will only order what they see on the menu. If you go to a restaurant and all they sell is burgers — you’re not going to ask for a fruit salad. Most people in their own lives, have a certain menu that they are looking at day after day. Your job is to walk them into the kitchen and show them that so much more is available.

Many people actually, secretly have much larger dreams and visions but relegate them to the dark and dusty catacombs of their mind feeling that either it’s not possible or they aren’t worthy. They look at their goals and think “Why me? I’m not worthy of that level of success.” Your job is to look at them and know their inherent and invaluable worth and ask not “are you sure you’re worthy of these goals?” but “Are you sure those goals are worthy of you?”

| Categories: marketing philosophy - Tags: building trust, conversations, empathy, guidance, pressure free, real, safety

Blogs in Plain English

By: Tad | Published: August 14, 2010 · Leave a Comment

What’s are blogs? Why do they matter? This video tells you – in plain English.

| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing tactics - Tags: becoming a hub, blogs, conversations, marketing 2.0, online marketing, social media, trusted advisor

Word of Mouth in Action: Polaroid!

By: Tad | Published: July 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Here’s a great example from a company we all know . . .

“Throw a Polaroid camera into any social network and you’re guaranteed to get conversations started.

The people at Polaroid understand that.

When Polaroid decided to renew interest in instant photography among younger people, the company took its cameras on a road tour. The campaign vehicle parked outside the Exploratorium is a conversation piece in itself –a long motor home, completely wrapped in a colourful original design created especially for the tour. The vehicle parks in towns en route, and people who stop by are lent a Polaroid camera for a few hours. The first year Polaroid attempted this, in 1996, people were asked to bring back a picture that showed their town; they were told the picture might eventually be selected as part of an art piece entitled “America: An Instant Self-Portrait.”

More than 30,000 instant photographs were collected from people around the country, and the event became part of tens of thousands of conversations. In 1997 the company used the promotion to reach college students during spring break. As you might expect, the camera became the center of thousands of social interactions on the street, at parties, and on the beach. The focus of the 1998 and 1999 tours was on preparing a time capsule with pictures that would describe life at the end of the millennium to future generations. The 1996 campaign generate 40 million media impressions and had 120,000 customers participate in the experience.

In the 1998 tour these numbers went up to 50 million and 200,000 respectively. We can only guess how many conversations were generated by participants. People tend to share pictures with their relatives and friends, and each participant got to keep half of the pictures for him or herself.” The Anatomy of Buzz – Emmanuel Rosen

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.