CFD 126 - Essential Skills: Sales

As we continue the Essential Skills series, there is one topic that can’t be stressed enough. It’s SALES, and no matter what we do in life we are involved in sales. After all, sales equals service and there is a fair exchange of value. The simple truth is that you can’t have customers without sales, so you better have a plan to get more of both! Sales is a necessary part of any business and your success in that business. That includes your Real Estate business. Nothing happens till you make a sale. That means you have to be clear on your pitch. This requires you to ask five questions. Listen to this episode to get these questions and learn how to arrive at the answers. Consider the first two questions as powerful seeds that will create the strong roots of your business. Then you get to water and nurture the heck out of those seeds for a period of time. During that time, you’re going to gain a lot more clarity and makes lots of decisions. Clarity leads to power. Decisions are absolutely required in order to cut off other options. With clarity and decisions you get to take action steps. The good news is that in your Real Estate business, you get to move more quickly. Some people think they need all the information to make a decision on a property. That’s not necessarily true. You’ll have to listen to this episode of Cash Flow Diary to get the inside scoop on creating more successful sales in your business and why you actually love sales. This episode covers a lot of ground. Listen Now

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Show Notes

Summary:

On this episode of Cash Flow Diary, J continues his Essential Skills series, this time focusing on sales. He covers the five questions you need to answer in order to build a business, due diligence checklists, and common misconceptions. J also reveals four places you can go right now to learn some of the absolute best questions to ask so you can become better at sales. This episode is full of amazing actionable tips so don’t miss it!

Episode Rundown:

04:20 It’s all about skill sets

06:54 Sales

08:13 Five Questions

09:36 Why?

12:49 Acting on decisions

13:16 What?

17:09 Use value vs. cash value

17:26 Due diligence checklist

21:26 Value is in the eye of the beholder

22:54 Common misconceptions

27:05 J’s Homework

Key Lessons Learned:

You don’t have a customer unless you have a sale.
Sales can be the most expensive thing to outsource or find someone else to do.
You don’t have to be the one to come up with all of the answers all of the time.

Skill Sets:

He or she with the most skill sets wins!
We are in a skill set game, not an education game.
Adding new skill sets is the name of the game for you, your brand, and your business, and how you are going to be able to scale and reach more customers.
He who knows the most isn’t necessarily going to win. It is he who knows how to do and execute who will win!
Ask yourself how many skill sets have you gained in the last 12 months.
Restricting yourself to just what you know is a problem.

Sales

Nothing happens until there’s a sale.
If there is no sale, there’s no sense in worrying about anything else.
Unless I sell you something, I am prevented from serving you.
What matters is, ‘can you sell it?’
Strive to give more in ‘use’ value than you take in ‘cash’ value.

Five Questions You Need To Answer To Build A Business:

1) Why?

Why are you doing this?
Those who are not clear on their ‘why’ will not last.
Clarity leads to power to do two specific things: i) power to decide ii) power to act.
He or she who is clear on why they are doing can move to the next step of deciding and acting.
Are you able to act on your decisions?
Learn to make decisions with enough information (not all the information).
The first sale you will have to make is with yourself.

2) What?

What do you need to do in order to see those things come to life?

3) When?

When would I like to see these things?

4) Who?

Who can help me with just this piece?
You don’t need to know how ‘this piece’ is going to be done.

5) How?

Due Diligence Checklist & Value:

Ask for things that cause you a headache upfront.
Remember that you are committed to the destination, not the event.
If either party does not receive or perceive that they receive adequate value, then that transaction is abusive to one of the parties.
You can give someone something of great value, but if they perceive it to be of little value, then you have wronged them, and the exchange was unfair.
Always give more in ‘use’ value than you take in ‘cash’ value.
Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Common Misconceptions:

Often we believe we don’t know what to say.
It’s not ‘what to say,’ but rather the more powerful thing to know is ‘what to ask.’
Diagnosis without prescription is malpractice.
Rather than becoming a ‘sales person’ become a ‘professional person who sells stuff,’ and your world will begin to change.

J’s Homework:

One of the best things you can do is study the questions of those who are accomplished at what you are looking to do.
Four places you can go right now to learn some of the absolute best questions to ask so that you can go and become better at sales:

1) QVC

2) The Home Shopping Network

All they do is sell stuff all day long, and people voluntarily turn on the channel to be sold to.

3) Car Sales Lot

The first sales question they ask you will probably be a verbatim question they are trained to ask in the same way every time. There is a reason for that.

4) Timeshare Presentation