I THOUGHT I HATED SALES UNTIL I UNDERSTOOD WHAT SALES ACTUALLY IS!
I look at the healing work behind the stories we tell ourselves as the foundation for achieving freedom in your business. On the other hand, the sales/branding strategy – AKA the stories we tell our clients – is the cozy home that rests upon that sturdy foundation. All the strategy in the world won’t make up for a shaky foundation. If a subconscious story is holding you back from connecting with your dream people at a deep level, achieving your freedom goals won’t be easy.
To summarize, there are TWO steps –
Step 1 – I had to feel confident that I knew what I was doing and had solutions to help my customers (aka stories I told myself)
Step 2 – I had to learn who my clients were and what really mattered to them (stories that I connected with my clients)
In early 2000, I worked as a Marketing Director for an Alzheimer’s and dementia facility. It was built as a secure place to put loved ones who were no longer safe to live independently and care for themselves. It’s an essential solution but one that few people actually want. Almost no one wants to take their parent(s) out of their home and place them in a facility. Leading up to this decision, they watched their parent(s) slowly, heartbreakingly decline, and lose more and more pieces of themselves. They’ve listened as their mother searches for words that won’t come. They’ve watched Dad as he forgets his children’s names. They’ve visited only to discover mom forgot to turn off the stove. It’s been a HEART-WRENCHING downward spiral. Now, deciding to place them in a facility feels like hammering the last nail in the coffin. They have little hope.
Eventually, I figured out that my job was not selling. It was to give these families hope. At first, I thought it was to sell spaces in the facility. But I quickly realized that NO ONE gave a shit about the size of the room, the food, etc.… Ok, I mean, they gave somewhat of a shit, but it wasn’t that important. What was the most important thing? HOPE.
If I can leave you with one gold nugget in this post, it’s this – selling delivers real hope and possibilities to the right people.
Do you know how I filled our building faster than any other marketing director in the company’s history? I gave them hope – REAL, achievable hope. I told them stories of other residents who had found purpose and peace amid a terrible disease.
One of my favorite stories was about a gentleman declining quickly at home. He spent most of his time in front of the TV because the family could only provide limited care (they were coping the best they could). They finally made the decision to place him. His first days were rough as he tried to acclimate to a new place – even one with many memory cues. Then, one day, a caregiver left a phone book on the table (remember, this is the early 2000s, lol – we still had phone books). He picked it up and started tearing out pages neatly one by one and setting them in stacks. It seemed bizarre, but he was utterly engrossed in this activity for hours. When his family visited, he seemed happier and more engaged than he had in weeks. They were OVERJOYED.
As it turns out, one of his first jobs as a young man involved tickets. It was similar to ripping them out and organizing them each day. What he was doing with the phone book mimicked that job, and he remembered. Suddenly, in his mind, he was back in the 1940s, working a job that he loved. It didn’t matter that, in reality, there was no point in him ripping out pages of a phone book. To him, there was purpose and meaning. The staff began to collect donated phone books and kept an ample supply on hand so he could go to “work” every day.
It was stories like these that I was able to share with families and passionately sell them hope. What they wanted most wasn’t just a safe place for their loved ones to live. What they wanted more than anything was to see them happy and engaged again – as much as the disease would allow in the time they had left on this earth. I had a laundry list of benefits that the residents received – meal plans, amenities, etc… NO ONE CARED. That wasn’t what was really important.
When it comes to YOUR business, figuring out exactly what matters to people is the key to connecting with clients. Sales feel heavy when you’re selling just to make money. Yes, cash is significant, BUT selling will only feel effortless once you’re passionate that you have a solution that can help your perfect client in a big way.
A laundry list of benefits isn’t going to do that. You’ve got to peel back that onion and figure out what matters to your perfect client.
For instance, a woman doesn’t want to lose weight. It’s not about the weight.
She wants to feel good about her body. Well, why does she want to feel good about her body?
She wants the security of feeling confident and worthy in her own skin? Why doesn’t she feel worthy?
Well, maybe as a little girl, there was a lot of emphasis put on what was beautiful and what wasn’t beautiful, and this became a program that started running in her subconscious, and it needs to be rewritten before ANY weight loss plan can stick.
Do you get where I’m going here? It’s not about the weight – it’s about the worthiness.
And this can be applied to ANY business. You take control of the stories you tell yourself, find your confidence, and pinpoint the stories that will connect with your clients.
If you can get super clear on this, you’ll be GOLDEN!
If you’d like to learn more about working together, CLICK HERE to contact me!
Til next time, Jackie
