Book & Course

Evicting The Sales Boogie Man

“Used Car Salesman.” I’ve helped develop marketing and sales strategies for countless small business owners, and this singular phrase conjures up an image that I have had to help almost every client overcome. The enduring image of a super slick, high pressure, commission driven salesman lives on—and so has the need to help nervous business owners realize that they do not have to replicate those tactics in order to effectively represent their own product or service.

The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that small businesses comprise 99% of American business and 44% of the total U.S. private payroll. And yet, without a Super Bowl ad budget in sight, small business owners have to be far more resourceful with their time and money. DISC: Leverage Your Nature, Increase Your Sales was developed specifically to help small business owners learn how to consciously process and utilize their innate strengths as their business’ greatest (and free!) sales resource.

In addition to consciously understanding your own behavior, you’re going to learn how to relate to those who differ from your style. This is key to improving your communication and, by extension, your sales. We’ve all heard of the “Golden Rule”: Treat others as you wish to be treated. The problem with that rule is it assumes everyone shares your perspective and values. I prefer the “Platinum Rule”: Treat others as they wish to be treated. Imagine being able to recognize what others value and connect with them in a way that’s meaningful to them. What would that do for your sales? For your communication with colleagues and clients? For your relationship with your spouse?

While DISC has a wide range of applications, for the purposes of this book let’s look at what happens in a sales situation when you cannot understand what others value. The following are common scenarios I have repeatedly encountered as a consumer; they also represent why business owners come to me frustrated that their sales are suffering.

• You speak quickly and “bottom line” everything, thinking that you’re being respectful of the prospective client’s time. In reality, they find you brusque and aggressive. You do not get the sale.

• You are chatty and reveal personal information about yourself thinking that you’re establishing a rapport with a prospective client. In reality, they find you self-centered and unprofessional. You do not get the sale.

• You are quietly reserved and keep opinions to yourself thinking that you’re not bragging or being too forceful. In reality, the prospective client is left feeling that you are not qualified or fully engaged. You do not get the sale.

• You provide lengthy analysis and information to a prospective client thinking that you’re helping them to make an informed decision. In reality, they are overwhelmed and feel unheard. You do not get the sale.

Throughout DISC: Leverage Your Nature, Increase Your Sales I include real-life anecdotes of misfires, mishaps, and miscommunications between people for no other reason than they didn’t know how to really tune in to one another, let alone respond in a meaningful way.

As a business owner myself, and as someone who clearly remembers having to start a business from scratch, I wrote DISC: Leverage Your Nature, Increase Your Sales to de-mystify step-by-step sales activities you can engage in to build revenues. More importantly, I hope that the suggestions outlined in this book for your dominant DISC style make you feel empowered to succeed in marketing. Marketing involves a combination of people skills, industry knowledge, market research, and operational systems. It therefore offers every business owner the opportunity to hone a range of abilities integral to their business’ health.

In the pages that follow, you will discover:

• Why the DISC is significant to your business and how to interpret your own DISC report.

• What the four DISC styles are, how they affect your sales strategy, and real-life stories of failures and successes.

• How to systematically add strategies specific to your nature that will increase your sales close rate.

• What communication tools to use with people who have your opposite style. You will be prepared for any sales meeting regardless of your audience!

It’s perfectly alright to skip ahead and check out the chapters that you think apply most to your own style; however, I encourage you to review and understand the others, too. The better you understand what motivates those who are different from you, the more likely you are to be of genuine service to them—and that’s sales.[/ultimate_modal]