Welcome to a special edition of building a business that lasts. My name is Jay Cohen, your host on a quest towards stories, tips and ideas to help you avoid being worn out, stressed out, and ready to quit. In business. On this episode, I'll be playing the fourth chapter from my brand new book, building a business that lasts. The title of this chapter is Yes, you are in the sales business. You see, sales is something that lots of business owners struggle with, especially in the early years, trying to figure out how do they sell and having to struggle with the reality that they have to be in the sales business to be successful regardless of what they're actually providing as far as a product or service. So I think this chapter is going to be really helpful, especially if sales is a struggle for you. If you want to check out the copy of the book, you can grab a free copy online at get Jay's book.com just cover the cost of shipping and handling. We'll ship it straight to you. Also have an option to grab the audio copy on there. Right now. It'll also be available on audible. Come very soon. Chapter Four. Yes, you are in the sales business. Stop selling. Start Helping Zig Ziglar. I learned early on that if I wanted to be good at business, I needed to be good at sales. Many people think I'm an extrovert because I love to speak, but in reality, I'm a complete introvert. I could sit behind my laptop all day and never speak to another human being and be perfectly fine as a kid. I was a 100% bonafide nerd and still am at heart, but just being able to do something like build websites wasn't enough to build a business. If I want it to be successful building websites as a business, I needed to be able to sell it. For many people, selling is one of the most misunderstood and uncomfortable parts of business. There is this picture in many people's heads of the used car salesman with the slicked back hair and the plaid jacket trying to hustle someone into a lemon of a car or a fast talking infomercial. Maniac. Buy Now, buy now, buy now. There is this image of sales as being slimy or underhanded or at best a necessary evil. Most people do not start a business with a love for sales. They start with a love for what they do. They love baking cupcakes or taking pictures or creating events or building houses, landscaping yards or any other number of things, but they often fear or even hate the idea of having to sell those products or services. For me, I love the Internet and technology which morphed into websites and design and eventually the design agency that design extensions is today. My extroverted behavior in teaching and sales and speaking are learned behaviors, not innate ones. When I started my little red wagon concession stand business at the age of eight I didn't realize I wasn't actually in the concession business. I was in the sales business when I started my law and business at the age of 12 I wasn't in the lawn business. I was in the sales business and when I started a website business at the age of 17 well, you get the picture. Everyone is selling something. It's just a matter of what. Don't miss this though. The sales business is really just the people business. Go back to the paragraph above and replace sales business with people business and think about how that changes the way we see things. At the end of the day, regardless of what we do, what we make or how much money we make, you are in the sales business, which really means you are in the people business. If you want to build a business that lasts, it's paramount to understand that you are in the sales business, a business of selling something to someone and you better be good at it. The most important piece of sales advice I ever received came from my uncle. He's one of those natural salesman. He's a rare exception in that he actually enjoys the selling process. When I was in my early years in business, he used to say, you need to stop thinking about selling people and start thinking about helping people. That's the big takeaway when it comes to sales. Stop being obsessed with closing the next deal and instead focus on helping people. If you believe that your product or service will help others in need and give them what they want or desire and that they can afford your product or service, all you have to do is care enough to help them. This requires you being willing to do a few things. First, you need to know your product or service really well. You can't know if what you're offering will be helpful to someone unless you understand it's complete value and where it has no value. Ultimately, you only want to sell to someone who can actually help. At least that's how you should feel, but you need to know what you're providing well enough to do that. Second, you need to be willing to walk away from the deal that you aren't a best fit for. Sometimes this means actually talking to customer out of buying from you. I know this sounds insane, especially when you're hungry for new business, but trust me, the only thing worse than no business is bad business. You do not want to sell to people who you're not able to help, and as a result, you will need to be willing to walk away. Remember that every time you say yes to one thing or one client, you could be saying no to thousands of others. There's an opportunity cost in every new client you acquire, so acquire them carefully. Third, be willing to nurture the relationship. Statistics show that most deals are not closed until the fifth follow up. Most people are not willing to follow up that many times they think, gosh, I don't want to bug them, but if you really want to help someone, you pursue them until you get a hard no, and frankly, negotiations don't even really start until you get to know all great relationships in life take time and there's no difference in the client vendor relationship. You can't walk into a networking meeting and expect to close something that day. You need to be willing to take the time to get to know someone because the only way you can help as if you really know them and know what they need. Well, I love the way the founder of Ramsey solutions and one of the top radio host in the country. Dave Ramsey puts it. At the end of the day, we are not selling, we are serving. It's that type of attitude that keeps people coming back. Even if someone isn't a good fit as a customer today, they might be in 12 months. If you were the one who knew your product well enough to see that you weren't a good fit when they first came to you, they very likely will return to you when they are or refer someone else who is. Some might suggest that the idea of helping instead of selling flies in the face of the old mantra of ABC, always be closing. I'm not sure that it does though. You can still be closing. You just need to do it with people that you're able to help. A servant based mindset of helping others through sales often leads to more referrals and referrals are the lifeblood of just about every business. I know after all, how do you get referrals by doing a great job for people and then asking them to tell others? Right, and what's the best way to do a great job for someone? Start in the earliest sales cycle with the most honest desire to help them because if you do help them, they are much more likely to refer business to you than if you just sell them. Selling may create income, but helping create relationships that last a lifetime and that's a key ingredient in building a business that lasts. It all boils down to those four words from the legendary Zig Ziglar. Stop selling. Start helping chapter four action steps. Make a list of the 10 deals you lost most recently, an outline, why you lost them. If you don't know why you lost them, you need to find out. It could be as simple as not following up with the client to ask them why they went with someone else. One time I asked a client exactly this and they said it was because the other company had a much better looking proposal. They found that important. Well guess what? The next proposed lesson out looked much better. Only make that mistake once are those things and areas that you could improve on to close the sale next time. Number two, make a list of the 10 most profitable clients, total client income minus total expense for that client and outline how you acquired those clients in the first place. This will help you isolate areas that you could expand and find additional clients that fit the best client mold and three, look at all of your sales materials and ask, am I being clear enough and how I help? If you need assistance telling your story and adding clarity to your message about how you can help check out Donald Miller's book, building a StoryBrand, you'll gain tremendous insight into crafting this message as well. Really go read it. Donald Miller's building a StoryBrand. It is amazing. I hope this episode has given you some ideas or inspiration that will help you grow your business. If you found it helpful and you know somebody else who might benefit from it as well, I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to share this with them. Maybe on Facebook or Twitter or Linkedin, or even shoot an email over to a friend, uh, with a link to this podcast in it. And if you haven't already, make sure you sign up for our email list@buildingabusinessthatlasts.com.