Ep 273 - Sales Success: It's Not About Being an Extrovert! with guest Nikki Rausch

Ever wondered if being successful in sales means you have to be an extrovert? 

On this episode of the Quiet And Strong Podcast, host David Hall sits down with sales strategist and bestselling author Nikki Rausch to bust the myth that only extroverts thrive in sales. You'll gain insights into why embracing your introverted strengths can actually make you a standout salesperson.

Whether you're an introvert interested in sales, an entrepreneur looking to grow your confidence, or just curious about how to use your natural strengths for success, this episode offers encouragement and actionable strategies. Embrace your strengths, learn how to connect authentically, and be strong.

Episode Link: QuietandStrong.com/273

CEO of Sales Maven, Nikki Rausch has the unique ability to transform the misunderstood process of “selling”. With over 25 years of experience selling to prestigious organizations like The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and NASA, Nikki shattered sales records and received “top producer” awards along the way. Today, entrepreneurs and small business owners hire Nikki to show them how to sell successfully and authentically. An engaging speaker, she shares the secrets of her sales success through keynote speeches and business-changing workshops. Her robust Sales Maven Society ignites game-changing outcomes for clients. Nikki has written 3 books, all available on Amazon. And she has a podcast called Sales Maven which you can find on your favorite podcast platform.

Connect with Nikki: Instagram | Facebook | Linkedin | Website | Free Guide

Transcript

David Hall [00:00:00]:
And also, Nikki, we bust myths on this show. So normally I just say, what's a myth you want to bust? But in your case, I'm going to say, what's the myth about introverts and sales?

Nikki Rausch [00:00:10]:
I think the, the, the myth is that you have to be an extrovert to be successful at sales, and that is just absolutely not true. I have had such a privileged experience of working with all different kinds of salespeople in my career from all different backgrounds and all different styles. And I can name like 10 of who I think are the very best of the best. Right? Like, I have 10 people that come to mind where I'm like, they are just so good at sales. But if you put those 10 people at a dinner table together, they probably wouldn't have a lot to talk about. It wasn't about them having the same type of energy or personality type or any of that. It was what really differentiates is they understood their strengths. They understood the selling process because selling is a skill.

Nikki Rausch [00:01:02]:
It's something that can be learned.

David Hall [00:01:13]:
Hello and welcome to episode 273 of the Quietestrong podcast, especially for introverts. I'm your host David hall and the creator of Quietestrong.com this is a weekly podcast dedicated to understanding the strengths of the needs of introverts along with strategies for success. Introversion is not something to fix, but to be embraced. Normally we are each episode on a Monday. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a review or a rating that would mean a lot to me and help others find the show. Tell a friend about the podcast and help get the word out there that introversion is a beautiful thing. CEO of Sales Maven Nikki Rauch has the unique ability to transform the misunderstood process of selling. With over 25 years of experience selling to prestigious organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and NASA, Nikki shattered sales records and received top producer awards along the way.

David Hall [00:02:10]:
Today, entrepreneurs and small business owners hire Nikki to show them how to sell successfully and authentically. An engaging speaker, she shares the secrets of her sales success through keynote speeches and business changing workshops. Her robust sales maven society ignites game changing outcomes for clients. Nikki has written three books, all available on Amazon. And she has a podcast called Sales Maven which you can find on your favorite podcast platform.

David Hall [00:02:43]:
All right, well, welcome to the Quiet and strong podcast. Nikki. Nikki, it's so good to have you on today.

Nikki Rausch [00:02:48]:
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited for this conversation.

David Hall [00:02:51]:
Yeah, we are going to talk about the work you do. I told you just a minute ago that I'm excited to bust the myth that, you know, people say introverts can't do sales, so we're going to bust that myth today. Before we get into your work, though, tell us a little bit about yourself and the work that you do.

Nikki Rausch [00:03:07]:
So I'm a sales strategist, and my background is in corporate sales. I've been in sales now for 25 plus years. I would say I started in corporate sales job when it was back in the late 1900s where people actually used to get their job through a newspaper, you know, applying from the in the newspaper. Started sales maven in 2013 with the idea of I come from the tech space. So that was the space that I sold into in corporate. And when I decided to start Sales Maven, it was with this idea of really serving a very different audience. It was entrepreneurs, primarily women, because I find that they were very uncomfortable with a sales conversation because they thought sales was supposed to be done a certain way. It's the way that often people are like, oh, I don't want to have to be aggressive or pushy.

Nikki Rausch [00:04:00]:
And I teach a very different structure for that. So started Sales Maven in 2013 with this idea of just wanting to help people make a bigger impact in their businesses and in their lives and be more comfortable with those sales money conversations. And it's been the absolute most fulfilling journey of the last, you know, 12 plus years of doing this. And I have a podcast now, Sales Maven podcast, that is there really just to serve and teach people really easy strategy on how to be successful in sales conversations.

David Hall [00:04:36]:
All right, and how did you get into sales in the first place?

Nikki Rausch [00:04:40]:
Well, my first professional sales job came from a college project.

David Hall [00:04:45]:
Okay.

Nikki Rausch [00:04:46]:
We were assigned. We were assigned a partner, and we had to go into a company where we didn't have any contacts and kind of convince these, you know, this company, every department within the company to allow us to interview them. And then we had to go back and put together this huge presentation to that was like 90% of our grade for the class. And my partner picked a tech company that was local. And I. One of my parts of the presentation was on their hiring practices. And so again, I mentioned how long I've been doing this. I had a newspaper ad that they had put out for salespeople, and I was using that as part of my presentation.

Nikki Rausch [00:05:27]:
And one of my classmates came up to me afterwards and said, hey, you know, can I take that, you know, that newspaper ad? Because I think I'm going to apply and he applied and got his job. And then another guy in our class who, by the way, used to always copy my papers and my notes, he used to always cheat off my papers. He went and applied and he got a job. And I thought, well, gosh, if they'll hire these two knuckleheads, maybe they'll give me a shot. And so I went, applied and got a job and worked my way up there and became their national sales manager before I moved to the manufacturing side and then became the, the traveling road warrior. The, the person who I, I, I always tell people, and they're always surprised by this, that I used to fly so much that my airline used to send me a Christmas gift every year. Like, that's how good of a, of a customer I was.

David Hall [00:06:18]:
Yeah, that's cool.

Nikki Rausch [00:06:19]:
Yeah.

David Hall [00:06:20]:
So, Nikki, you're on the Quiet and Strong podcast and you're a fellow introvert. How did you figure that out, that you were an introvert and did you have to learn to embrace it?

Nikki Rausch [00:06:29]:
I definitely had to learn to embrace it. And how I figured it out really was I've been through a lot of personal and professional development, you know, going through the Myers Briggs and kind of where do you fall on that scale? But really it was as I learned more about, you know, introvert versus extrovert. For me, it comes back to a lot of times is like, where do you get your energy? And one of the things I know, because the type of selling that I was doing in my corporate job, it was a lot of entertaining. It was a lot of interaction with people, taking them out to lunch and breakfast and dinners and drinks and, you know, big, huge events. You know, I took a big group of clients to Japan one time. I took a client to the super bowl one time, like these really big events, but realizing that I need quiet to refill to in, in order to function like I was the kind of person again, because I traveled so much, I spent a lot of nights in hotel room that I never turn the TV on in the, like, I just need quiet. I just need like, space to think and process and not have things coming at me. Yeah.

David Hall [00:07:38]:
And also, what's the strength you have because you're an introvert?

Nikki Rausch [00:07:41]:
I think knowing that about myself allows for me to recognize in others their preferred style. And so it allows for me to make adjustments and to put other people at ease. Now, some of this comes from my background in neuro linguistic programming. I'm master certified practitioner of that. But being able to recognize, I think, in others what their style is and then I can adjust from there. I always say my all time favorite quote is blessed are the flexible or they shall not be bent out of shape. And so I think when you understand about yourself and your style and you can recognize in others their style and what their preference is and you're willing to make a little bit of adjustment, not, not to be like the chameleon, but being willing to be flexible for someone else's style, I think it allows for better conversation, it allows for deeper connections.

David Hall [00:08:37]:
Yeah, for sure.

David Hall [00:08:38]:
Nikki, you're also the author of three books. Tell us about the books that you've written.

Nikki Rausch [00:08:42]:
Well, the first book that I wrote is called Six Word Lessons on Influencing with Grace. And it's 100 mini lessons about neuro linguistic programming. And if that's a new term for anybody listening, it's really the study of communication. And so it's about the different types of people you communicate with and giving you little tips on how to improve that. The second book that I wrote is called Buying Signals. And this was after I started my business in, you know, when I was speaking a lot and networking a lot. I realized that a lot of the people I was coming into contact with, they didn't even know what a buying signal was and they definitely didn't know what to do when prospective client gave them a buying signal. So I thought I'll just put together a really simple book, it's a really fast read that outlines the 17 buying signals and this will make a difference for people in their lives.

Nikki Rausch [00:09:33]:
So that was the second book and then the third book is called the Selling Staircase. And this is my signature framework for a successful sales conversation. I teach that there's a five step process to be successful in a sales conversation. And the reason it's called the Selling Staircase is because most people understand that you ascend a staircase one step at a time. And in sales when of the big mistakes that people make is they try to skip steps, they try to start at the bottom and hop all the way to the top and they expect their prospect to come with them or go with them. But you know, imagine somebody just walked up to you out of the blue and said, hey David, see that staircase? Like come hop to the top step. And you'd be like, no thank you. Like who are you? Why would I do that? That sounds crazy.

Nikki Rausch [00:10:18]:
So I teach this very simple process that allows for your style and however you show up in a conversation to work just to be more strategic and understand what step am I on and what is the logical thing to do or say here to make it easy to guide the person to the possible next step. Yeah.

David Hall [00:10:37]:
And also, Nikki, we bust myths on this show. So normally I just say, what's a myth you want to bust? But in your case, I'm going to say, what's the myth about introverts and sales?

Nikki Rausch [00:10:49]:
I think the. The. The myth is that you have to be an extrovert to be successful at sales, and that is just absolutely not true. I have had such a privileged experience of working with all different kinds of salespeople in my career from all different backgrounds and all different styles, and I can name, like, 10 of who I think are the very best of the best. Right. Like, I have 10 people that come to mind where I'm like, they are just at sales. But if you put those 10 people at a dinner table together, they probably wouldn't have a lot to talk about. They weren't that.

Nikki Rausch [00:11:27]:
Like, it wasn't about them having the same type of energy or personality type or any of that. It was what. What really differentiates is they understood their strengths. They understood the selling process, because selling is a skill. It's something that can be learned. And so for somebody to try to make somebody else feel like, well, you know, you're. And you're not an extrovert, so you can't really be successful at sales. That is baloney.

Nikki Rausch [00:11:58]:
It's a skill. It can be learned. And when you understand how to show up, be your authentic, genuine self and just be more strategic and apply strategy and technique to it, you can be successful in sales regardless of your style. Because I know people that are like, that really aggressive, like the go out and hunt the big game and knock them down, and, you know, that will say things that I'd be like. I would never say that to a customer. Right. And. And people will be like, that person is so charming.

Nikki Rausch [00:12:28]:
Right. And then somebody else who has a very, you know, quiet demeanor. I think I have somebody in mind. And this guy just. Clients would fall all over to spend time with him, but he didn't really want to spend that much time with them. He just wanted to make it easy for them to buy. And, like, he really is, I think, considered on the introverted side and very relational, but kind. And people just wanted to flock and be around him.

Nikki Rausch [00:12:58]:
He wasn't really that interested in being around them. He just wanted to be of service.

David Hall [00:13:03]:
Yeah. So I think that is so key. You mentioned two different people. Probably one's an extrovert, probably one's an introvert, and they have different strategies, but they're both successful, right?

Nikki Rausch [00:13:15]:
Yeah, absolutely. Again, to me, selling is a skill and anybody can learn how to do it. And it's just whether or not you're willing to put in the time and the energy to learn, you know, what works, understand your own style and how to use your style to be impactful. And again, understand, like, what step are we on right now? What makes the logical sense to, you know, what invitation should I be, what asking or what question should I ask this person that's going to move the conversation. Conversation in the direction to where we get to the place where a decision is put in front of the buyer and they can decide, yes, I'm ready to work with you, or no, or have an objection or a question or whatever their response is. But if you never get to that place where you can invite or ask somebody for their business, you miss out on working with them. And so when you understand, like, the objective is to just get to that place, it's not to convince somebody to buy from you. It's not to convince somebody that your personality is you, the kind of personality they should buy from.

Nikki Rausch [00:14:20]:
It's more about, like, do they have a need? Do you have a solution? Do you have permission to put that in front of them?

David Hall [00:14:27]:
Yeah, well said on that because, you know, we definitely talk about sales, marketing, leadership, public speaking, and just the path that an introvert might take might look different than the extrovert path, but both can be successful. It's just, it's going to look different. And there's not a one size fits all to approaching these various areas.

Nikki Rausch [00:14:50]:
No, I mean, people are often surprised, but I would rather be speaking to a group of hundreds of people than having to stand in a, in a happy hour cocktail. Like, I'd rather just be up on stage speaking than at a, you know, at a happy hour and having to mingle.

David Hall [00:15:08]:
Oh, yeah. So you do speaking. What, what have you learned as, as an introvert and speaking?

Nikki Rausch [00:15:16]:
Well, so much, I guess, I think, is understanding to deliver something of value to the, to the audience. I really love to give people something that they can immediately go and use, and I think that boosts your credibility in the room and also, you know, not trying to be, I guess, always have to say the right word at the right time, but allow for your own kind of personality and quirks to come through and the audience will respond to that, I think, when it feels very genuine. Right. And so for me, it's like learning to lean into who I am and what my style is. And Also, storytelling, I think is really important first.

David Hall [00:16:04]:
Yeah, that's key. That's key. Ed, how does storytelling fit into sales?

Nikki Rausch [00:16:12]:
Well, our brains love a story, right? Like we have that episodic memory. We love a beginning, a middle and an end. And the, the brilliant thing about storytelling. And I learned this, I started studying storytelling when I was doing my NLP training as well. And it was so interesting because when I was studying storytelling, the teacher that I was learning from, she taught it with a lot of fables and a lot of parables. And so these are fairy tales and things like that. And so it was so interesting. One of the big ahas that I realized with storytelling is here she's telling these stories like about the fox in the forest and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Nikki Rausch [00:16:59]:
And at some point at the end of the story, a lot of times in the, in the room, from a teaching standpoint, she would ask people, now, now, where did you find yourself in the story? And these are like accomplished, successful, you know, business people and people from all different walks of life that are in, you know, this, these classes. And they would say things like, oh, I was the hawk flying above the foxes. And you're like, there was no hawk in that story. Like, what, what is that? Like what? And I remember at first being like, am I in the wrong room? Like this is so woo, woo. But what I really realized, and the big aha is that we find ourselves in a story. When a story is told well, whether it's a parable or, or, you know, client story that you're explaining, you know, telling to somebody else, we, we make that story apply to us in some way. Our brain goes like, oh, I know who I am in the story. And our brain adds extra details and things that aren't even in the story.

Nikki Rausch [00:18:06]:
And so how that works with sales is that when you're telling a well told story, the person is relating that back to them and they say, you know, storytelling is the language of the brain. And I'm sure you've heard this saying where they say a picture is worth a thousand words. You've heard that, right? Yes, I'm sorry, I'm quoting somebody and I don't know the name of the person who actually said this, but they said a story is worth a thousand pictures. Oh, and so that is like that

David Hall [00:18:39]:
one I haven't heard. That's good.

Nikki Rausch [00:18:41]:
Okay. So when you understand that a story gives people so much more to like work with and it's like, it brings, it brings it to life. And that I think is how I bring storytelling into sales, is trying to help bring to life in the mind of the person who I'm having conversation with and without me trying to say, and the moral of the story is, or why I'm telling you this story so that you make this connection. No, it's allowing their brain to do all of that and then being fascinated to. To find out, who were they in the story? Where did they find themselves? Where did they see themselves? You know, are they the hero? Are they the, you know, protagonist? Like, who are they in the story? And how does it relate to them and their life and business? And the brilliant thing about our minds is we will make sense of it for ourselves.

David Hall [00:19:38]:
Yeah, that's the key. That's the key right there. It's the. It's the person that you're telling the story to that needs to make sense of it. It's not you telling them what they need to make sense of. Yeah. So storytelling and public speaking and sales, of course. You mentioned that you have a podcast.

David Hall [00:19:53]:
Tell us about the Sales Maven podcast. How long have you been doing that?

Nikki Rausch [00:19:57]:
Well, I have for six years. I started it in 2020, actually. My podcast, this was not intentional. Launched the week that everything shut down in the world because of COVID That wasn' the intent. But. And the reason I started my podcast, realistically, I had been guesting. You and I were having a little bit of a conversation about this. I had been guesting on podcasts, not with really a lot of intention, but just being asked to be a guest on people's podcasts.

Nikki Rausch [00:20:25]:
And listeners were showing up in my business and saying, oh, I binge you on podcasts. And I was like, how do. What do you mean, you binge me? Like, how do you binge somebody who doesn't have a podcast? And they were like, oh, I just go to my podcast app and I search Nikki Roush, and, you know, I just look for what podcast you've been on, and I listen to those. And I thought, well, after I heard it, like, I always have kind of a rule three to five times. So after I heard five different people tell me they binge me on podcasts, I thought, well, maybe that means that they want to hear my perspective. And so maybe I should start my own podcast. Which I did. And now here I am six years in, having a great time with it.

David Hall [00:21:06]:
Oh, it was a coincidence that the pandemic happened at the same time.

Nikki Rausch [00:21:10]:
It was. I had, you know, it been. It'd been in the works in late 2019. And you know, I was in the process of it, and we knew we were going to launch. The idea was really to kind of launch by February, but with everything. Not anything to do with COVID but just, you know, life and, you know, getting everything set up. It just didn't launch until March, which seemed to be, like, a really weird time to launch, not launch it, but that's what happened.

David Hall [00:21:38]:
That's funny because, like, my podcast got started because of the pandemic.

David Hall [00:21:43]:
Oh.

David Hall [00:21:43]:
So I started January 2021, and it was because so many people were saying, oh, introverts, they're just loving this, being alone all the time. And I'm like, yeah, that's not true.

Nikki Rausch [00:21:53]:
Right.

David Hall [00:21:53]:
There's not. You know, it's just all kinds of myths. So that's when I started it.

Nikki Rausch [00:21:57]:
Yeah, I love that. I love. That's why you did it.

David Hall [00:22:01]:
So, you know, you've been doing this a long time. You've also. You told me that you've been a guest more than you've been a host, which is pretty amazing because you've done a lot of hosting. How is podcasting a tool, whether you're a host or a guest for sales and marketing?

Nikki Rausch [00:22:21]:
Well, the thing that I. That I found with podcasting is that it has an intimacy to it that a lot of other mediums don't. Because a lot of times people are listening, you know, through AirPods or, you know, headphones or whatever, or they're listening to you when they're driving in their car. And so it's like you're right there with them, and it feels conversational. And so it does create a level of intimacy that I, again, I find that other platforms just don't seem to have that same impact. People will show up to hire me, and one of the pieces of feedback they often give is, Nikki, you are exactly how you have been on the podcast that I've listened to. And it's like, well, yeah, because this is me. Like, they already have this built in.

Nikki Rausch [00:23:09]:
Or they'll say things like, we're best friends. Like, I've been listening to you for two years, Nikki. You go with me on every walk that I have. Right. Or things like that. So it creates that. And then the other thing about podcasting that I think is really unique as far as marketing is that it's evergreen content. So, you know, there's podcasts that I was on three, five years ago that people will just hear today for the first time.

Nikki Rausch [00:23:35]:
And for them, it's brand new, fresh content because they just discovered that podcast or My podcast. Right. And so it just. Everything feels fresh and new to them, which is, you know, you can't really say that about very many marketing efforts that you do. You know, you. It's. It's like one and done, and you know what the results are. But podcasting is evergreen.

David Hall [00:23:58]:
Yeah. It's. It's out there. It's. People can find it much later, and it's. That's. I. I love.

David Hall [00:24:05]:
I love that piece of it, too.

Nikki Rausch [00:24:06]:
Yeah.

David Hall [00:24:07]:
So with sales, what are. What are some of the challenges that your clients bring to you?

Nikki Rausch [00:24:13]:
You know, a lot of it revolves around, like, the confidence and the permission piece. Right. The confidence of, like, can I really get into this conversation? And what if they say this? Or what if they ask me that? Or, you know, so a lot of times it's like, giving them the confidence and strategy and structure of how to, like, handle those situations. Because, you know, the thing about sales a lot of times is people think, well, you just, you know, you just have your sales script, and that's. That's going to work. Well, except for the person that you're talking to, they don't have a script, and they don't follow your script because they don't know about the script. Right, right. And so this idea of giving my.

Nikki Rausch [00:24:56]:
My client strategy and structure of how to handle situations where someone will ask something that you're kind of surprised about, or someone will bring up something that you hadn't thought how to address. So there's a lot about the language piece, the next piece, I think oftentimes people come to me for is figuring out their offer and their pricing. Because the thing about selling and having a business is if you aren't clear on how to articulate what you have available to buy, people will not buy from you. Right. Like, if people don't understand what their options are, it's very hard to sell. And so figuring out their offers, figuring out their pricing is really important. And then a third piece I'll mention is proposals and how to handle that proposal process, whether it's a formal proposal or whether it's more of an informal conversation. But how do you actually set yourself and the buyer up to make it easy for them to make that decision? So those are kind of three main areas.

Nikki Rausch [00:26:01]:
Cool.

David Hall [00:26:02]:
And then just from the start, how do you make a good first impression and establish a connection when you're in sales, you know, even as an introvert?

Nikki Rausch [00:26:12]:
Well, one of the things is, you know, you want to understand that there's a lot of judgments and preconceived things that come in with the first impression. And they say that, you know, people will make up to 10 judgments in the first 10 seconds of meeting you. And within two minutes, they've already decided, are you trustworthy? How do they feel about you? And learning that was such a big game changer in the way that I was showing up in conversations, because those first two minutes, people are making all these decisions about you. But oftentimes, when I ask people, like, what are you doing in the first two minutes when you're connecting with somebody for the first time, that first exposure to you, how are you showing up? And what is it like for the other person to experience you? And oftentimes people don't think about that. So you want to think about, like, what is it like for somebody? I'm. I'm. I mean, you tell me, David, because you're interviewing people and you have this, like, you're meeting people for the first time often. Right on.

Nikki Rausch [00:27:15]:
Zoom. And, you know, the person that shows up, that's like. Like having to, like, fix their hair and, like, you know, oh, I gotta take a drink. I gotta do all these things. And it just feels like, well, they weren't even ready for me. But we knew we had this time scheduled together. So what? Why are they not not ready? Right? And it kind of starts to send the message of, like, does this matter to them? Like, do I matter to them? Right? And so you want to think about that. What are you doing in the first two minutes? Are you prepared? Are you.

Nikki Rausch [00:27:49]:
Are you being gracious? Are you. Are you showing, you know, interest? You know, one of the things you did, which I. I teach, and it's so brilliant, is you. You told me your name right off the bat. You said, hi, I'm David. It's nice to meet you, Nikki. And, gosh, isn't that kind of you to extend yourself in that way to set me up for success? Now, David is not necessarily a hard name for me to say, but it might not be. Like somebody else might find, you know, like, it'd be nice just to hear how you say it.

Nikki Rausch [00:28:20]:
We. We had a conversation, actually, before this started about how certain people say their name a little bit different, even though it's spelled the same, right?

David Hall [00:28:28]:
Yeah. Right.

Nikki Rausch [00:28:28]:
And so set people up for success. If you have a name, for instance, that can be kind of mispronounced, be willing to extend yourself and say, oh, I'm. You know, and then say your name to help the other person feel comfortable with you, because isn't it horrible when you've been calling somebody the name and they never corrected you, and then you find out later that it's something else, and then you go like, well, now I feel dumb, and I wish they would have just told me. And that kind of diminishes their credibility with you, and it diminishes trust. Right. So what can you do in those first two minutes to put the other person at ease, to set them up for success in a conversation with you?

David Hall [00:29:12]:
Yeah.

David Hall [00:29:13]:
And names are so important. You know, the late Dale Carnegie said that that's the most important sound, you know, that someone hears is their own name. And I can.

David Hall [00:29:23]:
It's.

David Hall [00:29:23]:
It's really funny because it's just a little thing, but I will go through a whole podcast where no one mentions my name and I don't feel as connected to them, you know?

Nikki Rausch [00:29:35]:
Yeah, it's.

David Hall [00:29:36]:
It's very interesting. I. I notice the difference. You know, it's. I mean, I live with it. It's not a big deal. But I can feel where I don't feel as connected when they're not using my name at least a couple times, you know, or at least once.

Nikki Rausch [00:29:49]:
Right. Like. Like, yeah. Like. Like, are you just talking to yourself? Like, you know, that's the other thing on Zoom, right, Is that if I want to look at you, I actually have to, like, look here, but then my eyes aren't connected to the camera, and it's important to me that you feel connected. So even though I would rather just like, stare at you the whole time, because to see your facial expressions and what you're doing, but that can create a disconnect for you. So it's important that I look into the camera just from that standpoint of showing, like, you, I care about you, I'm interested in you, and I'm committed to creating relationship and rapport. And that means doing things that aren't necessarily my preference, but things that might make our relationship and our conversation easier for you.

David Hall [00:30:40]:
Yeah. Do you have any other tips or strategies on how to help the. The person know that they are important to you?

Nikki Rausch [00:30:49]:
Well, you know, here's. This is going to get into some of my NLP background, but here's. Okay, so here's one that it's. It's actually one of the easiest ones to pay attention to, but oftentimes people don't think about it, and it has to do with rate of speech, your rate of speech, and the rate of speech of the person that you are in conversation with. Now you have your natural rate of speech and Whatever it is. So let's say on a scale of like, you know, 1 to 10 and 10 being like super fast, like you talk really fast, as a matter of fact, you probably don't even take a lot of breaths between sentences. And sometimes you have a thought and it comes right outta your mouth. Like that's that really fast talker, right? And then wherever you fall on the scale, like other people are more like they take their time when they speak, they have a slower rate of speech.

Nikki Rausch [00:31:38]:
Now wherever you are, you're perfect. And if you want to connect with one someone at a deeper level, if you pay attention to their rate of speech and you're willing to adjust yours to make it more comfortable to be in conversation with you. Now this doesn't mean that you have to match their rate of speech a hundred percent, because let's be honest, if you're a three and they're a 10, that's going to be almost impossible to do. But if you're willing to extend yourself and just speed up a little bit and, or vice versa, the other way around, slow down a little bit, you will find that you make it more comfortable for them to be in conversation. And it's just kind of like, I don't know if you've ever noticed, but when you meet somebody for the first time and they have a very different style than you and it can feel uncomfortable, right, to be in conversation and maybe you have a talk, like five or ten minute talk with them, but afterwards you look at your watch and you think, was that an hour? Like that took a really long time. And you're like, oh, only 10 minutes has gone past. And then on the opposite side, you meet somebody for the first time and maybe that conversation has been an hour, but you look at your watch and you think it's only been 10 minutes because it was just so much easier to be in conversation with, with somebody. One of the things that we know is that we like people who are like us, right? It's, we're comfortable with people who are like us.

Nikki Rausch [00:33:01]:
And here's the most important part from a sales standpoint, people who are like us, we think those people are smart because we know we're smart, right? So you meet somebody who's like you and David, you're thinking like, this person is so smart, right? And so one of the things that if you are willing again, blessed are the flexible. You're willing to show some flexibility in the way that you communicate to put the other person at ease in a selling conversation, the person will Be more comfortable, as I said, they'll be more willing to be candid about what their needs are, and they are more likely to want to stay in conversation and hear what it is that you have to present. And all of those things matter in a sales conversation. So again, it's not. It's not trying to be something you're not. It's just being willing to be a little flexible for the other person to make it easier for them to be in conversation. Because the worst thing is, let's say you have a slower rate of speech and somebody who's talking to you is a really fast talker and they say something to you like, can you just speed up and. Or they interrupt you constantly.

Nikki Rausch [00:34:13]:
Right. They step on what you're going to say because you're still thinking about it and you're just ready to respond. And they have already changed the subject or they've moved on and you're like, well, I didn't even get to have any input. What happened? Right. So rate of speech is one of the ones I recommend people pay attention to too.

David Hall [00:34:33]:
Yeah. And as introverts, sometimes we are thinking and we might not just respond, we might. It might just be a slight pause while we think. And we just gotta let people know,

David Hall [00:34:44]:
hey, give me a.

Nikki Rausch [00:34:45]:
Give me a moment.

David Hall [00:34:46]:
You know, because people can get really uncomfortable with silence.

Nikki Rausch [00:34:50]:
Yeah.

David Hall [00:34:50]:
And sometimes we need just a. Just a little bit of silence just to process our thoughts because. And it's a strength. That's something I've really learned as an introvert. Thinking is a strength, and sometimes we just need a little bit of time. And, and, and that's the other thing. As you were talking, I was just like, yeah, it's so important to understand our own strengths, but also.

David Hall [00:35:13]:
And the needs.

David Hall [00:35:14]:
Our own strengths and needs, but also the strengths and needs of those that we're working with.

Nikki Rausch [00:35:18]:
Yeah. You know, you mentioned. And you're right about, about silence and the strength of it. And I teach that silence is actually an advanced selling skill because most people are so uncomfortable with it that they feel the silence. But you actually, if you would be willing to let the other person process and then respond in the way that they are going to, it will. It will reveal things that are so crucial to earning that person's business. Right. By the question they ask or the thing they say next, it will give you the clue of where you should go next or where you should focus your conversation.

Nikki Rausch [00:35:59]:
But if you're always just talking over silence, you're missing out on, frankly, what the prospect has to say is so much more important than what you have to say in every sales conversation.

David Hall [00:36:13]:
Absolutely.

David Hall [00:36:14]:
So what do you say about the difference between quality and quantity as far as having in sales?

Nikki Rausch [00:36:23]:
Yeah, I think quality, I would go for quality over quantity every day of the week. You know, I started in my first professional sales job was kind of what they considered like a dialing for dollars kind of thing. Right. It was about how many outbound calls did you make? And, you know, we had these lists of people that we were calling. Again, I was selling technology. It was kind of. And actually was a new technology in the marketplace. So most people didn't even know what, like what we were selling or what we were talking about.

Nikki Rausch [00:36:53]:
Right. And the styling for dollars thing, to me, it's like, you know, you can go out and buy a list right now and there's all kinds of companies that sell lists. Right. Of potential customers for you. And you can send out, you know, an email to 10,000 people, but the chance of 10,000 people actually from that list being interested in what it is that you do is pretty slim to none. And so what kind of response are you going to get back? Like, like, if anything, you're probably going to get annoyed. Responses of people being like, I don't know why you sent me this email, but stop and. Or like, this is spam.

Nikki Rausch [00:37:30]:
Or, you know, it's like. And that's kind of how I think a lot of people think about sales is this idea of, like, it's spammy, it's salesy, it's aggressive and gross. But realistically, like, I would rather have a conversation with somebody and say, you know, this is something that I help people with and, you know, as somebody who knows me is, you know, who do you know that would be a good connection? And would you be willing to make an introduction? Because I'll tell you what, if you sent me an email, David, I mean, we just met, but we know each other now, right? Like, we're starting to get to know each other a little bit more. And if you sent an email to me and said, hey, Nikki, I want to introduce you to my friend Greg, Greg does X, Y and Z. And I thought maybe there would be a connection there for you guys. I'm much more likely to interact with Greg because I know you, David, and because I trust you. And so. But if Greg just reaches out to me cold, it's probably going to get deleted his message, because I don't know him, but I know you.

Nikki Rausch [00:38:31]:
And that is where we're talking about Quality over quantity, relationships over just random people reaching out and telling you all the things you're doing wrong on the Internet and why you should hire them to fix it, Right?

David Hall [00:38:44]:
Like, okay, and just one more question for you. So. So with the quality, how do we find the right clients?

Nikki Rausch [00:38:55]:
Well, how you find the right clients is being really clear on who is your ideal client. Now, I have a little bit to say about here, so please just jump in at any point. But one of the things I think when people are thinking about their offers and they're thinking about who they want to sell to and who their ideal client is, here's one question I find often they don't even think to ask themselves. Is this person that you've described as your ideal buyer, would they ever buy from you? And the answer better be yes, because if it's not, you're. You're wasting your time, right? It's like you've spent all this time saying, well, my ideal buyer is X, Y and Z. But X, Y and Z person, if you look at them and you think, who do they look for to get this kind of result or information? Are you projecting and are you that type of company, or do you have that kind of offer that they would say yes to? And oftentimes there's a disconnect there. So first and foremost is you need to understand, would that ideal buyer actually buy from you? And then how would you get access to that ideal buyer? How do they find out about you? How do you find out about them? You know, this is one of the reasons I a little bit picky about who I go and speak to, because I can go and speak in rooms and people can, you know, clap and be like, oh, that was good. But if none of my ideal buyers are in that room, it's like, okay, that was good.

Nikki Rausch [00:40:28]:
Maybe Nikki made us laugh or she shared a story that was interesting. But then they'll forget about me as soon as they leave the room. I need to make sure that if I'm speaking in a room, my idea buyer needs to be in that room, and I need to do what I need to do for them to go. I need to go and have a conversation with her after she comes off the stage or whatever, right? So understanding who. Where. Where are these people and how. How do they show up? And are you putting yourself in those rooms? Are you putting yourself in that environment for them to be able to find you? You know, oftentimes sales and marketing are not the same thing. I want to say that is.

Nikki Rausch [00:41:07]:
But marketing is A part of, of business, just like sales is a part of business. And so a lot of times when people say, like, I don't, you know, I don't really have any clients coming in or I don't have any leads coming in, so I don't really need help with sales. But it's like, well, but that's a part of business marketing. And if you're not doing any marketing, if you're not putting yourself out there in any way, it's kind of like having a storefront with blacked out windows and no sign and expecting somebody to just walk through the door and buy from you. Like, that's not going to happen.

David Hall [00:41:41]:
Yeah.

David Hall [00:41:42]:
Nikki, this has been a wonderful conversation. Is there anything else you want to add today?

Nikki Rausch [00:41:48]:
Well, from a sales perspective, the one thing that I want to encourage is if there is somebody that you suspect would benefit from something that you offer, don't be afraid to ask the person. And you can ask in a really kind, gentle way. And a simple way to ask somebody is, you know, David, I noticed that you do X, Y and Z. And I'm just wondering, would you ever be interested in, you know, applying this to what you're doing? Like, would this make sense for you? Just even a simple question like that? Because you, as David, if the person never asks you, you never have the opportunity to even think about it or ask, ask, answer the question. So you need to be able to ask the question again in a kind way, not in a, like, buy from me. Do you want to buy from me? Do you want to buy? Like, that's different. But if you say, like, David, I noticed X, Y and Z about you and, and I'm just wondering, would you ever be interested in, you know, ABC and how it applies to that? And then you can say to me, go kick rocks, lady. Or you could say, like, maybe, Nikki, let's have a conversation.

David Hall [00:42:53]:
Yeah. All right. Well, where can people find out more about you? I think you also had an offer that you wanted to share.

Nikki Rausch [00:43:00]:
I do one of the. So the easiest way to find me, I'm going to wrap it around a gift for your audience. And one of the things I often find that people struggle with in sales is what do you do after the conversation? How do you follow up with that person? So I have a follow up made easy guide that breaks down. You know, how often should you follow up and what kind of message should you follow up with? There's some scripts in there not with the idea that you need to, to use my script, although you certainly could, but it's really just to give you kind of a, an idea of what could be included so you know what to write. Right. Don't just rely on AI to write these for you because garbage in, garbage out. So be careful. So this, this really is from my years of experience in the way that messaging matters and how people receive it and how they read it.

Nikki Rausch [00:43:49]:
So I'd love to just gift that to your audience for anybody who's interested. And you can get it by going to your salesmaven.com forward/easy follow up. All one word, easy follow up. And then we'll be connected and, or, you know, come check out my podcast sales maven if you like. You know, the kind of things that I'm sharing. There's a lot more of them there for you.

David Hall [00:44:13]:
All right, well, thanks again, Nikki.

Nikki Rausch [00:44:15]:
Thanks for having me.

David Hall [00:44:16]:
Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you. I hope you take the time to explore other episodes and learn from other amazing guests. Remember, if you're interested in getting to know yourself better, there is now a free Typefinder personality assessment on the Quiet and Strong website. This free assessment will give you a brief report including the four letter Myers Briggs Code. I'll add a link in the show notes and I'd love to connect with you. Reach out@daviduyandstrong.com or check out the quietandstrong.com website which includes blog posts and links to social media for quiet and strong and much more. Send me topics or guests you would like to see on the show.

David Hall [00:44:56]:
So many great things about being an introvert and so we need those to be understood. Get to know your introverted strengths and needs and be strong.