Getting to the Bottom Line: Conversations to help business owners maximize revenue, profit, and cash flow
Whether you're looking to boost your profits or simply gain a clearer understanding what drives business success, "Getting to the Bottom Line" is your ultimate guide to unlocking the strategies and secrets behind sustainable growth and the financial freedom you deserve. Tune in and discover how to turn your business goals into tangible results, one insightful conversation at a time.
Getting to the Bottom Line: Conversations to help business owners maximize revenue, profit, and cash flow
Unlocking Sales Success Through Personality Styles with Nancy Zare
Unlock the secrets of successful sales with Nancy Zare, the renowned sales whisperer, as she joins me, Stephanie Smith, on "Getting to the Bottom Line." Nancy's unexpected journey into sales began in her childhood, navigating her parents' rocky marriage. She has since transformed those experiences into a powerful likability system that aligns communication with the personalities of prospects. Discover how this method can reduce sales resistance and foster trust, leading to more prosperous business relationships. Nancy offers a unique perspective on recognizing and adapting to different personality styles, much like love languages, to enhance your sales techniques.
Explore how personality styles manifest in professional and personal interactions, particularly through visual cues like LinkedIn photos. We discuss the four types of smiles and their insights into an individual's demeanor—whether confident, reserved, or serious—and how understanding these cues can lead to stronger connections. By recognizing our own styles, we can avoid projecting them onto others, improving both business outcomes and personal relationships. Personal anecdotes illustrate the power of understanding these styles and how they can transform tension into complementary strengths.
As we approach a new year, we emphasize the importance of starting with effective sales strategies, and Nancy is the expert to guide you in this journey. Discover the importance of identifying your ideal client profile through a special quiz and connect with like-minded professionals on LinkedIn. We express gratitude for Nancy's insights and encourage listeners to embrace personalized communication to build meaningful relationships, promising more insightful episodes filled with practical guidance and engaging conversations.
To learn more about Nancy, visit her online at: https://nancyzare.com/
Get her ICP quiz here:
And connect with her on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyzare
We want to hear from you! Send us a message.
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My name is Stephanie Smith, owner of New Light Financial Solutions, and we help business owners walk the one clear path to generating more cash in their business. To learn more, visit us online at https://newlightfs.com/
Sign up for our newsletter for more great tips on how to keep the cash flowing in your business: https://newlightfs.com/newsletter/
Need help generating more cash in your business? Book a right fit call with us today: https://newlightfs.com/rightfit
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Getting to the Bottom Line, where I'm your host, Stephanie Smith, owner of New Light Financial Solutions, where we offer outsourced CFO services to small business owners, helping them generate more cash in their business, and we do this by looking at 16 financial drivers that impact revenue, profit and cash flow. But outside of those drivers, I know that there's lots of things that influence revenue, profit and cash flow. So this is why I've started this podcast so I can give everyone a different perspective on the things that impact their bottom line. So I am so excited to have with me today Nancy Zare, who is also known as the sales whisperer. Nancy, I'm so excited that you've joined me. Actually, again, we've recorded once and had some issues, so we are recording a second time. So, Nancy, just tell me a little bit about how you got into what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Nancy, just tell me a little bit about how you got into what you're doing. So I, candidly, stephanie, I never wanted to do selling. As a child, I thought sales was icky and manipulative and it was that used car salesperson that came to mind and that wasn't going to be me. However, my parents had a stormy marriage and I, as a 10-year-old, saw a TV show in which Father Knows Best did an intervention and he helped quarreling children get along. So I tried this on my parents and, surprise, surprise, they let me. At the end of this conversation, I turned to my dad and I said here's what to do, so mom will feel loved. And I turned to my mom and I said this is what you do, so dad will be respected. And notice that the words changed and that has become the basis of how I help people make sales by adjusting your language to match your prospect. Who knew that that was the key to good selling?
Speaker 1:That is so interesting and also a little sad that you had to do that as a child. But you figured it out and you helped them, which sounds great. So tell me I know you have your own system. Tell me a little bit about it and what you do.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's called a like ability, that's like with an A in front of it, because it's not about popularity. It's about again using words that allow the other person to say internally wow, you get me, we're alike. And when people feel that you get me, we're alike, they relax the trust, builds the sales resistance. We've all got sales resistance. It drops away and that opens the door to doing business together. Hence, a likability is a system for helping you make more sales by speaking the language of your prospect.
Speaker 1:Well, how do you decide what that language is?
Speaker 2:What a great question. It turns out just like love languages. Many of us know that there are a number of love languages. Well, there are different personality styles, four of them, and those correspond to the languages of your prospect. Now we are a combination of all four, but usually one is dominant. About 30% of your prospects they just have one style and that's their go-to style for everything. But 70% that's bigger than the majority. 70% go between two or more styles. So, stephanie, they start off in a very benign social style, right, all smiles and hugs and warmth, and you know, let's get to know each other. But when you ask a business question, zip, they go into their business style. And that business style might be more thoughtful, more careful, more conservative, or it could be very, you know, let's get it off my plate, let's go for it and it could be quite impulsive and spontaneous. So it pays to be able to discern which style your prospect is speaking from.
Speaker 1:That makes a lot of sense. So how do you, when people work with you, what are you helping them decide what their style is for the people they're speaking to? Are you giving them the tools they need to figure it out on their own? How does it work?
Speaker 2:Both, I started off because I have a background as a college educator. I started off with the notion I would teach people how to read somebody's style and apply these skills. And then I found out again because there are four different styles that a number of people want a done-for-you program. They don't want to have to learn it, they want to just like wipe their hands and say go for it. And so yes, I have a done for you service as well.
Speaker 2:And there are three applications of these skills. The first is I actually will read somebody's style and coach you on what to say and do to build rapport and make the sale. A second application is the teaching of the skills. So let's learn it and you grasp it and develop the skill. And the third application is let's find your ideal client profile. Who's that buyer persona? If you give me three, four, five of the favorite people to work with, I will read their style, find where they overlap that sweet spot and then create a very comprehensive picture of that buyer persona, complete with what motivates them, where are their fears, what do they want and, of course, the words to use. That will connect quickly and authentically with them.
Speaker 1:That sounds awesome, right? Because we're all trying to find our ideal clients and client avatar always comes up in every conversation as you're in business, so you help people do that. But how do you read them? Are you meeting them in a conversation? I mean, what does that look like?
Speaker 2:So, the way you read somebody's style, there are six key indicators that you can use. The first is visual. What do they look like? How are they dressed, what are their accessories? Because the colors they use, the fabric that they might be wearing, the accessories are they heavily made up? Do they have facial hair? If a man, et cetera. All of these are indicators about their style, because the way we want to project ourselves is consistent in how we look.
Speaker 2:A second indicator is our vocal qualities. I mentioned that 70% of people will switch styles, especially when they go from social to a business decision. Well, you can listen and hear that their vocal qualities change. So the person who is energetic and excited and talking very fast becomes quieter and slower and more reserved. Well, that's an indicator. So that's the second one.
Speaker 2:The third is behavior how they behave, and of course you need to actually view them over time. The fourth is how they write, and so you may be corresponding or sending messages back and forth, and this is so crucial because you can go into that first conversation having kind of a bird's eye view about what their style might be and therefore be all you know on your toes to adjust right from the start and that really raises a likability. And the last one is decorations. How they, you know, decorate their space and some of it is what they have like behind us, or when you actually meet in person, you can see. If you're one of those people who makes home visits, you can see how they decorate their work and living space.
Speaker 1:That all sounds very good, right, Like picking up on these little nuances, and I want to say I've seen a lot of these different like personality types, right, these tests that you take and the assessments to figure out where you fit in the things and some of the things you're talking about shows up there. But I love what you're doing and trying to get people to see the other person a little better, right, we all want to be noticed, but I do have a question. You were talking about how, looking at how people post online, have you felt or do you feel like AI has kind of changed that a little bit? Or they're using AI to people? A lot of people are using AI, right, to help them post on social media, which almost makes yourself a little less authentic.
Speaker 2:You're so right, because AI is very generic. I call it vanilla, and most of us are not vanilla type people. Right, we've got, you know, a little bit of butterscotch, maybe a streak of chocolate or strawberry, you know, mixed into the vanilla, and so when we post in a vanilla like way, it's not us, we're not coming to, you know, show up, etc. So here's a little trick that I use on social media in order to find someone's style, and that is I look for how they recommend somebody else. So if you on LinkedIn, there is a section called recommendations, and there's two parts to it what you've received and what you give. Well, I go to what you give because, stephanie, you can't have AI write your recommendation for someone else. You're going to have to feed it the values and the qualities that you like and appreciate in that person. Well, those words that you choose to use, those qualities, are an indicator of your personality style. So that's how I find and I go through the AI maze and I actually find the treasure chest there in the puzzle.
Speaker 1:That's really interesting and what a good strategy, Because, yeah, you want your recommendation to be at least a little authentic, right? I can't say that I've never used Chad GBT to help me write a recommendation before, but I still you're right, you have to feed it the things that you want to show up. So that's really interesting. Do you use LinkedIn a lot to help people find these personalities? I do it is my playground.
Speaker 2:So, audience, if you are interested in any of this, I do post quite frequently, three, four times a week, and I also have live events on LinkedIn. So come join me there and you're going to learn a lot more about personality, style. And, specifically, I teach people again how to look at somebody's photo and again, ai can doctor it up. But there are so many telltale clues about someone's style by looking at their photo what kind of things their smile. So there are four types of people. There are four types of smiles. One smile is smug and confident and assured, and it's cocky.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know we're both kind of putting our shoulders out and making faces, because that's one style. The second style is this warm, oozy, you know, like they kind of want to reach out through the two-dimensional screen and put their arms around you and give you a hug, and their eyes crinkle and, yes, their mouth is, you know, wide open and you just feel their warmth. The third smile it's pleasant. They're looking at the camera, but they're posed. You can tell that there may be a little tension around the smile area, their lips, because they've been told to smile but they don't yet feel it inside. Why? Because they need to meet you and be formally introduced, so they're more reserved. And the last smile, it's not a smile, it's a frown or a grimace or a oh please, it's a serious face. Just get this over with. I hate to be photographed.
Speaker 1:Isn't it hard, though, with photos on LinkedIn, because we all want professional photo? Or if you go to get a headshot like can you still see that those things with the headshots you?
Speaker 2:can, you can, you can. And, what's interesting, one of my colleagues is a professional photographer, does headshots for businesses and he's very good at bringing out, you know, that side of the person. But remember, when you take a headshot there you get I don't know how many different choices. Right, but at least a half a dozen or more choices. Which one did you choose? Did you choose the one that is very relaxed and natural and warm, or the one that's more posed and more formal and reserved? Did you choose the one that's serious, or the one that's, you know, bubbly and you know, or the one that's a little smug and self-assured? So again, you're putting up something that represents you. Hence it's your personality style.
Speaker 1:Do you ever use your system for people to find out more about themselves?
Speaker 2:Oh yes, In fact, although I'm very buyer-centric meaning I help you identify and understand how buyers buy In fact, I have a video course by that name how Buyers Buy it helps to know your own style. Why? Because we project our style onto the buyer. We assume that if we're the person who needed to be very thoughtful and get a lot of information and make a very smart decision, that our buyer will need a lot of information also. Well, our buyer might be the one who is like I don't want the details, I don't want the facts, Just tell me what it's going to cost and when can we get it done. And you're like thinking but wait, you don't understand, you haven't figured out. No, no, no, no, they're ready to buy, so we? Yes, it's important to know your own style and how that impacts the selling process.
Speaker 1:That's so interesting. You say that because I immediately think of the difference between me and my husband, because I am that person that's like just give me the facts. I don't want to give you a lot of fluff, I don't want. I don't want all that, I just want to know what I need to know and move on. And he's the opposite. So he'll start to write a text message or an email and it's got like tons of information in there and I come around and I'll be like just delete all this and give people a shorter message. But it is something that you'd think other people want the same things you want. So knowing the amount of information someone else wants would definitely change the way you speak to someone, and we've done that a little bit with some of our clients. Knowing like one client we had in the past was very much like me, so it was let me make sure I get to the point but it makes a big difference to know and even just recognize that there are differences.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right and you know I thought you were actually going to ask something around. Does this affect personal relationships? Because one of the biggest benefits my clients will report not only do they make more sales because they do right when you understand someone's style and you've dialed in the ideal buyer persona, you're actually going to close over 50% or more of your prospects because of the right people and you're the right match but it also impacts personal relationships because, just like you were mentioning, you and your husband are almost opposites. This is the way it is with personal relationships or even business relationships. If you've got a partner or maybe somebody else you work closely with, it's a good idea that they actually have different skill set and a different approach than you. However, because of that difference, you may feel some tension.
Speaker 2:Hence that's going back to my story about my parents. That was exactly it. Yes, they loved each other, but they also had a very different approach to how they related to one another, how they made decisions, and that made them butt heads. And once you understand these stylistic differences, it's not personal. My dad wasn't trying to make my mother feel unlovedved and my mother wasn't doing things to make him feel disrespected, and so you realize it's not personal, it's style, and all of a sudden you can pull back, you can kind of get this overview and it changes how you feel.
Speaker 1:Changes your perspective. Yeah, and I I like that a lot and I think a lot of it's just awareness, right that there is a difference and not just assuming that everyone is just like you and wants the information you want.
Speaker 1:So I like that a lot but I want to revisit talking about how this impacts your business, right Cause we're here talking about how this influences your bottom line. I'd love to hear I know you mentioned a stat a minute ago which was amazing you close more deals. I'd love to hear I know you mentioned a stat a minute ago which was amazing you close more deals. Is there what impact other than that? Or if that's it, or what's your biggest success story? You've seen as someone takes this approach to start doing sale, using it as part of their sales process in their business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, several stories come to mind. One is a client this was very early on who, looking from January of one year to the January of the following year, found that she had increased sales 270%. Wow, yeah, so that was a huge difference. But of course her baseline was probably on the lower end when we started working with each other probably on the lower end when we started working with each other. Another person comes to mind and literally he was closing 90% of prospects. And you're saying to yourself, holy moly, how could that happen? It's because he changed. He knew now who his ideal prospect was and he began targeting deliberately through his messaging those people, targeting deliberately through his messaging those people. Hence he was attracting the right person and it was natural for him to close because it was a good fit.
Speaker 2:And the last person that comes to mind was a fellow who he dealt with all personality styles. He was a home stager home and did photography to help in the real estate world, and so he was dealing with people of all styles. He couldn't really choose who he was going to work with because he'd be hired by the realtor to go to that home and take the pictures and do the staging. So he absolutely despised working with people who were chatty, because that wasn't his style. He was a work professional, he wanted to get the work done and go in and go out. Well, when he understood personality style, all of a sudden he would sit at the kitchen table now with that homeowner who was chatty and have a cup of tea, and guess what? He not only, of course, you know, made better sales with the realtor who hired him, but he now got referrals from the homeowners because of his, his mannerliness and his personality style.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. Those are all really great stories, and one of the one a couple of the drivers that we look at I mentioned at the very beginning is obviously like leads, but then it's after that. What happens with your leads, right, Is your conversion rate, and how how many of those leads can you close the deal with? And I feel like your, everything you're talking about fits into that bucket, right? We're wanting to be more relatable and tell the right story in the right way so we can increase our conversion rate and make more sales, and it sounds like you're helping people do exactly that, which I think is just wonderful.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and it all starts with you know, making sure that you know who your ideal prospect is. What is that style? It's usually a blend of two or more styles. So you, you know 50% of this, 40% of that and 10% of the third item. So you need to know what those percentages are and which pieces kind of get melded together to create your ideal buyer persona. And when you know that, stephanie, now you know the words to use that will authentically draw that person to you. Hence, generating leads becomes a lot easier. Writing your posts on social media, email campaigns all of this becomes better to do, more effective, effortless, when you have the buyer persona in mind and the exact words to use.
Speaker 1:And, of course, we all need something to make our lives easier in the world of sales and business and social media and every hat that we have to wear as business owners. So what a great thing you're doing for everyone. I love that we had this conversation. This was so good. I want to ask if someone was listening today and you wanted them to take away just one piece of information of everything we've talked about, what would it be?
Speaker 2:That people are different, you know. Again, it goes back to the fact that we have a tendency to project our style onto the prospect. And remember there are four distinct styles. Yes, we're a blend of all four of them, but in different amounts, and therefore you really want to speak the language of your prospect and if you've ever felt rejected like, oh, it was the wrong person or they rubbed you the wrong way, whatever, it's probably because people are different and again, you were dealing with a personality style that isn't authentic or part of who you are. It's not something that comes naturally to you. So, when you identify your style, know who you're trying to target. You're going to have a much better time of doing that.
Speaker 1:I love that. I feel like my takeaway is similar to yours is just awareness, right, that not everyone wants to be talked to, just like I do, right, and just opening your eyes to look for those things amongst your clients, people you talk to, and just being aware that some people are chatty and some people are not chatty and figuring out who you should be chatting with.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and so you know the thought comes to mind. And figuring out who you should be chatting with Exactly, and so you know the thought comes to mind. I know often people give quote a freebie, you know, in a podcast, but what comes to my mind is something I've never given away before. So, listener, if you've got paper and pencil, please write this down, because I don't know how else you're going to find it. But it's a bitly, so you know how bitly you know it's a shortened form, so bitly slash ICP.
Speaker 1:No, it's quiz ICP ideal client profile. So quiz I C P. I will add that to the show notes for anyone who wants to find it. But I love that. And my next question to you would be if someone does want to work with you or learn more about what you do and your system and everything like that, where's the best place for them to find you and connect with you when, wherever that may be?
Speaker 2:LinkedIn, linkedin. So you know, go to LinkedIn. It's Nancy Zare. All one word. If you spell my last name correctly, it rhymes with care, starts with the Z, for the last letter of the alphabet, you will find me and we will connect. And again, I will let let me know how we know each other, because I will treat you really good If you're a friend of Stephanie's.
Speaker 1:I love that and I'm sure there's not a lot of Nancy's heirs in the world.
Speaker 2:Unlike me.
Speaker 1:There's tons of me out there.
Speaker 2:My dad made up the last name, so yeah, you're not going to find many Nancy's heirs.
Speaker 1:That's very interesting. There's lots of Smiths in the world, so you'll find're not going to find many Nancy's heirs. Oh, that's very interesting. There's lots of Smiths in the world, so you'll find a lot of me out there and we're not all related, so, but if you are looking to find more about me and our business and what we do, you can find me online on our website, wwwnewlightfscom. And I just want to say thank you so much, nancy, for coming and chatting with me again, and I've just I definitely enjoy our conversations. It's so good to hear from you and what you're doing and how you're helping people.
Speaker 2:Yes, and remember if you need financial help. If you're, you know you want to have a good year, your best year ever. Talk to Stephanie.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:We all want a good year. It's the end of the year right now or, depending on when you're listening to this, it's the end of the year as we're recording. It's starting off the year right or wherever you're at in the year. We have to get started somewhere and just pay attention to what we're doing and having the right sales process in place to help with that. So Nancy's the person you want to speak to to help with your sales this coming year or anytime during the year, and I'm just so thankful. Again, thank you, nancy. This was great To your sales success Then, and I just want to say thank you everyone for listening to another episode. That's it for this particular episode of getting to the bottom line. I hope you will join me again next time. Bye everyone.
