Ep. 15 | Mastering Sales Psychology in 2024 and Beyond

The speaker discusses her positive focus on the TV show "Euphoria" and how it resonates with her own experiences. She believes that watching shows or reading books can help with healing and processing emotions. The speaker invites others to share their opinions on the show. They then transition to discussing the importance of sales psychology in business and how consumer behavior is changing. They emphasize the need to connect with clients through storytelling and marketing campaigns. The speaker encourages collaboration and support within the business community. They acknowledge the challenges of running a business and offer strategies for success in a fluctuating economy. Hello, hello. Welcome back to your Conversation Pit. I'm Ash Henry, and I'm so pumped to be here with you today. My positive focus this week, I'm just going to start right in because we have so much to cover in this episode, is that I've been finishing up Euphoria on HBO. If you've never watched it, if you have opinions, I'm all ears, all open. I honestly questioned whether or not it was a good time to watch it, but it felt like it continued to be placed in my life journey to consider watching it, and I didn't know a ton about it. Obviously, I love so many people that are on the cast, but I feel like perhaps we're all able to find a bit of ourselves in the show, just from our adolescence, the overarching themes. They really connect to the ultimate experience of growing up and healing and feeling in the process or not, and what comes from the repercussions of not healing and not feeling. Healing is feeling, so just feeling your feelings. Most people run from that and choose other things, yada, yada. My teen years, starting incredibly early, looked so much like their lives. I know that it's kind of a controversial take on high school, but even in middle school, some of my experiences looked so much like the show that I was like, did they maybe read my journals? What's happening? I found myself caught in these strange moments of death and rebirth in my own mind, just lost in friendships and relationships without boundaries or a sense of self. Seeing that in the characterization was just like, well, what is happening? This all connects to your personal brand, essentially, and sales psychology, but also I just really love HBO. I love good shows. I will always, always, always, always make time to read a good fiction book, have an audio book that's great, have a show that I'm watching, not all at once, but I'll choose one of those things. It's just a way to reconnect with my own imagination, but also let my working mind, my strategic mind take a rest. A lot of the time, I find myself figuring out things for work or for one of the businesses in general to just through being there on the show, with the show, with whatever I'm watching. This opened so much up for me to look at again and consider if there's anything that I missed that I wanted to invite back in for healing, just through a show. Can you even? I personally process my emotions through my dreams, through rest, through writing, long drives, hikes most of the time, but I've noticed in my years that when a book or a show or a movie or a play considerably comes up again and again to be looked at, maybe I should actually watch that thing or experience that thing because I end up experiencing healing by proxy. It acts as just like a little crystal ball for me again and again to just see which themes are popping out the most to me, what really stirs my heart, what makes me go, oh, my God, I have to journal or I have to go for a ride and go drive around the Blue Ridge. There was this moment in the second season that absolutely portrayed an experience I was involved in just last year. Several times over, I continuously thought this is such a niche experience that isn't really my story to tell or share or express, but I've lightly shared it to the outskirts with my inner circle, but not even the depth of the pain that was incurring just by being involved in that experience. Then there's the show showing me the sides of this experience from the person that's going through it, that's taking the ax, that's actively in the experience that they're in, specifically addiction, and the responses of the people around this person that have to be really rooted and they have to remember the person isn't in their right mind and the like. I was just bawling, just bawling and recognizing that story is more healing than we can even really say. We can't even put it into words. I can't put it into words. It was such a good release. This is just a very Pisces moon, Leo sun, positive focus, but I really love going to the depth of my emotions and I love existing in the abyss of it all and then just coming up for air and sun and remembering that the earth is still here and I'm still grounded and standing on my own two feet. That's how I felt after watching this episode. The whole time my jaw was just dropped open, tears streaming down my face of like, how did they make this scene not feel like a scene at all? The actors just had such depth. I never questioned whether the actors were actors. It always felt like this is their story. This is their experience and I just lived through it with them. If you've watched Euphoria, I'm ready to chatter it up. I'm ready. Let's DM, let's chat. If you loved it, if you hated it, I want to hear all about it. Do not ever feel like your opinion has to be the same as mine, but with my teen years looking so similar to that show, if anything, it wasn't like, I love the show because X, Y, and Z because it is a teen drama. It's trauma. It's all these things, but it made me feel less alone because a lot of girlfriends that I met later on in my adolescence were like, no, I didn't have teenage years like that at all. What do you mean? That's so terrible. That's so traumatic. For me to be able to see it in books and in media and recognize I was in that experience and that situation growing up in such a rough neighborhood, having energies around me, choosing energies and experiences and habits around me that were unhealthy, but then seeing it displayed in a story so I could heal by proxy, remember things that I had buried, let my subconscious do the work while I'm dreaming and resting, letting my writing be kind of pickled with what is a very vinegary experience of I'm glad that I had the childhood I had. I'm glad that I had the adolescence that I had because it taught me so much and it challenged me so much to grow and heal and help others that have experienced things that I've experienced. And yet it just felt safe to sit there on the couch and watch it by proxy and know I'm not in those experiences anymore, but I can feel these feelings and then I can let it go, let all of this stuff go that's just been sitting that I haven't looked at in a long time. And it was just so interesting. So now we're at like seven minutes of me telling you about my binging state with this TV show. So let me know what your positive focus is on Instagram or leave us a voicemail below in the voicemail app. And I would love, love, love to know what you're binging because now I've finished Euphoria. I think, yeah, I finished it last night. So I'm not finishing it up. I finished it last night. I still have two special episodes that they dropped that I'm interested in diving into, but I want to know what you're binging because I need a new show. So let's go. Today we are talking about mastering sales psychology in 2024 and beyond. Everyone and their mom are like, well, we're having some sales issues. Things are decreasing. Inbound leads are decreasing. People that have been in business for eight to 10 years are also saying this, like peers that I'm constantly working with, that I'm talking with, that I'm chatting with. And we share our behind the scenes business experiences that don't make it to the main feed and don't need to by any means. You can have privacy in your life and business. And that's something that we've discussed so much is that consumer behavior is changing so much. How do we apply sales psychology in a way that's fresh? How do we move the market with messaging, storytelling, and marketing campaigns that drop them into the scene of a story? Very similarly to what that HBO show did for me, I dropped back into my childhood. I dropped back into the experiences and the feelings that I needed to heal in order to move into the next journey or the next leg of my journey in my life. And if you can do that for your ideal clients, they're not going to need to look around for a new service provider to do X, Y, and Z. They're going to come and see, do you do this? Do you have anyone that does this? Do you know anything of anyone that does this? You are going to receive inbound leads in so many different ways, not only referral partners or, excuse me, folks that are looking for you to refer them out to other partners, which in turn then acts as a sales psychology pillar of that person that you just referred your client out to or your past client out to now recognizes you as someone that they should refer back to because it's a reciprocal exchange. They want that to continue. They want to scratch your back because you scratched theirs. And that's a beautiful thing. We should all be in collaboration and we should be comrades and essential and just like in this life, we are comrades and everyone can support you. Everyone can help you in some kind of way. And so as you're considering like, all right, sales are down. What do I do? Or sales aren't even like at an all-time low. We're not saying you need to close up the business tomorrow, though I've definitely spoken with a lot of folks that are considering moving back to corporate because it's been such a stressful time. Their nervous system is taxed. They're ready to get back into a place where they can exercise their craft and then also take home a paycheck that's absolutely coming without all of the necessities that have to go into building a business and establishing a business to be a known industry leader that people can continuously come back to. So as you're mastering sales psychology in 2024 and beyond, I want you to remember that this whole podcast episode is presented in a way to help you right now in kind of a down state, a decreasing state. We have so much going on with the economy, especially in the U.S., but all over the globe and it's election year in the U.S., which people get a little tighter with their coins whenever it's an election year just based on data, so by no means my own mindset, but based on the data, folks close up shop a little bit just because they know that things might get a little tight around the election time or because leaders are changing, maybe things will change drastically, et cetera. So I want you to just consider that this is for 2024, but you can always use it no matter what. And this is just to help you increase your sales this year immediately. Within the next 90 days, if you start applying these tactics, which really are just strategies that should be underlying, but there's some tactical pieces that will help you know what am I actually posting, what is actually going to happen on my feed and my email campaigns, in my sales conversations, I've got that for you. So moving into this week's must have elements to increase your sales in the current state of the market, our main points are number one, the four common buyer types translated as buyer love languages. I teach buyer love languages because I want you to consider that it's not just a buyer type, we're not just putting someone in a category. When you express love in a specific language, let's say to your significant other or your best friend, you are able to speak their language in a way that resonates. If you know the love languages, then you know someone that loves words of affirmation will not care if you buy them gifts. And if they love gifts, they're not going to care that you spent quality time with them. They might want the gift more than the gift of your time and the hangout. I was going to say experience, but I feel like I've said experience 60 million times in this podcast episode, so I'm not going to do it again. So with buyer love languages, I want you to remember that you can speak in every piece of content you create to influence your customer to move in their customer journey. We're not just like slapping something up on Instagram to say, that's it. It's a good day. We got that there. Or we're not just blogging to blog and hoping SEO picks us up. We're not just sending 12 emails within a month to hit those 12 customer touch points, which at this point might be closer to 19 that we need in 2024 because of oversaturation of information and connectivity from brands all over the place, not just personal brands that are in the online space that are acting as a personal brand with an entity attached, being a service provider, a coach, a consultant, et cetera. So number two, the link between speed and trust to increase sales. Building speedy trust that you and your potential clients can immediately say, check, check, check. That's the person I want to work with. I don't need to look any further. And then number three, three key steps to thriving in your sales strategy, really being able to look for clues in your conversations that you're having and even starting some of those conversations in case you're not having any, and your referral sources have dried up. Word of mouth ain't mouthing and affiliates are busy promoting their own businesses because perhaps they're also seeing a decrease in inbound leads. So our first point, the four common buyer types translated as buyer love languages. When you're thinking about buyer types, it can feel really overwhelming when you're putting together a business strategy, a sales strategy, a marketing strategy, and then applying consistently through quarterly plans to achieve those goals. It can feel like whatever your worst subject in school was when the teacher isn't speaking in your learning language. Maybe they're all audio and just talking to you without slides or chalkboard work or vice versa. And you're just left feeling rushed to write down the words they're saying while your brain is still trying to process them after hearing them auditorily. That's what it can feel like when you're applying buyer types and you have all of these different strategies that need to speak together. And maybe this is your first business or maybe your first couple of years in business. And it's like, okay, I know that sales strategy is kind of the behemoth of what needs to happen within this experience, but I don't understand how I'm supposed to talk to all these different buyer types, not constantly be in a live launch cycle, make sure that my emails are going out, update that funnel, make sure my website looks good. Plus I need to go get a new brand shoot because our visuals need to change, yada, yada. Oh, nevermind. I need to just work on client work and client experience. It just becomes this kind of popcorn energy of where you're popping everywhere. And, or I definitely have felt like, especially my first business, I was like, I am a pinball and a pinball machine. How am I supposed to photograph these clients, make sure the experience is absolutely perfect, send out the gifts. Oh, I need to send them sneak peeks. Oh, now I need to get their gallery to them in the next four to six weeks because I promised, et cetera, et cetera. So if you're feeling like, then you're trying to grasp the concepts in class and business class. And it feels like trying to swim against a strong current with each stroke, feeling like a battle against drowning and confusion. You're really, really in the right place. Many clients have come to me with illuminated fear in their eyes because they're interested in understanding their sales strategy and application better. But after an experience with another advisor or too many courses that have gone to die in their course graveyard, they're hesitant to try again. All of those experiences felt as though they were walking a tightrope with no safety net, trying to balance the weight of understanding while sweat drifts down their back with the heavy burden of embarrassment for falling behind. And I completely get it because I had this funky little wound growing up that I wasn't smart or intelligent. Certain subjects were seen as more important in my household than those I was interested in. So I would excel with every English essay and superbly round my R's in Spanish class. And I'd ace psychology and garner my love for the world through the lens of science. My street smarts would keep me safe and or get me out of safety before something worse would happen. But math would be the thing that would influence me to feel like a little failure that was just sitting under the bright lamp at 9 p.m. with my father, trying to understand how to apply an equation, enough to pass the test, tears streaming down my eyes, I'm red-faced because I'm embarrassed and scared and just overwhelmed. And this intelligence wound is not rare for female founders. It's why people, a lot of female founders specifically start to go, well, I think I need another certification before I can do that. Oh, I don't have enough experience. Let me go work for free for two years and then I'll come back. Actually, I think I need my master's before I even touch this, yada, yada. And if you've ever felt like you had to be the smartest in the room, you don't. That will absolutely hold you back in your business. And even if you don't think that and you maybe think, but I am an authority, like I'm a great expert in my industry and X, Y, and Z, that's great. Own that, but then recognize that you're going to be in horizontal relationships within your business for the rest of your business's timeframe. And everyone has something to provide you and every person around you has keys to the next leg of your journey. And if you see people like that, you will pick up so much more than the hardened expectation of, I only need to work with a marketing strategist or a sales strategist or a business advisor to be able to learn these things. Someone that's behind you, quote unquote, in their timeframe journey of their business might've gained more experience in a quicker fashion than you. And they have great information to provide you. It's why I love group programs and mini-minds and masterminds and memberships. No matter where folks are on the spectrum of business, I don't always want to be in a room with six and multi-six figure founders. I don't really care. I know that people can teach me anything, anywhere. And when you have that energy, you express that out into the world. So you don't have to be the smartest in the room. Your confidence, your energy, your essence really speaks for itself. And if you've ever felt like you should already know anything that you don't know in your business, then you're really just putting yourself in this hyperactive state that's aroused in a painful way. And if you feel like you should have known better when you missed some steps in your live launch that an expert would usually add in or double down on, then just know that you're safe to not know something. You're safe to learn something, to learn some more, to fail forward, and deepen your language of knowledge within that subject. So bringing this conversation back around to biotypes, now that we've just gone through some things to get those things out of the way and out of your brain, because biotypes are usually presented in a very confusing way. And my goal is to simplify this to the nuts and bolts and to show you that you can learn more by all means. We have a whole course on sales psychology, but I want to give you simplistic actions that you can really think about when you're having sales conversations and when you are posting content or creating content for your email list, your blog, et cetera. So I just want to open this dialogue to start your thought process about the types, but we'll bring more of this up in our next episode. And if you don't want to wait for that episode, feel free to peruse our website and navigate to our sales course at thechutacompany.com slash sales. It's also below in the links. I love, love, love teaching about the subject, and I know it's going to support your sales goals. So the biotypes as buyer love language is here's what I call the buyer types. I changed the names around to make it really clear. And also, if you flip what I'm about to tell you, it will make even more sense. So there are four buyer types that are main. Most people have a dominant first, and then they have a second one that they will lean into if they're still having objections or if they're nervous, et cetera. So number one is the power buyer. And if you flip that, you can say this buyer buys power or they buy power. Number two, the friendly buyer, they buy friendly. They buy from people that are friendly to them, connective, et cetera. They essentially might buy friends in a way, but not in a negative sense, maybe that I'm always paying for that friend to be my friend, but more so they'll put themselves in memberships and networks and retreats and such because they want to have more friends in a certain area of their lives, specifically business right now. Number three, the logic buyer, they buy logic. Number four, the attention buyer, they buy through attention from the brands that they are considering purchasing from. So the power buyer is interested in seeing how the purchase they make with you will elevate their status in the social playground. They're interested in being seen as an authority in their own right. They disown hierarchical relationships, and they want to be seen as an authority in their own right, and they want to not feel like someone's trying to pigeonhole them into a vertical relationship where there's someone about them. And they're quick to share their points of view. They sit in the more logical stance of purchasing power, and they will be interested in the following things within your marketing strategy, social proof, analytics, case studies, and hard evidence that your process and products are working in the market as you proclaim they are. Luxury markets are often rooted in this buyer as well as the attention buyer. The next buyer is the friendly buyer. They are interested in being led. They want to hear your opinion and why you believe they would be a good fit for an offer and a service. I see this buyer often fall through the customer journey before conversion because female founders may not invite this specific buyer to be in an experience to be led because there's a desire for folks to just jump in and join without the handholding, which is fine. You can craft a sales strategy that's focused on that. But friendly buyers are some of your best buyers because they have a lot of friends. So they're great referral partners. They're quiet referral partners, but they are very intentional about sharing with their friends, hey, I went through this thing, and it was so great. I would love for you to do it, or my opinion is X, Y, and Z. So they need help in the purchasing process for you to share your opinion with them that, yes, I think this is going to be a good fit for you because X, Y, and Z. X, Y, and Z would be very customized to their specific customer journey. Where are they in their lives and their businesses, et cetera. But then once they gain the knowledge, they feel really confident about sharing with other people, hey, I loved this product or I loved this service. You've got to go to them. So friendly buyers enjoy the handholding with online services in the same way they might ask a boutique owner if they like one dress or another on them. So they might pop out of the changing room and say, can I have your opinion real quick? I'm not sure about this color on me. What do you think? Or they'll ask, does this purse and these shoes go together? They want a secondary opinion. And if you don't share that opinion with them or if you try to pass it back to them so they can maybe convert themselves or you push them off to a sales page, you're going to lose them. And then the logic buyer is interested in much of the same that the power buyer is. But if you try to console the logic buyer with emotion, persuade them, or stroke their ego the way that you kind of have to with the power buyer, you're going to lose the sale. The power buyer has an interest in status, exclusivity, and they want to know that their ego is going to be stroked and that their ego is going to grow in some way by range of status and exclusivity and being known for being this person that was in this space. Whereas the logic buyer is all data and visual aids like graphs and spreadsheets and percentages. They don't mind a list breakdown and yada yada, but as long as that's very focused on ROI, return on time, and not so airy and whimsical in the language, they're not going to be interested in a message that's very intuitive or maybe leans more in the energetic realm. They're going to ask, like I said, about ROI more than anything else and still very much consider their return on time as much as return on investment. The attention buyer is interested in, you guessed it, attention. They want to feel like they are your VIPs, your OGs, your day ones. Regardless of where you go and grow, they'll probably follow you. They're interested in being seen, heard, and invited to be a part of the process of creating offers, marketing offers, selling offers, and are often your best affiliates and referral partners. Oh, my goodness. Luxury markets love to market to this type of buyer as well as the power buyer. Moving on to the next piece, the link between speed and trust to increase sales. I want to give you just a mini guide to speed up the trust for your ideal clients to trust you to then move into a conversion for you as a business owner, and yet still you get to handle that customer journey with best in class experience and service so it doesn't feel like desperation and kind of a pushy experience. There are expectations from your potential clients before they are ready to engage with a product or service, right? You have expectations in your own customer journey when you're personally purchasing from other folks, and before you guide them into an offer, service, or product, I really want you to consider these insights when you're communicating directly with them. So, point one, engage in horizontal relationships instead of hierarchical relationships. I recently finished The Courage to be Disliked. I'll put that in the links below. It was very good. There was some nuance to it that I think is needed for application, but when you hold the energy of I am going to be your coach or I am going to be your service provider or this product is going to change your life and you better get it, it can be felt even if you're using maybe some of those sentences or that energy behind those sentences and behind those words to feel confident internally. It can come off as energetically negative and can feel a bit repelling. So, when you're engaging in horizontal relationships where you see everyone as one and you see everyone as someone that you can connect with, very similar to what I was talking about, being in a room with six-figure, multi-six-figure founders doesn't really engage me as a buyer. I don't really care because as a person, I care so much more about how can I learn, connect, and be with people in all states of their journey because everyone has someone something to teach me. And if you can bring that into your conversations, that will be very, very felt and it will be very different than a lot of the conversations that are had online just based on like authority-based content and approaches. So, number two, well, actually, I have a little quote for you. I'm not going to say it perfectly. It's mentioned in that book, The Courage to be Disliked. And there's this idea of when a wife is washing dishes and her younger son comes up and says, Mommy, can I help you? And starts helping. And the mom turns to the son and says, You're such a good helper. That is a hierarchal relationship. Instead of her saying, Thank you so much. This was a great help to me. Or thank you so much. This was enjoyable for us to have this experience together or something of the sort. She just put the son in a smaller role. And if she did the same thing to her husband, then that also might come off as a bit weird, since we could naturally assume that they're both creating dishes in the household and therefore maybe they have a split amount of dishes that they could be focusing on or it's an equal exchange opportunity for them both to complete a full load of dishes. And so, is he helping her or is this cast getting done together? And I think when you can bring that togetherness into your marketing message and into your sales conversations, you will see a difference in conversion because people don't want to feel less than or like they are hiring someone for business advisory. And that means, thus, they need a ton of help. And they're going to be kind of the helper in the experience to get to their success. But that the success is being kind of siphoned from this business advisor that can teach them all of the secrets and all of the ways. So, moving on to the next point, don't hide your body language whenever you are communicating with people. Use your hands, eye contact, big smiles, warmth in whatever way that feels right for you. And I know that this is something that is difficult to do in a digital conversation via DM. But emojis do this, exclamation marks, full sentences, fragments of sentences to show that you're just excited to show up and connect with the person. You can feel rigid in your body when you start to get into a sales conversation. And that's felt digitally. And it increases a lack of trust. So, applying this to digital sales and sales calls looks like how can you have really healthy, hygienic digital body language as well as body language that is shown on sales calls or in sales conversations in person, too. Do you believe what you're saying? Does your voice tremble? Are you keeping eye contact? Are you fidgeting a lot? Or are you using your hands as a way to express and therefore you show more confidence? Taking up space is a really healthy thing to do. So, if you're really closed in and kind of almost to the point of crossing your arms but not quite, that shows that you're caving in on yourself and that you're not confident. So, thus, broaden your shoulders. I don't have this on me right now, but there's a great person on YouTube. I want to say that it's called Charisma University. It's so good. I watch all of their videos. It's so good what they take from pop culture to show confidence versus not, charisma versus not, et cetera. And there's so many pieces about Jon Hamm, specifically in Mad Men, and how much space he would always take up on a couch. And so, he just came in showing so much confidence even before he started his sales pitch. And I love Mad Men. That whole show, specifically the women in Mad Men, were a lot of our inspiration to build the Cheetah Company. So, number three, pause on oversharing. Unloading everything in your sales calls is very overwhelming. And this is why folks leave confused about the service. And even if they do purchase because you closed them, they might return back to you with confusion about where you and they meet in the midst of the offerings. And this is supportive with a proposal and just a timeline of what you're going to be doing within this project, et cetera. But when you are constantly oversharing everything and just educating and educating and educating, that means we might need a video sales letter before someone gets onto a call with you, so you can get out some of that education. We worked with a lawyer, I think about a year ago. She worked with us for about a year, and that was something that I really wanted her to employ in her sales funnel before someone got onto a sales call because what she was explaining was just so intensive for a small business owner to consume, understand, recognize what they might need to legally protect in the background with trademarking and whatnot. And that was something that we employed so she could get out this information that was vital and also put in a couple of blog posts that would be helpful for someone to peruse in case they're not in love with video content and they're getting on the sales call to be able to have a back and forth conversation. So we have a couple of other points that we're going to slide into the blog post for this podcast, so feel free to find that on the feed in our blog at thecheetahcompany.com slash blog. It is also down below if you'd like to click the link. But just moving on from here, there's a framework I teach within our sales course called Speedy Trust, and these are the first few steps of the framework that you're seeking to help your ideal client start to check off. I like you. You seem honest. You've got integrity. You've done the research. You know your product, service, person, knowledge. You're proficient with tech and your service. You're completely searchable and available on each platform that I'm looking on to lurk. I'm able to binge you like I would my latest HBO show or Netflix special. And if you're interested in just learning more about applying that framework, what do you do to help someone start to check those off, you can find that in our course, the sales course below in the links below on our website at thecheetahcompany.com slash sales. And it's called the Timeless Sales Method course for a reason. I come from a strong sales background of folks teaching me how to communicate in sales conversations and close someone up to 20 times before they ever say yes. So lots of micro conversions, lots of micro yeses. And I love, love, love teaching sales psychology because it's so helpful, not just for you to feel confident in your sales skills and the ability to get on a sales call and increase your conversion rate, but it's also so helpful for the customer and the client on the other side. You lower their stress, their confusion, their overwhelm when they're choosing between you and other folks that maybe they're connecting with to see if it's a personality fit, a service fit, a price fit, timing fit, all of it. And when you can share all of those pieces through your process without them having to ask, they're already thinking like, wow, you are answering all of these questions back to back to back before I can even think to get them out. And I'm like, wow, I'm so lucky to have you out. This is going to be a great experience. So if you're interested in really learning more, see the link in our bio. If you are in some ways already conducting this framework, there's usually just one or main two points that need a bit of refreshing and refining before the momentum cascades into potential clients truly paying attention. And now we're going to move into three key steps to thriving in your sales strategy. I really, really want to simplify this, especially if you're in the season of searching for sales before you call it quits and head back to corporate. We've had so many conversations with folks that are like, I'm about six months out from doing that, or I'm three months out, or I've been working on cash reserves for a long time. I haven't taken salary. We've had lower inbound needs. My SEO is not working the way that it used to, et cetera. So much has changed with SEO, with chat GPT coming on to the platforms in general, like into the World Wide Web specifically. And the way that SEO has changed between that and Google's updates, not to mention email updates, not really being able to see are these opens actually true open rates? Because whenever someone opens the Gmail app on their phone, it looks like they're opening your email, but it's not. Why aren't folks coming in and referring me more often? All of these little things that add up to a big picture issue for your sales strategy, it can just really influence you to start thinking, can I even do this? And so if I can support you and help you in any kind of way to thrive in your sales strategy, I want you. So we're pushing out a lot of content that's really in depth that you can start applying pretty quickly to see results within the next 60 to 90 days, sometimes 30, if your leads are already pretty hot and just need some help in being directed towards an offer. And just know this market, your ideal clients, they're going to need to study you for a few more weeks than just during a live launch to decide that you're the right fit for them. Just remember that it takes time for you to purchase. Thus, it takes time for your ideal clients to purchase. And in that timeframe, you want to be positioning yourself as the one to help. And these strategic sales actions will allow for them to see more clearly because psychologically, you're just calling out to their subconscious with these steps. So while they're while they're studying your presence, let's just make sure that your position, the way that you want them to see you, that will invite them to be interested in your work because they can see themselves being a part of your community, being a client because of what you're sharing. So the key steps, number one, this is a cautious market. So in your sales strategy in 2024, overcome objections in your content, not once they're approaching you to work with you. If you're constantly overcoming objections on your sales calls, it's a good time to evaluate those calls by reviewing the recordings of your notes or recordings. I love to record the actual sales call to see which objections need to be addressed through your content strategy, your sales pages, your sales assets, potentially a video sales letter like we talked about with the lawyer and or sending a welcome email before they're ever on a sales call, which is why we need some space and why folks shouldn't be able to just book a sales call tomorrow. The next day, we want them to be able to consume something before that sales call that helps them. And so if it's supportive to create a few blog posts about certain objections, then that might be helpful. You're not going to do it very directly as in like, clients don't sign with me because it's too much time on their hands to do so. You're going to weave in that problem and slowly solve it with reasoning, with all of the pieces that are necessary for the different buyer types, unless you're going to focus in on one specific buyer type that was mentioned at the beginning of this episode. I like to focus on attention buyers and friendly buyers the very most. I don't focus on power buyers a ton. I personally don't care about exclusivity, stroking egos, or any of the pieces that occur with status. I want to be in a room in a community where everyone feels equal and everyone feels like we're in a horizontal relationship and we all have things to give and support with. So that's helpful for me to know this is the kind of content that we're going to be focusing on and we only pepper in these pieces to help move them in the customer journey in case they have a non-dominant buyer type that might be residing in the logic or power area. But most often, we are communicating to attention buyers because we love to communicate. We want to affirm them. We want to see them in their lives and businesses, and then the friendly buyer, because I have no problem helping someone see why they are the perfect fit for our course, consulting, the events that we have, specifically the retreat, previously for the membership that we hosted, the mini-mind, et cetera. So number two, increase your social proof presence. A lot of our listeners use Instagram and LinkedIn as their lead generating social platforms. And if your featured section on LinkedIn and highlights and pinned posts on Instagram are not currently focused on thought leadership to show your authority through third party credibility, case studies that show how you supported your clients and video testimonials or written testimonials in some form, then this is your key reminder to go and update those immediately. And please remember that social proof is further down the line in the customer journey. Thus, if you're increasing the amount of screenshots you show on your Instagram stories while also sharing your day-to-day process as a founder and how you help people, peppering in, essentially, your day-to-day life so you can speak to where you and your clients are similar. So for reference, all of my clients love high-end coffee shops. So do I. I show whenever I go to those. Our clients love to read fictional books because they love to take a moment away from work and kids and all the things. They love to go for hikes. They love to go for long drives. They love good music. They love good shows. I'm going to pepper all of my clients that in to our stories and to our email newsletters, et cetera, so they can see we have similarities, plus I can help you with your work. And you're really helping the potential customer see you as a person and an authority. Both are equally important. No matter what anyone says, you need both. People want to feel that you have confidence in yourself and in your work. And if you're just constantly showing your life without showing how to work with you, what you've helped people with before, it's just going to look like you're not confident. So number three, dig deeper into your client's psychology more than ever. One of my favorite exercises to do when I'm stuck on which topic to talk about first within our marketing plan is to consider the last six months of data from a high-level view with clients. We love going through this data with clients. I like to go back through our consulting notes to see what I wrote down as red flags for content production. I love to review more recent data from the last 30-ish days via DMs, email responses, and communication between myself and clients and the community to pull hyper-relevant problems to see everything in a Venn diagram in my mind or on Canva or in my journal of what folks were struggling with six months ago and what they're working on right now and then marrying those two. So what's still coming up from six months ago and the last 30 days that I can help with. And digging deeper into your client's psychology . . . oh, okay. Digging deeper into your client's psychology then moves from just problems they're working on to the sentiments and actions or lack thereof that they're experiencing week over week. So here's an example of the third point of digging into client psychology in reference to our clients. We worked with a client for about a year, and I noticed that she would just set very extreme expectations on herself, the business, and her team to the point that they were continuously failing to execute their marketing, sales, and PR efforts. The bar wasn't just set too high, but instead was kind of set in hell, to be frank, and we had a very direct conversation about this because the team was exhausted to the point of asking this client if this was ever going to change. The founder was constantly in a state of fight or flight and recognized that soon her body would move into freeze into a state of disease and sickness because she was constantly in a state of execution, exhaustion, and repeat. There was no space for rest, ideation, peace, creative rest in general, and I started weaving in these stories to our Instagram stories and email campaigns, and the responses that returned were immediate and resounding. Me too, I'm doing this, and I feel like a failure because I know I'm the problem. Do I call potential clients and the client the problem? No. They called themselves the problem, which is actually a systems and leadership challenge that has now been endured for long enough, and we've just got to get out of the war of constantly being on the front lines instead of being the CEO, being the general in the tent, deciding how to strategically execute their plans and creating enough space to do so. Another great show that Chris and I have recently watched was Shogun on FX. Most of it's in Japanese, and it was just stunningly beautiful, but seeing how the whole theme of the season was around this one moment that was just, it was catalyzing towards this moment the whole time, it took so much time, and it took so much work to get everyone to funnel in, and if that same desire for execution would have been, oh, can we get this done in four episodes, it wouldn't have had the impact that it had and the amount of episodes that it had, which I think was 10 or 12. So I'd rather call this reverse psychology than just psychology alone, to be honest. This takes time to build, but once you sharpen this skill, marketing campaigns, PR pitches, sales campaigns, all of it becomes a fluid conversation between you and the clients that are waiting for your help. You'll no longer stare at a cursor on Google Docs waiting for yourself to write something beautiful and sophisticated and relevant. Your marketing plan spreadsheet won't lack topics that are absolutely relevant to your ideal clients, and your day-to-day exhaustion habit with 2.5 cups of coffee, full calf, a HIIT workout, and a sob session at your desk will start to be eliminated. You deserve to feel at peace in your business. You deserve to feel productive in your business. You deserve to see profitability in your business at an all-time high without the high of cortisol and adrenaline shooting through your veins like a sick entrepreneur drug that you cannot go on without. That might be a reference back to the show I was talking about at the beginning. If you watch Euphoria, get in my DMs. But if you feel called to learn more about sales psychology, how to apply it with a calm nervous system, how to blend it into your marketing plans, and lay the foundation for a legacy filled with clients that stay in the brand and refer their friends to, then I know you're going to love the sales course. The Timeless Sales Method course is there for you. Find it in the show notes. Find it on our website. DM us if you need more information. We're here for you. And finally, our conversation topic of the week is to chat with your past clients. Touch base via email or direct message, preferably, and market research with them. Ask in a way that feels right to you, but here's how I'd do it if we had the relationship that warrants it. Hey, so-and-so, I was thinking about you this week and wanted to check in and see if I could ask you a few questions about what you're experiencing in your life and business in relation to my niche. And when we worked together last, you went through X service or program, and we're refining our message about that offer publicly. Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions? It would be really supportive for us to continue to help other clients like you. And of course, no strings or pitch attached to this, purely market research. And if you, specifically, listening, desire some help to generate a few questions you'd like to ask and have answered, please feel free to message me or leave a voicemail below in the app. I would love to help. Conversation is, hands down, my favorite part of this conversation. Conversation is my favorite part of this business, hands down. So I would love, love, love to chat with you. Okay, that's it. Just remember, next week, we're diving even deeper into biotypes. So return there to really understand the art of sales psychology. You're going to master it by understanding the art and applying. So remember, you're not just listening to this and going away and never thinking about it again. I want you to apply. And I'm so excited I want you to apply. And I'm so excited to be the person that helps you apply. So I'll see you in the next episode.