It’s 2021 at last, but the fallout from 2020 still lingers on for a lot of us, much as we’d love to be rid of it.
Whether your business took a dive 👇 or not, there’s no better time than now master the art of heart-centred sales.
In this episode, we talk to Catherine Watkins, the UK’s leading authority on heart-centred sales ♥.
Catherine spends her sleepless nights obsessing about how she can add more value to her (super low-cost) membership. She’s all about creating value, more value than her customers could ever pay for. And perhaps now more than ever before, that’s what we should be focusing on.
And no, it’s not about putting profit over purpose, but rather the opposite (and we recall our chat with Hilda Gan on this very subject here).
It’s about making real connections with the people you’re talking to.
We 💕 this episode and think you will too.
You’ll discover many wonderful things, like:
Ø How to avoid the salesey language that people hate (the no-strings attached STRING!)
Ø How to guide someone (aka prospective client) towards an internal yes in a way that doesn’t feel pushy
Ø How to sell from the heart (instead of the traditional sales way)
Ø Why you need to be rock solid about the value you offer
Ø The importance of offering high-value free session
Ø When to say no
And you’ll learn some truisms like:
❌ Nobody likes to be told what to do.
❌ Never try get a ‘yes’ at all costs
❌ Apologizing is not the answer
Catherine works mainly with people who have gone into business because they want to make a difference to others through their work, or they’re doing their business because they’re passionate about what they do.
“This group of people want a good income, but it’s not all about the money at all costs. So, they often struggle with the more traditional approaches to sales. And traditional sales seems to rest on a foundation that says sales is all about making the potential client say ‘yes’. And if that means using psychological techniques or NLP based techniques or even hypnotic techniques (if somebody is really skilled), that’s what they will do in order to get that ‘yes’. For me, heart-centered sales is much more about coming from a place that says, “I have something of value here, that’s going to make a true difference to you. Let’s have a conversation. And let’s figure out between us whether this is going to be right for you or not.””
Flipping the script from what this does for your bank balance to what it does for your customer
Catherine feels that when most people start selling, they step out of being in service and start feeling like they’re being self-serving.
“For me, it’s always coming from a place where I’ve had this internal click, and I’ve just gone: Oh, my gosh, this would make such a huge difference to you, it would actually be remiss of me not to encourage you to do this. And I’ve left the fact that this could benefit me out the door, that’s not part of the conversation. The only focus is what’s right for this potential client right now, and I’m fully in service to them.
I’m not going to hold back or apologize; I’m going to communicate why this is a good idea and make a really clear invitation. And if they decide not to go ahead, I’m going to get curious and say, Oh, that’s interesting. Do you mind if I ask you why?”
Don’t be afraid to ask questions🙋♀️.
“If you’re willing to ask the courageous questions, you will come through that conversation actually addressing any worries or concerns they had, and at the end of that, you might get to a “yes, let’s do this thing.” And it’s the difference between understanding that those concerns are a natural part of the sales process, versus what traditional sales would call objection handling, where the person just feels like they’re being browbeaten into making a decision.”
Wow! Catherine is not kidding around when it comes to over-delivering on value. Listen up to get access to her resources like the Authentic Styles quiz (for those of us really not that comfortable with sales) and her free video series that outlines the process for an authentic sales conversation: “The Seven Steps to Yes”.
It’s binge-worthy stuff, so start listening and never stop learning!
If you’d like to chat more about your marketing concerns, please give us a shout at C+P Digital – we would love to help!
Plus, if you’re losing sleep over a particular marketing/business related problem during this Covid-19 economic uncertainty, or if you have a guest idea on the topic, let us know.
You can find us on Apple Podcasts – subscribe to us – you won’t regret it!
And as always, sweet dreams…well, hopefully!
