Many times, the reason why we think people choose to buy from us or choose not to buy may seem obvious. Then again, maybe it isn’t, since many potential sales are lost within the presentation. On today’s show, we’re talking to Bob Burg, world-renowned sales trainer and bestselling co-author of the “Go-Giver” series, about the ultimate reason why someone will become your customer.
Transcription:
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Bob, thank you so much for joining us once again on the show.
Bob Burg:
Jim, I always love speaking with you. It’s always a treat.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Great. And we have a lot to talk about. Before I let you go today, I also want to catch up about your Go-Giver Success Alliance mentorship program that I see is back open again. I know that you’ve got tremendous success with that, so I want to touch on that as well. But talk to us about right now everybody has got COVID on the brain. It’s kind of gotten some of us frozen, some salespeople out there and small business owners and such. They don’t know the way forward. They don’t know, should we be doing what we’ve been doing? Do we get back to making those calls, prospecting? Is it okay to do that right now? Is it taken the wrong way? I’ll just kind of open up the floor and let you take it from there.
Bob Burg:
Well, I think it goes right back to what you were saying in the opening and that is customers are going to buy for their reasons. So I think the salesperson in today’s situation and depending upon what you do for a living, you have your own unique situation. But I think it’s asking yourself, what is the next step? What do I need to do? Okay. Did I have to pivot during COVID, and if I did, did I do it okay? Did I stay in business? Did I improve our business? Did I create relationships during the time when I couldn’t be out there? Did I create and maintain and strengthen relationships even if I couldn’t directly sell?
Bob Burg:
Okay, well now things are starting to get back, a little bit, to normal, if you will. So now what do you need to do? What do you need to do in the overall process of selling your products and services? And of course, as you know, it’s never about your product or service, it’s never about yourself, it’s about them. It’s about your customer.
Bob Burg:
So the first thing is to go back to what is it that is going to cause them to feel that there is more value in buying from me or in some way doing business with me now than not doing so, which of course is the ultimate reason, and only reason, why someone’s going to buy from you. You know they’re not going to buy from you because you have a quota to meet and they’re not going to buy from you because you feel it’s time to get back into business and in the swing of things. They’re going to buy from you because they believe that they will be better off by doing so than by not doing so. So what is it that you need to be doing in the prospecting process, in the reconnection process, in the selling process, that’s going to help them to where they do benefit from such?
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah, for sure. And you’re right. It’s all about the customer, it’s not about helping that particular salesperson or that particular business. And often that mistake is made, isn’t it, where the salesperson makes it about themselves?
Bob Burg:
I think it’s the biggest mistake salespeople make, but it’s also very natural.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah.
Bob Burg:
For two reasons, one is as human beings, we are self-interested individuals. We’re self-interested creatures, that’s how our cave person ancestors survived and it’s been hardwired into our DNA. To be I focused or I oriented is natural. Okay. One of my great friends, Dan Rockwell, great leadership authority says, “To be I focused is natural, to be other focused is leadership.”
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah, there you go.
Bob Burg:
Yeah, I love that. It’s also great salesmanship.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right.
Bob Burg:
And so that part, it’s natural. But the other thing is this, most people in sales love their product or service. That’s part of why they’re doing it. As human beings I think we were created to want to make a difference, to want make an impact to better people’s lives, to, as John David Mann, my coauthor, and I say, “To nudge the world forward.” Entrepreneurs and salespeople, Jim, do this through their products and services.
Bob Burg:
Because of that and because of the love and emotional attachment we all naturally have for our product or service, we just assume everyone else is going to see in it what we see in it.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s great.
Bob Burg:
And the great value that we see in it, of course they’re going to see in it, why wouldn’t they? So we talk about our products or services as though we just know. But we’re all human beings and we all see the world through our own individual unique set of beliefs. And what we find to be a value is not necessarily what someone else finds to be a value about our product or service. I always use the example of the real estate salesperson showing someone a home and being in the living room and saying, “Oh, and you know what I just love most about this living room?” And the answer is who cares?
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right.
Bob Burg:
It’s like showing someone a car. You know what the greatest thing about this car is that I believe? Who cares? Okay. So we have got to always understand that value, which is defined as the relative worth or desirability of a thing of some thing to the end user or beholder, value is always in the eyes of the beholder. Our job as salespeople is to take our focus off ourselves and off our products and discover from them, what is it they find to be of value.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. That’s right. And how is the best way to do that?
Bob Burg:
Well, we will do it through-
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Through consultation?
Bob Burg:
Sure. Ask them questions and then really listening. You and I have spoken before, it’s not the surface listening that most of us do with our ears we do only to kind of get the edge so we can a sharp angle them into a close. No, it’s listening with our eyes, it’s listening with our body, with our entire posture. It’s listening with the back of your neck. It’s absolutely putting your whole heart and soul. It’s when they answer, not just accepting that answer as though you understand it, but digging deeper to find out more of what they mean. Because again, we have to keep in mind that the way we see the world and understand the world is not necessarily the way they do. And conflict is always the result of two people seeing the same thing from two totally different points of view, but not necessarily understanding that they’re doing that.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. That’s a very good point. That’s very good. And all too often salespeople I think make the mistake, and maybe I’ve done this as well in my time, where you try to win that customer over to your way of thinking rather than serving their needs on their level.
Bob Burg:
Who hasn’t? We’ve all done that. Absolutely. And again, a lot of times it’s only because we really so believe in what we’re doing that we just assume it’s the right thing to do.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right.
Bob Burg:
There’s not necessarily mal-intent.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
You’re trying to help them. You’re saying I’m really more right than you.
Bob Burg:
If only they would listen to me.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. We’d be able to get this done much quicker. There’s no question about it. Is it okay for everyone to go back out now and sell and make calls and prospect and followup on people? Everybody’s got this pent up anxiety over this COVID situation we find ourselves in. But to your point, it is coming to somewhat of an end here and there’s vaccinations out there-
Bob Burg:
It’s feeling like it is.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
… and maybe things are getting back to normal. But I’ve spoken to some people in sales and small business owners who say, “Well, we can’t wait for this to be over.” And almost to the point that they say I’m not going to do anything until the government says, “Okay, it’s now over. You can now go back out and run your businesses and sell your products.”
Bob Burg:
It was still, even near the beginning of this whole catastrophe, there were still a lot of people who understood that even if they couldn’t directly sell their products or services, they could still stay connected, they could still find ways to be of value, and I think it’s the same. Don’t wait until the government says it’s over. Don’t depend on them. You need to be doing it yourself and making the connections and setting things up so that by the time you can get out there, things are ready. The momentum’s already started.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right, that’s right. And how bad would it be if you waited too long and you found that your customer base went elsewhere or the very person that you thought, “Well, they’re not going to be buying a house or a car or what have you right now,” and lo and behold, they did? They did it without you.
Bob Burg:
Yeah, exactly. I think we’ve seen that and we’ve seen people who’ve done very well during COVID, because they found a way, and not everybody could do that. And if someone’s listening and you haven’t, that’s not what I’m saying. But the ones who could… because let’s face it, you start out and successful people deal in truth. They don’t deny the truth. And the fact is what COVID did is it set everybody back. It really was a horrible thing and you had to accept that no, you could not go out or you couldn’t do this. And right now your customers were not going to be ready to… So you had to understand.
Bob Burg:
But you can’t live there. You have to understand the truth, you have to accept the truth, but you don’t have to live over there. You go there and then you say, “Okay, now what can I do?” That’s the old stoic way of thinking. Part of happiness is understanding what’s in your control and what is not in your control and simply not stressing at what’s not in your control. Because it’s not in your control. Easier said than done, but what you’ve got to do is shift over to what you can control.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
I agree. And you know, it’s funny. Here we find ourselves in the middle of a pandemic and RV sales through the roof, car sales through the roof, home sales through the roof. Everything down to bike sales and everything else, you can’t find them. I just attended a boat show over the weekend and it was incredible. These guys were like the Maytag repairman sitting around going we don’t have any inventory to sell because everybody went out and bought. So the notion that things are not happening right now is a huge mistake if you’re out there listening, right Bob, to make. To say no one’s doing anything couldn’t be further from the truth. Everybody’s doing something, right? They’re just finding a new way to do it.
Bob Burg:
Yeah. Very important to not pay attention to the doomsayers. Again, that doesn’t mean you bury your head in the sand and don’t… No. Get the information, get the facts, but just realize that media makes their money by headlines and attracting eyeballs. Be real careful about.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
There’s no question. And if it bleeds, it leads they say. So you can be sure that that news isn’t always going to be good news you’re listening to.
Bob Burg:
Right. Yeah.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Hey, before I let you go, let’s talk about your Go-Giver Success Alliance mentorship community reopening. That’s very exciting. Talk to us about that.
Bob Burg:
Yeah. We call it a private mentorship community and it’s really committed to helping our members reach their next level of business and financial success and personal fulfillment. We’re big believers you’ve got to have both. One without the other doesn’t quite work. So we actually just opened it up recently and already it’s looking really good, so we’re very happy with it. With me, I’ve been speaking for so long on so many years where I was on the road, we tried to do this about five or six years ago, I just did not have the time to be able to spend with people and be able to guide them and be able to… in a membership. Well, what happened during COVID with me was I knew how much I didn’t really like being on the road and I had been cutting down the number of days. I just made a decision that I was not traveling anymore, which I’m not. I still speak at conventions, but they’re always virtual.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah. Wow. That’s great.
Bob Burg:
Which is great. So that gave me time to put together this mentorship community that people had been asking me to do again. They’re like, “Why did you stop doing that?” Well, now I have time to do it. It’s that Burgess Meredith episode of The Twilight Zone where his glasses dropped and he goes, “I finally had time.” And now he can’t read anymore. I don’t know if you remember that one, if you’re a Twilight Zone–.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
I do, I do, yep.
Bob Burg:
Well now I have time to be able to mentor and to be able to guide and so forth. So it’s really, it’s a global mentorship community where we all meet together, it’s not a Facebook group. We have our own separate platform, and yeah, people can find out more Go Giver without the hyphen, Go Giver Success Alliance.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
We’ll show it here on the screen as well.
Bob Burg:
Sure.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
And this is a program that I highly recommend without a doubt, especially during times like this. To get you back in the swing of things, as they say, back on track, you need to have a mentor like Bob. There’s no question about it, and so many people out there, Bob, have learned so much from your teachings over the years and certainly through your series of books, the Go-Giver books, that you’ve put out and such.
Bob Burg:
Thank you.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
The timing couldn’t be better for this. So for those that are listening, you see the information right on the screen. Now you’re a click away. I mean now it’s the biggest no-brainer in the history of the world. So do yourself a favor, do your business a huge favor, and your team. You want to achieve success, Bob’s got the answer on how to get there and it’s real world stuff. So we highly recommend it. Bob, I want to thank you so much for joining us once again here on the show. We very much appreciate it. Our viewers and our subscribers get so much out of your visit here, so thanks so much.
Bob Burg:
Always love speaking with you. Be well.
Jim Fitzpatrick:
Thanks.
