The Belief System Ep 315

In his discussion about sales effectiveness, Speaker A emphasizes the importance of belief and conviction in the sales process, asserting that sales is not just a skill but a transference of belief from the salesperson to the prospect. He introduces the belief continuum and argues that understanding a prospect's needs is crucial for developing conviction in what one is selling. Speaker A contends that sales training should focus more on the prospect's problems rather than the product itself. He presents two key equations for success in sales: the multiplication of sales skills with the extent of belief, and the combination of skill, conviction, and work ethic, with conviction being doubly important. Speaker A concludes by highlighting the transformative power of true belief in increasing sales effectiveness, encouraging sales managers to foster this mindset within their teams.

• The concept of the belief continuum is central to closing more deals.
• Belief in what one is selling is not binary but exists on a continuum.
• The extent of belief directly correlates with sales success.
• Conviction in the product's value is paramount to effective selling.

"And it's all centered around a single concept, which is the belief continuum." The belief continuum is the foundational concept for improving sales efficacy according to Speaker A.

"Because belief is not a binary question. It is a continuum." This quote emphasizes that belief in a product is not a simple yes-or-no question, but rather a spectrum of confidence and conviction.

"I guarantee you that you will sell significantly more." Speaker A asserts that strong belief in a product will result in higher sales.

• Conviction in sales comes from a deep understanding of the prospect's needs.
• Matching the product to the prospect's problem is key to developing conviction.
• Sales training should focus on understanding the prospect rather than just the product.

"But you can shortcut that path to success by having conviction." Conviction is presented as a more direct route to sales success, bypassing some of the need for sales skills.

"Most salespeople don't even listen to the prospect at all and simply want to deliver their pitch." Speaker A criticizes salespeople for not actively listening to prospects, implying that this lack of understanding hinders genuine belief in the product's fit for the customer's needs.

"Most sales training should be is currently focused on educating salesmen around the product, when it should be, most of the time focused on educating the salesman around the prospect and their problems, not the product." Speaker A suggests a shift in sales training, advocating for a greater emphasis on understanding the customer's issues rather than the product details alone.

• Sales skill involves knowing what to say and how to say it.
• Product understanding should be complemented by an understanding of the prospect's problems.
• Sales training is disproportionately focused on product knowledge over prospect knowledge.

"You have to know exactly what to say and you have to know how to say it." Speaker A acknowledges the importance of sales skills but suggests they are not the only factor in successful selling.

"All right, key understanding shift that has to happen." Speaker A calls for a fundamental change in the approach to sales, emphasizing the importance of prospect-focused understanding.

• Successful businesses often emerge from individuals who experienced a problem and then created a solution.
• A deep understanding of the prospect's thoughts, needs, and pains is crucial.
• Knowledge of how a product can alleviate these pains is essential for selling effectively.

One of the reasons that many successful businesses happen from somebody who suffered from a pain and then went to go solve it for themselves and then ended up solving it for other people is because they desperately and they so clearly understand the thoughts, needs and pains of the prospect and they know how the product solves those problems.

The quote emphasizes the importance of personal experience in understanding customer needs and developing effective solutions, which is a common origin for successful businesses.

• The equation involves the skill of sales multiplied by the extent of belief in the product.
• Conviction can significantly enhance sales effectiveness, potentially more than skill alone.
• Belief in the product is quantified on a scale much larger than the scale for sales skills.

And so the first equation here is for increasing closing percentage. And so if it's you that's selling or if it's a sales team that's selling, it's the skill of sales multiplied by the extent to which you believe it is not. Yes, I believe. No, I believe this number can be 100. Right?

The quote introduces the concept of an equation for increasing sales closing percentage, which factors in both sales skills and the extent of belief or conviction in the product.

• A salesperson's conviction in what they are selling can be more influential than their sales skills.
• Conviction is measured on a scale from one to 100, suggesting a vast potential for belief.
• Even with low sales skills, high conviction can lead to successful closes because customers sense the salesperson's belief.

I believe that your beliefs around conviction can be one to 100. So even if your skill of sales is a two, you could have 100 belief, and I guarantee you that you will close, because people can sense whether you believe what you are telling them is true, and they believe that what you are selling them is going to solve their problem.

The quote suggests that conviction in a product's value is a powerful determinant of sales success, potentially more so than technical sales skills.

• Sales is fundamentally about transferring belief from the salesperson to the prospect.
• Conviction must be strong to effectively transfer belief and prompt a purchasing decision.
• Sales techniques such as phrasing and tonality are important, but conviction is often undervalued.

If you think about what sales is, it's fundamentally a transference of belief. And so how can you transfer an empty cup? How can you transfer a cup that is only one third full into another empty cup and expect it to be over the threshold of the amount of belief that's necessary and that's required for a prospect to make a purchasing decision?

The quote conveys the idea that sales is essentially about transferring one's belief in a product to the prospect, and that a salesperson must have a full "cup" of belief to make this transfer effective.

• Conviction in the product's ability to solve problems is a key factor in the success of a salesperson or team.
• Focusing on building conviction can have a greater impact on closing rates than sales tactics alone.

But a much bigger lever that is often and most underutilized or underutilized at all is the conviction or the extent to which the salesman believes in what they are selling. And to what extent it can help solve the prospects problems.

This quote highlights the significance of conviction in the sales process and suggests that it is often the most underutilized aspect of sales training and strategy.

• The podcast hosts encourage listener engagement and connection through social media platforms like LinkedIn.

Hey, mozanation, quick break. Just to let you know that we've been starting to post on LinkedIn and want to connect with you.

The quote is an interjection meant to engage the podcast's audience and promote interaction on professional social media, indicating a break from the main content to address listeners directly.

• The host encourages listeners to connect on LinkedIn and engage with their content.
• Engaging with hosts by tagging them or others can foster community and show appreciation.

"Give me a connection request, a note letting me know that you listen to the show and I will accept it. There's anyone you think that we should be connected with, tag them in one of my or Layla's posts and I will give you all the love in the world."

This quote outlines how the host values listener interaction and is willing to connect and engage with those who reach out or participate in their online community.

• Work ethic can compensate for a lower closing percentage in sales.
• High work ethic implies more activity, such as faster follow-ups and increased outreach efforts.
• More activity can lead to more opportunities, or "at bats," to close deals.

"So a lot of people have probably seen really good closers versus really bad closers based on their closing percentage, but also total number of deals closed. Personally, when you have somebody who has really high work ethic, then they can make up for a lower closing percentage by having more activity."

The speaker is emphasizing that a strong work ethic can offset a lower success rate by increasing the volume of attempts to close sales, thereby enhancing overall performance.

• An expert salesman combines a high closing percentage with a high volume of sales.
• Skill, conviction, and work ethic are the key variables to sales success.
• Conviction is doubly important because it fuels proactive and persistent follow-up behavior.

"And so if you think about the expert salesman as having these two things together, which is you want to have a high closing percentage and you want to have lots of units sold, all right? And so there's three variables here. You've got skill, you've got conviction, and you've got work ethic, but conviction counts twice, because if you believe that what you are selling is genuinely going to help people, you will follow up faster, you will follow up more religiously, you will follow up as though you were trying to help someone."

This quote delineates the three critical factors for sales excellence—skill, conviction, and work ethic—with special emphasis on conviction, as it drives the salesperson to act with urgency and persistence, akin to helping someone in need.

• Conviction in the value of what one is selling leads to more dedicated follow-up efforts.
• Belief in the product or service being sold can be compared to the certainty one would have in advising their past self to invest in a now-successful venture.
• The intensity of follow-up efforts is proportional to the level of conviction in the product's ability to solve the prospect's problem.

"How many times would you follow up with yourself to get yourself to do that thing or do that action or make that investment? A lot. And it's because you truly believe that it would solve your prospect's problem. And you have pure conviction that what you are selling them, the investment, the opportunity, the whatever it is, is 100% going to work."

The speaker uses a hypothetical situation to illustrate the power of conviction. If one had the opportunity to advise their past self on a now-obvious investment, the frequency and intensity of their follow-up would be significant due to the strong belief in the action's potential for success. This analogy is used to show how conviction should drive follow-up efforts in sales.

• Belief in the product or service is crucial for sales success.
• Sales skills are important, but belief in what one is selling is a force multiplier.
• Managers should focus on enhancing their team's belief in what they sell.
• Authentic belief can be more effective than traditional sales training.

"I would implore you to focus way more of your time around the thing that counts twice in the equation of selling and creating great salespeople, which is the belief to which the extent, the extent to which they believe what they are selling and to whom they are selling, than boring with the monotony of the skill."

This quote emphasizes the speaker's view that belief in what one is selling is more important than the mechanical skill of selling. The speaker suggests that belief is a critical factor that influences sales effectiveness and should be a primary focus for sales managers.

• Religious movements succeed in selling complex ideas without focusing on sales skills.
• This success is attributed to the genuine belief of the individuals in the movement.
• Sales teams should similarly have a strong belief in their products or services.

"And the proof that I have in this is that if you look at every single religious movement, you are selling something very hard to sell, which is a completely new frame of view around the world. The people who believe this, many times, they don't train them in the skill of selling. They just get them to believe wholeheartedly in what they are selling."

The speaker uses religious movements as an example to illustrate how strong belief can enable individuals to sell concepts effectively without formal training in sales techniques. This analogy serves to reinforce the argument that belief is a powerful tool in persuasion and sales.

• Sales teams must "drink the koolaid" of their products or services to sell effectively.
• Belief in the product or service will naturally lead to better sales performance.
• Fixing belief issues in sales teams can lead to improvements in all aspects of sales.

"But big picture, if you fix this, everything else will happen."

The speaker suggests that by ensuring sales teams fully believe in what they are selling ("drinking the koolaid"), other elements of the sales process will improve as a result. This statement implies that belief is the foundation upon which successful sales strategies are built.

• Wholehearted belief in a solution motivates salespeople to improve their skills.
• Belief leads to more diligent follow-up and responsiveness due to the desire to help others.
• The transference of belief is fundamental to the skill of sales.

"If you believed wholeheartedly in the solution that you are selling, would you not then spend lots of time honing your skill? Probably because you would want to help more people, because you believe in the thing that you are selling them, right?"

This quote suggests that a salesperson's belief in their product or service motivates them to refine their sales skills and follow up with prospects. The speaker argues that belief drives the desire to help others, which in turn leads to better sales performance.

• Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" philosophy applies to sales.
• Understanding and believing in the 'why' behind a product or service is critical for salespeople.
• Achieving complete belief in what one is selling eliminates sales problems.

"I believe that the skill of sales is fundamentally a transference of belief. And we do need to start with why for salespeople, because it is not a question of whether or not they believe, it is the question of to what extent do they believe?"

The speaker endorses Simon Sinek's concept of starting with 'why' and applies it to sales, asserting that sales is essentially about transferring belief. The degree of belief within salespeople is crucial, and understanding the 'why' behind what they sell is key to achieving full belief and, consequently, sales success.