The Belief System Ep 627

In the podcast, the host and guests, including Speaker A, discuss the critical role of belief and conviction in sales success. They argue that sales is not just about technique but about the extent of the salesperson's belief in their product's ability to solve the prospect's problem. Speaker A introduces the 'belief continuum' and emphasizes that true conviction can compensate for lesser sales skills, as it drives both the quality and quantity of sales efforts. They suggest that sales training should focus more on understanding the prospect's needs rather than the product itself. The host also encourages listener engagement on LinkedIn, while Speaker A concludes by highlighting that a salesperson's deep belief in their product naturally leads to improved sales skills and a more proactive approach, ultimately enhancing sales performance.

• Conviction is crucial for following up with oneself to take action or make an investment.
• Belief in the product's ability to solve the prospect's problem is essential for effective sales.
• Pure conviction in what one is selling can lead to more persistence in getting prospects to invest.

"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 prospects 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."

This quote emphasizes the importance of having a strong belief in the product's efficacy as it drives persistence in sales efforts.

• Wealthy individuals often view business as a game.
• The podcast aims to document lessons learned on the path to building a billion-dollar portfolio.
• The goal is to share knowledge that can help others grow their businesses and potentially partner on large-scale projects.

"The wealthiest people in the see business as a game. This podcast, the game, is my attempt at documenting the lessons I've learned on my way to building acquisition.com into a billion dollar portfolio."

The speaker relates business to a game and indicates that the podcast serves as a medium to share strategic lessons from their own experience.

• The concept of the belief continuum is central to closing more deals.
• Belief is not binary but exists on a continuum.
• The extent of belief in what one is selling directly impacts sales success.

"But it would be much more accurate to say, to what extent do you believe in, right? Because belief is not a binary question. It is a continuum. It is how much do you believe in what you are selling?"

The speaker challenges the binary perspective of belief and introduces the belief continuum as a more accurate measure of sales conviction.

• Sales is not only about skill but also about conviction.
• Understanding the needs of prospects allows for greater conviction in the product.
• Listening to prospects is essential for aligning product offerings with their needs.

"And so what I want to show you is these two equations that I wrote down as simple equations for how to actually sell. And so many people focus, I would say a disproportionate amount of people focus on the skill of selling."

The speaker suggests that while skill is important, conviction, which stems from understanding the prospect's needs, can be a more direct path to sales success.

• Sales training often focuses on product knowledge rather than understanding the prospect's problems.
• A shift in sales education is needed to prioritize knowledge about the prospect.
• Successful businesses often emerge from someone solving their own problem, leading to an intimate understanding of the prospect'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 salesmen around the prospect and their problems, not the product."

This quote highlights the need for a fundamental shift in sales training to concentrate on the customer's issues rather than just the product features.

• Personal experience with a problem can lead to a deeper understanding of the customer's perspective.
• This deep understanding is what allows a salesperson to effectively communicate how a product can solve a prospect's problems.

"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 understand the thoughts, needs, and pains of the prospect and they know how the product solves those problems."

The quote explains how personal experience with a problem can result in a successful business, as the founder has a genuine understanding of the customer's needs.

• Sales success is a combination of sales skills and the extent of belief in the product.
• Conviction in the product's value can dramatically increase sales effectiveness, potentially more than skill alone.

"And so the first equation here is for an increase in 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."

This quote introduces the sales equation, emphasizing that both skill and belief are crucial for successful sales.

• Conviction, or belief in what one is selling, is a critical yet often neglected aspect of sales training.
• Sales is fundamentally about transferring belief, and without conviction, this transfer is ineffective.

"And so most people, most sales teams, most sales managers do not focus enough on this bubble, which is conviction, which is this part of the equation, right. If you think about what sales is, it's fundamentally a transference of belief."

The quote underscores the importance of conviction in sales, suggesting that it is a key component often overlooked in sales strategies.

• Successful sales require the salesman to transfer their belief in the product to the prospect.
• A salesman's conviction must be strong enough to instill a sufficient level of belief in the prospect to drive a purchase decision.

"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? Of course not, right."

This metaphor highlights the necessity of a salesperson's full belief in their product to effectively convince a prospect to make a purchase.

• Closing percentage is affected by various factors.
• The performance of individuals or teams can be influenced by these factors.

And so that will influence the closing percentage of an individual or team.

This quote highlights that there are influential elements that can affect how often sales are successfully closed by a person or team.

• The host encourages listeners to connect on LinkedIn.
• They invite listeners to send a connection request and mention listening to the show.
• The host also suggests tagging relevant connections in their or Layla's LinkedIn posts for acknowledgment.

Hey, mozanation, quick break. Just to let you know that we've been starting to post on LinkedIn and want to connect with you. All right? So send 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. All right, so let's get back to the show.

The speaker is engaging with the audience, encouraging them to interact on a professional networking platform, which can help build community and professional relationships.

• Work ethic is a critical factor in sales performance.
• High work ethic can compensate for a lower closing percentage.
• Salespeople with high work ethic follow up quickly and frequently, giving themselves more opportunities.

The second piece is going to be the work ethic, right? 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. So that means that they are following up with their pipeline faster. They are following up more times.

This quote explains how a strong work ethic can lead to more sales activity, which can mitigate the impact of a lower closing percentage by increasing the number of opportunities to close deals.

• Expert salesmanship involves a combination of high closing percentage and high units sold.
• Three key variables contribute to sales success: skill, conviction, and work ethic.
• Conviction is particularly important and is counted twice in its impact on sales success.

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.

The speaker outlines the qualities of an expert salesperson, emphasizing the importance of conviction in believing in the product's value, which in turn drives more persistent and effective follow-up efforts.

• Conviction in a product's value drives the intensity of follow-up efforts.
• A mental thought experiment illustrates the impact of conviction: if one knew the future success of investments like Bitcoin, Amazon, or Tesla, one would persistently follow up to make the investment.

And so let me ask you this question as a good mental thought process. If you could go back in time, let's say you could go back in time five years, and you could talk to yourself and say, hey, I want you to put 100% of the money that we have right now. Mind you, you couldn't tell the person that is you, your past self, that you are you in the future, right? So you can't say anything like that. But in this thought experiment, and you went back in time and you said, hey, we've got this money in the bank account. I want you to put 100% of money into this thing called bitcoin.

This quote is part of a thought experiment that serves to illustrate how strong belief and conviction in the potential of an opportunity (like the growth of Bitcoin) would lead one to persistently follow up and try to convince their past self to invest, drawing a parallel to how salespeople should pursue leads when they truly believe in their product's value.

• The importance of genuine belief in what one is selling.
• Conviction affects the approach, follow-up frequency, and communication in sales.
• The focus should be on the truthfulness of the salesperson's statements.
• Sales managers should prioritize instilling belief in their team over drilling sales skills.

"And you have pure conviction that what you are selling them, the investment, the opportunity, the whatever it is, is 100% going to work."

This quote emphasizes the necessity of having complete confidence in the product or service being sold, suggesting that this conviction is fundamental to successful sales.

• Belief counts twice in the equation of creating great salespeople.
• Belief is more important than the monotony of skill.
• The speaker advocates for belief as a force multiplier in sales.

"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."

The speaker is urging sales managers to concentrate on fostering strong belief in their sales team, suggesting that belief in what they sell is more crucial than repetitive skill training.

• Selling a religious belief is akin to selling a new worldview.
• Religious movements often do not focus on selling skills but on the belief in the message.
• Strong belief can compensate for a lack of formal sales training.

"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 speaker draws a parallel between sales and religious movements to illustrate how deeply held beliefs can drive the ability to sell effectively without formal training in sales techniques.

• The sales team must fully believe in the product or service.
• The focus should be on ensuring the prospect benefits from the product.
• If belief is strong, other sales skills will naturally improve.

"And so if your salesman and your sales team are not drinking the Koolaid, quite literally, of the products that you sell or the services that you sell, then that is your problem."

This quote highlights the critical importance of the sales team's belief in their product or service, indicating that without this belief, sales efforts will likely be ineffective.

• Belief in the solution being sold would naturally lead to honing sales skills.
• A strong belief would drive a salesperson to follow up diligently and respond quickly.
• Sales is fundamentally about transferring belief, and starting with 'why' is essential.

"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 asserts that sales is essentially about transferring one's belief to the customer. The intensity of the salesperson's belief is what determines their effectiveness, which is why understanding and communicating the 'why' behind the product is vital.