Edward Lewellen's Blog, page 4

How to Add Real Power to Your Sales Process

 

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In my post, Is Your Belief Still True?, I mentioned a few areas where we have seen dramatic changes in what we believe. Sales is one area that I feel very strongly is stuck in old belief systems created decades ago.

Sales has long be understood to be about relationships. Imagine being back in time about 3,000 years ago when people used to barter. “I’ll kill a lion for you if you’ll plow a field for me”, might have been a conversation that took place. In order for that trade to take place, an in-depth understanding of just how good I am at killing lions and how good you are at plowing fields would have to take place to ensure that we were both going to get what we wanted. A relationship had to be formed so that trust would be built and the barter would take place. Of course, as time evolved, money was formed and the situation became a transaction more than a relationship.

As the world has continued to evolve, so has the sales transaction process. Over my last 30 years in sales and sales leadership, I’ve seen just about every sales approach, sales process, and sales method written. I’ve taken Sandler Sales’ President’s Club training, Communispond’s Socratic Selling, Miller Heiman’s Conceptual and Strategic Selling courses, I’ve worked with people from the organizations of Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, and many more. I’ve seen many, many ways that companies attempt to motivate people to make more sales and to get prospects to buy.

If you’re like me, then you get this awful, gut-wrenching feeling anytime someone says they have the “newest” sales training or “latest” techniques to motivate your sales team. I have yet to find something “new”. Like so much in the world of sales, personal development, and motivation, it’s the same, tired, and worn-out processes repackaged and the only things “new” are the words used to describe the same things. This is done either to make the terminology up-to-date or for someone to claim the material as being of their origination.

So, what beliefs are the sales and motivation training based on? As an example, I’m going to use information from a company whose website is dated 2015. Here are their steps:

Lead Generation (Outbound for Sales Reps)

Qualify Leads (Budget, Capacity, Timing)

Demonstrate Value (Translate into Prospect Needs, Wants, Desires)

Guide Prospect Understanding (Manage Objections, Frame Thinking)

Deliver and Support (Customer Satisfaction!)

The company then says this, “Leverage these steps in the sales process to increase win probability, influence customer deal size and speed pipeline velocity.”

Now, really think about what has been done in the above sales training and all other sales training “systems”. They have taken a heuristic, relationship-based situation (selling) and turned it into an algorithmic process. Do you believe this is the way to conduct sales? If you’re an executive, business owner, or a person in a position to make purchases for your organization, do you want to be approached as if you are part of a process? A methodology? A conquest to be had?

When the people were bartering many years ago, were they thinking about a step-by-step process? Or, were they thinking more about the relationship? It was the relationship that was most important and the same is true today! Unless you are stuck in a time-warp of the 80’s, you no longer believe that we live in a world where the blue suit and red tie make us obey their every command. Yet, the sales training we have available still lives on from that era. How should it be different?

As I’ve coached hundreds of salespeople, one of the major items was concerning the intent they have when approaching people, whether it’s a first engagement or following up with their best client. Neuroscience tells us that there is an “underlying element” where we “feel” a person before we intellectualize them and the other person senses us before a word is spoken.  This isn’t mystical mumbo-jumbo.  This is using Functional MRI’s that measure 65,000 points on the human brain to track neural pathways being engaged!  This is hard, statistical data.

What does this mean for salespeople? If a salesperson meets a person for the first time and they have the “I’m going to turn this into a one-call close” attitude and intent, the other person will “feel” it, even if only unconsciously. You’ve probably had that experience when you meet someone and either something doesn’t seem quite right, or you feel fully comfortable with them.  If something doesn’t seem quite right, it won’t matter how well the salesperson follows the sales process.  If you feel fully comfortable with them, even if they don’t follow the sales process precisely, you’ll still buy from them.

How else might the intent of a salesperson cause their algorithmic sales process to become useless? Have you ever been in a sales meeting and you can just tell that the salesperson is desperate to make the sale? Many times you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you just know. Other times it’s quite conspicuous. That “underlying element”, the intent, is ever-present and can be felt. As I have told salespeople, “When you’re desperate for a sale, it’s like blood in the water to sharks”.

So, one of the major beliefs about sales that is no longer true is that it’s an algorithmic process. Sales really is about the relationship and relationships are heuristic. And, that’s why the best salespeople build the relationships that cause them to be successful for a long time instead of enabling them to get just a quick ‘hit’.  When the relationship is put first, then from the first contact of a phone call, email, text, etc. to the follow-up long after the sale will involve relationship-building research, information, and a caring intent.

Salespeople who do this will have a consistent flow of sales and not the usual peaks-and-valleys most salespeople using the traditional systems experience. Salespeople following a heuristic process also find that the “steps” in the algorithmic processes just naturally fall into place because of the relationships that are formed.

In my experience, intent is the most important key to successful sales as it will guide a person to do and say the right things at the right time for the right reasons!

About Dr. Edward Lewellen

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of:

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

The 90-Second Mind Manager

Create the “Warren Buffett” Mindset

Financial Security, “the peace of mind you feel when you aren’t worried about your income being enough to cover your expenses and you have enough money saved to cover emergencies and your future financial goals.”

In a perfect world, we all would begin saving for the future from the moment we’re born.  All those gifts of $1, $5, $20, etc. at birth and at their first birthday party would be set aside in an investment account to begin multiplying.  Here’s an example of what that could look like:

$100 is put into an investment account for a 1-year-old child.  Each month, $10 is added to the account.  Based on decades of research, the average return will be 10% per year.  By the time this child is 60 years old, they will have accumulated $391,737.  Not bad for a $10 per month investment!

Unfortunately, this example is rare.  In the picture below are the stats on Baby Boomers and Gen-X’ers and how prepared they feel they are for retirement:

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Many years ago, I worked as an Investment Banker for one of the largest financial institutions in the world.  As I discussed planning for the future, many expressed fear, doubt, and worry.  They wondered if the investment choices they had made in the past, and those they were making at the time, were going to generate the income they needed.  Some clients were concerned about just making it through each month.  Some were unable to make it week-to-week without borrowing money.  And here’s what is most important; The more a client was concerned about the present, the more fear they had, which means they behaved like a person in fight-or-flight mode and were making poor decisions based on emotion.

Some of the worst mistakes I saw was during a time when the Stock Market took a downward tumble.  As they saw their stocks become devalued and worth less than what they paid for them, they began to sell off, just like most novice investors.  No matter how much I explained to them to hold steady because the Stock Market is predictably cyclical, they placed their orders to sell.

When the downward spiral was over and the rebound began, many of these people who had been filled with fear and chose to sell their investments had lost 30%, 40%, and even 50% of their portfolios.  Because they had sold, their stocks they didn’t have the funds to take advantage of the upturn in the cycle.  Those who kept their fear in-check regained the value of their stocks and added to it as the next few months went by.

Warren Buffet had a different mindset during the downturn. It was as if the Stock Market had a huge sign out that read:

“Huge Sale on Investments! Deep Discounts!  Limited Time, So Buy Now!” 

Mr. Buffett was buying when most investors were selling…cheap!  This type of event is called “Transfer of Wealth”.  This is one example of how the rich get richer and poor get poorer.  Again, note Warren Buffet.  It’s estimated that in just two (of the many) deals he struck during the Great Recession, Buffett added a staggering profit of $10 billion.

Would you like to hear more about the “Warren Buffett” mindset and how you can possess it? Just click on the following link to watch my interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Zq3zQ28Gg

About Dr. Edward Lewellen

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of:

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

The 90-Second Mind Manager

To Communicate Effectively, Watch the Eyes

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Most people don’t consider the full significance of eye movement when communicating. For instance, think about a time when you were trying to find an answer in your mind. If you pay attention to your eyes, you’ll notice that you look in a specific direction and blink several times during this searching process. Some people would claim that you’re simply getting moisture to your eyes or some similar activity. The truth is, you are doing the equivalent of a “Google” search. It’s called a Pattern Interrupt and during this process you are literally shifting through neuropathways to find the answer. “Clicking”, as it were, on different data to retrieve the answer.

Looking up and to your Left = Visually Constructed Images

If you asked someone to think about a “Red Elephant”, their eyes will move up and to your left as they construct a picture of a red elephant in their mind. This is also the eye movement most people use to create the image of where they last saw their car keys.

Looking up and to your Right = Visually Remembered Images

Ask someone what the color of their previous car was and their eyes will move up and to your right as they remember it.

To your Left = Auditory Constructed

If you asked someone to create the highest pitch sound possible in their head, their would eyes move straight across and to your left while creating it.

To your Right = Auditory Remembered

Asking someone to remember what their mother’s voice sounds like and their eyes will move straight across and to your right while thinking about this sound.

Down and to your Left = Kinesthetic

If you ask someone to think about an event that gave them a wonderful feeling, their eyes will move down and to your left while recalling this feeling or state.

Down and to your Right = Internal Dialog

This is the direction of someone’s eyes as they “talk to themselves”.

How can you use this information in meaningful ways? One way is for detecting lies:

Here’s an example: Your teenage child stays out past curfew. When they arrive home, you are still awake and looking for an explanation. Before jumping right into questions about what caused them to be late, ask a a couple of questions that you know they know the answer to. Such as, “You were going to _____ tonight, how was it?” “You said that several of your friends were going, did _____ go with you?” This is called Calibration. You are setting the baseline for their behaviors and eye movement. By doing this in a calm, conversational tone, it also allows them to get settled and let their guard down.

Now you’re prepared to ask a question, like, “Where did you go after you went to ______?” or “How did you decide that it was alright to come home after your curfew?” If they look to up and to your left, this would indicate that they are likely lying as their eyes are showing a “constructed” image or sound. Looking to the right would indicated a “remembered” voice or image, and would most likely be telling the truth. You may have noticed that I used the term “most likely”. There is no such thing as a person, or machine, that is 100% accurate in detecting lies. There is an entire field of study on the subject and even the most seasoned CIA agent gets it wrong once in a while. However, when practiced, you can become up to 80% accurate with this method.

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I have a sales workshop coming up on April 17th titled Your UNFAIR Sales Advantage where I’ll be interacting with the attendees and resolving the top inhibitors to sales success. Look, and this is important; Once a salesperson is trained, more sales training becomes redundant, no matter which training you take. It becomes a matter of mindset and the limiting beliefs almost everyone in sales are unconsciously holding. So, click here (https://goo.gl/VP3t2P) to register and enjoy lunch on me and see massive mental transformation happen right in front of you!

+++++++++++++++About Dr. Edward Lewellen++++++++++++++++

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of:

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

The 90-Second Mind Manager

1/10th of a Second: An Olympic Sales Story

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The Olympics are amazing for many reasons. One that has attracted my attention this time is the way the time of 1/10th of a second is used. When a competitor is behind by 1/10th of a second, it’s spoken about as if they are far behind. It’s like the leader has this commanding amount of time and space in front of the pack. Yet, they are all coming in at less than a second from each other. When you fully consider it, though, it’s a very small margin of error.

Have you ever experienced a similar feeling when selling? You’ve probably lost sales and thought to yourself, “If I had just done this one little thing, I would have gotten the sale”? Rarely do we say to ourselves, “Man, I blew that sale from start to finish. Big time!!” So, how is it that we miss little things, like 1/10th of a second at the Olympics, and lose sales?

The Neuroscience

When salespeople are trained, the emphasis is on following a process and procedure. I’ve taken many sales courses over my years in sales and sales management and they all follow similar processes. You have your steps 1 through 5, 6, 10 or however many they provide. The instructors all but guarantee that if you follow the process and procedures taught, you will get a much larger percentage of sales. If, after taking their training, you aren’t more successful in selling, then it’s because you didn’t follow their process and procedure as taught. It’s your fault. You fell back 1/10th of a second. This is all running in what is call the “Conscious” part of the mind.

What is happening in the other part of your mind, the “Unconscious” or “Subconscious”? This an important question, and here’s why: The conscious part of your mind runs at about 40 bits of information per second and can think in the range of 7-9 items at a time. Your unconscious mind runs as fast as 10 Petabytes per second and can consider an almost unlimited amount of information. Of everything going on around you at any point in time, your conscious mind is aware of 5% of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches occurring. Your unconscious mind records each and every sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch and has done so since before you were born.

No amount of sales training can cause your unconscious mind to engage. Processes and procedures are run by the linear thinking so-called “Left Brain” or conscious mind. So, how do you unlock this unlimited, but locked, mental potential? Just like the Olympic athletes, all top CEO’s and salespeople use meditation and/or visualization at some point each day. These allow the mind to go beyond the conscious and somewhat into the unconscious. It allows them to set intentions and see them becoming reality. However, this is only the beginning of what’s possible.

Dynamic Visualization

I’ve developed processes that takes people, some techniques specifically for salespeople, that unleashes their unconscious mind so that they have an unfair advantage over their competition. Dynamic Visualization incorporates facilitated and directed visualization, meditation, along with mindfulness, to get extraordinary results! My clients see immediate changes in their abilities to prospect, present, close, and follow up. They see tremendous positive changes in their sales in their first full sales cycle.

Do you want to be the Olympic athlete who has an unfair advantage and is outpacing the competitors with a “no excuses” for underperformance promise? Then go beyond 1/10th or even one full second past them with Dynamic Visualization today!

+++++++++++++++About Dr. Edward Lewellen++++++++++++++++

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of:

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

The 90-Second Mind Manager

Transformative Thinking/Edward Lewellen Testimonials

View this series of clients who experienced massive transformation quickly and listen to their ecstatic words that include growth and confidence!

The Expression on Your Face Makes a Difference in Your Business

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“Stone-Face”, “Stern-Face”, “Angry-Face”, “Happy-Face”, “Smiley Face”

“Half-Hearted”, “Aching Heart”, “Bleeding Heart”, “Courageous heart”

“Strong stomach”, “Butterflies in their stomach”, “Sick to your stomach”, “In the pit pf your stomach”

These are expressions we use almost daily and without any thought as to the true effect they have on us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. To give you an idea of the power they hold, new sciences have developed around their study, including Neurocardiology and Neurogastroenterology. You see, researchers have discovered that the heart holds about 40,000 neurons and the stomach about 100,000 neurons. Columbia University Medical Center even calls the stomach the “second brain”, although falling far short of the 100 billion neurons in the brain. Researchers also tells us that these neurons have no input on the conscious level, only at the unconscious level. This is why, like the expressions above, we refer to the information as a gut “feeling” or a “feeling” from the heart.

How does this translate into business? Employee Engagement? Culture? Increased job performance, and all other aspects?

Ask yourself, under what circumstances do people perform at their highest level? Under constant stress? Or, under an ongoing sense of safety? Here’s what science is discovering about how our Mind-Body connection works:

Eight out of 12 of the Cranial Nerves are used for creating the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), or Survival Mode, our fight-or-flight system. The other four are designed for the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the “At-Ease” nerves. When the eight cranial nerves of the Sympathetic Nervous System are employed continuously (Hectic lives filled with adrenaline rushes from caffeine, too many deadlines, and rush-hour traffic), here’s what happens:

1) Catabolism, meaning, breaking down. This can be physically, mentally, emotionally, and/or spiritually

2) Raising of Cortisol, which leads to

Severe fatigue.

Muscle weakness.

Depression, anxiety and irritability.

Loss of emotional control.

Cognitive difficulties.

New or worsened high blood pressure.

Headaches.

Bone loss, leading to fractures over time.

3) Risk for hypertension, heart attack or stroke

4) And, much more…

What is happening when the four Cranial Nerves related to the PNS are being activated?

1) Anabolism – constructive metabolism, a building up

2) Creativity is unleashed

3) Innovation can be tapped into

4) A sense of stability in all facets of life can be realized

5) Sustainable high performance can be achieved

Now, here’s the dilemma; With all the stress and pressure put on every level of organizations, how can leaders help their people go into the PNS? It can be as simple as a smile. The four Cranial Nerves are related to the eyes, ears/tongue/throat, facial expressions, and the Vagus Nerve, which extends from the base of the skull all the way into the gut. These Cranial Nerves are interconnected and influence each other. Here are a few examples:

1) You get that sinking feeling in your stomach and your facial expression instantly shows that feeling

2) You hear a pleasant sound and you feel your stomach relax

3) You smile and you instantly feel a sense of happiness

There have been many studies performed (Psychology Today) on how changing your facial expression impacts your being. One such study asks subjects to watch cartoons while holding a pencil in their mouth. Half of the subjects hold the pencil with the end between their lips, causing a frown. The other half hold the pencil length-ways in their mouth to cause a smile. The people holding the pencil length-ways always judge the cartoons a being much funnier than the other group. What the researchers found is that it doesn’t matter if the smile is genuine or forced, a smile changes the way people feel. This is because of the inter-connection between the mind/brain and body.

As Employee Engagement, Culture, creativity, and innovation are among some of the most discussed topics in business, consider how putting your people into an “At-Ease” state will result in much higher performance than the usual constant pressure-cooker state most organizations operate under. Remember, it may only take a smile!

Please feel free to comment and share this post!

+++++++++++++++About Dr. Edward Lewellen++++++++++++++++

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of:

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

The 90-Second Mind Manager

Words can hardly express the positive impact! (Notice her intensity!)

LINDA HAWES tells how Dr. Edward Lewellen has impacted her business and, more importantly, her life!

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

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The 90-Second Mind Manager

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Interview on “Create Success Radio”

This episode is a one-on-one interview with author, speaker, and master executive coach, Dr. Edward Lewellen. In this episode, Dr. Lewellen shares some powerful insights on life mastery from his new book, “Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life: You CAN Have it all!”

Massive Success in Business and Life!

One of my clients recently had extraordinary life and business-changing experiences while working with me. Watch the short video to learn more as she shares her outstanding story!!!

Beyond a Million Dollar Producer

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I have found it interesting to hear the stories from the Financial Advisers I’ve worked with, and those I haven’t, about their desire to produce a million dollars plus each year. Beyond the earnings, they want the prestige of being onstage, receiving accolades and awards, large bonuses and all the peripherals of being the top of the top producers.

In the past, they’ve hired the coaches others are hiring. They follow the same checklist of same strategies others are using. They try to imitate the others next to them in the office. All of this means they are getting the same results as all the others using those coaches and their strategies.

Interestingly, what they are doing is what they discourage their clients from doing; following a herd mentality. If you’re a Financial Adviser reading this, then you know what I’m talking about. You’ve had clients follow the free-fall when the stock market dips, adding to the velocity of the fall. You’ve had clients place an order for an investment which you knew wasn’t solid, yet, they had friends and relatives telling them that the stock was ‘the next big thing’. You’ve had clients follow the crowd and switch a portion of their portfolio to a Robo-Adviser with the desire to save on fees.

Because you are an Adviser, you encourage your clients to think for themselves and that their strategy is planned just for them, right? The strategy you put in place is to help them reach their personal goals, being aware of their risk tolerance, and other specific needs, wants, and desires they have, which the herd, the crowd, and the Robo-Advisers don’t take into account.

So, if you, as a Financial Adviser, discourage your clients from following the herd mentality, then why are you following the same mental process as so many others to build your book-of-business? If you want to become part of the elite in your industry, then it’s time to do what the elite do!

Like so many other aspects of life, business, sales, and sports, the difference between those that excel and those that are mediocre is mindset, not skill-set. You’ve seen two people use the same strategy, but, one is mediocre (at best) and the other is at the top of their company. What was the difference? Execution, internal drive, internal motivation. In other words, mindset; the internal dialog they have with themselves along with their beliefs about themselves and their abilities.

Other examples are the top CEO’s, top athletes, and top salespeople in the world. What do they do different than the herd following behind them? They train themselves mentally using visualization, meditation, and mindfulness. These tools are very powerful in themselves, but, when aggregated, they form an even more powerful tool, a tool so powerful that the results seem too good to be true. And, that’s what I have created and have used to help Financial Advisers produce results you would think are unbelievable…except, I have written and video testimonials to prove the outcomes!

One client was about to close his Financial Advisory practice when he decided to hire me before taking that major step. He had consulted with the usual coaches and mentors and still wasn’t able to get his practice where it needed to be. Why? He had negative “tapes” running in his head, which means that all the usual coaching, planning, and rah-rah speeches couldn’t work because those are all external. His problems were coming from inside his own mind, which means the solution had to come from the inside. After working with me, he said, “I definitely feel a strong sense of action. My hesitation and over analyzing have lessened.” 2 weeks later he closed his largest client ever worth $5.4 million! This client has since moved on to become a Partner in a financial firm.

Another client came to me about mid-way through 2014. His goal was to be at the top of his company by year’s end, yet, he had sold only $60,000 of services so far that year. In the following six months after working with me, this client sold $1.2 million in services! 20X the previous six months!

The last example I’ll share is of a Financial Adviser who was moving to a new broker. She needed to move $35 million of her book-of-business in 15 months to get a large bonus. Again, her internal belief system said she couldn’t do it. She had fear, doubt, and worry. After hearing me speak at an event, she called me, hired me, and in just two months sold $40 million from her book-of-business! (Had it not been for the new DOL regulation, it would have been just one month.)

Do you want to produce $1,000,000+ over the next 12 months? Then it’s time to do something different. Stop following the herd. Separate yourself from the crowd. And, when you decide to take this step now, be ready for your entire life to become everything you’ve wanted it to be…and, more!

Please feel free to comment and share this post!

+++++++++++++++About Dr. Edward Lewellen++++++++++++++++

Dr. Edward Lewellen is an expert in creating methodologies for people to learn to use their mind; their beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and put them back in control of their lives and become top-producers. He is a Master Executive Coach, leadership and sales expert, and keynote speaker for some of the largest global organizations.

Author of:

Life Mastery: The Fully Functional Life

The 90-Second Mind Manager