Always Be Listening, Learning and Helping
Always be listening, learning and helping.
In 2010, I had sold my eCommerce business and needed to figure out what I want to do when I grew up.
This was just shortly after the stock market crashed and the Great Recession had begun.
I decided to help aspiring entrepreneurs with buying a business.
For full disclosure, I stunk.
Honestly.
I was absolutely horrible!
My first call was with a gentleman in Minnesota who was looking to purchase a business.
Yet, he had no money to put down on the business.
However, I embarrassingly went into full blown sales mode.
With little to no sales experience, I had Alec Baldwin ringing in my head from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross when he was ripping apart his sales staff including Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon, with the famous line, “Always Be Closing”!!!
So I had a portfolio of hundreds of businesses to pitch and start pushing the cheapest that only required several thousand dollars to start.
The client said, “ that sounds great but I don’t have any money.”
Ignoring the client, I continued listing various businesses that had the lowest investment doing my best to make Alec Baldwin proud.
Especially since I wanted to do everything possible to avoid being deemed a “Loser” as Baldwin referred to his team.
I pushed on, refusing to take no for an answer.
Finally the client interrupts me and says, “you aren’t listening to me!”
Ouch!!
I had always prided myself of being a great listener as well as being a good friend with the sympathetic ear.
Here I am offending a client who has no financial resources.
I hung up with the client realizing I desperately need sales training.
Instead of “Always be closing”, I decided a new helpful tip was to “Always be closing…my mouth”.
I decided on a new approach: “Always Be Listening, Learning and Helping”.
Always Be Listening, Learning and Helping
It was Christmas time so I spent the holiday and New Year reading every book I could get me hands on and watching hours of Youtube videos on how to become successful in sales.
I stumbled on sales guru, Jeffrey Gitomer.
Jeffrey Gitomer became a mentor via watching his videos, buying his books and closely following his blog.
The best advice Jeffrey offered, “listen, give value first and ask really good questions”.
So simple, yet brilliant.
I went on a mission to work diligently on asking really good questions.
The better questions I asked, the more engaging and dynamic the conversations became.
It was 2010 and plenty on individuals looking to buy a business were victims of corporate downsizing.
It was very sad.
Some would share their life story, marriage, kids, and upside down career.
Many times their fears and insecurities.
Most were men in their late 40’s and early 50’s with kids in college or preparing for a child’s wedding.
They had mortgages, auto loans and credit card bills to pay.
Real estate prices had plunged, their 401k was down significantly and now they had no income.
They were terribly scared.
Many times I found myself playing therapist or counselor.
The key was to build trust.
Listen with the intent to understand. Not to respond.
Examine and gain a full understanding of the situation including…
- Background
- Concerns
- Family background
- Financial needs
- Goals
- Frustrations
- Fears
- Motivation
Always Be Closing…My Mouth
God gave me 2 ears and 1 mouth.
Therefore, I decided to keep that ratio.
Always be closing…my mouth helps to accomplish that goal.
Staying laser focused on:
- Listen
- Learn
- Help
Once I replaced Always be Closing with “Always Be Listening, Learning and Helping”, then business relationships and life certainly blossomed to an entirely new level.
Thank God I learned to this powerful strategy before it was too late.
Wrapping It Up
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