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By Michael Port

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

—Sir Winston Churchill

(LINK TO AUDIO RECORDING BELOW.)

Building Relationships of Trust

All sales start with a simple conversation. It may be a conversation between you and a potential client or customer, between one of your clients and a potential referral, between one of your colleagues and a potential referral, or between your website and a potential client. An effective sales cycle is based on turning these simple conversations into relationships of trust with your potential clients over time. We know that people buy from those they like and trust. This is never truer than for the professional service provider.

If you don’t have trust, then it doesn’t matter how well you’ve planned, what you’re offering, or whether you’ve created a wide variety of buying options to meet varying budgets. If a potential client doesn’t trust you, nothing else matters. They aren’t going to buy from you—period. If you think about it, this may be one of the main reasons you say you hate marketing and selling. You may be trying to sell to people with whom you have not yet built enough trust. All sales offers must be proportionate to the amount of trust that you’ve earned.

What are your potential clients thinking?

• Do they really believe you can deliver what you say you can?
• Do they trust you to hold their personal information confidential?
• Do they like the people who work for you?
• Do they feel safe with you?
• Do they believe hiring you will give them a significant return on their investment?

If you want a perpetual stream of inspiring and life-fulfilling ideal clients clamoring for your services and products, then just remember—all sales start with a simple conversation and are executed when a need is met and the appropriate amount of trust is assured.

You might find value in this audio recording of an interview I did on how to create your own sales cycle process. It should help you turn strangers into friends and friends into clients. Oh, I also attempt to bust some social media myths on the recording.

By Michael Port

Imagine this scenario: A potential client asks a yoga teacher what she does. She says, “I’m a yoga teacher.” Before she knows what’s happened, she see the potential client’s face contort, his left eyebrow lifts along with the left side of his upper lip, and his nostrils begin to flare. The potential client says, “Oh, yeah . . . I had a yoga teacher as a neighbor once. She was really weird and made my life miserable. In fact, I had to move out of that apartment because of her and I loved that apartment! She had scores of people coming in and out at all hours of the day, blasting strange music and chanting like the world was about to end—I think they must have been members of a cult. Oh, and you wouldn’t believe the awful smell that I was subjected to from the perpetual cloud of incense that invaded my home.”

Uh-oh.

Would you like to get that kind of response when you tell someone what you do? This can happen to any service professional, not just to a yoga teacher. Say a stock broker meets someone whose only introduction to stock brokers has been the movie Boiler Room (a movie that came out in 2000 about stock brokers who try to swindle innocent people out of their life’s savings). Not a pretty picture.

How much more are you than your professional title? Your Book Yourself Solid Dialogue will allow you to set yourself apart from everyone else whose professional title is the same as yours. It provides you with the opportunity to highlight the ways in which you and your services, prod­ucts, and programs are unique—and do so with passion—and without using an elevator speech. Yes, you heard me, without using an elevator speech.

The elevator speech (AKA: the elevator pitch or 30-second commercial) reflects the idea that it should be possible to wow someone with what you do in the time it takes an elevator to go from the 1^st to the 5^th floor.

I’ve been polling audiences of thousands for years on this issue. During each speech I ask, “How many of you love, love, love listening to someone else’s elevator speech?” No hands go up. I then ask, “How many of you love, love, love giving your elevator speech?” Same thing. No hands. So what gives? If we don’t like listening to or giving the speech, why is it still being taught? Because, of course, we need to be able to talk about what we do—I get the concept. However, in this case, the elevator speech has been inappropriately appropriated by the service professional. Not only does it not work well, it makes us look foolish, or worse yet, obnoxious.

The elevator pitch was born so that the entrepreneur could pitch an idea to a venture capitalist or angel investor in the hopes of receiving funding, not for the service professional to try and build a relationship of trust with a potential client. Venture capitalists often judge the quality of an idea on the basis of the quality of its elevator pitch. Makes perfect sense, in that situation. But this is not how a relationship develops between a client and a service professional. You’re trying to earn the status of a trusted adviser not trying to raise money to create some new product like metal detecting sandals. Totally different context. Totally different dynamic.

To support my beautiful community of service professionals, I’m on a mission to kill the elevator speech, to remove it from the business vernacular—for the service professional. I hope you’ll join me on this mission and learn how to talk about what you do without ever resorting to an elevator speech. So, what do you do instead?

Use this crazy concept that I call a conversation. Weird, I know. But go with me for a second here and consider using the Book Yourself Solid Dialogue, a creative—but not scripted!—conversation that will spark curiosity and interest about you and your services, products, and programs.

The Book Yourself Solid Dialogue will allow you to have a meaningful conversation (conversation being the operative word) with a potential client or referral source. The dialogue is a dynamic, lively description of the people you help, what challenges they face, how you help them, and the results and benefits they get from your services. It is intended to replace the static, boring, and usual response to the question, “What do you do?” “I’m a business consultant, “I’m a massage therapist,” or “I’m a graphic designer.” Answers which often elicit nothing more than a polite nod, comment, or awkward silence and a blank stare. Once you get that response, anything more you say about yourself or your services will sound pushy. Worse yet, you could supplement the rote answer with an overblown, high-highfalutin, hyperbole-laden elevator speech that’s supposed to make you look like a rock star in 30 seconds. Unfortunately, I doubt the one-two punch of boring answer, followed by excessively exuberant elevator pitch is going to compel the listener to whip out their credit card right then and there.

Instead you’ll learn the Book Yourself Solid way to create a meaningful, connected dialogue with a potential client or referral source. Think of it as a conversation between two people each of whom actually cares about what the other has to say. The beautiful thing is that the interchange is based on successfully understanding why people buy what you’re selling.

And because you read Book Yourself Solid (Hint. Wink. Wink.), you already know why people buy what you’re selling.

By Michael Port

Here is the Day 2 Fearful2Fabulous transcript from a tele-seminar I did with Amy Palmer on how to get more clients and book yourself solid. Also included in the PDF is the transcript from tele-seminars on how to get more referrals with David Frey and how to raise your celebrity profile with Meredith Liepelt. You can also listen to the audio recording. Enjoy!

By Michael Port

Successful Selling Needs The Right Amount of Trust At Just The Right Time

It’s no accident that I introduce sales in Book Yourself Solid in Chapter 9—after I’ve taught you how to set your foundation and build trust and credibility. One of the reasons that so many sales conversations are unsuccessful is because they’re had at the wrong time—usually too soon—before you’ve earned the proportionate amount of trust needed for the offer being made. Plus, your clients’ buy when it’s right for them—when something occurs in their life or business that compels them to hire you. If these two factors, trust and timing, come together at just the right moment, you’ll have a successful sales conversation and book the business. But this only works if you’ve built a solid foundation, demonstrating that you:

• Have a red velvet rope policy so you work only with ideal clients.
• Understand why people buy what you’re selling so you know exactly to whom you are selling and what they want to invest in.
• Have developed a personal brand identity so you decide how you’re known in the world.
• Are able to talk about what you do without sounding confusing or bland, or like everybody else, and without ever using an elevator speech.

If you’ve set this foundation, a potential client will give you the opportunity to earn their trust. But you’ll only earn their trust if you:

• Use the standard credibility builders and have a high degree of likeability.
• Have designed a sales cycle that starts with no-barrier-to-entry offers including your always-have-something-to-invite-people-to offer.
• Have simple lead generating information products that enhance your credibility and speed up your sales cycle.

Then, and realy only then, are you ready to have sales conversations—that work.

The Secret to the Book Yourself Solid System

This simple 4-step process is the secret to the Book Yourself Solid system.

1. You execute a few of the 7 Core Self-Promotion strategies, which create awareness for what you have to offer.
2. When a potential client becomes aware of your services they’ll take a look at your foundation. If it looks secure, if they feel comfortable stepping onto it, they’ll give you the opportunity to earn their trust—but only the opportunity. They’re not necessarily going to hire you right then and there. They need some time before they will actually trust you.
3. That’s when your plan to build trust and credibility comes into play. As a potential client moves through your sales cycle, they will come to like you, trust you and find you credible.
4. When their circumstances dictate that they need the kind of help you provide, they’ll raise their hand and ask you to have a sales conversation (I’ll teach you this in a minute). You have a sales conversation the Book Yourself Solid way and book the business.

The process is simple. The process is sound. It can turn your business life around. And, most importantly, the process is a complete, repetitive, and self-perpetuating system.

The Super Simple Selling System

Now, let’s talk about how to have the sales conversation. I’ve created, the 4-Part Sales Formula for super simple selling—so simple the formula practically works on its own. Why? Because, once trust is assured and a need is met, using this 4 part formula during your sales conversations will book the business. But, please remember, this is meant to be an open and free-flowing conversation not a sales script.

Book Yourself Solid 4-Part Sales Formula

When a potential client expresses interest in working with you, open with a simple question…

Part 1: What are you working on? Or, what is your goal? Or, what are you trying to achieve?

Once you feel certain you know what they want to accomplish and by when, simply ask…

Part 2: How will you know when you have achieved it?  What results will you see? What feedback will you hear? What feelings will you have?

Once you feel like the potential client has clearly articulated these benefits, make sure they are fully in the hiring ­frame of mind, ask…

Part 3: Would you like someone to help you with that (achieve your goal, etc.)?

If they say, “no,” wish them the best of luck and keep-in-touch with them. If they say, “yes,” then offer…

Part 4: Would you like that person to be me? Because, you know, you are my ideal client. (To which they’ll say, “what do you mean?” Because no one has ever said that to them before.) Well, you are someone with whom I do my best work. (They’ll ask “why?” and you’ll tell them…) Because you are… (Here is where you list the qualities that make them who they are and allow you to do your best work.) As, you’re listing these qualities you’ll see their face brighten as they sit up strait and say, “Wow. That is so me! Thank you for noticing.” You’ll say, so shall we look at our calendars to plan a time to get started? And, the answer will be…drumroll please… “Absolutely, yes!”

Don’t use the phrases above verbatim. Instead just use the Book Yourself Solid 4-Part Sales Formula as a framework for a superduper simple (successful) sales conversation.

Written Exercise: Practice without pressure. Try this process with a good friend or colleague and see what happens. Ask them to call you at random a few times over the course of a week and say, “Hi, I’ve been getting your newsletter for a while and I think you may be able to help me, can we talk about your services?” And, instead of doing that thing that everyone does—talk about themselves and their business for 20 minutes—ask them what they’re working on or what they’re trying to achieve or what problem they’re trying to overcome, and you’ll be into Part 1 of the Book Yourself Solid 4-Part Sales Formula. Super simple.

By Michael Port

1. Long after people forget what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. – Carl W. Buechner
2. When you’re fully self-expressed, fully demonstrating your values and your views, you’ll naturally attract and draw to yourself those you’re best suited to work with, and you’ll push away those you’re not meant to work with.
3. Marketing and sales isn’t about trying to convince, coerce, or manipulate people into buying your services. It’s about putting yourself out in front of, and offering your services to, those whom you are meant to serve — people who already need and are looking for your services.
4. You must offer what your potential clients want to buy, not what you want to sell or think they should want to buy. You must be able to look at your services from your client’s perspective—their urgent needs and compelling desires.
5. The greatest strategy for personal and business development on the planet is bold self-expression.
6. If you don’t want to make a difference, consider making y our living as something other than a service professional. The operative word is service.
7. We hear the question, “What do you do for a living?” all the time. Your professional category alone is the wrong answer.
8. When you’re passionate and excited about what you do and you let it show, it’s incredibly attractive. Real passion can’t be faked and there’s nothing more appealing and convincing than knowing someone is speaking from the heart.
9. Begin to think of and refer to yourself as a category authority—an expert in your field.
10. You are in the business of serving other people as you stand in the service of your destiny and express yourself through your work.
11. If you’ve been feeling like you can’t, or shouldn’t, be paid to do what you love, you must let that limiting belief go if you’re to be booked solid.
12. A connection with another human being means that you’re in sync with, and relevant to each other. Let that be our definition of networking.
13. If you feel called to share a message, it’s because there are people in the world who are waiting to hear it.
14. There are certain people you’re meant to serve and others you’re not. If you can help other professionals attract business through you, you’re creating more abundance for everyone involved.

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