Latest / What is Business Development? / Episode 153: “Sales Without Being Pushy” with Laura Cohn
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Welcome to the Business Development Podcast, brought to you by
- 0:07Speaker 1: the Global Business Development Association, delivering the strategies and tactics
- 0:12Speaker 1: to boost your career and corporate growth.
- 0:23Speaker 2: Hello, BD pros, and welcome to the Global Business Development
- 0:27Speaker 2: Association podcast, And we're with our guest author today, Laura Cohn.
- 0:33Speaker 2: And today we're going to talk about a big challenge.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Some of you listening to this probably have this same challenge.
- 0:40Speaker 3: And here it is.
- 0:42Speaker 2: No matter how good you are at what you do,
- 0:45Speaker 2: people need to know about your business before they can
- 0:48Speaker 2: become your customers. If traditional sales training feels uncomfortable, which
- 0:53Speaker 2: it probably does, if it feels scripted, manipulative, you're probably
- 0:57Speaker 2: not alone. And today we're going to talk about Laura's
- 1:01Speaker 2: new book, Sales Without Being Pushy. And that takes a
- 1:06Speaker 2: very different approach. But before we get to Laura's approach,
- 1:11Speaker 2: we're going to talk about this approach. It's the business
- 1:14Speaker 2: development body of knowledge. You've listened to the show before.
- 1:17Speaker 2: You've heard me talk about it. This is the universal
- 1:19Speaker 2: guide to our profession. When you read the book, you
- 1:22Speaker 2: can then go to our website at gbdassociation.org. And you
- 1:29Speaker 2: can learn more about how you can get your business
- 1:32Speaker 2: development professional certification. Okay, so let me tell you a
- 1:37Speaker 2: little bit about Laura's book. It's called Sales Without Being Pushy.
- 1:43Speaker 2: And for 14 years and more, Laura has worked in
- 1:47Speaker 2: internet marketing sales and strategy, helping B2B and B2C businesses
- 1:52Speaker 2: grow through stronger positioning, more effective messaging, and marketing strategies
- 1:57Speaker 2: that create meaningful customer experiences. And she's done that through
- 2:04Speaker 2: more than 50,000 sales conversations and thousands of business owners.
- 2:10Speaker 2: Now this book, this book will help you write a
- 2:13Speaker 2: simple sales system that actually you can use without feeling
- 2:17Speaker 2: pushy or salesy or even fake. You know, most service
- 2:21Speaker 2: professionals and small business owners didn't start their businesses because
- 2:25Speaker 2: they wanted to become salespeople. And a lot of you
- 2:29Speaker 2: listening to this, you know, you started because you were
- 2:32Speaker 2: good at what you do. A lot of people go
- 2:34Speaker 2: into the business development professional from program management roles, just
- 2:40Speaker 2: like I did. And you weren't taught how to be
- 2:43Speaker 2: a business developer, and you certainly don't want to be pushy.
- 2:47Speaker 2: And so that's where this book can really help folks.
- 2:51Speaker 2: folks that care about helping people and really want to
- 2:54Speaker 2: make a difference. So it's great to have on our
- 2:58Speaker 2: show today somebody who's making a difference in our profession,
- 3:01Speaker 2: Laura Cohn.
- 3:01Speaker 3: Laura, welcome to the show.
- 3:03Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Tony. It's great to be here. Hi, everybody.
- 3:07Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great to have you here, Laura. Now, let
- 3:09Speaker 2: me ask you the same question I ask every author
- 3:11Speaker 2: who comes on this show. How did you get into
- 3:13Speaker 2: business development and why did you write the book?
- 3:16Speaker 4: Well, I was looking for a writing job, actually. My
- 3:19Speaker 4: husband knows I like writing. He said, look for a
- 3:21Speaker 4: writing job. And an internet marketing company put an ad
- 3:25Speaker 4: out looking for people who could write emails and talk
- 3:27Speaker 4: on the phone. And I thought, well, those are two
- 3:29Speaker 4: of my favorite things. So I applied and I got
- 3:32Speaker 4: the job. And I started as a project manager. And
- 3:36Speaker 4: then they quickly moved me up into sales because I
- 3:40Speaker 4: was helping people get things they needed and making more money.
- 3:43Speaker 4: So they were really happy about that. I wrote the book.
- 3:46Speaker 4: I joined a networking group and I volunteered to give
- 3:50Speaker 4: a talk on local SEO because I sold it for
- 3:52Speaker 4: so long and I know a lot about it. And
- 3:54Speaker 4: they came back to me and they said, would you
- 3:55Speaker 4: do a talk on sales without being pushy? And I said, sure,
- 3:59Speaker 4: I'll do that. And my sales approach didn't really come
- 4:02Speaker 4: from sales training. I didn't know sales was much of
- 4:05Speaker 4: a thing. It was more from my life experiences and
- 4:07Speaker 4: things that I do. And those are all in the workbook.
- 4:09Speaker 4: And as I was looking at these slides that I
- 4:11Speaker 4: was preparing, I got this idea, hey, this could help
- 4:14Speaker 4: other people. And I thought, well, that's an idea. How
- 4:18Speaker 4: could I make it help other people? And then the
- 4:21Speaker 4: idea of the workbook came along, and then it kind
- 4:23Speaker 4: of grew from there, and then it got published. That's great.
- 4:27Speaker 2: And you are officially the first author of a workbook
- 4:31Speaker 2: on this podcast. So I like that because the format
- 4:35Speaker 2: is more tactically oriented. And for folks that love to
- 4:38Speaker 2: listen to this show, they know that we always like
- 4:41Speaker 2: to talk about the top three tactical takeaways of from
- 4:44Speaker 2: the book author. So I'm really excited about jumping into
- 4:47Speaker 2: this format with you.
- 4:49Speaker 3: And again, folks, if.
- 4:50Speaker 2: You're just queuing into the show, we're talking with Laura Cohn,
- 4:55Speaker 2: the author of Sales Without Being Pushy. So Laura, let's
- 5:00Speaker 2: talk about the first tactical takeaway, the number one tactic
- 5:04Speaker 2: from your book.
- 5:04Speaker 4: What is it? So the first section starts out talking
- 5:08Speaker 4: about objections. And I think that's something that really makes
- 5:12Speaker 4: people's hearts sink when they're in sales. And so it's
- 5:15Speaker 4: understanding why do people have objections? And it's the same
- 5:18Speaker 4: reason why people buy. It's trust and value and timing.
- 5:22Speaker 4: Do they trust you? Are they seeing value in what
- 5:25Speaker 4: you're offering? And is it the right time for them
- 5:27Speaker 4: to buy it? And so when you understand who you're
- 5:30Speaker 4: selling to, why they need what you're really offering them
- 5:35Speaker 4: and when they need to buy it, you're in a
- 5:37Speaker 4: much better position to position, well, position twice, but you're
- 5:41Speaker 4: really in a better position to put yourself in front
- 5:43Speaker 4: of them in a way that makes them want to
- 5:45Speaker 4: buy from you because you're understanding their situation and they
- 5:48Speaker 4: can see that you know what you're talking about. And
- 5:51Speaker 4: if you go to Amazon to the book, they have
- 5:54Speaker 4: a read sample section where you can go through the
- 5:56Speaker 4: first 10 pages of the workbook and you can read
- 5:59Speaker 4: through that section and actually do those exercises for the
- 6:02Speaker 4: trust and value and timing so that's really a good
- 6:05Speaker 4: thing to do.
- 6:06Speaker 2: Yeah and folks listening to this you know i always
- 6:09Speaker 2: love to ask the authors their their top three takeaways
- 6:12Speaker 2: and what's working out great when laura and i were
- 6:15Speaker 2: talking in the green room before the podcast and she
- 6:17Speaker 2: says oh the first top three takeaways those are the
- 6:20Speaker 2: first three chapters of the book and so i think
- 6:23Speaker 2: in on amazon you could read those first three chapters
- 6:26Speaker 2: for free right laura Well.
- 6:28Speaker 4: It's the first two chapters that you get to read
- 6:31Speaker 4: and the first exercises. And then that'll give you enough
- 6:34Speaker 4: of an understanding if this is going to be the
- 6:36Speaker 4: right thing for you or not, because everybody has their
- 6:38Speaker 4: own style of how they want to do things. And
- 6:40Speaker 4: the workbook is designed to make it so your sales
- 6:43Speaker 4: approach is your style. It's who you are and how
- 6:45Speaker 4: you want to be when you're working with people and
- 6:49Speaker 4: doing what you're doing. So that way you can try
- 6:51Speaker 4: it out before you actually buy it.
- 6:53Speaker 2: Yeah, well, nobody likes a pushy business developer or a
- 6:57Speaker 2: book author. And you're actually living what you preach because
- 7:01Speaker 2: you're actually providing value up front so that you can
- 7:04Speaker 2: build trust with your readers. They can get a free
- 7:07Speaker 2: sample of tactic number one, which happens to be chapter
- 7:10Speaker 2: number one of Laura's book. And you could go right
- 7:13Speaker 2: on Amazon, get access to it and try it out
- 7:15Speaker 2: for yourself and actually implement tactic number one. And I
- 7:21Speaker 2: like how you start with the foundation of trust. Laura,
- 7:24Speaker 2: and that's where we start in the business development body
- 7:27Speaker 2: of knowledge. We start with a whole section on trust
- 7:31Speaker 2: because the first principle of our profession in business development
- 7:36Speaker 2: is built on trust. So I love the fact that
- 7:38Speaker 2: your book, Sales Without Being Pushy, starts with that same
- 7:42Speaker 2: fundamental first principle that guides all of us in our profession.
- 7:47Speaker 2: And so kudos to you for doing that. And really,
- 7:50Speaker 2: that's the foundational first chapter of And you're doing that
- 7:55Speaker 2: in the context of understanding your customers, who they are
- 7:59Speaker 2: and what they want to be able to accomplish. And
- 8:02Speaker 2: there's actual science in understanding trust. And it's a brain
- 8:07Speaker 2: chemical cocktail that's all triggered by three activities. One is
- 8:12Speaker 2: understanding purpose, empathy, and delivering with truth. And all three of.
- 8:17Speaker 3: Those really, really help build trust.
- 8:20Speaker 2: And that's interesting how you start with, understanding your audience,
- 8:25Speaker 2: your customers, where do they want to get to? Because
- 8:29Speaker 2: you instantly come across as pushy if you show up
- 8:32Speaker 2: and you're just plowing through your own agenda and you're
- 8:35Speaker 2: not even addressing the needs of your prospect, right? Yeah.
- 8:40Speaker 4: And what's interesting is that the reasons why people buy
- 8:42Speaker 4: is the same reasons why people don't buy. If they
- 8:46Speaker 4: don't trust you, they don't see the value. And if
- 8:47Speaker 4: the timing's not right, they're not going to give you
- 8:49Speaker 4: any money.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think, you know, you hear this kind
- 8:53Speaker 2: of phrase of people only buy from people they know, like,
- 8:56Speaker 2: and trust. I think, unfortunately, people index too much on
- 9:00Speaker 2: the like part. They focus too much on the like part,
- 9:03Speaker 2: you know, building rapport and things like that. And, you know,
- 9:07Speaker 2: what people would characterize as quote unquote schmoozing. But that's
- 9:10Speaker 2: not business development. As you say, it is about delivering value.
- 9:16Speaker 2: And then in so doing, truthfully delivering that value, you're
- 9:20Speaker 2: building the trust, right? Yeah.
- 9:23Speaker 4: Well, and also when you're explaining things, you know, right
- 9:26Speaker 4: now a lot of people use video. So if you
- 9:29Speaker 4: have a business and you're showing people how you're making things,
- 9:32Speaker 4: they see the care that's going into it. They see
- 9:34Speaker 4: how things are put together, what you're doing. They see
- 9:37Speaker 4: the value in that. They're going to want to work
- 9:39Speaker 4: with you because they see how you're working. And it's
- 9:43Speaker 4: more than just, well, we do good work. Well, what
- 9:46Speaker 4: does that mean? and understanding what the customer is really
- 9:49Speaker 4: looking at. And there's a lot more research that people
- 9:52Speaker 4: are doing now with AI and access to resources information.
- 9:58Speaker 4: So they're just very information with you. They're just making
- 10:02Speaker 4: sure that you're putting together all the things that they
- 10:05Speaker 4: learned already. So they're not relying on you so much
- 10:08Speaker 4: for the information. They want to make sure that you
- 10:10Speaker 4: really are the person who knows what they're doing. Yeah.
- 10:14Speaker 2: And understanding how you go about your work, I think
- 10:18Speaker 2: is pretty important. Like you said, the videos that kind
- 10:20Speaker 2: of show the behind the scenes of how things are
- 10:23Speaker 2: produced and the care and effort that you put into
- 10:25Speaker 2: them is powerful.
- 10:27Speaker 3: What would you say to folks that are.
- 10:29Speaker 2: In the professional services industries where you can't really see
- 10:33Speaker 2: what goes on behind the scenes per se? Would you
- 10:35Speaker 2: advocate for them having maybe a podcast or something where
- 10:38Speaker 2: they're talking about stories as opposed to something like a
- 10:41Speaker 2: manufacturing business that can actually show the production line?
- 10:45Speaker 4: There are a couple of things. A podcast is great
- 10:48Speaker 4: when you can get on, you can talk to people
- 10:50Speaker 4: about what things you're doing. You can do before and
- 10:52Speaker 4: after pictures, and that's always really nice. You can do
- 10:55Speaker 4: really nice articles. You can write blogs and explain things
- 10:58Speaker 4: to people and provide the information that people are asking
- 11:02Speaker 4: questions about. When you're a source of knowledge, then people
- 11:06Speaker 4: are going to be trusting you because they learned from you. Yeah, yeah.
- 11:11Speaker 2: Let me add one thing to that list that you
- 11:14Speaker 2: just gave. You could also write a book. And if
- 11:15Speaker 2: you're interested in reading a really good book about this process,
- 11:19Speaker 2: you can check out Laura's book.
- 11:21Speaker 3: It's Sales Without Being Pushy.
- 11:23Speaker 2: Okay, Laura, let's jump into tactic number two, which just
- 11:27Speaker 2: happens to be chapter number two from your book.
- 11:30Speaker 3: So what's that?
- 11:31Speaker 4: It's about your sales process. Have one. If you don't
- 11:35Speaker 4: and review your sales process, you want to make sure
- 11:38Speaker 4: that you have a consistent way of showing people who
- 11:42Speaker 4: you are and what you do. You want to always
- 11:44Speaker 4: be consistent in your customer experience. And so you want
- 11:48Speaker 4: to know how you're going to start talking to someone.
- 11:53Speaker 4: If it's going to be a phone call, if their
- 11:55Speaker 4: first introduction to you is responding with an email, you
- 11:58Speaker 4: want to make sure that you have the same routine
- 12:01Speaker 4: over and over again. And there are a few reasons why.
- 12:03Speaker 4: It's very, very easy to know where you're going in
- 12:06Speaker 4: a conversation when it's laid out to you. You don't
- 12:09Speaker 4: have to try to guess or figure out. And if
- 12:11Speaker 4: you have someone you're talking to go off into a tangent,
- 12:15Speaker 4: it's very easy with one question to get them back
- 12:17Speaker 4: where you need to be. You're never going to be lost.
- 12:20Speaker 4: And you're always going to be able to bring things
- 12:22Speaker 4: back to, okay, so now we understand what you need.
- 12:25Speaker 4: Now we understand what we can provide that will help
- 12:27Speaker 4: you with what you need. Let's talk about your budget.
- 12:31Speaker 4: Let's talk about what we need to how to make
- 12:33Speaker 4: this work. And then it's not, Hey, buy from me.
- 12:37Speaker 4: It's more of, all right, let's find the best solution.
- 12:40Speaker 4: And there were times when I was selling where I
- 12:43Speaker 4: wasn't trying to get someone to buy anything from me
- 12:45Speaker 4: because it wasn't going to work. And so when you
- 12:49Speaker 4: take the time through a sales process and it's a
- 12:52Speaker 4: step-by-step thing, it works really well. And I got this
- 12:56Speaker 4: from flying airplanes because when, I flew airplanes when I
- 13:01Speaker 4: was younger, and this is in the workbook. We had
- 13:04Speaker 4: checklists and we had procedures. And that was what kept
- 13:07Speaker 4: you safe. And that's what kept you flying. That's when
- 13:11Speaker 4: you knew you had gas in the tank. That's when
- 13:13Speaker 4: you knew that the wheels were okay before you even
- 13:15Speaker 4: got in. You knew where you were going before you
- 13:17Speaker 4: took off. And so applying those kinds of principles to
- 13:21Speaker 4: what you're doing in a sales call gives you a
- 13:23Speaker 4: lot of comfort because you're not wondering what you're doing.
- 13:27Speaker 4: You know exactly what you're doing and why. Yeah.
- 13:31Speaker 2: Well, we had those when I was in the Navy
- 13:32Speaker 2: as well in engineering, and we would routinely practice engineering
- 13:38Speaker 2: plant casualties. And we would have essentially the same checkbooks
- 13:44Speaker 2: that you had, checkoff books or check sheets that we
- 13:47Speaker 2: would use.
- 13:48Speaker 3: That are standard procedures.
- 13:50Speaker 2: And when the adrenaline starts pumping, your brain has a
- 13:55Speaker 2: very hard time focusing and remembering key elements. And so, yes,
- 14:01Speaker 2: it's great to memorize things. Some folks may think they
- 14:05Speaker 2: could go into a discussion with a prospect and just
- 14:08Speaker 2: kind of wing it, but that's not the way you
- 14:12Speaker 2: can survive when things go sideways. And so it's good
- 14:17Speaker 2: to have these checklists to kind of take you through
- 14:19Speaker 2: those points when your adrenaline's pumping and you can't quite focus.
- 14:23Speaker 2: And then you can get back to those anchors that
- 14:25Speaker 2: help you get back on track. Get back to the
- 14:30Speaker 2: level and then also help kind of determine where are
- 14:35Speaker 2: we going from here? You know, let me let me
- 14:37Speaker 2: understand what my my next steps are. And as you said,
- 14:40Speaker 2: I like what you said, too, about sometimes there is
- 14:43Speaker 2: no next step. Sometimes you're just not the right product
- 14:48Speaker 2: for your prospect. And you should just stop right there
- 14:51Speaker 2: because you've done all the thinking beforehand. You know that
- 14:55Speaker 2: if you've got to this point, it's a no go
- 14:57Speaker 2: moving forward. And I think that's a trust building element
- 15:01Speaker 2: too for your prospects.
- 15:02Speaker 3: Because they see that. They see the truth of you saying,
- 15:06Speaker 3: you know what?
- 15:07Speaker 2: This isn't going to work. It's nothing against you. It's
- 15:11Speaker 2: just I have to tell you the truth. We can't
- 15:13Speaker 2: go anywhere from here. But let me help you out.
- 15:15Speaker 3: Maybe I can refer you to somebody else or whatnot, right?
- 15:19Speaker 2: Yes.
- 15:19Speaker 4: And that actually happened to me with a guy and
- 15:23Speaker 4: he was looking at SEO and it wasn't going to
- 15:25Speaker 4: be good. He had a rental condo for vacations. And
- 15:30Speaker 4: the amount it would cost to try to get rankings
- 15:32Speaker 4: would have taken his entire profit from his condo. And
- 15:35Speaker 4: I was honest with him. And he said, you know,
- 15:37Speaker 4: I really agree with you after he thought about it.
- 15:39Speaker 4: And he came back and he said, but I work
- 15:41Speaker 4: for a company that needs a website and Google ads
- 15:44Speaker 4: and social media and local and SEO. So can I
- 15:47Speaker 4: have you talk to the owner of the company? And
- 15:49Speaker 4: I got a really big deal out of it because
- 15:51Speaker 4: I was honest with him. So you never know when
- 15:54Speaker 4: you're telling someone the truth. how that's going to come
- 15:57Speaker 4: back for you. And your point about winging it, I
- 16:00Speaker 4: had plenty of sales reps that I worked with, some
- 16:03Speaker 4: that I managed, where they like to wing it. And
- 16:06Speaker 4: winging it, you can get away with when everything is good.
- 16:09Speaker 4: But like what you said, if your adrenaline's going or
- 16:11Speaker 4: something happens, that's where you need the process. It's when
- 16:14Speaker 4: things aren't going well that the process saves you even more.
- 16:18Speaker 4: And when you have the practice, it's just easier. Yeah,
- 16:22Speaker 4: it is. It is.
- 16:23Speaker 2: Okay, Laura, let's bring this plane in for a landing
- 16:27Speaker 2: here on the final key tactic or takeaway from your book. Again, folks,
- 16:32Speaker 2: it's Sales Without Being Pushy. That's the name of Laura's book.
- 16:35Speaker 2: It's available on Amazon. Okay, Laura, what is number three?
- 16:40Speaker 4: So the third section is really getting clear on your
- 16:43Speaker 4: core values and your mission statement. And that is something
- 16:47Speaker 4: I looked at a lot of websites when I was
- 16:49Speaker 4: doing internet marketing sales. And one thing that I saw
- 16:52Speaker 4: as a common thread is that really, really successful businesses
- 16:56Speaker 4: all had their mission statement and their core values clearly
- 16:59Speaker 4: displayed on their website. And it was a guidepost for
- 17:02Speaker 4: them because when you have a mission statement, you know
- 17:05Speaker 4: what you're doing and why. And what happened as a
- 17:08Speaker 4: result of doing this workbook is I had to work
- 17:10Speaker 4: on my mission statement a little more. And mine is
- 17:13Speaker 4: to make sales and marketing more enjoyable for service professionals
- 17:16Speaker 4: and small business owners. And, Now I can use that
- 17:20Speaker 4: in a networking meeting and people won't think I'm pushy
- 17:23Speaker 4: because I'm just telling people the result of what I'm
- 17:26Speaker 4: able to do. And because I'm clear on that, I
- 17:29Speaker 4: know who I'm talking to and why. And I don't
- 17:32Speaker 4: try to go out of my lane because that doesn't work.
- 17:38Speaker 4: It helps to define who you're serving and it helps
- 17:40Speaker 4: people understand whether or not they're the right fit for you.
- 17:44Speaker 4: So you want to have that. And your core values
- 17:46Speaker 4: are also really important for people to connect with you
- 17:49Speaker 4: on because that's going to build trust.
- 17:53Speaker 2: Yeah, I like how it's kind of a full circle
- 17:55Speaker 2: from tactic number one to tactic number three. They kind
- 17:58Speaker 2: of feed each other. Yes, you should understand who your
- 18:01Speaker 2: prospects are. But a big part of that is kind
- 18:04Speaker 2: of this effort of understanding your processes and then kind
- 18:09Speaker 2: of feeding into it. with what is your purpose and
- 18:13Speaker 2: your core values, and those kind of then also help
- 18:16Speaker 2: you refine who your prospects are over time. I tell you,
- 18:21Speaker 2: I have a bone to pick, a bone of contention
- 18:24Speaker 2: when it comes to some of the mission statements and
- 18:26Speaker 2: core values I see on websites, because you read them
- 18:28Speaker 2: and you look at them and you think, I have
- 18:31Speaker 2: no idea what that means. They're either long-winded or just
- 18:36Speaker 2: these lofty things. What kind of advice can you give
- 18:38Speaker 2: to folks to really create effective mission statements and core values?
- 18:45Speaker 4: So the core values, you want to write everything that
- 18:49Speaker 4: you can, get it all out. And then it's going
- 18:52Speaker 4: to be blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Cause that's what
- 18:54Speaker 4: I had. And then I went to chat GPT and
- 18:56Speaker 4: I said, okay, give me the most successful companies and
- 19:00Speaker 4: what are their mission statements? They were one sentence. Patagonia
- 19:04Speaker 4: was make the world a better place. And if you
- 19:06Speaker 4: look at these, it's one thing that you can say.
- 19:09Speaker 4: And so when you have everything written down, if you
- 19:12Speaker 4: don't know how to bring it down into one statement,
- 19:15Speaker 4: give it to an AI thing and say, make this
- 19:17Speaker 4: a one statement mission statement for me and make it
- 19:20Speaker 4: connect with my target audience. So your mission statement should
- 19:24Speaker 4: explain what you do as a result. So for me,
- 19:27Speaker 4: it's making sales and marketing more enjoyable. Who am I
- 19:30Speaker 4: doing that for? Service professionals and small business owners. You
- 19:34Speaker 4: keep it really simple. If you look at my core values,
- 19:36Speaker 4: there's God, there's family, there's work, and there's three words
- 19:41Speaker 4: after each one of them because I wanted to keep
- 19:44Speaker 4: it very simple. And people can relate to that.
- 19:49Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 19:49Speaker 3: And they know what your priorities are.
- 19:51Speaker 2: And not only that, those are good rapport building opportunities
- 19:54Speaker 2: for people to kind of understand who you are, what's
- 19:56Speaker 2: important for you in your life.
- 19:57Speaker 3: And yeah, I like that. I really like that.
- 20:01Speaker 2: Okay, Laura, let me, if I may, just kind of
- 20:05Speaker 2: summarize the top three takeaways from your book. And that
- 20:11Speaker 2: the name of the book, folks, again, it's called Sales
- 20:13Speaker 2: Without Being Pushy from Laura Cohn. And so Laura, let
- 20:17Speaker 2: me start off with summarize tactic number one. The first
- 20:20Speaker 2: thing is understand who your prospects are. Really understand what
- 20:24Speaker 2: drives them. What's their purpose?
- 20:27Speaker 3: What do they need?
- 20:29Speaker 2: Understanding how you can deliver value to them. What do
- 20:31Speaker 2: they find is valuable? The second key takeaway we talked
- 20:35Speaker 2: about was building a process. Those processes are are great
- 20:38Speaker 2: because they help you prepare, but also in a very
- 20:42Speaker 2: difficult time of need, those will be the things that
- 20:45Speaker 2: help guide you right back to a level playing field
- 20:50Speaker 2: and an understanding of where you can go to next.
- 20:52Speaker 2: And then finally, it's kind of this full circle where
- 20:56Speaker 2: you start off with your purpose, your core values, and
- 21:01Speaker 2: those then help inform right back to tactic number one,
- 21:06Speaker 2: how you're going to approach these prospects. So understanding your prospect,
- 21:11Speaker 2: building those processes and understanding your own purpose, your mission,
- 21:15Speaker 2: your core values in life.
- 21:17Speaker 3: Laura, did I miss anything? Anything you'd like to add?
- 21:19Speaker 4: I would say for somebody who doesn't feel comfortable selling,
- 21:26Speaker 4: you can do it comfortably and be yourself. And the
- 21:30Speaker 4: workbook will help you sit down and look at things
- 21:33Speaker 4: so you can understand what your customers are thinking and
- 21:36Speaker 4: and how you need to approach them for you being yourself.
- 21:39Speaker 4: And it makes it very easy to do and you
- 21:43Speaker 4: can have fun with it.
- 21:45Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 21:46Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 21:46Speaker 2: Well, for folks who have listened to this show, you're
- 21:48Speaker 2: speaking music to our ears because, um, sales is selling
- 21:53Speaker 2: business development is giving, and you've given us so much
- 21:57Speaker 2: to work with here, Laura, how can folks connect with you,
- 22:02Speaker 2: follow your work and get access to your book again?
- 22:06Speaker 4: The book is on Amazon. You can look for sales
- 22:09Speaker 4: without being pushy. You can put my name down on
- 22:11Speaker 4: there if you want to. You can go to my website, 416sales. com
- 22:15Speaker 4: or email me at laura at 416sales. com. And my social
- 22:21Speaker 4: media is on there. I've got blogs with different articles
- 22:24Speaker 4: about different subjects and you can learn what you want
- 22:27Speaker 4: to learn. All right.
- 22:29Speaker 2: Well, we learned a lot from you today. Thank you
- 22:31Speaker 2: so much for everything you've done in giving to the
- 22:34Speaker 2: business development profession, Laura. And folks, again, grab yourself a
- 22:38Speaker 2: copy of Sales Without Being Pushy by Laura Cohen.
- 22:42Speaker 3: Laura, thank you for joining us on the show today.
- 22:45Speaker 4: Thank you so much. It's really been a pleasure.
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