Latest / Profit With A Plan / EP312: The Sales Engine That Scales – With Alan Versteeg

Transcript

EP312: The Sales Engine That Scales – With Alan Versteeg · Profit With A Plan

• 0:11
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Alan Verstig turned, turned his analytical mind into sales superpower, using the law of cause and effect to crack the code on performance, leadership and scalable growth
• 0:23
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: from licensing spin selling in Africa to training 2,000 sales managers across 45 countries.
• 0:30
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Alan's journey is anything but ordinary
• 0:33
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: in our recent episode of profit with a plan, podcast you'll discover how the sales engine every entrepreneur needs to scale beyond themselves
• 0:43
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: how to let go and empower others without sacrificing results.
• 0:48
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: and why sales management, not just sales, reps, drives, lasting growth.
• 0:53
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So if you're ready to build a team that sells without you in the room. And that's the key. This episode delivers real strategies with Alan's signature, candor and clarity.
• 1:06
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Hey, entrepreneurs. Are you working too hard for too little profit?
• 1:10
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Welcome to profit with a plan podcast where we help you scale smarter increase profitability and build a system or business that's worth more, whether you keep it or sell it.
• 1:21
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I'm Marcia Reiner, business growth strategist and profit booster behind infinite profit. I've helped countless entrepreneurs to turn their businesses into highly profitable and sale ready assets. So they enjoy more income now, and a bigger payday later. So join me for practical strategies, expert insights, and proven steps to make your business more profitable, more valuable and built to last.
• 1:46
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Today's episode is sponsored by infinite profit. Where we don't just talk profit. We deliver it.
• 1:52
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But before we dive in, I've got something special for you.
• 1:56
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: If you're a business owner who's tired of overcomplicated overpriced marketing strategies that just don't deliver. Listen up!
• 2:04
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: What if you? There was a simple and affordable way to market your business that actually works
• 2:10
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: the profit booster marketing hub is your all-in-one marketing system, built specifically for busy entrepreneurs who want real results without hiring a full team or wrestling the tech.
• 2:21
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's automated, intuitive, and it comes with, loaded with pre-designed templates, crm social media tools, email, text automation, and much more everything you need to capture, nurture and close those leads.
• 2:35
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So if you're ready for a low-cost. Easy to use marketing system that gets the job done, visit profitboosterbiz. And let's make your marketing more profitable.
• 2:45
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: All right, let's jump into today's episode. Today's guest brings a unique and powerful perspective to the world of sales leadership.
• 2:53
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Alan Versteeg is a engineer, turned sales management expert who 1st encountered the world of sales with a healthy dose of skepticism.
• 3:03
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But it wasn't long before he discovered how engineering principles of cause and effect could transform your sales results and turn teams into high-performing engines of growth.
• 3:13
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Alan went on to co-found growth matters, an organization that has trained over 2,000 sales managers in 45 countries across a wide range of industries.
• 3:23
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: His work helps entrepreneurs and sales. Leaders scale sustainably by focusing on one lever that is often overlooked. The effective sales management. Welcome to the show, Alan. I'm so excited to have you on.
• 3:38
  Alan Versteeg: Nice to be here. Marcia.
• 3:40
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yeah, so it's interesting that you went from something that is so analytical and color inside the lines of engineering, and then went into the flow and naturalness of sales management, I mean, did it really happen as easy as you made it sound.
• 4:00
  Alan Versteeg: No, it didn't happen yesterday at all. So yeah quick backstory. I
• 4:05
  Alan Versteeg: I grew up well, my father was Dutch, so when you're Dutch. You have to be an engineer, so I thought I'd always be an engineer. Unfortunately my dad passed away when I was 12, but I grew up watching night Rider Awolf and Macava. Some of your listeners might remember that.
• 4:19
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We gave her, put things together to make something new.
• 4:22
  Alan Versteeg: There we go. So I thought I'd study electronic engineering thinking, that's what I've become. And I studied that I was very proud to done well, and I was in engineering for about 2 or 3 years, and I read a book by John Mason, called You Born an original don't die copy. And somewhere in the book is something it said.
• 4:43
  Alan Versteeg: If you passionately hate what you're doing for 2 weeks, stop because you don't live once you die once.
• 4:48
  Alan Versteeg: And I was like, Wow, that definitely failed. And I wasn't enjoying what I was doing as an engineer.
• 4:53
  Alan Versteeg: So I left my job without any next prospects, and a friend of mine runs in sales, which I thought, maybe that's more of of my vibe.
• 5:04
  Alan Versteeg: Please. Listeners, do not drop off the call. Now I got fired from my 1st 4 sales jobs.
• 5:10
  Alan Versteeg: but I was frustrated.
• 5:12
  Alan Versteeg: Wait! You were fired from your 1st 4 sales jobs, not just one, and you kept coming back.
• 5:17
  Alan Versteeg: So
• 5:19
  Alan Versteeg: I was frustrated because I did everything they told me to do. They said I needed to know my product. I made the ability to consume and retain information. So you get 99% for product knowledge tests. I was the world's best talking brochure. But I wasn't getting sales. Then they said, Alan, you need to be more motivated, man. I got so excited you could weld with me, and again the world's most motivated talking brochure. I couldn't get sales, and I started to get very frustrated and despondent, because
• 5:47
  Alan Versteeg: as an engineer I see the world in cause and effect.
• 5:51
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: You won't be born a salesperson. There must be mechanisms.
• 5:54
  Alan Versteeg: I can imagine my scenario. I've got my my mom, who is a widower with 3 sisters, all very proud of me as an engineer and going, Alan, what are you doing? You clearly are used to set this thing called sales, and I thought, now let me have a few more interviews.
• 6:09
  Alan Versteeg: Now, if you've ever been fired from the same profession 4 times, and you're still trying
• 6:15
  Alan Versteeg: But a sales manager saw something in me in an interview, and he asked me a question. He said, Alan
• 6:21
  Alan Versteeg: is sales a job, or is it a profession?
• 6:24
  Alan Versteeg: In interviews? We really we really show we know the right answers, as it's a profession.
• 6:29
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: This is, how old have you studied for this profession?
• 6:33
  Alan Versteeg: They'll say. What do you mean? He says, compared to how hard you studied for engineering. How hard have you studied for this profession?
• 6:39
  Alan Versteeg: So I didn't say anything, and he said, I need to tell it to me. All sales is the most rewarding and highest paying hardworking job.
• 6:46
  Alan Versteeg: But the world's worst paying lazy job.
• 6:49
  Alan Versteeg: If you treat this as a profession, I will back you.
• 6:52
  Alan Versteeg: So I said, what does that mean? He says professionals always practicing. You need to start reading, you need to start studying.
• 6:58
  Alan Versteeg: and then you'll see the value of selling.
• 7:00
  Alan Versteeg: And through their process of reading and studying, I started to connect the cause and effect. I could see the patterns. I could see how much anecdotal advice was actually useless, and through that became successful in sales, and eventually realized the lever with sales managers is Glenn changed my life
• 7:17
  Alan Versteeg: and started focusing specifically on the profession of sales management through growth matters.
• 7:22
  Alan Versteeg: And yeah, we're blessed to be focused on their profession sense.
• 7:27
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Wow! What an amazing story! See how one person can significantly change the path you're on
• 7:34
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: by asking a question.
• 7:37
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: They got you to pause and go. Wait a minute. What do you mean? Right?
• 7:42
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And I think that we all you know I hate.
• 7:47
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I'm gonna say it. I'm I hate sales. My my best friend is in sales, and she's like, Oh, just do this, and I'm like.
• 7:54
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you know, it's it's awfully uncomfortable for me. But when I think about the the result
• 8:01
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: and the helpfulness. And I'm solving their problem. And I'm just making a connection.
• 8:07
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And you know, I know a lot of stuff that could help you. And you know it's still it's still always this kind of like balance between like you said, delivering product knowledge and benefits and features, and
• 8:21
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: connecting with the customer, which is really all they want.
• 8:26
  Alan Versteeg: Let's just solve the problem.
• 8:28
  Alan Versteeg: Yeah, it's it. But I wanted. I wanted. I want to double click on what you said there, because I want to give you 2 different perspectives. The 1st perspective is selling one help.
• 8:37
  Alan Versteeg: but helping also.
• 8:39
  Alan Versteeg: Right? So when we are.
• 8:40
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Wait! Wait! Repeat that! Repeat that again.
• 8:43
  Alan Versteeg: Selling won't help but helping will sell
• 8:46
  Alan Versteeg: right? So it's the orientation. Hollywood does a horrible job of portraying sales professionals when you have a service orientated mindset you would. The second component is conviction.
• 8:56
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: If you believe with certainty that you have value to bring to the client.
• 9:01
  Alan Versteeg: It is negligent not to learn the skills of persuading them of their value.
• 9:07
  Alan Versteeg: and often we don't see it that way. Oh, I'm not really a salesperson. It's it's not in my DNA. I wasn't born that way. I don't have the gift of the gap. There's no science that supports it. The difference between an extrovert and introvert and sales? Success is 0 point 0 1. It's got nothing to do with personality. It's got to do with intentionality and character.
• 9:26
  Alan Versteeg: Do you have conviction that what you have to offer creates value for others.
• 9:33
  Alan Versteeg: and you have a service. Orientated mindset
• 9:36
  Alan Versteeg: selling is the byproduct of caring for other people.
• 9:40
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Oh, that's so nice!
• 9:43
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: That makes it sound really, really good, right? Instead of this, icky, what can I do to get you into this green car today. Mr. Jones.
• 9:54
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Gosh, okay, so if I'm convicted and I but
• 9:58
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: not convicted, but I have conviction.
• 10:02
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: and I believe that my product is is the perfect solution for that client, and I know so deep down inside that I can help them achieve what they want to achieve.
• 10:17
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Then it's not really selling. It's persuading them to see my side, and what I can see right.
• 10:24
  Alan Versteeg: 100%. The the line between manipulation and persuasion is intent.
• 10:29
  Alan Versteeg: So I'm missing it. You know, the Wolf of Wall Street is.
• 10:33
  Alan Versteeg: I know that's a terrible.
• 10:34
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: One, isn't it.
• 10:35
  Alan Versteeg: And it's a horrible way to protect sales people. But this is the story of a true person who manipulated people out of their money. Now, obviously, I'm sure it's played, for instance. So there's no judgment there. But the reality is that the the psychology of persuasion and manipulation are identical.
• 10:51
  Alan Versteeg: The only difference is intent.
• 10:53
  Alan Versteeg: So when you sell with noble purpose, when you sell with intent to serve, when you sell with intent and conviction that you can bring value.
• 11:01
  Alan Versteeg: Understand that you're not manipulative. You're persuading. And it's okay. Creating a healthy living for yourself and impacting other people's lives does not have to be mutually exclusive.
• 11:11
  Alan Versteeg: Now imagine if Steve Jobs said, Well, I don't know if the world really needs this.
• 11:17
  Alan Versteeg: He was not a salesperson. He was someone with conviction.
• 11:21
  Alan Versteeg: and when I started to learn that in psychology, then we will betray our conviction. You don't have to have methodology, body language tonality. You don't have to worry about that. People will feel your intention.
• 11:34
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And when we convicted, we realized this.
• 11:37
  Alan Versteeg: We understand this, we are human beings selling, not human doings manipulating.
• 11:45
  Alan Versteeg: And that's the shift that happens in a psychology level.
• 11:49
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So does it change the language that you use when you're selling from your heart versus selling that green car, you know.
• 11:59
  Alan Versteeg: So it changes everything.
• 12:01
  Alan Versteeg: We are loyal to our identity. So you have the 1st thing for anyone listening. I'm not a salesperson. I'm an entrepreneur. Let me explain something.
• 12:08
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: If you are not convicted and passionate about what you have created.
• 12:12
  Alan Versteeg: Then you're never going to sell.
• 12:15
  Alan Versteeg: But yet most entrepreneurs can sell without sales training, without any reading. They can do it because guess what they have a certainty of the problem they solving for the world.
• 12:25
  Alan Versteeg: But then there's a narrative that goes, you'll bet I am.
• 12:28
  Alan Versteeg: And the minute you test an identity. Go! What if they want it? They'll buy it.
• 12:33
  Alan Versteeg: Well, no, that's not what you want. You want a conviction.
• 12:36
  Alan Versteeg: So when you get that conviction. And this is the key thing. Last year we cannot hide
• 12:42
  Alan Versteeg: by intentionality the reason people teach body language and mirroring. And all these neuralistic programming are all because of these techniques. Guess what? You don't have to become a master. You need 2 things.
• 12:55
  Alan Versteeg: I believe what I sell creates value. And I'm gonna learn how to persuade you, not manipulate. You persuade you into understanding that.
• 13:05
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay.
• 13:06
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So I think we can all agree that the audience now listening, has conviction in their product and their offer right. They believe wholeheartedly, that that my
• 13:18
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: my solution can can solve your problem.
• 13:22
  Alan Versteeg: How do you persuade? Then.
• 13:24
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So without getting icky, you know.
• 13:28
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I think that's I think that's that's the 1 million dollar question is, is the persuasion in a way that seems authentic.
• 13:38
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: conversational, because you know that line right? That's oh, nobody wants to be. People want to buy. They don't want to be sold right.
• 13:47
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So how do we help them buy? What's that persuasion
• 13:51
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: factor? I guess that we have to do.
• 13:54
  Alan Versteeg: There's a nuance, and the nuance is, we can be very patient and very convicted about what we're doing
• 14:01
  Alan Versteeg: and speak about the child we gave birth to.
• 14:05
  Alan Versteeg: And not speak about the solutions and problems it solves.
• 14:09
  Alan Versteeg: And here's the irony of specific entrepreneurs. They see a problem in the world that creates a child to fix their problem.
• 14:17
  Alan Versteeg: and then they forget the problem they were born or created the child to solve.
• 14:22
  Alan Versteeg: and then they make their.
• 14:23
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Child, really ugly.
• 14:24
  Alan Versteeg: Yes, and and no one cares about your child. No one cares about what you gave birth to. They care about. Why you gave birth to it.
• 14:32
  Alan Versteeg: And as long as you simple pivot, as long as you focused on, I created this to solve the problems in the world that's a component. There's 1 other fine line. Everyone says there's a fine line between arrogance and confidence.
• 14:46
  Alan Versteeg: and I disagree. The line is not fine, it is wide, it is clear and its name is tacked.
• 14:53
  Alan Versteeg: The ability to persuade someone without damaging the relationship.
• 14:57
  Alan Versteeg: When I say there's a scene in a movie, it's called glass onions, knives! Out with Kate Hudson and and Daniel Craig, and there's a scene.
• 15:05
  Alan Versteeg: but she says, Well, everybody knows me. I just speak the truth, and he goes, my young lady.
• 15:12
  Alan Versteeg: speaking your mind and speaking the truth, and not the same thing, and it's a lesson intact.
• 15:19
  Alan Versteeg: So the key thing, as you said, entrepreneurs
• 15:23
  Alan Versteeg: fall in love with the problem your product your child solves
• 15:29
  Alan Versteeg: when you make it. Don't get proud of what you created. Get proud of the impact they can have in the world. You operate from that mindset with intent to solve, the natural instinct will be to persuade and not manipulate.
• 15:41
  Alan Versteeg: But you could get too passionate where it becomes arrogance. Well, mine's the best, and what you're buying is wrong, and you don't understand it, or you've lost the point. The point is to solve problems. Entrepreneurs are born to solve problems.
• 15:55
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Okay, that makes it sound so simple in theory.
• 16:01
  Alan Versteeg: It's.
• 16:02
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But in reality.
• 16:03
  Alan Versteeg: Complicated than we make it
• 16:06
  Alan Versteeg: complicated because we forget it's our language. It's our internal dialogue, it's our narrative. It's our perception of salespeople. It's the Hollywood, it's the. It's all of these narratives.
• 16:15
  Alan Versteeg: I'll tell you. If you're listening as an entrepreneur, give yourself agency to create change in the world. Just give yourself permission. Stop thinking an imposter stop thinking you're some manipulative salesperson. Give yourself agency. I have permission to speak to the world about the value I can bring.
• 16:30
  Alan Versteeg: because, yeah, I was held back by myself for 7, 8 years. How can I from South Africa? Sign an international company like adobe as my client. How dare I have the arrogance to do that? Well, it's not arrogance. There's a point where I gave myself agency to say.
• 16:47
  Alan Versteeg: now you understand the value you bring.
• 16:50
  Alan Versteeg: Give yourself agency.
• 16:52
  Alan Versteeg: You'll make a dent in the universe.
• 16:54
  Alan Versteeg: You know your intent and your body, language, your methodology, your confidence, everything follows.
• 17:02
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love that it really. It really softens the whole idea of sales right? Going and making sure that you're handling objections. And you know you're you're you're pre-thinking what the guy's gonna say across from you. So you're not listening. And you're doing all these icky things that normally happens in an uncomfortable sales environment at least, talking from experience.
• 17:29
  Alan Versteeg: Yeah.
• 17:29
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But yeah, you know, in that uncomfortable sales environment. But when when you do it, the way you say, and you're coming from your heart, and you've got intent. And you created this baby that for a reason, right? And now you're talking about the reason this baby is there not the features and benefits of this baby, and how it's going to solve your problems right? It gets all the ickiness away.
• 17:55
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I don't know why I have this icky problem with sales. I mean, I can sell and have these conversations.
• 18:00
  Alan Versteeg: Everyone does have a key.
• 18:01
  Alan Versteeg: and the icky thing is, the is the is the limitation for entrepreneurs, because Hollywood does not do a phenomenal job of portraying sales professionals, you know. There's probably 2 movies, you know, the pursuit of happiness. And Jerry Maguire, where you look at what it looks like to be an ethical sales professional.
• 18:18
  Alan Versteeg: We don't have many examples of that. And then, because the profession is so, numbers driven. So get something done.
• 18:25
  Alan Versteeg: You. You learn that experience, but it doesn't have to be that way. There's a wonderful book by Daniel Pink. I'd recommend it to any entrepreneur it's called to sell is human.
• 18:36
  Alan Versteeg: and it gives you a perspective that is just human. You you've created something.
• 18:41
  Alan Versteeg: Don't deny the world that you've created because some icky experience, and that's wrong.
• 18:46
  Alan Versteeg: But, Marcia, this is what it is for me.
• 18:49
  Alan Versteeg: We know that selling is based on trust.
• 18:52
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yes.
• 18:53
  Alan Versteeg: And we know that trust is difficult to establish. But the quickest way to establish trust is authenticity.
• 18:59
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Hmm.
• 19:00
  Alan Versteeg: And the easiest way to be authentic
• 19:02
  Alan Versteeg: is to trust your intention and sell with noble purpose.
• 19:06
  Alan Versteeg: and then most of the noise and the Bs. And the complexity and the you know, and don't get wrong. You can still fine tune your art. I still work on my profession every day because professionals practice doctors practice lawyers practice sales professionals practice.
• 19:21
  Alan Versteeg: But I'm not trying to figure out what's the heck.
• 19:24
  Alan Versteeg: I'm just trying to figure out what's the next way I can create more value for my customers.
• 19:30
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: What's the next move? Right? What am I asking you to do? It may not be.
• 19:35
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Buy my product today, it may be. Hey, can we book a demo, or Hey, can we book next week's follow up? Or you know those kind of things? And and I think in today's buyers journey right? I mean, there's we've gone from.
• 19:51
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: you know, having a shorter sales cycle and and bringing people through a short conversation, thinking they're gonna throw you their credit card at you, you know, on the on the at the end of this 1st appointment to I've got to go meet with them 8 times before they're gonna throw their credit card at me. I mean, they're
• 20:10
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I think the world is changing. And I think that if we take a step back.
• 20:18
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And no, it's just a conversation. And I'm solving a problem. I think we can shorten that cycle right?
• 20:25
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: As long as they have a problem.
• 20:26
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: It's urgent enough for us to solve.
• 20:29
  Alan Versteeg: Yeah, I mean, I I love in exactly what you're saying. But the quotes I think about is
• 20:36
  Alan Versteeg: Maya Angelo. People won't remember what you did. They'll remember what you said. They'll remember how you made them feel.
• 20:42
  Alan Versteeg: and you can accelerate many things when you make people feel seen, feel, heard, feel understood.
• 20:51
  Alan Versteeg: I'll give you a simple, practical example. I don't believe in objection handling. I believe in objection, prevention.
• 20:57
  Alan Versteeg: objection, right? Marcia. I've had a lot of people in your position. We have really gotten to this point and this level of hesitation.
• 21:05
  Alan Versteeg: and the hesitation is completely valid because they're thinking this this and this. You may not be thinking that. But let me tell you, I've helped those people overcome that hesitancy.
• 21:15
  Alan Versteeg: Why don't you meet them with their ex instead of waiting, because guess what? 90% of people won't vocalize that objection.
• 21:23
  Alan Versteeg: They won't say to you. And then I like what you're saying. But they'll go. Okay, yeah. Sure. Call me next week. Call me on Thursday. Just just raise it. Just go, hey? I was in your shoes listening to some guy from South Africa over a, you know, a, a logitech camera.
• 21:40
  Alan Versteeg: Why would I be spending global funds on? You?
• 21:43
  Alan Versteeg: Get that? So just meet them there.
• 21:47
  Alan Versteeg: And it's just, and it's ironic. There's this new trend, Monsieur human, to human selling.
• 21:53
  Alan Versteeg: Do you think it was ever anything else? Do you think it was anything else.
• 21:59
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: To make it something else. Right?
• 22:01
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yes, we try to make it a machine.
• 22:03
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: We tried to. We tried to manipulate instead of persuade right.
• 22:08
  Alan Versteeg: Hmm.
• 22:08
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: And and I think we tried to force things by trying to be
• 22:15
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: super creative, right instead of just saying what it is, you know and and, like you said human to human.
• 22:23
  Alan Versteeg: Yeah, we try to turn it into a process when it's a behavior.
• 22:27
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Interesting. Interesting this is. This is a this is an unusual, not an unusual, but it's an eye-opening
• 22:34
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: kind of conversation to
• 22:37
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: to do this because a selling is essential for business, you have to. If you're not selling, you have an expensive hobby, and in order to sell, you need to have people in front of you. So marketing is important. And then, after the sale, you have to deliver what you promise. Right? So it's just this one long stream of things that is called business, whether you're, you know, selling a widget or a service. It's the same thing.
• 23:06
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But I think we try, like you said to make it a a process that it's not rather than a human conversation of Hey, I see you've got this challenge that you're facing, and I have a solution for it.
• 23:19
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: How can I help.
• 23:21
  Alan Versteeg: Hold on. And I love that. You're showing that because it's if you think about the value chain in a business.
• 23:27
  Alan Versteeg: it's you would have the core value story the same. So I I say, there's 4 lenses connect.
• 23:33
  Alan Versteeg: So what what do we do to get the market to understand the value. We bring
• 23:38
  Alan Versteeg: converse. What is the sales? Conversation we have to persuade, convince? How do we show evidence that we can create their value? And then the one we miss is champion. How do I turn that person who's received the value from me into a raving fan so I can get the next layer, and then the champions become part of your connect, because they're creating leads, and that then becomes part of your conversation which becomes part of their convince.
• 24:04
  Alan Versteeg: But if in a business you think that's not important.
• 24:07
  Alan Versteeg: you've missed Peter Drucker's 1 of my favorite questions from Peter Drucker.
• 24:11
  Alan Versteeg: The only reason a business exists is to sell something.
• 24:15
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Yes.
• 24:16
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love all your quotes. These are fantastic. It proves that you are a well-studied professional, because you're able to to talk about the ones that were successful in it, and the ideas and thoughts that they came out with that were very impactful. But exactly if
• 24:32
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: that's the one job to sell something. It doesn't matter what you're selling. So
• 24:38
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: then why do we have such problem with it?
• 24:43
  Alan Versteeg: The identity. We have the ickiness
• 24:45
  Alan Versteeg: of what we've made the narrative, and we don't realize the limitation of Christmas, because, remember, we'll always be more loyal to our identity than our goals, and we'll always fall to our standards, not rise to our goals.
• 24:59
  Alan Versteeg: And if you're an entrepreneur, it is essential.
• 25:03
  Alan Versteeg: He became a student of the psychology of persuasion, not the art of selling the psychology of persuasion.
• 25:10
  Alan Versteeg: and guess what manipulation is. The same psychology as I said with with that.
• 25:15
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: But with bad intent.
• 25:17
  Alan Versteeg: Bad intent. It's all it is. It's it's literally the I. It is the identical neurochemicals that fire in both instances.
• 25:25
  Alan Versteeg: Problem is we always run the headline stories of the person who got manipulated the person who got robbed, the person who got duped. We don't tell the story about the sales professional, who has changed the entire family tree because they landed 17 large multinational deals over their career that fundamentally changed the way the business does. Commer the world does commerce.
• 25:47
  Alan Versteeg: And they're just sitting in the background.
• 25:49
  Alan Versteeg: you know, and we don't see them.
• 25:52
  Alan Versteeg: Guess what? You don't need innovation. You don't need marketing. You don't need product. You don't need. Hr, you don't need consultants. You don't need anything unless you've sold something. If you sell it. Then the machine.
• 26:02
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Then you need all those things.
• 26:04
  Alan Versteeg: Then you need all those things. And as an organization, we're really scaling from, you know, a regional visit to a global player up against big competitors with much more money than us.
• 26:16
  Alan Versteeg: We've had to get very conscious of.
• 26:19
  Alan Versteeg: How do we set up the standards to allow for scale?
• 26:23
  Alan Versteeg: And I'm gonna say this to you entrepreneurs, because this is where I'm at. Right now. You cannot scale yourself.
• 26:28
  Alan Versteeg: You can only scale your standards. You come from a guy by the name of Dan Martel. Buy back your time. You've got to scale your standards.
• 26:37
  Alan Versteeg: but realize without a sales engine it matters. It's just. It's just the world's best kept secret.
• 26:45
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love that. So in in looking at your sales team right? Because you know, you can't multiply yourself. There's only 24, 7, and you need to sleep. Sleep is required unless you're limitless, but your sleep is required. So with that in mind, though, when you're looking at salespeople right, and to bring on to your team.
• 27:05
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I'm getting the feeling that the best salesperson is the one that can make that connection and have that conversation rather than being able to recite the book on how to how this product works. Right? We're.
• 27:19
  Alan Versteeg: Yeah, I'm gonna give you 2 lenses next. So you've hit the nail on the 2 lenses, though. Research done by Philip, Squire.
• 27:28
  Alan Versteeg: and pretty much what it says is, 90% of the reason customers don't buy
• 27:32
  Alan Versteeg: is not your value, but your values.
• 27:36
  Alan Versteeg: Right? So we we are, we judge people and say, Oh, they were a bad closer, or they were a bad negotiator, or they were a bad communicator. We're going. They were self-serving, they were arrogant they were. We speak about the values.
• 27:50
  Alan Versteeg: So values matter. So that's the 1st part.
• 27:53
  Alan Versteeg: But don't worry about your salespeople, and how the way I said is, don't worry about the seeds, worry about the soil.
• 27:59
  Alan Versteeg: Create a culture in your business where that is the way you do sales around you.
• 28:04
  Alan Versteeg: Hire an excellent sales manager who's focused on growing people, not growing sales.
• 28:10
  Alan Versteeg: Once you grow, people who grow sales scale is your biggest problem, because then you gotta figure out how operations fits together and how this one works, and suddenly got these huge deals and you've landed them. You're like, I've caught the bus. What I do with it now.
• 28:24
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Exactly.
• 28:25
  Alan Versteeg: It's much better than not catching the bus.
• 28:27
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: I love it, I love it, I love it. This is this is great. All right, Alan. We can go on for days on sales because it is. It is the essential heartbeat of the business, because if your heart is not beating, the body's not working right, you can't. It's number one so, and I love the way that we've
• 28:48
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: really had this discussion around, making it the intention, and coming from a place of of goodness and the persuasion and the way that you can do it to make it, and then everything else will be the problem afterwards. Right? You know how to scale and grow and and Hr. And operations and delivery, and all that kind of stuff. But the sales is, is the heartbeat. So where can listeners find out more about you and growth matters.
• 29:13
  Alan Versteeg: The easiest way is on Linkedin. It's where I share everything. I I fortunate or unfortunate to have a very unique name. You don't want to find it anywhere else. So it's easy to find me there. If you type in my name, you're gonna find me on Linkedin, and that's pretty much where I share everything. Growth managers our core business. We focus on developing sales managers because we know that's the number one lever to drive
• 29:36
  Alan Versteeg: the change, the perception and the the perspective and the maturity of selling. So that's where we work out. But you're gonna find me on Linkedin. And yeah, lots of one liners, lots of opinions. But I'm passionate about the subject, and
• 29:50
  Alan Versteeg: just to all the entrepreneurs, you know. If you don't go, look for me.
• 29:55
  Alan Versteeg: Let me tell you something. Go look in the mirror and realize you have created a child. It solves a problem.
• 30:01
  Alan Versteeg: Don't let that child not become an adult. You got to go. Tell the world about the problem you fix and give yourself agency to do this.
• 30:09
  Alan Versteeg: Get rid of the ickiness. It doesn't have to be icky. You're creating value. You're denting the universe. Economies move because entrepreneurs. So don't forget what you bring to the world.
• 30:20
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Wow? Well said, well said and on point, okay, it's amazing. Look at the mirror, right? You created something. How do you get it out there to change the world. We entrepreneurs are world changers, so don't let sales get in your way
• 30:36
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: from changing the world. I think that's a good one.
• 30:39
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: All right. Thanks for tuning in today. I hope you found some valuable insights and actionable ideas that will help you make your business more profitable. I know that managing your sales and hiring a sales team. And, more importantly, a sales manager that can develop those people. Skills is going to naturally move the sales needle for you. So I think that's a great place, and go visit Alan on Linkedin and his company. So
• 31:08
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: all right, if you're if you're tired of overpriced marketing that's complicated and time consuming the profit. Booster marketing hub is your low cost, easy to use, alternative to expensive strategies, complete with automations, templates, and a personalized strategy.
• 31:24
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: So go get details@profitbooster.biz.
• 31:28
  Marcia Riner | Profit Booster®: Don't forget to subscribe. You won't want to miss future shows. You can always find profit with a plan on any of your favorite podcast players. We're looking forward to more great profitable strategies on next week's call. So until then, make your plans and profit with them. Thanks so much, Alan. This was great.
• 31:45
  Alan Versteeg: This is.
• 31:47
  Alan Versteeg: Thank you.