268: How to Sell and Market in 2024 - Part 1

Episode Transcript

Steve Haase  0:01  
Welcome to the Superabound podcast with master coaches, Erin Aquin and Steve Haase, where business owners like you learn tools that helped you clarify vision, clear up static and overcome challenges. You're listening to episode number 268: How to sell and market in 2024, Part One. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for joining us. Today we have a special episode. It is from a live class that we did in the Super amount collective. You may have heard us speaking about it. And this is one of the things that we do in the collective is we put on live workshops to help our friends, our business owners, right they're with us to thrive, to prosper, to do better in their lives in their work in a vision aligned way in a values driven way. It's very exciting. And so today's class is from the workshop on the topic of this podcast, how to sell and market in 2024. You may have noticed, but times have changed. The old marketing of blast out a message to as many people as possible is not working anymore as if they've ever really worked. But taking a more relationship based approach, taking a more human approach to your marketing and to your selling is what is needed now. And in the near term. We share our favorite framework for relationship based selling. And I'm really excited to share it with you. In the episode we also mentioned the Superabound coach certification, the next cohort is now open. So if you are interested in learning some of the tools, we talk about helping your clients use these tools in their business and their life, we would love to talk to you about joining the certification, you can find out more at beSuperabound.com/certification. We are here for the how to sell and mark it in 2024. Workshop. And a little bit about us. My name is Steve Haase, I'm Erin Aquin. And we are the founders of Superabound Coaching. And through our business, we have managed to help 1000s of entrepreneurs around the world create businesses that they love. And I think one of our claims to fame would be that we've done it as much as possible without spammy high pressures, sleazy weird sales techniques that you do tend to see all around the internet, and in your email inbox and your DMS and all of those kinds of places. So that is what we are excited to share with you today so that you can do that for your business.

Erin Aquin  2:52  
Yeah, I was actually reflecting on this earlier I am so not a master sales person or marketing wizard. But we've actually created a very successful business not on how clever our marketing is or how sleek it is. But really based on relationships and trying as much as possible to listen to what our clients want and create programs offers, things like that based on who our people are and what they need. And I actually think that this is, this is a skill I definitely attribute to being a coach, I did not have this when I was a yoga teacher or an acupuncturist, which is way back in my in my past life. But we're going to talk to you about how to sell in a way that hopefully feels really good for you in 2024 and beyond.

Steve Haase  3:50  
And this is a chance for you to do some thinking on your business and by the end of it have hopefully elements of a sales process that will enhance the relationships in your life. The one of the reasons we've been able to grow the business in the way that we have is that we have relied on relationships, making them stronger, bringing value to the people in our world, so that they help our business grow and help the people that we're here to serve. And so that is really the point of today is helping you not just create something that works, but something that also builds the relationships with your ideal clients, and does so in a way that has your business growing through relationships and alignment.

Erin Aquin  4:38  
So let's talk about what the problems are right now. Because I'm definitely in the coaching industry. I'm sure this is happening in pretty much every industry. Sales has changed a lot. There are so many ways in which people can connect with us and sometimes it feels like businesses if they aren't thinking about the quality of the content that they put out, if they are not thinking about, you know, is this email that I'm about to send really valuable, or am I saying the same thing I said at 12 o'clock today, and I'm just trying to get people to buy things, customers are smart, or our clients are smart, they don't necessarily want five emails a day about the same thing that they maybe are not interested in. They don't want random strangers sliding into their DMS, asking them how much money they made this month. Like, there's just so many things that people do online and in sort of the sales world that we would never do at a dinner party. So my kind of first rule of thumb is, if you wouldn't do this at a dinner party, don't do it in your sales, because it probably will feel icky to you, and will probably feel icky to the person on the receiving end,

Steve Haase  6:01  
and call it the icky test. Once the doctor feels that if you test just, you know, let it be. And the reason you would even consider doing something like that is because maybe you've seen someone else doing it, maybe you're, you know, reading or taking a course from someone who says this is how you do it. Like, well, I want to be a good student, you know, I want to make sure I boost my sales. But in the end, if if you look at the relationships that you've created through through doing that, if you just kind of play that process out, you'll probably realize that you aren't going to create many relationships and the only people who would be responding to a, I promise to double your sales or you won't pay me a thing are the people that probably don't even want as clients or customers yourself.

Erin Aquin  6:50  
And I think the other problem that's maybe more specific to us here in the Superabound Collective, if you're hanging around our business, chances are you probably aren't the type of person who likes to email someone five times a day, you probably aren't somebody that learned that you should dm 100 people every hour or something like that. Chances are the problem for most of us here is that all of the high pressure, low value sales that we see and all of that marketing that just feels like spam has made a lot of business owners very hesitant about actually talking about what they do about actually offering their product or their service. So we know that the sort of the ripple effect of this is that there are great businesses out there that are not doing enough of marketing and sales to actually get them where they want to be because they're so afraid of being lumped in with the spammers,

Steve Haase  7:57  
right? So so you're like, Well, I don't want to be like them. So you just do nothing, or you kind of hang back and you try to be nice about your marketing. But as such, you don't get the message out there in as big of a way, which means people aren't able to buy from someone with integrity and principles, and who cares about relationships, because you're feeling sort of hesitant there. And so the solution to that is not to hang back even more, it's actually to embrace your relationships and to practice relationship based sales. And so that's what we're going to uncover and dive into. In our call here. The foundation for relationship based sales is we created an acronym,

Erin Aquin  8:42  
I love acronyms, I'm so sorry for people who don't love them, but I just do because I can remember things. It's a nice easy one. And hopefully it resonates with you. So

Steve Haase  8:53  
the acronym for relationship based sales is the word sale Sal II. And it stands for safety, where you are creating safety with the person that you are connecting with that's that's kind of the foundation of relationship is trust. Mutual trust means a sense of I this I'm safe buying from this person, you create that sense of safety. The A is for alignment, aligned. So that means you know where it is that they want to go. And your offer lines up with what that person wants and their vision for their business. That l is lucrative love for you, but for the person that you're selling to. It will end up being lucrative for you. But if your focus is on how lucrative it will be for the person that you're selling to, then they have a reason to listen, they have a reason to want what you're offering. And then the E is effective. So what that means is when someone is taking a look at your offer, they don't have to imagine how it's going to work. They can see that it will work they trust and And they know that it will have the effect that you say so safe, aligned, lucrative and effective.

Erin Aquin  10:10  
And this is something that you're not doing. Just in one phase of your sales or marketing cycle, this is something you want to start to play with, ideally at every single level. Because as we said, this is all about relationship based sales. And it's thinking about what your customers want and need, not on what you want, and what you need to try to sell them on. I think that's, that's kind of the mistake, if I can call it that. That's not if that's not too harsh to call it that. But it is the thing that a lot of us do is we create something we think, is so amazing. And then we spend all of our time selling and marketing, without considering or talking to our clients to find out is this something you actually want, if I created this product for you, if I made this program for you, is it something you would be interested in. And if you're not getting that feedback, you do make your job as a marketer, and as a salesperson, so much harder, because you're basing your business on a lot of your assumptions, not necessarily what the people you want to work with are asking for.

Steve Haase  11:26  
So your goal with a relationship based sale is to earn a place of honor in your client, your customers, heart, and mind, you want to feel you want them to feel that you are welcome in their life. Because if they are feeling that, then they will be willing to spend money with you. And if they're not feeling that the path to actually making a sale is going to be that much harder. So the earning a place of honor means that they have a relationship with you. The thing that's interesting here is that you can actually create that, without knowing them. Oftentimes you will, right, and so there's there's kind of two, two directions here. One is with the people that you actually know. And oftentimes, as business owners, we can kind of discount our own network and think, Well, sales only really count if they come from the world out there. I must be known and loved by millions of strangers, and then I will be successful. That's how I'm gonna build my businesses by getting a bunch of followers, right, I need 1000 people that I've never heard of, are following me on Instagram, then I'll be successful, maybe, but there's 1000 people right now who do know and love you, that you're probably not really thinking of as relationships that could potentially be aligned lucrative and effective. Like who for whom your business could be those things. So when we talk about relationship based sales, yes, you want to be able to create those relationships with the public, the world out there, but also there are people with whom you already have relationships, and do not discount those because those are even easier and closer to your world. And

Erin Aquin  13:17  
it's not about trying to spend every like, you know, the holidays are coming up, we're not trying to spend every holiday party, selling our aunt on whatever it is we sell, or buying our product. It's not about trying to turn all of your personal relationships into business relationships. But I'm willing to bet that many people in your life don't actually know what you do and what you sell. So part of it can also just be as simple as saying, Do you know like, oh, yeah, this was this is what my business is. If you if you ever know someone who has this problem, I would love to meet them. I was talking to a client the other day who has a like a coaching and consulting practice. And, you know, she has been focused very much on social media as her primary driver of business. But we talked about how there's her next 10 clients are probably people in her network, if not one degree of separation away, two or three. And one of the strategies I offered her that I've offered a lot of clients over the years is can you just offer people who have a lot of connection super connectors in your world. Just a taste of what you do. Maybe a 30 minute session with you consulting session, a coaching session, something so that people in your life can get a feel for your business in a no pressure situation where you're not going to try and sell them at the end. But now they suddenly know who to call. If they ever do need a coach or consult point are they know who to call if their friend is struggling with exactly the problem that you are really good at working on.

Steve Haase  15:08  
It's a remarkable thing to actually share what you do with the people in your life. Unless you do that, they won't know to call you. We have a coach certification coming up. And we're doing a new cohort of the Superabound coach certification in January. And I was I was thinking about it, and, and kind of posting about it on LinkedIn, then I was like, Look, this person, this certain person needs to know about it. When I was hesitant, I was like, Oh, I came up with all the reasons why telling them about it would be weird. They're already doing a coach certification. There, they're working at a corporation. So they don't necessarily need what I'm doing. Like I just came up with like, temporary static, oh, all of a static, why not to send it. But then I was like, you know, I just want them to know that this exists, because maybe they know somebody, and maybe it'd be a fit for them too. But regardless, I'm just gonna let them know. So I did, it was warm, it was contextual. It wasn't just like, here's a link and run away. It was, hey, I was thinking about you. And I wanted you to know that we're doing this. And the response was so warm. And she started with thank you for putting this in front of me, and congratulations on on having created it, right, this is a big milestone for you guys. I recognize that. And thank you for bringing it to my attention, because otherwise, I never would have known so. So I appreciate knowing about it. And that's, that's the experience of having that safety, having that relationship with somebody and sharing something that you're up to in a way, that is not about turning them into a potential client, right, you're not just there to make the sale, you're actually there because you think that it would be aligned for them, you think that it would be lucrative for them, you think that it would be effective for where it is that they want to go, right? You have a vision for how your product will help them make the sale, right basically take their world to the next level. And that is where your own selling becomes. I mean, almost like an act of service, right? You are there to help your people get the benefit that your product delivers. Okay,

Erin Aquin  17:31  
I'm so glad you just said that. Because I like to think about this with marketing as well. If you're ever feeling hesitant about sending out some kind of marketing, email, a post a podcast, whatever it is you do that is like one of your or even an ad, whatever your main form of advertising or marketing may be. Ideally, you want to get to a space where it feels generous, or you feel like when I put this out there it is going to help someone. If it doesn't pass the will this help someone test, I don't post it. Notes, maybe it's not always received as helpful to every single person that receives my emails. But I know that it's helpful to someone because we sell things. We sell packages, we sell programs, we have a certification, I know that someone was like, well, yay, I this is what I'm looking for. This is what I want, this is aligned for me. And that's what marketing is. Ideally, like good marketing, I think it's supposed to be it's supposed to be a value add to someone's life. Maybe not everyone's life at all times. But that is that is kind of what we're what we're trying to be up to here.

Steve Haase  18:53  
And so if you bring that same attitude into your selling, then the feeling of selling is icky, or any of this sort of back away, when I talk about the price can go away, you can actually lean into the offer, you can lean into seeing if somebody is interested in a particular package or proposal. Because you realize, yes, it'll benefit me, but it's going to benefit you even more. Right? That's part of the L right that you are recognizing that it is lucrative in your clients world. And I think that's where the visionary element of sales comes in. Because your ability to have that vision for what someone's life could look like. And hold that possibility out for them is what will enable you to be more forthright in your selling and more confident in the conversations that you have about someone buying your product or offer.

Erin Aquin  19:49  
Okay, and maybe you don't sell anything that feels that grandiose, maybe you do, maybe you don't. But like my favorite example of a really good really internship based sales experience that I've had as customer is a coffee subscription that I have, it's important that it's always very important to me, I don't know if it's important for everyone or makes my world go round. Maybe it's a T for someone else. But I love coffee. And I love really good coffee. And a perfect example of this was a few years ago, there was a cafe we loved in a city, that's, you know, it's a little far for us, but we go there occasionally. And so this, I would start kind of buying these beans. And then I had trust in this company, because the owner of the cafe loved them got all his stuff from them. And I thought, you know, I'd really like to have this sometimes even when I can't get here. They created the sale with me through that vendor relationship, because I loved this cafe. And I love this owner, and they're pretty exclusive about who they deal with. But then I found out that they have a membership, they have a monthly recurring membership, where they will send me the beans are pretty expensive beans in terms of coffee, but they're amazing. They're, they're a Canadian company. And they try to do really ethically sourced beans, and they talk all about, you know, the the growers and I love that they ship it to my house, they don't have to drive anywhere, I don't have to go anywhere, I don't have to think about it. They have made it flexible, I can pause it whenever I want to if I have too much coffee and not enough guests, I can pause my subscription. It's lucrative for me, because I only have to buy it when I want it. And I never run out of my very precious coffee. lucrative for all the people in my life for all the relationships, but that is like a great example. It's safe because I knew the owner, it's aligned, because it's the thing I want. And that I think I need. It's a lucrative for me, because I don't have to drive. I don't have to think about it. I don't have to figure out what to I just know, they're gonna send me the right thing. And it's effective because it's coffee, and it's very effective. Right, and

Steve Haase  22:21  
it's ethically sourced to learn about the farm. Yes, it's like good quality stuff. And so the whole package comes together. And gosh, we've been a customer of theirs for years now. Non stop for years. So I want to know, let's take a moment, it's time for thinking exercise, a little journaling. I want to know how would you sell differently, if your primary goal or long term aligned fruitful relationships, you just take a moment to think about it, think about, maybe write something down if you have a journal Open.

Erin Aquin  22:56  
If you want to, you can also share it inside the Superabound Collective. And you know, we can continue to have a discussion there after the session. It's a really interesting one. And this is a question that actually prompted a huge shift in our business. I'll speak to speak to coaching because I'm a coach. When I started to think about long term, aligned fruitful relationships, I completely changed my sales process. I stopped doing consults in the method that I had learned. And I started to say, I'm gonna get on every call with every potential client, every potential company that we might be working with every potential student in our certification program, and be there 100% with them, to figure out what they need. And to tell them honestly of what I have, or what I can create is aligned to that. And it turned into a much more organic sales and marketing process because I became uncoupled from what I wanted and what I needed and what my goals were as a business owner, and very into what my clients goals were. But we've now evolved into calling lanterns, what lanterns do my clients want to lay. The basis for certification program actually came from realizing that we had some clients who would feel amazing after their sessions, and then would turn around go back into their work and not understand why their teams didn't get what they were trying to say or couldn't like be coached. They were like, oh, it's because you're trying to coach people but you're not a coach. Or it's because you're trying to To apply tools of ours that you haven't actually learned the mechanics of. So we created a certification.

Steve Haase  25:09  
But and the reason behind all of that is actually wanting to make the relationship stronger. Right, the reason to change the consultation process from, you know, not that it was manipulative before, but I mean, just

Erin Aquin  25:25  
didn't really show people what coaching was about talking to them about what I hoped I could do with them. Hopefully,

Steve Haase  25:32  
it wasn't as values aligned, it wasn't as kind of mission driven as as what we do now. making that shift allowed us to create more value upfront, it allowed us to put the attention on the experience of the of that prospective customer. And what that enabled was better relationships, which turn into more repeat business and more referrals. So it's actually better for sales as a whole. Because you're not just angling for referrals, you're not just, you know, coming up with a strategy for renewals, you're actually just there to make sure that people are getting what they need. And you're really there in service of their lanterns and their vision, which is what you would want out of any relationship, right? If you think about your best friends, the people that have the biggest role in your happiness in your life, they are there for you. And there's always a transaction involved with a friendship, the transaction is time attention care, brain space. In a business relationship, that transaction is money, but it also includes time, attention, brain space. So it is very similar to a friendship and yet we think it's somehow entirely different because there's money involved. It's not entirely different. You have to trust that that person is there for you, in order to give them the resources that you have, and the most precious ones really our time attention, energy space in your world, or

Erin Aquin  27:11  
whatever it is you promised to deliver. Because that's that's an aspect of both safety and effectiveness is we have to deliver the product or the service for our people. And the more you can be a known trusted person who does that the better your business will be. Not because you're being strategically helpful, want to be strategically helpful at the right moment. But because you genuinely authentically care about the people in your world, and about your big vision for why your your company exists and the impact you want to have