The Humane Marketing Show. A podcast for a generation of marketers who care.

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 2 on KNOWING, Chapter 7 called 'Manage Your Sales Energy'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 7: Manage Your Sales Energy

 

I'm in the middle of cooking dinner, a veggie stir-fry, when my phone rings.
I don't know about you, but my friends never call around that time. Sure, we
often chat over WhatsApp to check in on each other, but we never call. So I
immediately cringe because I intuitively know it's a telemarketing call. I pick
up, and sure enough, after a quick "hello," he fires his first question at me:
"Madam, do you prefer red or white wine?" I politely thank him and say that
I'm not interested in taking part in his survey, wish him a nice evening, and
hang up.
I don't get upset at him. He's just doing his job.
But I am amazed that these calls still happen in 2021!!
I'm not sure if in this particular case he actually wanted to sell me red or white
wine; it might have indeed just been a survey. But the point is that
telemarketing is still alive. There are still companies who invest money in it
because they work with the old sales model based on quantity: the more sales
calls you make, the more you sell. And from what I've read, there's no end in
sight for these annoying interruptions. In fact, they might get even more
disturbing as telemarketers get access to more data and will rely on AI to make
the calls more customized to their "targets." Imagine the following scenario:
"Good evening, Ms. Santacroce. I trust you're well. Does your husband enjoy
his new Weber barbeque? Making some ribs tonight? And you're in charge of
salads, am I right? Well, I'm reaching out because we have a sale right now on
our latest model of the Magicmix. Because after all, you can't eat grilled meat
every night, right?"
I'm of course exaggerating and using gender assumptions!

So yes, unfortunately, telemarketing shows no signs of exiting the scene
anytime soon.
But luckily we don't have to rely on call centers to sell our services.
Furthermore, I suggest that we forget the whole "more is better" approach.
It's just not true that you always sell more if you make more sales calls.
Here are two examples of what I'm thinking:
When I asked Emma-Louise, business and mindset coach, to share about her
100 percent close rate on my podcast, she replied:
"For full disclosure, I no longer have my 100 percent close rate. I
actually had three people say no in a week recently! However this
was partly due to my coach encouraging me to get on calls even if
they weren't ideal clients (so I knew it was unlikely two of them
would invest based on their stage in business)."
I'd say that confirms that talking to the right clients, at the right time is what
matters. If you're going after a 100% close rate (and I'm not suggesting you
should), then just increasing the number of people you're talking to is not
necessarily going to get you there.
Lynn Dutrow, an advisor, mentor and coach, shared the following experience
with me:
"As a counselor, selling can feel slimy, especially if you haven't done
your work around your money story. It is also easy as a 'helper' to
function from two false assumptions: 1) you want to help
'everyone' and 2) a butt in the seat (and getting paid) is better than
an empty seat.
One client who helped me with this was a particularly complex client
that my intuition had told me was not a good fit for my skill set. As we
neared the end of our complimentary session, she wanted to keep
talking past our end time. While this was earlier in my career, I had
already managed to learn how to have boundaries around keeping time
in session so I changed my hat from clinician to business owner in
order to schedule another session (I still thought being 'nice' was more
important than being honest about us not being a good fit).
The client took offense to my businesslike manner and accused me
of being more concerned with making money than helping her.
While uncomfortable, I had a 'light bulb' moment and took the
opportunity to share with her that helping people is my job and
that with any job, there is a necessary structure (session time) and
an exchange of money for services rendered. I also admitted that I
thought we were not a good fit and gave her the names of three
other potential counselors. That's when I made note that it was
time to let those two assumptions go!"
Saying no when you're not a good fit takes courage but it will be so worth it
in the long term. Again, it's not about the quantity but about the quality.
On the other hand, Cathy, a participant of the Gentle Sales Lab wrote:
"I've realized through our discussions that I'm not so bad on the
sales side, as my sign-up rate is very good when I do actually speak
to someone. The problem is I don't speak to that many people!"
So what these two reactions tell us is that:

1. Talking to more people doesn't always mean more sales
2. Talking to the wrong people = no sales :-(
3. No sales conversations = no sales :-(
4. Sales conversations with the right people at the right time = sales :-)
   
   Doing More Doesn't Always Get Us More
   In this chapter, we talk about protecting your energy with healthy
   boundaries and not following my example of the overgiving burnout, where
   I spent my day talking to people without making sales. And in case you're
   thinking, "I'd actually rather avoid sales calls altogether," stay tuned and be
   ready to be surprised by the complete reframe of the traditional sales call in
   Part Three.

This excerpt is from Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 7: Manage Your Sales Energy

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 2 on KNOWING, Chapter 6 called 'Calculate Your Worth'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 6: Calculate Your Worth

 

Time Is money. Or Is It?
The reason why many of us don't like selling is because we are not comfortable
discussing prices and investments. There are many reasons for this, society
making money a taboo being one, our own uncertainty about our prices being
another one.
But if we have worked on our Unique Value Proposition, we have a good idea
of the value we deliver. This information now helps us calculate the monetary
compensation we'd like to ask for in exchange for providing that value.
In order to get to that number, let's look at some different ways we can price
our products or services. Four different strategies come to mind:

1. Hourly
Despite being the most commonly used, hourly pricing has its limitations.
While it's useful to benchmark your fees in the market, it's also less than ideal
to convey the value of your offering. Your offer is more valuable than the exact
amount of time you're spending with the client. For example, Cathlin offers
a group coaching program in which participants get to spend one hour on
Zoom with her per week. The program also comes with self-study material
such as video tutorials and worksheets. The value that people are getting from
this program is much greater than just the four hours on Zoom per month.

2. Cost
Cost-pricing is common among retailers. For example, the keystone pricing
method simply doubles the wholesale price. This pricing method provides an
easy starting point that is likely to ensure some profit.
Since this book is mainly read by service-based entrepreneurs, one could think
cost-based pricing doesn't apply to us. But not so fast . . . You do incur costs
to run your business, don't you? Your phone, printer cartridges, gas for your
car, etc. Let's not forget to calculate these costs into our fees.

3. Market
Some level of market research is always helpful. What are others in your field
charging? Our clients are smart and savvy and they will have done some
research and seen other people's prices. While you don't have to charge the
exact same prices, it will help you understand what kind of prices your ideal
clients have most likely seen before coming to you.

4. Value
Value-based pricing is the fourth strategy, and the one we'll spend some more
time looking into in this chapter. It's a combination of all four pricing
strategies, our Unique Value Proposition, and the outcomes we promise to
our clients.

You Are Worth More Than Just Your Time
When you price your services based on time units, you get underpaid. And
you develop a very unhealthy relationship with time. Time really is money
when you're only getting paid for your time!

#vulnerabilityalert

My early years in business were a constant juggle between taking
care of our boys, managing the house, and trying to build a
business. I felt like I was never completely focused on one task. And
of course I never had time for myself. I never had time, period. I
was rushing the groceries, getting annoyed at people who seemed
like they had time to waste, I was checking e-mails while the kids
were doing their homework, and I wasn't fully there for my
husband Tony either. Tempus fugit was my modus operandi. It was
not until reading The Pursuit of Time and Money: Step into Radical
Abundance and Discover the Secret to a Meaningful Prosperous Life
by Sharon L. Spano that I realized that I had the same scarcity
approach to time that I did to money. I highly recommend this
book. It's based on thorough research, and Sharon explores the
paradox of time and money from a human developmental lens that
supports people in transformational change.
So in this chapter we'll unpack this idea of value versus time. Because you
bring so much more than just your time to your clients. You have experience,
tools, IP (intellectual property), and you're delivering outcomes. And that
doesn't have anything to do with time . . .
But, we'll start with the easy part: your pragmatic costs.

Calculate Your Pragmatic Costs
In order to get to a price that's based on value, it's still a good idea to start by
calculating your costs. You need to figure out approximately how much it's
going to cost you to deliver what you're doing for your clients.
So let's think about the different costs you incur when working on a client
project.

Used Time
There it is again. Of course, you'll be spending time on your client. But it's
not just time that you spend working directly with the client. For example, if
you're giving a ninety-minute workshop, you will have to prepare for that
workshop. You have to research the client's industry and prepare the
PowerPoint slides, worksheets, or handouts. All of this takes your time. It's
simple math: time used x your hourly rate. You need to run those numbers so
that you know the total cost in terms of time used.

Paid Time
If you have an assistant or other employees, add their time x their hourly rate
to the cost.

Lost Time
If you're traveling to the client's location, or another venue, you should also
take into consideration the time that you've lost. To take our example of the
ninety-minute workshop again, if you're running it online, then it really only
takes you ninety minutes, plus approximatively twenty minutes for setting up
the call. But if you have to travel to another city, you lose at least half a day,
if not the full day. Because instead of working on another client, you're
spending the day in transit, maybe prepping for the workshop. This is a cost
that you should include in your price.

Overhead Costs
As the owner of a small business, even if it's a micro business, you have
overhead costs. I'm thinking of your monthly rent, taxes, insurance, office
supplies, and utilities (phone bill, electricity, etc).
Of course you can't calculate these costs to the penny; that's why we often
just think of overhead costs as a flat fee. The important thing is that you see
that you have these expenses. Because if you forget to work them into your
prices, you'll always end up with the short end of the stick.

Tools You Need to Run Your Business
As online business owners, we usually don't have big rents and other
infrastructure to take into consideration.
However, there are quite a lot of costs involved in keeping the "lights on" online. Here's
my list of monthly expenses towards tools, hosting, and other web related things:
Hosting (website, podcast, videos):
• Siteground
• Amazon S3
• Libsyn
• Vimeo
• Kajabi
Security (password and website):
• Roboform
• Vaultpress
Client work:
• Acuity Scheduling
• Zoom
Podcast:
• Descript
Accounting:
• Receipt Bank
Social Media:
• Post Planner

We don't calculate our pragmatic costs because we want to include them in
our proposals. They are for our eyes only.

Evaluate Your Intangible Value [Growth]
Okay, we're going from the left-brain territory (costs) to the right brain
territory (feelings).
The way I see it, value-based pricing is this dance between those two brain
hemispheres. Yes, we want to know our pragmatic numbers and costs, but
now we also need to address the area that is a bit more difficult to measure.
I once attended a round table with a bunch of really smart people discussing
the topic "what gets measured and what doesn't get measured."
The think tank discussed questions like:
• What values, behaviors, and things do we tend to measure? What
don't we?
• Why do we measure what we do?
• What are values, behaviors, or other qualities we could measure but
do not?
What was fascinating to me was the conclusion that we're facing a paradox in
this twenty-first century. On one hand, there is an explosion in data and
measurement. Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and robots are all the results
of this attention to facts, figures, and statistics. This data can be used for good,
or for evil. On the other hand, we're also seeing a trend toward favoring nonmeasurable
qualities.
In his book A Whole New Mind, author Daniel H. Pink writes, "We've
progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers to a society
of knowledge workers. And now we're progressing yet again—to a society of
creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers."
How do you measure empathy, purpose, and meaning?

I've always disliked working with "aggressive" business income
goals. They just never worked for me as I was not motivated to
work harder just to get to that certain monthly or yearly goal. But
that was another thing you just did in business. In December, you
had to sit down and come up with your new income goal for the
next year. The manifesting people took it even a step further and
came up with mantras that you were supposed to repeat in order to
attract that magical goal. Again, it never worked for me and instead
was cause for frustration and self-doubt.
So at the end of 2018, my friend Valérie and I decided that we were not
going to work with business goals anymore. Instead, we wanted to
measure our success in joy and the difference we make with our work.
How do we measure that? Well, the happiness of our clients is one statistic
we can look at. Referral rates are another. Our own happiness of course as
well, reflected in our nightly gratitude journal. But as you can see, this area
is less black-and-white, less numbers and more feelings related.
This was a long-winded intro to intangible value. Another way to explain
intangible value is the value that you give to your clients, but it's invisible
right now. So on one hand you have your tangible value that's visible to your
client right now. For example, the time you spend on Zoom with them, the
"Done for You" LinkedIn profile, the copy for your new website, etc. But
now let's get into the intangible or invisible value.

I'll leave you with a Cliffhanger here...

This excerpt is from Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 6: Calculate Your Worth

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 2 on KNOWING, Chapter 5 called 'Know Your People'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 5: Know Your People

 

From "People Buy Stuff" to "People Buy People"
As one of the early adopters of LinkedIn consulting, I had to learn that my
skills and even ten-plus years of experience just weren't enough anymore.
Sure, when I first started offering LinkedIn coaching ten years ago, I was
pretty much the only one with that specialty, at least in Switzerland. But as
time went on and LinkedIn got more and more popular, more competition
and young talent arose from every nook and corner. It was time for me to
have a good look at my UVP as well as my people—the kind of people I
enjoyed working with and who enjoyed working with me!
Because I once and for all realized that I wasn't just selling LinkedIn coaching,
I was selling myself.

I talk in detail about "finding your people" in the Marketing Like We're
Human book. I cover topics such as bringing more of you to your marketing
so that it resonates with your people, connecting with them through authentic
stories, and showing them that you care.
In this book, I'd like to focus on the more sales-related aspects: getting into
their heads and knowing their antihero.
Get into Your People's Heads
Empathy plays an important factor in Humane Marketing and Selling.
Listening deeply and figuring out how people feel gives us a clear advantage
in a sales path that's not purely transactional. I talk about empathy in the
Marketing Like We're Human book.
But there's another skill in selling that's similar to empathy but has to do more
with people's heads than their hearts. It's called perspective-taking.

Perspective-Taking vs. Empathy
Psychologists report data that shows that empathy and perspective-taking
require distinct neural circuits in the brain. Different brain regions can be
distinguished for empathy for negative emotions, empathy for positive
emotions, and Theory of Mind, the expert term for perspective-taking.
While both are crucial, perspective-taking is just as relevant in sales because it
has to do with the capacity to reason and represent others' intentions, goals,
and motives. As the seller, I am motivated to understand my buyer's mental
state and intentions, which allows me to make predictions about their actions,
and also to influence these actions.
For example: I'm on a call with a potential client who tells me that she wants
to up-level her business, but right now she's really struggling, charging
minimum rates and working long hours. I can hear it in her voice that she's
frustrated and sad, but I also hear some kind of resignation at not knowing
how to change her situation. In this case, I first show empathy: "Been there,
done that, and I hear your pain." But then I switch over to perspective-taking,
gently pointing out incorrect view on the matter and presenting a new
perspective in an abstract manner. I use my empathy and perspective-taking
not to just come up with a completely unrealistic "magic wand" scenario, but
to help her to step out of her own false belief bubble and draw a new scenario.
If I only show empathy, I might submerge my own interests and not get the
sale. So perspective-taking meets somewhere in the middle to really create
win-win situations.
Here's a list of the main differences between empathy and perspective-taking:
Empathy: Perspective-taking:
- feelings - thoughts
- sharing someone's emotional state - taking someone's perspective
- heart - head
The bottom line is that both perspective-taking and empathy are required in
Humane Selling. Empathy will help you get into people's hearts, and
perspective-taking gets you into people's heads.

#woowooprompt

This is an important concept to understand, especially if you're a
more "feeling person." Yes, we need more empathy in our sales
conversations, but that doesn't mean we only rely on feelings. It's
the combination of heart AND mind that will give your ideal client
this feeling that they can trust you and want to work with you.

Who's Your People's Antihero?
While we're in people's heads, let's dig around a bit longer. Actually, that
sounds a bit gross, but you know what I mean.
What we're trying to get to is old memories or stories that your clients have stored
in their mind somewhere. And I'm not talking about old romances, but experiences
that have to do with the problem they are trying to solve. Because most people come
to you, with some kind of baggage. They have most likely tried other solutions that
either just didn't work or, worse, really left them disgusted and disillusioned.
In the example of Humane Marketing, it's "Bro" or "Hype Marketing."
That's my people's antihero. They are sick and tired of marketers who tell
them to send out four cart-closing e-mails, launch a huge Facebook Ads
campaign, or build a manipulative funnel in ClickFunnels.
If you are a wellness coach, your people's antihero is probably the "quick
results, six pack in six weeks" type of scam.
If you are a restaurant owner, your ideal client's memory is full of bad dining
experiences.
If you are a writing coach, your people may have come across someone that
promised them they'll have a book written in two months.
If you are a web designer, your people may come to you with a half-done
website and a story in their head that "all web designers are crooks."
If you are a car salesman . . . You get the picture. :-)
On the next page I'll invite you to reflect on your ideal client's backstory.
Why is it so key to have spent some time reflecting on this? Because it helps
you with perspective-taking—and even empathy—when you know what your
people have tried before without success and are frustrated or angry about.
Because often they don't tell you these stories, which in their eyes feel like
failures. But if you mention that other clients have come to you for these exact
reasons, they feel an immediate alignment with you and your values.

The Antihero Is Not Always a Person
Maybe your ideal client is just starting out and hasn't had any bad experiences
yet. But what they have done is shopped around and seen what's available.
Dina, a web designer, told me that her people are frustrated with the jargon
they see on most of her competitors' sites. Things like SEO, Google Ads,
ranking. etc. are overwhelming her nature-focused clients. All they want is a
beautiful-looking site and someone who takes care of the rest.
So in Dina's case, her people's antihero is the whole industry that keeps
pushing those buzzwords.
So knowing that about your ideal client helps you paint a picture that makes
your client understand that you're on their side. If you are unsure who your
client's antihero is, start by listening. You can listen directly while in actual
conversation with your clients, or you can listen indirectly by doing research
on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or on other forums or groups where your
customers are present. Pay close attention whenever you hear or see the words
"rant." :-) That's when clients give themselves permission to really voice their
opinions about anything they dislike, and often it's about their antihero.

#anchor

This concept of the antihero deserves an anchor. It helps you
understand your client better (perspective-taking), and by addressing
this topic, you show that you "get it" and are on the client's side.

This excerpt is from Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 5: Know Your People

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 2 on KNOWING, Chapte4 3 called 'Get Clear On Your Value'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 4: Get Clear on Your Value

 

KNOWING Overview: Your Value, People, and Worth
I've made this mistake several times in my LinkedIn consulting business: I
created a new product or service, and then ran out to sell it. Or tried to sell it.
And failed.
It wasn't the quality of the product that was the problem. It's that I rushed it
and didn't take the time to "KNOW" a few things first.
Let me explain. After writing Marketing Like We're Human, I noticed in our
Humane Marketing Circle that members often talked about marketing when
they were actually referring to selling. And in addition to that, my book
launch coach mentioned to me that her analytics showed that there were
actually more searches for selling than there were for marketing. So that
showed me that there was a need. But I had never in a million years thought
of writing a book about sales, so I really needed to think it through. These
were some of the questions that went through my head:

• WHY would I write a book on selling? Because there's a fine line
between marketing and selling, and humane marketing actually
helps with selling; also because there seemed to be a need from my
clients.
• HOW would my book be different? It would completely turn
traditional sales upside down, and just like Humane Marketing, it
would be about selling with integrity.
• WHO would this book be for? Heart-centered entrepreneurs who
tried red selling and hated it and were looking for a different way, as
well as for readers of my first book.
• WHAT'S the value of such a book? The value is in the uniqueness
for people who are craving a radical approach to something they
find a necessary evil.
• HOW would my book make people feel? It would make them feel
relieved, empowered, and encouraged.
After listening to our hearts, we will pause and focus on our minds in this
second part of the book that's all about KNOWING. You can touch your
head if it helps you to embody it. This part of the book gives us clarity about
our value and our worth, as well as who we're really serving with our offer. As
with everything we do, we bring our own values, transparency, and an
emotional connection.
Again, remember the yoga analysis from Part One. This is still important and
deep work you're doing. And in Part Three, we'll bring it all together and into practice during our beautiful sales conversations.

People Buy What's Valuable to Them
Let's talk about the Unique Selling Proposition, more commonly referred to
as the USP. Have you heard that term before?
Here's the Oxford Reference definition from their website:
A product benefit that can be regarded as unique and therefore can be used in
advertising to differentiate it from the competition. The concept is not now as
popular as it was, as not every product can have a USP.
The first sentence describes it as the one thing that makes your business better
than the competition. What surprised me was the second sentence.
Apparently the USP has lost in popularity because in today's market, where
everything has already been invented and claimed, it's very difficult to find a
truly unique selling proposition.
What do we do instead? How do we position our offer as unique? Because
what's still true is that people buy what's valuable to them. And on top of
that, they have way more choice than they had a decade ago. They are smarter,
better educated, and in many cases, up to 60 percent further along the buying
journey before you even get a chance to speak to them.
So how do we demonstrate that our products or services are unique and have
value? That's what we're going to work on in this chapter.

What's the Value You're Selling?
When we talk about value, we always look at it from the perspective of our
clients: what are their wants and needs, what they're experiencing now, and
how you can help them.
In the introduction, I mentioned the often-used term gap selling. By
definition, there is a focus on the negative, on the gap that the client finds
himself facing. So this whole sales technique revolves around making the
client realize how big this gap is and then come to the conclusion that without
help, he can never crawl out of that abyss.
I'd like to introduce you to another term that describes the same concept, but
focuses on the positive: value-based selling.

Value-Based Selling vs. Gap Selling
In the humane approach to selling, we also consider our clients' perspective
and listen to their wants and needs and what they are struggling with now,
but instead of focusing so much on the gap, we rest our attention on the
transition and how we can help them get there. The difference is subtle, but
I'm sure you'll immediately get which one is which in these two examples:
"You've told me that you're currently not getting enough clients. This situation
is hard on you because you're struggling to pay the bills, which creates tension
with your husband, and you're often shouting at your kids. But it doesn't have
to be that way. You can easily sign with three high-paying clients each month,
and instead of arguing with your husband, head to the gym together and have
a nice lunch afterwards, while the kids are still at school."

Or

"I hear your frustration with not getting enough clients right now. Building
a business takes time. While I can't promise that you'll have a boatload of new
clients within three months, I can help you get to the next level, focus on leadgenerating
activities, and help you systematize your business so you don't feel
like you always have to work more and more. I can help you prioritize those
activities that get you the biggest return on investment."
The first example uses the typical gap-selling method, making people realize
how shitty their situation is and then waving the magic wand to sell them a
utopia that they have only limited control over.

The second example uses a more humane value-based selling approach. While
the value in getting help is still clear, it is presented with integrity. No
exaggerated promises, no magic wand.

This excerpt is from Part 2: KNOWING, Chapter 4: Get Clear on Your Value.

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 1 on BEING, Chapter 3 called 'Boost Your Sales Confidence:'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 1: BEING, Chapter 3: Boost Your Sales Confidence

 

Overcome the Expert Fear
The second most frequently asked question, after your name, is probably
"what do you do for a living?" From that short answer of what we do for work,
others will make assumptions about our societal level, income, ambition,
etcetera. No wonder people feel defined by what they do.
In the entrepreneurial world, we make up our own job titles, so there is less
comparison.
But there's still peer pressure, and often people get grouped into different
categories based on the number of zeros in their revenue. I won't get into my
rant about the six-figure and seven-figure marketing headline club. I talk
about that extensively in Marketing Like We're Human.

Besides the income, there's also pressure to "be an expert."
I admit, I even used it in my LinkedIn business, where my tagline was "I help
you position yourself as an expert on LinkedIn."
What does that have to do with selling, you ask? Quite a lot.
Picture this: your muscles tense up just a bit, you clench your jaw, you
unconsciously hold your breath. If your child walked in the door right now,
you'd probably shout at him, shut the door, and turn the key this time. You're
on high alert because you're just about to enter an important sales call on
Zoom. You're in "expert" mode! Feel familiar?
Maybe it's just me, but that's what many of my sales calls felt like when I was
selling big LinkedIn consulting packages. I put so much pressure on myself
and was afraid to lose face in front of my bigshot client.
So How Can We Overcome the Expert Fear ?

According to Wikipedia, an expert is "a person who has a comprehensive and
authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area."
Okay, that's pretty impressive. What probably scares you is the word
"authoritative," which means
a) Able to be trusted as being accurate or true; reliable, clear, authoritative
information"; and
b) Considered to be the best of its kind and unlikely to be improved upon.
Fair enough, that's pretty scary!

Reframing the discussion
What if we replaced the word "expert" with "specialist"? It's not as exclusive,
and if you call yourself a specialist, it means that you specialize in this topic
and have valuable knowledge and skills in this area. And this can be true even
if it's early in your entrepreneurial adventure. Because maybe you don't have
ten years of experience offering this type of service, but you have previous
experience—maybe from a corporate career, maybe outside of work—that
you can tap into. You may also have passions and interests which aren't on
your CV or your LinkedIn profile but which make you an interesting and
well-rounded person that people feel attracted to.
You don't have to know absolutely everything, because of course there's always
room for improvement. And there's room for that transparency in a sales call!

Bring More of You to Your Sales
Transparency, vulnerability, authenticity, empathy . . . All these words, at
their essence, have a common denominator: truth and sincerity. What people
want now more than ever is the truth. They don't want a fake version of you,
they don't want a cookie-cutter template approach, they don't want to be sold
to via a robotic-sounding script, and they surely don't want your phony
sympathy.
What they really want is more of you, the real you.
"How do I bring more of me to my sales, Sarah?" I don't have all the answers,
because only you can be more of you.
Have you ever eaten an artichoke? Not one from the can, a real one. It's that
spiky thing that looks like a flower. You cook it in the pressure cooker and
then you slowly work your way to the center, pulling off the outer petals one
at a time. You can dip the leaves in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and then
pull them through your teeth to remove the soft, pulpy portion of the petal.
Don't try to chew the petals. They are not meant to be eaten. Once you've
made it to the center, you still need to remove the choke, a crown of pointy
fibers that can literally make you choke, so don't eat them. Hallelujah, you've
found the artichoke heart! Sounds like a laborious journey, but believe me,
it's so worth it! Cut the heart into pieces, season it, and enjoy!
The journey to find the real you is similar. You need to peel back the layers
of outside influences, conditioning, and adopted beliefs before you find the
soft center—your real, authentic you.
Here are some reflections to discard some of these outer layers to bring more
of you to your sales:

1. Stop comparing
First and foremost, you need to stop comparing yourself to everyone else.
"Hah! Easier said than done!" I know. I still catch myself mindlessly scrolling
through LinkedIn, envious of other people's inspiring posts; livestreams,
which I can never get myself to do; and of course, my biggest procrastination:
other people's launches. But whenever I do, I catch myself much faster than
I did a few years ago, and I remind myself that this person is not me. This
person has a different personality, different way to recharge their energy,
different definition of success, different business model, etc. Comparing
yourself with other entrepreneurs is only fruitful when you classify it as
research and do it for a good reason, like, for example, when you're
researching prices (we'll get to that in Part Three).

2. Ditch the script
There are thousands of templates and sales scripts out there. The
entrepreneurs who provide them (at least most of them) have good intentions.
They are trying to help you. The problem is, as we've seen in Emily's story,
it's not really helping! So ditch that script right now. Discard that sales funnel
template with the four cart-closing e-mails with the rest of the artichoke
petals. People are sick of these predictable e-mail series that have been used
for decades now. Instead, keep reading in order to give yourself the permission
to bring more of you to your sales. And in the integration part, you'll find
some considerations on how to structure your sales conversation, but without
making it a linear script to follow.

3. Take yourself less seriously
Whenever I'm asked in a podcast interview what I would tell a younger
version of myself, I say "Sarah, dear, please take yourself less seriously."

#vulnerabilityalert

It's true. It's maybe one of my biggest regrets looking back at
thirteen years of business. I wish I'd had more fun. I wish I had felt
less like I needed to prove something. I wish that I had understood
earlier that I'm good enough and that showing up as I am is
sometimes good enough.
I think someone who can take themselves less seriously comes across as more
confident, not less confident. Being more casual in marketing and sales is a
sign of confidence. How can you take yourself less seriously in these
situations? Maybe you share an embarrassing story that happened to you.
Maybe you share with more vulnerability. Maybe you admit that you don't
have it all together

4. Have your values top of mind
That's it; you have arrived in the middle and discarded the choke. Now it's
time to focus on you! If you haven't gone through the exercise of choosing
your top five core values in a while (or never), I highly recommend revisiting
it. You'll find the full list of values in the Marketing Like We're Human book
or, if you prefer to do this exercise online, the Barrett Values Centre offers a
free online version in exchange for your e-mail: http://bit.ly/topvalues.
Knowing your actual core values has merit on both personal and professional
levels. And in sales, it will really help you with decision-making.
I give you an example: Joy is one of my core values. So when I listen to my
body and don't experience a sensation of joy when talking to a prospect, I'd
rather pass on the opportunity. It happened in 2019 when I was invited to be
a LinkedIn trainer for a new offering for CEO's. I said yes. But then of course
Covid happened and the whole project got delayed. Then they reached back
out early 2021 and invited me to a four-hour "let's meet and brainstorm"
session with the organizers and the other three trainers. At the time, I couldn't
say exactly why (well, other than the fact that I wasn't excited by blocking out
a whole afternoon without getting paid), but it just didn't feel right. So after
some encouragement from my business besties Valérie and Laurence, I took
all my courage and called the guy to tell him I'd rather leave the opportunity
to someone else. And I gave them the name of one of my colleagues who I
know would be a better fit for this project. Thinking about this again now, I
realize that it didn't align with two of my core values: joy and curiosity.

5. Slow down the sale
In order to have an authentic experience with the real you, we need to slow
down—way down. "I've been on your mailing list for six months now." I hear
that all the time. Sometimes they'll say a year. Trust isn't built overnight. In
order to really get to know you in this online world, you need to give people
more time. It's the exception to the rule that someone hears you on a podcast
and immediately wants to hire you. And it's rare that someone buys your
signature program after just going through a few onboarding e-mails. That
doesn't mean you shouldn't mention it, I think you should, but you shouldn't
feel disappointed if they don't buy immediately. If we want people to make
empowered buying decisions, then we need to allow them more time. The
same goes for sales conversations. If your prospect needs time to think about
it, then give them that time. Not endless amounts of time, because that
wouldn't be fair to you, but for example twenty-four or forty-eight hours.
There's so much more spaciousness when we don't apply the pressure of time.

6. Go woo-woo

#woo-wooprompt

I truly believe that any kind of grounding practice helps your
confidence with sales. Just like our oak tree from the Serene Garden
is more stable thanks to its deep roots, you will also feel more
grounded and confident. A regular grounding practice will help
your body posture and your confidence. Whether it is yoga, prayer,
breath work, chakra work, visualization, or meditation doesn't
matter. All of these techniques help you anchor yourself and deepen
your connection with Mother Earth. So if woo-woo is your jam, I
say bring more of that to your sales. Who says you can't start your
sales conversation with three deep breaths in order to be in the
present moment and get rid of any money-related stress?
These are just a few ideas on how to bring more of you to your sales. Find
what works for you. Remember the artichoke analogy to peel back the layers
of conditioning. And of course, the best way to find out is to "do the work."

This excerpt is from Part One on Being, and from the third chapter called 'Boost Your Confidence'.

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 1 on BEING, Chapter 2 called 'Clear your Own Objections:'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 1: BEING, Chapter 2: Clear Your Own Sales Objections

 

Ground Yourself in Your Own Worth
Often, the two terms 'self-worth' and 'self-esteem', are used interchangeably.
But they are actually not the same and there's a reason we start with selfworth.
Self-worth is the foundation. Remember the big tree in the middle of our
secret garden? The reason that tree stands so beautiful and proud is because
it's grounded, thanks to its roots and its strong trunk. That's what self-worth
does: it grounds you and makes you believe that you're fundamentally worthy.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines self-worth as "the value you give to your life and achievements."
Whereas self-esteem comes after self-worth, and it is about feeling confident
and feeling good about yourself.
Without going into too much detail, since that's beyond the scope of this
book, low self-worth is caused by two main reasons:
1. Wounds caused by childhood trauma; and
2. Self-protection to shield us from our fears.
Core wounds often lead to underlying beliefs that we carry about ourselves,
things like "I'm bad," "I'm stupid," "I'm fat," and "I don't deserve to be
happy." To work on core wounds, you need more than a few pages in a book.
If that's something you're dealing with, please see a licensed therapist to help
you work through that.
The second reason is the one that we want to take a closer look at here. What's
that fear we're protecting ourselves from in the context of selling? The fear of
rejection and abandonment from others.

When we have low self-worth, we're constantly trying to please others. I wrote
about my underselling and overgiving burnout in Marketing Like We're
Human. Below is the abbreviated version:

#vulnerabilityalert

She has come from a world where she was constantly underselling
herself, keeping herself small because of different reasons. First it
was her upbringing that told her she was part of the working class
and so the working class has to be small. She was also feeling inferior
because she didn't have a university degree and so she always
compared herself to people with higher education. She said the only
way to be loved, accepted, and successful was to give and give and
give. Until she had an overgiving burnout. She felt angry and
decided that she was done with giving. She would be tough from
now on. Until she realized that being tough wasn't in her nature.
She didn't want to be tough. She wanted to be gentle and kind.
And that's when she received the call to adventure. She crossed the
threshold and looked at her money story. She met the enemy. There were
a lot of stuck emotions in her sacral chakra. She didn't want to betray the
values of her dad, who fought all his life for the rights of the working class.
Not being part of the working class anymore meant betraying her dad.
But then she realized that there was another way. That she didn't have to
betray the core values that her family raised her with. Fairness, equality,
freedom, justice, kindness, sustainability, making a difference—these
values were still the same. So she realized that what her dad was fighting
for on a political level, she could now make her mission in the business
world. And that's how the Gentle Business Revolution was born.
She now creates a community, a movement, a revolution for people
who want to make the world a better place through their business.

She is no longer so much focused on the monetary outcome; she
cares deeply to create this community, and money will come to her
as a consequence of the energy she puts into the creation.
She feels safe, and she knows she will bloom.
The overgiving becomes our protection, as we have never really dealt with
those childhood fears of being rejected. In my case it was the fear of being
rejected by my dad and the community I grew up in.
So by overgiving and underselling myself, I gained the temporary love of
others, which made me feel safe. But had I not done the deep inner work, the
cycle would have gone on and on, and to this day I would still be lacking the
fundamental sense of self-worth.
Are you ready to clear your own objections and really own your worth?
Your Worth Does Not Depend on the Sale

#vulnerabilityalert

"I no longer want the amount of money I make to impact how I
feel. My worth is not dependent on the level of my success."
That's what I wrote in my journal at the end of 2016 in answer to the prompt
"How do you want to change next year?"
I think that's such a key concept to understand when you are new to selling.
Your worth is not dependent on the number of zeros in your revenue!
Your worth is not dependent on whether you fill your next course or not!
Your worth does not decrease if you don't make your goal this month!

And your value doesn't decrease based on someone's inability to see your
worth.
In plain English: you're not a failure if people don't buy your stuff!
Your worth is innate.
You're good enough.
In her famous 2010 TEDx talk in Houston on "the power of vulnerability,"
Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate
College of Social Work, shared about her many years of research around the
topic of shame. Why the shame? Because in this culture driven by a
mainstream idea of success, most of us believe we're "not good enough . . .
not thin enough, rich enough, beautiful enough, smart enough."
That fundamental fear of rejection, this open wound, leads us to protect
ourselves with masks (or other armor) and not really let others see us as who
we really are. Better to avoid being vulnerable than risk letting our guard
down.
However, Brown also talks about a smaller group of people who seemed to
have found a better way of living the "wholehearted" way. She describes them
as human beings for whom being good enough is "good enough." They show
up with courage and vulnerability, accepting that they are imperfect and are
not afraid to be transparent about their flaws. Grounded in this deep sense of
their fundamental acceptance, they open themselves to whatever life brings.
When you start selling from this new perspective—knowing that you're good
enough, whether you make that sale or not—that's when things will change
for you.

#vulnerabilityalert

"I need some time to think about it." Whenever I heard that
sentence after a sales call, my energy dropped and my mood
changed. This heavy feeling invaded me, and a loud voice inside
my head started screaming, "You see! You're just not good at this;
nobody wants what you're selling!"
It wasn't until I started to focus on my "enough" that things started
to change! In December 2016, I wrote in my diary: "I no longer
want the amount of money I make to impact how I feel. My worth
is not dependent on the level of my success." I had to go deep, do
the work (with a therapist), let go, and remind myself with a daily
mantra: "I am enough."
Today I am no longer attached to the sale. If it feels right, I'm
delighted. If it's not meant to be, I don't take it personally, and I
move on.

#serenegardenmoment

Picture yourself in your Serene Garden. You have no clients right
now, but yet you feel calm, at peace, and know deep inside that you
are good enough because your worth does not depend on the sale.
You are still you. Just like a tree is still a tree even when it loses his
leaves.

#anchor

This idea of grounding yourself in your own worth is really important
to understand and the reason we start with BEING before we get to
the KNOWING part, where we'll talk about the value and worth you
provide to your clients. They are separate concepts and not to be
confused. Your Unique Value Proposition, which we will talk about
in Part Two, has nothing to do with your innate worth. Your innate
worth is not dependent on sales or sign-ups. No one can take it from
you, or give you more of it. Whenever you doubt yourself, come back
to this anchor.

This excerpt is from Part One on Being, and from the first chapter called 'Clear Your Own Objections'.

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

So today we start with an excerpt from Part 1, BEING, and Chapter 1: Change Your Perspective.

So much of my work has to do with changing your perspective and doing things differently, and selling is no different.

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 1: BEING, Chapter 1: Change Your Perspective

 

Selling Is Human
In various old dialects, the word selling had a completely different meaning
and vibe than it has today.
Here are a few according to the Etymology Dictionary:
Old English: sellan "to give, furnish, supply, lend; surrender, give up; deliver
to; promise"
Old Norse: selja "to hand over, deliver, sell"
Old High German: sellen "to give, hand over, sell"
Gothic saljan: "to offer a sacrifice"
If we go even further back, before the introduction of money, men traded goods
and services using the bartering system. Goods were exchanged for food, tea,
weapons, and spices. The history of bartering dates all the way back to 6000 BC.
So yes, Daniel H. Pink was right to call his book To Sell is Human.
It's human, and since it's human, it starts with an "inside job."
You can change your mindset and make your own selling rules. But to do
that, you need to dig deeper than the typical book on sales would dare to go.
You see, selling has to do with money. And whenever there's money involved,
there's some baggage. We'll unlock your personal objections to selling, shine
a light on the hidden shadow stories, and then you'll start with a fresh slate,
with renewed confidence that you can sell, according to your own rules.
Oh, and as an introvert, let me address the most widespread myth about
selling: no, there is absolutely no evidence that extroverts make the best
salespeople!

Sure, extroverts are good at small talk and socializing and tend to have more
assertiveness and less scruple to ask for their worth. They tend to come across
as more confident and show more enthusiasm and energy. And extroverts are
more likely than introverts to be firm and even forceful, refusing to take no
for an answer. But introverts are very good listeners, they are empathic, pay
attention to details, are less self-oriented, and are therefore very good at
considering the needs, interests, and values of customers
Well, it turns out, Daniel H. Pink had this conversation about extroverts
versus introverts in sales with Adam M. Grant, Organizational Psychologist,
who took on the challenge to dig deeper and wrote a research paper entitled
Rethinking the Extraverted Sales Ideal: The Ambivert Advantage. In it, Grant
makes a point, based on a study of 340 outbound call-center representatives,
that there is no relationship between extroversion and sales revenue.
He argues that the ambivert, the person in the middle of the scale, is the best
at selling. Like amphibians, they have the skills from both worlds and can
adapt their sales style to any given situation. I think that's good news for
everyone, whether you're an intro-, ambi-, or extrovert. It shows that anyone
can become good at selling, no matter your personality type.

Let's move on to debunk some other myths or beliefs you may have about
selling.

Selling is a Conversation, Not a Unidirectional Download
Since selling is most often taught to us entrepreneurs as a thing we need to
DO, it always felt to me like a one-directional conversation where I was the
one responsible for the talking, convincing, and pitching.
So not true. Selling is a conversation where the BEING matters just as much
as the DOING. The following story from fellow Sales Lab participant Emily
Shull shows this well:
I found a training program online and did a lot of research on
it. It just called to me. It seemed to be a perfect addition to my
current coaching practice as it would build on my skills and
interests, and would give me another tool that would allow me
to go deeper with my clients. As a behavioral money coach, my
aim is always to get to the emotional root of the problem instead
of just addressing symptoms. The client and I are usually able to
get there together, but once in a while, that root is elusive. This
training would give me a cool method to help them get there. I
was really excited about training in this method because it felt
like an intuitive and organic next step in crafting my coaching
practice. So I was ready to sign up, but had to book a call with
a representative to enroll.
I began by giving a brief but enthusiastic summary of my practice
and how training in this method would complement my services. I
guess I was expecting him to use that opportunity to elaborate on
the training and then describe (and agree) how it would work well
in my practice. But he didn't. Instead, he was simply checking off
a list of questions, never really listening to my answers. He spoke
very quickly, which is always a turnoff for me. I realized he had a
script and would not deviate from it, even though so many of the
questions, and my answers, were repetitive. I found myself thinking
that it felt like a sleazy attempt at mind control. Ask a question
three times in order to get the prospective client to convince
themselves of how much they need and want the program. I didn't
need to be asked three times. I was sold before the sales call. Instead,
the conversation nearly unsold me. It made me question whether
the program was run with integrity.
In the end, I did enroll, and as soon as I began the program, my
enthusiasm returned.

• Emily Shull, Certified Money Coach (CMC)

What went wrong here? Unfortunately, Jake (not his real name) most likely
followed some kind of sales script that made the whole thing feel very robotic.
To Emily, it didn't feel like there was a connection. It felt like she could have
sat there without saying a word and he would have gone through each step of
his script without ever checking in with her.
And that's exactly where most of the advice about sales fails. It's taught as a
skill the seller needs to learn in order to convince the buyer. And since we all
love lists or steps, the typical sales conversation is taught in a linear and one-directional
way of some kind: step one: discover the problem; step two: make
them see the gap; step three: offer the solution; step four: overcome
objections; step five: close the deal. As the seller, you have to do everything—
with willpower and skill.
But if we only focus on the doing—in other words, making our way through
these steps—then we completely forget that the conscious client doesn't just
buy with his head, but also with his heart.

So who you are matters for at least 50 percent of your chance at a successful
sales outcome, if not more. And let's not forget Maya Angelou's famous quote
about how you make people feel:
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

This excerpt is from Part One on Being, and from the first chapter called 'Change your Perspective'.

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

I was recently a guest on Siobhan Jones' wonderful The Unlocked Creative podcast to talk about Humane Marketing and Selling.

She was so kind to give me the recording so I could share it here. So in this bonus episode, I'll be the guest for once and the lovely Siobhan Jones is asking me about Humane Marketing and Selling.

Lian Angelino is a career coach for female professionals in their 20s and 30s who feel unfulfilled in their careers. During our time together we talked about sharing the mess and the message.

Lian combines her background in Work Psychology, Mental Health Sciences and Leadership Development to help women get clear about what makes them tick and to map out how they can create a life and career based on that.

Besides online career coaching, Lian also offers online consults, for professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders/managers, on how to combat Impostor Syndrome in the workplace or their business.

In this episode, you'll learn about sharing the mess and the message and...

• The quote 'carry the message-not the mess' and it's roots in AA
• How the opposite holds truth as well
• Mental health: is it still a taboo?
• The hero journey and how it's overrated
• and much more…

Lian's Resources

 

Lian's Website

Connect with Lian on:

LinkedIn

Facebook

 

Sarah's Resources

Watch this episode on Youtube

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

To get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book go to HERE. You can also first download a free chapter to see if it resonates.

***

Today we're going to talk about my new book 'Selling Like We're Human'. I think of it as the little sister of 'Marketing Like We're Human'. They go hand in hand.

Honestly, this was a very different book to write for me. I wrote it because I realized it's what my audience wants. I thought they wanted marketing. But in fact, they wanted to sell. What they needed to get to selling was more humane marketing. So once I accepted and gave myself permission to write a very different kind of selling book, that's when I started to love the idea. But I didn't want to write it alone either so I asked in my Humane Marketing Circle who'd be interested in getting together in a Gentle Sales lab to talk about the content of this book. And luckily a group of lovely ladies showed up. Together we defined what needed to be covered, and then I sat down and wrote it.

In today's episode, I asked Andrina Tisi, a friend and former client, to take over the mic and ask me some questions about the book.
I hope you'll enjoy this conversation. And if you have any questions you'd like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail here.

To get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book go to HERE. You can also first download a free chapter to see if it resonates.

In this episode, you'll learn about the new "Selling Like We're Human" book and...

 

• The different kind of sales path that we can offer our clients
• Why more sales conversations don't equal more sales
• The inner work we need to do to sell successfully
• The outdated sales funnel that is all over the selling programs
• and so much more.

Selling Like We're Human

Sarah's Resources

Watch this episode on Youtube

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah