Reframing Sales as Service with Eric Lofholm

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Collaborators Unite podcast.

2

00:00:05,410 --> 00:00:06,951

Chuck Anderson here, your host.

3

00:00:06,951 --> 00:00:12,036

And this is the show where we help you who we call big impact experts.

4

00:00:12,036 --> 00:00:23,415

And that is you on a mission to not only earn money with the services that you provide,

but you wanna make a big positive impact in the lives of others, your community, your

5

00:00:23,415 --> 00:00:26,227

country, and even the world.

6

00:00:26,227 --> 00:00:30,310

And when we ask people, they always say, I wanna make a big impact.

7

00:00:30,785 --> 00:00:32,456

but I also wanna be profitable.

8

00:00:32,456 --> 00:00:39,539

So, you in order to do that, we have to be masters at selling at many different levels.

9

00:00:39,539 --> 00:00:50,223

And so I thought it would be great to have an expert on here who is an expert at not only

selling, but helping other people master the art of sales as well.

10

00:00:50,223 --> 00:00:53,845

And if you wanna make a big impact, you gotta be a master of this.

11

00:00:53,845 --> 00:00:57,456

So Eric Lofholm is my guest today.

12

00:00:57,456 --> 00:00:59,037

Eric, welcome to the show.

13

00:00:59,576 --> 00:01:01,202

Hey Chuck, I'm excited to be here.

14

00:01:01,202 --> 00:01:06,209

I really appreciate the invitation and I'm looking forward to sharing some great ideas

with our audience.

15

00:01:06,653 --> 00:01:08,714

Awesome, well, I know you have great ideas.

16

00:01:08,714 --> 00:01:12,825

I know you and I just met recently, but I've spent some time on your YouTube channel.

17

00:01:12,825 --> 00:01:22,218

And so I do my homework and get kind of an idea of who you are and what direction we would

go.

18

00:01:22,218 --> 00:01:30,170

And I'm really excited to share this with our audience, because I really think it can help

them on their mission to make a big impact.

19

00:01:30,170 --> 00:01:34,423

So I think a great place to start, Eric, is tell everybody a little bit more about you.

20

00:01:34,423 --> 00:01:41,991

ah the work that you do, maybe even how it came to be that this is your specialty and

we'll go from there.

21

00:01:42,510 --> 00:01:48,090

Sure, well I decided in 1999 that this is what I want to do for the rest of my career.

22

00:01:48,090 --> 00:01:51,770

was 28 years old and I've been at it full time ever since then.

23

00:01:51,770 --> 00:01:58,110

I'm just finishing up my 27th year teaching sales skills to people all over the world.

24

00:01:58,210 --> 00:02:00,870

Prior to that though, I worked for Tony Robbins.

25

00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:05,570

That's how I got my start in the speaking industry and I had a three year run with Tony.

26

00:02:05,570 --> 00:02:09,050

And then prior to that, I got into sales at age 22.

27

00:02:09,108 --> 00:02:17,265

And I had just dropped out of a community college, quit my job at McDonald's and went into

sales and Chuck, was terrible at it.

28

00:02:17,265 --> 00:02:27,213

And so if anybody listening right now has ever struggled in sales before, I can relate

because I was literally put on quota probation because I did not know how to sell.

29

00:02:27,294 --> 00:02:29,866

And so I went from a bottom producer.

30

00:02:29,866 --> 00:02:32,248

I got trained by a gentleman named Donald Moyn.

31

00:02:32,248 --> 00:02:34,040

We might talk a little bit about him today.

32

00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,292

He's one of my mentors, my main sales mentor.

33

00:02:37,642 --> 00:02:40,563

And I just love helping people make more sales.

34

00:02:40,563 --> 00:02:45,105

And you mentioned in the introduction about the idea of mastering sales.

35

00:02:45,105 --> 00:02:55,950

And I just want to acknowledge anybody that's still listening when you heard the topic of

sales, if you're still with us, because a lot of people, Chuck, they, they just want to

36

00:02:55,950 --> 00:02:57,050

help people.

37

00:02:57,751 --> 00:03:01,412

They don't want to sell and they want to do anything but sell.

38

00:03:01,412 --> 00:03:05,354

the problem is how are you going to get your message out to the world?

39

00:03:05,354 --> 00:03:06,414

And so.

40

00:03:06,502 --> 00:03:11,558

A lot of people that want to make a big difference have a large resistance to selling.

41

00:03:11,558 --> 00:03:14,792

So I want to speak into that listening today.

42

00:03:14,792 --> 00:03:22,750

If you have resistance to sales, how do you actually go about it in a way that you can get

your message out to the world?

43

00:03:22,750 --> 00:03:28,276

Because being able to persuade influence is really important to getting your message out

to the world.

44

00:03:28,297 --> 00:03:29,557

Yeah, I love that.

45

00:03:29,557 --> 00:03:38,540

And that's a perfect transition into our conversation about who it is that you serve and

some of the things that you're hearing from them and the challenges that they're

46

00:03:38,540 --> 00:03:39,590

experiencing.

47

00:03:39,590 --> 00:03:44,892

just as you mentioned that, I think of all the people that I've talked to that said, I

don't really like selling.

48

00:03:44,892 --> 00:03:46,432

You know, it feels icky.

49

00:03:46,432 --> 00:03:48,793

ah It feels inauthentic.

50

00:03:48,793 --> 00:03:55,114

ah It feels like I'm, you know, trying to convince someone of something.

51

00:03:55,114 --> 00:03:58,315

And really, they don't have a...

52

00:03:58,370 --> 00:04:03,102

really great outlook on what sales is.

53

00:04:03,322 --> 00:04:14,157

And I wonder if you could speak to that a little bit and what you're hearing from people,

what you're noticing, and how we can move from this perception of sales being something we

54

00:04:14,157 --> 00:04:23,620

don't want to do to something being very authentic and aligned with your values and moving

you towards the big impact that you want to make.

55

00:04:23,620 --> 00:04:25,381

So what are you hearing from people?

56

00:04:25,676 --> 00:04:36,419

Yeah, well, let's call it the position that you're coming from when you, maybe you're

front of the room, you're delivering a speech or over Zoom or you're one-on-one doing a

57

00:04:36,419 --> 00:04:38,209

discovery call with somebody.

58

00:04:38,890 --> 00:04:40,570

What is that position that you're coming from?

59

00:04:40,570 --> 00:04:48,632

If you have resistance to selling, that's a position to come from that's not going to get

you the ideal results that you want.

60

00:04:48,632 --> 00:04:54,784

And so the first step, it's a NLP term, reframing.

61

00:04:54,784 --> 00:05:03,621

It's a reframe of instead of selling his arm twisting and high pressure and manipulation

and that stigma that is absolutely there in our culture.

62

00:05:03,821 --> 00:05:13,349

It's that selling equals service and we can literally put on our service hat when we're

selling and just be there to help educate somebody as to the benefits of our product and

63

00:05:13,349 --> 00:05:22,497

service to take the time to really understand their needs and then make a recommendation

to them and they'll buyer they won't buy.

64

00:05:22,497 --> 00:05:24,578

But you can come from a very

65

00:05:24,750 --> 00:05:32,670

powerful place in serving another human being and at the ultimate at end of the day,

they're going to be the ones that are going to buy.

66

00:05:32,670 --> 00:05:35,090

You don't need to try to convince them.

67

00:05:35,210 --> 00:05:43,630

You're just clearly communicating the benefits, consequences if you don't take action,

benefits if you do, and then making a request of them to purchase whatever that looks

68

00:05:43,630 --> 00:05:43,830

like.

69

00:05:43,830 --> 00:05:44,830

You could be asking for the order.

70

00:05:44,830 --> 00:05:47,230

It could be sending them a proposal.

71

00:05:47,230 --> 00:05:53,313

And so I think, you know, as far as who I serve, many of the people that I serve are

people that

72

00:05:53,313 --> 00:05:55,544

are uncomfortable with sales.

73

00:05:56,305 --> 00:06:00,649

Another group that I serve are people that want to do group selling.

74

00:06:00,649 --> 00:06:07,104

And I love working with people that want to sell to an audience on a Zoom or front of the

room.

75

00:06:07,104 --> 00:06:09,455

I have decades of experience with that.

76

00:06:09,455 --> 00:06:13,268

And so those are a couple of the different types of folks that I do help.

77

00:06:14,112 --> 00:06:19,642

And anything that you're hearing from them when they come to you for the first time, what

are they saying to you?

78

00:06:19,642 --> 00:06:27,145

What's the struggle, the emotions, just really anything that describes their current

experience?

79

00:06:27,916 --> 00:06:30,167

I'm uncomfortable asking for the order.

80

00:06:31,968 --> 00:06:33,048

I don't have sales goals.

81

00:06:33,048 --> 00:06:34,409

I'll ask him, you do you have sales?

82

00:06:34,409 --> 00:06:36,409

I don't have sales goals.

83

00:06:37,510 --> 00:06:42,052

I think for a lot of people, they're getting ready to make sales.

84

00:06:42,372 --> 00:06:45,373

Sales to me is a present moment activity.

85

00:06:45,373 --> 00:06:47,334

So it's now and then it's now.

86

00:06:47,334 --> 00:06:54,977

It's not a, it's kind of like somebody who goes, you know, I'm, I'm going to improve my

fitness next year.

87

00:06:55,237 --> 00:06:57,038

You don't have to do anything now.

88

00:06:57,038 --> 00:06:59,280

But it's a present moment thing.

89

00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:03,564

And I think that there's just a lot of uh confusion.

90

00:07:03,564 --> 00:07:11,410

um And a lot of people aren't even looking to improve their sales skills because they're

in that place of resistance.

91

00:07:11,551 --> 00:07:12,892

So I don't want to sell.

92

00:07:12,892 --> 00:07:13,995

Why would I want sales skills?

93

00:07:13,995 --> 00:07:15,234

I don't even want to sell.

94

00:07:15,234 --> 00:07:17,075

it's having the awareness.

95

00:07:17,075 --> 00:07:21,499

I had a gentleman come to me the other day who's a very successful business person.

96

00:07:21,499 --> 00:07:22,699

He's a coach.

97

00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,382

He absolutely is a difference maker.

98

00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:31,874

but he wants to do it from the front of the room and he did a presentation to 50 people

and made an offer and nobody bought.

99

00:07:32,215 --> 00:07:35,487

And so he came to me and he's like, okay, Eric, I was unsuccessful.

100

00:07:35,487 --> 00:07:36,298

What do I do?

101

00:07:36,298 --> 00:07:49,428

And so we literally re-engineered the entire presentation, almost line by line to layer in

persuasion and influence so he could be serving, but also powerfully enrolling.

102

00:07:49,428 --> 00:07:52,390

And so I think there's just a lot of confusion.

103

00:07:52,619 --> 00:08:01,275

around sales, I don't know what to do, I'm uncomfortable with it, and I can relate,

because when I started off, I was terrible at it.

104

00:08:01,316 --> 00:08:03,701

And then I had my breakthrough with the help of Dr.

105

00:08:03,701 --> 00:08:04,842

Donald Moyn.

106

00:08:06,168 --> 00:08:09,380

Two things that really stood out to me there as you were talking.

107

00:08:09,380 --> 00:08:15,976

One is serving and that reframing of uh from selling to serving.

108

00:08:15,976 --> 00:08:26,324

And if we want to make a big impact, mean, that should not should, but I mean, could be

already the default because it's like we want to make a difference in people's lives.

109

00:08:26,324 --> 00:08:29,126

So why are we not looking at it as serving?

110

00:08:29,126 --> 00:08:34,090

And the other thing was, I lost it.

111

00:08:34,090 --> 00:08:34,903

That's okay.

112

00:08:34,903 --> 00:08:37,605

uh powerfully enrolling.

113

00:08:37,605 --> 00:08:42,988

So the other thing was powerfully enrolling.

114

00:08:42,988 --> 00:08:47,391

And when you're serving, you're also sort of enrolling.

115

00:08:47,391 --> 00:08:50,933

It's like, is the transformation you want to make in this person's life?

116

00:08:50,933 --> 00:08:55,866

What is the difference you want to make in that person's uh situation?

117

00:08:55,866 --> 00:09:00,399

Is that in alignment with what you were thinking of when you said that?

118

00:09:00,770 --> 00:09:01,590

Absolutely.

119

00:09:01,590 --> 00:09:02,482

I love what you said.

120

00:09:02,482 --> 00:09:04,594

What's the transformation that you're wanting to create?

121

00:09:04,594 --> 00:09:09,238

Let's say somebody is listening to this and they want to help people improve their health.

122

00:09:09,338 --> 00:09:19,929

Well, you've got to persuade them to change what you're eating, to improve your exercise

habits, to invest in, say it's health coaching.

123

00:09:19,929 --> 00:09:25,558

A lot of people with, when I work with lot of health coaches and the mindset out in

America here,

124

00:09:25,558 --> 00:09:27,439

is well, it covered on my insurance?

125

00:09:27,439 --> 00:09:29,899

No, health coaching is not covered on your insurance.

126

00:09:29,899 --> 00:09:34,761

You have to persuade them that what you're doing is you're gonna add productive years to

your life.

127

00:09:34,761 --> 00:09:40,552

You're gonna decrease the likelihood of having uh dementia as an example, Alzheimer's.

128

00:09:40,552 --> 00:09:45,144

And so these actually are sales conversations.

129

00:09:45,144 --> 00:09:48,585

We're persuading somebody to a different way of thinking.

130

00:09:48,585 --> 00:09:52,739

If somebody's helping people in their relationships, maybe it's...

131

00:09:52,739 --> 00:09:57,021

changing their relationship with themselves or with their spouse or with their teenager or

whatnot.

132

00:09:57,021 --> 00:10:05,804

So having the ability to influence somebody, persuade, sell, that's a conversation that

falls under the category of sales.

133

00:10:05,804 --> 00:10:11,426

And selling is a language that anybody can learn using techniques like strategic

storytelling.

134

00:10:11,426 --> 00:10:15,488

There's ways to use stories to create possibility for somebody else.

135

00:10:15,508 --> 00:10:18,819

And if you don't know that, you have no access to that technique.

136

00:10:18,819 --> 00:10:21,350

And so it's being open.

137

00:10:21,538 --> 00:10:29,231

I think that's pretty much the main point that I want to make to everybody is that selling

is a learned skill and you can get better at it.

138

00:10:29,231 --> 00:10:33,703

And I just love helping people see what's possible for themselves.

139

00:10:33,703 --> 00:10:35,774

And then it's like, I get it.

140

00:10:35,774 --> 00:10:36,974

Now I understand sales.

141

00:10:36,974 --> 00:10:38,995

Now I can, I can go out there and I can do it.

142

00:10:38,995 --> 00:10:42,036

And once the skillsets transferred over, they have it for life.

143

00:10:42,995 --> 00:10:53,403

And I would imagine at some point they stopped calling it sales and they call it service

because it's, you know, who can I help and what can I help them with?

144

00:10:53,464 --> 00:11:01,660

And if you were really passionate about making a big positive impact and helping people,

then really it's not selling at all.

145

00:11:01,660 --> 00:11:03,561

It's just doing what you do.

146

00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:11,816

What I would add to that though, is I don't want people, if possible, to be uncomfortable

with the idea of sales.

147

00:11:11,897 --> 00:11:12,557

Right?

148

00:11:12,557 --> 00:11:13,315

And so...

149

00:11:13,315 --> 00:11:15,985

So like asking for the order, like you said, right?

150

00:11:15,985 --> 00:11:16,774

uh

151

00:11:16,774 --> 00:11:19,194

thing is sales is not a dirty word.

152

00:11:19,194 --> 00:11:23,054

It's just there's a stigma that's created it as a dirty word.

153

00:11:23,074 --> 00:11:26,694

And one of the funny things is that there's a whole idea out there.

154

00:11:26,694 --> 00:11:28,834

There's trainers like they're like me, but it's not me.

155

00:11:28,834 --> 00:11:32,834

It's not what I teach, but they're like, I'm going to teach you how to sell without

selling.

156

00:11:32,874 --> 00:11:38,314

And all that is, is that's an advanced objection handling technique to say, you don't like

to sell.

157

00:11:38,314 --> 00:11:41,714

You don't have to with my method, but that's not the truth.

158

00:11:42,334 --> 00:11:45,254

It's just, I'd rather have people just go,

159

00:11:45,539 --> 00:11:47,871

I'm gonna call it say like, I'm gonna call it accounting.

160

00:11:47,871 --> 00:11:49,242

I'm gonna call it marketing.

161

00:11:49,242 --> 00:11:50,483

I'm gonna call it hiring.

162

00:11:50,483 --> 00:11:51,534

I'm gonna call it recruiting.

163

00:11:51,534 --> 00:11:55,407

Like it doesn't, somebody could call recruiting a different name.

164

00:11:55,467 --> 00:11:56,929

It doesn't change what it is.

165

00:11:56,929 --> 00:12:06,356

And so I just love it if people got comfortable with the word and it's okay if you want to

use a different one, but there's nothing to be afraid of it.

166

00:12:06,697 --> 00:12:13,162

You know, it's just a, it's just leaning into these business skills, flexing,

strengthening our business muscles.

167

00:12:14,338 --> 00:12:16,710

You know, you and I, we're doing a collaboration.

168

00:12:16,710 --> 00:12:17,660

You know, we're connecting.

169

00:12:17,660 --> 00:12:19,011

We're looking, how can I help you?

170

00:12:19,011 --> 00:12:20,902

How can you help me?

171

00:12:20,902 --> 00:12:24,254

uh Collaboration is, it's a business muscle.

172

00:12:24,254 --> 00:12:25,645

Anybody can learn it.

173

00:12:25,645 --> 00:12:27,686

Selling is a business muscle.

174

00:12:27,787 --> 00:12:28,567

Anybody can learn it.

175

00:12:28,567 --> 00:12:30,488

It's nothing to be afraid of.

176

00:12:30,609 --> 00:12:32,370

It's a learnable skill.

177

00:12:32,370 --> 00:12:39,174

And I just, I just love helping people kind of like take a deep breath and go, okay, I can

do this.

178

00:12:40,213 --> 00:12:45,509

Yeah, and I believe that it starts with that belief that I can do this.

179

00:12:45,509 --> 00:12:58,514

And it's like what you saying earlier, that reframe, you know, instead of seeing sales as

ugly, it's a start seeing it as a necessary skill to make the positive impact that you

180

00:12:58,514 --> 00:13:01,026

want to make is what I'm hearing you saying.

181

00:13:01,167 --> 00:13:01,540

So.

182

00:13:01,540 --> 00:13:07,572

I mean, look at any company, any company is going to have successful sales if they're a

successful company.

183

00:13:07,813 --> 00:13:14,150

So a lot of people are trying to create success by avoiding selling.

184

00:13:14,150 --> 00:13:18,858

And it's like, that's kind of like to me walking around playing urge with a 50 pound

weight vest.

185

00:13:18,858 --> 00:13:19,768

Like why?

186

00:13:19,768 --> 00:13:21,950

Just put the weight vest down.

187

00:13:21,950 --> 00:13:23,159

I need marketing.

188

00:13:23,159 --> 00:13:24,100

I need selling.

189

00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:25,170

I need accounting.

190

00:13:25,170 --> 00:13:26,091

I need this.

191

00:13:26,091 --> 00:13:26,831

I need that.

192

00:13:26,831 --> 00:13:29,772

So let me just lean into it and

193

00:13:30,102 --> 00:13:34,764

understand, you know, what are these, what are these techniques?

194

00:13:34,764 --> 00:13:42,407

How can I, for example, if I want referrals from somebody, one way to persuade them is to

give them referrals.

195

00:13:42,507 --> 00:13:44,418

So it's an upfront agreement.

196

00:13:44,418 --> 00:13:46,169

Hey, I'll refer you.

197

00:13:46,169 --> 00:13:47,709

If you refer me, how does that sound?

198

00:13:47,709 --> 00:13:49,750

And they might go, okay, sounds good.

199

00:13:49,970 --> 00:13:54,272

And so that's a form of persuading somebody to provide referrals.

200

00:13:54,272 --> 00:13:56,963

And there's nothing negative about that.

201

00:13:56,963 --> 00:13:58,809

It's just a way of communicating.

202

00:13:58,809 --> 00:14:02,082

that creates an agreement of how we can help each other.

203

00:14:02,082 --> 00:14:10,750

And so just helping people let go of any fear around selling is what I love doing.

204

00:14:12,033 --> 00:14:24,009

So yeah, and the fear and anything else that's holding them back and stopping them,

because if you can't do this, it's really hard to make an impact, because you do have to

205

00:14:24,009 --> 00:14:26,230

bring people into your world.

206

00:14:26,230 --> 00:14:28,501

So what's the, so, you know.

207

00:14:28,727 --> 00:14:35,653

And thank you, by the way, for describing what you're hearing from people, the experience

of the people that you're serving.

208

00:14:35,653 --> 00:14:37,735

What are your recommendations?

209

00:14:37,735 --> 00:14:38,746

So now you've heard them.

210

00:14:38,746 --> 00:14:40,147

What are your recommendations for them?

211

00:14:40,147 --> 00:14:46,623

What do they need to start to do to turn things around and really make this work for them?

212

00:14:48,450 --> 00:14:53,631

I think it's really, it's a beingness conversation, which is kind of an abstract thing.

213

00:14:53,631 --> 00:15:03,514

And one of the things I learned from a mentor named Steve Hardison is we're always being,

we can observe our being and we can shift our being.

214

00:15:03,514 --> 00:15:10,836

And so if we take a step back and we think about who am I being as it relates to selling,

right?

215

00:15:10,836 --> 00:15:18,668

Some people are being, I'm the world's best kept secret or they're being, I know I need to

put myself out there.

216

00:15:18,936 --> 00:15:20,366

but I don't do it.

217

00:15:20,506 --> 00:15:26,088

They're being, I get the leads at the networking event, but I don't follow up.

218

00:15:26,148 --> 00:15:28,448

I'm uncomfortable with technology.

219

00:15:28,569 --> 00:15:32,810

And the idea is that we can shift our being.

220

00:15:32,810 --> 00:15:37,251

And so what that means is being implies choice.

221

00:15:38,031 --> 00:15:44,213

if I take a look at myself and I go, I'm resisting technology.

222

00:15:44,513 --> 00:15:48,057

If we put the word being in front, I'm being

223

00:15:48,057 --> 00:15:51,149

that I'm resisting technology being implies choice.

224

00:15:51,149 --> 00:15:53,830

That means I could be that I embrace technology.

225

00:15:54,431 --> 00:15:58,834

If I'm being that I know I need to put myself out there, but I'm not doing it.

226

00:15:59,235 --> 00:16:02,417

That means I have the ability to put myself out there.

227

00:16:02,417 --> 00:16:07,680

And so it's, think most people are anybody listening to this podcast, they're going to be

self-aware.

228

00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,863

They're going to know, yeah, I really should be doing more marketing.

229

00:16:11,963 --> 00:16:16,916

But if I go, I'm being that I'm not doing the marketing now I'm empowered.

230

00:16:17,144 --> 00:16:20,857

Cause now I could choose, I could choose to shout from the rooftops.

231

00:16:20,857 --> 00:16:22,758

I could choose to follow up with those leads.

232

00:16:22,758 --> 00:16:24,369

I could choose to put them in the CRM.

233

00:16:24,369 --> 00:16:27,051

I could choose to learn how to do the email marketing.

234

00:16:27,051 --> 00:16:35,186

And so it's a very optimistic way of looking at things and realizing we're capable of so

much.

235

00:16:35,186 --> 00:16:41,450

You know, I'm a former cook at McDonald's, college dropout, bottom producer.

236

00:16:41,791 --> 00:16:43,392

Now I'm an international trainer.

237

00:16:43,392 --> 00:16:44,673

I've written a number of books.

238

00:16:44,673 --> 00:16:47,054

out there making my mark in the world.

239

00:16:47,222 --> 00:16:52,504

And if you look at my early career, it's like, Eric's not headed anywhere.

240

00:16:53,405 --> 00:17:01,168

But I got around the mentors and I somehow I created this optimistic way of looking at

things to say, I can get better.

241

00:17:01,168 --> 00:17:02,688

I can learn the email marketing.

242

00:17:02,688 --> 00:17:04,329

I can learn how to sell from the front of the room.

243

00:17:04,329 --> 00:17:07,790

I can learn how to hire instead of, I'm not good at hiring.

244

00:17:08,371 --> 00:17:09,241

No, I can learn it.

245

00:17:09,241 --> 00:17:10,522

I can learn how to invest.

246

00:17:10,522 --> 00:17:11,492

can learn.

247

00:17:11,492 --> 00:17:16,194

so if we really look at what, what am I capable of?

248

00:17:16,398 --> 00:17:22,222

For all of you listening out there, really doubt your doubts and look at what you're

capable of.

249

00:17:22,222 --> 00:17:24,444

You're capable of so much.

250

00:17:24,444 --> 00:17:27,986

The gentleman who closed zero and he came to me for help.

251

00:17:27,986 --> 00:17:32,229

The next time he closed 15, he went from zero to 15.

252

00:17:32,229 --> 00:17:36,231

And it's because he had the potential to do that.

253

00:17:36,332 --> 00:17:39,694

He just didn't know what to do and he got the proper help.

254

00:17:39,694 --> 00:17:41,866

And we all can do it.

255

00:17:41,866 --> 00:17:43,997

You all can publish a book if that's what you want.

256

00:17:43,997 --> 00:17:46,178

can, you can.

257

00:17:46,252 --> 00:17:52,874

get these things down and so that's, I'm all about what we're capable of and living into

the future.

258

00:17:53,892 --> 00:17:55,412

Oh, absolutely.

259

00:17:55,433 --> 00:18:08,518

One thing that really stands out that I really love about how you do this is you're really

relating your own experience because, you know, once upon a time, you were that person who

260

00:18:08,518 --> 00:18:10,199

also struggled with selling.

261

00:18:10,199 --> 00:18:14,910

And I wanted to ask you, like, what was the major turning point for you?

262

00:18:14,910 --> 00:18:16,741

Like, where did you seek help?

263

00:18:16,741 --> 00:18:21,443

What are some of the things that you had to learn to do?

264

00:18:21,908 --> 00:18:32,659

where it sort of turned around for you and maybe in a way where it kind of reflects what

our audience could be going through right now.

265

00:18:34,072 --> 00:18:39,523

You know, one of it is tapping into intuition.

266

00:18:39,744 --> 00:18:46,866

And I had an intuition when I was 21 years old, 22 years old, I moved to Reno, Nevada and

I'd lived in California my whole life.

267

00:18:46,866 --> 00:18:53,207

And I went to work for this mentor named Dante Pirano and he was a speaker and that's

where I got started in sales.

268

00:18:53,207 --> 00:19:00,569

I was, it's very scary to me to move to a new area, but something said, go ahead and do

this.

269

00:19:00,569 --> 00:19:02,732

And so I took that action and

270

00:19:02,732 --> 00:19:06,003

And that got me associating with this very successful person.

271

00:19:06,003 --> 00:19:10,445

And that's the company where I was put on quota probation because I didn't know how to

sell.

272

00:19:10,445 --> 00:19:15,207

And Dante is a brilliant person, but he did not teach me sales.

273

00:19:15,347 --> 00:19:23,170

And I met Donald Moyne at that company who in my views, the most brilliant sales mind

living today.

274

00:19:23,471 --> 00:19:30,663

And he wrote his PhD dissertation, Chuck, on what separates sales superstars from average

salespeople.

275

00:19:30,663 --> 00:19:32,237

He looked at it scientifically.

276

00:19:32,237 --> 00:19:40,490

He also wrote the first NLP, you're familiar with neuro-linguistic programming, the first

NLP based sales book ever called Modern Persuasion Strategies.

277

00:19:40,490 --> 00:19:48,793

So that human being showed up in my life when I was on the verge of being let go for not

being able to sell.

278

00:19:48,793 --> 00:19:59,948

And so I literally had, using Star Wars as a metaphor, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of sales

literally come into my life and he began to mentor and coach me.

279

00:19:59,948 --> 00:20:01,538

So when you're being coached,

280

00:20:01,634 --> 00:20:11,455

by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Donald Moyn, I was motivated and I started applying what he was

teaching me and I quickly shot up the ranks in my selling, I hit the quota and then

281

00:20:11,455 --> 00:20:16,370

ultimately I became a top producer and it was directly related to mentorship.

282

00:20:17,621 --> 00:20:21,343

Yeah, you know, I really love this idea of mentorship.

283

00:20:21,343 --> 00:20:31,948

And one of the terms I hate in our industry is when people call themselves a solopreneur,

or when people say, I'm a self-made this or I'm self-made that.

284

00:20:31,948 --> 00:20:35,399

And I always refer to business as being a team sport.

285

00:20:35,679 --> 00:20:40,702

And getting a mentor is, I think, one of the ultimate collaborations.

286

00:20:40,702 --> 00:20:44,053

I'm very pro collaboration and pro-

287

00:20:44,053 --> 00:20:46,254

pro partnerships, it's the ultimate.

288

00:20:46,254 --> 00:20:54,666

You're learning from someone who has already figured out what or has already been through

what you're going through right now and knows what to do.

289

00:20:54,666 --> 00:20:57,857

And I think it's there's a distinction between a coach and a mentor.

290

00:20:57,857 --> 00:21:04,039

A coach is someone who, you know, coach, listen and coach you on taking next steps.

291

00:21:04,039 --> 00:21:11,195

But a mentor has lived what you're experiencing right now and say, here's what I did.

292

00:21:11,195 --> 00:21:13,796

and here's what you can do as well.

293

00:21:14,557 --> 00:21:16,717

Was that your experience with that whole thing?

294

00:21:16,717 --> 00:21:22,933

And I know you are a mentor also now to people who are wanting to make this bigger

difference.

295

00:21:23,278 --> 00:21:26,399

Yeah, I mean, if you think about a coach, right?

296

00:21:26,399 --> 00:21:28,359

What does it take to become a coach?

297

00:21:28,460 --> 00:21:32,381

My 23 year old son, he's a life coach, okay?

298

00:21:32,381 --> 00:21:37,382

So he's coaching other kids about his age, but what did he have to do to become a coach?

299

00:21:37,382 --> 00:21:38,783

He just said, I'm a coach.

300

00:21:38,783 --> 00:21:39,823

Here's my fee.

301

00:21:39,823 --> 00:21:41,864

If you want to hire me, hire me, right?

302

00:21:41,864 --> 00:21:46,335

Mentorship to your point, Donald Boyne wrote his PhD dissertation.

303

00:21:46,335 --> 00:21:48,866

Now you don't have to have a PhD to be a mentor.

304

00:21:48,866 --> 00:21:49,665

I have.

305

00:21:49,665 --> 00:21:54,679

over 30 years of life experience, 100,000 cold calls, right?

306

00:21:54,679 --> 00:21:57,131

Thousands of sales, thousands of speeches.

307

00:21:57,131 --> 00:22:03,225

And so there's, there's a depth to what it is that I'm teaching.

308

00:22:03,326 --> 00:22:13,835

And so when I'm working with Donald Moyn as an example, when he's helping me, one of the

things he told me that was very instrumental is, uh, one day we're on a call and, he was

309

00:22:13,835 --> 00:22:16,476

acknowledging me for my prospecting skill.

310

00:22:17,077 --> 00:22:18,550

And I never thought it was

311

00:22:18,550 --> 00:22:19,260

any big thing.

312

00:22:19,260 --> 00:22:20,852

It's just, it's just what I do.

313

00:22:20,852 --> 00:22:24,093

And he's like, Eric, you're one of the best prospectors that I know.

314

00:22:24,174 --> 00:22:31,499

And that really struck me because I was like, I just thought I was average, but here's my

coach who knows he's my mentor.

315

00:22:31,499 --> 00:22:35,131

And he's like, Eric, you've of all people I know, you're, you're one of the best.

316

00:22:35,131 --> 00:22:37,903

so that helped increase my belief in myself.

317

00:22:37,903 --> 00:22:44,728

Oh, he's seeing something in myself that I'd never seen before and the credibility of

where he's coming from.

318

00:22:44,728 --> 00:22:48,098

And so, you know, if you're, if you're a coach out there,

319

00:22:48,098 --> 00:22:49,358

That's great.

320

00:22:49,498 --> 00:22:52,499

And you keep, and then maybe eventually you become a mentor.

321

00:22:52,499 --> 00:22:59,921

But when you, you find somebody that you have that mentorship relationship, you know, and

you're really for me, I'll speak for myself.

322

00:22:59,921 --> 00:23:03,682

I'm giving them a high level of influence over me.

323

00:23:03,982 --> 00:23:05,623

Cause I'm calling them a mentor.

324

00:23:05,623 --> 00:23:07,143

I'm seeking out their advice.

325

00:23:07,143 --> 00:23:08,764

Their advice is it's weighted.

326

00:23:08,764 --> 00:23:14,665

It has a heavier weight on me than what somebody else would tell me because I'm referring

to them as a mentor.

327

00:23:14,665 --> 00:23:16,952

And whether somebody refers to me as a mentor,

328

00:23:16,952 --> 00:23:19,294

coach and advisor, whatever they want to call me.

329

00:23:19,294 --> 00:23:26,270

just, I just love helping people in this area of sales that can have such an impact on

somebody's life.

330

00:23:26,270 --> 00:23:32,356

You know, you make more sales, you could hire somebody, you could have money for Facebook

ads, you could get an office.

331

00:23:32,356 --> 00:23:34,858

I have one client, he bought the building.

332

00:23:34,858 --> 00:23:37,210

He was a heating and air conditioning guy who's renting the building.

333

00:23:37,210 --> 00:23:38,321

Now he bought the building.

334

00:23:38,321 --> 00:23:40,873

That's game changing financially for his family.

335

00:23:40,873 --> 00:23:44,026

And so I love helping people.

336

00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:53,152

especially if they have some uncomfortableness with sales so they can move past that and

make the difference that you were referring to that they really want to make.

337

00:23:53,604 --> 00:23:54,365

Amazing.

338

00:23:54,365 --> 00:23:58,426

Well, I know this is exactly what you help people with.

339

00:23:58,426 --> 00:24:05,489

let's, and I would really like our audience who's listening in right now to connect with

you and learn more from you.

340

00:24:05,489 --> 00:24:08,009

uh Where do they start?

341

00:24:08,070 --> 00:24:11,811

What is your recommendation there in a bit of the journey?

342

00:24:12,300 --> 00:24:16,713

Yeah, I think one simple place to start um is my planning class.

343

00:24:16,713 --> 00:24:18,294

And we do it a couple of times a year.

344

00:24:18,294 --> 00:24:20,596

You can find it at planningclass.com.

345

00:24:20,596 --> 00:24:24,849

It's free and it's a way to do some goal setting on your business.

346

00:24:24,849 --> 00:24:26,920

And it's a great, great class.

347

00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:29,682

And then I'm the only Eric Offam on planet earth.

348

00:24:29,682 --> 00:24:35,366

So I want all the social medias, you YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, et cetera.

349

00:24:35,366 --> 00:24:37,798

And you can send me a direct message over any of those.

350

00:24:37,798 --> 00:24:41,650

If you'd like to connect with me, if you're resonating with the message.

351

00:24:41,772 --> 00:24:44,794

and you wanna have a one-on-one conversation with me, just please reach out.

352

00:24:44,794 --> 00:24:54,252

I'd be happy to speak with you, to say that you're on this particular podcast, so I know

where you came from and we can have a conversation with planningclass.com or social media

353

00:24:54,252 --> 00:24:57,024

or just reach out to me directly through social.

354

00:24:57,025 --> 00:25:00,978

Yeah, you are actually very easy to find online.

355

00:25:01,599 --> 00:25:02,990

My name is the opposite.

356

00:25:02,990 --> 00:25:07,303

There's about a trillion uh Chuck or Charles Andersons.

357

00:25:07,464 --> 00:25:13,849

But to make it even easier, for those of you listening in, all of Eric's links are right

beneath this video.

358

00:25:13,849 --> 00:25:22,416

And if you're listening to this on a podcast, just open up your phone and the player that

you're listening to uh has all of his links there as well.

359

00:25:22,417 --> 00:25:24,796

And uh highly recommend that you do.

360

00:25:24,796 --> 00:25:25,673

So.

361

00:25:25,673 --> 00:25:30,706

So Eric, this has been great and I love everything that you shared.

362

00:25:30,706 --> 00:25:46,174

uh If you were to sort of summarize your recommendations on how people sort of, know, uh

re-approach sales, reframe, I think was the word that you used, which I love, uh and get

363

00:25:46,174 --> 00:25:49,967

to the point where now they're feeling confident with it.

364

00:25:49,967 --> 00:25:54,742

you know, I love the story of the fellow who was speaking.

365

00:25:54,742 --> 00:26:05,463

to the group of 50, sold zero, reframed some of the things, worked on it, and now uh is

successfully selling to groups.

366

00:26:05,724 --> 00:26:14,904

So if you were to just sort of summarize that whole journey, I know it's hard to do in

just a couple of minutes, but uh just so that folks know, kind of like, hey, this is what

367

00:26:14,904 --> 00:26:15,955

I need to do.

368

00:26:16,844 --> 00:26:23,380

Yeah, well, just to kind of summarize my journey, it started off with first believing that

I could do it.

369

00:26:23,380 --> 00:26:27,204

And then from that belief, okay, now I need to work on the skills.

370

00:26:27,204 --> 00:26:28,425

And so what does that look like?

371

00:26:28,425 --> 00:26:32,709

It looks like lead comes in and then what do I do with it?

372

00:26:32,729 --> 00:26:33,680

And then what's next?

373

00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:34,611

And then what's next?

374

00:26:34,611 --> 00:26:40,127

Documenting that process of having a lead come in and then working on the actual sales

presentation.

375

00:26:40,127 --> 00:26:42,038

When you're meeting with a prospect,

376

00:26:42,370 --> 00:26:43,971

What does that conversation look like?

377

00:26:43,971 --> 00:26:50,037

There's a sequence to delivering an effective presentation, and then you're gonna have an

outcome for that presentation.

378

00:26:50,037 --> 00:26:54,741

And so these are all skills that can be learned.

379

00:26:54,741 --> 00:27:00,606

And so if you're open to the idea of, let me let go of resistance to sales.

380

00:27:00,847 --> 00:27:02,307

me embrace sales.

381

00:27:02,308 --> 00:27:07,773

And then we start documenting the process of leads coming in all the way through to a

sale.

382

00:27:07,773 --> 00:27:09,354

And then after they buy,

383

00:27:09,358 --> 00:27:12,118

Now we're looking at repeat and referral business.

384

00:27:12,118 --> 00:27:16,858

And so it's giving the audience something to look to.

385

00:27:16,858 --> 00:27:18,938

What should I work on?

386

00:27:19,038 --> 00:27:23,078

I would start with the mindset and then I'd work on how does lead come in?

387

00:27:23,078 --> 00:27:25,098

How do I get them to become a client or customer?

388

00:27:25,098 --> 00:27:27,718

And then how do I do the repeat and referral business?

389

00:27:27,718 --> 00:27:32,230

And then as you get all this down, you've got it for the rest of your life.

390

00:27:33,078 --> 00:27:35,009

Amazing, I love all of that.

391

00:27:35,009 --> 00:27:39,991

Well, if you loved that as well, look beneath this video, all of Eric's links are there.

392

00:27:39,991 --> 00:27:47,013

We've already given you the pathway to connect with Eric and to start learning how to do

this.

393

00:27:47,013 --> 00:27:54,556

And if you wanna make a big impact in the world and in the lives of your clients, it's

time to take the next steps.

394

00:27:54,556 --> 00:28:02,463

And as you do that, you grow your confidence and as your confidence grows, your impact

will grow as well.

395

00:28:02,463 --> 00:28:03,764

Eric, this has been amazing.

396

00:28:03,764 --> 00:28:06,125

And I know that we've just scratched the surface.

397

00:28:06,665 --> 00:28:11,228

And uh hopefully this is the first of many collaborations.

398

00:28:11,228 --> 00:28:16,931

I think we're very well aligned in our thinking and who we serve.

399

00:28:16,931 --> 00:28:19,272

And I love what you do.

400

00:28:19,393 --> 00:28:31,605

And uh in fact, the combination of my lead generation and your conversion, mean, that's

kind of the one-two combination that you kind of have to have.

401

00:28:31,605 --> 00:28:33,516

to make a big impact.

402

00:28:33,597 --> 00:28:34,778

So thank you.

403

00:28:34,778 --> 00:28:41,553

And I'm wondering if there's any final advice or words of wisdom that you can leave our

audience here with today.

404

00:28:42,582 --> 00:28:44,842

Yeah, I'll wrap with this.

405

00:28:45,063 --> 00:28:53,425

Something clicked for me, I don't know, 25 or longer years ago to work towards mastery of

selling.

406

00:28:53,425 --> 00:28:58,056

And mastery is there's no destination, right?

407

00:28:58,056 --> 00:28:59,737

We don't, I don't like arrive somewhere.

408

00:28:59,737 --> 00:29:01,167

Yes, I've mastered sales.

409

00:29:01,167 --> 00:29:04,688

It's just part of mastery is we're always the student.

410

00:29:04,848 --> 00:29:06,869

And so if you recognize, you know what?

411

00:29:06,869 --> 00:29:11,180

Sales is actually probably one of the five most important business skills.

412

00:29:11,414 --> 00:29:14,797

that I could ever develop, nothing to be afraid of it.

413

00:29:14,797 --> 00:29:23,695

And let me work towards mastery for the rest of my career, whether you, you know, however

good you get, you get as good as you can.

414

00:29:23,695 --> 00:29:30,330

But I think that would be something you'd be, you know, looking back five, 10, 15, 20

years from now, however long your career goes.

415

00:29:30,331 --> 00:29:36,536

And you go, yeah, I listened to that podcast with Chuck and Eric, and I decided that I was

going to pursue mastery in sales.

416

00:29:36,536 --> 00:29:39,064

And at the end of your career, I think you'd look back and go, wow.

417

00:29:39,064 --> 00:29:47,554

That was actually one of the most impactful business decisions I ever made in terms of the

impact that I want to have and the profitability that I was able to accomplish.

418

00:29:48,056 --> 00:29:48,876

Amazing.

419

00:29:48,876 --> 00:29:59,941

Eric, thank you so much for your time and your generosity with your advice and your

stories and more to come, I'm sure.

420

00:29:59,941 --> 00:30:02,292

And to our audience, thank you for being here.

421

00:30:02,292 --> 00:30:06,003

And if you're still listening right now, I believe that's for a reason.

422

00:30:06,003 --> 00:30:15,051

So I want you to take something that you heard us here talk about today and I want you to

take action towards that.

423

00:30:15,051 --> 00:30:17,072

Maybe it's been something that you've been putting off.

424

00:30:17,072 --> 00:30:26,057

Maybe it's that consultation call that you had last week and you can call them back, or

maybe it's some follow-up from a networking event or something.

425

00:30:26,057 --> 00:30:33,181

Take an action today and then also go and click the link below to connect with Eric.

426

00:30:33,181 --> 00:30:36,503

That is a great next step for you as well.

427

00:30:36,503 --> 00:30:43,415

Remember, you might be just one collaboration away from the big breakthrough that you need

in your business.

428

00:30:43,415 --> 00:30:46,799

uh and the only way to fail is to quit.

429

00:30:46,799 --> 00:30:59,412

So just keep taking the next step and you too can make the big positive impact that you

know you were meant to make in the lives of others and the world.

430

00:30:59,412 --> 00:31:02,204

Keep moving forward and we'll see you on the next one everybody.

431

00:31:02,204 --> 00:31:03,155

Thank you.