Renee Hribar [00:00:00]:

You are always selling. Hey. Hey. Welcome back to this selling your expertise podcast. I'm your host Renee Rebar, and today's episode is for anyone who's ever said, I'm just not good at sales. Let me tell you a little secret. You're already selling every single day. Sales isn't just about the offer or when money exchanges hands.

Renee Hribar [00:00:26]:

It's not the transaction. Sales always starts with curiosity, with a conversation, and it doesn't have to be necessarily over dinner. It's the way you ask questions and pay attention. It's definitely not manipulation. It is all about connection. So this week, let me introduce you to Sally. We'll call her Sally for this conversation. I don't ever call my clients out on the carpet, but I definitely use them as I muse sometimes.

Renee Hribar [00:00:58]:

They inspire me. What can I say? So in this story I wanna share with you, we'll call her Sally. She definitely is a real life business coach, though, and a mom of three, god bless her, who had to work with her business and work around her business and her kids' crazy sports schedule, taking care of her aging parents, talking her sister off the ledge as she was getting a divorce. I mean, I mean, if you have any siblings and they've had some life changes, then, you know what she's doing. She's on the phone constantly. And, oh, yeah, by the way, trying to eat right, get sleep, you know, build an empire. No big whoop. Sound familiar? So if you are living your life, and someone said to me once, when life gets a lifey, so funny, then there will definitely be days when you might consider going back to your employer, and that's okay too.

Renee Hribar [00:01:55]:

I've had clients that have gone back and forth from having their own shingle out a % to then going back to their employer or other employers in different capacities. And I always say, you know, your employer can be your best investor. But in this case, Sally just was not having it. She was not gonna go back no matter what. It wasn't about pride. It was more about being the owner of her time. Because where Sally came from, and maybe some of you can relate to this, I know a lot of listeners come from corporate environments. So Sally, she was working for this company for a long time.

Renee Hribar [00:02:34]:

Again, I don't wanna share the details on that, but the most important thing is, you know, she would be at work, and then, boom, surprise. Oh, we have a 6AM meeting tomorrow morning because the CEO is flying in from Switzerland, and that would make her miss ball games or gymnastics tournaments because her department was understaffed, and she'd stay to go the extra mile and pick up the slack for everybody. So when she finally applied to work with me, and this is where the shift started to begin. I mean, all this happened before I met her. Sally was literally at the point where she felt she had tried everything. I mean, are you nodding your head right now? Have you felt like you've tried everything? I've definitely been at that point. And Sally was saying, listen, Renee. Sales just aren't coming in.

Renee Hribar [00:03:23]:

She was living off referrals, but those are sporadic. You know? And she would panic, literally panic. I mean, even as she shared this story with me, she was sort of welling up. She would panic every month wondering, you know, when she'd need to work, you know, what she'd be able to charge, when she'd have to sit for a client meeting. And it was really difficult for her to wrap her head around the fact that she's in charge. All of this changed. The good news is all of this changed. But she was great at giving her clients advice on all this.

Renee Hribar [00:03:55]:

Right? I wanna say this out loud. Sally is a phenomenal business coach. But just like the cobbler's kids who have no shoes, Sally needed someone else to care for her like she cared for her clients. And so we didn't start with funnels. We did not start with sales pages. We did not start with managing her CRM. We started by joining the conversation where she already was. She was already online.

Renee Hribar [00:04:23]:

She was already in groups where she was already a member. And so we started to take a look, and we kicked off our working relationship with what I call an SOS. Some people are at that point. I certainly was for a few months, when I first started online even though I know better. Right? So SOS is a sales opportunity scan, s c a n, like you had a scan with your special glasses. And we surveyed where she already had a presence. And I don't mean a presence like she was posting every day or had done some kind of big gesture. It was just where she already was, places where people already knew her.

Renee Hribar [00:05:07]:

So it's kind of like maybe if you're listening to this and you've had a sales job before, but you know selling your own expertise is so different than selling somebody else's stuff. So first day of any sales job I ever had, it was me getting told by the manager, here, Renee. Sit down. Here's a pen and paper, because that's how old I am. Write down 100 names of people you know, Family, friends, your neighbor, your former colleagues, your former boss, everyone, everyone, and then send them this. I just started at blank company, and they do this. It's really great for these people and these problems. I have a deal that I can access as a new team member, but only for a few more days.

Renee Hribar [00:05:58]:

Do you know of anyone who this would be a good fit for? And lo and behold, I mean, that is tried and true. So if you are just starting out, you might have heard of the phrase your dream 100, and that sort of came from an elevated version of this, and that's great. It's an evolved elevated version of who are your hundred people. And so that's what Sally and I started to do. We started to look through where she already was. Right? Who already knew her? And we struck gold, but I'm gonna get to that in a second. So the thing is with Sally, we didn't need to go far. We found more than enough people in just a few minutes of stress strategic scanning.

Renee Hribar [00:06:39]:

Oh, that was a tongue twister. I didn't expect that. Sally sold seashells by the sea shore. Do you remember maybe, I don't know, like, in elementary school being like, can you say it 10 times? PS, I did get good at it, but I'm not good anymore. It takes practice. So with Sally, back to our story, we found a Slack channel that she was still in, and it was going strong. She just hadn't checked it in a while. And it was from a group program she had taken, like, a year ago, and there were people in it.

Renee Hribar [00:07:10]:

She knew who they were. They were you know, there was a good amount of them. They were well connected. They were doing different things. And, again, they had that massive common ground of having been in that group program together. And we found another, something else, a WhatsApp group she was in. I was like, this is we're striking gold here, Sally. But these are all places that I've seen over and over again with other clients.

Renee Hribar [00:07:33]:

A lot of people just don't think to look there, so there you go. So she was in a WhatsApp group that was, check this out, from a conference she attended over a year ago, and it was titled Let's Get Coffee, which I have I have done those. I don't know if you've gone to conferences where you're like, hey. Let's go grab coffee in the morning, and you meet a bunch of people. You're in breakout sessions or whatever. So it was called Let's Get Coffee, and it was full of people that she had meant to get back in touch with, but just hadn't. Right? We've all been to conferences where we get business cards or we connect with people one way, shape, or another, and we're like, yes. We will talk as soon as I get home.

Renee Hribar [00:08:10]:

And then as soon as you get home I mean, you're lucky if you unpack your suitcase. Right? Sometimes my suitcase will sit there for, like, a week. You know, this is why I really was born to have staff. So if you're listening to this and you have a staff and you would need a best friend, I am available for days. Anyway, so this group, a WhatsApp group called Let's Get Coffee, awesome. It was so good. I mean, so good. We're still mining that gold mine right now.

Renee Hribar [00:08:40]:

I mean, it's so good. So do you have a Slack channel that you are a part of or some other kind of comm channel that went with a group program? Have you gone to conferences and started Messenger threads or WhatsApp groups or Telegram threads, and you're there's still people in there? And they're talking? Yeah. So I share this in my book too. And if you've read it or listened to it, thank you. But in chapter one, I talk about being at the pub where you might see someone talking, and then you chime in to the existing conversation. And, honestly, that is something I learned when I was, like, 16 from my cousin. Thanks, Jane. And she was, you know, teaching me basically how to become a part of the conversation with the boys that I that I thought were cute.

Renee Hribar [00:09:28]:

And it's very much like dating even though I haven't dated in a hundred thousand years. It's people. We're talking to people. We're starting and restarting conversations with people that are not truly strangers, but they might have forgotten how they know you. Just like we've had forgotten that she had that WhatsApp group that was called let's get coffee. I just I'm giggling because it was so good. So that is where when you're mining, right, you're sort of looking for places you already are, that's when you start to ask smart, simple questions. Right? And, maybe make a small invitation.

Renee Hribar [00:10:10]:

But the bottom line is you wanna keep the conversation going. And it's I I just I'm gonna talk about what it's not. Right? It's definitely not cold DMs. It's not going in and dropping a sales page link. It's not coming in and being like, hey, guys. Check out this new job I had. It's coming in slower than that. So here's what Sally did.

Renee Hribar [00:10:30]:

She went through. She listened. She chimed in when she needed to. And within a week, she had people responding to her connection strategies, messaging her back. Right? So a connection strategy at its core is really just a question. It's just a question to someone else that invokes an answer. It's not a 17 paragraph per you know, letter to the to the editor about you and your background and your experience and your likes. It's not your website.

Renee Hribar [00:11:00]:

It's not even close. It's literally maximum maximum three sentences. And this is where women, especially, we love and I do. I love to get long winded. I mean, hello. You're listening to my podcast. You know? They let me have a microphone. What? And so with this, people were they were answering her questions that she had asked.

Renee Hribar [00:11:24]:

And then they were saying yes to her invitations to get on a call because she would say things like, hey. I talk better than I type. It'd be great to just hop on a call, or, hey. I don't wanna blow up this thread. Let's hop on a call. I've got time next week on Tuesday at 10:45AM or 02:15 in the afternoon. Does that work for you? That's it. She did she didn't need a calendar link.

Renee Hribar [00:11:47]:

She didn't need a fancy funnel. I mean, she eventually had all those things because they're great. They're nice to have when you're scaling. But when you're just getting back in the groove or you're pivoting or you're starting over, there's no need for all those things. It just clogs the drain of progress. Within a few days, she had sold three no brainer hundred $97 offers to map out business plans in a forty minute session. Again, we worked on all this, like, what are you gonna charge? How long is it gonna take you? What are you gonna talk about on the call? How are you gonna host it? What is the deliverable? You know, we talked about all those details, so don't don't think we didn't. But I've I really wanted to emphasize today where she got into those conversations.

Renee Hribar [00:12:29]:

In the past, it was just people that had loved her so much, loved what she did for their business so much that they, on their own accord, referred her. That's how good she is. And if you're getting referrals like that, I just want you to know you're real good at what you do, and that's why you're getting those referrals. Imagine if you had a process to help continue that pipeline flow even when it wasn't at the grace of someone else. And so within two weeks, Sally had closed her first high ticket client. It was a $6,000 offer for three months of coaching and business development. Boom. Two weeks.

Renee Hribar [00:13:10]:

She thought she'd tried everything. We met for a sales opportunity scan. We looked at where she was already hanging out, where she already maybe wasn't hanging out. She already had a presence. She was already in the Slack channel. She didn't, like, request to join. She was already in that WhatsApp group. She wasn't like, hey, guys.

Renee Hribar [00:13:28]:

I see you have a group. Could I be in it? No. She already was in there. She already met these people. She already had common ground with them. She had just forgotten that they were there. And I can tell you, it's not just Sally. It's literally everybody, including me.

Renee Hribar [00:13:42]:

I still find little pockets, little honey holes, little gold mines in my own digital Rolodex because, you know, as business owners, we are out there. You are working. You are connecting. You are talking. But it's that process, identifying it as a process, naming it, giving it steps. That's what I was able to help Sally with and with so many other women. And now they're aware of how to start the conversation, where to start the conversation, when to start the conversation, and then where to take it from there. Because Sally didn't come to me saying, you know what I need, Renee? I need a no brainer offer in a sales process.

Renee Hribar [00:14:20]:

Sheesh. If she had, I thought she'd be crazy because no one ever says that. I wish they would because that is what I do. But she was like, I tried everything, and I'm not making sales. That's what she said. And I said, I can help you. Sit down. Let's start here.

Renee Hribar [00:14:33]:

And we went through the sales opportunity scan and found great stuff and made a plan and put it into action. Were there hitches sometimes in her plan? Did everything go smoothly? No. Of course not. This is real life. But she had a plan, so even if she felt like she was getting off course, she had me and she had the process, the map so that she understood, okay. Let me get back on track. I don't know about you, but I use my GPS every day. I mean, even to go to places I know where I'm going, mostly just to create a smooth path because there's lots of ways to get to where I, you know, I'm going, and I wanna avoid traffic.

Renee Hribar [00:15:10]:

That's usually why I use it. But what I'll often do as well when I'm looking at my GPS, I'll sort of pinch open the screen, and I'll get a I wanna get a view of where I'm going or other roads or other other routes. And then I'm like, oh, jeez. I'm not I'm not on the road anymore. I'm like, I've looked at the map too much. And so there's that little arrow button or a little airplane icon that you can click that recenters you. Right? And that is exactly what Sally had based on our work together. She had a map that she could zoom out, zoom in, look around, and then click and know exactly how to get back to center where she started and then where she's going.

Renee Hribar [00:15:48]:

I want the same for you. I mean, that's the reality. All Sally did when we first met after we had that first sales opportunity scan was write her money goal down on a piece of paper. So that is what I'm gonna have you do. She wrote it down. It became real. She thought about it. And now that she was in those groups and she was leaning in and paying attention, she was looking at this money goal saying, you know what? It's not that unrealistic.

Renee Hribar [00:16:15]:

But it took that mindset shift. So for you, write your money goal on a piece of paper. Yeah. An actual piece of paper, like pulp from a tree. Just a number. You don't have to tell me your offer. You don't have to write it out. Just write a number.

Renee Hribar [00:16:30]:

Start there, and then look at it and think about it. And think about all the places you already know people. Think about what you would invite them to. It's just thinking for now. You're not doing anything yet. Would it be a a little chat on the on a Zoom call or something else? Would it be I don't know. Are you hosting a book club? Maybe you're in a maybe you have a podcast like I do, and you can have them as a guest or something to that effect. I don't know, but you have to think about it.

Renee Hribar [00:17:00]:

And there's lots of ideas and lots of ways you can go about it, but just think about it for now. Just thinking about it is work. I have a beautiful friend who always tells me this one analogy about Claude Monet, the painter. And the story goes, Monet would be laying in his hammock in his backyard, just in a hat over his eyes, just go swinging back and forth, and his neighbor would peek over the sense and say, Monet, are you resting? He's like, no. I'm working. And then the next day, Claude Monet, the painter, would be in his backyard, and he'd be painting away on a canvas, and paint would be flying everywhere. And his neighbor would look over the fence and say, Claude, are you working? He's like, no. I'm resting because the real work was the thinking.

Renee Hribar [00:17:45]:

Right? And so it's just thinking for now. Your action step is to write your money goal on a piece of paper and just think about it. You can journal about it. A lot of my clients do love to journal, and they love to review that. For me, I pick up my phone, and I I record on an app called Otter. I don't I'm sure things always change, but it just I talk into it. It transcribes everything. It organizes my thinking.

Renee Hribar [00:18:09]:

I can ask my transcription notes. It's I love it. Other people just use voice notes. They have an iPhone. But this week, think. Let your brain start to equate your relationships with a dollar amount. Because if you keep following along and taking action on what I'm sharing with you, your next high ticket client will come from one of those people that you know or someone they connect you with, and it can be much faster than you thought. So next, I want you to think about what your money goal is and write it on a piece of paper.

Renee Hribar [00:18:46]:

But the best place to get continued support when you're not listening to this podcast is to join my email list. That's where I give you the words to use and the confidence to use them when you start to actually get into those conversations, those relationships that will help make that number on a piece of paper a reality. Alright. I'll see you for Friday's episode all about what happens when you shift your mindset from I'm not selling to I'm always selling, and you're saying it with love.