Hi, it's Dennis Collins, and you've landed on Connect

Convert, where we share secrets for small business sales success.

Today's episode is going to be somewhat brief, but extremely powerful.

The topic for today is, BELIEF.

is irresistible.

So I want to start with a story I read about Phil Knight.

You know who Phil Knight is, the guy who founded Nike.

Well, this is before he founded Nike.

He had some pretty early success with a company called Blue Ribbon Shoe Company.

That was his first company.

And he'd fill up his car, shoes, running shoes, rather than sell

them through the retail stores.

He would drive all the way around the town and hither and

yon to the, um, track meets.

And in between track meets, in between sessions, he would talk to the runners,

he'd talk to the coaches, he'd talk to the fans, he'd talk to anybody

he could talk to about his shoes.

Well, the response, the response was Amazing.

Phil never had enough time to even write up all the orders.

He was overwhelmed with business.

So one day, driving back to Portland, he said, you know, how can this be?

He had tried sales in his life.

He had been an encyclopedia salesman.

Can you imagine that?

He then transferred over to mutual funds.

He had a little more success with mutual funds, but that wasn't as bagged.

So why was selling shoes so much different for Phil Knight?

And then it hit him because he wasn't selling.

He believed in running.

He believed that if people got up and ran a few miles every

day, their life would be better.

He believed his shoes were better to run in.

Sensing his belief, people wanted some of that belief for themselves.

So to quote Phil Knight, Belief, I decided, is irresistible.

So, What does that have to do with you?

If you've listened to some of these episodes of Connect and Convert,

we've talked a lot about what happens during a sales conversation.

Of course we should.

But in reality, there are three things that are critical to the sale.

What happens before the sales conversation, obviously what happens

during the sales conversation, and finally, what happens at the moment

of truth, at the point of decision.

Today, we're going to focus on what some of the experts call the

most important event of the three.

Even more important than the sales conversation itself.

The first sale, the first sale, the very first sale is to yourself.

Yes, to yourself.

You've probably heard that before.

Let's do a little assessment.

What do you believe about your product or service?

What's your mindset?

The sale that happens in the heart of the salesperson controls a lot of what

happens during the sales conversation.

Are you truly convinced that you're doing the best thing for you,

your customer, and your company?

So how might you assess that?

Well, during a sales conversation, do you believe you're a helper,

that you're helping, or just product pushing or selling?

Do you believe you're the provider of value, the provider of value, or just

another features and benefit puger?

Customers buy stories.

We all know that.

How compelling are your stories?

About how your customers have successfully used your product.

People don't buy features and benefits.

They haven't for a long time.

They, they don't even buy products and services.

They buy confidence.

How much confidence do you have in the value you're providing?

Do you make statements like, Oh, I know you won't choose this one.

You're probably understood that I need to show it anyway.

Are you convinced you have true value, a true solution at a fair

price to solve their problem?

If you don't, how do you expect your customers to believe?

When a customer pushes back on price, do you hesitate or equivocate, hem and haw?

Um, um, uh, are you weak and fumbling?

Are you confident that you have a valuable solution at your price

that will fix their problem?

You know, when you boil it all down, sales is nothing more

than a transfer of confidence.

Customers can smell a non confident salesperson 10 miles away.

The ums and the uhs and the negative body language.

The apologetic comments.

Hey, sorry to do this, but I have to.

The rush to the discount with little or no customer pressure.

These behaviors speak louder.

I think we would all do better if we would channel Phil Knight.

Belief, I decided, is irresistible.

How do you convey confidence and belief in your company's reputation,

in the top quality products that you provide, the high quality of what you

do, and the thousands of satisfied customers that you've already served?

How do you convey belief and confidence?

Your ability to display confidence will make all the difference.

That's today's session of Connect and Convert.

We'll see you next time.