Welcome to the Six Figure Business Mastery Podcast, where every week, Kirsten and

Jeannie dive into the essential topics to fuel your business growth, from

copywriting to course creation, mindset to video marketing, they've got you covered.

Tune in for expert guest interviews on all things marketing and

business and learn how to work on your business, not just in it.

So get ready to unlock your business potential and take it to the next level.

Hello everyone, and welcome to our newest episode.

We are thrilled and excited to have a special guest.

Sales Maven with us.

We have Nikki Roush and she is CEO of Sales Maven.

She has a unique ability to transform the misunderstood process of

selling, which I know is an issue for a lot of people out there.

She's got 25 plus years of selling experience and she works with

entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping them learn how to sell.

Successfully and authentically.

She also has three books on Amazon.

We'll have to find out about that.

And she has a podcast called Sales Maven.

So welcome, welcome, Nikki.

It's lovely to have you here today.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited to have this conversation with both of you.

It's going to be fun because you're going to take this from a little

bit of a different perspective.

You're going to take it from the perspective of networking,

both online and offline.

So this is exciting.

Tell us a little bit more about your perspective on online and offline

networking and how it relates.

How I think about it is it's always about building relationships and I always say

relationship first and rapport always.

So everything I teach is based on the foundation of rapport.

In order to sell to somebody, you need to have rapport and the best and

easiest way to earn somebody's business is through building relationships.

So that's what networking is, right?

It's about making connections with people and finding out who they are, where

they come What's important to them and when you have permission and if it makes

sense, if you have something that would benefit them in some way, you've got

permission to put it in front of them.

Now we're having a real conversation about ways that my product, my service, what

I offer could benefit them in some way.

And then we get to the place where we're actually exchanging dollars for services.

When you think about most of us, our business is built from relationships.

Right?

Like people don't just give you money out of the blue.

Very few of us have stuff where people just come out of

nowhere and give you money.

There's usually some type of relationship that happens and yeah, networking.

I do love that you're taking it from the angle of relationships because

I think sometimes in this online space, we can forget how important

it is to have great relationships.

with the people who are possibly your prospects, but also with

your client and with your team.

And I think that it's not what makes, it's not only what makes us successful.

It's what makes us happy.

I think those relationships in business make us truly happy.

And I think that's something people totally overlook.

Yeah.

It's one of the things that often people experience.

And one of the reasons why I do what I do, which is.

Teach people the conversation of sales is that we've been, we've

had sales done to us, right?

We've had somebody who's shown up at an event or shown up in our inbox

or whatever and is pitching and it comes off really gross and icky

and we don't want to be that way.

And so then we hold ourselves back because we're like, Oh, I

don't want people to think I'm.

Icky and gross.

So then, therefore, I don't ever bring up my product, my service.

And then now people are actually missing out on what could benefit them in some

way, because you don't feel comfortable doing it because you don't want to do

it how you see other people doing it.

And I often say sales isn't something that you do to another person.

It's something you do with another person.

And so it is for me about relationship and it's about conversation.

It's about permission and Yeah, when you put the relationship

first, sales get so much easier.

I agree.

Tell me a little bit about maximizing online events.

So let's start off talking about online marketing before

we move to offline marketing.

So how do you advise people?

I'm going to attend a networking event tomorrow, no, Thursday, and

it's an online networking event.

We'll break out in a small group.

Really high caliber people in the group so far that I've met

have been really impressed.

So.

I'm learning, I'm excited to learn more about how I can maximize that.

So there's a couple of things that I recommend in these types of situations.

One is be visible at the event.

Make sure your camera's on so people see you.

Be engaged in the comments.

If people are commenting, be engaged with them.

Comment on other people's comments.

Ask a question.

Go live where you get called on, they get to hear your voice.

And before you ask That's the question.

Give some premise to the question.

State what it is that you do.

So you could say as somebody who coaches women on how to sell, here's my question

for you that just already planted a seed of, Oh, that's what Nikki does.

And so it gives you that visibility.

That you don't get when you just sit in the background with your camera

off and listened in so be engaged.

So that's 1 way ask a question and give some little bit of a pre

frame to that question that talks about who you are and what you do.

I actually have a client by the way, and I told her to start doing this.

And I have a group coaching program.

And I said, every time you come to the group coaching program, ask a question.

And now I asked my people to always give a pre frame at the beginning

of who they are, what they do.

And it gives context to the question.

She has gotten so much business from other members of the group

because she's so visible there.

So if you're going to take time out of your day to attend a

networking event, whether it's virtual or in person, be visible.

So that's the first thing.

And then the second thing is look for people.

Who are also engaged in asking questions and send them a little private message

of encouragement or appreciation for the question or what they shared and or

if you have a resource that isn't you trying to pitch them and sell to them.

But if you have, hey, here's a resource, would you be interested in it?

Ask them 1st?

And if they said, yes, send it my way, then you're starting to develop.

Relationship with one other person on the meeting.

So it doesn't just feel like, Oh, it's just a bunch of faces.

It's like, Oh, Nikki actually sent me a personalized message

and I can respond back to her.

And now we're having a little bit of a conversation.

So even if I'm not interested in hiring a sales coach, and even if I don't even

know yet what she does, the next time I see her at an event, I'm going to feel

more like I'm going to feel more drawn to her because she extended herself.

To me first.

So be willing to extend yourself.

I love that because when you're in a, like an online networking group,

and if somebody does message you privately, the first thing you're

going to do is go, where are they?

Who are they?

And you're going to check them out.

So, you know, it's made them suddenly stand out to you.

So that these are great suggestions.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I'm thinking about how I'm going to implement that on Thursday.

Yes.

So you also talk in your trainings a lot about the role

that curiosity plays in network.

So I love curiosity.

I, so just to give some context to it, I teach a five step framework

for successful sales conversation.

So I call it the selling staircase.

I wrote my third book around it and step two.

Of the selling staircase is about creating curiosity and it is the most missed step.

And when I ask people who are struggling with sales, do you

know how to create curiosity?

When you're talking about your business or what you do, they

look at me like, what now?

What do you mean create curiosity?

But yet, if you don't create curiosity, and if you're not able

to do that, oftentimes you miss out on actually getting to have real

conversations with real prospects because they don't, Know who you are.

They don't know what you do.

They don't know how they'll benefit from knowing you.

So how can you create curiosity that makes people want to know more or

lean in or ask you a question because now that opens the door, right?

When someone asks you a question now, it opens the door for you to

have some conversation and actually.

Answer the question from a place of expertise.

So an example of this would be at a networking event, for instance,

is what question do you ask somebody that lets them either?

What does that mean?

Or tell me more about that.

So it could be in the form of a question, but it can also

be in the form of an answer.

For instance, if somebody asks you something like, Hey, how are you today?

You could actually create curiosity in your answer.

Now, most people don't because they say, Oh, I'm fine.

How are you?

That doesn't Create any curiosity, but what if you have

an answer that sparks them to go?

What's that?

Or tell me more about that.

What if you said something like, Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.

I'm having the greatest day because I just found out that my podcast is in the

top 1 percent of all podcasts globally.

Now what's going to be their next question.

Maybe they say congratulations and move on, or maybe they go, I don't

care about podcasting and move on, but more than likely they're going to go.

What's your podcast about?

Love that.

I would have never thought about that.

That's amazing.

That's just a basic.

How are you doing?

We're going to pull the transcript of that, so it'll be in the show

notes for everyone because sometimes there's these little pieces of gold and

it's, it's so simple yet so powerful.

That's like an amazing tip.

And so then you encourage people.

You also find different ways to create curiosity in the

conversation when they're networking.

So people inquire about more.

Yeah.

So one, one would be the way you ask them a question, right?

So I talked about answering a question, but what question could you ask?

One question you might ask somebody, for instance, is What have you found

to be the most powerful thing about being involved in this networking group?

That's a great question.

Maybe I just said it.

So now it's now I sound like I'm patting myself on the back.

I don't mean that.

That's a good question to spur information.

And chances are people haven't been asked that question before.

So they have to think of their answer on the fly.

They'll give their answer and then likely they'll come back at you.

And ask you the same question.

Now you want to have an answer that allows them to go.

Oh, what does that mean?

So you might say something like one of the best benefits I found from

being in this group is it's allowed for me to have exposure to people.

I didn't even know we're out there and find ways to serve them.

It's been really exciting how many clients I've gotten from this group.

Now people are like, what do you do?

What are people hiring you for?

They're like leaning in going, tell me more because maybe I need that.

I love this.

I love it.

How else do you use curiosity?

So clearly curiosity did not kill the cat.

So are there other ways that you teach using curiosity when you're networking?

There, I'll tell you one that's that I would say to use

online on your social media.

Is that okay?

If I use it from that.

Perspective because we're building connections there too.

One of the things that we will often do is we'll share an accomplishment, right?

We'll talk about something really exciting going on in our business,

or, but if you really want people to lean in and want to know about

it, start by asking them a question.

Don't bury the question at the bottom of your post, put it at the top.

So for instance, you might say to somebody, or you might post on

social media, what has been one of the most gratifying experiences?

Pieces of your work, leave some white space and then answer the

question because people will go.

Oh, I want to answer that question.

But now I also want to read.

What is Kristen's answer?

Right?

And now that gets people going.

Oh, now we're it feels like conversation versus just being talked at.

All the time on social media.

Yeah.

And questions do get so much more engagement because again, it's that

relationship of having the conversation.

I love that.

It's so funny because in one of my networking groups, someone

kind of joking, like, she's, oh, she's the outsourcing queen.

So I embraced that.

And now that group, when it's fun, I'm like, yeah, I'm the marketing outsource.

I think we, it is interesting because people will ask about

it later and it's just something simple that was done in Jeff.

And now that I've done it a couple of weeks in a row, it's been interesting

to see how that's played out.

Yeah.

It makes you more memorable, right?

It gives somebody, it gives our brain something to go like, Oh, I

can make an association now or I can make some type of a connection and

this is our brains love that, right?

It feeds the brain when you can make a connection like that and

they go, Oh, what does that mean?

What does that mean?

Or, Oh, I know that.

You're the outsourcing queen.

So do you help people with this or with that?

Because now they're trying to think of what does that mean?

That's amazing.

Now, do you do a lot of offline networking?

Are you out locally networking in your area?

I used to be when I was first building my business.

I really did build my business by networking and speaking

really heavily in my local area.

I now work with clients around the world, so I don't do as much Networking

as I used to online, I actually prefer to do my networking in coaching

programs and live events, right?

Like I want to go to a retreat or I want to go to a, an event where like

minded people are going to be there and we can grow and learn together.

And I find that Actually, I, I've, I get a lot of business doing that as well,

because you get to know people and they're like, Oh, maybe I need help with sales.

So of course I'm going to go to the person I feel comfortable with,

which is Nikki, need help with sales.

I don't know if you ever really outgrow needing help with sales, because I

think it's one of those things that's always evolving, or maybe you had a bad

couple of months and that rocks your competence, or maybe you were taught

techniques and things in the past that don't really align with who you are now.

So I feel like sales coaching is something that most.

Business owners, especially since most of them don't think of

themselves as salespeople really can benefit ongoing throughout their

career throughout their business.

Yeah, it's actually really common for me to work with somebody for a bit

and then for them to leave and then something will change in their business.

They're going in a new direction, or they've.

scale their business in some new way, or maybe they've got team members

now that they need some support with.

And then they come back and they're like, okay, I'm ready to elevate

my game a little bit more, get more comfortable in these certain situations

that now I'm putting myself in.

So how can I get better at the language piece?

Because that's really what I specialize in is the conversation.

I love that you built your business initially locally.

I think so many people.

Want to start an online business because I think they think it's going to be

easy and building an online business is just like building an offline business.

Nothing's really easy.

There's easy parts to it, but we like to always tell our clients.

There's probably 100, 000 if not a million dollars in your own backyard.

For most people, what they do, they live in a halfway decent size.

Community, then there's tons of business there.

And we do recommend for a lot of our clients, you know, if you've never really

been in networking, check out a BNI group or check out your local chamber or find

other things that feel right for you to get involved with and start building

those local community relationships because people, I feel like locally, they

have a lot of desire to help each other.

It's like, if you do well in my community, then that means

the community is doing better.

So I think that's such a powerful tool for people to use.

I love that you said that.

I think I 100 percent agree.

Yes.

And it gives you practice, right?

Because you're having more conversations.

If you think you're building your business online and you're wondering, like, I put

up a website, like, why aren't people just walking to it and paying me money?

That's not how business works, unfortunately.

So, you know, you have to have, you got to get your reps in, you have

to be comfortable talking about who you are, what your business does.

You have to practice creating curiosity and networking and local.

That's the perfect opportunity to test the waters and see what lights people up.

What are you saying that gets them going?

Like, Oh, tell me more about that.

Or that's so interesting.

Or, oh my gosh, I've been waiting for someone like you to come along.

Cause we need help with X, Y, Z in our business.

So yeah, get your reps in, definitely build your business local.

Yeah, I love that.

So I've heard you talk about a strive five.

Can you tell us what that is?

So strive five is something that I came up with years ago when I

was going to attend a pretty high profile, like big conference.

Now I am an introvert.

Most people think that's weird because being in the sales coach,

but I'm an introvert and I find being in large groups overwhelming.

So I need to like, Break it down.

And yet, if I'm going to spend money and time to go somewhere, I want to

make sure that I get the max value and that I do my due diligence, right?

Like I extend myself.

I put myself out there.

So before I go to an event, I create what I call my strive five list.

These are five people that I know are going to be at the event that

I want to build relationship with.

So notice I'm not saying I want to sell to, I'm trying to

convince them to be my client.

No, that's not it.

It's five people.

I want to build relationship with.

And then by having that list, it forces me to do things that

aren't always in my comfort zone.

Oh, I see.

They just sat down at that table.

I'm going to go ask if I can sit next to them and start a conversation.

Or, Oh, we're looking for partners in the group.

So I'm going to ask them if they'll be my partner.

So I do things to extend myself to start to build connection and relationship.

And the very first year that I implemented this, when I was going to this big

event, I had five people on the list.

One of them was actually the, it was her event, pretty high profile person.

And I wasn't going in with this idea of like, Oh, she's

going to become a client yet.

She did become a client.

I actually became a client of hers.

And she actually asked me to come back and be a speaker two years after for

two years in a row at her event from us building connection at her event.

Right.

So it opened huge doors.

And actually the first year I went back and spoke at her event.

My business exploded from being on her stage.

So that was huge, right?

There was somebody else in the group who on my strive five, who I ended up

sitting, I made myself sit next to her on an open bus seat on a bus, like, coming

back from an excursion that we went to.

And we started conversation.

I ended up going to she ended up.

Doing an event.

She invited me to come and built relationship with her and her husband.

They have a very successful business.

I've coached with them.

I have been featured on their podcast a couple of times.

They still talk about me all the time.

It's, it has just created this huge relationship and I can go down the road

like the other three people on my list.

All of them became clients.

That wasn't the intention when I went in.

It was about building.

Relationship.

So I love to have a strive five at a, an event just with this idea of you

never know what's going to happen.

You never know what's possible, but yet most of us can attribute a

lot of our success to who we know.

It's like some, so and so opened a door for me.

Oh, how do you know that person?

Oh, we were in a networking group together 20 years ago, or, oh, we

did XYZ together five years ago.

So.

Have that strive five list and be strategic and build

relationship and see what happens.

Great thing.

How did you decide who went on your list?

How did you decide which five people, and again, so was this a

list where they have a Facebook group of people attending ahead of time?

How did it work that you found the five people?

Well, it decided on the 5 people, this particular event that I

mentioned, she had a podcast, she had a really successful podcast and

these people had been on her podcast.

They had been guests on a broadcast.

So I listened to her podcast and I was like, I'd like to know that person.

They seem really interesting.

They're very smart.

They really know.

What, when they're talking about their thing that they're the expert

on, you can tell they, they have a lot of expertise around that.

So that was really for me, it was like, I like to be around people who I

feel like are ahead of me in business.

I always want to be the small fish in the big pond, right?

I want to extend myself and be around people who have achieved

things that I aspire to achieve.

So all of these women that were.

On her podcast had reached a certain level in their business that I was

like, Oh, I really admire that.

And I'd like to get to know them.

I love that.

And some of the bigger conferences will also have an app where you can see

some of the people who are attending and you may not know them, but you can

look at them up and check out their industry and see if they might be

somebody that you'd want to get to know.

Or I guess you could also, do you also sometimes do a type of person

or a person in a particular industry?

Yeah, you certainly couldn't, you could create your strive five list.

Around any criteria that you want, think about what's important to you.

So for me, I really like to be around people, like I said, who I think have

reached a level of success or have been, or are experts at something

that I feel like I'm lacking in.

So I just feel.

Challenged to be around those people.

So that's how I pick them.

But there's lots of ways that you can do a little bit of research, right?

You could put a post out on to LinkedIn and go, Hey, is anybody going to

this conference and see who responds?

You can ask, is there, are there any pre events that where you get the opportunity

to see who's going to be there.

And sometimes I mentioned going to retreats.

I did this before I went to a retreat a couple of years ago where I identified

there was one person, it was a pretty small group of us going, but we had a

pre call before I went to the event.

And so she became my Strive 5 person.

So I did what I said earlier, like I sent her a private message.

So I was very recognizable to her at the retreat.

I approached her at the retreat.

The retreat to extend myself to, so she didn't have to

come introduce herself to me.

I'm going over to introduce myself to her.

We built relationship and she opened the door for a huge opportunity for me.

That was a year long, like where I stepped in to coach in somebody else's program.

That person didn't know who I was.

He would have, I would have never been on his radar, but it was

because she knew him and I knew him.

I extended myself to her.

She was like, Oh, I have a sales coach who can help you and help your people.

That's amazing.

You get very practical tips, which I think is so important.

Sometimes I think people, they want to make it like magic or they

want to hide the secret sauce.

And I love how you're just talking about extend yourself.

And sometimes that is hard.

I think like you, people think I'm a raging extrovert, but I'm

definitely on the introvert side.

And so is Jeannie.

I think that for all of us, we love people.

We love having conversations with people.

But sometimes I would talk to her, but if you had that list and you were prepared

and you would research them a little bit, then you would feel more confident to walk

up to them and to have that conversation.

So I think that's just a brilliant strategy.

And Jeannie said too, she was like, can you just have a type of person?

Absolutely.

Because if you have a type of person and you're meeting people at an event,

you can say, I'm really interested in meeting somebody that That is in

this type of a field, or I'm really interested in connecting with people

that have this type of a background, because now you're creating an ambassador

in the person that you're saying, who, who do you want to connect with?

And then when they meet that person, they're going to be like, Oh, I

got to introduce you to Jeannie.

Cause Jeannie had mentioned she was looking to meet

people that are in this field.

So you start to create ambassadors with other people that you're

still building a relationship with.

They're just not on the strive.

Five doesn't mean they're not important.

They're just not that like.

Nikki, you are, like Kirsten said, you're so full of great tips.

So you have to tell us what are the names of your three books?

Oh, thank you for asking that.

So the first book I wrote actually before I started my business and it's called Six

Word Lessons on Influencing with Grace.

It's all about communication tips.

So it comes from my background in neurolinguistic programming.

The second book is called Buying Signals.

And I wrote that because I was shocked that people didn't know

that there's such things as buying signals and how to respond.

So it's just packed full with that.

And then the third book is called the selling staircase.

And that's where I break down the five steps to a successful sales conversation.

And if you're thinking about checking one out, I would say, if you want to, if you

really want to dig into sales, the selling staircase is the most comprehensive

around sales and communication.

So thank you for asking.

I love that.

And how can people reach out to you and how do you work with people?

Do you mind sharing a little bit of that with us?

Oh, thanks for asking.

So I work with people in a couple different ways.

I do private coaching.

I have a group coaching program, which is called the salesmaven society.

And then I have a resource hub for people who are the, like, I just like to go at

my own pace and get access to trainings.

That's called the salesmaven studio.

I have I don't even know a myriad of sales scripts in there for

you and trainings and resources.

And as far as getting ahold of me, I always like to wrap it around a gift

for your audience, if that's okay.

So I have an ebook and it's called closing the sale.

And it actually talks through The last three steps of the sales

conversation of how to like, set yourself up for success there.

It's about building your confidence in your consult calls, and you can

get that by going to your salesmaven.

com forward slash six figure.

So this is for your audience.

Thank you so much.

We really appreciate that.

Fantastic.

We would love to have you back if you're open to that.

I'm thinking about so many different conversations that we'd love to

have you share with our audience.

If you're open to that, let us know, but for your time today.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

Thanks for listening to the six figure business mastery podcast.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode and you are ready to leverage video

marketing on all online platforms, or maybe even start your own video podcast,

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