[660] Authenticity in Challenging Markets

Jason [00:00:00]: This is the authentic persuasion show. What's going on? Welcome to episode 660 of the authentic Persuasion show. Jason cutter here. So glad that you're here. Let's talk about authenticity in challenging markets. Now, what does challenging markets mean? It could vary to lots of different people. One aspect of this is times where you're selling a product or service and it's just a challenging market. Jason [00:00:30]: It's tough to get into. It's maybe huge enterprise accounts that you're trying to get to. And so that presents a challenging market. When you hear challenging market, you're thinking, when I close a deal, it's going to be amazing. But to get to that point is really difficult and you have to play the long game and you have to be patient and your company has to be patient and everyone has to be supportive and always focused on activities and actions and not results, which is really tough to do for our human brain. Our human brain wants results and this isn't even a new era, 2023, impatient thing. Our human brain wants results. We want to do something and then get something in return. Jason [00:01:13]: If you think about primal survival mode, I'm hungry, I'm going to go out, I'm going to find something, I'm going to get it and then I'm going to eat it. And that's what we're after, right? Like when we want something, we want it and we want it now. And that can be very challenging when dealing with long sales cycles. And so how do you do that? Well, again, as I just mentioned, part of it is literally focusing on the activities and the actions. If you're going to be going after something that's a farming and not a hunting, it's truly what that is. And the farming of the fruit is going to be after a really long time. So think about if you plant, I don't know, an apple tree, you're not getting apples next week or next month or maybe even this year. It might not be till next year or whatever that looks like. Jason [00:02:02]: If you're planting certain vegetables, it's like you plant it now and you're going to have to wait a long time. Then what you've got to do is focus on activities and actions. It's about planting those seeds and then it's about nurturing those seeds, and it's about watering those seeds and keeping them from pests and invaders and weeds, which could be your competition or changes at your potential target company staffing level, where people change. And so you've got to protect that seed, you got to nurture it and give it everything you can to keep it going and have lots of seeds, keep planting lots of seeds. When leadership is looking at this with this kind of challenging market, then it's really about activities and actions, what's in the pipeline, what's moving forward, at what stages, and is there just a constant wave of things moving forward? Again, thinking about that farm or garden analogy, the key is that you have to have waves and waves of waves that seeds that you planted and then more seeds that you planted, and so that there's just a steady flow of crops that at some point you can harvest and just reap the rewards from it, right? So management needs to focus on that. Here's the other big thing. And this is why talking about this under the authenticity in challenging markets is so important. Because a lot of times what happens is people want results. Jason [00:03:21]: We're results based as humans, not activity and actions based long term. And so what happens is people start to slip from their authenticity. They start slipping from authentic persuasion, they start going into manipulation, they go into desperation mode, they go into bribing. Right? And most people don't realize this, they don't want to admit it, but if you're offering a discount for someone to take action today, that is a form of manipulation. Now, of course, I've talked about it enough times on the show where there are times where it just helps somebody make the action step that they were going to do anyway and just gives them that incentive. But if the only way you close all of your deals is by giving discounts at the end of the month, end of the quarter, end of the year, then what are you actually doing? And how valuable are you? And are you really enrolling people in the right way? And so it's really tough. You have to focus on the long game. You have to trust in the process if you're going to do it with authenticity and persuasion and not manipulation. Jason [00:04:19]: And everyone has to be focused on the same thing within your organization. Now, other challenging markets that come to mind is economical, where the market changes, let's say right now in the mortgage market, it is September 2023, where it was a really good time. Interest rates were historically low. They were in the twos and threes. And mortgage loan officers thought they were so amazing because they were just making money easily because everyone wanted to refinance or buy a house, right? They're order takers. I was in a similar market when I first got into sales in 2002. And most people did not think they were amazing at sales. They knew that it was just pure order taking. Jason [00:04:56]: And it was a timing thing. Now interest rates are 7% and are going to keep creeping up. And so if you're in the mortgage business still, you actually have to work. It's difficult. It's challenging. Who wants to buy a house now? How many people want to buy a house? Who's going to refinance? Mostly nobody. Or if it is, it's because they need some cash out, maybe. And then you have to show them like, hey, you're going from four, five, 6% to 7% on a cash out refinance and that sucks. Jason [00:05:25]: And so what are the chances or likelihood or percentage of those deals going through? So the whole industry is now a challenging market. And so how do you deal with that? And how do you stay authentic, and how do you use authentic persuasion when doing that? And again, here's the big thing, is focusing on the value of whatever you're selling in a good market or a bad market, an easy market or a challenging market, if what you're selling is actually valuable and actually helps people, let's say the mortgage industry, for example, if people are buying houses and they need a loan, and you're actually helping people and not just either doing gross things or charging gross fees or just being that person nobody wants to really deal with. But if you're really helping people who need help, then there's always enough people out there. There's always enough people who want to buy, sell, need to move, want to buy. There's always those opportunities. The key is you just got to get better. Most people who face a challenging market and are struggling are typically not great at marketing and not great at authentic persuasion and understanding why people want to buy something and then moving them forward in the right way, typically. And again, this is what happened to me when I was first in sales is typically it's on the heels of being lazy and not needing to work very hard for marketing and not needing to work very hard for sales. Jason [00:06:46]: Right. When you go from a shooting fish in the barrel mindset and market to actually having to go out there and find business and then close business appropriately, it is tough and it separates the people who really are good at sales and marketing, want to be good at sales and marketing, are more of a professional. And the other ones who just played sales and marketing for a little while made some money and now they're going to go find another easy industry, right? Again, saw this with the mortgage industry. People went from cars to mortgage to timeshare to debt relief, back to cars and then to mortgage. And it's like this group of people who just cycle through all the easy industries. So if you're going to make it in a challenging market, focus on the authenticity. Again, people want help. There's always enough business if you know how to find it and how to help the right people. Jason [00:07:37]: Again, when I was in the mortgage business, I started in August, and then winter came, right? So like, December comes and everyone around me is like, no one ever buys it. December is slow. All the realtors are like, December slow. We never have anything going on. I'm like, is it because you're taking the month off or because there's no business? Right? Like everyone says, summer slow. Is it because you don't want to work or is it because of the market? And the thing is, there's always people who need to buy or want to buy, need to sell, need to move, no matter what the time of year is, right? Like, there's always a time. And one of the big things I used to tell people when it was like October, November, and they're like, I think we might wait. Maybe we'll wait until January and we'll try finding a house. Jason [00:08:21]: And I don't know if we want to deal with this, with the holidays. And I would tell people, I was like, hey, do this. You can close your eyes or not, but imagine what it would be like Christmas morning, waking up to opening presents and having your family together in your own house. Not renting, but having your own home. What would that be like, right? And would that be worth it? Would that be worth it if we can find the right house, if it makes sense, if things line up to move forward now and see what happens, right? Most people are like, yes, let's do it. Because again, there's a vision and there's a goal, and then it's about getting someone there. So that's another part for a challenging market and staying authentic and using authentic persuasion. Now, another challenging market that can be difficult for people is in the economy. Jason [00:09:08]: Not just an interest rate in the whole industry becomes challenging. But what about the economy? What about when buyers don't want to buy? Let's say in a b two b realm, right? Like you sell software, technology, and then all of a sudden nobody's really buying anything. And how do you do that? And again, it's a couple of things. It's getting really good at marketing. And marketing is about generating demand and interest and getting people to talk to you and want to talk to you. And then the other part is being really effective at sales, again, using authenticity, understanding what everybody's biggest fear is, because there's one common big fear. Understand what they need from you as the role of a salesperson. What are they looking for most if they're going to interact with you. Jason [00:09:54]: And then what is the process like the authentic persuasion pathway, which is a five step process to moving people forward to being a customer and then keeping them as customers so they don't cancel, they don't have buyers remorse, they don't change their mind. How do you do that? Again, if you're selling something of value, like I said, under the mortgage example, but if you sell something of value, there is always people out there who you could talk to and could enroll into your product or service. Now, if you're selling something that doesn't have value or it's common or it's a commodity, or customers don't see why it's any different, you're in love with it and you think it's different, but no one else does. Right. You're the 19th CRM out there on the market, and people aren't even using the current CRM they have. Then you're going to have a tough go at it. If you're actually moving the needle and helping people, then that's the key. Right. Jason [00:10:50]: And then you can find that. You can find somebody who wants to buy. All right, let's talk about one more challenging market, because that was similar to the mortgage one, and that's where there's a lot of competition. So sometimes what happens is people get into a market where there's a lot of competition. Again, you're the 19th CRM. The founder of your company made this CRM for their use, and it's amazing and they love it and they think it's so much different. And then you go out there in the world and either everyone has a CRM, and so now you're selling against an incumbent or they have no CRM, and so you're selling against nothing. Right. Jason [00:11:28]: And nothing is better than something because something is a change, and that could be dangerous and you could make a mistake. So they would rather do nothing. Right. And so that's what you're up against. And people who have bad experiences with crms, who have a CRM and their team isn't using it and they don't like it, and the last thing they want to do is then make them switch to another thing they probably won't use. And so that's a really crowded industry that's very competitive. And so how do you deal with that, what do you do? And this is where really what you do is you take the principles of authentic persuasion and the steps of authentic persuasion. Part two of the authentic persuasion pathway is empathy. Jason [00:12:08]: And empathy, in my world, is the discovery step. But with actually caring about people, right? I'm not asking you questions just so I can find out enough information to figure out the angle on how I'm going to sell you or convince you. I'm asking you questions because I actually care about you and your business or you and your family or you as an individual. And I want to find ways to help you and leave you better than I found you, with or without my product or service. Right? If I can give you some value, some nuggets, some gems, if I can point you in a better direction than you're headed now, and you don't buy from me, that's all right. There's 8 billion people on the planet. I promise I'll find some people and I'll make it work. And so the key is using that step, so many people in sales fail to ask questions, ask good questions, ask the right questions with the right goal in mind of where they want to go with their questions. Jason [00:13:05]: Like, what's the point of the questions you're asking? What are you trying to achieve? Most salespeople don't know. They just think, okay, I'm asking questions so I can figure out how many people are on your team, what's your budget? What's this? What's that? Like your qualifying questions. And that's not what you want. It's not discovery questions. So again, you know how to give them a demo, you know what angle to use, you know how to overcome their objections. No, I mean actually figuring out what they want and why they want it so that then you can help them. The other thing that I see salespeople struggling with, and this is where competitive markets really separate the professionals from the non professionals, is that so many people in sales, just like so many people in life, do not listen. They are not actively listening. Jason [00:13:49]: They're too busy thinking about what they're going to say next. They're too busy thinking about other things. They're too busy thinking they can multitask while they're listening to somebody, and they can't. If you actually use active listening and put that principle and activity in place and actually listen to people while they talk and then understand what people are saying and listen for what they're also not saying, like, I think I have a really amazing skill at hearing what people say, hearing how people say it and then listening for what people don't say and aren't saying, or hesitating against or holding back or the little things that separate really listening versus not right. When you ask a question to somebody, it's like, hey, what are your thoughts on crms? Crms are okay. And then normal salesperson will be like, okay, so, sounds good. So let me show you a demo about a CRM. It's like, wait, you didn't pick up on that tone and that hesitation. Jason [00:14:48]: And again, most people after the fact can hear that and go, oh, yeah, of course I would have picked up on that. But in the moment, it's so amazing how many salespeople I listen to where they literally don't pick up on anything. They are just on autopilot, or they just stopped caring about people so long ago. And the key is, if you want to succeed in a challenging market, especially one that's with a lot of competition, where you are fighting against, again, incumbents or nothing else going on, or just other companies that are giving demos and trying to pitch them, if you use authentic persuasion, if you use active listening, and if you actually care about people and actually want to help them and trust that if you combine those things together, you will hit your numbers and you will succeed in sales, then I promise it will change things and it will be a difference in the mind of your potential customers. Because again, this is a standard advice I give to everyone. When in doubt, don't do what the normal salesperson would do. When in doubt, do the opposite of what you think a salesperson air quotes should do to be successful in sales, just do the opposite. And then I promise it will work. Jason [00:16:08]: Because the potential customers you're dealing with, business to business, business to consumer, it doesn't matter. They're used to people coming at them a certain way because everyone thinks they have to follow the same standard sales model or they default to what sales should mean. And if you do something different, if you do things differently or the opposite, but with authentic persuasion and with the goal of actually helping people move forward, the right people, it will blow their mind and it will give you amazing results. Trust me. I see it all the time with the clients I work with, with the sales individuals, the sales teams, where you just look at things differently, focus on a different approach, and you will get amazingly different results. And hopefully this episode helps you in challenging markets, whatever that challenging market might look like to you. Just remember, if you focus on authenticity, if you focus on authentic persuasion, focus on your strengths, focus on providing value will win. No matter what challenging market you're facing.