[E300] Why Slumps Happen (+300th Episode!)

Welcome to episode 300 of the sales experience podcast. So glad that you're here. Obviously a milestone number 300. It's a big deal. Before we get into anything else, I want to share a quick sales tip to kick things off. And so what I want to talk about is why slumps happen to me. The biggest thing from an activity standpoint is that top sales reps, sales professionals have a system they follow every single time. They say the same thing when they cover all their scripted parts of the conversation. They ask questions until they uncover what they need. So that they can support the why of the prospect and why they need to buy what's being offered. And they have the same thing they do every single time. In fact, I have had some people who have worked for me where I've taken random selection of their call recordings and then line them up and then listen to them to show other people on the team that they're doing the same thing over and over again. It's one process. Minus some variation with some of the questions, some of the answers and how they handle objections. The rest of it is cookie cutter. Now, when slumps happen, it's usually because of one of two reasons. First, is that the salesperson gets in their own head. They get rejected by a prospect or hit a small dry spell. Then they get in their mind and it just swirls and spirals and spirals. That a lot in sports where someone starts to slip, then goes into that death spiral. They start forcing it. They start worrying about it. It starts being all that's talked about by the media, by fans, by their team. And the worst thing you can do in that moment is to start thinking. And I'm not sure if you have ever golfed. I know that I am a very novice. Not that great golfer. I've taken some lessons. The whole point of practice and lessons in golf, like anything is to get to the point where you don't have to think about it. You've created muscle memory, you're not in your head, and you literally are just following some motions and trusting that it's going to work. The worst thing you can do is to think. It is to, in the act of your swing, to be in your head and thinking about what you've got to do, how far you've got to go back, how you're going to hold your wrist. And then dropping the club down and then the follow through on where you're going to look. If you think about all those parts, your swing is going to be choppy, terrible. And if you're like me and you start thinking like that, you will need to get another ball out of your bag because you'll have no idea where that one went. And so the same thing happens in sales. The key with sales and the bridge to get to that sales professional status, that quota breaker status is to make it so that you don't have to think you're not overthinking it and you're definitely not forcing it. You want to practice. You want to have a solid process that you can trust, and then you just want to go right. You want to have it so much autopilot that you can just go and you don't have to force it. Slumps can also happen when a salesperson gets into the know it all phase, which is where you have to be really careful. So they've seen it all. They've heard it all. The issue is that they then stop asking questions because they don't care what the prospect says, because in their mind, it doesn't matter. They don't need the insight. They don't need the info. As any information for them to tell the other person what they should buy and why so they don't dig deep, which means the prospect doesn't think the salesperson cares about them because if you've heard the show before or if you've read the book in the sales process, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And so what's going to happen is if you're not doing the question, asking the probing the discovery, if you're not building empathy, which is leading to the trust step, if you're not doing that, they don't think you care and they're not going to buy from you a lot of times, salespeople get into this know it all phase where they think I know it all. I'm just going to give the monologue. I'm going to explain everything. I don't need to dive deep. I don't need to probe and then people aren't buying from them because they just don't trust the rep and they don't think the rep cares about them in that mode the know it all salesperson after the interaction after the phone call or the meeting when it doesn't go well they'll say things like I knew they wouldn't buy or people like that never buy or they just didn't get it their loss they point the finger at the prospects and the slump continues death spiral ensues you And there's usually only one direction and it'll go long term from there. What can you do about it if you feel that you might be in a slump? Go back to the sales success fundamentals, REFU, rapport, empathy, trust, hope, urgency. Most of all, what's probably missing is the empathy step. Go back to asking questions. Shift the balance of the conversation from you to them. One indicator of that know-It-all rep or somebody who's about to go into a slump or who is in one, is that they're talking too much. Always remember this. Two ears, one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak. Ask questions, get them talking, and then listen and get back to caring about them and what they actually want and why they want it. That's the key for busting through the slump. Go back to asking questions. Care. Go back to your fundamentals. Do what you did when you were brand new, when you were accidentally closing sales and replicate that most likely it was because you didn't know very much and so you couldn't overexplain, you didn't have a good monologue and so what did you do? You ask questions, you cared, you're nervous, you're awkward. People like that. It makes it seem natural. Makes it seem like you're a human. Makes it seem like you're not trying to rip them off or take advantage of them. So their walls come down. They trust you. They buy from you. You get back into that mode and you'll close more sales. Now let's talk about episode 300. So here's what's going on with the podcast. And I'm one to announce that I am ending season three. As of today, I mentioned it before and I was going to do a little shift. So I'm going to take a short season break. If you've been a long time listener of the podcast, you know that I did 110 episodes, took a break for a few months. Came back season two, did 110 episodes, took about a month off. And then now we're at what is about 80 episodes and I'm taking another season break. This one's going to be short. So I'm going to regroup, retool, and I will use it. The most buzz wordy buzzword of 2020, which is pivot just a little bit. So the show is going to be coming back as the authentic persuasion show, still the same feed. So if you're subscribed. And when it comes back, you'll just see that the image will change. The name will change. Episodes will still be there. You won't have to do anything. If you aren't subscribed yet, I don't know why you're not. You should be. It's free. Seriously, subscribe. Get it regularly and use this show as one of the ways to add to your toolbox or as a reminder. Of things that would help you or with my guest episodes, various tips and insight from them, and maybe somebody who's doing what you're doing or where you want to be going or running a business similar to you or selling in a certain way that you can appreciate and you'll learn some stuff. Now, for my plan for season four for the authentic persuasion show, it will be about some awesome guests. I've already lined up some. I've started recording some. That's why I can't wait to take this short break and then start coming out with episodes. I've got guests that are sharing their experience about sales, selling, business, marketing, writing books. What I'm going to do is I'm going to be asking all the guests similar questions throughout the conversation. Still going to be fluid. I'm still going to get a lot of their random input, and we're going to talk about various strategies at the same time. It's going to give us a good cross section of answers. So that you can hear the same questions, different answers from different people, from business owners to industry experts, marketers, sales leaders, even sales people. And I am so excited. I'm super excited for these conversations. Like I said, I've already started recording some of them really cool people that I've been talking to that I've attracted to the show. That wanted to share and be a part of this. So I'm super excited and the podcast has really been an evolution refining the process and the message to get to this point and it will just always continue. That's what life is all about is refining and evolving and getting better and being better and just using what you can, what you learn and what you develop and then just keep applying it. So also, if you haven't done it yet, please, as soon as you're done listening to this and when it's safe, if you're driving or walking, go to YouTube. Search Jason Cutter. I'm going to pop up instantly in there as the option to subscribe to my channel. Please make sure to subscribe there as well. Turn on the notifications and keep an eye out for more videos. So I haven't really done a lot of stuff on YouTube. And I'm going to start posting the videos for the new episodes on there on the same day that they come out. So if you want to watch the video version, if you want to see the conversation in action, if you're more of a watcher than a listener or you just want to mix it up, they're going to be there. Also, so you know, I've actually been recording podcasts as video. As well as the audio, obviously releasing the audio on the podcast, but literally hoarding and sitting on the videos, not sure what to do. So I'm going to start releasing those on the YouTube channel as well over just starting right away and just releasing all those. So I haven't counted it, but I think it's somewhere in the 40 or 50 guest conversations that I've had that will be the full length, full episode videos that will be on there. So make sure to go to YouTube. Search Jason Cutter, subscribe, check out the videos, share them, comment them, like them, please. Let's get this kind of message out there and share this with more people so they can pick that up. And we can just really shift the way that sales is done, the way people success in sales and how they get that done. It's why I'm really focused on this selling with authentic persuasion because I just feel like that's a really good intention for most salespeople to help them shift from that order taker status to quota breaker, be successful in sales, make good money as a result of bringing so much value and support and helping prospects become customers and clients doing it in the right way and having those raving fans. That are willing to pay for it. And that's your reward. That's what's coming up on the scoreboard for you. It's not the goal. It's the end result goal is to provide value to help other people. When you do that, you make that shift. And to me, that means you're selling with authentic persuasion. So make sure you get the book. You can go to authentic persuasion. com. You can also find it on Amazon. Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Also subscribe to this podcast if you haven't. That's it for season three. I appreciate all of you listening to this. I appreciate everyone who's taking time. Download these episodes, improve your sales process, and I will see you soon after we take a break and I'll catch you in season four with the Authentic Persuasion Show. That's it for another episode of the Sales Experience Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you find yourself on iTunes, can you leave the show a rating and a review? It helps other salespeople and sales leaders find the show. And please subscribe to the show and share episodes you find valuable with anyone you know in sales. Help me on my mission of changing the way sales is done. And if you're ready to work together, go to Jason cutter. com. Again, that's Jason cutter. com to find out how I can help you or your company create scalable sales success. I will see you on the next sales experience podcast episode and keep in mind that everything in life is sales and people remember the experience you gave them.