Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - Why You Have an Obligation to Relentlessly Sell - 047

Episode Date: May 16, 2018

In this episode, Bedros Keuilian and Craig Ballantyne talk about one of the biggest fears entrepreneurs face today: selling. They explain why you have a duty to sell your product/service if you truly believe it will change someone’s life. Watch or listen to learn how to collect powerful social proof from your clients, which makes it much easier to follow up with your leads. “Sales persistence is getting a client and keeping a client.” - Bedros Keuilian Here’s what you’ll discover: 2:02 - How to follow up with clients and secure sales. 3:09 - Why your sales will increase when you become a “squeaky wheel”. 4:30 - Why selling is easier when you understand the value of your product/service. 9:33 - How social proof automatically sells your product/service for you. 13:34 - Why sales persistence saves people from inferior products/services. “Stay in front of mind.” - Craig Ballantyne

They have the best of intentions to use your product or service, but unless you follow up relentlessly where you become the squeaky wheel that needs the oil, most people are not willing to become the squeaky wheel that needs the attention. Selling is everything you do to get and keep a client. Hi, friends. My name is Bedros Kulian, and that's Craig Ballanty. Welcome to another episode of the Empire Podcast Show. And today we're going to talk about sales persistence. And in fact, Craigie, we're going to talk about one of our clients, Vince Del Monte,

who's in our Empire Mastermind, who recently spent some time with the legendary sales master, Grant Cardone, and he brought back a very interesting lesson. What is that lesson? Well, listen, he went to Grant Cardone's sales boot camp, and I didn't go. I just watched Instagram stories,

and there were so many valuable lessons just for free from watching it. In fact, I have never seen this before, but on day two of the event, Grant Cardone was still selling tickets to the event. Did I tell you this? No. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, so he's like, Saturday morning, you know, we're on day two of day three. You can still come, if you're in the Miami area, send me a text message. You can still come to the event. I have never seen some, yeah, it's absolutely amazing. Grant Cardone is a sales master. So Grant, if you're watching this, thank you for all that you do. I really, really love the way that he uses his social media to sell. The number one thing that I took away that Vince was kind enough to share was this amazing quote from Grant. He says, sales success is in the follow-up. You have to be relentless. People want you to follow up, even if they are not replying, and I know this has

happened to me all the time, they don't reply, I don't reply, and all of a sudden, they do reply. If they're not replying, it doesn't mean that your persistence is not working. They will eventually buy if you don't quit. Grant Cardone. What a great lesson, right? Oh, absolutely. What a great lesson. And that's something that we've been instilling in our Fit Body Boot Camp owners and our coaching clients using our monster follow-up process that I've created. And there's something magical about following up. It tells the person that you're following up with that you are so passionate, you are so enthusiastic about your product or service, that you are simply going to follow up using, in my case, I always say you're going to follow up with text, phone call, email, and

social media messaging, right? Because you know people are all up on social media. And if you do that four times, four days in a row, twice a day with four things, so eight contacts a day for four days, which is what my monster follow-up process is, the person doesn't know that you're not going going to stop at day number five. They just go, this person is so. persistent, they obviously love their product and service, they believe in it so much, they want me to use it, and so they do reply, and sometimes they'll tell you to go away. Most of the time, they will take you up on your offer. Oh, absolutely. And I mean, I know that, I know that if someone would have persist a little bit harder to get me to go to Grants event, I would have went. And I was

kind of on the edge of going and not going. I ended up not going. But if someone would persist a little bit harder on me, I would have went. And it's funny that we were talking about Vince is because I was super persistent to get him to come into one of my workshops, which then led him to the Empire Group, which led him to having over a million dollars in profit from his coaching this year, because I would not give up on him. And that's what someone should do when they believe in what they do. Most people shy away from it. What is it that makes people shy away from it? And how can they get over that in their head? You know, that's a good question. I think the thing that causes people to shy away from selling or being persistent is they feel that I'm being pushy,

then I'm probably irritating them, and they probably don't want this if they're, you if I'm getting radio silence. It's actually quite the opposite. One, if you're getting radio silence, it's because the person has a regular life. And most people's regular lives are pretty fucked up. That's the reality of it. They have kids that they have to chase down.

They have a spouse that they need to deal with. They have work that they probably dislike. And they're busy. They have the best of intentions to use your product or service. But unless you follow up relentlessly where you become the squeaky wheel that needs the oil, most people are not willing to become the squeaky wheel

that needs the attention. Because think about what it is. If their husband acts up or wife acts up, they start dealing with that. The kids act up. They start dealing with that. The work acts up. So why don't you be the thing that acts up in a positive way in their life? And when you are, they'll get on the phone with you.

But I think most people feel that, well, I don't want to bother them. I don't want to offend them. I don't want to harass them. When in reality, you have to reframe this and say, I have an obligation to sell the people this particular cup because there's no other coffee mug that's as well insulated that can hold more volume of coffee than this particular mug. So I've got an obligation in a duty to sell this. And if you reframe your persistence from, I don't want to pester people to, I have an obligation in a duty to sell the number one product or service that you have, that reframe alone will get you locked on

to persistence. And I think it's so easy when you and I both have something we totally believe in. Like, you want to sell franchisee. You're like, I want to change your fitness industry. I want to help struggling personal trainers finally take control. And where they don't have to invest, like half a million dollars in order to build out a gym. I want to show them how to do it better. And so it's so easy for you to be persistent. Same with me. I know that my workshops will help set the struggling entrepreneur free who's scattered but successful. That is something that's my life's work. I got to get it to you. And I was saying to Vince the other day we were talking about he made a post. He's always apologetic about his selling. And I said, Vince, you should not

apologize because Stephen Ferdick is a preacher and is somebody that he follows at Elevation Church. I said, have you ever seen Stephen Ferdick apologize for selling Jesus? Wow. No. No. And why would he? I mean, he believes in that. And, you know, I'm a zealot for my stuff. You're a zealot for your stuff. And that's the way that you have to be. But at the same time, we're going to use a great phrase from Dan Kennedy here who said, be a welcome guest, not an uninvited pest. And so when you're going with those eight messages a day, you're doing with a giving hand, a loving heart. I know that I love to use Instagram. because in my direct messages, I can do a little text, I can make a video, so if I don't hear from somebody after I say any questions and text, I'll make them a video. And if I don't hear from that, then I'll send them something else and maybe a link to some content.

And I'm just keeping that going and going and going because eventually life is going to settle down for them. They're going to be able to go through the messages and they're going to get off the fence and take action, right? It's funny that you say that. I always say that when we do the monster follow-up, we're going to do polite but persistent. And really polite means that you're going to come with a giving hand, as you said, the loving heart and great content. And these days, you can take your little iPhone and make so much great content. As you said, you can deliver video messages, text messages, notifications to them in the coolest way possible where, hey, I know you're on the fence. I know you're unresponsive right now. I don't know what's going on in your life.

You might be suffering, but here's a video I want you to watch. You might be able to relate to the person. And that one piece of content might be the thing that strikes up the conversation again. So it's not about just calling them and texting them saying, are you ready to buy for me? It's about, hey, I know you showed interest in this. Here's one more piece of content. Here's one more piece of wisdom. Here's one more piece of goodwill I want to part ways with and give you so that you might

make the right decision for yourself. And that's really all our job is, is to be the virtual buyer for them, right? Sure. Don't look at yourself as a salesperson. I'm the person that's going to help you make the buying decision by showing you so much social proof. other people who have had the same fear of frustrations and pain in their life and how my product and service has been the solution. Like, I know personal trainers are struggling to run their gyms and businesses

because they think if I get certified and I have a degree in kinesiology, I can build it and they will come. They build it, nobody comes. They signed a lease. They bought equipment. They built their brand. And now they're fucking panicking. And when they're panicking is when they search me out.

And I go, hey, here's a better way to do it. But they don't just buy the product right away. I have to follow up using every platform I can. to get them to make the bright decision for themselves. Yeah. Have you ever heard the story about the car salesman who was called the greatest salesman in the world? This is the guy who takes the pictures and posts all the pictures of the cars that he sold to the people?

I believe he does that, but he also sent out thousands of thousands of birthday cards and thank you letters. And so this guy was just getting referral after referral after referral because he was keeping in contact with them. And that's what it is. And so if you're selling some higher price stuff, you have even more opportunity. You can go letters in the mail. You can send books in the mail.

You can send the birthday cards. You can do all of these great things. It's just these little touches here, there, sending them pens, sending them magnets, always staying in front of them so that when they're ready, they're like, oh yeah, this is the person I'm gonna go and work with. That's the person.

I mean, recently I just bought a couple hundred copies of Ben Hardy's book, Willpower Doesn't Work, and I sent it out to, you know, maybe some people who are watching got a copy, send it out to people just to stay in touch with them. Little note, and you know what, sure enough, somebody bought a workshop from it because it was just like, oh, I needed to get in touch with Craig and I was just too busy. This reminded me. And the next thing, you know, like, so the $3,000

I spent on books turned into a $5,000 workshop sale. Plus, Ben was doing some coaching calls with me, really came up very valuable. And it's just another touch point. So think about how you can have more touch points to have that greater persistence in your business to stay front of mind. Great message. Yeah. So, Bedros, do you have, Any other social proof examples here, maybe Matt Wilbur and how he does it. I know that he is just so persistent and he's one of your most successful fit body owners. What is he doing to make that work? So here's a great lesson.

Whether it's Matt Wilbur or any of our successful Fit Body Boot Camp owners, just crushing it, it's social proof. And what I mean by social proof is your product or service typically is designed to solve a problem that your customer is having, right? Well, you can talk about how awesome your product is all day long. At the end of the day, if you're the one selling it because you created it, they're going to look at you with some level of skepticism and doubt and go, ah, is your product really, does it really do all that? I doubt it. But if you can constantly, in our case, in Matt Wilbur's case, he's always putting out transformation pictures and videos of clients who have lost 30 pounds, 50 pounds, and 100 pounds pounds. Wow. Over and over several per month. When you start seeing that, wow, Fit Body Boot Camp, Grand Haven is constantly changing all these people's lives, 30 pounds lost, 50 pounds lost, 100 pounds lost. you soon realize that, listen, whether Matt Wilber tries to sell me or not is irrelevant.

The fact is, people right here in my community are getting the results that I'm looking for, and I better get on board with the program. So everyone, if you have a product, if you have a service, and it solves a problem, which most products and services do, get the people whose problems have already been solved and ask them to give you a testimonial, transformation picture, a video, a written testimonial, show the bank account. If you sell financial services, show how they went from 2000. $200,000 in their bank account to $200,000 in their bank account.

Those are the things that persuade and influence people to make the decision. So it's not all about just follow-up. It's following up with social proof that leads them to making the buying decision. And you know what else? You have to follow up with the people who you want to get social proof from. So don't just ask once. Give them, you know, I had a guy reach out to me who helped me get, you know, my latest apartment in Toronto. He's like, hey, can you give me a testimonial referral?

I said, you know what? You write it. I'll edit it, sign off on it. Find a way to make it easy as possible to get social proof. So if you don't hear back from them first, you know, the next time you see them, say, hey, can we make a video or, you know what, I'll send you an email and you can improve the testimonial, but keep on following up. Don't take silence as some as thinking that somebody doesn't want to give you social proof.

You just have to make it easy as possible. You have to be that virtual success story right here for them, right? You know, and it's funny that you say this about following up for testimonials because really we started this whole video off and podcast off with one thing. We said, sales persistence is getting a client and keeping a client, right? Yes. Well, if I'm going to get a client and keep a client, then follow-up has a lot to do with getting more money from that client in exchange for more value.

So so many people listening to this podcast don't realize that a one-time sale is nothing. That is just a tip of the iceberg. Your job then needs to be, how do I take this person who paid me $50 or $5,000 and get them to pay me on a reoccurring basis over and over again? What other problems do they have in their life that I can solve in exchange for money? Because if they give you money once, that means they trust you. So now you have to become the problem solver for other challenges that they're having in their life. And so you have to follow up with them again and go, hey, I know I help you solve this problem with my product or service.

But what other problems or challenges are you having in your life? What are the other fears and frustrations that you have? Let's talk about this. Let's get on the phone. Let's do a Facebook chat. And before long, you're selling them reoccurring services as well. in exchange for the money that you're going to get. So the tip of the iceberg is that first sale.

The follow-up creates more sales that really help build an empire. Amazing. And I'm going to make some notes about people to follow up with right now. Right? And that's the thing we want to do. So one of the big takeaways from this particular episode, the big takeaways are this, that you have to reframe what follow-up is.

It's not about being a pest or aggravating people or knowing them. It's really about being so passionate, it being so persistent about your product and service because you believe in it that you have an obligation in the duty to sell them your product or service otherwise they will go buy an inferior product or service can i rant about that right now please okay so people always ask me why did you get into this you know whole transformation stuff in the first place and it was because when i was four years old i was riding home from town with my mom and this big green car i remember i was in the front seat no seat belt back in 1979 and she was sad and i looked up and i said mommy what's

wrong and she said I just went to my weight watchers meeting and I didn't lose any weight. And you know what? There were probably other things out there that could have helped her, but those people gave up while Weight Watchers didn't. They got her as a client. They didn't help her and she gave up. Now somebody would have been out there. You are out there helping people and persisting and saying my solution is great and not giving up. You can help people that are otherwise getting served improperly somewhere else. So don't give up because some other persistent salesperson who's not as good as you with a service is going to get that person because they're going to spend their money somewhere right that's exactly right that's right

so the big lesson is here the follow-up is not aggravation follow-up is a duty on your part number one number two the sale that you make is only the tip of the iceberg i want you to focus on making reoccurring sales to the same customer by solving more problems that they have in their life in exchange for the money that they're going to give you and number three you're going to sell using testimonials and transformational videos pictures testes testimonials, et cetera? Well, guess what? You're going to have to follow up with your customers and clients, too, to get that. The big lesson here is be a follow-up monster and you will build an empire instead of just a business that putters along. Thank you so much for joining us for another amazing episode of the Empire podcast. Now, the greatest compliment that you can give to us is liking, loving, and sharing this episode with all of your friends. So please go to iTunes and give us a five-star rating, and then share it online and social media with everyone that you know, and make sure to tag us because we love hearing from Empire listeners. And if you own a business that's doing half a million dollars or more in annual revenues,

and you know it's got massive potential, and you like myself and Craig Ballantine to help you scale it by 5x, 10x, and 20x in the shortest amount of time possible, then you might be a great candidate for the Empire Mastermind Program that we have. To learn more about the Empire Mastermind Program, go to bedroskulian.com forward slash empire.