Business Coach | Becoming a Sales Superstar
Audio Transcription
On today’s Thrive Time Business Coach Show, Clay Clark, and Dr. Robert Zoellner are here to deep dive into how to be a superstar of a salesman or saleswoman with CEO and founder of D2 Branding Mrs. Deedra Determan. These three will take your marketing to the next level if you listen in to todays episode.
Learn Super Sale Moves From The Business Coach : Podcast Transcript
Clay Clark: What is going on Thrive nation? Welcome back to your inspiration super station. My name is Clay Clark and I am a business coach. I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year and your ear sent here to teach you how to start and grow a successful business. To do that, I had to bring in the big guns today. I had to bring in two people who really know what they’re doing, who really know how to grow businesses, who have grown businesses themselves. First off, we have Dr. Z. Dr. Z, how are you sir?
Dr. Robert Zoellner: I am fantastic. Hello, thrivers. Hope you enjoy your lunch today and if you’re in your car right now and you’re saying to yourself, “Where do I go? What do I do? What am I hungry for? I don’t know. It’s chicken salad is so good.”
Clay: Oklahoma Joe’s. Oklahoma Joe’s. Oklahoma Joe’s. Oklahoma Joe’s.
Dr. Zoellner: Oklahoma Joe’s. Just drive over to Oklahoma Joe’s and I’m going to tell you the move. You’ve heard it before in the show and this one. I promise you.
Clay: I’m writing it down. Let me get a paper. Okay.
Dr. Zoellner: This will not be the last time. This will not be the last time you hear this move. Drive over to Oklahoma Joe’s. If you’re from Broken Arrow by the Bass Pro Shop you can’t miss it. If you’re in the South Tulsa 64 Sheridan through downtown, it’s next to the downtown. I’m talking about barbecue.
Clay: Downtown. If you’re downtown there, you just — You run around downtown, man.
Dr. Zoellner: You’re going to go next the iconic Cain’s Ballroom and get you some burnt ends and baked beans. The only thing better than baked beans probably in this world is this young lady standing next to me.
Clay: Really? Better than burnt?
Dr. Zoellner: Better than baked beans and that’s me on the scale of that baked beans, Deedra. I mean it’s right up there.
Clay: It’s hard to qualify. We just have to qualify it. Now, we have Deedra Determan in the house. Deedra, how are you?
Deedra Determan: I’m doing great. So happy to be here.
Clay: Hey, a lot of people I think have heard rumors of — you’re kind of an urban legend. People heard rumors.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes.
Clay: They’ve heard gossiping. They’re like, “What does she do? Who is this person? What is her car business? What does she do? I met her husband. I think I know what he does. What does she do? Can you go ahead explain what it is that you do over there at D2 Branding and Marketing?
Deedra: Yes. I’m the founder of D2 Branding and basically business consulting, taking people’s ideas and turning it into money. Isn’t that what we all want?
Clay: You turn ideas into money.
Deedra: Yes.
Dr. Zoellner: Is that ethical?
Deedra: [laughs] In Vegas. In Vegas
Dr. Zoellner: Okay. There we go.
Clay: I’m going to ask you two tough questions that I know you’re not prepared for.
Deedra: Okay. Let’s go for it.
Clay: Here we go. Turning ideas into money. Let’s say I’m listening right now and I’m a doctor.
D. Zoellner: I’m a doctor.
Clay: I’ve been trying to impersonate you guys, you people, you doctors, and I noticed —
Dr. Zoellner: I’m not a real doctor so if you want to impersonate a real doctor, you got to do something different.
Clay: All right, Deedra. Suppose I’m a doctor. I’m listening to this show and I’m a sipping on something expensive from Starbucks while reading a Vanity Fair. How could you help me turn my ideas into money?
Deedra: If you’re a doctor, you need patients, right? That’s your number one thing. We get you the top of Google, search engine optimization.
Clay: There you go. See that’s just one move.
Deedra: One move.
Clay: Question number two. Back in the day.
Dr. Zoellner: Back in the day.
Clay: This is a while back but tell us about what that 918moms thing was that you built and what that was because that was exciting. That was a thing you did. That was something you built that came out of your head. Can you walk us through? What was the 918moms story? What was that all about?
Deedra: Yes. In 2008, I was actually working in television here and wanted to see my kids a little bit more and thought, “I know advertising. I know how to market so I’m going to create a website just for moms here in the Tulsa area,” and so I built 918moms.com. We actually built it up to a hundred thousand moms within a year.
Clay: A hundred thousand moms.
Dr. Zoellner: A lot of soccer moms.
Clay: As the doctor listening, “Well, it’s great. Well, did it make money?”
Deedra: Yes and we had no money to start with so we hustled to get a hundred thousand moms.
Clay: You started with no money.
Deedra: No advertising. It was lots of hustle and we actually made — We’re making about 70,000 a month on advertising.
Clay: 70,000, that’s more than I make as a doctor. I’m interested now.
Deedra: [laughs]
Clay: Okay. You actually did this?
Deedra: Yes, and then sold it.
Clay. Okay and you sold. Now, Z, we’re getting into this topic today which is so exciting. It’s becoming a sales superstar. Becoming a sales —
Dr. Zoellner: Superstar.
Clay: But before we get into it, my kids and I in the last couple days, we’ve been talking about this subject and now it’s reached ahead. It’s reached a fever pitch. We’re not going to bring inside the box that rocks. We’re taking the the conversations from the suburban from Loews and we’re taking them inside the box that rocks and now you and I are going to fight. My sweet daughter.
Dr. Zoellner: Oh, is this — right off the bat?
Clay: Yes, we have to. This is a thing that’s been burning a hole in my soul all the last 24 hours.
Dr. Zoellner: I can hardly wait. Should I can stretch first or is this probably just –?
Clay: Havana asked me to ask you. Deedra, can be the referee here, okay, because it could get crazy.
Deedra: Yes.
Clay: Havana says, “Dad, why are there cameras that people use to track deer?” because we have various animals, raccoons and stuff on our property. I guess Sam, one of our producers is telling my kids about these cameras that will track the movements of animals and I’m like, “Oh, just so you can watch videos of them and see where they’re at. It’s kind of cool.” She goes, “Do they use them for hunting?” She’s 12 and I’m like, “Uh.” She’s very much like the thought of dinner being something that used to be alive freaks are out.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay. [laughs]
Clay: I’m like, “Yes, there’s people.” So then she says — It’s basically like the animals don’t have a fighting chance and the hunters, you got laser sights. They’ve got cameras and so this is how I explain it. This is why I said hunting today, modern-day hunting, is like sending out a team of Special Forces, Special Forces Marines and ninjas to take ice cream from babies.
[laughter]
That’s what I said. Unsuspecting babies and then she said, “But Z, likes to hunt.” I’m like, “Oh, no. Now we’ve created this problem.”
Dr. Zoellner: I also like ice cream by the way. I’m too pro.
Clay: We have a rule that you’ve taught me. If you have an issue, you take it right to the source. You talk to him so here we go, just between you me, Deedra and Tulsa.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay.
Deedra: Okay.
Clay: Tell us about your take on hunting and using laser sights and cameras to catch animals. Walk me through it. I want to hear your logic.
Dr. Zoellner: Well, it’s the same thing in business. I mean we’re here. We do The Thrive Time Show and every day we get practical steps in how to build and create, just like Deedra said, I take ideas and I turn them into money, right? Now, if she knew of some great technique to get you the top of Google and if she said to herself, “You know what? You know doctor?”
Clay: Doctor.
Dr. Zoellner: Whoever. I know getting to the top of Google could really be a game-changer for your business but I know this move and I don’t think it’s fair.
Clay: Because there’s defenseless customers out there.
Dr. Zoellner: Because there’s other doctors out there that don’t know this move and so therefore I’m not going to teach it to you because it would give you an unfair advantage over your competition that you want to dominate and crush. I don’t think that’d be right. It’s not ethical.
Clay: Here’s it. Havana, if your — Vanessa, if you’re listening right now, please turn it up or go to thrivetimeshow.com and replay this for Havana because Havana, our twelve-year-old, my incredible daughter, Havana, you need to know all about hunting from Dr. Z. How many animals have you taxidermied over the years? We have to speculate. Is it four?
Dr. Zoellner: [chuckles] You know what’s funny is the guy that built my house, originally designed it, he was a big game hunter and sent people all around the world to hunt. When I bought the house, he was like, “Hey, you want some of these mounts?” It’s just kind of weird to have somebody else’s mount and then looks to you to make up a story that charged me the other day in South Africa. I have friends that like that kind of dragged me along. It’s fun. It’s not like my main thing but it’s kind of cool.
I would say to answer your question though, I don’t know, 20 to 30 animals. Back to Havana’s question, that is that, “Sugar, if it’s legal and it’s ethical and you can use something to better, to further your goal, if your goal is to shoot an animal that you can feed your family with, that’s that’s okay. We have you — You got to get your tag, your permitting. I mean there’s laws around that. If you’re following those, you’re doing it right and you can give yourself an advantage by i.e. using technology that’s out there, then that’s okay.
That’s what your dad does in business, Havana. That’s why you can have your chickens that you have and you got the Christmas presents that you did, and you live in the compound that you live in.
Clay: Okay, now —
Dr. Zoellner: Am I right?
Clay: You’re correct. You’re correct. My nine-year-old son would not be driving or riding a lawnmower unless the economy was good.
Clay: Two more bits of housekeeping notes before we get into today’s topic here, okay. We have a new a new show sponsor. We’re super excited about Z. This just in, Regent Bank is an official sponsor now of The Thrive Time Show. Z, Regent Bank. Z, you know something about Regent bank my friend, Regent Bank.
Dr. Zoellner: I tell you what. I’m very excited about them also coming on board because when you talk about starting a business you may think of it as it’s definitely necessity but you have to have a bank. You could go to any bank and you can open an account and you can go in there and do your deposits and going there and beg them for a loan. [cries] Please.
Clay: Go in there and get your suckers. You guys have any suckers in the bank today?
Dr. Zoellner: Thrive through it all. But listen, you really want a bank that’s setup to specialize and to cater to small businesses starting up. That’s the niche and that’s why Regent saw us a good fit to sponsors because they’re out there looking for — They don’t want to put a bank on every corner and they’re not out there looking for Joe Blow with just a general savings account and his checking account. I mean they’ll take that and they’ll do that but they’re more of a boutique bank and they
Dr. Zoellner: specially — boutique. They specialize in businesses.
In fact, they just started up a new branch that just specializes on the healthcare portion of it. So if you’re a physician out there listening or you’re a dentist or an optometrist, we actually have now a specially part of our bank that just gives you the customer service you deserve and specializes in that.
So Regent Bank was a perfect fit for them to sponsor us because they’re out there going and you guys are encouraging all these people to start businesses and grow their business and they need a bank and we want to be their bank.
Clay: I’ll say this, they speak the language of the common bro. If you’re a business owner and you feel like you just can’t get someone to talk you and not talk down to you but talk with you, to educate you about the process of getting a small business loan. They help you do it over there at Regent. They’re good people. They keep it — just it’s not a deal where you feel like you’re being mentally intimidated by your banker and like they’re using all this jargon in talking over, Z.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes. One thing you could do, you can actually go into thrive15.com, that’s T-H-R-I-V-E one five dot com, thrive15.com and one of our mentors is actually the CEO of Regent Bank. In his portion of the Thrive business education that we offer on thrive15.com, he talks about how you can actually present yourself in a bank, how you can actually fill out the proper paperwork, how you can actually make sense of your idea to a banker and get capital, because that’s the idea. I mean people want to go in there and they want to get a loan.
Clay: I’m old school, Z. I don’t need capital. I’m just going to go in there with swag. I’m going to bring my old school swag. I don’t need money.
Dr. Zoellner: I’m going to take some of my bagels and they’ll be so overwhelmed. They’ll want to invest in it, right?
Clay: People love Oswald’s bagels. I don’t need money.
Dr. Zoellner: They love him, I know the character, I love that character. But you can get on there and you can actually listen to him talk to you and coach you on our thrive15 platform on how you can go into a bank, do your business plan, get your stuff filled out properly, know bank language if you will and be able to get your loan, be able to get the capital raise that you need to.
Clay: Now, I’ve got one more little piece of housekeeping before we could turn it over to Deedra because she’s going to be unpacking this whole sales.
Dr. Zoellner: She’s going to unleash the beast.
Clay: Becoming a sales superstar. She has all the moves. She’s going to walk you through it. We’re going to interrogate her. We have caught a unicorn in the box that rocks today. But our next sponsor is not PETA. PETA is not sponsoring the show, I don’t know what the deal is.
Dr. Zoellner: I wonder why.
Clay: I don’t know.
Dr. Zoellner: I think that the hunting stuff, the squirrel that you’ve got a stuffed squirrel on your desk is that probably.
Clay: All right now thrivers, there is a five-step process. There’s a five-step process to generating sales. Step number one is you have to learn how to generate leads. Deedra, where do you see so many small business owners struggling to generate leads my friend?
Deedra: Well, a lot of times they’re going after the wrong idea and likely buyer. They don’t know who their ideal and likely buyer is so they’re just going after everybody. Well, everybody is probably not a candidate for your business.
Dr. Zoellner: Wait a second, you don’t understand bro, everyone’s going to love my coffee pan, it’s a game changer.
Clay: So you have to define your ideal and likely buyers?
Deedra: Right, correct.
Dr. Zoellner: It’s everybody out there though. How can I be — I mean, I’m just going to jump when you ask me who wants my coffee. I’m just going to say everyone, man.
Clay: I’m only focused on half the market.
Dr. Zoellner: I mean really, if you think about it because —
Deedra: If I get 50%, I’m golden.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes.
Clay: Okay. Here’s the deal thrivers, if you’re listening right now, I want you to get out a sheet of paper and I want you to write down the answers to these questions.
Dr. Zoellner: Gosh, you make me write so much during the show.
Clay: Question number one, your ideal and likely buyers, are they male or female or both? Are they old or young? Write down what zip codes do they live in. Write down how much is their home worth. Write down what kind of car do they drive. Write down where their kids go to school, these kind of things. Write down these areas because when we come back, Deedra is going to walk us through. She’s going to walk us through the specifics but you got at least have an idea in your mind of who your ideal and likely buyer is.
Dr. Zoellner: Woa, bro, bro. Bro, that sounds kind of creepy. I mean I got to creep on this folks?
Clay: You got to install a camera on their lawn so that you can track their movements, so you can target them with marketing.
Dr. Zoellner: Hunt them down, I like that.
Clay: All right thrivers, stay tuned, we’ll teach you how to become a sales superstar.
Clay: All right Thrive nation, welcome back into the conversation about how to become a sales superstar. Now, why would you want to learn how to become a sales superstar? I know some of you are listening going sales is dirty. I don’t like dirty sales and dirty sales moves and all that because my business is so pure and my product is so awesome, it’s going to sell itself.
Then when you balance your checkbook you go, “What was that episode on becoming a sales superstar? I wish I would have paid attention.”
Dr. Zoellner: “I got to go back to thrivetime.com and listen to that.”
Clay: Now Dr. Z, we have inside the box that rocks. Deedra Determan, a sales superstar in of herself. She is a sales supernova. But I want to ask you, Z, this question first. I want to ask Deedra the same question.
Dr. Zoellner: All right.
Clay: Have you ever, when you first got into the world of business, did you ever get to a place or did you ever think that you wouldn’t need to learn sales because your product was so good? Has it ever happened to you where you thought it’s so good, it’s going to sell itself, because it was going to go viral?
Dr. Zoellner: No, I never thought that.
Clay: What?
Dr. Zoellner: I was never — well.
Clay: Come on.
Dr. Zoellner: Stop it Billy.
Stinger: Oh Billy.
Dr. Zoellner: Wow.
Clay: That came in hot.
Dr. Zoellner: That came in hot, tiger. Hey, but no it never did for me because I always had a good understanding of marketing and sales. Now, I’ve gotten better at it over the years and the avenues and the ways of doing it have changed over the years and we’ve had to adapt to a different marketplace out there. I mean when I started, this may be hard for you to realize, Clay, but when I started we did not have the Internet. I know it’s crazy.
Clay: We got a question just come in from thrivers and this is what — this is a question it just came in right now. So people email [email protected]. They’re business questions and somebody just emailed they said, “What did Moses tell Z about marketing?
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, exactly.
[laughter]
Clay: I’m like why would they say that? That’s not very nice. You’re only 52, that’s not a nice question.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, it wasn’t Moses. It was Ben Franklin I talked a lot about. He was a great marketer by the way. I mean look at — pull out a hundred dollar bill, thank you, your welcome that’s marketing.
Clay: But you’ve never thought that you always knew that you had to go out there and market it.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, of course I did. I mean I grew up with that mindset of business and looking at that, looking at successful businesses and so it didn’t catch me by surprise. I didn’t open up a business and go, “Oh wait, I’ve got to sale,” no.
Clay: All right. I’m going in —
Dr. Zoellner: No, in fact, when I was first starting off I was maybe a little aggressive and I had a patient once telling me, he goes, “You know, you’re kind of like a used car salesman, aren’t you?” I was just like I didn’t know whether to be offended or appreciated. I’m like, “Thank you? You’re not or [unintelligible 00:08:00].”
Clay: You love me.
Dr. Zoellner: Well, I’m a doctor. How dare you? You want leather with that?
[laughter]
Clay: Okay. Now Deedra, I want to ask you this because there’s somebody listening right now who needs this coaching and mentorship. Talk to us about the importance of committing to becoming a sales superstar? What kind of advice do you have for them?
Deedra: If you don’t have sales, you don’t have a business.
Dr. Zoellner: Oh, stop it.
Clay: See they’re always doing that. I have to hit the button again.
Stinger: Oh, Billy.
Clay: All right. If you don’t have the sales, you don’t have a business.
Deedra: You don’t. You can have a great product all day but if it’s just you and your mom that know about it, then it’s not going to get you any revenue coming in and therefor, you don’t have a business. I’ve seen people with less sub-par products that actually are great at sales and marketing that make a lot of money.
Clay: I have a funny story for you guys about personal training and fitness that is hilarious to me that hopefully you guys enjoy.
Deedra: Okay. Let’s hear it.
Clay: There’s a guy I knew years ago. I can’t tell you what city he’s in. I can’t give you any details but he’s a guy. Z, this is a hilarious story, okay.
Dr. Zoellner: He’s a dude, got it, dude.
Clay: He’s at one of my speaking events and he’s just taking in all the data. He’s a large man. We’ll just say he’s a large man.
Dr. Zoellner: Big dude, big dude.
Clay: Not large like ripped or jacked. Not [unintelligible 00:19:07] huge man who can pump the weights but just a big man.
Dr. Zoellner: Not like our lumberjack Sam?
Clay: No, not strong like Sam, just large surface area, a lot of mass there.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay. I’m with you.
Clay: What he does is he’s taking notes. True story. He’s taking notes. I talked to him a couple of years later. He calls me, he says, “I implemented all those sales move that you’re teaching me and my business is doing great.” I’m thinking, “What kind of business has he got himself into?”
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, yes.
Clay: He’s out in the Denver area and he’s built this thriving fitness company. It’s just rocket because he knows who his ideal and likely buyers are. He’s targeting basically soccer moms who wear yoga pants and he has in fit, in shape people going to trade shows and marketing and he’s making no-brainer offers. He literally has this massive fitness company and he has no interest in fitness nor is he in shape or ever going to be in shape.
Deedra: There you go.
Clay: But he understand sales. I remember when I saw him out there in the Denver area, I see the guy and he just thinks it’s awesome because he’s like, “No one would have any idea I own this business.”
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Clay: He understood how to sell things and I see that a lot of times where business owners, they know so much about let’s say, whatever their industry is, they know so much about it. They almost struggle to sell it. Here’s a guy who’s just — he’s successful and that he also has a home security business. He’s had different businesses he’s in but he just understands that process. I want you, Deedra to — for anybody who’s listening who goes, “I know who my ideal and likely buyers are. I embrace that. I understand I need sales. What are the steps need to take here friend? What do I need to do? I want to take some action today? What do I need to do?”
Deedra: Well, you have to go after those ideal and likely buyers. Number one, you got to find where they are at. Online targeting is a beautiful way to dot that.
Clay: Online targeting. Got that move.
Deedra: It’s easy through Facebook. You can get all the way down to those soccer moms in a certain area. Pull the zip codes, their interests, all that.
Clay: Well, I’m going to say it right now. If you’re listening right now, there’s one company. We had the gentleman on the show, The Tip Top Canine.
Dr. Zoellner: The Tip Top Canine.
Clay: Ryan was one of the guests. He and his wife Rachel have a wonderful business. They teach people how to — they train dogs how to behave and how to sit and roll and those kind of moves. They have a school you can send your dog to where they guarantee when the dog comes back, it’s gong to be this perfect animal. They’re ideal and likely buyers. The kind of people who are willing to put that much money into the investment of a dog are not the kind of people who are trying to figure out how they’re going to pay the cable bill this month.
They had to make some targeting decisions with their ads to target the right ideal and likely buyers to get the right results. They’re dominating on Facebook. They’re dominating. Now move number two, I want to encourage everybody to think about as relates to gong after these idea and likely buyers, and Z, I’d like you to touch on this, is you have to commit to being okay to getting a hundred nos for every yes. That’s just a big thing for me.
It was hard for me to embrace that when I first started in business. If you’re at a trade show, you’ve got to get a hundred people to tell you no before one will tell you yes. Or if you’re running an ad on radio, a hundred people have to hear it before one takes action. It’s like you have to be okay with knowing who your ideal and likely buyer is but you also have to be okay with crazy amounts of rejections.
I’m going to start with you, Z. Why is it so hard for entrepreneurs to get over the whole rejection game when they go out and try to sell their big widget or their product?
Dr. Zoellner: You know why?
Clay: I don’t know.
Dr. Zoellner: I’m going to tell you why.
Clay: Tell me.
Dr. Zoellner: Because they’re believers. They believe in their product. They believe in their widget. They have sold themselves over and over and over and so now what they have done is done is that they’ve stepped out on faith. They’ve said listen, “This is awesome.”
Clay: This is awesome.
Dr. Zoellner: “It’s going to work.”
Clay: It’s going to work. Z, this is what happens.
[music]
Dr. Zoellner: Wow.
Clay: It’s always coming in hot today. I don’t know. It’s very hot.
Dr. Zoellner: You are on fire over there tiger. What they’ve done is they’ve convinced themselves. They’ve gone over and over, they’ve had sleepless nights. They’ve mortgaged, they’ve got a second on their house. They’ve been saving money. They’ve convinced her mom and their uncle Billy that this was a great idea and they’re behind them 110%.
Clay: Their uncle Billy is excited about it.
Dr. Zoellner: All their inner circle said, “I think that’s a great idea to sell wedge platform shoes to short people. You’ve got — whatever the concept is.”
Clay: “That makes sense. People are going to love that cake. We’re going to love that cake. You need to leverage everything you possibly can do to focus on that cake. Everyone’s going to –“
Dr. Zoellner: “Who doesn’t want a sugar-free, flour-free, no-water cake? This is a wonderful idea.”
Clay: “You should go into the business. I love your idea.”
Dr. Zoellner: “It’s a wonderful idea.” Then what happens is, they’re so sold on it that to them the idea that some random person out there-
Clay: Don’t say it.
Dr. Zoellner: –would not think that’s not the best thing in the world-
Clay: Ah. You’re so mean.
Dr. Zoellner: – can be quite frankly, devastating.
Clay: I find that a lot of times when you say things that are true, it’s mean.
[laughter]
Can you say false truth please?
Dr. Zoellner: Listen. When we come back from the break, though, I want to marinade just a little bit on this idea of how to find your ideal unlikely because you got to skip over that. You know what? That’s a huge first step. You get that wrong, today is not going to make sense.
Clay: Thrivetimeshow.com.
Clay: All right Thrive Nation. Welcome back into the conversation. My name is Clay Clark. I’m the former SPA entrepreneur of the year in your ear sent here to teach you how to start and grow a successful business. It’s business school without the BS and yes, to my right, we have Dr. Robert Zoellner in the house. Dr. Z, it’s ecstasy when you’re next to me. How are you?
Dr. Zoellner: On this Wednesday [inaudible 00:25:45]. I’ll tell you what happy Wednesday everybody. Geico has branded this day now hump day which I think [inaudible 00:25:52]. It’s hump day. We’re halfway through the week. We appreciate you sharing your lunch time with us. Or you could be anywhere around the world actually listening to us. You could be listening to us at any time in the world because you know why? Because we put all these on our website, thrivetimeshow.com. Someone’s out there just binge-listening to us right now. Thank you very much and hope you’re learning something.
Clay: Well, here’s a shameless plug that I have here, Z. I’m working on this. I’m trying to figure out the best way to really encourage people to check out our sponsors. Here’s my thing I’ve been working on here. You could be over at Regent Bank eating your Oklahoma Joe’s baked beans. You could be or you could not be but you could be. In the show, inside the box at rocks here, we have Miss Deedra Determan in the house. Miss Deedra, how are you?
Deedra: Hello. I’m great.
Clay: I want to brag on you for a second here.
Deedra: Okay.
Clay: I’ve worked with Deedra. We’ve worked together for about, what? Four years?
Deedra: Yes.
Clay: She’s one of my favorite people. In terms of the world of business, John Rockefeller has a quote which I love. It encourages me. John Rockefeller says, and I’m paraphrasing. He says, “It’s better to start a friendship based upon a business than it is to start a business based on a friendship.” I’ll get into it. He says, “As you build a business, you start to discover people’s character and you start to discover, ‘Wow. That’s a good person or that’s people.'” Basically, he’s talking about how a friendship that you have established through business is more meaningful than a business you start based on a friendship because business forces you to get real.
Deedra: That’s right.
Clay: I’ve been getting real with Deedra for four years now. I’ve seen how she treats clients and how she takes the high road. I’ll just tell you. If you want to put your business into marketing steroids mode, Deedra is your person. She gets it done. Deedra, would you describe how do people get a hold of you? How do they find your website? Educate us.
Deedra: Yes. You can got to d2branding.com and get a free consultation. I’d love to sit down with you and evaluate your business and see what we could do to really explode your brand and get you some money.
Clay: Now, here’s the deal Thrivers. We’re talking today about how to become a sales superstar. Step number one. So many people get wrong is you have to determine who your ideal and likely buyers are. I’m going to walk you through my three steps, okay? I want you to maybe write these down or maybe look at your person in the car with you and go, “Write these down, Daryl. Carl, write these down.” Here we go. Step number one. I encourage you to find out who’s already dominating in the space and just copy it.
Deedra: That’s right.
Clay: That’s a big thing. Whoever is already winning, just copy it. If you’re going, “Just copy it? But I want –” Well, this is what Steve Jobs said. I’m reading a Steve Job’s quote. He says, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” What? Sometimes if you just look at the competition and you really steal what’s working for them, that is a great place to start. I can’t tell you how many times I have mystery shopped hair cutting facilities over the years to learn things that we now use at Elephant in the Room. Now, Elephant in the Room has become a force on its own and now people are probably trying to steal ideas from us.
Z, you going to start — if you don’t know what to do, it’s a great move to want to copy the competition.
Dr. Zoellner: No. No. No. I want to invent the wheel all over again.
Clay: It’s feels good every time I invent the wheel.
Dr. Zoellner: It feels good and it makes me feel superior knowing that I’m not relying on anybody’s wheels design. I’m going to spend much of my time and energy trying to figure out a way to build a wheel. No. You’re right. You find the parade and jump in front of it and everybody says, “Oh my gosh. Look at his parade. That’s an awesome parade.”
Clay: I’ll give an example of one. It’s kind of funny. In the haircut business, Okay? If you want to go to Great Clubs right now, you can get your hair cut at Great Clubs right now for 499. There’s a sign that says 499. Next to that sign you’ll see and Elephant in the Room sign that says $1 for your first haircut.
[laughter]
Dr. Zoellner: That’s a savings of $3 and 99 cents.
Clay: I innovated. I changed the number and everything.
Deedra: Yes. There you go.
Clay: That’s a move and so how does that help you determine your and likely buyers? Well, you put that sign up and you start to see what kind of customers come in, and if they’re a good fit or not. But you still need to get feedback right away because you’ve actually copied the marketing of your competition. That’s move number one. Move number two is you can go out there and you can say, “I’m going to AB test.” Deedra, I’m listening, I’m going, “Well, how do I AB test? What does that mean?” Can you educate us, maybe walk us through, so I can take some notes here?
Deedra: Yes, sure. A great way to do that is through Facebook ads. For a couple hundred dollars, you can quickly put two different ads together that are targeting different audiences. You may think young women and your partner may think you’re going after older men. A great way to just quickly realize that is to put the two ads out there and see what results you get.
Clay: That’s a move. That’s a move, now Z —
Dr. Zoellner: That’s a move.
Clay: Move number three. This is the one. This is the one I really want to encourage you. I call this “have a rude interview.”
Dr. Zoellner: It sounds interesting.
Clay: This is tough though. Let me get an example.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay.
Clay: We have some wonderful clients who are in the office right now over there. That’s the Tulsa Junior Oilers. Great guys, they’re here.
Dr. Zoellner: Great guys.
Clay: Okay, they’re here. When we’re broadcasting from the thrive15.com world headquarters, there is real clients that come in all the time and you can see them on Facebook live in the background, but these guys are here.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes. Do they have all their teeth, by the way? They’re hockey players, right?
Clay: They’re handsome guys. Very handsome men. If you’re listen right now, you know Clay, your Derek said, “They’re talking about you right now on the radio. They asked if we have teeth.” Here’s the deal. These guys, they love mentoring kids and they love hockey. They just know me for about four years now. She knows these things, but I don’t like it.
Dr. Zoellner: You don’t like children or mentoring or young kids or hockey? I’m confused.
Deedra: [laughs]
Clay: That’s great, that’s great. The vagrant, it starts with the vagrant hyperbole.
Deedra: [laughs]
Dr. Zoellner: Yes.
Clay: Here’s this. I don’t like going to tournaments. The thing was, they go, “Here’s the deal. This year, the team was so successful, it’s parents orientation night.” The team was so successful–
Dr. Zoellner: Your son played on the hockey thing?
Clay: Yes.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay, that’s [crosstalk].
Clay: This isn’t his first year. Last year was his first year. The team did so great. We won. These guys are awesome. Great coaches, they win all the time. This year, we’re going to go to Arkansas, then we’re going to go to tournament over here. We might go to Minneapolis. We’re going to head over to Phoenix or wherever they’re going.
Dr. Zoellner: Why wouldn’t they?
Clay: The whole time, part of my soul’s going, “No.”
Dr. Zoellner: No.
Clay: No.
Dr. Zoellner: No, don’t be good.
Clay: They go, “We can all stay in a hotel together and have pizza.”
[laughter]
Clay: I’m like, “I don’t want to stay with anyone and ever have pizza.” The entire year, my son played hockey, it was like, “Let’s see how we can mess with Clay’s idiosyncracies and see if he goes crazy.”
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, and that wouldn’t take long, that’d throw him on the edge anyway.
Clay: Yes. We’re driving all together caravanning. I never caravan.
[laughter]
Clay: Because you wouldn’t want to come because I drive crazy.
Deedra: Nobody wants to follow you driving, I can tell you that.
Dr. Zoellner: You are certified the worst driver in the world. It’s certified.
Deedra: Absolutely.
Clay: Here’s the rude interview. If the guys like that, they sit down and if they discover quickly, like, “Hey, our goals are to mentor kids and teach them the love of hockey and to teach them how to become good, high character people,” they would discover, that they’re talking to a man, in my case, who doesn’t like sports, who doesn’t like to travel with other families, and who has no interest in group activities. They would discover, “He’s not our ideal and likely buyer. We should never show him an ad,” and say —
Dr. Zoellner: Let’s go back to — I didn’t know you didn’t even like pizza. That’s crazy. I don’t like pizza.
Clay: I kind of like to do the old shovel method, buy, eat it, go.
Dr. Zoellner: Buy, eat it, go. That is the shovel method.
Clay: The thing is though, Thrivers, is there’s people out there who are not the right fit. I’ll tell you what, their program is growing. It’s thriving, it’s succeeding and parents love it. The comments they write are awesome, but the comments they say are the opposite of what I would say. They go, “Oh my gosh, it was so great. My son now can do this and that and we went to Phoenix. We won the championship.”
Dr. Zoellner: They love the caravan. Road trip.
[laughter]
Clay: I would be writing, “We had to go on a trip and we won all the games. We had to stay in a cold building out there.”
Dr. Zoellner: Come on, you like a good truck stop, don’t act like you don’t.
Clay: [laughs] I’m just saying, if you have to have that kind of rude interview to sometimes figure out, interview these potential buyers and figure out, “Is that the kind of person I want to market to or is that the kind of person I market to?” Then keep doing, until you find your ideal and likely buyer. Z, is that helpful from your perspective?
Dr. Zoellner: Absolutely, yes, but I would have just said, “Pizza,” in front of you and just see, don’t take pizza, and they’d be like–
Clay: No takers?
Dr. Zoellner: It’s barely still there.
Clay: That’s just him. Thrivetimeshow.com stay tuned. We’re going to teach you how to become sales superstar.
Clay: Hello, Thrive nation. Green country Oklahomies, welcome back to the show where you get to learn all the facts about how to start or grow a successful business. My name is Clay Clark and I am a business coach. I’m a former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, but more importantly, I’m the father of five human kids that have made this far through life without me screwing them up yet, because my wife is and incredible human.
On the show today, sometimes you get one really good guest. Sometimes, you get, but two really good guests? A co-Announcer, who’s the man he’s here, back from vacation, back from his various trips and a super guest. This is a unicorn show. This is a game changer show. Doctor Z, how are you, my friend?
Dr. Zoellner: I am fantastic. I tell you what, I am so excited to have Deedra on the show today, because you know what? She is a woman that has been there, done it and now is coaching people on how to do it. Folks, what you’re getting today is, I’m telling you we’re getting hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of information just flooding over the air waves right now.
You’re sitting down eating lunch at Oklahoma Joe’s. You’re doing your thing. You got your egg salad sandwich. Take plenty of notes, go back and re-listen this show, because if you’ve got a great product, you’re motivated and you don’t have a sale, guess what? You’re going to make some money.
Clay: Now, Thrivers, I’m telling you what, we have Deedra Determan on the show today. Deedra, I want to ask you this before we get into our next move, okay? Move number one was you have to determine who your ideal and likely buyers are if you’re going to become a sales superstar. You got to know who your target is, your target zone.
Dr. Zoellner: Very important.
Clay: Now step number two, though. You got to deal with the fear.
Deedra: That’s right.
Clay: Now I want to ask you, because you back at the day, you worked at, I think, Fox 23.
Deedra: Yes, that’s right.
Clay: Was that your first sales job or did you work somewhere else first?
Deedra: I did work somewhere else first, but yes, that was the first of going out and selling, and–
Clay: Were you scared?
Deedra: Of course. I think everyone who makes cold calls, it’s scary. People might tell you, “No,” and look at you like you’re crazy and all that stuff. I think everybody kind of gets those jitters first going out and putting yourself out there.
Clay: I’m going to tee you up here with two notable quotables that blow my mind. We’ll go with the notable quotable number one. Are you ready for this one?
Deedra: Ready.
Clay: Here we go. This is from Dale Carnegie who was best-selling author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, and someone needs to write this down. You’re going, “I’m trying to find my pad.” Listen. Use your smartphone, use your iPad. You can’t text and drive. You can’t call and drive, but there’s nothing wrong with pulling over and writing down some notes. You can do this, just pull over. Here we go, I’m waiting. There’s a lot of people waiting. Okay, here we go, “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Get out and get busy.”
Dr. Zoellner: Get biddy.
Clay: Deedra, if I’m listening, I’m going, “They’re talking about me again.” Are you going, “They’re talking about my husband, and that’s him, he never does anything.” What advice would you have for somebody who knows a lot, but doesn’t necessarily do a lot?
Deedra: I think, especially from a sale standpoint, if you look at where you are today, you don’t have any revenue. Put yourself out there. If what if they say, “No.” Guess what, you’re right where you were, starting at square one. That’s okay, and the quicker you get through the nos, the quicker you get to your, “Yes.”
Clay: Okay, okay, now you got one more. One more, this is like a sandwich of notable quotables. Here we go. This is Earl Nightingale. He’s a self-help guru. A lot of people know him from his books he’s written over the years. He’s a neat guy during his lifetime. He says this, “Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway. We might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”
Someone goes, “I’ll make 100 calls, 90 of them are going to be a waste of time. I don’t want to make 90 wasted calls because I want to focus on the right strategic call.” This is the problem I see with so many college graduates, doctors. This is the part that makes me crazy. I see so many smart people who become so smart, they’re like, “Well, technically I don’t want to make the call until I figure out exactly the call to make. I want to make sure I do. I’ve looked at my SWAT analysis. I’ve written a report. I’m going to track the data. I made a pie chart here in excel that shows me exactly how many people might say, “Yes,” might say, “No,” I’m going to go test it, I bring it,” and they never go on the phone.
Meanwhile, I, in our team, will just run circles around them, selling, selling, selling, selling. Well, they’re still making that report we’re still selling. Deedra, talk to me, talk to them, talk to you. I want to talk to you the listener right now. What can I do if I’m a listener? what can I do if I’m going, “I want to make calls I’m almost motivated. I’m just I’m so afraid.”
Deedra: You just have to get out and do it. Just get out and do it. The first ones are going to be a little rough. I mean I always tell people I’m like, “Get in front friend your husband, your friend, your mom whoever and practice your pitch. Get your pitch down.” When I was selling advertising for 91moms.com, I said the same story over and over and over. It was establishing rapport with them. Everything was canned honestly and it worked.
Clay: Now Thrivers, here’s the deal. We have a two-day in-person thrive time workshop. I’m telling you it is a unicorn of conferences right here from the left coast of the Arkansas River.
Clay: It’s a two-day conference, January 20th and 21st. I will teach you how to make a cold call script there. I will give you a little tip right now. I want to piggyback on what Deedra said. She’s 100% correct. You want to make a cold call script and there is a formula for it. Good news for you, we have a formula for you. If you go to Trive15.com, and you sign up as a Thrive subscriber, let’s say that you have $1 available per month that’s all you have is $1 a month. We have a scholarship program so you can set your own price boom you can get it. Or it’s 20 bucks a month and if you if you sign up for 20 bucks a month it’s $19 a month.
If you sign up for that, we give a free subscription to a member of the United States military veterans Reserve active duty but we have a template for it. I’m going to walk you through it verbally. Step one, you got to script out a part of building rapport. Step two, you got to script out a part for establishing the needs. Why do I have to make a script? Have you ever seen a movie? Z, have you watched a movie, you ever see a movie.
Dr. Zoellner: I do enjoy a good movie. I’m not going to lie.
Clay: Woa, there’s excitement going on here at the Thrive15.com world headquarters.
Dr. Zoellner: [crosstalk] speak of selling, someone just sold.
Clay: Someone just sold. Here’s the thing is if you watch a movie, a good actor can deliver the script and not seem like they’re acting.
Deedra: That’s right.
Clay: I would say, Tom Hanks, picture Tom Hanks.
Dr. Zoellner: That’s my boat, Jenny.
Clay: He’s so dynamic isn’t he? I mean he’s practiced that script to where it seems like he’s not reading a script but he is. Many people say I don’t want to follow a script because I want to seem natural. Well, this is what natural sounds like, if you don’t have a script and you’re nervous. You ready Z? Here we go. “Hi, is Dr. Robert Zoellner there?”
Dr. Zoellner: Yes.
Clay: I was calling on behalf of Oswald’s bagels [unintelligible 00:42:38]. It didn’t go good. Then you hang up. I callback. Here we go. This is like about two weeks later. I’ve waited two weeks to make the next call because I just want — the longer you wait by the way, the scarier it gets. Here we go. “Hi, is Doctor Dr. Zoellner there?”
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, he is.
Clay: The reason why I was calling you is I wanted to help you grow your business.
Dr. Zoellner: We’re not interested in that Clay, hang up.
Clay: It sounds like I’m reading a script so you have to make the script and then it has to sound like you’re not reading the script. There’s a process. We’ll teach you that and by the way, we teach you to record your calls. We have sample calls. “You mean you have sample calls you can share with us? The white wizard has recorded calls?” Yes, we do. Then the third step is you have to thread three benefits supported by a fact. Z, it’s called the law of credibility.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes. Once you do that, then guess what? You said, both of you said something that’s very, very important. First of all, to segue back to something you said earlier, Clay, and that is that thing drove you crazy when that kids come out of college and they’re not motivated and they just put it off put it off put it off, there’s very comforting to know actually what has made you crazy. That’s good to know number one.
Clay: Thank you. We finally have the information.
Dr. Zoellner: We finally we have that. I was wondering all these years what it was. Number two, the idea that you fell forward and that you’re always designing. Once you come up with your script and you come up with the things to say, that doesn’t mean you don’t change it, that doesn’t mean you don’t make it better. I had a guy one time say, “You know, I’m designing a mouse trap and I’m not going to use it until it’s perfect.”
Clay: It’s been totally modified to a point where it’s almost perfect but I’m not —
Dr. Zoellner: I’m working on that bad boy almost every day and one of these days is going to be perfect. I’m going to actually sell it and I’m going to catch some mice. It’s going to be beautiful.
Clay: Twenty-seven years, I’ve been working on this stuff. I swear.
Dr. Zoellner: Twenty-seven, but it’s almost ready. I’m like, “No, no, no. Get out there, put your first step. You know what? The first call you make is not going to be great. Make notes, record it, very, very important for you to go back and listen to it. You might be like my god I did that?’’
Clay: I only make gold plated phone calls. I have to do perfect phone calls every time, you know what I mean.
Dr. Zoellner: I have to be perfect script and practice. Get in front of a mirror, get in front of friends and you know and practice your pitch. Practice, practice, practice. I can’t say that enough. You got to practice.
Clay: Now, here’s the deal, Z. You’re scripting out the rapport, the needs the benefits. You got to have three facts that support the claims you’re making or the solutions you provide then you got to assume the close. You got to set an appointment. You’ve got to assume — Deedra, why do you have to assume the close or to push the prospect to set an appointment or to set up an evaluation? Why do you have to be the one who sets forth the action and sets the appointment if you’re the one making the sales?
Deedra: You want to be the one in charge. You’re controlling the conversation and you want to be in charge and when can we get started? Can we start as early as next week?
Clay: Now, check it out when you go for the close, Thrivers, unless you’re talking to somebody whose mind is totally off or unless they’re totally sold on the business, they’re going to have some questions. When you would script these things out, I call them FAQs or you can call them objections, but in a general rule, as a general rule, people have three objections. They have no need, no time or no money. No time, no need, no money, so script out how you are going to respond to it. Z, away you go but you’ve got to start, man. You’ve got to make that script get on that phone.
Dr. Zoellner: Listen and if you’re saying I don’t even — that’s just overwhelming. Get — it’s okay. It’s okay. Enjoy your lunch, drink plenty of water today but do this action. If you don’t want to take that step today and that’s okay. Take this step, go to Thrive15.com. You can sign up for our business on business on steroids coaching or put this on your calendar, January 20 and 21, come out to the Thrive in-person workshop, “In person?” Yes, you will physically be right here behind us.
Clay: What if I don’t have the money? What if I’m very poor, I have very little money right now?
Dr. Zoellner: We have scholarships. We will not say no to you.
Clay: Are you going to upsell me? Is it going to be one of those upsell things?
Dr. Zoellner: No, no, no upsell, no fire walking, no up selling, just great business tips on how to do exactly what we’re teaching to do the day.
Clay: Now Thrivers, go to ThriveTimeshow.com to get that info. When we come back, we’re going to get more into how to become a sales superstar so you can buy a big old car..
Clay: What is going on Thrive nation? Green country Oklahomies, welcome back. I’m telling you what today, I am jacked. I am so excited to be talking about how to become a sales superstar. Why would you want to do that? Why would you want to –? What sort of trumptasctic reason — he said Trumptasctic. What sort of trumpstastic reason would you possibly have for wanting to sell more stuff? I’ll tell you why because healthcare is not cheap, Z. This is just in. It’s not cheap.
Dr. Zoellner: No and it’s not getting any cheaper either. I mean and everything in life gets a little more expensive. [unintelligible 00:48:31]
Clay: I noticed they’re not giving away free gas anymore at the gas station. I noticed the groceries are —
Dr. Zoellner: They do but they’ll chase you down the road if you try to get it free. It’s a thing.
Clay: Listen to me right now, Thrives. Work at me. Somebody right now is emotionally going through this thing like, “I don’t want to sell because I don’t even care. I’m a purist.” Work with me. Half of you — this logical will work for you. You need to become successful at selling so you can have your time back. You can buy back your time with money. You can say I want someone else to mow my lawn. I want somebody else to run those errands for me. I want someone else to do my dry cleaning. I want somebody else to do everything. You can buy your time.
Or somebody else, you go, “I just want to be financially free to do the things I want to do take my family and do to do certain activities or on vacation or on dates or –“
Dr. Zoellner: Disney World, I want to take them to Disney World.
Deedra: That’s right.
Clay: The thing is these are all reasons why you’d want to become a sales superstar. Then I guess maybe a third bonus is when you can’t sell your business goes to — I can’t say it, it’s a family show.
Dr. Zoellner: It fails, it fails, it fails. Failure.
Clay: Goes right down to Hades.
Dr. Zoellner: Clay, that brings up a number that I hate.
Clay: What is that number?
Dr. Zoellner: I hate this number.
Clay: Don’t shout the number. I’m going to do it.
Dr. Zoellner: No. That’s why we started this show.
Clay: There’s still time.
Dr. Zoellner: 80% of businesses that start, this is a thing, you can Google it, it’s a thing, it’s a thing, fail.
Clay: Fail.
Dr. Zoellner: We are going to wipe that number out. We’re in a very unique place in the world.
Clay: We are.
Dr. Zoellner: We are in Tulsa Oklahoma. This is our headquarters and Forbes just rated that Tulsa is one of the top, if not the top, entrepreneur little starting hub places. For guys that wants to start up, for ladies and guys who want to start a business, Tulsa is like one of the hot spot. There’s something in our water. The Arkansas river right out here, on the left bank up.
Clay: I’ve been drinking that water for years and it’s really impacted my ability to see clearly.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, there you go. It’s just in our DNA here. We have no choice but to be entrepreneurs here.
Clay: If someone is listening and, “I don’t believe what you just said,” just Google Forbes and then start up failure, you’ll find the statistic. Or Google best cities in the world for entrepreneurs and you’ll find the story there from Forbes. These are all verifiable things. I’ll tell you what else is verifiable.
Dr. Zoellner: What’s that?
Clay: It’s undeniable. It’s almost indescribable. It is Deedra Determan in the house. She’s in the roof. She’s inside the box that rocks. What’s going on?
Deedra: What’s up guys?
Clay: Hey, I just want to say thank you for your husband for lending you to us today. Normally, he’s got a hawk eye and he goes, “Clay, Z, I don’t want you near the wizard.”
Deedra: [laughs]
Clay: Because there is only so much wizard she can give off, some of these wizard tips. There is only so many tips per day we can get without paying.
Dr. Zoellner: We pay. We charge for that business. We charge for those tips.
Clay: That’s right.
Dr. Zoellner: Don’t you go be giving out for nothing.
Clay: Now, Deedra, people who are listening right now and go, “What is it that you do? What is your core competency?” I know you had a successful business you grew in the past.
Deedra: Right.
Clay: I know you’ve lived the American dream. I know you’ve sold that business. But, what do you do now? What is your occupation?
Deedra: I own D2 Branding and it’s marketing consulting, business consulting. We help clients ignite their brand to increase their profit.
Clay: Okay. What does it mean,”Ignite the brand”?
Dr. Zoellner: You would set it on fire?
Deedra: [laughs] Absolutely set it on fire. Yes, let your ideal and likely buyers know who you are.
Clay: You build websites?
Deedra: We build websites. We do search engine optimization. We do Facebook ads, re-targeting ads.
Dr. Zoellner: You mean those creepy little ads that follow you all around the internet? You do those?
Deedra: [laughs] It’s the most — that is the most brilliant advertising out there. I love that.
Dr. Zoellner: It’s a little creepy. Come on. You search for John Deere Tractors and then like for the next six months, every time I get online, it’s like, “A John Deere tractor,” that pops up.
Clay: You know one of the things that we are talking to Oklahoma Joe’s, one of our show sponsors, we try to give them some tips for marketing. He said no to this idea and I don’t understand why he said no.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay, well how do [crosstalk].
Clay: Here’s my idea. When someone comes in to buy some burnt ends or some baked beans.
Dr. Zoellner: That’s meat candy.
Clay: Get it at an authentic truck that looks like it’s the truck that would be driven by someone who’d make authentic barbecue, a rusted, old school truck and just follow them around.
Deedra: [laughs]
Clay: He’s like, “No. We can’t do that. You can’t follow people.” It’s like offline re-targeting.
Dr. Zoellner: Clay, when you talk about burnt ends-
[music]
Clay: Yes, come on now.
Dr. Zoellner: – and baked beans.
Clay: How you doing?
Dr. Zoellner: I’m sorry. This makes me go to a happy place.
Clay: How you doing?
Dr. Zoellner: That’s meat candy. Him candy, how are you doing?
Clay: I’ve got a vision for me and you and this beans.
Dr. Zoellner: I’ve got a spot for you meat candy right in my belly. Good stuff.
Clay: Those are so good. Now, seriously, he has rejected my human re-targeting ad that I was trying to pitch, but it’s an idea. Feel free to steal it thrivers. Feel free to have a stalker follow people around and pitch them your products over and over and all day.
Dr. Zoellner: Everything on this show is for you to use for your benefit.
Clay: Except for that. [laughs]
Dr. Zoellner: Except for that. For you to use for your benefit. We are just giving it away to you. Just give it away.
Clay: Here’s the deal, thrivers. Z and I are talking today with Deedra about this conversation, “How to become a sales superstar?” How to become a sales superstar? Smells like success. Here’s the thing now. Z says, he goes, “I have a story I want to share,” and Z, does this story involve magic?
Dr. Zoellner: Well, it kind of does. It seems like magic but when you — listen, when I’m in Tampa, when you have your product, you’ve got your service, and you walk up to someone that you don’t know and you sell them on it and they go, “Eureka. I can’t live like without — I had no idea that I did not have that in my life. I need that in my life”, and you didn’t sell them that thing, you know what? That seems like a little bit of magic.
Clay: No, Z. I’ll tell you — This is my magic music. Here we go, here’s my magic music, let me get that going. Z, I remember the first time that I pitched DJ Connection to somebody named Jeff Ramsey. Jeff, if you’re listening right now — If you know who Jeff is, send him a text, say, “Jeff they are talking about you on the radio.” I remember when I met with Jeff and Shauna at the McDonald’s right there at 1999. I’m over there, getting them something fancy, like anything they want off that 99 Cent menu.
Dr. Zoellner: The Dollar menu.
Clay: I’m going through my benefits. I’m going benefit, benefit, rapport, needs, benefits. I go for the close and I say, “Now, which package do you want? Do you want this package or that package?” When he looks at me and he says, “I think we’re going to go with that package.” I remember going [cries].
Dr. Zoellner: It’s a miracle.
Clay: It’s a package. Somebody bought some.
Dr. Zoellner: It’s a DJ miracle.
Clay: I remember driving back in that Mazda MPV with 230,000 miles on that Mazda maroon MPV, 1994, super hot edition. I remember driving home to that Fountain Crests apartments and just going — I remember my wife walked in after work in Office Depot and she looks at me and I have that look on my face and she’s like, so how was today? I’m like, “Today, something great happened.”
Deedra: [laughs]
Dr. Zoellner: Funny, you should ask.
Clay: Funny, you should ask.
Announcer: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.
Clay: Because you hear talking to a guy who just sold a 225 big ones. $225 package for a wedding. It’s going to be at the Four Rivers or the Two Rivers or something and I tell you what I got. It’s a keystone and I took up $50 deposit.
Deedra: [laughs]
Clay: Sick, I’m going to retire. I go, taking my shirt off and running around the neighborhood.
Dr. Zoellner: Drop the mic. You’ve taken your shirt off because you’ve turned off your air conditioning because you were trying to save money-
Clay: That was true.
Dr. Zoellner: -that includes your business. You’re like, she’s so excited and you’re like, “Baby, no, we can’t get the air back on, yet. But daddy’s on his way to get my hot momma cooled down.” Yes.
Clay: That’s right. That was the deal. Now, so Deedra, a lot of your listening right now, they are stuck on that area where they can’t sell anything yet. But again, they’re struggling with that fear. Just give then that final ounce of confidence and encouragement. What do they need to do to get through that fear?
Deedra: If you believe in your product as much as you know — Obviously, you started a business, you must be a huge believer and very passionate about your product. Be yourself. Go out there and show your passion. If you can solve a problem that someone has, you can make a sale.
Clay: Now, thrivers, I’m going to give you some brutal advise. Some mean advise.
Dr. Zoellner: No. Don’t do it. No. We’re nice. We got to be nice.
Clay: This is just a mean advise someone needs to hear. Nobody cares at all about your business at all more than you and I would even argue that very few people even care about your business at all or my business, any business. I’ll give you an example. My mom used to — I talked to my mom, my mom was like, “We’re praying for you,” and I do believe my mom prayed for me. My mom is a sweet lady and I know she did pray, because our mom is that kind of person who would put you on the little refrigerator or put you on the counter and would pray.
But I don’t think she prayed without ceasing for my business. I don’t think 24/7 she’s like, “Just let him close the deal, just give him the power to close.” Eventually, I think she had moved on and do other things. But if you’re on the business, you have to think about it all the time. I mean, financial, when you talk about poverty and you’re in poverty, that affects everything. When you’re struggling, you’ve just got it, right now for average — today, right now, this is your day.
You got to say, “I am done being scared, I’m done. I’m just going to get on that phone, I’m going to dial and smile. I’m going to call them all until they cry, buy, or die. I’m just going to do it. I don’t care what people say. I don’t care what people think. I’m just going to not stop until I find a yes.” I’m going to tell you what, on the other end of a hundred nos, you will find a yes. You got to get a hundred nos, I don’t care how you do it. Through radio ads, through cold calling, through billboards, through mailers, you got to get a hundred nos fast, Z, fast.
Dr. Zoellner: Hey, Deedra, can we get you for another segment? I know you got to run today, can we get you for one more segment?
Deedra: Yes.
Dr. Zoellner: Because I want to do — I think it is so important to do this. I’m going to do magic. It’s going to feel like magic but if there’s a technique to it that you’re going to listen to this, you’re going to go, “How did they do that?” That’s what we’re going to teach you, how to do and sell. You guys ready? Clay, you’re ready?
Clay: Let me get my magic music ready, just real quick. Okay. Here we go.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay, on Facebook Live, if you’re watching, you can kind of see this. But it’s an imaginary — we’re just going to follow along. I’ve got a little piece of paper here. I’m going to set on Deedra’s water bottle right here, okay. Now then, I’ve got a deck of cards and I take out just the face cards. I have four jacks, four kings, and four queens, right?
Clay: Right.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay. Deedra, I’m imaginary, you’re going to hold them in front of you and I want you to take two segments. I want you to take either the jacks, the queens, the queens and the kings, take two of the four. What are you going to take? You get them out of my hand-
Deedra: Kings and Queens.
Dr. Zoellner: -take kings and queens, okay, perfect. I’m going to take the jacks, throw them away. I want you to slide those over to Clay, and you’ve got your kings and your queens. Clay, I want you to pick one or the other. What do you pick?
Clay: You got to hand them over.
Dr. Zoellner: You got to hand them over. Okay, hand them over.
Clay: Kings.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay, kings. Throw your kings away. Deedra now has the four queens in her hands, right? Deedra, there’s two red ones and there’s two black ones. Now, hold them back up to Clay. Clay, you take either the red — I mean the black or the red ones.
Clay: The black.
Dr. Zoellner: You take the black, throw those away Clay again. Throw those away. Now, Deedra, you’re down to two of them. I want you to flip one over. Which one was it? This one, the queen of diamonds or the queen of hearts?
Deedra: Queen of hearts.
Dr. Zoellner: Look at that piece of paper.
Clay: Here we go. Uh oh, she’s looking.
Dr. Zoellner: Look at the camera. What’s on it?
Deedra: Queen of hearts. That was good.
Clay: What just happened?
Deedra: You know, that’s a trick, I’m going to pick hearts.
Clay: I don’t know.
Deedra: Is that it?
Clay: This always happens. It’s the magic happens.
Dr. Zoellner: Now, you might be watching on Facebook live and you might be going, I’m trying to get David Copperfield’s Job, I’m not. David you’re safe, Mr. Copperfield, I’m not coming after your job, okay. You might say to yourself, “What just happened?” that’s a sale technique where I knew I wanted the answer to be queen of hearts. I was purposeful and walking Clay and Deedra down to the answer that I wanted.
Clay: “You wanted it?”
Dr. Zoellner: But I made seem like they chose it,. “I did choose it.” “What? are you mad?”
Clay: I did choose it. What? Are you mad? Are you into predestination? Is this a related show? What?
Dr. Zoellner: I’ve got Jet Commercial, purple layers now going up into the thing and my mind just got bloated. My point is this, is that when you go in and you’re trying to make a sale, you know the answer you want already. There’s a technique we’re going to teach you in our in-person workshop, there’s a technique that we teach you on thrive15.com in sales, and there’s a technique we’re going to try to get to you today and teach you all we can today. We only have two hours, so we’re going to try, and that is, purposeful walking someone to the decision that you want as a sales person. That sounds crazy.
Clay: Here’s the thing thrivers, if you’re listening right now, I’m just going to tell you this. This is something I want you to think about, in any sport, any field, any profession, there’s a really great soccer player, and there’s everybody else. There’s a really great dentist, and everybody else. There’s a really great hair stylist, and everybody else.
Do you want to be great or do you want to be everybody else? Because I’m gong to tell you what, if you learn these moves, it’s absolutely trainable, teachable, you can learn these skills. Once you learn these skills, you can pay the bills and then some, you can make a lot of money. Stay tuned, we’re going to teach you how to become a sales superstar.
Clay: All right thrive nation. Welcome back into the conversation. Here broadcasting from the left coast to the Arkansas river, inside the box that rocks at the thrive15.com world headquarters. My name is Clay Clark, I’m the father of five human kids, a rancher of many organic and free range chickens, we have many cats, I burn things a lot, I like long walks on the beach.
I’m here with Dr. Robert Zoellner, he’s the guru who’s almost too good to be true. He’s a guy who started this optometry clinic, he grew that he says, “Oh yes I conquered that game, now I’m going to get into the next game.” He says, “Let’s do a horse ranch, let’s do an auto auction, let’s do a durable medical company, let’s get into banking? I don’t know, let’s do a radio show.” It’s Dr. Robert Zoellner. Kaboom.
Dr. Zoellner: Happy Wednesday thrivers. I tell you what, if you’ve missed any of this show and you might say to yourself, “I missed that magic act in the last segment,” and, “How did they do that?” You can go to thrivetimeshow.com where we have all the shows on podcast form and you can Binge watch — I might worry about your sanity if you do it too much, but you can Binge watch all the shows. Now we’re over a hundred and growing.
Clay: Yes Z. We have 106 shows my friend.
Dr. Zoellner: 1-0-6, well there you have it. We’re on our way to 200. Thank you for listening, this is the place. There’s not going to be any politics, there’s no home and gardening.
Clay: Bernie sanders, Bernie Sanders, Bernie.
Dr. Zoellner: There’s no cooking tips, I’m sorry I don’t even know how to cook eggs.
Clay: “This is how you make a souffle.”
Dr. Zoellner: “This is Lasagna, you got to layer that stuff.” You won’t find any of that here, but what you’re going to find here is practical business tips on how to start and grow your business. Because according to Forbes, 57% of you listening out there, that third number, I didn’t come up with that , that’s not my thing.
Clay: That’s a big 5-7.
Dr. Zoellner: That’s a big 5-7, almost two out of three. If you’re sitting there in a cubical and you got a person on your right, a person on your left, you can go.
Clay: Person on the right, person on the left.
Dr. Zoellner: If it’s not me, then it’s probably those two then because it’s two out of three basically, want to start a business. We’re here to encourage you, we’re here to give you the practical steps, because everybody can just say,” Just go do it.”
Clay: “Go do it, go do it man, you got it bro, you got it bro”
Dr. Zoellner: “Good luck.” You can go to a lot of fine universities, and more and more of them are offering entrepreneurship degrees and you can spend tens-
Clay: “Hello class today we’re going to talk about strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses, I’ve never left the campus.”
Dr. Zoellner: You can spend tens of thousands of dollars i.e. even six figures if you want to.
Clay: “But you could qualify for financial aid and pay it off over 40 years, no big deal.”
Dr. Zoellner: “It’s a low interest loan, it doesn’t kick in until after you get out of school, so stay in school as long as you can.”
Clay: “Then go back for your MBA, after you finish.”
Dr. Zoellner: Even more, more and more-
Clay: You never quite know.
Dr. Zoellner: -then get out and say to yourself, “I still don’t know how to start and grow a business.”
Clay: “Billy get off the couch.”
Dr. Zoellner: That’s when, “Hey Bob, can I come back and get back in the basement? I want to get back to my old — because I just like the security there.”
Clay: We have a guru on this show, this is Deedra Determan. I’m going to say this, Deedra Determan I’m bragging her for a minute. You know how those people who in any industry, any walk of life. Let’s say you’re put on a volleyball team, you’re listening right now, you played ina volleyball team in middle school or high school, maybe you’re a cheerleader.
Dr. Zoellner: I choose Marshall first.
Clay: There’s always that one person who’s on your cheer squad who’s just awesome and everybody else is like second, third, fourth, fifth, whatever. You want to become a sales superstar, when Deedra walks into the building every day. I’m not sure how it works, I’m not sure if it’s a spiritual force, if it’s supernatural force but when she walks in this is what, it’s blaring and I look and the speakers are off. I’m like, “How is this possible?” She walks in and I’m going, “What is this? Is this Technotronic?” Then people just say, “No this is just Deedra.” This is Deedra’s music.
Dr. Zoellner: D2. Deedra. D2.
Clay: She is a sales superstar, spotlights on and I’m going, “Turn it off, it’s so distracting.” She’s not in control of it, it’s just happening all around her.
Dr. Zoellner: Get petrified around the room, disco ball turning.
Clay: But there is one point in your career where you were not a good salesperson.
Deedra: Right, that’s right.
Clay: Educate us, teach us what are we doing wrong? If I’m listening right now and I’m in the sales toilet. I’m not doing good, I know I’m over my fear but now I got to learn this thing about the law of credibility. I’ve got to learn a little bit about the law of credibility.
Clay: Basically saying things and supporting them by facts, doing my research, knowing that my claims work. Walk me through why that’s so important.
Deedra: You have to have facts to back up what you’re saying. You can’t just blow air all day. I’ve met sales people that are really good with rapport and they can have conversations and they’re conversationalists. But if you don’t have facts to back it up no one’s going to buy.
Clay: 18% of the 22% of you right now in front of me right now are definitely people that make up statistics on the spot.
Dr. Zoellner: 50% of the time it works, 100% of the time, it’s just what it is. Folks I’m telling you what, you can’t throw up bits and pieces and pick out-
Clay: There was a guy who used to work in our office, he used to get me in trouble all the time, I ended up having to fire the guy. But the microphones we used at DJ connection back in the day, this is way back in the day, old school and I still owned the company. The microphones we used were the 1955 chrome-plated SH microphone. It’s the vintage looking ones, the ones that Elvis we’re going to — use to use, that style.
Dr. Zoellner: “Thank you thank you very much.”
Clay: I literally walk in a meeting and he says this, he goes, “Man, I’m going to tell you what, this microphone that we’re using right here for all the weddings since the 1955 chrome-plated Elvis microphone. It’s the one that he actually used in concert, the one he did back there in Dallas where he-” and I’m like, “No.” I walk in and I’m like, “Hey everybody, how are you guys doing. That’s actually a replica microphone, it’s designed to look like the ones he used,” and I pull him aside after the meeting and I said, “What are you saying?” and he’s like, “That always works so well though.”
Dr. Zoellner: That’s the move, that’s my move.
Clay: I’m like, “Dude stop it.” But the thing is it did create problems and I had to let him go. Because when you don’t follow the laws of credibility it’s a bad thing. Even when you get the deal, it’s not a good deal.
Deedra: That’s right.
Clay: Talk to me about that, what kind of preparation should the thrivers be doing?
Deedra: Well, if you establish what their need is, be a good listener. Listen, when your customers are saying their need is and you solve that problem. Your benefit’s that you’re backing up those facts should solve the problem of their need.
Clay: You said be a good listener, is that what you said?
Deedra: Yes.
Clay: I was thinking about a squirrel when you were talking and I was updating my Facebook.
Dr. Zoellner: A nice cup of coffee will be nice now bro.
Clay: You’ve got to listen.
Deedra: Listen and solve the problem, overcome those objections and whatever their problems are, you’ve got a need for that. The other thing is really to give it a sense of urgency, something urgent to buy because all day you can say, “Hey you can buy my advertising, it’s available between now and December or anytime.” No. “You got to buy by today.”
Clay: You got to do it today.
Deedra: “There’s an offer today. I’m doing $50 off if you sign now.” Whatever it is, give them some urgency and make them feel it’s not just available forever.
Clay: I’m going to walk you through this because this is big, this is a sales technique but it’s also a thing. The thrivers are like, “Are you manipulating us on the radio? Is this ethical?” Work with me. You have a standard calendar, you’ve got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. There is no some day on the calendar.
Dr. Zoellner: There’s not? Wait.
Clay: Let’s just say that you teach swimming lessons and you really do believe that people need to learn how to swim well for their safety. You really do believe that kids need to learn swimming-
Clay: -for their safety. If you really do believe that, then you need to go ahead and tell the person you’re talking to right now, “Hey, I’ve got a special going until the end of my week. We are doing this discount on swim lessons if you enroll now.” Because you have to create a sense of urgency.
Dr. Zoellner: If you care about your kid. If it’s a thing to you. If their life matters to you. I’m not saying it does, I don’t know.
Deedra: If not, then go on your way.
Dr. Zoellner: I’m not around your kid a lot. They seem like a lovely kid. I don’t know.
Clay: If you’re listening right now, an example of this, though seriously. One of my clients is a farmers’ insurance. They’re at 392-4000, 9183924000. Kirk Fryer’s one of the investor in the Thrive15 empire. He sells life insurance. A sad story happened years ago, I was still working with him at that time, this was about five, six years ago. One of the clients came in about home insurance and auto insurance and they did not buy life insurance. Many people decline this, “No, I don’t want to get. We’re already good.”
Well, the person ended up dying. I remember when the wife came in and was trying to get the life insurance, to find out how much money was available and how they’re going to pay the arrangements. It was just a total downer for her, for the office, for everybody because the consequence, we’ll come back to it someday. I know that’s an extreme example but that’s true. That stuff happened I don’t care what you’re selling, you’ve got to create the sense of urgency to get the buyer to take the action you want them to take. When we come back Z, we’re going to be walking through the specific moves to become a sales superstar. Thrivetimeshow.com
Clay: All right Thrive nation, welcome back to the conversation with the business coach. Dr. Z and I are teaching you how to become a sales superstar. I’m going to walk you through why this is so important because I see — and Z you tell me if you’ve ever seen this before. I see a lot of entrepreneurs who really vaguely even know about their product or they’ll go out there and just license a product that somebody else made and they’ll make millions of dollars.
I know entrepreneurs who are geniuses but who can’t sell anything and sometimes the genius will think, “Why is that person making so much money?” They try to make their product better, their product better, more features, more features. They always try to make their product better and they don’t realize it’s their lack of ability to sell things is what’s creating the problem, right?
Dr. Zoellner: I tell you what, knowledge is, if not half of the battle it may even more. I remember what was the first sales commission job I ever got. I was a senior in high school at Bixby high school, go Spartans. I got a job, you may remember but these are shut down now but, CR Anthony’s, back in the day.
Clay: CR Anthony’s, back in the day.
Dr. Zoellner: I was on a 4% commission, but first I have to sell enough to cover my salary and after that I get 4%. To me it was like — they gave me basically a license to print money. I could just print, it was up to me how much money I made right?
Clay: Was this in the ’80s? What year was this?
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, it was in the ’80s. I graduated in ’82. it was up until then, it was ’81. ’82 I got a job as a senior so I was young. The fall of ’82.
Clay: I’m sorry to take you off track, I just have two questions about this. Did you wear a lot of denim at that point? Were you wearing all the denim?
Dr. Zoellner: Jean jackets were a thing by the way.
Clay: You wear some jean,jackets. Do you have any old school converse shoes?
Dr. Zoellner: Yes. I have a pair of old-
Clay: We’re in the’ 80s, you’re in the ’80s now. You’re working here trying to sell that stuff.
Dr. Zoellner: I am, at CR Anthony’s. I had on my little slack, a little shirt on with a tie.
Clay: Welcome in. Welcome in.
Dr. Zoellner: I’m working right through that front counter, the men’s counter on the right. If you can look around I’m on the right. Greet you with a smile, make a little eye contact.
Clay: What are you here for?
Dr. Zoellner: Half the battle was, someone would come up the counter and say, “Hey, I’m looking for boom boom boom”, and when nobody was in the store and nobody was in my segment, what was I doing? Was I sitting by the counter counting tiles on the ceiling? No, I was out there going through the product. I knew the suits we have are against the wall. I knew the pants we have on the rails. I know the shirts we had. I knew everything. I would mimic putting stuff together, color combos and doing that, just practicing. When someone came in and said “Hey, I need some gray slacks. I’m a 32 waist, I’m a 34 length.” I walked right over to where they were and they’d be like “Oh my gosh. This whole men’s department, you knew where it was?”
Clay: You were studying your product and not watching Top Gun in the ’80s?
Dr. Zoellner: I must admit I did see it a few times. Goose. Maverick. Am I Goose and you’re Maverick?
Clay: I think you’re Maverick, I’m Goose. I hit my head on the cockpit when I tried to eject. But seriously, you were studying your products. I have a challenge to the listeners right now. I challenge you to know 10 times more about your product than anybody, any customer you’ll ever encounter. Know 10 times more about your product. I tell people at my office, I call it the 10x rule. But this is a huge thing I get into, let me walk you through this. I do business consulting, I’ve done it for years. Then we got too much where I couldn’t handle anymore, there were too many clients who wanted us to help them.
We couldn’t help them all so then we decided to build thrive15.com, the world’s largest, most successful, best of the world’s practical business school. It’s business school without the BS. It’s thrive15.com, people loved it. I tell you this, when people come to our thrive conferences. I hear it all the time, they’d go, “It’s like you know everything about running a small business.” I go, “I don’t know everything but I definitely have read closer to a thousand books, than 500 books about business.” I do know. I’ve studied the lives of the greats. We’ve lived it. We’ve done it. We know ten times more than you about your business problems and we can help you.
Dr. Zoellner: More importantly and I think what makes us different than a professor at a school.
Clay: A bro-fessor.
Dr. Zoellner: Hey, I love me some professors at schools, don’t get me wrong.
Clay: Yes. Don’t get me wrong. Why are we getting it wrong?
Dr. Zoellner: Wait Clay-tron. What I’m going to say is this, we’ve actually done the things. We’ve put it into motion. You built one of the world’s largest DJ companies. Me, I’ve got a hair cutting deal. What’s the connection there? How do you from a DJ, turn all your-
Clay: The top wedding photography company of the planet, and I didn’t know how to take photos.
Dr. Zoellner: You didn’t know how to take photos. I’ve done my own entrepreneurship, from auto auctions, from optometry clinics to sleep centers.
Clay: It’s because you know about mufflers.
Dr. Zoellner: No, because the concepts, whether you want to start a bagel store or a coffee shop or a car repair company, the core moves are the same. This just in, I know that sounds like — wait a second.
Clay: Are you saying once I learned these core skills I could use these skills in other businesses beyond my bagel shop?
Dr. Zoellner: Yes , Mr. Oswald. I know you make every bagel by yourself and you make a fine bagel Mr. Oswald.
Clay: Every bagel is better because I get better when I make them and I make them all. I’m putting that on my billboard.
Dr. Zoellner: Exactly. I tell you what, you come to the workshop you might say to yourself, “They’ve never run a pizza shop before and I’m struggling making -“
Clay: I don’t see them wearing pizza on their shirt everyday.
Dr. Zoellner: “I don’t even know if Clay likes pizza. I heard his show the other day, I don’t even think he likes pizza.”
Clay: He does — what does he know about me? He can’t even hit a puck.
Dr. Zoellner: “How’s he going to help me with my pizza store? He can’t hit — I bet he can’t, and he’s from Minnesota.”
Clay: “He can’t feed a duck, so he didn’t qualify to teach me how to sell ducks at my store that sells ducks. Duck-selling store.”
Dr. Zoellner: The core moves are the same, and just like today’s show on how to be a sales superstar, the core moves are the same. I don’t care whether you’re selling widgets or you’re selling a product or a service, the concepts are the same. This stepping it, knowledge — knowledge is power in the sales game. I promise you that. If you come across as a person who knows 10 times more about that than anybody else and you present it that way and you can answer the questions and objections that come up about the product, that’s a big step forward in getting that thing sold.
Clay: Someone says, “Well how do you scale that?” What you do is — check it out thrivers. You want to write it down.
Dr. Zoellner: What?
Clay: Check it out. Once you write it down, you organize it, you canonize it. If you’re listening right now on Facebook live, I want to show this to them, I”ll hold this up for you. These are notable quotables from my years of reading that matter a lot to me. I have them and I post them all around the building. If you come to the thrive15.com world headquarters, you can see some of them. The reason why I’ve taken the time to write them down is because the members of my team need to know how to use and reference this information-
Clay: -over and over again. You got to document it. Once you know it works, you’ve got to document that knowledge.
Dr. Zoellner: “I think that’s a sign of weakness, Clay, if you can’t use your brain to remember things that’s just a — I think that’s just a sign of weakness. You think my memory is poor?”
Clay: I think a lot of people over value the ability of memorized stuff and under value the ability to do things until they get into the workplace.
Dr. Zoellner: You’re absolutely correct. I tell you what, if you want to keep it the same, you want to make your pitch better and better and better. You write it down and then you work on it. You fell forward, you make it a little better, you tweak it, this work and that didn’t work, but I promise you, you get it in a system. Now, you know what it does?
Clay: What does it do?
Dr. Zoellner: Here’s the beautiful thing.
Clay: Here we go.
Dr. Zoellner: If you rely on everything you personally can sale, you will have a job.
Clay: You’ll have a job. J to the O to the B, that’s a job. Just over broke.
Dr. Zoellner: Yes, it could be a silent J, it could be just OB. I don’t know. Apparently you sell stuff.
Clay: But you still have a ob, ob.
Dr. Zoellner: Now, here’s what we’re about. We’re about letting you take that and scale it. Now you teach somebody else how to sell.
Clay: Come on now. You nail it and then you scale it. Because you got to nail it and then you got to scale it. You’re going to nail it and then you’re going to scale it. Boom, boom, boom. Lots of money.
Dr. Zoellner: Absolutely. Because I tell you what, now, you got two people out there hunting and selling.
Clay: Two of us are selling, two of us are selling, and we’re selling, and we’re selling, and he’s selling and I’m selling.
Dr. Zoellner: Guess what happened after two of you sell?
Clay: Three of us are selling, three of us are selling. [laughter] That’s the thing.
Dr. Zoellner: It’s a Wednesday, we’re having fun. We’re at the Thrive Time Show.
Clay: Four of us are selling, four of us are selling, and five of us are selling. Thrivers, if you don’t know how to s-nail, nail it and then scale it, you got to come to the Thrive Time workshop, January 20th and 21st, thrivetimeshow.com, get the info.
Clay: All right, Thrive Nation, welcome back into the conversation with your business coach about how you can become a sales superstar. You can buy yourself a big old car with a button on the middle that makes the trunk go, “Eh-eh.” There it is, Thrivers, here’s the thing, in all sincerity it’s not about materialistic consumption or could be, it’s not about time freedom or could be, it’s not about success or it could be. It’s about what you want your life to be this new year, you got to a year, fresh start to go out there and to find what do you want your F-6 life to be.
Dr. Zoellner: Look-y there. I’ve spilled on you.
Clay: Faith, family, finances, fitness, friendship and fun.
Dr. Zoellner: Fun.
Clay: Because of you I’m going to Orlando. Because of you.
Dr. Zoellner: That’s what you should do. I’ll tell you what, all work and no play makes Billy, we’ll call it Billy, a dull-
Clay: Billy turned in to Clay. [laughter]
Dr. Zoellner: Billy turned into Clay. I’ll tell you what, folks, here’s a thing about it, starting your own business, having it to be successful and thriving instead of just surviving, opens up so many doors that you get to choose what you walk through. We’re not telling — hey, we’re just saying, “Those guys are just greedy, they just want to make a lot of money.”
Clay: All I care about is all that money. It’s a money show.
Dr. Zoellner: No. We care, I care more really about time freedom. I really do. I tell you what, when you make that money, you can do with it as you want. You can help relatives, you can give to an organization, a charitable contribution, I mean it’s your money now to do with. That’s what’s fun about it, is that now you can get, guess what, you can take back control of your life, your time, your finances and it’s all there waiting for you to grab it.
Clay: Now, Thrivers, here’s the deal, we’re talking about how to become a sales superstar with your business coach. I’m going to recap the moves. Move number one, you got to learn how to generate some leads. I recommend creating a no-brainer offer, which is a ridiculous offer that people can’t say no to.
Dr. Zoellner: Ridiculous.
Clay: Until you have enough business where you can turn stuff away. I repeat, come up with a no-brainer offer. An offer that is so good, people can’t say no to until you want to start say no to people.
Dr. Zoellner: Right.
Clay: That’s a big thing. Move number two, you got to deal with the fear. We talked about that. You got to fight through it. Move number three, you have that law credibility. You have to say things that are true. I see it all the time. I see so many entrepreneurs who are trying to sell something that is not real and they know it’s not real. I hate that, I hate to see that.
Dr. Zoellner: Well, the problem is it’s unsustainable. It’s sad, but we know people that are in our profession if you will, business coaching. What’s it called? Business coaching as a profession, that have made outlandish claims that they are now wearing orange jumpsuits and they’re physically behind bars, they’re in jail.
Clay: This is the thing, you have to have the law of credibility, you have to say things that people can verify, there’s a proof to be true. If you’re listening to the show, every show we do, I always encourage you to not believe what we’re saying and then verify the statistics. If I tell you that 57% of people want to start a business, look that up.
If we tell you that 80% of businesses fail, just type that in, percentage of businesses that fail, and you’ll going to find study from Fast Company, this is 91% fail, you’re going to find the Forbes stat says 80%. You’re going to go, “Wow, those guys are pretty on it.” We’ve done the research, you have to have done your research, we’re going to go out there and do some selling.
Dr. Zoellner: Back to verifying what we’re saying, that’s why you have thrown down the gauntlet. I tell you what, I’m very proud of you for doing this, but you have actually thrown down the gauntlet for the baked beans challenge.
Clay: Yes, here’s the baked beans challenge.
Dr. Zoellner: From Oklahoma Joe’s and you’ve said, “Listen, hey, we’ve talked about the meat candy i.e. the burnt ends. We’ve talked about the baked beans, being the best baked beans on the planet. On the planet.”
Clay: On the planet, come on.
Dr. Zoellner: You have thrown out the gauntlet to say, “Challenge me on this.”
Clay: Here’s the deal, I’ve wrote a book called Thrive that many people love because it reads like a Jim Gaffigan meets business. I promise, you will love it. It’s like Jim Gaffigan meets business, I’ve got a lot of great reviews. One lady from Yahoo, if you Google my name and then the word Yahoo, you can see it. But she said, it’s the Jim Carrey of entrepreneurship. It’s a lot of fun.
Dr. Zoellner: A lot of fun.
Clay: If you come here, we will give you a free copy of the book if you will come here and tell us your feedback about your last trip to Oklahoma Joe’s. Here’s the challenge, you have to go to Oklahoma Joe’s and you must order the baked beans.
Dr. Zoellner: Okay, step two.
Clay: The world’s best championship. I’m talking about championship baked beans, you order them and then you come back here and you tell us if they are the best or if they’re not. If they are the best, I’m going to give you a high five and I’m going to give you the book. If they’re not the best, I am going to give you the book and I’m going to call you a liar.
[laughter]
Dr. Zoellner: No.
Clay: No, but seriously, they are great.
Dr. Zoellner: They are fantastic and here again just another outlandish claim we’re making on the radio that we are challenging you to verify. Because if we can’t tell the truth, if you can’t handle the truth, if we can’t tell you the truth then just flip over and listen to some other business talk show or go on a gardening show, a political show, haven’t we had enough of that last year?
Clay: I would just like to talk more about, is the recount totally done or we’ll do another one?
Dr. Zoellner: Stop it, no. We didn’t make our minds this morning.
Clay: Here’s the deal Thrivers, move number four is you have to do script writing. We talked about it, you must script out your system. Once you nail it, you have to scale it. Many of you are nailing it right now, you are a sales superstar but if no one else can do it, that’s why you have a job and not a successful business. But here’s the point I want to marinate on, you got to have the final point number five, is you must apply ethical pressure.
Dr. Zoellner: What?
Clay: You have to have a time sensitive offer. Go to any store, go to the mall, you’ll noticed the specials are running until the end of the month, there’s some sort of zero interest financing that’s good until the 1st of the month. There’s always a special, you’ve got to have a special and some type of ethical pressure, Z.
Dr. Zoellner: I can’t use this move, “I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. I’m sending Guido over with that offer, I’d advise you to take it today.”
Clay: It only works on parts of the gangster-run business community, money laundering that will be a great move, in that niche. No, here’s the thing, Z, I want to bring this up. This is a the move. You can have a special that expires at a given window of time, that’s the move. Hobby Lobby does that, 50% off for this week. 80% off this week. Another move you could do is you could say, it’s a buy one get one free. You said you buy this today, you get this free.
Dr. Zoellner: We call it a BOGO. It’s a move.
Clay: The BOGO. Get yourself with a BOGO stick, buy one get one free, get that thing. Boom. Now the third move you can do, these are ethical pressures, is you can limit the amount of availability that you have for something. Example, one of our dear friends on the Thrive Time Show is Danielle Sprik, she is a real estate agent, she’s very good. Her company is called D. Sprik Realty, I say very good. She did $24 million of transactions on her first year with her own brokerage, doing very good.
For Danielle, she literally can only take a certain number of clients. I know that to be true because she’s one woman, she’s a mom. There’s only a given number that she can take. There’s a lot of dentists in town, there’s orthodontist, there’s doctors, you can only handle a certain number of patients. She tells somebody, if you book now then I can get you in the books, but if not I don’t have an availability for two months or whatever the time frame is.
Dr. Zoellner: Sure.
Clay: Just be honest and ethical. But the thing is-
Clay: -pressure combined with coal makes diamonds. Pressure, okay. Pressure with the whole-
Dr. Zoellner: You’re just using science. Now, you’re just someone science out there.
Clay: Somebody, says, “That’s not-“
Dr. Zoellner: I’m going to Google that because I’m-
Clay: What about pearl? How are pearls made? It’s an adjutant that it enters into the — what do you call these things? We call it-
Dr. Zoellner: Oysters.
Clay: An Oyster. It — a piece of salt or a piece of dirt, or something enters in the oyster and it moves and it moves, and then bam, pearl.
Dr. Zoellner: Pearl. That’s just-
Clay: Pressure.
Dr. Zoellner: – apparently that’s all it takes. Is just “Bam.”
Clay: Apparently, you’re trying to get in shape. You’re trying to get in shape, so you worked out. You have to apply tension and pressure to those muscles and strength is built through struggle, but you’ve got to apply some type of pressure, and Z, now it’s my — our time to pressure the listeners. Why, we have some pressure we want to do, some pressure.
Dr. Zoellner: Well, we want to put some ethical pressure on you. You’re listening out there to the show. You’ve been marinating this idea that you’ve got a thing or a thing you want to do about the thing, start a business if you will. You’re marinating it you’re saying “I think I’m ready. You know what, I’m pretty sure I’m ready”.
Clay: I’m ready.
Dr. Zoellner: We’ve got the next step for you to do, okay, and that is mark on your calendar January 20th and 21st-
Clay: Okay.
Dr. Zoellner: -15 hours of power.
Clay: 15 hours of power, we are here to teach you how to start and grow a business. We are going to teach you sales. We’re going to teach you marketing. We’re going to teach you accounting, such as an optimization. We’re going to teach you, how to make your business huge.
Dr. Zoellner: We maybe even teach you how to speak in an Austrian accent, okay. The point is-
Clay: This such an amazing show.
Dr. Zoellner:-you show up. You come to the Thrive15 Headquarters, okay. You come here on January 20th and 21st. You say, “I can’t afford it”, we have scholarships. We love our community. We have business people in this community that say, “These workshops are great.” I want to make sure, nobody says they can’t attend, because of money. We’ve got some scholarship money waiting for you, okay.
Clay: I’ll give you an example. We’ve got one lady who’s a great listener-
Dr. Zoellner: All right.
Clay: – and she’s listening to the show. I’m just telling you her situation. She says, “My husband and I want to attend and we’re honesty in a spot, where bad medical situation and things have happened. I’m paying minimum balance on credit card and thing like that. We could do 25 dollars that’s all we could do”. Here’s the deal, that is what the scholarship is for. Don’t feel bad, but do know this, we’re not going to up-sell you, I’m not going to demand to bring a friend, I’m not going to demand that you refer us, but I want you to come here and be a diligent doer. Meaning, that you want to execute what you can. Because the knowledge isn’t power, it’s the application of the knowledge-
Dr. Zoellner: Come on, I don’t preach. Come on now.
Clay: You want to apply the knowledge and I said, “You know because nobody cares more about your business than you.”
Dr. Zoellner: Right.
Clay: I’m committing to you. I said, “Hey, leave your wallet in the car we have nothing to up-sell you, okay. Don’t feel pressure to refer your friends or bring your friends, but get here and be mentally and physically present”. I’m talking to keep the phone off, stay focused, asked questions, because it’s 15 hours Z, of power.
Dr. Zoellner: I’ll tell you what, you can go to trivetimeshow.com and get all the particulars, all your questions answered about, you can see what we’re going to be talking about, you see the time, you see the location, you see everything you need to know and guess what? If there’s a question you don’t know you can e-mail us [email protected] and a business coach will answer it.
Clay: People might be saying, “Well, why would you guys do this?” I’m going to tell you why, because Z and I both achieve financial success. We just want you to become the best that you can be. This is a new year, it’s a new you. It’s a great time to go ahead and seize the day and to start that successful business, that you have been dreaming about. Now Z, as always, we have to end in a fun way here. Here we go.
Clay, Dr. Zoellner: Three, two, one boom.
[01:33:41] [END OF AUDIO]
