Transcription
I have four boards up here. We don't have that much time today because I love to talk. By the way, I talk all day.
So, on one side, you have the inner world, which represents all the things that happen up here, between your ears, before you ever go out into the world and take action. It's your mindset for success.
And on the other side, you have what's called the outer world, which are the real-world strategies that you employ, that you utilize to actually get what you want. You set yourself up here and execute here. One without the other, it is really hard to achieve at any reasonable level.
The good news is, is that they're really quantifiable and easy to learn. I call them pillars or distinctions for each of these worlds. There are four on the inner world: one, two, three, four. I'm going to go through very quickly here, just to give you highlights on this stuff.
The first one I mentioned is called state management. The ability to manage your emotional state, your physiological notions, like to show up in the moment feeling positive, certain, confident, clear. Certainty, confidence, clarity, courage. The foresees for selling disempowered states: uncertainty, overwhelm, fear.
If you, you could be the greatest salesperson in the world, but if you knock on someone's door, or you pick up that phone, and you are in, in that moment, a state of uncertainty and overwhelm, good luck trying to close the [ __ ] sale in that moment. You might be the greatest salesperson, but in that moment, you're blocked from accessing the skills and the greatness that you possess.
State management's almost like a spigot. When it's open, when you're in an empowered state or states, it opens up the spigot for all the greatness in you to flow out. And when you're in disempowered states, the spigot is closed, and you're still great, but it's locked inside. You can't express itself in the real world.
Now, when it comes to selling, in particular, it gets even more complex. Because at the highest level, what sales really is, is the transference of emotion. And the primary emotion that you transfer is the emotion of certainty. Certainty that the product that you're offering, the solution, makes sense. It's got the best value proposition, the best cost-benefit ratio. It's gonna fill their needs, resolve their pain, eliminate their worries. Very important.
Insurance. So you have that component, the actual product itself. There's certainty they can trust you, that you're there with their best interest at heart, not just a sleazy salesperson trying to ram any policy down their throat to make a buck. Because let's face it, if they think you got the greatest policy in the world, but they don't trust you, will they buy from you? No way. If they really love it, they'll go find the same policy, buy from somewhere else.
And thirdly, the company that stands behind the process, actually to be there for the long term as well. You're transferring certainty. I invented the straight line system as a way for teaching people who are not particularly blessed with the ability to transfer certainty like I have a natural ability. And who any natural born, who's a natural born closer. I'm sure there's some here. There's a bunch, right? Natural born closers, intuitively, for whatever reason, their brain is wired in such a way, they intuitively know what to say, how to say it, when to say it, to essentially transfer certainty to another human being.
The straight line system allowed these young kids, and since then, for the last 30 years, people all over the world, to close in that same way, to transfer certainty. The straight line system allows you to transfer certainty, but what it doesn't do, it doesn't create certainty. It transfers it. Certainty is created by you, by showing up in a state of absolute certainty. And the straight line allows you to transfer that certainty without breaking fundamental rules of selling and human communication. Like, I can't transfer certainty and make them hate me at the same time. I can't transfer certainty in boredom, death, or make them think I'm an idiot, or I'm a loser. Or I can't transfer certainty in such a long-winded way where they're just like, they know. There's rules. I can't break rapport. There's all these rules of communication. The straight line allows you to transfer certainty.
The best metaphor I've ever come up with, it's the way a home heating system works. You have a nice big house. In the basement, you have a furnace. Then you have all the ductwork, the HVAC system, right? The HVAC system allows the furnace to transfer the heat it creates to all the different rooms without it dissipating the energy. Each room gets heated in a very efficient, elegant way, without all the heat escaping into the atmosphere.
You could have the greatest ductwork, the greatest HVAC in the world, beautiful, pristine. But if the furnace is broken, guess what? The house ain't going to be heating up. You are the furnace. The straight line system is the ductwork. The person you're trying to close, represents all the different rooms of the house. You have to show up in a state of absolute certainty that your product is the best, that you are the best. And by the best, I mean the most ethical, the most knowledgeable, the best for them, a resource for them. Your company is the best. And you use the straight line to transfer the certainty to size to the equation.
So, state management is crucial. The second element here are called your beliefs. I'll go quickly here. There are certain beliefs that lead us to success. We call them empowering beliefs. And there's other beliefs that are very disempowering, call them limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are, you know, I think it's difficult to make money. Selling is evil. Okay. I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm not meant for great. There's all these beliefs. I don't have time to go into the whole belief things. Hopefully, you guys have done some work in self-development. You can. I didn't invent this stuff, right? It's out there. But you have to root out limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering beliefs. And there's ways to do that.
Because here's the deal. We're all held down by our lowest level limiting belief. It's almost like, imagine a beautiful Ferrari race car, right? Cherry red chassis, beautiful, sleek body, 500 horsepower engine or more, 12 cylinders, four valves per. Capable of going 240 miles an hour. But if there's a governor on the engine stopping the flow of gas, I don't care how fast the car could go, it's not going over 55.
What a limiting belief does, it sits on your life and stops you from charging forward when you should, and causes you to pull back when you should. And we all have them. If you don't think you have one, then guess what? You just found your first limiting belief. We all have some. You got to root them out, right?
Moving forward quickly with how much time here, right? Number three, something I call vision focus. To have what I call a fully integrated vision for your future. Meaning, where do I see myself in five years from now? And why does it matter to me? Your why. Why do I want to get what I want to get? It's not just money. Or why can't be money. I'll save it for the end. The last thing I go, I'm going to go, I'll circle backwards. I want to move forward and circle back and close with your why.
And then what we have all these goals that we set that connect us to our vision. There's daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, annual goals. But our vision is long-term. It endures and it evolves and grows. It's a living, breathing organism. People say, "I'm a goal-oriented." I'd rather say, "Crap. I'm glad you said goals. I'd rather be vision-oriented." Because your vision is where your emotion lies. It's where you're connected to. You can't get overly emotional about your goals.
Because when I set goals, just so you know, I seldom hit my goals. You know why? I set really lofty goals. The problem with most people in life, and why they don't really ever achieve greatness, is not because they set their goals too high and miss them. It's 'cause they set their goals too low and hit them. I'm dead serious, guys. They set their goals too low and they hit them. Because the enemy of great is good. Because when you're doing okay, you're good. There's no pain. There's no impetus to change. The enemy of great is good.
I say to people, "I want you to raise your hand as high as you possibly can. Do it now. Raise your hand as high as you possibly can." And there's a little bit more. What the [ __ ] is that about? Like I said it the first time, "As high as you can." And then I'm like, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. You really need it this time." And it's a little bit above. So, like, when I say stretch, I'm not saying your goal. I want to be a bigger. I'm going to personally outdo Warren Buffett's entire company. That's my goal. That's nonsense, right? It's not achievable. That's not a stretch. That's fiction. It's fantasy. And your brain will call [ __ ] has no power.
I want you to set a lofty goal that's achievable, but it's a stretch. And you fall just short of it, and that's okay. Because you're not emotionally attached to the outcome. Your goal is meant to serve as a guide for you, to show you whether you're heading generally in the right direction or the wrong direction. There's signposts. And your goals connect up to this vision for your future.
And the second part's called focus. Vision focus. And then training yourself how to focus on where you want to go in life versus all the [ __ ] that you're afraid of. Because what most people do is they end up focusing where they are not wanting to go, where they're afraid. They focus on their fears and their problems and crashing, right? They, it's almost like living in the problem is the typical saying, versus focusing forward on the solution. I have great stories. I can tell you. We've got to move forward here. It's an important point. I'll circle back to vision at the end.
And the last one here, the last pillar of this inner game is called standards. And it's the stand. I know my tearing is terrible. Is the standard? Actually, is the word standard. And the standard is what is what that level? It's your set point. It's what you hold yourself to, what you must achieve, and what you will not settle for less than. We have set points for everything in life. We have set points for our weight. We have set points for our physical body. We have set points for our relationship with God. We have set points for relationship with other human beings. We have set points for money. We have set points for giving and significance. We have set points for everything. That's that level where you feel like you burn. That way you belong. When you are below that, you have angst. You feel uncomfortable. You work really hard. When you hit it, what do you do? You're like, "Oh." It's like a thermostat. That house with the furnace and the ductwork, it also has a thermostat that says, "Here's where we belong."
Are you tired of missing deals? Do you feel like you missed sales that you should be closing? Do you feel like leaving money on the table every time you talk to someone? My name is Cody Askins, and I'm excited on December 11th to spend the day with you and Coach Michael Byrd on our Super Selling Masterclass. We're going to go through the sales process. How do you transition from one part of the process to the next? When you get to the close, what are the words you shouldn't be using? What are the phrases you should be using? And how do you keep from creating doubt in the customer's mind? If these are problems that you struggle with, we are going to make sure that you never struggle with them again. Super Selling Masterclass, December 11th. Coach Byrd and I are going to walk through the sell system, the sales process, the sales cycle, and how you close more deals, more often, every single time. And I'm super excited to spend time with you on December 11th. So make sure that we see you on December 11th.
Hey, if you enjoyed this, I got another one you're gonna love. It's right there. Click on it. See in there. So you brand first, then you market, then you distribute. And I didn't really understand this. I just thought if I became a great coach, people would just come running, right? What if I told you it doesn't matter how good you are if nobody knows it? How many of you think you're the best kept secret?