Transcription
Recently, inside the Mastermind, one of the closers brought a question to the floor. This is something I've seen every closer get stuck on: not realizing what you really need to accomplish as a high-ticket closer if you want to make a lot of money. I have the question up here, but more importantly than the question was the misunderstanding of how to solve it.
I'm going to read out a few chunks of this question. If you watch this video and understand the paradigm shift I'm talking about, and you implement that paradigm shift into how you approach becoming the best high-ticket closer, it will become inevitable that you'll not only become a better closer, you will make a lot more money, and you will become the best version of yourself. The catch is, most closers don't understand this paradigm shift. It's the difference between the paradigm you're currently living and the paradigm I'm going to reveal to you in this training. Making that switch is why you are stuck—why you're stuck financially, why you're stuck feeling like you're not progressing as a person, and why you're stuck in your sales results.
Let me read out a little piece of this message. I'm not going to name names, but the person is on this training live with us, so they'll know who it is. The opening said, "Help! Help! I lost my boundary. I lost my boundary." They go on to say, "I had a prospect today that really rocked me. They got on a call and immediately wanted to stop the recording. I told her I was happy to not record and turned it off. Moving on from there, I started to set the frame, and then this prospect began to go in on me and why they couldn't find my credentials online and began to ask me who I was and what my credentials were. They then started to tell me that I looked too young and that that was a problem." I could go on, but the moral of the story is, when I tried to enforce my boundary, I wasn't able to. I gave in and answered their questions, knowing that I would lose power on the call.
It goes on to say, "At the end of the call, I was very upset about this because I know that I shouldn't have let my boundaries go and shouldn't have acted in a way that was pleasing the prospect and playing to the prospect. It was that behavior that got in the way of closing the deal, got in the way of showing up in a way that would serve the prospect, and ultimately got in the way of what I'm about to reveal to you as the big paradigm shift that you need to make as a high-tier closer if you want to go to the top 0.00001%." It goes on to say, "I felt like I did something wrong and that I was bad, but it was so hard for me to hold my boundary, and ultimately I allowed them to violate that boundary. It brought me back to a place where I felt like..." and it goes into some personal stuff that I won't say, but some things that were personal to this closer, reminding them of some internal challenges they needed to work through.
The moral of that introduction is that this closer says, "It was so hard for me to hold my boundary." This is nothing to do with this individual closer; this is every single closer who is not making the money they want to be making and not becoming the person they want to become. That is the misunderstanding: you are not on a journey to learn sales training. You're not on a journey to learn what to say in this scenario, how to say a certain thing, when to say a certain thing, how to do follow-up, how to do objection handling. That is not the journey you are actually on. The journey you are on, whether you choose to accept it or not, is a personal development journey. Sales is just simply the scenery as you go on that drive, that journey of personal development. It doesn't matter whether you were building an e-com store, whether you were running a traditional brick-and-mortar business, or whether you are a high-ticket closer. The journey you are on, and how far or not far you go on that journey, determines how much money you make and the life you ultimately end up living. It's a personal development journey. Every single challenge that you run into as a high-ticket closer is a personal challenge that is going to manifest and show up on your sales course.
So, until you realize this paradigm shift—that you are not on a sales journey trying to learn how to get better at sales, you're on a personal hero or heroine's journey about becoming a better version of yourself—and only a tiny, tiny, tiny slither of that personal development journey is the skill set of whatever vehicle you're in (for you watching this training here, it's almost definitely going to be sales)—I want you to realize that whenever you run into a sales challenge and you think, "Man, this is so hard. I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to enforce my boundaries. I don't know how to be consistent. I don't know how to stay driven. I don't know how to stay showing up in a way that's in service rather than in transaction and trying to get from the prospect or take from the prospect or win over the prospect"—until you make this paradigm shift, you are never going to realize 1% of your full potential.
Having had the opportunity to run the Unicorn Closer Mastermind now for a year plus, and being a very successful high-tier closer myself, making $100,000 a month in commission and training top sales teams like Alex H. Mo's old gym launch sales team, the paradigm that is always preventing high-ticket closers from getting to the next level is that they don't realize that it's a personal development journey. So I want to give you a simple mental model in order to be able to come around to this new idea. If you start seeing things through this new lens, it will not only allow you to see, as the book title by Ryan Holiday says, that the obstacle is the way, it will also allow you to approach those obstacles with a level of, dare I say it, enjoyment, knowing that every single obstacle that you run into is the whole point of you being on this journey. I believe that there are very few sales trainers out there that have tried to show high-ticket closers that this is why you're really stuck. It's not that you need more sales training, or you need more word tracks, or you need more role plays—even. It's that every challenge you run into is somewhere in your personality or your character that has not been developed.
So here is the model that I'm going to give you to start seeing things through a different lens. There is a graph that is called a radar graph or a radar chart. It's essentially a 2D circle, although sometimes it's a pentagon or heptagon, hexagon, depending on how many points it has. That graph represents the level of development by way of how far it is from the center point across multiple different variables. I want you to picture that graph. In post-production, I'll probably put a picture up of what that graph looks like. If you're on the live training, guys, and you don't know what a radar chart is, just go on Google right now and type in "radar chart," and then you'll be able to see what that looks like. That graph should not be a graph of your sales skills: tonality, objection handling, follow-up, question-asking ability, order of the questions, or structure of a sales call. What it should be, if you want to become a master closer and make a lot of money and live the life of your dreams, is a radar graph or chart of your character. In other words, are you someone that can enforce your boundaries? So we could have a little point on the radar chart that says "enforcing boundaries." We could have another point on the radar chart that says "energy"—in other words, is your energy up and down, up and down? Is it just generally very low? Is it maybe too high, and you bring too much energy to...? And each of these points, if you plot them out on a radar chart as your character, it is the gap from wherever your current level of development is on that certain variable (which is each point of the radar chart) to the maximum development. It is traversing that gap that is what you should be working on. I've seen it so many times, and I continue to see it from high closers, that they don't understand that the obstacle in your lack of character development in certain areas is the way for you to make more money.
So I want you to look at your own life and also look at your recent sales challenges and start assessing where your character is both underdeveloped and needs to be developed. The moment you start to see that it is each of these points of your character that keep cropping up in your sales challenges, that is the very thing you need to be working on. If you come to that realization, you will start to see that whilst you do need sales training (because your ability to speak, your ability to ask questions, your ability to navigate a conversation is definitely a piece of it), it is such a small piece in the big picture, in the big scheme of things. So that is what I wanted to share with you today: realizing that the challenges that you will continue to face, the challenges that you are facing right now, are opportunities, doorways, messages, if you want to say that, of this hero's journey that you need to go on. Every closer has one of those points on the radar chart that is the next big thing. I'll not name names of closers in The Mastermind, but I could say that we have one closer whose biggest challenge is that they doubt themselves. They're actually a very good closer; they're very skilled, but they doubt themselves. It's that self-doubt, it's that insecurity, it's that worry that is the obstacle that is the way to the next level of financial success. We have other closers where the personal character gap that needs to be developed is enforcing boundaries. We have other closers where the personal gap, as far as their character is, they rush things. They take a sales call; they want to go from A to Z with two questions and therefore they miss out on a lot of things. It's not that they don't know how to sell; it's not that they don't know what questions to ask; it's not even that they don't know. When we review the call, that rushing, that necessity to jump corners, is their leak, is their gap, is their money leak, as I call it. They're aware of that, but you will never be able to tackle these personal challenges if you hold on to this old paradigm over here that it's not your personal character flaws that need to be worked on; it's just your sales skills.
Once you've passed being an absolute beginner in sales and you understand, okay, I close deals by asking questions, is basically it. Once you've passed understanding that and knowing how to speak in English (if you're closing in English), it is always going to be your personal leaks that are costing you more than your sales leaks. So if you're not where you want to be as a closer financially, not living the life that you want to live, and you're sick and tired of not seeing a massive amount of progress, the one paradigm shift that you need to make is realizing that every single time you don't do on a call what you're supposed to be doing (and most probably know you should be doing), it is choosing to direct yourself to the personal development that is going to fix that problem. Yes, sometimes it might be a little bit of sales training you need, but more often than not, you know what you should be doing; you're just not doing it. And the reason you're not doing it is because you need to develop your character.
Let's look, finally, to conclude this, at the other side of things. Imagine that radar chart where you are peaked out on every single one of those points. I know I didn't give you specific points because there isn't a list of, "Hey, these are the six points." They could be different for different people; how you want to label them, how you want to phrase them, could be different, and that's totally up to you how you want to do that. But there are certainly a number of different character traits, whether that's being professional, patient, caring, and living in service; whether that's being someone that's strong, has a strong character. There's a number of different variables that are going to be the character traits of the best version of you. And most likely, the character traits that would be the best version of you would also be the same character traits of the best version of someone else. This is what we would call an archetype; in other words, it's a template. It's not, for one person, the best version of them would be a strong person, but for another person, the best version would be a weak person. Obviously, not both people need to have the capability to be strong and to enforce their boundaries. So if you imagine this radar chart where you are maxed out, you are Player 1 that has maxed out your stats, maxed out all the different areas of your character, where would your life be? That is the big question. Where would your life be if you were patient? If you were strong-minded? If you were disciplined—in other words, you're doing the activities you need to do? If you were full of abundant or boundless energy, and you never were really that tired apart from at the end of the day you go to bed and you wake up and you're refreshed again? Where would your life be if you moved your focus from just needing the next word track or just needing the next role play to, "Holy [ __ ]! I lost that deal because of something that I need to develop in myself?"
When you realize that this is just a hero's journey or a heroine's journey (if you're a female watching this), and you actually start approaching your sales career as a life personal development journey, that is when you will unlock the best version of yourself, which comes with more money than you would know what to do with and more opportunity than you would know what to do with, because it's the person that attracts everything to them, not seeking skills to then earn money. You have to realize it's a personal development journey. So that's all I have for you today. I recommend that you look at maybe getting a template of a radar chart and plotting out some different values. Think about where are the values that you know you're losing money from—being impatient, as an example, not holding back boundaries. Plot those out; just give yourself a visual that allows it to be in your subconscious mind. And then start thinking about, on a daily basis, "Okay, I need to upgrade; I need to level up my character; I need to become a better version of myself," instead of having challenges and looking for, "What should I have said? What should I have done? Can I do a call review? Can I do a role play?" Start looking at it on a much more abstract level and realize it's a character deficit that I need to upgrade. Start visualizing in your mind the radar chart of you—whatever your name is, whoever you are watching this video—as a person, as a human being, that has maxed out all of the stats. It's no different to a video game. If you used to play video games, which were car racing games, or you used to play video games that were adventure games with an individual on a car racing game, every time you get more points, you upgrade the brakes, then the engine, then the traction—every different part of the car. For some reason, you might upgrade the bodywork; might be more aerodynamic. If you're playing a first-person game with an adventure character, you might upgrade their weapons that allow them to defend themselves, or the weapons that allow them to attack, or the things that allow them to navigate the world. You are Player 1, and you need to look at yourself as Player 1 and realize that is the game you're playing if you truly want to become the top 0.001%.
So that's all I have for you. I'll see you in the next video. Yep. I recommend, Brian, if you feel called to, actually creating a radar chart and just take a guess at some character traits. If you look on Google and you just type in, you know, "values," you'll get a list of different values, and then ask yourself, "Where do I rate myself, scale of 1 to 10, on each of those values?" All right. Never realized that sales and self-development... well, it's not just sales, Ivan; it's everything. If you are not making the money you want to make, if you're not living the life you want to live, it's not that you just need to learn a skill, because part of developing the skill, the leading indicator that allows you to develop the skill and allows you to implement that skill consistently, is you—you are Player 1. A simple way to look at it is, if you imagined someone was training an elite athlete, the trainer, the coach, can train that elite athlete on the skills—let's just say it was basketball, and they're teaching them to shoot—but if that player has a very bad work ethic, whether they learn the skills in practice or whether they don't really master the skills in practice, when it comes to game time, the likelihood of them executing those skills consistently at the level that is required is basically zero. And a lot of life, especially in, let's call it, a capitalist or a free-market society, there is no rewards for fifth place or tenth place. You either get the result or you don't get the result. It's what I say in sales as well: you either close the deal or you don't close a deal. Yes, you can have a few sales that roll through from follow-up, or people that just went off and thought about it, something happened in their life and they come back, but for the most part, you either execute or you don't. There's no, "Well, I 50% executed, so I got a..." You know, imagine if your commission was $1,000 a sale. "Well, I did 50% of the sale, so I got $500." It doesn't work like that; you get $1,000 or zero. So the work ethic of the player, Player 1, which is you, has to come first, and then the skill is just a tiny, tiny part of that. The work ethic allows you to actually show up and implement and execute. Same goes for marriage. Yeah, that's very true. You can simply upgrade your character traits to become the best player in the game. Yeah, the big thing is, you know, I'm not singling out this one individual—some of you may know who it is—that posted this; this is all of you, and it's all the people that I've trained that are not in this Mastermind from years ago, and it was myself when I was like, "Oh, I lost a call. I need to ask..." It's not what to say; it's how do I need to be so that I actually can know what to say and implement what to say. It's always a personal leak.
Can I give examples of scenarios where people might think certain gaps are a skill-set issue, but in fact it's related to our personal leaks? Yeah, anytime we've done a role play and I pause the role play and I say, "So what's going on?" and most of you sit there and go, "Hm, I'm not really sure," and then I say it, and you go, "Oh, damn, yeah, that was so obvious." Well, if it's obvious, it means it was already inside of you that you had that awareness; there was just some part of you that wasn't tuned in, switched on enough, present enough, clearing your mind, you can actually focus and see what's going on. It's not a skill issue because you're already—you already knew what I was saying; you just didn't say it, didn't think it, didn't feel it, weren't able to execute. The other thing that I've said many times with scripting selling as opposed to scripts is, it very minimally matters how you word the thing that you're trying to say. What matters is you know what you're trying to say, you know what you're thinking, and then you say it. And the gap from thinking and doing is not some misalignment in your character that makes you distort or warp or minimize or over-exaggerate what you actually thinking and feeling. And then when you execute it and you go and say it, it comes out completely different; it comes out distorted. It's like, "This is what I think; this is what I feel; I'm just going to go for it and say it." Kind of like Ivan just mentioned, doing that whole rant in one take, there were parts of it where if I could go back I would cut it out, I would change it, I would say other things. You just got to go for it, and that's part of developing your character—who you become. All right. And anybody else got any thoughts, takeaways, questions? Nope. All right, let's roll into role plays.