#94: Becoming a Sales Maven with Nikki Raush, CEO of Sales Maven
We’ve all had an experience in our lives when we step into a store to shop around and immediately get bombarded by a salesperson trying to sell you the latest and greatest.
Do you ever really purchase anything from them?
The answer is probably no, because people like to buy from people they know and trust.
My guest today, Nikki Rausch is the CEO of Sales Maven and shares some great knowledge on the right way to do sales and how it can impact your bottom line.
Nikki spoke about how:
The mindset shift and approach around sales that is critical to understand
The key component to a great sales process
What not to do throughout the process that can lead to a loss in sales and impact!
If you have been struggling with your sales lately and need a few small tweaks to increase your success, this is the episode for you!
Check out Nikki here: https://yoursalesmaven.com or on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/your_sales_maven.
Check out my free training on www.yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing to scale their businesses to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:02):
So many entrepreneurs, dream of living a life of massive impact by creating a mega successful company, but only a tiny percentage of businesses actually scale to that point. And when they do it is so often lacking the very joy and freedom that got them into entrepreneurship in the first place. So on this podcast, we speak authentically on what it actually takes to scale your business in a way that creates freedom and joy that works for you, your team, and the incredible impact that you are meant to make in the world as a visionary entrepreneur. My name is Laura Meyer and I'm your host. I'm a serial entrepreneur wife, mom, to three. And I love talking all things business, especially digging into what it actually takes to scale joyfully to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond let's get started.
(01:01):
Hello everybody. And welcome to the Scale with Joy podcast. I am here with Nikki Rausch. She is the CEO of Sales Maven. Thank you, Nikki, for joining us today.
Nikki (01:12):
Well thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here.
Laura (01:15):
Yeah. Awesome. So you're CEO of Sales Maven, you talk a lot about selling without being salesy. Like how do you increase your likability without even chatting people up and tap dancing and doing all of the crazy things that people think that you should do when you're selling
Nikki (01:34):
Well? Okay, so that, that's such an interesting question in that the idea here is people like to buy from people they know like and trust. So think about the impression that you're making to people. It's funny because I was just interviewing somebody on my own podcast, who was a client. We were doing a sales success story, and she's an image consultant. And we were, we were talking about this idea that oftentimes you hear this, this comment about like dress for the job that you want. Right. And I think sometimes people forget in sales that you also need to show up from this place of, are you projecting that image that you're going to attract your ideal client? So are you showing up on time? Are you ready? And when I say ready, like, you know, are you the person who gets onto camera with a prospective client? And you're like, fixing your hair and fixing your makeup. Well, that shows like you weren't really ready for that meeting. Right? So you have to show up from this place of being credible and being ready to have conversations with people in whatever way that you show up, but it matters and it counts and it leaves an impression.
Laura (02:46):
Yeah. What are some other ways that you can kind of increase your likability? I've been thinking a lot about this recently because I find myself trying to network more with like local moms. And like, I feel like you're a bit on like animal planet for your like
approaching the herd of the local moms. Well, what do you say? How do you act? What do they do? What do these people talk about?
Nikki (03:14):
Well, here's what I will say in sales. And this is another idea back to getting rid of this idea of being salesy is that when you approach somebody approach with curiosity approach with this idea of having conversation and asking questions, because I think one of the mistakes people make in sales is they think that sales is something that you do to somebody. And I teach that sales is something you do with somebody. And the way that you do with, in anything is have conversation. And that means back and forth. That means being willing to ask questions and also being prepared with answers when somebody asks you a question, so approach from this place of being curious about the other person, and also being willing to share about you and your own experience and your, about your business. And yeah.
Laura (04:06):
What do you think is like the biggest mistake that people make when they're trying to make a first impression with somebody?
Nikki (04:11):
Well, with first impression, so I teach, uh, the, my signature framework for sales and the sales conversation. That's really what I specialize in, in a sales conversation. And I teach that there's a five step approach to a sales conversation. I call it the selling staircase. And one of the biggest mistakes that people make is they try to skip steps. So they come up and they meet you. And you're like, hey, Laura, you know, I read something about your website. And I think you probably would really benefit from a sales coach. You should totally hire me. Well, that's skipping a lot of steps, right? Like, first of all, you don't know who I am and I'm approaching you and you didn't indicate in any way that you're even open to me suggesting something about it. I don't have your permission. We haven't even established if you have any kind of a need or a want for a sales coach.
(05:02):
Right? So, so the idea is you can't skip steps in the process. You need to actually follow through the process and get to the place where you have given me permission to even talk about what I do. And you've given me permission to even make a suggestion of ways that we might work together. And until those things happen, all I'm doing now is just coming across salesy and pushy and aggressive. And you're going to like, shut that down pretty quickly. I would imagine, unless you're just being overly nice to me, but you're probably like, hey lady, go kick rocks. Like you don't have my permission to even be approached me in this way. So the biggest mistake is trying to skip steps.
Laura (05:41):
Yeah. I can totally see that. That's like going up to somebody and being like, gosh, Laura, it looks like you turned 40 right there. And you want to do something about that
without me volunteering at first. Right. You're a little bit like, oh, that thanks for pointing that out. I mean, maybe I liked my smile lines. Maybe it me look old and wise. I mean, I might like them. I might not, but let me volunteer at first. Right?
Nikki (06:03):
Yeah. And I'm a little offended that you chose to like point it out, right? Like, yeah. So yeah, that's again, big mistake is, is, is trying to skip through steps and not establishing rapport and putting the relationship first. Like if you don't have rapport with somebody, you really shouldn't be selling to them.
Laura (06:23):
Yes, absolutely. So what do you think when people say, no, my husband won't let me, it's not going to be a fit for me this time. Why do you think what comes from no? And do you think there's any way to change it to a yes.
Nikki (06:38):
I will say just to like qualify this first and foremost that sometimes no really does mean no. And you need to be respectful of that. But if you have gone through the sales, you know, the selling stair staircase with somebody, have you gone through the steps and they've given you permission along the way, and you get to this place where they you've issued that invitation for them to work with you and they've declined. And you're a little bit surprised because it felt like, gosh, I felt like we were really moving in the right direction here. Something happens, something fell apart, get curious again and be willing to ask, you know, is it okay to ask your reason for declining if they don't give a reason. Now, if they give the reason of, like, I just don't think my husband won't let me. It might be, it might be worth it for you to check out and go, is that their real objection?
(07:26):
Or did I miss a step here some way? Like, is there some thing that I need to understand? So in that particular case, you want to ask, what's known as a conditional close question, which might be now, is there any additional information that would be helpful for you to have to discuss with your husband that might leave this, you know, that that might actually allow for us to work together, be willing to check to see, is this your real objection? Because maybe they're using that as an excuse because they have a hard time saying no and it feels uncomfortable to them. Or maybe they're like, yeah, you know, he's going to ask about results. Okay. So if I was able to provide some data and maybe a testimonial or two, or, or, you know, somebody that you could talk to about what it would, what kind of results you could expect, would that be something that would be helpful? And then they might go, yeah, that actually would be really helpful. I hadn't even thought to ask you about that. And if you're willing to give me that and I can then go have that conversation. Okay, well that might leave the door still open to work together. So be willing to check it out when you get to no, especially if you're a little bit like that felt really out of the blue, I felt like this was, we were going in this right direction. Something happened here. Did I miss a step?
Laura (08:38):
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Any other tips that you think like come out during the sales process that people tend to overlook or just aren't really thinking about when they're selling?
Nikki (08:49):
Yeah. I think the biggest thing is that we forget that the prospect doesn't know what the next step is and your job is to lead them. And the way that you lead them is through your questions. And it's like making sure that you're asking permission to move to each next step and they're going like, yeah, because if they don't know what to do, they're going to just hang out and never buy. But if they know what to do, because you've put a question in front of them, then they're much more likely to kind of continue the conversation with you. So I guess my, I gave you a long answer, but the short answer is you need to be willing to put the decision in front of them. And in a way that makes sense, like, hey Laura, is this something you'd be interested in, in working together on? If you don't ask that question, you might never, I don't ask you that question. You might never decide to hire me or work together because I never posed the decision and I never put it in front of you. Yeah.
Laura (09:48):
That's such, such good advice. What do you think is like the one question that you should ask every single client?
Nikki (09:56):
I think the one question you should ask every single client is what's important to you in regards to whatever it is that you do. Because if you don't know what's important to them, it's pretty hard to earn their business and position your offer in a way that is going to make sense. Cool.
Laura (10:11):
I love that such great advice. So if people want to learn more about you, where can they find you? Social media website, blog? Where do you hang out?
Nikki (10:21):
Well, I'm going to wrap this around a gift for your audience, if that's okay. The easiest way to connect with me is to download. I have a ebook called Closing the Sale, where it talks through some of the steps of the selling staircase and give some language suggestions and your audience can go get that by going to yoursalvesmaven.com/swj. So that's for your audience. And then, you know, they can also come check out my podcast, which is Sales Maven, or connect with me on social media. You can find me under Sales Maven.
Laura (10:53):
Awesome. Awesome. Love the consistency sales may have been. All right. Well, thank you so much, Nikki, for coming and sharing with our audience. I really appreciate it. And I hope people wonderful rest of Your day.
Nikki (11:03):
Thank you so much for having me.
Laura (11:07):
Hey there: before you head out, I want to let you know about a free new training I have right on a brand new website called yournextmillion.me. It's yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses, to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond. And I have to tell you, it is not what you think. So check it out at yournextmillion.me. And if you loved this show, will you subscribe to it and share it with a friend or just say something nice about it to someone, you know? I’d really appreciate it so much. Thanks so much for being here and I'll see you next time.
The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.