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May 27, 2022

512: You Need To Be More Assertive, Dammit!

What role does assertiveness play in helping you close more business?

The customer is always right. Yep. We've all heard that saying many a time. And unfortunately, too many sales pros believe that this old way of thinking is actually true. 

 

You know, the idea that the rep who does whatever their prospect asks and wants is the one who kills it month after month. 

 

But is that really the case? Is the customer always right? Ask any seasoned sales professional, and they'll tell you that not only is this plain wrong, but in fact, it's an almost guaranteed way to sabotage any sale. 

 

Instead of playing the role of order-taker, we have to play the role of consultant. And with that, it requires us to be assertive. 

 

Now assertiveness itself can get a bad rap, as people can easily misinterpret assertiveness as pushy or rude. But what do we mean when we're talking about assertiveness?

  

And what role does assertiveness play in helping you close more business? 

 

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Transcript

Brian Nichols  0:04  
focusing on winning arguments. We're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, happy Friday there, folks, Brian Nichols here on The Brian Nichols Show. And thank you for joining us on course, another fun filled episode. But can we please be more assertive? That's going to be the topic of today's conversation. But before we get there, first of all, go ahead and give a special shout out to the expat money summit 2022 November 7 through November 11. You have five days 30 expert speakers as hosted by McHale Thorpe, the founder of the expat money and host of the expat money podcast Summit. Please go ahead and watch for a week because you will reap the benefits for generations. Folks. Thank you for joining us on of course, yes, as I always say a fun filled episode. But we are going to be focusing today on being more assertive. If you are a part of my morning sales huddle community, then you've already gotten this inbox in your inbox this morning. Actually, this is this afternoon. I'll be very honest with you. I was a little late today. So yes, this was not so much a morning sales huddle, but it was still one of our sales huddles, and we talk today about the importance of being more assertive. So the customer is always right. Yeah, we we've heard that saying many a time. And unfortunately, too many sales pros believe that this old way of thinking is actually true. You know, the idea that the rep who does whatever their prospect asks and wants is the one who kills it month after month. But is that really the case? Is the customer always right? Always ask any seasoned sales professional. And they'll tell you that not only is that plain wrong, but in fact, it's an almost guaranteed way to sabotage any sale. Instead of playing the role of order taker, we have to play the role of consultant. And with that, it requires us to be assertive. Now assertiveness, assertiveness that is itself does get a bad rap. But that's because mostly people misinterpret assertiveness for being pushy, or rude. So when we're talking about assertiveness, what do we mean? So really, in all actuality, assertiveness is just you being confident in the positions and decisions that you're making. So what does the role of assertiveness play for you when you're helping in closing more business? Well, number one, it's obviously going to help you get more deals a deal is not asked for is a deal that's not made. If you lack assertiveness, then you're going to lack the confidence that you need when you're getting towards closing the deal. And assertiveness certainly helps with building your confidence. Number two, being assertive gives you more credibility. In this case, the credibility you receive is granted by the authority you command via your assertiveness. The more confident and authoritative up here, the more likely your prospects and buyers will listen and value your opinion and then look to you as their trusted adviser. Most importantly, you're going to find that you're not only going to have more of an influence over whether they buy or not, but specifically what it is that they buy. Number three, your communication will drastically improve. And I mean drastically. I mean, think about if you're tiptoeing around problems or issues in the sales cycle or in life. While it may seem like a good idea to try and soften the blow of some unfortunate news, you have to share with your prospect. I mean, but be in sales, be clear, be transparent, it's the absolute best way to communicate, your buyers will see that you have their best interests in mind, even when it requires you to share information that can hurt your sale. Your buyers will appreciate it, and you'll start to feel better yourself, you'll find that you'll have more self esteem and that that's begun because you're more assertive. Why? Because it's simple. When you're assertive. You're not only standing for what is true and right for your customers. But you're also doing what's right and true for yourself. That leads to better results in sales, better job satisfaction for you. More money coming in via sales and ultimately a happier healthier and more enjoyable life. Both in work and outside of work. That was the morning sales huddle.

I fired over this morning if you signed up over the Brian Nichols show.com You received that in your inbox this morning. And yeah, we talked about this over on an episode with Kyle on his podcast in liberty and health that we're gonna have some changes happening here at The Brian Nichols Show. A lot of the sales stuff that we're talking about here on The Brian Nichols Show is going to be finding a new home come the second half of the year. No, don't worry, we're still We're going to be doing all the sales and marketing stuff that you've come to know and love. But instead of focusing more on the world of politics and talking about sales and marketing on traditional training coaching perspective, this is going to be solely focused on that training and coaching, we're still going to talk about sales and marketing as it pertains to the world of politics, don't you worry. But yes, we're gonna be talking more about this from a business perspective coaching perspective here as we get towards the second half of 2022. But with that being said, folks, it's a rather quick episode today. But I did want to wrap up with a story is how we can use assertiveness in real life. And I'll use this as what I've experienced here, and what better way to share examples than to the ones you've lived. So I was working with a gentleman, and had a great meeting with him to I don't know what the situation ended up being behind the scenes. And we talked about assuming positive intent, it's super important to assume positive intent. But it got to the point where we had this meeting, we were just having a vendor intro. So for those of you who aren't familiar, my day job, I work in the telecommunication cybersecurity industry. And with that, we had a great first meeting, walk through all his pain points, his problems outline everything he was looking to do had a specific goal in mind this case, it was to bring a cybersecurity solutions provider to the table. So we had a meeting lined up and we're on the call, and then he just didn't show up. And it was a little rude. And I say, by a little rude mean, quite rude, you're not only wasting my time, but you're also wasting my vendors time at this point. And when I would shoot him a call or email, I'd see what get opened. And for those of you in the world of sales, you know, likely you have some type of tracking tool that shows when those pesky emails get opened and read. But of course, never responded to right. But no, in this case, I saw the email was opened and read. And I sent a rather short but Frank email saying, Hey, listen, I'm not looking to be pushy, but more. So just trying to make sure I'm not wasting my time. But more importantly, my vendors time, because at the end of the day, we're trying to keep in line for your timeline. So we got to make sure you're wasting your time as well. So, you know, if this is not a project, that's still top of mind, please let me know. But otherwise, you know, I'll be looking forward to hopefully working with you sometime soon. He responded back immediately. Hey, I'm so sorry. My daughter had pinkeye. And I actually completely forgot after I missed the meeting to respond. So it wasn't so much. You know, the fact it actually, you know, it ended up being it worked out well, because we not only assume positive intent, and being something like that behind the scenes, but then in the assertiveness, you're able to bring the conversation back up, and you're standing up, not just for yourself, but in this case, I was standing up for the sale because he had a timeline he was looking to maintain. So we had to make sure we're doing that. And I was able to put myself forward as the trusted advisor and the consultants. So folks, if you enjoyed today's episode, well please do me a solid, go ahead and give it a share. And also by the way, folks, if you enjoyed today's episode, then you're going to love the episode we had back yesterday, we had Alex Salter, on the program, we were talking about the zombie economics of unemployment, and inflation. It was a great conversation. I'll make sure I include that link right here in the in the video here for our YouTube subscriber and for you audio listener here at Brian Nichols. show.com. Please head over to the website you can find not only yesterday's episode, but yes, all 500 Plus episodes of Brian Nichols show. It's amazing. We've talked to so many incredible people here on the program. And for yes, you audio listener, you can go ahead and find all those episodes over at Brian Nichols show.com. But with that being said, Folks, that's all I had for you this week. Make sure you go ahead and head over to Alex Salters video. Like I said, it's right here. I'll see you over there. But with that being said Until next week, it's Brian Nichols signing. If you're on The Brian Nichols Show, we'll talk to you then

Transcribed by https://otter.ai