Ep 39: Connection Series - A Sales Approach Where Every Client Feels Like a Star

Are you tired of the same old greasy sales tactics that leave both you and your clients feeling uninspired? Then you've tuned in to the right podcast! 

In today's episode it's all about shaking up the traditional sales approach and infusing it with authenticity and genuine connection. Get ready to transform how you interact with your clients, making each experience memorable and rooted in trust.

In today's episode, Nikisha delves into essential topics for transforming sales strategies:

• Trust as the Foundation of Sales: She emphasizes the importance of trust in sales, discussing strategies to make it the cornerstone of a sales approach. This segment focuses on how trust can transform every client interaction into an opportunity to make them feel valued and heard.
• The Power of Personalization: Nikisha explores the significance of integrating a brand's core values and personality into its products and services. She provides insights into creating solutions that deeply resonate with clients' needs, highlighting the impact of personalization in sales.
• The Art of Effective Communication: The episode also covers the importance of effective communication in sales. Nikisha shares her expertise on conducting discovery calls, asking probing questions, and the reasons why genuine conversations are more effective than sterile email exchanges in building lasting business relationships.
  
  

Previous Episodes References:

The Red Carpet Experience Series:

• Ep 16 - Red Carpet Experience Series: Crafting an Engaging Thank You Page
• Ep 17 - Red Capet Experience Series: How to Create the First Impression Email
• Ep 18 - Red Carpet Experience: Preparing for the Consultation Call
• Ep 19 - Red Carpet Experience: Preparing for the Proposal
• Ep 20 - Red Carpet Experience: Who It Serves

How to Work with Nikisha (Your Certified Business & Life Coach):

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• Managing Work-Life Stress
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• Finding Fulfilment in Your Brand

Check out our content on Instagram > NK Focus Formula

Chapters

• 0:21 Connecting and Selling Trust Importance
• 9:05 Building Trust and Connecting Through Sales
• 19:05 Trust and Connection in Business Relationships

Transcript

Nikisha: 0:21

Welcome to Nikisha King podcast, leading her way, where we see the human, evolving and resilient spirit in you. Alright, everybody, it's your host, Nikisha Hi, welcome back. And today what we're speaking about is connecting with your clients. Now I have a special presentation that I do when I do my speaking engagements, called the red carpet experience, and I am a sales business coach right, I help people in this sales process, but I can help them in other ways too.

Nikisha: 0:51

But one of my specialties is sales and I love sales process because it's about connection. It's about selling trust and, as connection and a connection lover and my connection series, we're going to get into this because I truly believe, as a business owner, you need to connect in order to gain someone's trust, in order to be able to serve them, and serving them is where the exchange happens, where you provide your specialty and they provide you money, a tool, currency that, the tool that we use in this country to exchange services. That's all it is. Currency is a tool. It has no other meaning to it, but we do put a lot of meaning on it Now in order for you to connect.

Nikisha: 1:47

I'm going to kind of guide you through my process of connecting with my potential clients, because every human being wants to be seen and heard. I know that for a fact. There's no one out there that wants me to ignore them, even though they act like that in all honesty. That is even a bigger cry for them to be seen and heard. So how does it work for me?

Nikisha: 2:09

My clients, as a business owner in my design house, are a couple of people. They are my planners. Those people are my clients. Those are the ones I have a long-standing relationship with. They're clients. You may call them customers, but I don't. They're still my clients because I have access to them, I work with them, I have to respect them, I have to see them and connect with them. So those are also clients, but their primary relationship is with my planner. Therefore, there is nothing to that but me serving them and when I'm done, I'm done.

Nikisha: 2:44

And then my venues, the places that I have relationships with, or my businesses, where I do their branding and work with them as well. So there are a lot of connections. That happens in my world and I have to have energy to connect right and I I love it because my planners are my number one connection. They're the people that I serve in a way where I take a lot of work or pressure off of them. When it comes to the stationary part in their journey, when it comes to the branding part in their journey. We have different areas that we tackle and we take it off their plate and we manage it. And for people to let go of that, they have to trust you. They have to know that you are going to get the work done right. Once again, I'm selling trust, my relationship with them. I could be buddy, laughing, loving, but when it comes to work, they have to know that Nikisha is going to be there for them, and that is so important to me because I couldn't imagine letting them down. So I am there and I will do everything in my power to be there for them in their journey. I am helping them as much as they are helping me, and sometimes we don't see that, but that is what our connection is, that is what our trust is.

Nikisha: 4:02

So in working with my planners, when I connect with them, I allow them to be. What does that mean? I have conversations with them when there's a potential client. In the process, I don't just say I can do something, I go. Can you tell me more? When they tell me more, I go here's some ways I can solve these problems. Are you okay with that? And when I do that, you don't understand the relief I hear in their voice. You don't understand when you are able to connect here and see someone and you provide value in how you're going to solve that problem, you actually feel the load lift away from their shoulders. You see it in their mannerism and you hear it in their voice.

Nikisha: 4:46

So when I connect with my planners, when I connect with my venues, I am here to connect by solving a problem they're encountering. But first I have to see that problem. And when I do, it's so important because that's when I can provide them some of my value in exchange for currency and it's not their currency, because they're trusting me to help one of their clients. Right, that's the other thing too in that relationship. There's no money exchange in between me and my planners, but there's a trust exchange, and when the trust exchange is positive, that's how I generate revenue from working with their clients. Now, when I get to their clients, there is more connection that's required of me.

Nikisha: 5:35

Listen, guys, it's not like a one-stop shop. I got the planner, it's done. It can be when your planners don't need that control in my world. When they still need that control, they might have an issue of you speaking to the client one-on-one with my clients, my planners. They don't have that control because they know that they can do what they can do and they know that they can trust me to be an extension of their brand. So I show up the same way they would show up their moments. I show up better, and I'm told that. But I never speak negatively about a planner. A planner is required and needed in my world, and when I say needed, meaning that couple need a planner because that's the only way you can do it without being overwhelmed. So when I show up in a certain way, I show up thinking about my planners in mind. How can I be the best part of them when I do the best that I do? I want the client to go. Oh, my God. This is why I work with this planner, because they have all these great creative partners, right. So, like I was saying, I connect first with the planner, but that's not a currency exchange, that's a trust exchange. That's I got your back, you got my back. We are kind of doing that exchange Now, when they introduced me to their clients the couple, the corporate planner, the coordinators, whoever they introduced me to that's where now I have to connect. I have to be able to ask questions, I have to be curious, I have to be present so that that customer knows that I hear them, and then I have to problem solve for them as well. And when I do that, they go. You're the right company for us and now we're gonna exchange cash with you for the value you provided on this call.

Nikisha: 7:30

Selling is not about getting money. Selling is not about jumping through hoops. Selling is not about what they call that kickbacks. Selling is about seeing the person understanding what their issue or problem is at that current point in time, providing a solution for it in a way that they understand the solution and them trusting you and saying this person can do the job. So I'm gonna invest in them. This is what selling is, and I wanted to include this in my connection series because it is important to connect and that is what you're doing and you are selling trust. In that connection, I'm telling you guys selling is not just showing up and being hostile, aggressive. It's not that, and that's something I truly, truly hope you understand. So let's see if you got this One. You have to connect.

Nikisha: 8:41

If you feel like you're a person who can't speak, if you put the label introvert on you, if you feel like this is not for you, then we have an issue. Houston, we have a problem. Yes, we do. There is no business owner who could put all these wonderful labels on them Introvert. I'm shy, I'm not a good salesperson, I'm not this, I'm not that. Cause.

Nikisha: 9:05

Once you put all those labels on you and those conditions on you, I don't know how you're growing your brand. And if you're not growing financially, how can you even invest in a sales team to do it for you? That is an option and that's a great option, and I know that I'm gonna be doing that option one day. But the question is how would you even be able to teach your sales team how to sell like you? How would you be able to guide them when they come into your brand, your business? And you wanna be able to still have that positive, uplifting, connecting selling, not that selling that's like yo, you gotta buy this now or else that's just my iteration of that, just being sarcastic, but you know what I mean. You don't want pushy sales people in your brand, so therefore you have to learn how to be open to selling. You have to be the first catalyst to selling and, like I said, selling is connecting. So what does that look like?

Nikisha: 10:10

Let's start with a simple discovery call. In my episode of the red carpet experience, I have one call, discovery call or consultation call. I'll put it or link it into the show notes so you can listen to it. But when you are doing a discovery call, you're not there to get information, to only create a proposal for that person if you're in the service industry, which majority of my entrepreneurs are. But you are there to understand what the real problem is.

Nikisha: 10:41

When I was younger in my business, I thought the problem was they needed invitation so that they could invite guests. How wrong was I? They didn't need that. They could get that from anywhere. So why were they coming to me? To solve a problem, to give value?

Nikisha: 10:57

So what would happen in regards to that was that I had to learn how to ask certain questions in a way that would get them to speak up. So one of those questions may be why is custom invitations important to you? Oh, because I want something that represents who I am. Why do you want something that represents who you are? That question gets them all the time. I don't know. This is their answer, by the way. I don't know. I just look around and I don't see anything that resonates with me. What will resonate with you? What do you want your stationery to look like? Do you understand how I used your response to ask a question? And I do that because when I do that, we get somewhere. We go deeper and deeper, and deeper. Then, when I understand, there's a problem waiting for me at the end.

Nikisha: 11:50

For example, they go well, I want my stationery to do this for me. I want people to be able to have it, keep it. I want them to laugh when they see it, because it's our personality. I want them to do this and I go okay, I got you. So we want to add personality into your stationery.

Nikisha: 12:09

So is there a quote or something you normally say that makes your friends crack up? Yeah, there's this thing that we do. Then we take that thing that they do and we turn it into a brand, we turn it into art, we turn it into work, and this is the thing that I show up and do. So, in regards to that, I truly, truly believe in Finding the problem, the real problem, creating a solution, but doing it in a discovery call where I get to do it back and forth. It's like a good tennis match. No, I'm not a tennis player, but the people who play tennis knows what I'm talking about. It's when that ball keeps bouncing back and forth and it's not being broken. You know what I mean. And then you hear that rhythm, like that rhythm of the ball being hit, lap, lap, lap, and it's back and forth and it just feels good. It's a rhythm. It's also like pickleball the rave, the game that everyone plays, and when you're constantly going back and forth, that's where you get a good rhythm. That's what your discovery call should be. That's how you connect. It's a good rhythm, going back and forth, and there's no feelings, there's just questions and answers, questions and answers and that's one of the ways of connecting on a discovery call finding the problem, creating a solution and telling them how you're gonna solve that problem. And it's one of the best gifts I have and I hope that I can help you have it as well.

Nikisha: 13:36

Connection builds trust. When I am in how can you say it involved in my clients' mind and the things that they're saying in their thoughts. It's building trust, and trust is important. I build it from the time they inquire to the time we get on a call. Constantly building trust is what is required of me in order for me to give my services in exchange for currency. Therefore, how are you building trust? Are you building trust through conversation, or are you scared of conversation so you're doing a lot more emailing? When we do a lot more emailing, there is gaps in the words and what we say, especially if we do long tail emails or long version emails. When we do that, where we're either being too wordy and when we're being too wordy, people get confused or we're not giving enough. Because if we make a short form email, great, but there's still questions to be asked. There's still things to understand.

Nikisha: 14:39

Building trust for me, starts with a conversation. It starts with having that dialogue in order to understand what that person requires from you. So if you are out there and you have all these labels introvert, shy, whatever they are how can you work on those labels so you can actually have conversations, put yourself out there and start building trust and connection so people can see here worth and your value and know that you have the answer. And when I say worth and value, you are more valuable. You don't need anyone to see that, but what I mean by that is the value you provide in your services. That's what I want them to see. How can you go out there and do this more often so that people can go? This person, businessxynz, is the best person for me right now, in this moment, because you connected with them. You built trust with them. Stop carrying those labels and wearing them like a badge, because all they're doing is hindering your company. All they're doing is stopping you from being the amazing human being you are, the resilient, evolving human being you are. So connect, trust, build it. Build it by just showing up, build it by having a conversation, build it by being present. But don't diminish it by being nervous and scared and thinking you're not enough. You are more than enough. The talent you have and the skills you have is yours for a reason. I promise you what you have I don't have. Therefore, we need you. Therefore, we need you to be able to help the people you are here to help. But in order to do that, you have to tell them how you're gonna help them and you have to build that trust so that they can see you and choose you. So part of the Connection Series is about being there, being present, building trust and connecting, and it's so important for that to happen in order for you to earn the revenue you deserve and when I say deserve, you do. Your talent and skills are important and when you sell those skills, you're getting something returned.

Nikisha: 17:11

I went to a recent speaking engagement with Focused AF and it was a Focused AF Summit and we had so many phenomenal speakers and they showed their value. They showed how amazing they are, and the people in the crowd loved every bit of it, and they loved it because they required it in that moment in time If they're beginning, they're five years in, they're 10 years in they still came to get something and they took something away. I loved every moment of it. It was what was required of them to share, to give value in exchange for the attention. And then at the end, we were able to connect, we were able to speak, we were able to do more with them.

Nikisha: 17:56

So, one you are valuable. Two you have something to offer. Three let's move those labels to the side for the moment when we're selling, intervert, shy, they don't exist. Four be present. Five they'll trust. Know that these people are people, no matter what they earn, no matter how much they have, they are still human. They're still worth your time. Invest in them. Your time. Doing a consultation is your practice to become better. Just practice, practice and practice. Just selling value, giving value, being of value.

Nikisha: 18:42

That's it for today, guys, I hope you were able to take a couple of things away from this episode. I hope you were able to take away that selling is connecting and building trust. That's all it is. It's not about the money, guys. It's about that. Two, I hope you were able to take away getting rid of the labels and showing up as you and being valuable. Three, every relationship in our business differs, but the most important thing is the trust and connection. No matter what the relationship is, no matter if you have a planner, no matter if you're working directly with clients, it's all about trust. Once they trust you, you are in. Once you're in, you can serve them on a high level. Just show up, build trust, and that's what connecting is. Thanks so much for your time today, have an amazing day and I'll see you next Tuesday.

Nikisha: 19:43

Thanks for spending time with me today and if you received an aha moment in today's episode, hit the follow button and share a review. But more importantly, if you have a friend who will truly benefit from today's episode, click the three dots and share this link via text. You never know how this small action can help someone tremendously. See you next Tuesday and have an amazing day.