The NEED Rule: Hustlers Addendum

[focusedlife]

Hi All,

My name is Carlos and I'm a recovering sidewalking slowlaner.

I'm nowhere near fastlane, however, I've managed to maintain a decent Freelance lifestyle working as a strategic marketing consultant and copywriter assassin for hire.

Generally, I work with local small business types, but I've also had some decent deals with digitally inclined global reach folks like online coaches, SAAS, and IM folks.

While MJ's first book was definitely a good read, Unscripted , however, has been a mind melding red pill that has since become part of my libraries "MANDATORY READING" section.

The book has awakened in me the desire to truly understand and master scaling and time detachment, which, I suppose, will come in due time with effort, and execution (plus making sure I've not violated all the commandment essentials, or at least strive to make sure I can check off those boxes at SOME point).

Ok, so enough with that, my point in posting today is to, hopefully, add some value to your life.

Those of you that sell anything, and have yet to have your own productocracy going on, which I'd imagine includes all sales people, telemarketers, freelancers, professional service providers, etc....

This rule that I want to share with you, I hope, serves you and makes your selling a lot smoother, a lot easier and a lot more profitable...

When in a face to face selling or negotiating setting, the rule is this: ANY need in the interaction should be theirs NOT yours.

It's really just micro applying the needs rule to an actual negotiation, I suppose.

If you're doing most of the talking, chances are you are not actually selling, but instead, you are, most likely, displaying a great deal of neediness on your end.

You should be asking BETTER questions and listening to your prospect MORE than you actually do any talking.

This is a very simple rule, but, it's very hard to implement, especially when you're working for someone else or you've got financial obligations breathing down your neck.

I understand.

My contention is that selling, as most people think about it, isn't actually selling, but instead it's doing "the audition" presentation until the right person in front of you sort of gives in and says yes.

There is usually a great deal of unnecessary compromise, which stems from the idea that in order for it to be a good deal both sides have to give in a little.

While, yes, I agree that is a way to make deals, I also find it to be VERY adversarial.

These days, I NEVER get into a working relationship with a prospect without FIRST figuring out what their NEEDS and WHY's are, assessing their value perceptions and then seeing if I can provide for those provisions.

Basically, first figure out if whatever it is that you're selling, how does it fit on your prospects spectrum of:

Wants, needs, desires, and also their fears, angers and frustrations.

Get that dialed in and you can better evoke the sale instead of forcing it.

Alright, so how do you do all that without being needy?

The trick to NEVER being needy is a few things, imo:

• Keep your lead pipeline full
  - Have ads somewhere
  - Be where your prospects are in person
  - Make cold calls
  - Tap into your warm network
  - Put out valuable content everywhere
• Be "okay" with whatever the outcome
  - You can't control what happens, you can only control effort
  - You don't need any ONE of the deals, individually, you just need to have that open slot filled with the right fit one
  - Need conveys desperation in a very subtle, almost, subconscious way and, as you know, desperation is NOT attractive. It's an exploitable vulnerability (and often does get exploited)
• Do whatever it takes (with integrity) to, at the least, meet your minimum financial needs
  - Get a part time job (I once showed a coaching student how easy it was to get an inside sales gig that gets some money coming in, while you get your side hustle going by searching on craigslist for the word "guarantee" in the sales category...more on this in a bit)
  - Get a retainer client (mostly applies to freelancers and soloprenuers)...not much different than a job, but with less constraints and less authority over you.
  - Offer to help others at a discount, but only for a limited few, a one off special, and expectations of referrals and testimonials as part of compensation (you can parlay this later).

Now, I'm not sure if any of this makes any kinda sense (I hope it does), and there is the real possibility that some of this might sound contradictory, and NONE of this is meant to be the end ALL be ALL answer to your fastlane journey, but it should help "grease the shoot" of sales success for you while helping to alleviate the stomach churning angst that usually accompanies the adversarial battle that most call selling.

I'm NOT a fan of selling to everyone.

I'm NOT a fan of working with EVERYBODY.

Why?

I can't, necessarily, help everyone .

Also, I'd much rather work with folks that NEED what I can deliver, can exchange equitable value in terms of financial compensation anchored to the value my solution can deliver in a way that's mutually acceptable, that works with my working habit quirks and we have to mutually like and respect each other.

No subservient selling.

That's not to say I do not give my all in terms of actually helping them and valuing my clients, I'm just NOT an a$$ kisser.

Anyways, enough of that.

Did this add value to you in any kind of way or was this like the worst crock of $hit ever spouted on this forum?

Your feedback is appreciated.

P.S. Almost forgot the craigslist get a job trick, lol.

Ok, so what I'd do (if I NEEDED to) to get the financial monster off my leg is get an inside sales job that pays for training.

Most sales jobs pay while they train for the first 90 days.

Usually they advertise it.

Just do a craigslist search, wherever you live and search the word "guarantee" in the sales section.

I'll bet you'll find gigs that pay anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 a month guaranteed.

Why insides sales?

Well...the leads come to you, which is nice, but, it also provides you with some down time to keep leveling up on the side: read books, learn skills, etc.

Who knows, maybe you stay there and that's enough for you, in which case, although slowlane (nothing exactly wrong with that), problem solved.

Or, at the very least, you recognize this as simply a means to help you reach your objective end.

Whatever the case, I hope it helps you.

If you have questions about this, please feel free to ask.

Thank you.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

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