If you tell yourself something enough times you will begin to believe it, even if it’s not true.
I walked into a clients office a few days ago and was slapped in the face with a large dose of negativity. I spent about 30 minutes trying to help my client get his head right about why very few people were spending their money on his services. In the end, I know I helped, but it was only a temporary fix unless he makes a couple of changes in his thinking.
Self-Talk Tells Your Future
The number one thing my client needs to change is how he talks to himself. He is convinced that “there isn’t anybody out there that wants to spend money on his higher priced quality product and service.” He’s also convinced that the ones who do will just find some other provider who will “drop their pants and give it away.”
I told him that we get what we expect. If you expect the world to be filled with negative people, then you’ll find negative people. If you expect all of your prospects to be cheap and unwilling to spend more money for better services, then that’s what you’ll get.
At this point he is feeding himself information that isn’t true. There are plenty of people who are ready to invest with his company…he just needs to be found by them.
A Few Simple Mindset Shifts
Here are a few quick mindset shifts I asked him to implement (as well as a few activities to do):
- Figure out how many people you need to buy your service. In his case he only needs 6 clients each year. Sounds doable, right? Remember, you don’t need everybody…just the right few will do.
- Watch Simon Sinek’s 18 minute video on “The Power of Why.” If people aren’t buying your stuff you may just need to tweak your message by starting with ‘why.’ The basic gist of this talk is that people buy when they believe what you believe about certain things.
- Slow down your sales process. Ask open ended questions that allow people to share what they believe or what they’re pain is. Don’t be too quick to offer a solution until you’re certain it’s the best one for them.
- Get out of your office. This goes especially for local businesses like gyms, contractors, Chiropractors, etc…Get eye ball to eye ball with people and shake hands, be likable…be visible.
- Instead of trying so hard to ‘sell,’ shift your thinking to “Let’s see if we’re a good fit.” When you find the clients that are a good fit it makes business much more fun!
- Create butt-loads of helpful content. Become your area’s #1 educator in your industry and eventually clients will come to you. Read this for more on why this is important.
- Add value to others. Nothing helps build a strong business like being valuable to others. Send a referral, share their content, give them a lead on a new technology or marketing tactic. Become known as someone who helps.
Today, make a promise to not lie to yourself anymore. Expect great things and then do the work. Your win is coming.
