Your Moral Responsibility In Sales

“If someone is better with me than without me, then it’s my moral responsibility to ensure they say YES to my offer AND the contrary is true as well." - Jared Yellin

One of the most common questions and dialogues I have with entrepreneurs is why they fear the close…

Do you not believe in your product or service?

Do you not believe in the benefits someone stands to gain?

Do you not believe you are worthy of the sale?

Do you not believe money will enable you to serve more people?

Do you not believe in yourself?

I ask these seemingly obvious questions and guess what EVERYONE says after each question…

OF COURSE I DO!!!!

So if you are THAT certain about your product/service, the benefits, your worthiness, how money will amplify your already extraordinary character and your own abilities, then…

WHY ARE YOU NOT CLOSING?!?!?!

You can see in this moment the entire physiology of the person shifts as their posture caves, their certainty squanders, and their presence dissipates.

PLEASE READ THIS QUESTION UNTIL THE OBVIOUSNESS OF IT SINKS IN!!!!!

If you believe in what you are selling, THEN why are you NOT selling?!?!?!

And I believe I finally got to the root of the issue recently…

The “seller” does not know if the “buyer” is better off with them than without them.

This is a BREAKTHROUGH discovery within the industry of sales.

If you lack certainty around “better off with than without,” then I absolutely understand, and agree, and can empathize with your inability and fear to CLOSE.

Because the last thing you want to do - EVER - is sell someone something that does not SERVE them!

EVERYTHING people purchase should lead to a return…

On their money…

On their time…

On their joy…

On their curiosity…

On their health…

ETC ETC ETC!

And if there is even the slightest possibility that the “return” is negative, then I absolutely agree – DON’T CLOSE!

But the bigger issue is the following…

You are throwing darts in the dark!

You have NO idea if they are better off with you than without you…

You have NO idea if they will get a positive return…

You have NO idea if your offer will transform their life…

And the reason you don’t know is because of the THREE FATAL FLAWS IN SELLING…

Three Fatal Flaws In Selling

You have your own agenda…

You ask poor questions…

You don’t listen!

Let’s break these down…

1. Your Agenda

I get it. Your agenda is to get a credit card and sell your product, BUT what I know for certain is that your agenda does not matter to the other person. What DOES matter to the other person is THEIR agenda.

And when you make THEIR agenda the focus of your sales interaction, there is a VERY VERY VERY strong possibility that they will sell themselves on buying whatever it is you offer IF and only IF you…

2. Poor Questions

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS!

I will go into this in greater detail during the next section of this article, but the WRONG questions will leave you in a state of uncertainty, which will leave you in a position where you don’t go for the close.

Because EVERY question must be intentional…

It must be an opportunity to collect DATA - aka buying signals or denying signals - which is the most important currency before getting their credit card.

But please realize this…

When you ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, the entire experience morphs into a conversation versus a sale.

People DON’T want to be sold.

BUT

People DO want to buy.

And the last time I checked - conversations don’t lead to trepidation - right?

When you are meeting a friend for coffee – you don’t get nervous.

When you are taking a stroll in the park with a friend – you don’t get butterflies.

When you are talking on the phone with a friend – your voice does not crack.

When your selling experience morphs into a conversation where you are asking the RIGHT questions, you will begin to get closer to the ideal environment to KNOW whether someone is “better off with you than without you…”

If and only if…

3. Listening Skills

To round out the THREE fatal flaws in selling, let’s talk about your ability to LISTEN!

I was speaking at a seminar a couple of years ago and I was watching the sales team approach each prospect with their OWN agenda, asking all the wrong questions, but worst of all – THEY DID NOT LISTEN!

When the prospect would speak, they were already onto the next bullet point in their pitch and because of this…

They MISSED every sign to SPEAK INTO THEIR LISTENING!

They missed the buying sign or the denying sign.

They missed the access point to transformation.

They missed the opportunity to close.

PLEASE READ THIS OVER AND OVER AND OVER and did I say OVER again…

You were born with TWO years and ONE mouth for a reason. LISTEN more than you speak.

And I don’t mean HEAR - which is defined as the acknowledgement of sound - I mean LISTEN!

LISTEN to the words they are saying.

LISTEN to the feelings they are attaching to those words.

LISTEN to the unspoken. 

And as I watched this sales team consistently lose opportunities that they should have been winning – I walked over and said…

WHEN you listen, you win, and when you win, they win. 

I can’t even begin to explain how critical it is to LISTEN in any selling or human dynamic.

Whether it’s with your loved one or spouse…

Whether it’s with your children…

Whether it’s with your team…

Listening is the path to WINNING because most people will say what they want and when they say what they want, you know what they want, which makes it easy to sell them what they want.

How To Know With 100% Certainty That Closing Is Your Moral Responsibility

Before I dig into the Four Golden Questions To Sell or NOT, please DO NOT make this a script that rolls awkwardly and inauthentically off your tongue.

Don’t rehearse it…

Don’t write it down…

Don’t tattoo it to memory…

And instead - please realize - these are the same questions you have asked your mom, best friend, favor colleague, religious leader, financial advisor, etc.

These are questions that show that you care - because you do - and these questions have 4 VERY SPECIFIC goals…

Goal 1: Understand their past

Goal 2: Gain clarity of their present

Goal 3: Capture their future

Goal 4: Become aware of their path

These are your only 4 goals, because if/when the person responds in such a way that what you are SELLING will help them make Goal #4 faster, more predictable, cheaper, etc. THEN it’s your moral responsibility to close.

AND the same holds true with the contrary which means…

If/when the person responds in such a way that what you are SELLING will  NOT help them make Goal #4 faster, more predictable, cheaper, etc. THEN it’s your moral responsibility to NOT close.

So, here are the questions BUT MAKE THEM YOUR OWN!!!!

Question 1: What are you most proud of? (aka Tell me more about what you have done.)

People’s proudest moment says wonders about them…

This is where you will uncover whether they are driven by family or money or fame or ____________!

AND

It’s the ultimate rapport builder because most people LOVE speaking about themselves - so - give them a shot to do so and really LISTEN to the words they use - but even more importantly - the unspoken, which you will begin to tap into the more you commit to EVERY lesson in this article.

Question 2: What are you most excited about today? (aka Tell me more about what you are doing now.)

I always want to know what the person is focused on RIGHT NOW because maybe I can help them through an introduction, wisdom, resource, etc. and my goal is to ALWAYS leave people in a better state than when I met them.

I love to solve problems…

I love to give access…

I love to help…

AND the only way to do this is to understand what they are CURRENTLY working on - and once you do - get after it and do something impactful and meaningful which will increase the likelihood of their success with NO ulterior motive at all!

I can’t begin to explain how many dividends you will collect by truly caring about what the other person cares about and helping them achieve whatever it is!

Question 3: What is your vision? (aka Tell me more about your future.)

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

I am going to venture to say that 99% of the people you meet and speak with and ultimately consider selling have NEVER - and I mean NEVER - been asked about their vision.

So be the first and come from a place of extreme integrity - which means - don’t just ask because YOU have a motive to sell - rather - ASK because you care!

I want to understand - in detail - what success looks like to this person and my hope is that it is so multifaceted that there are a variety of ways I can help and a variety of ways I can monetize this relationship with the absolute monomaniacal commitment for a WIN-WIN outcome. 

Question 4: What do you believe will make your future, your presence, faster? (aka Tell me how you plan to achieve your vision.)

Finally, I want to understand what their plan is.

If they have no plan – they won’t achieve their optimal.

If they have a plan – they might achieve their optimal.

BUT if they are better off with me than without me, then you better believe they will HIT their optimal outcome if and only if I get them to BUY!

And just so you are clear – I look at sales like a game of life or death… (metaphorically of course)

If they are better off with me AND buy – they live.

If they are better off without me AND don’t buy – they live.

If they are better off with me AND don’t buy – they die.

If they are better off without me AND buy – they die.

This is why SALES is such a serious responsibility that can NEVER be taken advantage of – EVER!

You are the catalyst for life or death so do the right thing regardless of who’s watching because YOU are always watching yourself!

 Now What?

Build a bigger pipeline!

This is THE answer to EVERY sales challenge you face because if your pipeline is NOT abundant and currently sparse – I KNOW you will struggle with this article. 

You will feel the need to close everyone regardless if they are “better off with than without you” and the more you close people who will not benefit from your offer the LESS people will close who are your ideals because…

1. You have a bandwidth to your ability to deliver.

2. You will get a poor review.

3. You will get angry customers.

4. You will lose your passion.

5. You will have attrition.

6. The list goes on and on and on…

SO…

Build a bigger pipeline!

EVERYTHING will take more time and money than you expect – I mean EVERY goal, aspiration, vision, etc., but the KEY KEY KEY KEY to ensure you reach and/or exceed every goal, aspiration, vision, etc is to have a bigger pipeline.

MORE people need to be thinking about your solution.

MORE people need to be sharing your solution.

MORE people need to be referring more people to your solution.

AND when you close someone who is NOT better off with you than without you - THEN - it decreases your chance for MORE of what’s right!

Outside of building a bigger pipeline – I invite you to treat this article like gospel.

I don’t mean to be egotistical with this statement, but I have been told (and I know) I am one of the most effective salespeople you will ever meet and my secret is…

“If someone is better with me than without me then it’s my moral responsibility to ensure they say YES to my offer AND the contrary is true as well.” - Jared Yellin

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am for you RIGHT NOW…

Get after it…

Live with Intention,