Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in marketing, tags: brand, increase sales, sales coach
photo credit: Svadilfari
Many entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals invest a lot of time, energy, and dollars developing a brand.
The idea is your brand is supposed to attract the right buyers to you. However, if the brand you’re working under lacks one thing it’s worthless perhaps even worse than worthless.
A brand is supposed to create a mental image and communicate meaning to a specific audience. It’s intended to communicate something important to the right potential buyers about your business and what you offer. Ideally you want your best potential buyers to only think of you when it comes to your brand.
So you want to be the Kleenex of facial tissue or the Hertz of rental cars. Great. The top brands own a market for a specific thing.
To get to that level of market dominance requires the ability to saturate your market and that only happens through the frequency of your message and the prominence of your message. Of course, if you aren’t already a top contender that also means investing enormous sums of money. And that’s just not realistic for most entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals.
To dominate your corner of the market you must carve that market down into smaller more specific slices. Then you must focus on making sure your brand message contains the one thing so many brands lack that make them nothing more than expensive failures.
That one thing is relevance.
Now the thing is relevance changes. Relevance changes because of changes in the external environment and brand saturation. So if you’re just formulating and developing a brand you absolutely must focus your brand on the number one most important thing to your best future buyers right now.
If your brand fails the relevance test it’s like you’re riding around on an old nag trying to sell what you have to offer. You and what you have to offer look old, tired, uninteresting, and unimportant. No one voluntarily responds to you or your message.
When you get the relevance test right you and what you offer look interesting and people do respond to your message. Here are some things to check your brand against to ensure relevance:
It reflects my best potential buyer’s current environment
It communicates answers to my best potential buyer’s most pressing questions
It communicates expertise producing my best potential buyer’s most desired results
Is your brand relevant?
Selasa, 19 Mei 2009
1 Common Mistake that Kills Sales
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: sales conversations, sales mistakes
I was reading a blog post on Robert Phillips blog. When much to my shock and dismay this Super Uber Marketing Guru made a gigantic blunder.
It certainly wasn’t that his mistake was unique. I’d be willing to put up a 5 spot you’ve done it. I know I’ve certainly done it. No, it wasn’t the uniqueness that shocked me it was the person in combination with the very public nature of a blog.
I mean, anyone can read your blog. In fact, you write a blog post because you want people to read it. Lots of people. So how could a marketing guru make such a huge mistake in a public arena?
The common mistake he made, that we have all made, is the mistake of explaining away a problem with excuses.
You get yourself in a pickle because you didn’t do what you said you’d do. You dropped the ball and didn’t keep your word. It’s embarrassing. So what do you do? Well, you make excuses for your poor performance. Isn’t that what you’ve done since you were a kid getting called on the carpet by your Dad for screwing up?
The problem is your excuses aren’t communicating what you think you’re communicating. What an excuse really communicates to the other person is the fact that you thought things other than them were more important. How insulting is that? You just told a potential buyer they aren’t important!
Worse yet the more you talk about why you didn’t do what you said you’d do the more the conversation centers on you. Now tell me, where is the benefit for your buyer in hearing you go on and on about how you didn’t have time to do what you said, or how other things or people got in your way, or whatever else you’re trying to come up with to explain away your bad behavior?
So puhleaeeze save the excuses! Excuses don’t make you more human or more forgivable.
photo credit: Matt Biddulph
Apologizing does. Yep, just straight up say you’re sorry. Simply say, “Mr. Prospect I promised XYZ and I did not keep my promise please accept my sincere apology. You and your needs are important to me even though my behavior did not demonstrate that. What can I do for you now?”
That’s it. Takes your licks, let the prospect have their say about how what you didn’t do impacted them. Then focus on what you can do now and what’s important to or for the prospect.
You are far more likely to salvage the relationship and the sale if you accept responsibility for your actions and apologize than you ever are trying to excuse the problem away.
I was reading a blog post on Robert Phillips blog. When much to my shock and dismay this Super Uber Marketing Guru made a gigantic blunder.
It certainly wasn’t that his mistake was unique. I’d be willing to put up a 5 spot you’ve done it. I know I’ve certainly done it. No, it wasn’t the uniqueness that shocked me it was the person in combination with the very public nature of a blog.
I mean, anyone can read your blog. In fact, you write a blog post because you want people to read it. Lots of people. So how could a marketing guru make such a huge mistake in a public arena?
The common mistake he made, that we have all made, is the mistake of explaining away a problem with excuses.
You get yourself in a pickle because you didn’t do what you said you’d do. You dropped the ball and didn’t keep your word. It’s embarrassing. So what do you do? Well, you make excuses for your poor performance. Isn’t that what you’ve done since you were a kid getting called on the carpet by your Dad for screwing up?
The problem is your excuses aren’t communicating what you think you’re communicating. What an excuse really communicates to the other person is the fact that you thought things other than them were more important. How insulting is that? You just told a potential buyer they aren’t important!
Worse yet the more you talk about why you didn’t do what you said you’d do the more the conversation centers on you. Now tell me, where is the benefit for your buyer in hearing you go on and on about how you didn’t have time to do what you said, or how other things or people got in your way, or whatever else you’re trying to come up with to explain away your bad behavior?
So puhleaeeze save the excuses! Excuses don’t make you more human or more forgivable.
photo credit: Matt Biddulph
Apologizing does. Yep, just straight up say you’re sorry. Simply say, “Mr. Prospect I promised XYZ and I did not keep my promise please accept my sincere apology. You and your needs are important to me even though my behavior did not demonstrate that. What can I do for you now?”
That’s it. Takes your licks, let the prospect have their say about how what you didn’t do impacted them. Then focus on what you can do now and what’s important to or for the prospect.
You are far more likely to salvage the relationship and the sale if you accept responsibility for your actions and apologize than you ever are trying to excuse the problem away.
3 Core Principles to Increase Sales
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: business success, marketing, marketing communications, sales communications
Recently copywriter Michel Fortin stated, “long-term business comes down to three principal components:
Solve problems,
Sell solutions,
Serve customers.“
I couldn’t agree more. One of the biggest challenges you face is understanding that if you want to succeed you have to help your best future clients understand the reason your business exists in terms of “what’s in it for me”. Your best future clients must immediately “get” how what you offer helps them get what they want or avoid what they don’t want.
It’s a matter of communication. If you succinctly and powerfully communicate a good reason a potential client should care — you win. You earn their attention and the opportunity to get their interest.
Let’s compare a couple messages.
Message 1: Doctor Bob Backmaster on Z street specializes in the Zeichkrieg technique (okay, so I made that up… you get the idea). Our friendly office cares about our patients. Give us a call and let us take care of your chiropractic needs.
What problem does this solve?
Where’s the solution doctor Backmaster’s patients are already looking for?
Couldn’t every chiropractor in the country say the same thing about their customer service?
Message 2: “What Every Back Pain Sufferer Must know about the Pain-free Drug-free Options to Eliminate Chronic Back Pain Forever”, call 800-000-0000 and leave a message telling Doctor Bob where you’d like him to send your free report.
The problem - chronic back pain
The solution - pain-free drug-free options
Serve customers - no risk way to get valuable information
Now be honest. Message 1 didn’t do anything to make you want to do anything did it? However, if you’ve suffered with chronic back pain you’re eager to call and get that free report. You’re curious to see what it says. You have the problem, you’re looking for solutions especially if you’ve already discovered surgery and pills didn’t fix the problem. And you appreciate being able to get information without having to suffer a sales pitch you aren’t sure you want to hear.
Once you got the report, if you thought the information was valuable is it a huge stretch of the imagination to think you might call Doctor Bob, or that you would take Doctor Bob up on an offer to come in a talk about the best options for you if he sent you a follow-up letter?
So put your thinking caps on and think about how you could apply this concept to your business.
Make sure you’re solving problems your best potential clients are interested in solving.
Make sure your solution is communicated in an interesting way.
Respect your future buyers by giving them low risk ways to connect with you.
Recently copywriter Michel Fortin stated, “long-term business comes down to three principal components:
Solve problems,
Sell solutions,
Serve customers.“
I couldn’t agree more. One of the biggest challenges you face is understanding that if you want to succeed you have to help your best future clients understand the reason your business exists in terms of “what’s in it for me”. Your best future clients must immediately “get” how what you offer helps them get what they want or avoid what they don’t want.
It’s a matter of communication. If you succinctly and powerfully communicate a good reason a potential client should care — you win. You earn their attention and the opportunity to get their interest.
Let’s compare a couple messages.
Message 1: Doctor Bob Backmaster on Z street specializes in the Zeichkrieg technique (okay, so I made that up… you get the idea). Our friendly office cares about our patients. Give us a call and let us take care of your chiropractic needs.
What problem does this solve?
Where’s the solution doctor Backmaster’s patients are already looking for?
Couldn’t every chiropractor in the country say the same thing about their customer service?
Message 2: “What Every Back Pain Sufferer Must know about the Pain-free Drug-free Options to Eliminate Chronic Back Pain Forever”, call 800-000-0000 and leave a message telling Doctor Bob where you’d like him to send your free report.
The problem - chronic back pain
The solution - pain-free drug-free options
Serve customers - no risk way to get valuable information
Now be honest. Message 1 didn’t do anything to make you want to do anything did it? However, if you’ve suffered with chronic back pain you’re eager to call and get that free report. You’re curious to see what it says. You have the problem, you’re looking for solutions especially if you’ve already discovered surgery and pills didn’t fix the problem. And you appreciate being able to get information without having to suffer a sales pitch you aren’t sure you want to hear.
Once you got the report, if you thought the information was valuable is it a huge stretch of the imagination to think you might call Doctor Bob, or that you would take Doctor Bob up on an offer to come in a talk about the best options for you if he sent you a follow-up letter?
So put your thinking caps on and think about how you could apply this concept to your business.
Make sure you’re solving problems your best potential clients are interested in solving.
Make sure your solution is communicated in an interesting way.
Respect your future buyers by giving them low risk ways to connect with you.
6 Seconds to Win in Sales
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: marketing message, sales message
If you’ve ever attempted cold calling or face-to-face networking you understand this principle. You’ve got about 6 seconds to get the other persons attention or your goose is pretty much cooked. The ship has sailed without you.
The main reason you miss out on these opportunities is because you don’t understand your audience. You don’t know what they’re already looking for. You don’t know how they talk about it. And you don’t know why it’s important they identify a solution. Much less how to set your solution apart from the rest.
If you’re going to produce the desired result you want in those precious first 6 seconds you’ve got to be able to succinctly and powerfully communicate the answer to these three questions to your potential buyer.
What does your offer do for buyers?
Who does it do this for?
Why is this important now?
Those questions aren’t that tough. You would think providing great answers to those questions would be like water rolling off a ducks back. However, most people stutter and stammer trying to respond to these questions and when they finally do spit an answer out it comes out about as tempting as rancid butter.
There’s another reason you might miss out on these golden opportunities with potential buyers. You work on the basis of puke & choke when you should bait & wait. Here’s what I mean.
Because you don’t have a great way to tell the potential buyer what you can do for them and why it’s important you try to make up for a solid message by talking fast (thus puking all over them) and choking the idea of an appointment down their throats. That makes you about as popular as a skunk at a junior high dance.
The better approach is to lay your best what this does message out there (the bait) and wait for the potential buyer to take it. Like your Mother told you it’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar. So come on send out a little honey and let the flies nibble their way to engorgement.
If you’ve ever attempted cold calling or face-to-face networking you understand this principle. You’ve got about 6 seconds to get the other persons attention or your goose is pretty much cooked. The ship has sailed without you.
The main reason you miss out on these opportunities is because you don’t understand your audience. You don’t know what they’re already looking for. You don’t know how they talk about it. And you don’t know why it’s important they identify a solution. Much less how to set your solution apart from the rest.
If you’re going to produce the desired result you want in those precious first 6 seconds you’ve got to be able to succinctly and powerfully communicate the answer to these three questions to your potential buyer.
What does your offer do for buyers?
Who does it do this for?
Why is this important now?
Those questions aren’t that tough. You would think providing great answers to those questions would be like water rolling off a ducks back. However, most people stutter and stammer trying to respond to these questions and when they finally do spit an answer out it comes out about as tempting as rancid butter.
There’s another reason you might miss out on these golden opportunities with potential buyers. You work on the basis of puke & choke when you should bait & wait. Here’s what I mean.
Because you don’t have a great way to tell the potential buyer what you can do for them and why it’s important you try to make up for a solid message by talking fast (thus puking all over them) and choking the idea of an appointment down their throats. That makes you about as popular as a skunk at a junior high dance.
The better approach is to lay your best what this does message out there (the bait) and wait for the potential buyer to take it. Like your Mother told you it’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar. So come on send out a little honey and let the flies nibble their way to engorgement.
Double Sales Dilemma
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: cold calling, sales options, sales road map
You place the phone back on it’s hook as you scowl at the clock in disbelief that yet another day of cold calling has ended with the ear splitting sound of the receiver crashing with a resounding CLICK!
Another ego shattering pointless day of dialing for dollars only to connect with the rare few. Then hearing a none to polite “NO” before the crash. Of course, there was that one person who weakly agreed to meet with you, yet you wonder if you’ll arrive at the designated location and time only to discover you’ve been stood up. Or you’ll sit waiting like an unwanted stray dog before the receptionist politely tells you Mr. Bigshot won’t be able to meet with you today.
You think to yourself, “I’ve had enough already!” So what now?
You recall previous conversations with your sale manager when they recommended hiring an assistant to take care of paper work and make those cold calls for you so you have more time to sell. However, you don’t have a spare dime to buy yourself a cup of coffee how are you going to pay someone?
Your mind begins spinning out of control as you recall yet other conversations when your sales manager said, “You just need to make more calls”. It seems like this guy is a broken record playing the same tune for every occasion. Does this guy actually know what he’s talking about?
Here you sit with a double sales dilemma. You’re dog tired. So tired your brain feels like mush. But you’ve got to figure something out and do it soon or you simply aren’t going to survive… in spite of all your hard work.
You vow never again to put yourself in a position to get treated like a stray cat suspected of rabies. You deserve better treatment. You deserve results. You deserve financial security.
CONGATULATIONS! Believe it or not the conviction, the anger, and the commitment you’re feeling right now are exactly what you need to take this double dilemma head on and fix your situation. Not temporarily… really fix it. Never again do you have to experience a day exactly like today.
So let’s roll up your sleeves and get to work. Starting with the assistant idea. Now let’s think about this from a purely logical perspective. If you hire an assistant and ask that assistant to make cold calls for you to set appointments exactly the way you do… how exactly can you expect the assistant to get any better results than you’re getting? If you can’t pay your bills now how will increasing your overhead costs make your situation better? That means before you hire an assistant you have to know how to successfully secure appointments yourself, right?
Now let’s turn our attention to your sales manager. Again from a purely logical perspective if you haven’t succeeded doing what your sales manager tells you to do the way he tells you to do it… does it make sense to keep coming back for more? And given what you could earn if you do really well, don’t you kind of wonder if this sales manager is so good at selling why isn’t he out there selling and making tons of money?
Okay then this can only mean you need to develop your own road map for success. If you’re going to succeed and do so without all the frustration you will need to:
Get your potential clients to pay attention to you
Get those people to take action
Follow up on their action
Hold successful sales conversations
Get rock solid referrals
Right now your most pressing challenge is getting potential clients to pay attention to you. The secret to earning their attention is:
Understanding your potential clients
Talking to them in their language
Focusing on their most pressing concerns
Giving them a reason to act
Providing a low risk way for them to act
Now that you know what you have to do the next step is identifying your options when it comes to figuring out how to do those things. You could:
Read books
Ask your peers for help
Attend a workshop or seminar
Take a training course
Get on-going support working with a coach
There are two critical considerations when choosing the best option for you - time and money. While the least expensive options are the easiest choice they take the most amount of time and require the greatest learning curve. The time it takes you to learn costs you money in terms of both current and future income. It can be hard to man-up and choose the most expensive options because you think you don’t have the money to pay for those options. Yet, the pay back from those options are quicker making it easier for you to pay for the investment.
Start exploring your options and find the best option for you. Once you settle on an option TAKE ACTION. Action is the first step to a better future.
You place the phone back on it’s hook as you scowl at the clock in disbelief that yet another day of cold calling has ended with the ear splitting sound of the receiver crashing with a resounding CLICK!
Another ego shattering pointless day of dialing for dollars only to connect with the rare few. Then hearing a none to polite “NO” before the crash. Of course, there was that one person who weakly agreed to meet with you, yet you wonder if you’ll arrive at the designated location and time only to discover you’ve been stood up. Or you’ll sit waiting like an unwanted stray dog before the receptionist politely tells you Mr. Bigshot won’t be able to meet with you today.
You think to yourself, “I’ve had enough already!” So what now?
You recall previous conversations with your sale manager when they recommended hiring an assistant to take care of paper work and make those cold calls for you so you have more time to sell. However, you don’t have a spare dime to buy yourself a cup of coffee how are you going to pay someone?
Your mind begins spinning out of control as you recall yet other conversations when your sales manager said, “You just need to make more calls”. It seems like this guy is a broken record playing the same tune for every occasion. Does this guy actually know what he’s talking about?
Here you sit with a double sales dilemma. You’re dog tired. So tired your brain feels like mush. But you’ve got to figure something out and do it soon or you simply aren’t going to survive… in spite of all your hard work.
You vow never again to put yourself in a position to get treated like a stray cat suspected of rabies. You deserve better treatment. You deserve results. You deserve financial security.
CONGATULATIONS! Believe it or not the conviction, the anger, and the commitment you’re feeling right now are exactly what you need to take this double dilemma head on and fix your situation. Not temporarily… really fix it. Never again do you have to experience a day exactly like today.
So let’s roll up your sleeves and get to work. Starting with the assistant idea. Now let’s think about this from a purely logical perspective. If you hire an assistant and ask that assistant to make cold calls for you to set appointments exactly the way you do… how exactly can you expect the assistant to get any better results than you’re getting? If you can’t pay your bills now how will increasing your overhead costs make your situation better? That means before you hire an assistant you have to know how to successfully secure appointments yourself, right?
Now let’s turn our attention to your sales manager. Again from a purely logical perspective if you haven’t succeeded doing what your sales manager tells you to do the way he tells you to do it… does it make sense to keep coming back for more? And given what you could earn if you do really well, don’t you kind of wonder if this sales manager is so good at selling why isn’t he out there selling and making tons of money?
Okay then this can only mean you need to develop your own road map for success. If you’re going to succeed and do so without all the frustration you will need to:
Get your potential clients to pay attention to you
Get those people to take action
Follow up on their action
Hold successful sales conversations
Get rock solid referrals
Right now your most pressing challenge is getting potential clients to pay attention to you. The secret to earning their attention is:
Understanding your potential clients
Talking to them in their language
Focusing on their most pressing concerns
Giving them a reason to act
Providing a low risk way for them to act
Now that you know what you have to do the next step is identifying your options when it comes to figuring out how to do those things. You could:
Read books
Ask your peers for help
Attend a workshop or seminar
Take a training course
Get on-going support working with a coach
There are two critical considerations when choosing the best option for you - time and money. While the least expensive options are the easiest choice they take the most amount of time and require the greatest learning curve. The time it takes you to learn costs you money in terms of both current and future income. It can be hard to man-up and choose the most expensive options because you think you don’t have the money to pay for those options. Yet, the pay back from those options are quicker making it easier for you to pay for the investment.
Start exploring your options and find the best option for you. Once you settle on an option TAKE ACTION. Action is the first step to a better future.
2 Free Tools to Help You Increase Sales
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in Sales Tools, tags: Sales Tools
You have to run your business and you need more time to focus on sales. So why not take advantage of a couple new free tools I found to help you do just that?
First, do you ever need to transfer files between computers? Or do you need to share files with your peers, clients, or potential new clients? Not only is it a hassle it seems like you don’t realize you don’t have the file you need on the computer you’re using until you need it. RATS!
Well, Dropbox takes care of all those things and more and it doesn’t cost you a cent to use it. You can watch the screencast and see how it works. I’ll think you’ll be impressed by the cool stuff you can do. Even if you’re not a techie.
Just a few weeks ago we all got to send Uncle Sam some money or perhaps you’re now expecting to get some of your money back from Uncle Sam. Either way tax time serves as a stark reminder of the importance of properly tracking income and expenses. If you haven’t already purchased a software solution you might enjoy this free online bookkeeping software from OutRight. Take a tour and see how it might help you take care of those financial records more efficiently so you have more time to sell.
You have to run your business and you need more time to focus on sales. So why not take advantage of a couple new free tools I found to help you do just that?
First, do you ever need to transfer files between computers? Or do you need to share files with your peers, clients, or potential new clients? Not only is it a hassle it seems like you don’t realize you don’t have the file you need on the computer you’re using until you need it. RATS!
Well, Dropbox takes care of all those things and more and it doesn’t cost you a cent to use it. You can watch the screencast and see how it works. I’ll think you’ll be impressed by the cool stuff you can do. Even if you’re not a techie.
Just a few weeks ago we all got to send Uncle Sam some money or perhaps you’re now expecting to get some of your money back from Uncle Sam. Either way tax time serves as a stark reminder of the importance of properly tracking income and expenses. If you haven’t already purchased a software solution you might enjoy this free online bookkeeping software from OutRight. Take a tour and see how it might help you take care of those financial records more efficiently so you have more time to sell.
How Fear Impacts Sales Success
You have no income and almost nothing to show for your hard work but a bruised ego. You can’t pay your bills. You wonder if you should just give up… or if you should do some refinancing to keep your business going and pay down debt.
Or perhaps you’re unemployed searching for your next job in a world where jobs are about as easy to find as golden eggs.
You’re gripped by real fear. You’re caught up in the emotion of the fear you live with. The more fearful you get the worse things get, and the worse things get the more your fear escalates.
Everything you see everything you experience validates your fears and proves you’re right to feel fear.
Abraham Maslow came up with something he called Maslow’s Hierarchy. Basically he derived the conclusion that until your most basic human needs for oxygen, water, food, clothing, and shelter are met you can’t move to higher levels of need like love and self-fulfillment.
Here’s why this is important to you now if you are in a state of fear. If you’re in a position where you can’t take care of your most basic needs, like not being able to pay your bills, then the most important thing for you to do right now is develop a plan to take of these needs.
Borrowing money you don’t have doesn’t take care of your basic needs it delays your ability to take care of your most basic needs because you know you’re digging your hole deeper all the while you’re accumulating debt.
So if you’ve bottomed out the only thing that makes sense for you right now is doing whatever you have to do to take care of your most basic human needs your self. If that means getting a job then do it. If it means getting out from under a loan you’re upside down on so be it. You have to do whatever it takes to get yourself out of this fear mode that results when you can’t take care of your basic needs.
Once you can take care of your needs again the fear will subside. Then and only then will you be able to step outside of your fear and evaluate your situation. At that point you’re ready to look at your situation as if it were someone else. Now that’s important because you have to be able to look at your situation as though it were happening to someone else; so you can distance yourself from the emotions of what has happened, what is happening, and what needs to happen.
Sit down and take a deep breath and begin to play through your current situation as if you are merely an observer. Then you’re ready to begin the process of healing your current circumstances. And you do that by honestly answering a couple simple questions:
When you think about your current challenges where are the opportunities that you haven’t seen until now?
Why are the things you think are true actually false?
I said the questions were simple. I didn’t say they were easy. These are hard questions and it takes strength and maturity to honestly answer them. Yet, that’s what you have to do.
You see when you get caught up in your own fears you can’t see an opportunity even when you’re staring down the barrel of one.
You accept falsehoods as though they were proven truths.
It’s not your fault you fell into the fear trap. Until your most basic human needs are taken care of you can’t think clearly. You can’t focus on the right things or the right way to do those things.
Now that you’re thinking clearly:
What are the right things you must do to make your business succeed?
What is the right way to do those things?
What is the right time for you to start taking those right actions?
What are the right reasons your business deserves to succeed?
How will you find the right people for your business?
Develop your plan, identify your solutions, and take immediate action to implement those solutions. When you get these things right you’ll never have to look back and live with the fear that you’re living with now.
Anyone who can successfully sell should never have to beg anyone anytime for a job ever. You have what it takes to write your own ticket. You can work wherever for whomever you choose.
Or perhaps you’re unemployed searching for your next job in a world where jobs are about as easy to find as golden eggs.
You’re gripped by real fear. You’re caught up in the emotion of the fear you live with. The more fearful you get the worse things get, and the worse things get the more your fear escalates.
Everything you see everything you experience validates your fears and proves you’re right to feel fear.
Abraham Maslow came up with something he called Maslow’s Hierarchy. Basically he derived the conclusion that until your most basic human needs for oxygen, water, food, clothing, and shelter are met you can’t move to higher levels of need like love and self-fulfillment.
Here’s why this is important to you now if you are in a state of fear. If you’re in a position where you can’t take care of your most basic needs, like not being able to pay your bills, then the most important thing for you to do right now is develop a plan to take of these needs.
Borrowing money you don’t have doesn’t take care of your basic needs it delays your ability to take care of your most basic needs because you know you’re digging your hole deeper all the while you’re accumulating debt.
So if you’ve bottomed out the only thing that makes sense for you right now is doing whatever you have to do to take care of your most basic human needs your self. If that means getting a job then do it. If it means getting out from under a loan you’re upside down on so be it. You have to do whatever it takes to get yourself out of this fear mode that results when you can’t take care of your basic needs.
Once you can take care of your needs again the fear will subside. Then and only then will you be able to step outside of your fear and evaluate your situation. At that point you’re ready to look at your situation as if it were someone else. Now that’s important because you have to be able to look at your situation as though it were happening to someone else; so you can distance yourself from the emotions of what has happened, what is happening, and what needs to happen.
Sit down and take a deep breath and begin to play through your current situation as if you are merely an observer. Then you’re ready to begin the process of healing your current circumstances. And you do that by honestly answering a couple simple questions:
When you think about your current challenges where are the opportunities that you haven’t seen until now?
Why are the things you think are true actually false?
I said the questions were simple. I didn’t say they were easy. These are hard questions and it takes strength and maturity to honestly answer them. Yet, that’s what you have to do.
You see when you get caught up in your own fears you can’t see an opportunity even when you’re staring down the barrel of one.
You accept falsehoods as though they were proven truths.
It’s not your fault you fell into the fear trap. Until your most basic human needs are taken care of you can’t think clearly. You can’t focus on the right things or the right way to do those things.
Now that you’re thinking clearly:
What are the right things you must do to make your business succeed?
What is the right way to do those things?
What is the right time for you to start taking those right actions?
What are the right reasons your business deserves to succeed?
How will you find the right people for your business?
Develop your plan, identify your solutions, and take immediate action to implement those solutions. When you get these things right you’ll never have to look back and live with the fear that you’re living with now.
Anyone who can successfully sell should never have to beg anyone anytime for a job ever. You have what it takes to write your own ticket. You can work wherever for whomever you choose.
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