Page 6 - NBIZ Magazine February 2023

does everything to help the customer purposeful and emotionally intelli- Possibly the scariest door to open
or client make a decision. The hard gent, the outcome will not increase is the “risk door”. This door allows the
sell attitude is gone and replaced sales and may harm the existing businessperson to be exposed to other
with a more emotionally intelligent established relationship. doors. However, the individual or
sales attitude. Remembering the words issued small business must cross the thresh-
In his book To Sell Is Human, Daniel over 19 centuries ago by Greek phi- old of this door.
Pink provides a great resource to losopher Epictetus who said: “Nature In order for a small business to
understand the impact of emotional hath given men one tongue but two take risks, the business must first
intelligence on sales. Pink references ears, that we may hear from others understand risk management, which
the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. This twice as much as we speak” may assist is the process of locating, assessing,
movie is about a real estate company small businesspeople when reaching and controlling possible threats to the
with four salespeople. The owner out to existing clients. When outreach small business’s financial stability.
brings in Blake who derides the sales- is made to existing clients, one high- This process is multi-dimensional in
people and throws in some fear by the lights Epictetus’ words. that it looks at different types of risk
threat of being fired. Blake shares the For example, in giving a client a from strategic to new product devel-
ABCs of Always Be Closing to move purposeful call, possibly by asking opment, etc. By returning to strategic
buyers to sign on the dotted line. “Do you have a couple of minutes?” thinking or the planning process,
Pink redefined ABCs as Attune- respects the individual. If the client’s risk management is undertaken.
ment, Buoyancy, and Clarity based on response is “yes” then the call must Risk does involve overcoming
actual scientific research. Attunement be purposeful. Making a statement of fear. For some fear is defined as
starts with perspective and has three “just checking in” probably has turned False Evidence Appearing Real.
principles. The first principle is to off the client because you now sound The previous statistics indicate that
increase your power by reducing it like everyone else. For example, if during downtimes those businesses
(focus on the buyer, not on you). Pink something important has happened that were not fearful maintained or
also shared some research about an in the client’s industry, it would be expanded their marketing efforts had
inverse relationship between power and great to inform them. This important a competitive advantage.
perspective taking place. event may be a cog in the chain wheel There are other acronyms for
Possibly President Theodore that may impact a future order and/or FEAR such as Finding, Excuses, and
Roosevelt internally knew this when harm his or her business. Reasons to Face Every Alarm Reason-
he stated: “No one cares how much ably. My favorite is Face Everything
you know until they know how much And Rise.
you care.” When one faces the facts known
Principle number two is “use your and explores risks, he/she is more
head as much as your heart”. This inclined to open that risk door and
principle understands the relationship …during the last cross over the fear threshold. With
between perspective and empathy. mental and physical strength, one
Perspective is a cognitive capacity, recession, 60% can open the other doors of market-
thinking; while empathy is emotional. of brands (big ing, selling, and retaining. With these
The final principle is “mimic stra- steps, one then rises as an individual
tegically”. This principle looks to the businesses) that and business.
human behavior of mirroring which is had increased I believe Henry Ford understood
often subconscious. Pink again provid- cognitive uncertainty and mental
ed documented research that revealed media expenditures strength when he said, “Whether
those “who mimicked their opponents’ realized greater you think you can or you think you
mannerisms were more likely to create cannot, either way, you are right.”
a deal that benefited both parties.” return on Moving forward and rising in times
Those who have been successful in investment (ROI). of economic uncertainty is indeed a
opening a door to increase sales, can matter of choice. And as always, that
open different doors. Unfortunately, Those same brands choice is yours. N
this may not happen because he/she that invested in paid
may still be focused on opening the
same doors to increase sales. advertising secured Leanne Hoagland-Smith is a clarity
The best business strategy to a 17% increase in strategist, solving people and process
increase sales is to return to existing problems. As a thought leader who
customers by keeping in touch with incremental sales. challenges the status quo, she turns
them as well as asking for referrals. tomorrow’s goals into today’s results.
However, if the “keeping” action is not Follow her on Twitter @CoachLee.

6 NBIZ ■ February 2023