0:02
Welcome to design for the creative mind, a podcast for interior designers and creative entrepreneurs to run their business with purpose, efficiency and passion. Because, well, every design is different, the process should remain the same. Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the woowoo. And probably a swear word or two. If you're ready to stop trading your time for money, and enjoy your interior design business. You are in the right place. I'm your host, Michelle Lynn.
0:49
Hey, people, welcome back to the podcast. I'm so happy that you are here. Because today's guest is going to be addressing a topic that I think we can all get better at. Her name is Nikki Roush. She is the CEO of sales Maven. And she has the unique ability to transform the misunderstood, misunderstood process of selling with 25 plus years of selling experience, entrepreneurs and small business owners now hire Nikki, to show them how to sell successfully. And authentically. Nikki has written three books. They're all available on Amazon. And she has a podcast called sales Maven, which you can find on your favorite podcast platform. So Nikki, thanks for being here.
1:39
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. Sales Maven.
1:45
Right? Yes, and this is such a topic that I think is so Oh, I think it can be a little intimidating, a little overwhelming and something that individuals who haven't been exposed to a sales position really, I think oftentimes will shy away. So yeah, this is going to be fantastic. It's gonna be fantastic. Let's let's start with your origin story. Where what's your background? How did you get into this area of teaching people about selling? Well,
2:16
my first professional job at a college was a commission sales position. And I was selling technology. And I went that route, because I really was somebody who was driven by I wanted to control my income. When you're a commissioned sales rep, you have a lot of control over you know, like, you work really hard, you sell stuff, you get paid more. And while I was doing that, I kind of moved my way up in the company I was working for became their national sales manager, then I moved up to the manufacturer level. And I started covering a very large territory I was I was one of those roadways, I was traveling all the time, you know, 120 flights a year. And while I was doing that, I was really committed to understanding how it was that I could sell in a way that was really comfortable for me, because I was in a very male dominated industry. And I wanted it to be genuine. I didn't want to be the pushy, like, go out and hunt the big game, salesperson. But I wanted to be the best at what I could be. And I started studying Neuro Linguistic Programming. On the side, when I wasn't traveling. Actually, I was traveling to go and study it. And what I found was it helped me in my my overall communication, which then helped me in my sales, it helped me in all areas of my life with all my relationships. And my business really was born out of, you know, reaching a certain level at the industry that I was in and feeling like what else is out there for me, there could be something maybe more fulfilling. And I kind of fell my way into sales Maven, which was I started to help grow somebody else's business. And I started spending a lot of time around entrepreneurs, specifically women entrepreneurs. And I found that as I got to know some of these really cool super passionate women, they struggled with the sales conversation. But that piece was something I knew how to do. And I started helping somebody on the side. And my business was really born out of them getting really phenomenal results, using the things that I just knew how to do and teaching them how to do it. So here I am. 10 years later, I have the best gig in the whole world. And I get to teach women how to bring more money into their businesses and make a bigger impact and do it in a genuine authentic way that doesn't feel icky and gross.
4:44
Yeah, I love that because I think when I was younger or even before I got into my official sales position back in 1902 You say sales and I'm always picturing like the like the used car sale was meant kind of greasy and trying to just, you know, take take one over on you. So especially for women I love you've got a very rapt audience. Yeah. What? Okay, so right now our audience, right is for the most part, a lot of our sales will go into maybe some networking, social media. But I feel like social media, sometimes it just feels like people are coming at you. Yeah. Can we have these quote unquote, conversations? How can we talk with people instead of at them? Yeah. Let's say on the gram. Yeah.
5:41
So one of the one of the things is we do get talked out all day long, we get talked out on social media, we get talked out by people who show up in our inboxes. And that doesn't make connection. And this is kind of one of the misconceptions about sales, is people think sales is something you do to somebody. And I teach that sales is something you do with. So it's a collaboration. And a collaboration means a conversation. And the way you have conversations, whether it's on social media, or alive, or in email, or however you're communicating with people, is through conversation. Conversation happens through questions. And this is a really missed art, on social media in particular, specifically on the ground, because a lot of people like to like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to share this tip, or I'm going to share this story. But they never think about, are you creating curiosity by sharing the story? Are you invoking the reader to want to engage? So one of the things you can do is start asking questions before you launch into the story to get their brain active. So instead of saying, like, here's this amazing project that I just did, look at this kitchen, look how happy this client is, blah, blah, blah, which is super interesting. But when if you said, What is one thing that you want to change about your kitchen? Here's what my client wanted to change. And here's what we did. Because by asking a question, first and foremost, the reader starts to go, what is that thing that I want to change about my kitchen? Because our brains are like Google, if you ask Google, any kind of question, right now, it tries to give you an answer. So our brains are the same way. So we have to ask questions, in order for the reader to really get engaged in by asking their brain the question, and their brain trying to answer the question. Now they're more interested in reading your answer to the question.
7:39
That's freaking genius.
7:44
I love the I love when that word is used around me. Thank you. I'll take that as the highest compliment.
7:51
That and it's interesting. It's simple. It's not necessarily easy, but it's simple.
7:55
Yeah, it's supposed to be simple. Because sales isn't supposed to be difficult or weird or awkward. It's supposed to be easy. Oh,
8:04
I love that. Yeah. And it's sales happens to people who want to be sold. Yeah. So why not sell them your product instead of, you know, W designer down the street selling their product to them? Service?
8:19
Yeah, exactly. And back to kind of what I said here about that, you got to ask them a question. The way to earn business is to ask for it. Because if you don't ever ask anybody for their business, their brain will never tell them the answer yes or no? Doesn't mean you're going to just get it. And I don't mean like the shotgun approach to sales, where you just show up in everybody's inbox and word vomit all over them and talk at them. But let's start asking questions. And never be afraid to ask somebody, what would it take to earn your business? Because if they don't know the answer, you have no chance of earning their business because they haven't thought about the answer yet.
8:59
Yeah, and especially when you're on social media, because you're not in a selling mindset. You're just kind of in a scrolling mindset. So you have to almost stop them and redirect their
9:09
thoughts. Yes, you gotta slow down. Whether you're, you know, whether you're doing a live event, I've done many trade shows in my over my career. One year, I counted. I did 100 trade shows in one year. So yeah, it's crazy, right? So the thing is, is whether you're doing a trade show, and people are walking by your booth, whether you're on social media, and people are scrolling by your feed, we've got to slow people down. And asking somebody a question is a great way to slow them down.
9:40
And it sounds like that's almost like developing a relationship versus just giving them a pitch.
9:47
Yeah, cuz if you don't have permission to pitch if you don't have permission to sell to somebody, you shouldn't be frankly, because they're not even in a mindset of being open to hearing it. You know, we all know Like if you stop at the grocery store on your way home, and you're just going in to pick up like one little thing for, you know, for dinner tonight, or maybe you just need some milk or some eggs or something, and somebody jumps out in front of you before you even enter the store, and they're trying to get you to sign something or buy something, you're a little put off by it, right? Because you're like, I came here to this store specifically to get this one thing. Who are you? What do you want? Why are you taking up my time? Well, it's the same thing with social media. And it's the same thing in people's inboxes. If you don't have permission to be there, you shouldn't be selling to somebody, they're not ready to hear from you, and they're gonna shut you down.
10:41
And is that what you call relationship? Sales,
10:44
I do call that relationship selling. For me. It's about issuing invitations, and having permission. So for instance, you know, the when the one of the ways that you get permission, as you just asked the question, is this something you'd be open to hearing about? Is this something about chatting about? You know, do you have a project coming up where you might need a designer? Ask those questions before you launch into, hey, I drove by your house and it looks terrible, you really should hire a designer. Like we all get that rate with our website. Like, I can't tell you how many times somebody told me how horrible My website is, and how it needs to be redesigned? And I'm always offended by it. Because it's like, well, first of all, who are you? I didn't give you permission to critique my website. But if somebody showed up and said, Hey, Nikki, have when's the last time you updated your website? Are you thinking about doing an upside a website update? I might be like, maybe what do you got for me? Because they asked me a question. And they had my acknowledgement and permission to move forward first. Oh, my
11:42
gosh, it makes so much sense because I get those emails, too. It's like, we ran a diagnostic on your website. And basically, it sucks. Yeah, fuck. Okay, great. Thanks. I really would like to hire you. But I asked me, Would you like us to give you the results of it? That might be a little bit easier to palette? Yeah,
12:02
yeah. I was attributed as to like, if somebody walks by you, and they've got a piece of paper, and they just like, slice at your fingers as much as possible. And you end up with all these paper cuts. And they come back and they go, Oh, bless your heart. Sweetheart, you're bleeding. I sell band aids. Would you like to buy them? You kind of feel like I'm bleeding? Because you caught me. Now, I don't want to buy band aids from you like you.
12:27
Yeah, exactly. Oh, that's funny. So, okay, so one of the things that I teach is, and we do a free workshop a few times a year is literally like my sales process. We call it rolling in the dough, how to qualify, quote, and close high end clients, blah, blah, blah.
12:49
It's my sales process. Tell me like, What are the steps of an effective sales process, I need to take notes and see if we're in the right in the right.
13:01
I'm sure what you're doing look at you, you're super successful, I'm sure what you're doing is working. And, frankly, if what you're doing is working, and it's different than what I'm suggesting, you know, keep doing what you're doing. But I do teach a five step process to a sales conversation. And there are five steps to it. I call it the selling staircase. And the reason I call it that is because most people understand that the way you go up a staircase is one step at a time. Yes. And the way you have effective sales conversations is one step at a time. And when you know what step you're on in a conversation, it's easy to know what to do are saying next. Yeah, but if you're just trying to skip from one step, like I meet you, and I try to close you, that's when it gets awkward and weird, and uncomfortable. So we've got to make it easy. We have to guide people, frankly, because they don't know how to give you their money off the bat. Your job is to earn that money and make it easy for them and and guide them along the way. So I teach this five step process to a sales conversation. Step one is let
14:04
me know the sales conversation is like it's not just one telephone call. It is like the over the course of a couple of conversations, or is it one conversation? It
14:17
could be one phone call, or it could be over multiple conversations both on Okay, knowing what step you're on in the process, helps you know what to do are saying next. So sometimes there will be multiple conversations that happen, although oftentimes I find that my clients when they have when they hire me, we find that they've been slowing down the conversation. And it's kind of like saying to somebody, like, oh, slow down, don't pay me yet. Calm down. You know, don't get in a hurry to pay me and think about this. You're creating roadblocks. You don't need to create roadblocks, you're selling to adults. So sometimes we can close faster. But it really is taking your cues from your client and where are they? Where are they in the conversation? And are you picking up the cues? And are you issuing the invitations from one step to the next? All right, I'm ready. Okay. Okay, step one is what I call the introduction step. And the objective of this step is to create a powerful first impression. And that can happen online that can happen in your website that can happen in that first initial meeting. And what you're doing here is you're you're recognizing that people are making judgments about you. And you're setting yourself and them up for success by making a powerful first impression. That is going to lead them going like, oh, okay, I'm, I'm in a, I'm in the right conversation here. So we've got to create safety in that in that conversation. Step two, in the in the selling conversation is what I call creating curiosity. This is the second step, it's the most misstep. Most people if you ask them, Do you know how to create curiosity, when you're talking about your business or talking about your services? They go? What now? What do you mean, create curiosity? Because most people don't even think about creating curiosity. But if you're not creating curiosity, I can guarantee you're leaving money on the table, you're walking away from people who would potentially hire you, or who would sign up for that next level package with you. Because they don't know what you know, your job is to create that pique that curiosity and have them going, what does that mean? Tell me more about that. Or you got to open the door for them to want to ask you questions, too. So you do that by creating curiosity. So like the most basic example I've already even given you, which is on social media ask a question. Because if you ask somebody a question, you let their brain answer it, whether they answer it to you or not, they're more interested in hearing your answer than to the question that piques their curiosity, because they're like, Well, this is my answer, what's yours? That's just one way, there's lots of ways to do it. Step three, in a sales conversation is what I call discovery. Now, some people will call this their console call. You might call it your sales call, whatever you call, it doesn't matter. But the objective of Step three is to understand does this person have a problem a need or a want? Do I have a solution that meets that need? Or want? Do I want to? Do I want this person's business because as a business owner, you get to decide? And then and then if the answer to all of that is yes, they have a need? Yes, I have a solution. Yes, I would like to earn their business, then we're going to move them to step four, in the selling conversation, which I call the proposal. That sounds very formal. And sometimes it is. And I think for designers, a lot of times it does involve signing up proposals signing a contract. And for some people, it's it's not that ended up that could be just through a conversation. And in step four, this is where you're laying out your offer. This is truly where you're selling. And you're selling based on all the information you gathered in step three, so it feels personalized, and feels specific to the person you're in conversation with. And then step five goes very closely with step four, it's the second most missed step in the sales conversation. And that's the close. And that's where you're actually issuing closed language. Now, people who are uncomfortable with sales, or people who are usually it's uncomfortable sales, or they just don't know what they don't know, oftentimes, they skip step five, because they never issue the close question. And if you don't issue close questions, you never make it easy for somebody to decide to hire you. So once you've laid out your offer, you have to follow up with close language. And that's usually in that same conversation. But if you're going to, like send somebody a proposal, for instance, because I find this I actually work with a lot of designers, and they're like, I just want to send them the proposal. So I don't have to talk the money. But I'm like, That's a mistake. You can send the proposal, but you've got to walk them through it. Yeah. And then you have to ask for the business so that their brain can say yes, no, I have a question. I have an objection or something else. But if you don't ever give them the opportunity to make that yes, no decision. Oftentimes, they won't hire you. And it's not because they don't need you. It's because you didn't make it easy. And their brains are tired, they have decision fatigue. And they'll just wait until some other designer comes along and makes it easy for them to do business with them and they'll get the business.
19:33
Absolutely. And I've I have come across that with I think it was a financial advisor, like back in the day. And I was asking about something else. And he said, Well, I do that. And I'm like, Oh, bummer. I just hired somebody else to do it. And I don't know if it was financial planning, but it was one of those things where it's like if they don't know that this is what you do, and then you ask them for it. It's it's money that you've just let slip through your fingers. Exactly. Hey. So, um, no that lines up. That's interesting. Is there a is there a $1 amount that you would almost associate a conversation with? Or asking for the sale right then and there? Or giving them a court like a courtship? High the high like a high end offer? Does that change your sales process?
20:30
Not my process now. Because I always give people the opportunity to pay me money on the call. Now they can say, oh, you know, I don't have $100,000 on me or my credit card, you know, or whatever, we can have that conversation. But no, I, I'm never going to make assumption. Well, no, never. I try not to make assumptions about my client. So I'm going to let them tell me what they want to do. And the reason they're going to tell me is because I ask, so I'm going to issue that close language, I'm going to say, is this something you'd like to get started with? For instance, that's an example of close language and they go, yes, let's get started, then I'm gonna say the first step is to make the down payment or whatever the first step in in your processes often for me, the first step is, so you pay for the service, and then we get your appointment scheduled? Yeah, like that's pretty common in my business, contract and sign the check. Yeah. And I will take the check before they sign the contract. I'm happy to take the credit card and the check before they sign the contract. Because worst case scenario, they come back and go, I'm not signing this contract. I give them their money back. Best case scenario is I've already got the money. And now they're like, Well, of course, I'm going to sign the contract already paid her. Yeah,
21:47
that makes sense. It's, it's so interesting. As we're talking, I'm thinking about this weekend, I was signing up for something and I didn't sign the contract. I didn't fill out the form, but I paid. Yeah. Okay, so she's gonna save my spot, even if she doesn't know my mailing address or whatever big deal. Okay, because now
22:07
you're in right. And now you're committed to whatever it is that you signed up for, because you paid money. And that's the way you help your clients feel peace of mind. Is once they've paid you money, they know like, Oh, Michelle is working for me now. Yeah. Right. And now Now they can feel secure in their decision. Oh, how fun.
22:25
What you do have a pretty good gig. I have to learn how to do this. Yeah. What's your favorite just kind of changing? Going? Having a hard time talking going down a tangent, different questions, whatever production, you're gonna have to fix this, or not, and just leave, and we're laughing about it. Because my mouth and my mind are not working together. But my point, I guess the question I'm trying to ask you, Nikki is what the what is the favorite part of the favorite aspect of the work that you do? The
22:55
favorite aspect for me is to see the confidence that my clients, their confidence grow. And in their own, their own, their own selves, really like their own ability their own. It like reaffirms for them that what they're doing is the right thing for them to do, right. Because most people go into, especially entrepreneurs, they do something they're passionate about, right? So if it's an interior designer, you know, there is something very satisfying and having people say, yes, you're my interior designer, yes, I want to work with you. It it like it lights people up inside. And the way that happens is by selling, you have to sell your services. In order for you to get that feeling of somebody going Yes, I pick you, I pick you over all the other options out there. So I love to see that confidence grow. And then, you know, for me, and this is why I specialize and primarily work with women is because I know that when women make money, they make a bigger impact in their business in their, you know, for their employees, for their team for their families and for their communities. And I really love to be around people who want to make an impact. Oh, I
24:14
love that. I absolutely love that. I knew there was a reason why I was asking you that question. It just popped into my head. But yes, being able to empower others to just have that independence. And the authority. Love, love. Love it. So what how would you say you can increase when you're having these client conversations, and I'm kind of looking for the magic, the magic bullet and I know there's not one, but how can you increase your influence when you're having these conversations? Like how do you direct it or how do you
24:54
navigate that? The way to increase influence in conversations. There's kind of two ways you Is, is to ask questions because the person who's asking questions has the most influence in a conversation. And I think this kind of goes against what most people think selling is. They think, oh, I have to be on, I have to do a dog and pony show I have to impress this person, I have to, like, you know, knock their socks off with my knowledge. But realistically, by asking smarter questions, and letting the other person go, Michelle asked some good questions, I wouldn't have thought of that. It actually elevates your influence in the conversation and elevates your credibility. So learning how to ask better questions will increase your influence. And then I always say my all time favorite quote is, Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape. And I truly believe that what I teach adds flexibility to people's conversational skills. And when you have flexibility, you have influence, because the more flexible you are in a conversation, where you can bob and weave, and you can go this way and that way, and you can answer this question and come back to this other question. Without feeling like I have to read from a script or I have to try to do it like somebody else is doing it, you can be your authentic self, and allows your confidence to grow. And again, you have more influence, when you can be flexible.
26:23
I love that because also for say young hell, it doesn't matter how long you've been in business, you always learn something. Yeah. So asking questions of our prospective clients, or after they, you know, going into the design development phase. One of the things that a lot of us, myself included, feel like is that we need to know everything. But if you're asking questions, you're you're showing up and not only are you learning on the job, but you are positioning yourself as an authority by asking the questions. Boom, why wouldn't we ask questions? Yeah,
27:02
I think people think well, asking questions means I don't know anything. No, it doesn't. It shows respect to the other person, that you that you're looking for them to share their expertise, what it is that they want, what it is that important to them, and they're giving you all the information that you need in order to earn your business. Yeah, yep. Yeah,
27:24
it's a fact finding mission. Yeah, we need a little magnifying glass. Like, I was gonna say, Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss, like the who's the detective? Sherlock.
27:35
Sherlock Holmes? Yes. I was like, it's right there. Okay.
27:40
I have a five year old we were reading Dr. Seuss last night. So Oh, yeah. crazy kid. So. Okay, so let me go back and recap the this, the sales map the steps of an effective sales process. The first one was just an introduction in the first impression, making the introduction
28:02
making a powerful first impression discovery
28:05
and like a consultation, presenting the proposal and then using closing like closing using closing language like, if this makes sense to you, are you ready to move forward? Do you have any questions? Are you ready to move forward? It's that simple.
28:22
It's simple is saying like, should we go ahead and get your first session scheduled? Or should we schedule our, you know, time to meet when I deliver designs to you or whatever it is that come to your business? It's just the ask.
28:34
Hmm. Okay. And then I think one of the things that came up off camera before we came before we came on here was why should you have a high end offer.
28:46
The reason you should have a high end offer, there's a couple reasons. But the main one is because it's an anchor for the offer you most want to sell. So if I asked this all the time of my clients, what's the thing you most want to sell? And they tell me and then we look at it, we go, okay, we need to put an offer above it. And the reason we put an offer up above it is because you anchor the bigger package or the higher priced offer. And you have to use top down selling when you deliver this offer to make this this anchor work. So for instance, if I'm having a conversation with you, and let's say you want a remodel done of your kitchen, I'm sticking with kitchens today. So if we want to remodel done of the kitchen, we might give them three options. We might say, you know, Option A is the Elite Package. I'm just making this up. It's a neat package. It's got everything, all the feeds and speeds you get instant access to me anytime you need me in the next six months, it's bobble blah, blah, blah, right? And that package is I'm just going to make up a price that's $100,000 package. But let's let's say that what you said to me is what I really want to sell is our gold level package. So that becomes our middle package. So when I say now the step down from that is the gold package, this is the most popular package. And here's what you get in there. And then of course, we have a basic package, which includes these things, but you give up all these other things that we talked about, of those three, which do you prefer? Now, here's the thing, this is why you do top down is because as humans, we don't like to give things up. We have attacked, like, we come out of the womb, as babies already knowing how to grasps things like, you know, get around a little baby, get some long hair, and you know what it's like that little baby grasp on to that hair. And yet, so we don't want to have to teach that it's human nature to grasp and want to hold on to things. So when you go top down, and you create a high ticket offer that sits above the offer you want to sell. Now somebody goes, well, maybe we don't need the, the Elite Package. But now the gold is looking very attractive. So it allows for them to pick the options, that's the best solution for them. And then, and they're happy, right? Now, if you go bottom up, which is what most people do, right now, you're saying, you gotta pay more to get more, and that doesn't feel good. We don't like that. We're like, I gotta pay more to get more. Whereas if you start at the top, you go, here's the $100,000 package. Here's the $70,000 package. And here's the $50,000 package of these three, which do you prefer? And they go, Well, maybe I don't need the $100,000 package. But I want more than what's in the 50. So the 70 now looks really good. Now, it doesn't mean that they're always going to pick the middle package, but it does allow their brain to make a better decision for themselves. Because now they're not just basing it off of price. They're basing it off of what they get. And what they don't want to give up.
31:56
What they want to get and what they don't want to give up. Yeah. That's, again, genius. It's just, it's so again, it's so simple, but it's very helpful yet. It is
32:11
and yeah, and it's not. It's not about doing anything that's out of integrity. It's not trying to like, Oh, I'm trying to get something over on somebody, you're putting decisions in front of them, and you're allowing them to choose. You're just doing it in an easy way that lets their brain go, oh, okay, this makes sense to me. And I don't want to lose these things with Michelle, I don't want to lose this access, or I don't want to lose this extra thing that she's giving. So I'm going to make a decision that makes sense for for me,
32:42
right? And heck, if they buy that upper package, Oh darn.
32:47
Oh, I always tell my clients, when we create anchor offers, make sure that anchor offer is something that you are going to be okay delivering when people buy it because they will buy it. I had a client where I just did this for her, we created an anchor offer. And the very next time she presented it, somebody picked the anchor offer. And she was like, Nikki, I can't believe I've never sold a package that big before. And so she was so delighted by it. But now and she's excited to deliver it right. So yeah,
33:17
that all those zeros after it, it doesn't, it doesn't suck.
33:20
No, it feels great. Feels great to you. And it feels really good to the person who chose it. Absolutely.
33:27
Yeah, they're getting the top of the line. Yeah. So I love learning. I think I might have mentioned it. Before, when we were still off, Mike, that these conversations are so selfish for me. Because I love going, you know, just gathering this information from all of these, you know, really smart people that come on my podcast. So I want to go into kind of a different direction and learn a little bit more about you and kind of how you navigate your business as well. Okay. And I guess I would say when when do you think about your business strategy? Is this something on a daily basis, a weekly basis? How do you how do you navigate being your own entrepreneur?
34:18
Well, I think about it regularly, and I do things and put myself from a business strategy standpoint, one of one of my strategies is to make sure that I am putting myself in rooms with people that are ahead of me in business, people who've achieved something that I aspire to achieve. I really want to be in those rooms. So I'm almost always in some type of a mastermind or some type of a program where it's bringing together bringing together like elite people and and oftentimes I always say like I'm the I'm the very very small fish in the paned? Because I want to learn. And I know that by being around these other people, that's one of the ways that I learned. So I do that regularly, I'm always in some type of a program or some type of a mastermind, so that I'm learning that way. And that, to me is usually focused on some area of business strategy. The one I've been focused on recently is leadership. Because that's an area where I know I need to up my game.
35:25
That that that makes sense. I think as entrepreneurs, we always have to be learning otherwise, just gonna stagnate and die. Yeah, would you? Are you an introvert or an extrovert,
35:37
I'm actually more on the introverted side.
35:41
Which is, I feel the same way. It's like, if I'm good with a one on one, but you put me in a crowd, and it's a whole different story, can I just hide in the corner,
35:48
I love to sit in the corner and just have a one on one conversation. Although the salesperson in me doesn't allow that, like, I have strategies that I go into rooms with, that I have to fulfill. So yeah, so I do I do one, that's, that's called the three to one of net like, if I'm networking, I do something called the three to one of networking. I actually teach a class on this too. So I go into a room with this idea that I want to, I want to connect with three new people, that's the three of the three to one. And when I say connect, for me, it's about making report deposits. I always think every single person I come into contact with I have a report bank account. And you're either making deposits or withdrawals. And I want to make deposits as often as possible, because I'm human, and I make mistakes. And sometimes I make withdrawals, unfortunately, out of accounts, so three new people I want to make deposits with. And then the two of the three to one is I want to make additional deposits with two people who I already know, I want to deepen connection with them in some way, learn something new about them, offer to be a resource in some way, some way to make another deposit into that account. And then the one for me of the three to one is to invite one of those five people to a conversation that is outside whatever the event is. So it could be inviting them to get on a call to talk about ways to work together ways to collaborate, could be inviting them to come on to a podcast or asking if I could be on their podcast, right? Like, there's some thing that we're going to schedule outside of the event. So that's my three to one of networking. That's one of my strategies,
37:29
and that makes you walk in the room with intention instead of just hanging out by the Punchbowl.
37:37
And then once once I've achieved my three to one, then if I want to go sit in the corner, I allow myself to do that, because the introvert in me needs it. But oftentimes, it's a way to like measure when I leave the event and I go okay, Nikki, how did you do? Well, you know, maybe I met four new people, but maybe only reconnected with one person. And maybe I didn't invite anybody for next step. So it helps me know. Okay, so next time, I need to be more specific, and I need to really look for these opportunities, and plant seeds create curiosity to open the door for these opportunities to happen,
38:12
or not go back to that group, because they're not your people. Oh,
38:15
yeah, that's the other thing is yeah, I'm gonna measure whether or not you know, and one of the ways I usually will do that is, are people in there doing business together? Because if they're not doing business with each other, they're probably not my group. Because I want to hang around with people that want to like, lift each other up, and look for ways to collaborate and do business together. Love that.
38:38
Yeah, that makes us it makes sense. And I think that that's something that we have to be very we have to edit very much our efforts. Because we can go and show up to these networking events. But if none of them are converting, just because you're networking does not mean that it's working. It's not working networking. Yeah, I
39:02
always call that ladies that lunch. Yes, super fun to be a ladies that lunch. But that is not a business activity. So if it's not generating business, if you're not moving your business forward in some way, then you're doing ladies that lunch, and you need to decide how much time are you going to really dedicate to that?
39:18
Absolutely. That's what's so true ladies that lunch is so what would you be doing if you weren't in this business?
39:27
Oh, gosh, well, I probably wouldn't be back in a professional sales role or in a management role for managing sales teams, but I guess if I had like the big big dream, I would either maybe be a writer.
39:42
Oh, really?
39:43
I do love to write.
39:44
Oh, fun. A fiction nonfiction.
39:47
Ah, well, I've written three books, but none of them are fiction. So it's all nonfiction stuff. Would you keep going? I might explore the idea of writing fiction like just to see if I could do it. Hmm, I like the idea of challenging myself to do something I haven't done before. What
40:04
are the three books that you have on Amazon led the audience? I have
40:08
six word lessons on influencing with grace. That is from my NLP background. So it's 100 mini lessons on NLP. And the second book I wrote was called
40:17
for the audience that I didn't even clarify this earlier. What is NLP? Oh,
40:22
sorry. It's neuro linguistic programming. So it has to do with the way you process information in your brains. That's the neuro part. Linguistics is language. And then the programming is about habits and patterns. It's essentially the study of communication, and being able to pay attention to how people communicate, and how you communicate to make more impact and have more influence influencing with grace.
40:44
Amazing, I haven't studied it, but it's on my list. Maybe by the time I'm 90, but then. Okay, so that's one of your books.
40:56
Yep. The second one is called buying signals. So that's all about the how to recognize and act on a buying signal when somebody gives one to you. And then the last book, my most recent book is called the selling staircase, which is my five step framework for the sales conversation,
41:11
that I love that we will make sure those are in the show notes, because I'd love it if people would click through to Amazon and and get the books, y'all get the books. What is a book that you've read recently that you would recommend? And you know what it doesn't even have to be? It can be personal or professional? Is there anything you read that you enjoy that you would pass on?
41:35
Think about this, I just read a book called Wait, I want to say it's called wayward. And what it's so it's fiction, but I what I really loved about it is it was the story of women, three women, three different generations of women. And just the way that they had to find that inner strength within themselves. All of them had challenges with partners and with men, and, you know, having things done to them, instead of it. But for each of them, they found their own way to like live their own truth and find that that power within which I love.
42:16
That sounds good. Sounds great. Yeah, I wrote that down. I wrote that down, have it written down. So I would say, wrapping this up, anybody who's listening, you're a CEO, if you're the CEO of your business, it's just part of our job to be out there developing business and getting it and being comfortable with it. So go get go get Nicky's books. Or so I think everybody here is really, I'm, if y'all are still listening, I'm assuming that they've really enjoyed this conversation. How can how can our audience where can they connect with you?
43:02
I'm going to wrap it around a gift for the audience, if that's okay, absolutely. I have a mini training called Mastering the sales conversation. So I go into more detail of all of the five steps. And you can get that will be my gift to you. And you can get it by going to your sales maven.com. And then d f t cm for designed for the creative mind. So d f t cm, that's for your audience, that will be my gift to you. And then we'll be connected.
43:28
Love that. I'll make sure those are in the show notes as well thanking you. I'm gonna go download that as well. Like I said, we always have to be learning otherwise, we're dying. So I'll make sure that those details are in the show notes. Are you on Instagram, LinkedIn, all the things all the
43:46
things you can find me under sales Maven, or Nikki Roush I'm, I'm on there in all
43:50
places. At this point, it's not like we want to hide, right? No,
43:55
I'm out there for sure. And come listen to the podcast salesman. That's another great way to connect.
43:59
Absolutely. Just that little, little voice in your ear telling you that you can do it. And here's here's some hints how awesome well, y'all if you want a business bestie and somebody sending you business tips, encouraging words and event updates directly to your fingertips. Text bestie 285578 480 to 99. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to send you regular I think we're like three days a week. It's not a lot of spam, but it's encouragement. It's business tips, it's updates as to where my team and I are going to be. So again, you can text bestie to 85578 480 to 99 and stay in touch. So choose to be great today. Thank you so much, Nikki for being here. Hey y'all. If you love the show and find it useful, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your friends and followers and If you like what you're hearing, want to put a face with a name, and get even more business advice, then join me in my Facebook group, the interior designers business launch pad. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feet. It's fun. I promise you'll enjoy it. And finally, I hear it's good for business to get ratings on your podcast. So please drop yours on whatever platform you use to listen to this. We're all about community over competition. So let's work on elevating our industry, one designer at a time. See you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
