The Art of Selling with Integrity: How to Close Everyone without Selling Your Soul with Ryan Lang

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation! JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire! brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Science of Scaling. Today, we'll be breaking down the art of selling with integrity, how to close everyone without selling your soul. To drop these value bombs, I brought Ryan Lang into EO Fire Studios. Ryan combines his expertise in sales marketing and human optimization with transformative whole performance coaching principles to take high achievers and businesses to the next level. We'll talk about doing sales right, Fire Nation.

0:39We'll talk about an incredible seven-step system that has generated insane results for a lot of people, including Tony Robbins and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Ryan and our sponsors. Marketing Made Simple, hosted by my friend, Dr. JJ Peterson, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work. A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must listen. Listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

1:15Is this your year? Visit thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's a month-to-month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at ThriveTimeShow.com. Ryan, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. John, so excited to be here, man. And what's up, Fire Nation? I believe that the juice is in the journey. And what I mean by that is that we talk about success, we talk about entrepreneurship.

1:57Most people get hyper-focused on the outcome. They get hyper-focused on the goal and what they're driving towards. And obviously, that's important because without that destination, we'd have no idea where we were heading. But at the end of the day, I believe that we're missing the boat when we do that. I believe that the real beauty and the real payoff is not the destination or the outcome or the goal or when we get there. I believe that the payoff is in all of the beauty and the magic that happens in the in-between and who we become along the way. Fire Nation, you can tell that value bombs will be dropped today.

2:43As we talk about the art of selling with integrity, how to close everyone without selling your soul. Now, Ryan, when done incorrectly, sales can feel icky, gross, slimy, but you love sales because you do it right. Tell us more. John, I'm sure a lot of people in Fire Nation have probably had this experience that, you know, we hear this a lot of times that sales feels, it feels icky. It feels, it feels intimidating. And a lot of that stems from the experiences that we've had, the sales experiences that we've had or the belief that we have around sales in general. And a lot of that comes from the fact that, listen, the truth is that traditional sales involves doing something to somebody.

3:33And when you're doing sales right, it's doing something with somebody. And that's one of the reasons that I love it, because at the end of the day, I believe that sales is just a deep dive into human communication. And all of, you know, being great at sales is just being great at communicating with other humans in general. And it's one of the reasons that I love it, because I believe that it truly can enrich our lives as opposed to being something that's this big, hairy, scary monster in the room. Now, without sales, no business can succeed. And Ryan, let's be honest, most businesses are getting sales wrong.

4:15So let's get specific about what they're doing wrong and what they should be doing instead. The first thing is that most businesses look at sales as a transactional process. Whereas if you're going to do it right and you're going to succeed over the long term, sales has to be a relational process. process instead of a transactional process. So that's shift number one. When you get away from being transactional, you're no longer, I mean, there are two big keys there. Number one, you're not doing something to someone, but you're also not being self-serving. You're, you know, that's what transactional sales is.

5:00You're doing something to somebody and you're being self-serving in the act of doing it. When you get into doing sales relationally, when it's a relationship game, you're doing something with someone. And at the end of the day, part of the beauty of it is that it's literally understanding how to advocate on behalf of the person that you're connecting with. Because when you decide to get far enough into a sales engagement that you decide to put a solution in front of a prospect, you should be believing that the solution that you have is the exact answer to what they need help with. And that, as our mutual friend Rory Vaden would say, that's our responsibility to be able to go out there and serve people with the solutions that we know will help them solve their problems.

5:54Ryan, one thing that you believe is that there is a secret to sales success that nobody's talking about. So I want to dive into this juicy little secret right now. The juicy secret at the end of the day is spending the majority of your sales interaction asking questions instead of getting so excited about your solution that that's the only thing that you talk about. I've had the great fortune and opportunity to work with thousands of salespeople over the years. And those of us that have a solution, especially that we're very passionate about, we're prone to wanting to go right to that and to talk all about the juicy and exciting things that we love about our product and our solution.

6:43Whereas at the end of the day, the secret is to be able to have a conversation with someone that nobody else in their life will have. The conversation where you're asking the questions that nobody else will ask them, where the level of questioning is not just surface level, but it's literally digging deep enough to understand why it's a must for somebody to make a shift in their life, in their business, whatever it might be. that at the end of the day is the secret because when you can get there and you can truly understand what a person's motivation is for needing to make a change not wanting to but needing to make a change it's it's it's a no-brainer by the time you get to the point that that you know you make the quote-unquote ask in fact it's not an ask at that point it's literally just a handshake like hey, we know what the major problems are.

7:47We know why it's a must for you to do something about them. And we both agree that this is the right solution for you. Fire Nation, circling back to where Ryan started, I mean, are you excited about the solution that you've created to a real problem? I mean, I love saying, hey, create the number one solution to a real problem and you will win because people will beat a path to the doorstep of the number one solution to a real problem that they have. And they will ignore the second best solution to infinity because they want the number one solution to not just any problem, because it may not be painful enough, but to a real problem that they have.

8:27Now, Ryan, being pushy or salesy, I mean, it's never going to work. But if you form genuine relationships, you have a real chance. So how can we accomplish this goal of forming genuine relationships? Yeah, great question. I think the first step is literally being able to operate the majority of your sales interaction with someone in the land of questions. So often what we have a tendency to do throughout sales engagements and where we're pushy and salesy has a tendency to come in is when we're making statements to people about either our beliefs or what they should do or what's right for them instead of asking questions.

9:23I believe wholeheartedly, JLD, that that all of the answers that that we need as human beings are contained inside of us. Oftentimes we just need the right person to be able to draw those answers out of us. And so when you talk about being able to truly be a master of influence and relationship as opposed to being pushy or salesy, it comes down to asking more questions, asking better questions, and making sure that you're not just bringing in, for example, if we talk about somebody's business, we're not just talking about the numbers, you know, that somebody's doing and the KPIs and the revenue and all of that stuff.

10:10We're literally looking at, you know, how are people being impacted in their personal lives? How is their health being impacted? It's another way that, you know, when we're being transactional and pushy and salesy, it all gets focused around the numbers. It all gets focused around the KPIs and the revenue. And when we're truly being masters of influence and relationship, we're digging deeper beyond that to understand the impact that a person's struggles are having throughout their entire life, not just in their business or in their health or in whatever it is that your solution, whatever problem your solution solves.

10:50Now, Fire Nation, if you think value bombs are close to done being dropped, you don't even realize that we have a seven-step system that has generated insane results coming up as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors. Starting your year off strong and accomplishing goals like increasing revenue and faster growth starts with the right selling tools. And for that, there's the all-new Sales Hub from HubSpot. Sales Hub is an all-in-one platform thoughtfully built with the tools and insights you need to communicate on a personal level with every lead, prospect, and customer. Plus, it's powered by AI so your teams can spend less time on tedious, time-consuming stuff and more time developing relationships.

11:35Some of the other platforms out there take months and months to learn and integrate, but with Sales Hub, you can be up, running, and on your way to your best quarter yet in just minutes. I know what you're thinking. sales hub must cost a fortune. Nope. It's free to get started and will grow with your business as it scales. And with more than 1300 integrations and a ton of valuable add-ons, you can customize it to your exact needs. With sales hub, closing deals is no big deal. Head to hubspot.com slash sales to try it for free. Our friends at ZipRecruiter conducted a recent survey and found that the top hiring challenge employers face for 2024 is a lack of qualified candidates.

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14:06Knowledge will not attract money unless it is organized and directed through practical plans of action. Become the next success story. Schedule your free 13-point assessment today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Now, Ryan, we're back. We're actually going to hold off on that seven-step system for one more question. because we will always be facing objections, but you're going to give us the truth behind these objections and how we can artfully overcome them. Let's go. The elephant in the room, right? How do I handle objections? So the first thing is to just understand what objections really are. And the truth is that objections are not somebody saying no.

14:50Um, they're, they're, they're not, they're not being argumentative. Uh, objections in, in, in my belief are really only one of two things. Number one, they're limiting belief. They're limiting belief about what the person is capable of doing or who they are capable of becoming. Number two, uh, they're oftentimes it's, it's just literally the subconscious mind taking over in that moment. They're standing on the precipice of making a decision that could change their lives. They're scared. And it's literally fight or flight response where we go how the subconscious mind is screaming in the background.

15:33Get me out of here, man. You know, whatever it takes, I got to go talk to my wife. I got to get to lunch. I forgot my credit card. Whatever it takes to get us out of this situation is what we do. And so that's the first thing is just understanding the true nature of objections at the end of the day and then shifting into a space. Once we know that that's the case and it's not truly somebody being argumentative or not wanting to make a commitment or what have you, then we can shift into a place of curiosity as opposed to judgment. What we do most often, one of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make in a sales engagement is when there's an objection, there's immediate judgment.

16:20And we start making those problematic statements that I talked about earlier. And that pretty much ends the conversation. When we can go into curiosity and we can start asking questions around those limiting beliefs and asking questions around patterns about how these types of behaviors might be getting in the way in other areas of their lives, objection handling truly becomes very easy because at the end of the day, what we're doing is we're just coaching people past those limiting beliefs in that moment. so that they can actually go claim the life, the business, the health, whatever it might be that they truly deserve at the end of the day.

17:05All right, Fire Nation. Simply put, objections are limiting beliefs or simply the subconscious mind taking over. Now, I've teased it, Ryan. It's time to dive in. You have a seven-step system that has generated insane results for you and also for clients like Tony Robbins. So let's rock those seven steps now. Let's get into it. All right. And I want to pre-frame this by saying that I'm going to give people an opportunity to go actually get this system very easily once we wrap up. So number one, we pre-frame, we pre-frame our engagement. And essentially what we're doing there in that moment is we're spending some time getting intentional about the call.

17:51Um, that involves how we're showing up, what our physiology is like, um, you know, the fact that we're connecting with another human being, as opposed to just walking into a sales engagement cold. Um, in addition to that, we're taking the time to actually frame the conversation. So, you know, John, I'm excited that we're here. Let me take just a moment to, to set some expectations for what we're going to do today. And in the process of doing that, we're setting out expectations for the client. We're explaining what our outcomes are. And we're also asking from them what outcomes they really want to take away from the call.

18:32This is what sets the tone for the call, for the engagement if it's in person. And it's something that's skipped more often than not, which is one of the reasons that the engagements end up feeling, you know, icky or salesy or pushy is that there's no frame at the beginning. So that's step one. Step number two is going through the process of discovery. That's really where we're going to gain a deep understanding of our potential clients' world. That's where we're looking at what are the problems and the struggles that they're showing up with right now. How is that impacting them in their life, in their business, in their health, in whatever arena it is that you serve in?

19:19And then what is it that they really want? And where are they headed with all of this? And the true key in this part of the engagement, John, and Fire Nation is really getting granular on what somebody wants. You have to remember that the magic is in the specifics and not in the general. So as we're asking those questions about the struggles, we're never just asking one question. We're asking a layer of questions to get to the bottom of it. And as we're looking to understand that dream and that goal, we're getting that to a granular, specific level so that the goal is not just, hey, I want to be able to take a vacation to Hawaii.

20:02It's, hey, I want to take a vacation to Hawaii where my wife and I fly first class and we stay at the Ritz Carlton and we've got our friends, you know, John and Kate with us. And it's amazing. And, you know, I paint the full picture. So that's the discovery process. The next piece is number three is just going into a transitional close. And that transitional close is going to tell us whether we're on track. And this is a big piece of the puzzle because most salespeople never even wonder whether they're on track. They just bulldoze their way through the thing. And then at the end, if things don't go the way they want, it's a bit of a fist fight.

20:43So here, we're literally going to use a very simple, if I could, would you? If I could show you a way, John, to remedy the challenges that you talked to me about today, would you be interested in what I have to share with you. Yes. Where do I sign up? Exactly. Right. So if for any reason they say, no, I wouldn't be interested. This is perfect. It's just information. That means we missed something. We need to go back into discovery. If we get the resounding yes, like you just gave me, then it's game on. And let's move on into step four, which is our value add. That's literally where we're going to break down for them, we're going to teach them something.

21:30We're going to break down for them our system of getting results, and we're going to do it at a level that's truly going to serve the outcomes that they're after. One of the biggest keys in this part of the call, John and Fire Nation, is that we really want to take the time to tie our system to the struggles that they're having. This is one of the ways that we miss the boat as salespeople is when we just talk about the solution and we don't artfully link it to each of the struggles that they have and the problems that they have. So we go through truly a bit of a teaching moment where it's a value add.

22:11And this is where, to be honest, we want to create something that's of value to the prospect, no matter whether we end up doing business or not. We want them to walk away going, man, this was one of the most impactful phone calls I've ever had, even though I didn't decide to move forward or even though it wasn't a fit for both of us. Once we've done that, we're moving into step five, which is the tie back close. And that's really, John, a little bit of a recap. cap. That's where we're going, okay, earlier in the call or earlier in our conversation, you talked to me about these things being your struggles.

22:54You told me that because you're struggling with that, this is the ripple effect that it's causing in your life, in your business, et cetera. And this is what you really, really want. Now that I've kind of walked you through the ways that you can get that, can you see how utilizing this system would get you there faster? And once again, it's kind of a mini yes. If we've done things right, we should be right on track at that point. Because once we've done step four, which is our value add, we should know that that's a great solution for somebody. And we're then, again, this is a bit of a formality.

23:38The step Step six is getting into the actual offering. So this is now the simple nuts and bolts of how do you deliver what you're doing? How do you deliver your service? How do you deliver your product? What is the investment? And by the way, that's a, it seems like a simple nuance, but it's important one. I never use the word cost or price. I always use the word investment because at the end of the day, that's what it should be, whether it's in themselves or their business, et cetera. So we simply lay out the offering. And then lastly, it's just getting into the way that you structure your investment.

24:20That's step seven. Are people paying immediately? Are they paying in chunks? Is this a monthly fee? How do we lay that out? What are the options? And then basically just tying it off at the end where we make the ask. John, here are my options. You can do a pay in full. You can pay twice. Let me know which option is best for you and whether or not you want to do it on a card or split it up, etc. So that's pretty much it. Those seven steps, though, have literally generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for me, for my partner, Brooke, and for our company, Empire. and we've done it for small companies, individual clients, and the biggest coaching companies in the world as well, just like you mentioned, Tony Robbins.

25:13Fire Nation, you may need to go back and listen to these seven again because there's so much value here. I wrote down a lot of notes, but one thing I want to circle back to is the magic is in the specifics. I feel like so many people forget about that point. It's so key. It's so important. And Ryan, you had mentioned that you had something for Fire Nation on this line. So give us a key final takeaway that you want to make sure our listeners get from our conversation, the call to action to where Fire Nation can connect with you, and then we'll say goodbye. Sounds good. The key takeaway in the last little bit that I want to leave you with today is this.

25:51If for any reason sales feels icky, it feels pushy, or if it doesn't feel icky and it doesn't feel pushy, but you're just not getting the results that you want, Here's what I want you to know at the end of the day. It's not because you're not meant for sales or that you're incapable of doing it or that it's harder for you than it is for somebody else. At the end of the day, it's just that you're doing it the wrong way. And if you'll do this where you really put the focus on the human being and building a relationship and asking great questions and truly putting your energy and care and serving somebody, that will make the difference.

26:34And when it's all said and done, anybody, I believe, can be a master of sales if they've got the right framework around it. And if that process, most importantly, is congruent with them and their beliefs, that's a lot of the break. So that's a that's a big kicker. Now, in terms of getting this, you can actually download this entire framework. We'll literally just give it to you 100 percent for free. That's something I wanted to do for Fire Nation. And so if you want to get this system laid out in a linear fashion, you can get it by going to www.empirepartners.io forward slash fire. That's www.empirepartners.io forward slash fire.

27:25And if you'd like to learn more about our program that teaches this entire system in depth, you can go to www.closeeveryone.com. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with RL and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Ryan in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. Ryan, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you, brother, and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you, my friend. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Ryan for sponsoring today's episode.

28:09And Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free free podcast course.com I'll catch you there or on the flip side marketing made simple hosted by my friend dr. JJ Peterson is brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network the audio destination for business professionals marketing made simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly make it work a recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower and business is a must listen. Listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

28:45Is this your year? Visit Thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's a month to month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at Thrivetimeshow.com.