2061 – Building Authentic Relationships in Sales with Justine Beauregard

0:05Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, influencers, influencers, and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt-in required where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100 % inbound in your industry over the next six to eight months with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments.

0:51Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you.

1:05With us right now, it's Justine Borregard. Justine, you are a sales strategist, you're a coach, and you're a podcast host. In fact, your podcast is called People Over Profit. So to our friend that's listening, if you like what you're hearing, you might just want to do a search right now, hit subscribe, and spend more time with Justine. Justine, your website is also justineborregard.com. To our friend listening, just click around your podcast app. You'll find it, click, and you'll get into Justine's world. But Justine, it's great to have you. Oh, it's so great to be here. Thank you, Josh. Yeah, well, I'll let you kind of share your superpowers and the work you do and impact you have in the world.

1:45Yeah, so I have been one of those people who grew up wanting to be an entrepreneur and did it. So I'm a rare breed, an entrepreneur since birth. And it really started seeing my maternal grandmother have multiple businesses and real estate ventures. And my grandfather stayed home. and back at that time that was uncommon. She had five kids, she was running the household, she was running the business and I thought wow if she can do that I can do that and I had the dichotomy of her raising her kids that way and building businesses and my paternal grandmother who lived a very classic 1950s housewife lifestyle where she stayed home and cared for the kids and never really had a job that you know lit her up or felt like a purpose-driven position.

2:32So it was nice to have the balance of those. And I sort of lived that balance because of the way that I was raised. I started out in corporate America, got a job, went the traditional route, went to college, did all the things. And then I had all these school loans and student loan debt. And I thought, how the heck am I going to pay this off? So I just started asking, what's the highest paying job I could get? And everybody said, get a sales job. And I thought, okay, I guess I'm going to try sales, was not great at it. Then I built these skills and there were certain things about my personality, the way that I actively listened, the way that I cared about people, the conversation and the rapport that I could build so quickly, it just sort of came natural to me.

3:13And as soon as I ditched the script and learned how to sell in a way that was authentic to me, that's when I started to really light my fire underneath like the sales gene that I had deep within me. And I thought, this is something people need to know. They need to know that it doesn't have to feel weird and it doesn't have to feel pushy and it doesn't have to be the worst job in the world. And as entrepreneurs and business owners, we are salespeople through and through. It doesn't matter what position you hold, whether you're the CEO and founder or you're a member of the team, you are selling yourself for so many different things in the company.

3:46And so learning to do that in a way that feels natural and good to you, it's so important. And that's the platform that I stand on really is people over profit. Yeah, we want to make lots of money and do great things in the world, but the person comes first. And if you think about celebrities, the only reason they're famous and they have lots of money is because of their fans, right? And so we have to cater our content to our audiences. We have to cater our strategies to our personalities and really put the person at the core of all that we do. So that's what I teach and what I believe in. You know, you mentioned something I'd really love to get your perspective on.

4:20And that is, you had said something to the effect of, you know, when I got comfortable with me, or, you know, it's just, you know, this level of internal reduction of anxiety, like, I think, you know, any of us could be given a sales script, and we could probably muddle through it. But likely, it's going to be hard to perform with that, especially immediately. And particularly if it feels out of alignment with who we are. And Justine, this gets to my bigger point, I'd love your take on. And I think that there are a lot of us who maybe feel like, let's say they're a leadership consultant. They love what they do.

5:06They love the impact that they create. They're really good at it. And then they might look at the other aspects of being able to do what they want. And they say, well, I got to do a lot of sales. I got to do a lot of marketing or lead gen or whatever. I don't like that part of it. I just want to do what I do. You kind of take us through some of the emotions that might be going on for that individual. Yeah. I mean, my belief, which is sort of a leap for that person who's feeling like, oh you know selling it's this big other persona that I have to step into this other version of me that I have to be in order just to do the thing that I want to do and and that's why so many people default to corporate because they just are told what to do day in and day out they have a predictable salary that you know even though it's capped it's there and they know what to expect and I think a lot of people just want to have the expectations match their reality and that is my favorite definition of happiness, by the way, it's the delta between reality and expectation.

6:07And so when we give ourselves sort of those corporate jobs, that's giving ourselves a gift. And when we transfer to entrepreneurship, nobody teaches you sales as a skill in any sort of school or university, even when you're taught. I mean, I went to school for marketing. They didn't teach me sales. They didn't even teach me sales psychology. What they taught me were skills that I never ended up using. And they had me read books that I never ended up really taking much from. And so a lot of the skills that I built were built in the roles that I held in companies. They were learned from other people that I surrounded myself with.

6:45And what I really believe is that sales skills are people skills and that these are not soft skills. These are hard skills. These are hard learned skills. They're hard applied skills. And when you can be amazing at selling, you can be a better partner. You can be a better parent. You can be a better business owner. You can be a better friend. And so I think a lot of times we consider the salesperson to be some like slicked back hair, used car salesman is usually what people think of when they think of sales. And what I think of sales, I actually love to change people's perspectives with that exact example is imagine that you work in a car dealership and you meet a young woman and she comes onto the lot and she's driving a minivan and there's three kids inside and she's probably in her mid thirties and she walks up to you and she looks exhausted and your immediate inclination is, oh, here we go.

7:44Low budget, wants another minivan or an SUV, needs some, you know, protective plan because she's probably got stains and rips and tears all inside that van and is doesn't want to pay for it later, like needs good gas mileage because she's driving her kids to dance recitals and this, that, and the other thing. And so you immediately go in and you assume those things about her. And then you start pitching her on an SUV or a minivan. But what you don't know about this woman that I didn't tell you is that she is actually a nanny for a busy family of high powered attorneys. Both of them are attorneys and they have a big budget.

8:18She's tired because she just finished her last exam for some finance career where she's going to be making$150K a year. And she's actually looking for a sports car because she wants to own this new persona. She's done with nannying. She's getting into this great career. And she's saying, you know what? That's what I'm looking for. And when you as the salesperson make assumptions and you go up to her and you say, so what kind of minivan can I show you today? You're going to lose that sale? You made an assumption. She doesn't want it. You start trying to put her into something that doesn't fit. But when you're great at selling, the first question you're going to ask is what are you in for today?

8:55What are you looking for? How can I help you? Yeah. Right. Right. Which, which is what we would do to a friend. If we saw a friend that was, you know, uh, you know, out of sorts, what's going on? How can I help? Oh my gosh. Right. And, and it's, it's, it, This becomes so much easier. I think, Justine, when we get out of our head, when, you know, can I bring up this example too? I feel like most of us, like let's say you go to a conference and maybe there's like a VIP mixer that you got invited to. And you know, it would be wildly inappropriate to start pitching and selling at an event like that.

9:39That's not what, This is just everyone's relaxed. We had a great day. Now we're just kind of relaxing, getting to know each other. That quality of relationship building and chatting, I think is the cornerstone to this foundational trust and this relationship gets built. And then I got to say from my own experience back in the day, that's where my highest quality clients came from was these kind of what felt rather serendipitous. and I was just there to just be a helpful person. And then like we figure it out. And I trusted that process. And I wasn't so worried about the fact that, okay, I really need to go through my Tom Hopkins closing tactics now and take them through a Ben Franklin close.

10:24Like I would never dream of doing any of that in that environment. And as a result, I feel like I won that business so much more easy than feeling like, oh, I got to remember to say this, this, and this, and this. and feeling like I was forcing myself to do something that maybe didn't come across as natural. I want to caveat this, though. I don't want anyone to be too passive in this. Like, we need to have a plan. We just need to go about the plan in a way that's just going to be way more natural. Yes. And I'm even noticing the nuance in your belief system and what you're sharing. So when you're, what you're basically thinking, but not saying is it's either or, right?

11:07Like I'm either selling at this event or I'm building relationships and networking, but you got your clients from that event, right? Oh yeah, right. People listening are thinking I'm either selling or I'm, you know, building. Oh no, no, no, no, no. And the strategy is really when you're a natural salesperson, when you are, you're selling all the time, you're selling at that event, you sold at that event. That's how you got a client at that event. You didn't hard sell somebody. You didn't pitch somebody. But relationship building is selling. I think this is the big shift that we need to make as a culture of entrepreneurs.

11:41We're building businesses, always planting seeds everywhere we go. Some people are less ready. Some people need the awareness before they consider your offer and make the decision to buy. But when we're showing up in those situations, we're always selling because we're always caring. And I loved your example about being a friend to someone. And if you notice they were out of sorts, you would immediately be like, are you okay? What do you need? How can I help you? The same thing with sales. When we show up at events and we see that there's an opportunity for us to help somebody, we're not going to ghost them and feel like, well, I didn't really want to ask them that uncomfortable question.

12:18Just having that lens with everyone you meet of if this person were a friend, and I love this for sales follow-ups in particular because when you meet people and you go, oh, it's been two or three days. I don't want to be pushy. I don't want to be, you know, too whatever about it. But the truth is, if you knew that you had an offer that could help somebody, like if you knew that your friend was struggling and you had something to help them, you would be circling back with them all the time. You would be calling them, texting them, checking in on them. Hey, how's it going with that thing? How can I help you?

12:52How can I support you? It's not pushy. It's advocacy for their needs, for what you know you can do for them. And so they're still at choice. We're all adults here. Like no one's pushing offers on anybody else. So when you show up thinking I can help anybody anytime. And when I meet people, you know, one of the things that I love to share is my first, you know, year of clients that I got were not from intentional discovery calls. They were from casual coffee chats where I would get to know people and I'd be like, it seems like you could use my help. Is that something you want to explore? And then we would transition into a proper sales conversation.

13:28And there was nothing about that conversation that felt weird or pushy or uncomfortable. It was very natural. How do you, so I think that this, and maybe this exact same advice may be appropriate, but I wonder when you get someone that might be just a little too passive, right? And so they're like, okay, cool. I'm relaxed, but I'm still nervous about saying, you know, it might be suggesting that they grab some time on a call or something like that. They feel nervous that that might be a little too audacious. How do you help someone realize it? Well, you know, you still have a job to do. You know, it was, can I just share something before you kind of share your, your take on this?

14:18I, you know, I had a conversation with Bob Berg, who I just absolutely adore, you know, in his approach, you know, and I was sharing him with him that I, I kind of felt like that sometimes. And, and I'll tell you the advice he gave me, he goes, Josh, that's your job. You know, just like your, your job is to figure out where the relationship goes and you can lead in the dance. And if it seems like it's you, they haven't told you no, then you should go ahead and ask to get, that's your job. That's what you do. So, you know, recognizing that that was then my responsibility, I think that I best overcame my own insecurity and fear with that because I just did it.

14:59And I realized, okay, nothing bad happened. They didn't say I was being creepy. So I guess I can keep doing that. Sometimes we do just need that little nudge, right? But I think with everyone, and this is why I don't just have sales strategist in my title, but I also have coach because there are nuances to why we feel the way that we feel about certain things that we need to do that maybe it is our job, but maybe there's something else there. And so I really like to get to the heart of the matter and what is actually going on. Where is that nervousness stemming from? is it because you're not solid in your offer?

15:35Because that's probably 90 % of the time what it really is for the people that I work with is there's something about their offer that they're uncomfortable with. Because I tell people all the time, if you have the cure for cancer and you just met five people with cancer, you wouldn't be like, oh, I don't know if I want to get on their calendar to talk about this. Like they're going to die without you. Like if you truly believe that you have the solution that they need, you are going to be, again, an advocate for them. You're going to push for them. You're going to want the best for them and you're going to care about them.

16:09So you're going to show up in that powerful, supportive, caring energy. But it also could be, the nervousness could be simply a lack of practice, right? We need to build these skills. And sometimes the challenge that I give to clients is, hey, you should go book 10 casual coffee chats with people, not sales calls, but just practice talking to people about your offer, talking about what you do, talking about how it lights you up, listening to the questions you get asked, practicing having dialogue with people, maybe even sit down after dinner and role play with your partner if they're open to it.

16:42Get the practice. Sometimes clients of mine just have this one skill that they're really not great at yet. And I'll go, you know, you have this problem where you love to just make statements as if they're the news, like you're just spouting facts all over the place that aren't real. Why don't you at dinner tonight, when you're sitting around the table with your kids and your husband, why don't you sit there and not say a simple thing, but only ask questions and just practice asking questions. And when you're asked a question, respond with a question. It will feel uncomfortable and awkward, but you're going to have to do that to practice the skill of being curious all the time.

17:18And really, even if it's awkward, even if it's uncomfortable. I want you to get to a place where it no longer is awkward or uncomfortable. And that's when you know you're starting to really get the skill and then you can apply it to sales conversations. But sometimes, you know, it's very nuanced. And so it could be a lack of skill. It could be a lack of practice. It could be something internal. It could be a belief system that needs to shift or a mindset issue. There's so many things about it that, you know, I'm so glad that it worked for you to just be told it's your job, Josh, get out there and do it.

17:49And you're like, yes, I love that advice. This is why we need to really like cater the advice to the person and, you know, know what they need to be able to give them what's going to be empowering for them for that next step. Yeah. Yeah. Tell us a little bit, Justine, about how you work to like what that looks like. Obviously your website is justineborigard.com. When somebody goes there, what would you recommend they do? What does it look like? Do you offer educational resources? Do you work one-on-one? Yeah, so I have the podcast, People Over Profit. And that's a lot of the core of the educational resources that I offer because I feel like it's so important for people to laser in on certain skills and build certain skills.

18:32And I love giving a behind-the-scenes look at very pointed, action-packed episodes of like, here's how to do this thing. So sales, marketing, business growth, there's a variety of categories there. I also have a 14-day sales challenge where I walk people through no matter what size audience they have, how they can grow by leveraging other people's audiences and establishing their authority and learning how to stand out with really compelling messaging, things like that. And I offer speed networking events too, because I think it's important to practice getting out there and talking to people and building the skill of just connecting with more individuals and learning how to talk about your offers and learning how to talk about your business in a way that makes you feel empowered.

19:12And I think practice makes progress, right? So the more we can do that, the better off we are. So then when people want to escalate and they realize, oh, I've got a gap in my sales process, or I'm not quite sure what I don't love about my offer, but I am struggling to sell it, or I need help with positioning and getting in touch with more ready buyers quicker, or shortening my sales cycle. I offer one-off strategy sessions where we laser in on that thing and fix it in 45 minutes or less, and people love those. And then I also offer month-to-month support where we get on calls and we really work through a core fundamental issue or a collection of them over the course of a month.

19:49And they get that email support between. So if they're actively selling, we're going back and forth. Like I've got this email reply and how do I close this sale today? And I'm like, okay, say this, do this. Right. So that's where the strategy part really comes into play is building some of those scripts together for their personality and their process specifically. Yeah. All right, Justine. So again, the podcast, People Over Profit, go search for that right now. Go to justineborigard.com. Justine, it's been a great conversation. Thank you so much. Thank you for the impact you have on the world.

20:24Thank you for the values you share. Justine, we need more people like you and less, which I think this is happening. Less of the bro-y kind of, yeah, there has been. I absolutely agree. I think it's been particularly pronounced since COVID. It's just like, it's just, listen, we hated it to begin with. It doesn't even work now. So I love it. From your lips to God's ears, Justine, thank you so much for the work you're doing. Justine Beauregard, thank you for joining us. Thank you so much.

20:58Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.

21:39I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt-in or email required where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100 % inbound in your industry over the next six to eight months with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. Make sure to hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning, that's right, seven days a week, you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed.

22:21I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes every single day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Movement.