Day’s like these…

Yesterday signaled the end to another inspiring week at BTL, as every friday does.  Sitting at North Star Cafe around 1:30 with one of my favorite clients is about as good as it gets for me.  I had ordered my customary olive oil and garlic pizza but, much to my dismay, they were all out of the roasted garlic.  They recommended that I substitute the balsamic onions.  I did.  TGFBO.  The pizza was awesome.

We covered a couple general topics and then found ourselves talking about sales.  Talking about sales seems to be happening more frequently these days.  This client is in a really tough market right now and it’s beginning to wear on him.  The same is true, I’m sure, for many of you.  People are afraid and when people are afraid they respond differently.  Your pitch and value prop that worked so well, for so long, are falling on deaf ears.  Or so it seems.

Here’s how my coaching went with this client.  

I asked him what he was afraid of.  He didn’t have to tell me, but he did anyway.  He’s afraid that the market for his services is changing and that he has to undergo a major “overhaul” and he’s not sure where to begin.  I agreed that all of us have a “migrating value proposition.”  Always have.  Always will.  All of us had better be a moving target for both our clients and our competition.  I also reminded him that he is exactly that.  I told him that I believed his value was still ahead of his competitors.  He wouldn’t allow himself a smile.

Next we ran through a specific sales situation.  We role played the next steps and the consequences.  You see, my client, like so many today, has taken his fear to another level.  He’s not supersized it, he’s “catastrophized” it.  Finally,  I asked him the million dollar question.  

What would you do if everybody stopped buying your service? 

He stopped and then he smiled.  NOT a fake one, a Duchenne one.  His face lit up.  Here’s what he told me he would do.

The same work.  

Why, I asked, already knowing the answer.  His reply was priceless and true.  “Because I LOVE this work,” he said.

I then provided some brilliant coaching.  It took about thirty seconds.  I simply reminded him to tell his customers what he told me.  Tell them how much you love your work and your team and ask them to look in the eyes of the other bidders and “see” the difference.  He agreed.  He simply needed to see it in my eyes too.  

AND, as we concluded our lunch I asked him to look around at the company we were with at the moment.  By now it was almost 3:00 at North Star Cafe and the place was still packed.  There’s a Chipotle just down the block.  The North Star is NOT inexpensive.  The North Star is just like my client.  They offer a premium service for people that want good food, grown locally and when you talk to their people you hear how much they love the mission that their work represents.  They’re not for everybody.  Turns out that they are for some bodies, including us.  Hmm…

Day’s like these, it pays to look your suppliers in the eye.  Days like these, the ones that LOVE their work and LOVE their team have something the others don’t.  Day’s like these, they both surely have some FEAR.  Day’s like these, don’t we all?  Day’s like these, those that LABOR have eyes that are looking.  They are looking for a short cut, for cutting corners, cutting others, and cutting anything that they believe you and I won’t miss.  Laborer’s are looking for another way.  Another gig, another job, any old way to make a buck.  Laborers are mostly, in days like these, looking away.  Away from what is best for…

YOU.

But those like my client have a different, unmistakable look about them.  They have a passion, an energy, and a conviction to stay the course.  And, so does their team. They create and continue to innovate their way to a better place.  AND they have something really cool, something you can’t put a price on, and something that’s available to you as well.  All it takes is a little building in that inner space we like to call your CORE.  Here’s what they possess.  You can’t buy it, but boy does it sell. AND, it works on day’s like these and on day’s like those.  It works when times are good and even better when times are NOT.  Here’s what we call it.  We call it having…

Shoot.

In YOUR eyes.

What will I see when I peer into yours?

Does it change, depending on the day?

Tell me more…