1768 – The Most Powerful Sales Techniques with Benjamin Brown

Josh (00:00:04) - Hey there, thoughtful listener. Would you like consistent and predictable sales activity with no spam and no ads? I'll teach you step by step how to do this, particularly if you're an agency owner, consultant, coach, or B2B service provider. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create more than $10 million in revenue. Just head to up my influence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We'd love to have you. With us right now it's fellow military veteran Benjamin Brown. Benjamin, you are the founder of 360 Sales Consulting, found on the web at 360 Sales Consulting. Com Benjamin, thanks so much for joining us.

Benjamin (00:01:11) - Thank you for your time. Josh, how are you today?

Josh (00:01:13) - Good, good, good. Ben.

Josh (00:01:15) - Right. Do I say Ben or Benjamin?

Benjamin (00:01:16) - Ben's fine. Okay.

Josh (00:01:18) - Yeah. Well, Ben, give us an overview of your work, who you work with and what you do.

Benjamin (00:01:22) - I, uh, an owner of 360 sales consulting with my background, with over 25 years in the sales type environment. Since I came down to Florida about four years ago, I was on a quest to get to the next level of my life. And I realized that I would love to teach. And so I took some time off to figure out what I wanted to teach and brainstorm. Why don't I teach what I already know? Since I've been in sales for a number of years and started the business 360 Sales Consulting. And since that time I've helped countless entrepreneurs or business people, uh, learn the language and the skill of sales, which a lot of people don't understand what that's about. But it's happening every day, all around us, everywhere. And I love doing it. And not only I can do it, but I can teach it.

Benjamin (00:02:08) - So I'm one of the few that can do it, you know, organically to help people understand what that is and better their life and also their business by learning to sell because sales is everywhere.

Josh (00:02:20) - Yeah. Um, so Benjamin, let's talk about, I guess you work with what types of clients?

Benjamin (00:02:26) - Well, everybody says your niche. My problem with my business is like finding a niche, because I worked with everything from automotive to insurance to entrepreneurs to $10 million companies. I've built sales teams from scratch where a company didn't have any. They had a good product. And I came in and hired salespeople, built the sales team, built the entire standard operating SOP, brought in a manager, trained them to run it, and walked away. So I have done it from that, I've gotten to the point where I hired for companies who needed salespeople because one thing a salesperson can do, know how to do is get a job they might not be able to sell, but they can get a job. So being able to be HR to decipher if a salesperson is good or not should come from a salesperson.

Benjamin (00:03:10) - So I've hired I've done a lot. So that's why it's 360 sales. So I've done everything from management to hiring to building sales teams to acknowledging to role playing coaching. So, you know, I'm going to get it down at some point. But, uh, you know, I'm playing with it and work with a lot of people so far. So it's fun.

Josh (00:03:28) - Yeah. So Ben, tell me about what is working well in sales today, because I kind of want to balance that against my thesis that consumers kind of know when they're being sold at and sold to, uh, more so. And I feel like that that's the case more so today than ever before. Like we recognize, you know, when someone's got sales breath, maybe we're just a little bit more. Our ears are a little bit more tuned to it. And I believe, you know, our guard is up a little bit more. And again, I'm just kind of thinking on the consumer side of things today.

Benjamin (00:04:00) - Well, the question I asked for you, what makes you think that Josh?

Josh (00:04:04) - Oh, because I certainly am.

Josh (00:04:06) - And I get inundated, you know, I get sold out like never before. I mean, it's kind of like the, you know, certainly online, you know, American Marketing Association estimates we're exposed to just over 800 brand messages and advertising messages a day. So because of that, you know, you kind of create this hyper resistant population that's like coming at us from all directions. So kind of my belief is that I think especially in the B2B world, I mean, we all know what it's like to be hit up, um, you know, by a sales professional. And we all know the feeling when it feels like that professional is maybe a little bit more interested in their goals than ours. How do you help them thread that needle?

Benjamin (00:04:46) - Well, for salesperson, you have to understand that the things that I teach is never about you. So the simple thing I tell people is what is the purpose of a sale? What is the sale? Start very simple. So I'll ask you real quick, just answer whatever you think.

Benjamin (00:04:59) - What is the sale?

Josh (00:05:01) - For for me. Well, if I have a problem and I want to fix that problem, or there's something in my life that I want to get from A to B, I just, I don't want to make a mistake. And similarly, I also don't want to be talked into something that is not a good choice for me. I just want I just want to make a smart decision, right? Based on all the facts.

Benjamin (00:05:19) - So simple. It's way simpler than that. So I tell people sales is simple, but it's not easy because we're thinking too much. So a sale is just to get somebody to move. So you see a billboard, they want you to do what they want you to call you go to a website, what they want you to do, click, you know, on a phone call. What I want you to do is listen. So small little things like that in the science of what sales actually is, people don't know, they assume, and they just like people pitch.

Benjamin (00:05:48) - I'm like, what are you thinking when you do that? So the concept of sales has never changed since the beginning of time, since Roman times, still the same concept. It's just that you have so many tools to reach people nowadays, you're still being inundated, just like you would back in the days when you walked into mall. Every store is trying to pitch you right? So it's constantly everywhere. I tell people sales is everywhere. If you're married like I was and you stop selling, you get divorced. She didn't believe in you. So the sales stop. So the thing about it is you have to look at it from that systematic point, and you can understand that it's way more simpler than you think it is. So you don't get that irritated because you understand what the language is, right? So if you get salespeople to understand that it's not really about yourself, it's not really about the product. It's about the process. Process is helping people. So that's when people use and understand sales and use it for bad.

Benjamin (00:06:41) - See, it's a power. So if you use it for bad people, no sales people using it for bad telemarketers, MLMs, car salesmen, people just have this. Oh, they're trying to force it. So, I mean, but say you're being sold all the time, you're on Amazon, but you're going to tell about the car sales guy. You know, it's a whole it's the same concept, but it's the way you look at it is your perception. So if you change that perception, your whole demeanor change on what sales actually is. The news is selling. I don't watch the news they're trying to sell me on. Oh yeah. What they want me to think their perception. Right. And and it's changed over the last five years. It used to be informative, but it's more selling right now. So I can get that in five minutes just clicking on the website CNN and moving on because I don't need to be sold. What's going on during that day? Does that make sense?

Josh (00:07:28) - Yeah, yeah for sure.

Josh (00:07:30) - Yeah. Uh, and so what does engagement typically look like between you and your clients? Like how do you work together?

Benjamin (00:07:38) - Well, mainly the thing about I tell people is sales is a skill. All right. So what that means is you can't really learn sales through theory. If I send you a CD-Rom or a video or a YouTube video, right. It's role playing. It's a skill just like me teaching you how to weld. You need to be in an apprenticeship for a certain period of time to understand how it works and understand that. Never practice on your clients if you don't have to, because they're not going to tell you what you're doing wrong and you're going to lose money. And that's why people go in sales and go out of sales, right? So they all I did it, but I didn't like it, you know, because it's a lot of failure. So most of the time it's just like anything else is the perfection if you're doing it verbally is within the practice. So role playing is where you get a lot from me is being able to reenact, from a customer standpoint, what you're doing wrong.

Benjamin (00:08:33) - So you can understand that rather than assuming. Because the first rule in sales that I teach is never assume anything, anything. It's all ruled out by questions. So the difference between a good and a great sales person is the number of questions. But people don't have the confidence to ask or ask questions, or don't know when to shut up or don't know when to do this and it just leading down the path of the wrong language. And it you know, the customer, a potential client don't feel it and then you have problems.

Josh (00:09:05) - Yeah. Why are questions such an effective tactic for helping a client or a customer get to an outcome?

Benjamin (00:09:15) - First of all, you need to find out if you're in a good side of sales. Are you helping them? And some people need a decision. It's like putting, uh, elderly parent or relative in, say for example, a care facility. Like, do these people really care? You know, they're charging a lot of money. They're trying to get, you know, my relative in there, am I going to get what I want? You know, they're trying to get you to come in because normally, you know, that's $6,000 a month.

Benjamin (00:09:40) - You're going to charge for that. So look at it from that standpoint. Are they there really to help me or this understanding the different things. So potential client is judging you at all different points of time. Right. Especially if you're doing it verbally or in person, which a lot of people don't do anymore. So one of the things I tell people, Josh, I said, let's go back to 20, 30 years ago. One company I work with, let's take away everything you have your fax machine, your computers, your cell phones, your media, everything else. Can you sell your product? If I put you just out on the street, can you do it?

Josh (00:10:17) - So I'm going to be I'm probably not the right audience. Well, I can talk to people, but I feel like I'm going to be wasting a lot of people's time. I'm including my own. Yeah.

Benjamin (00:10:26) - If the internet went down. You still work, right? Well, sure.

Josh (00:10:29) - I find a way.

Benjamin (00:10:30) - For sure you'll find a way.

Benjamin (00:10:32) - So most people go towards the easiest resistance. So we try to find other people to sell for us, even though we have a product, so on and so forth. So main thing is for a lot of people go back to the point of you selling your product so you can understand it more and realize sometime you don't need all of these devices. I mean, this device is a cell phone is a powerful tool. People don't even use that anymore for calls, right? Or call previous customers. A lot of money is still sitting in your database. Is your bank of money that you don't. You come up with another product for them to buy. You can add on to the products, but they sell and forget. They move on to the next. And they want more and more and more and more until the market stops. Competition come in, they run out of, you know, potential clients to buy, and then they start spazzing looking for other ways my phone might ring. We need more sales.

Benjamin (00:11:24) - Oh well. How much have you spent on marketing? We have doubled our marketing because people always looking for low hanging fruit, right? Just click and buy and I can sit in my big house. People would love that. And that's what we're being sold today. They think it's easy, but it's not as easy if you're an entrepreneur, I tell. But do you really want to be an entrepreneur? Do you really know what it takes? Because college is not telling you. Three four weeks with no payments. You got a decline card. You might have a lawsuit. It's not an easy road and then try to sell through. That is very difficult for people. So, you know, having people face the realities of the world because when I started in sales, all I had was a phone and a notebook, no computers, maybe a fax machine. I had to share with 20 other people. That was it. And it has not changed since then.

Josh (00:12:12) - Yeah. Ben Brown again, your website is 360 sales consulting.com.

Josh (00:12:19) - Um, someone that's been listening to our conversation, they're like, I would love to learn more. What would you recommend in terms of resources or next steps for them?

Benjamin (00:12:27) - Well, I make it very simple. Uh, I have the URL meet with benjamin.com. And so you go to meet with benjamin.com. Click on it and you can schedule a call. Because the main thing is assessing where you're at. Right. So most people like oh click on this and buy this. No we need to figure out what the problem is. Everything is an entrepreneur's problem solvers. So one of the things I tell people working with me is I have to see the problem. And also by solving that problem your potential clients will pay for me. You don't. So if it's a big enough problem, right? Until I get big as Grant Cardone and then I have a team of people, you can't contact me unless you pay me like 50 grand. You know, whatever that type of deal is, right? But I'm not there yet, so I still work one on one with people and I still love it and get the performance.

Benjamin (00:13:11) - I've been going more towards the performance base more than sales, because I've realized why people are not selling psychologically than selling itself. If I can solve that problem, then adding the tools in makes it way more easier to for me to get results that you need. Because 80% of sales is confidence.

Josh (00:13:30) - Yeah, it really is. It's all psychological. And, you know, we broadcast our intention from the moment we start speaking, even before we start speaking, we certainly broadcast that energy, that belief. It's it's trans mutable, whatever it is. So. All right. 360 sales consulting com from there you do free consultations, you have some resources. I think you have even a gift.

Benjamin (00:13:53) - Yeah, I have a book. Um, master the Art of closing the sale. So I'm a published author. I wrote based on the ten steps that I teach people. So every sales has ten steps, but not every product needs those ten steps. So if you understand those ten steps, I can customize it based upon your product or service.

Benjamin (00:14:09) - To get you to pitch that, you need to actually use, whether you're using copy or talking on the phone to relate your position of helping people with your products, basically.

Josh (00:14:19) - Well, Ben Brown, Benjamin Brown, thank you so much for joining us again. 360 sales Consulting Comm Benjamin. It's been great. And, uh, by the way, thank you so much for the conversation we had before this interview. And thank you.

Benjamin (00:14:31) - For your service. Josh.

Josh (00:14:33) - Yes, thank you for yours. And, uh, looking forward to continue our conversation. Benjamin Brown, thank you so much for joining us.

Benjamin (00:14:39) - Thank you sir.

Josh (00:14:45) - Thanks 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 up my influencer. Com slash guest. If you're a listener, I'd love to shout out your business to our whole audience for free. You can do that by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or join our Listener Facebook group.

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