Selling Through Your Heart: Empowering You to Build Relationships for Financial Freedom by Shirlene Reeves goes beyond most sales and business books by offering practical advice and examples on finding customers, getting them interested, sealing the deal, making keep them coming back and even referring their friends to you. After reading Shirlene’s personal story and her advice, you’ll notice your sales increase, and most importantly, you’ll develop meaningful relationships that will make you happier because you’re not only making money, but making a difference in your life. and in his life. the lives of your customers.
Few books begin with openings as dramatic as Selling Through Your Heart. Shirlene briefly tells us about both of her marriages and how she built successful businesses with both husbands, only one day to discover that she was divorced and bankrupt. Having no food for her children, she found herself standing in front of a dumpster where people were diving to retrieve spoiled watermelons to eat. At that moment, she knew that she would find a way to change this situation.
Of course she did, and that led her to grow her own business: Signing Pro, Inc., the second-largest notary document signing business in the nation, valued at multi-billion dollars and with 23,000 people working for it. Shirlene retired from that business after seventeen years and now trains sales people so they can learn to do what she did.
While Selling Through Your Heart is full of practical techniques, Shirlene also focuses on how to make yourself happy by first being on good terms with yourself. She gives us examples of how we can choose what is right for us, framing it as “choosing peace or pain” when making decisions. She then guides readers through what she calls the 3 C’s: Clarity, Clarity, and Confidence. The 3 C’s help her deal with her past and unresolved issues or emotions so she can focus her energy on sales instead of her personal baggage. Ultimately, the 3 C’s will help you build his confidence to be a better salesman. Shirlene explains:
“The ultimate goal of the 3 C’s is to get people talking about how much they love you. The rules for achieving this goal are not to say anything nasty about anyone, to give of your time and knowledge from the bottom of your heart, and to understand what you give to another may not be returned by the same person, but will most likely be returned to you in other unexpected and positive ways.”
Now that you’ve figured it out, it’s time to figure out your customers. Shirlene walks the reader through understanding and recognizing potential customers’ personality types so she can learn to communicate with them where they are and reflect their language. She also teaches you how to define and reach your target market.
Of course, networking is an important part of finding clients. Shirlene understands the frustration many people have with networking because it doesn’t lead to the results they want. She teaches readers how to find the right networking groups and how to avoid the ones that aren’t helpful. Sometimes she has a very direct tone, which I love; for example, she has no qualifications to say:
“Don’t give in to joining a group just because your friends are there. In fact, it’s better if your friends aren’t there. There’s no point in networking with your friends. This is your business, not a social gathering. Let anyone go or all networking groups that have not contributed to your income unless you believe you didn’t earn the income because you didn’t know how to sell and you weren’t prepared.”
I also love his approach to dealing with rejection. She understands that people are busy and can’t always commit right away for a variety of reasons. She has worked around this problem by learning that when someone says to you, “I can’t do this right now,” it’s better to ask, “Is it not for now or not forever?” If it’s not for now, she can stick with them at a better time, while if it’s not forever, she can thank the person for being honest and then be glad she didn’t waste time chasing the person anymore.
Finally, Shirlene offers her 3-Step Sales Waltz™. I won’t give you all the steps here, but I promise that Shirlene guides us through these steps in a masterful way, full of details. She provides scripts and examples on how to start a conversation with a customer, and then shows us how to talk to customers in a caring way that focuses on where the customer is rather than just making the sale; In this way, you will not appear aggressive or scare your client; instead, you’ll build a trusting relationship that will make your prospect more willing to commit.
Shirlene also has a handy way of getting referrals. Not only does he ask his clients if they know anyone else interested in the same service they just received, but he narrows the possibilities by asking, “Do you know someone at your church?” or “Do you know anyone at your school?” By asking these questions more specific, the person can focus on a group of people at a time instead of looking up everyone they know, only to answer with “No.”
The final chapters of the book go well beyond sales to teach readers how to achieve financial freedom and even how to become celebrity experts that the media will seek out. Shirlene is one of 253 CFE Certified Financial Educators® in the nation, and she has more than twenty-eight years of experience in the financial field, so she knows how to help people invest and make the best use of their money once that they do he. She has also hosted her own television and radio web shows, so she is knowledgeable about what the media is looking for in her guest experts. All of these additional tips will only further boost your career as you learn to sell yourself.
There is so much more I could say about Selling Through Your Heart. Shirlene is definitely a master of the soft sell, which has led to her personal success. There are many books on sales, but this one stands out because it really teaches readers how to connect on a human level, resulting in a more satisfying experience for both the salesperson and the customer.