All About Relationships

Written by on August 9, 2016 / Sales Superstar

It’s all about relationships.

This is the first episode of the live video show: How to Become a Sales Superstar.

Here is the transcript:

Hey, how’s it going? I am Dave Lorenzo, you’re here watching me on Periscope, you’re with me right now in my kitchen. The title of our show on Periscope, and also on Facebook live, and on the website and wherever else you’re watching us, the title is, “How to Become a Sales Superstar.” I thought we’d start off by talking about who the hell I am, and why you’re watching me, why you should be watching me. My name’s Dave Lorenzo and I’m a guy who learned how to sell, I’m just an average guy who learned how to sell. Then got really good at it, and got great at it, and started teaching other people how to sell. The beauty of what I do, the beauty of sales, and the beauty of selling is that you always have to do it, even after you become a guru and you start teaching people.

There’s a lot of people out there right now who can teach you how to sell. A lot of them are really, really good, some of them are full of shit, some of them quite frankly are just out there, looking to make a fast buck so they’re pretending to be guru’s but they’ve never really sold anything. The bulk of them are good, because in order to last in this business, and I’ve been doing this, teaching people how to sell for over eighteen years. I’ve been selling myself for twenty five plus, selling stuff, and selling myself for twenty five plus years. In order to be good at being a sales guru, or a sales teacher, you have to be good at selling, that’s just a fact.

Anybody who lasts, anybody who’s around for a long time, they’re probably good at selling. What we’re going to do is whenever I get a chance I’m going to hop onto Periscope, onto Facebook and do live videos where I teach you a couple of things about how to sell. Now you may be thinking to yourself, well you’re thinking probably two things right now. The first thing you’re thinking of is, “Who the hell is this guy?” The second thing you’re thinking is, “Why is he doing this for free?” Well, I’ll answer the second part first. I’m doing this for free on Periscope, on Facebook, on my website because I want more people to follow me on Periscope, on Facebook, on my website. Flat out, that’s the reason.

I want you to watch this as often as you can, I want you to tell your friends, and I want you all to subscribe. Periscope I’m The Dave Lorenzo, Facebook, The Dave Lorenzo, Instagram where I post one minute videos, and all sorts of other stuff, The Dave Lorenzo. Twitter, the Dave Lorenzo. You getting the feeling that you understand what’s going on, right? All of my social media outlets, look for me, The Dave Lorenzo. T-H-E, D-A-V-E, L-O-R-E-N-Z-O. My website, DaveLorenzo.com, DaveLorenzo.com.

That’s why I’m doing it, I want more followers. When I first started out teaching people I would give talks for free. I’d go to rotary clubs, I’d go to Kiwanis clubs, I’d go to chambers of commerce. I used to work a lot with lawyers, I would go to any lawyer meeting. Get a bunch of lawyers in the room, I would go there, I would teach them how to sell like a lounge magician performing card tricks on a street corner. Well, I’m not doing that anymore, now if you want to see me speak somewhere you’ve got to pay me. You’ve got to pay me fifteen, twenty thousand dollars for me to come teach you what I know. You can get the sales stuff here for free, it’s just got to fit into my schedule.

Today we’re in my kitchen, I’m going to empty my dishwasher, that’s one of the things I do everyday. I’m a dad, I’m a husband, and I work out of my home. My office is right over there through that door, but you’re going to have to fit into my schedule. You’re going to watch me empty the dishwasher while we talk a little bit about sales. As we get into this there was another question I said you probably had in your mind. The other question is, “Who the hell is this guy?” Well you heard that I’m a dad, I’m a husband, as I said I’m a father. I’ve got two beautiful kids, you’ll meet them eventually. They’re five, my daughter Dahlia is five, my son Nicholas, Nick, is seven. My wife Kary, or her real name is Karyma, K-A-R-Y-M-A, Kary. Kary and I have been together for fifteen plus years, we’ve been married for over ten. Our kids are five and seven, we live in a beautiful house in Western Miami Dade County in Florida.

We moved here from New York, we moved here in 2007. That means we’ve been here nine years now, we’ve lived in Florida for nine years. We’re totally happy, we’re thrilled being here. I’ll tell you that the reason I work from home, well the reason I do what I do is because I can work from home, I can be home for my kids. They’re all out right now, it’s still the summer, it’s the end of summer. We’ve got two weeks left before school starts so they went to the movies, it’s the middle of the day. They’re at the movies which is a great thing to do in Florida in the summer time when it’s a hundred and four degrees with a hundred percent humidity.

As I said, the reason I do what I do is because I can do it from my home, and I make my own hours, I’m my own boss. This probably resonates with a lot of you out there. The beauty at being great at sales is that you can do whatever you want to do from wherever, as long as you can sell. The time right now is, I don’t have my glasses on but I’m looking at the clock over there. There’s a clock actually behind me, it’s 11:39, so it’s 11:40 in the morning on a Tuesday. I’ve already sold enough to pay my bills for the rest of the month today, at 11:39 on a Tuesday. Pretty good.

I’m not going to stop selling today, I’m going to do more stuff. I’m going to sell more today, but at 11:39 on a Tuesday at the beginning of the month, well I guess it’s kind of the middle of the month now, it’s the ninth, my bills are already paid. It’s great. You can do the same thing if you can sell.

Now, the key element in sales and selling is confidence. You need to believe, you need to believe that you can pay your bills with one phone call. You need to believe that you can do that, and you have to have the goods to back it up. Which means you have to be good enough at sales, good enough at selling to be able to pay your bills with one phone call. You’re watching this now, you’re thinking to yourself, “Okay, I sell, I have a business, my product isn’t that big.” I’ve worked with a company that sold private jets to fleet owners, I’ve worked with companies that have sold massive computing solutions, I’ve worked with companies that sold software, I myself sold big ticket consulting engagements. All of our consulting engagements, minimum engagement fee was a million dollars, okay?

You’re thinking, “It’s great, one phone call you can sell that stuff.” Well those things, the bigger the sale usually the longer the sales cycle, right? It takes eighteen months, it takes two years to a sell a million dollar consulting engagement. Yes, and no. It does, but you can shortcut that process through relationship development. We’ll talk a lot about that. Some of you out there right now, in fact you are thinking, “I sell a fifty dollar product, I sell cosmetics, I sell copiers, I sell paper products, and I sell insurance. I make my money by selling things that are very low transaction dollar amount, so I make fifty bucks, I make twenty five bucks every time I sell. I can’t pay my bills with one phone call Dave.”

Yes, yes you can, there’s a way that you can get in front of enough people. You can sell to many people, you can use the power of leverage to connect with people so that you can sell in mass, versus one on one. We’ll talk about that too. The reason that this conversation is relevant to everybody is exactly for that purpose, you sell for your own reasons but most of all you sell because of the freedom it allows you to have. If you have confidence and you believe that with one phone call, with one speech, with one appointment you can change your whole life. If you believe that then you’re my kind of person and you’re going to want to be here with us regularly as we do these live broadcasts.

Let’s get into it as I continue to empty my dishwasher, I’ve got to do this before my wife and kids get home. Let’s get into it, let’s talk about sales, and selling, and the essence of it as I see it. See, it’s kind of like you’re my apprentice, although I hate to use that word now because we’ve got a buffoon running for president who used to have a show by that name. It’s like you’re the karate kid, and I’m Mr. Miyagi. I’m teaching you right now, wax on, wax off, right? Sand the floor, the crane technique. You’re the karate kid, I’m Mr. Miyagi, talk about sales and selling.

The essence of sales really is relationships. The days of a guy walking up to your front door, knocking on the door, they open up the door, they throw a little dirt on the floor and says, “I’m going to clean that up in two minutes with my new handy vacuum cleaner,” right? Maybe you’ve seen that, old time TV, that was the portrayal of sales people. There are still some people out there who try to sell that way, there are still some people out there who kick in doors, or put their foot in the door, or try and get in any way they can. I don’t do that, that’s not how I teach people to sell, and I don’t think that’s how you should sell either. That’s a bunch of crap, you should sell based on relationships.

See, you and I, we believe that selling is helping. If you’re out there with a product or a service that can actually help people, that can change their lives, or even just make their lives a little better, make their lives a little easier. If you have a product or a service that can do that and you really believe that it’s true, then it’s your job, it’s your mission to offer that product or service to everyone, to as many people as you possibly can. That’s your job, that’s your mission, that’s what you need to do. You’ve got to be an evangelist, you’ve got to be out there trying to convert people, to get them to use your product or your service. That’s what you’ve got to be doing if you’re selling, okay?

How do we do it? Well we do it through relationships. My kids are into sports and they’re into dance. My daughter dances all the time, my son loves hip hop so he dances a little bit. My son plays baseball everyday, literally everyday we’re on a baseball field somewhere playing baseball. Who do we meet when we’re playing baseball? We meet other parents, right? These are people who because they’re part of the same team we see them five, six days a week, we develop relationships with them. It’s natural to do business with those people. They know me, they like me, they trust me, so of course they’re going to come to me when they have questions about sales. You have the same opportunity.

There are people right now in your circle of influence, people in your sphere of influence, the people that you know who are out there right now who you can connect with, and offer to sell your product or service to. I want you to do this right now, you should have a pen and paper around you somewhere, reach for it, find it. Remember, I’m Mr. Miyagi, you’re the karate kid so you’ve got to do the homework, right? Go out there and meet, connect with the people you know who are in your life, and ask them a couple of things. Number one, ask them what they do for work, a great way to break the ice. Number two, ask them what their goals are, what their goals are for this year. “What are you planning to accomplish?”

Now, we’re talking today, it’s August ninth 2016, if you’re watching this on the replay I don’t know what day it is. Whatever day it is, right now the year is a little beyond halfway, right? We’re heading close to, we’re midway through the third quarter so the year is beyond the halfway point. How close are you to achieving your goals? You need to ask people in your circle of influence how close they are to achieving their goals. The reason you’re asking them this is because you’re going to help them, okay?

After you ask them that, say to them, “What’s keeping you from achieving your goal? What’s preventing you from achieving your goal? What’s stopping you from achieving your goal?” They’ll tell you, and when they tell you, you say to them, “Hmm, would you like some help? Would you like some help with that?” That’s the most powerful question you can ask someone, if they’d like help, and if they’d like help solving a problem or achieving their goals, that’s powerful. When you ask them that, even if you personally don’t have the solution, maybe you know someone who has a solution to the problem they’re facing, or has the ability to connect with them to help them achieve their goals.

That’s the magic of relationship based selling. All you’re looking to do is help the other person. That’s called having an external orientation, and that’s the whole basis for what we do. It’s the basis for we sell. You’re not selling anything to that person to that day, you’re just finding out what’s up with them, you’re finding out how you can help them, and you’re finding out how you can help them achieve their goals. You’re going to do that, without now if you have kids, meet the parents of your kids’ friends. Go to PTA meetings, go to little league games, go to dance class, find out who those people are, find out what their goals are, find out what’s keeping them from achieving their goals, find out how you can help them. That’s your homework, that’s what I want you to do. The reason I want you to do that is because that’s how you develop relationships, okay?

This is relationship based sales and selling, so everybody, including you, especially you, knows two hundred and fifty people, at least two hundred and fifty people. If you’re going to have a party and you made a list of everyone you know to invite, there’d be two hundred and fifty people on it. What I want you to do is I want you to go out to all two hundred and fifty people you know and ask those questions. If you don’t know what they do for work say, “Hey, what do you do for work? How’s it going? What are your goals, what would it mean to you personally if you achieved those goals, and how can I help? Would you like some help with that?”

The book that I’m in the process of writing, it’s my third book, is called, “The Sixty Second Sale.” That my friend is the essence of the sixty second sell, finding out what’s important to people, finding out how you can help them achieve their goals, and finding out whether or not they want the help that you have to provide. If they do, you’re off to the races and you can sell something to them. If they don’t, you move on to other people. I can tell you with certainty that the two hundred and fifty people you know, at least twenty five or thirty of them wants your help, needs your help, and will accept your help. Those are people, once you develop a relationship with them, you can sell to. That’s what I’m talking about today, are relationships.

Well, I’ve got the dishwasher pretty well emptied, the stuff that I have left to put away, I’ve got to walk out of camera range. Sorry, sorry about all the noise, I’m trying not to break this bowl while I put it away here. I’ve got to walk out of camera range to put the rest of the stuff away. I enjoyed having you in my home, I enjoyed inviting you in. It was great having you here, lesson number one for today on how to become a sales superstar, relationships and how to develop them.

We connected today, I enjoyed it. As we move along down the road you’re going to see me in all kinds of spots because again, I’m Mr. Miyagi, you’re the karate kid, I’m teaching you how to become a sales superstar. I’m going to be teaching you in my car, my office, with a client wherever I am. Make sure you join me on Periscope, The Dave Lorenzo. On Facebook, The Dave Lorenzo. On Instagram, The Dave Lorenzo. On Twitter, The Dave Lorenzo. You get where I’m going, The Dave Lorenzo. Great seeing you today, we’ll connect again soon. Be well, and until next time I hope you make a great living and live a great life.