Debe: Okay. So actually hitting the street and knocking on the door, maybe on a cold call kind of level? Is that where we’re going to go with this?
Jeannine: Sure. Let’s go in that direction.
Debe: Okay. So we ask the right questions. We ask “Would your product help the person on the other side of the door?” And of course it will, because otherwise you’re not going to be going there. So would we then have the right to hold that product back and not share it with somebody on the other side of the door?
There’s a great book out, that is written by a guy named Jeff Olson, and it’s called The Slight Edge. And it talks about the philosophy of taking baby steps to get to your end goal. And so in order for somebody to feel encouraged to go and knock on the door, we have to take these baby steps to get them out their own front door first.
Maybe making lists, I’m huge on building lists and seeing in writing. Taking the pen and actually putting it to paper, you have more of a connection with your thoughts and your actual actions. So taking—making a list of what your product would do for a particular potential client. How will it benefit that client?
And making that list, and actually seeing it in writing can help build that confidence to get you out the door and share what you have with somebody else. I know that it’s so much easier to sit at the computer and type it up, but you lose that connection. You lose the manual touch if you don’t write it down. Got it?
Jeannine: Yes. So it would be in the sense of if I have a service or a product, whichever it is because depending on what business you’re in, they’re kind of interchangeable. So if I have a service, it is me taking the time to really recognize what that service is, and the benefits and the values that it can bring to my client.
And having that gives me one: confidence in a service that I’m selling, but gives me confidence in understanding that these are the benefits and the values that this is going to bring to the customer or client. So if I recognize that, that will give me that extra oomph in knowing “Yeah, of course I want to go introduce them to this.”
Because of course I know that there’s a value to them, and it can help them. So being secure in that knowledge by doing—creating a list and writing it out, it makes it even more significant in my mind that this is why I’m going out to present it to someone. It’s not because I’m selling it to make the money; it’s because this is going to help you to make you or your business better.
Debe: Absolutely. It solidifies that link, if you will, of what you have to offer to what you want to present to the other person. And when you have the mindset of it’s not about you personally, it’s about your product or your service doing good for somebody else. And when you come from that place, that mindset, people are going to see that.
They’re not going to see that you’re coming in trying to build your own pocketbook, rather that you’re coming in and trying to help them. Because it’s all about making their life, their—whatever your service is, making it better for them. And one of the—when I was getting my certification in coaching all those years ago, I had a to-do.
I had homework assignments to do. And it was when Facebook was brand new. I had a couple hundred people on my Facebook personal page, and I was asked to ask my followers to describe me in less than 7 words. This was to help build my confidence. I was blushing. I was amazed what other people perceived of me because I couldn’t see it myself. Right?
Jeannine: Right.
Debe: And I thought that that was an amazing exercise, because the person that was the reflection in that mirror didn’t have open eyes. My eyes weren’t open enough where I could see the attributes that I had. So this was a great exercise for me, and I take that into when I coach people in business.
I ask them to go out there and take a survey with their people “What do you think about this product? I’m considering going out—give me 7 words what you think about it.” And that helps them build their repertoire, if you will, to go ahead with this particular product line or service, and that’s a great thing. Because we always depend, most always depend on people that we know and trust. Correct?
Jeannine: Yes.
Debe: So who better than to do an exercise like this, build that confidence, go out to your potential clients knowing that you have taken a survey to help you with your product that will help them and help your potentials.
Jeannine: Cool. I like the way—because I like how when you were explaining that, you gave a couple more examples of projects that you can take on. It’s not just creating a list to understand what your product and services and you have in recognizing what it can do. You also suggested going to—and if you do it on social media today, I would suggest you do it privately.
You make sure the only people who see it are your close friends and it doesn’t go out to everybody. You can ask, again, that question of “How do you perceive me? What do you see my strong suits as?” You can even ask, and this might be dangerous waters, but you could also ask them “What do you perceive as my flaws or things that I can work on?”
