What makes a good salesperson? What attracts more sales, customer, and employee satisfaction to become successful? This is why you shouldn’t miss this episode because Stacy Hall, known for her ground-breaking social media marketing program, “Go for Yes,” reveals her secret which sets many managers to success in developing great salespersons. Selling from Your Comfort Zone and aligning your marketing are some of the tips Stacy shared in this episode. She emphasizes how helpful the three parts of the Alignment Marketing Formula are in selling. If you follow Stacy’s expertise, you will notice the number of sales is increasing. Get your pen and paper and tune in to this insightful episode today.

You can keep up with Stacey and get more information about her and her books at StaceyAnnHall.com.

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Stacey Hall Joins Exit Rich

I’m so delighted to have everyone back on for another special guest. This is going to be exciting content and much-demand content, especially for all the salespeople out there. This is not necessarily just for business owners like a lot of our content is. This is for everybody out there that’s themselves. You might say, “I’m not in sales.” Everybody’s in sales. The person who answers the phone is in sales. The mom who takes care of her children every day is in sales. Everybody has some aspect of sales. Rather you have a sales profession or not, everybody has to do sales, and everybody’s negotiating something in life. They always say, “In life, you get what you negotiate.”

Let’s introduce our very special guest, Stacey Hall. Stacey Hall is a featured columnist in The Network Marketing Magazine. Her content also appeared in Authority Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine, and CEOWORLD magazine. There’s more. She’s spotlighted on the National Association of Sales Professionals website. She has coached thousands of entrepreneurs on how to attract sales satisfaction and success.

She is a bestselling author and a TEDx presenter. She’s a launching social media marketing expert. She’s the Founder of Success with Stacey Hall and the groundbreaking social media marketing training program, Go for Yes. I always tell everybody, “Go for yes.” Many people say, “No, I can’t do that. I don’t want that.” You’re closing your mind to the universe because the universe gives you what you ask for. If you keep saying, “No,” they’re going to give you more of no opportunities. If you say, “Yes,” they’re going to load your plate with yes opportunities that you want and deserve.

Her fifth number-one book, which she launched already, is Selling From Your Comfort Zone. Many salespeople, you can tell, are uncomfortable in their skin. I get people to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. The Power of Alignment Marketing is the subtitle. Stacey, welcome to the show. We’re delighted to have you.

Michelle, it is a joy to be here. What you do on your show time after time opens people’s eyes to how important it is in all areas of a business as you’re heading towards your exit strategy, especially how important it is to have an exit strategy. Too often, business owners get started and their nose is like, “What’s the next step?” They don’t know where they’re heading to. I’m preaching to the choir here but that’s why I’m thrilled to be here with you in your studio.

Thank you so much. I’m happy to have you here. The sales world has not evolved as much as it should have. We’re going to talk a little bit about that. Before we dive in, tell us a little bit about Stacey Hall. What were you like as a little girl?

As a little girl, I loved to write. Reading and writing was my thing. I wind up becoming an author, although I didn’t think that when I was a child. I was just writing for myself to be perfectly honest. I had the opportunity when I was twelve years old. My parents went on vacation and Auntie was watching me for two weeks. She was the PR Director of Samuel Electronics, which doesn’t exist anymore. At the time, it was as big as Sony.

She was Head of PR. Her job to me was the most fabulous thing ever. The way she described it to me was she gets to take some of the company’s money, do good things in the community, and then write about it. It’s like, “What could be better than that?” I went and got a degree in Public Relations because as I talk about in the book, and we’ll sure talk about more, my dad was in sales. With his experiences and watching him, I was like, “I’m not going into sales. I’m going to do something with a company after they’ve already made the money.”

Didn’t you know that it’s a very tough profession? It’s not for the faint of heart, either. It’s a lot harder than people think it is.

It is hard when we’re being taught these horrible ways of doing sales, which is why we’re going to talk about the new ways of doing sales. That tells you a little bit about me and up to college. I came out of school and found out that public relations isn’t that. A few years later, it was more about publicity. I wound up taking my skills because I did get a degree in Marketing and Advertising along with PR. I committed myself to creating programs that would help salespeople and make it easier for them.

You never wanted to be in sales. You saw what your dad went through and how he struggled at Xerox, which is funny because you and I talked about me being a Regional Vice President of Xerox. My nickname was The Closer, teaching everybody else how to sell and close deals. We have that in common.

He didn’t work for you. This was before. You came after his time. I don’t want to make anybody think that he didn’t like you. He would’ve loved you.

He was at Xerox in the ‘60s you told me.

He’s trying to do what I’m teaching, which was so bizarre. They could not understand his concept of making friendships with people.

How did you get into sales training with your teaching programs when you never wanted to be in sales?

What happened was I wound up for an ad agency as an Account Executive for five years. I got a great view of all sorts of companies. I became Manager of Marketing for a Budget Rental Car Corporation in the United States and Canada. During all of that, I had to understand what the salespeople were up against. I did so well there so a headhunter found me and brought me to FedEx to head up a seventeen-state division for them, helping to bring sales and operations together through marketing programs that incentivized both sides.

Usually, one loses, and the other wins. We brought programs to them that made everybody win. I loved it but things started to change. I’ll leave it at that in terms of direction. I didn’t love the new direction and what I would be doing. I decided to go into the education sector. I’m getting to the end, I promise you. I won’t name the university. I worked for a university as Director of Membership and Marketing for their alumni organization. I hated it.

While I was there, I was asked if I would volunteer for the Small Business Development Centers. They gave me a manual to teach from. This manual is something that Xerox Marketing Department might do. Not for realtors, insurance agents, lawyers, or a typical small business. At that moment, I knew I had to craft my program for them. This was many years ago. It’s all finding good that I crafted it but then I had to go sell it to somebody so I became a salesperson. I implemented my marketing program. That’s the point. If we implement marketing the correct way, we open the door for the salespeople so they don’t have to push it in.

What do you believe that salespeople are doing wrong? Let’s start with that real quick.

First off, I want to say to salespeople, “You’re only doing what you’ve been taught and I know that.” It’s not that salespeople are causing harm. It’s the training they’re getting that’s causing harm.

Salespeople, relax out there.

I’m one of you. I’m here. We are together. I’m trying to free us from a prison that has been created and kept in place for many years.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. We talked about that before. I told you my self’s philosophy and you’re like, “Michelle, that’s exactly what all salespeople should be doing.” I’ve been selling for years. I agree, they were taught wrong. What makes a good salesperson?

It’s a great salesperson because you’re either bad or you’re great. That’s what I’m saying. Bad selling techniques and great selling techniques is when we remember that our job as human being is to listen and solve problems. We’ve heard this over and over again but it’s the implementation of how we solve the problem.

Are we showing up like we’re holding a billboard or like, “I have no script. I know what my product does. I want to hear what’s going on in your world, a prospect person or an ideal audience model. I’m going to be listening to see if what I have is going to match what you need. I’m not going to be ready to pounce on you. I’m going to have a conversation as if we were at a party getting to know each other because we were introduced by somebody. I’m going to be a human being?”

It’s like when you go on a first date.

First dates can be awkward.

You want to get to know that person. You don’t want to pounce on them and tell them your whole life story.

You don’t want to. People do. That’s why I don’t use the first date because we’ve all had bad first dates. We’ve all been at an event where somebody either introduced us, which is why I like to say, “Social media introduces us to people like a host to a party,” or two people were standing around not talking to anybody else and you say, “Maybe I should go meet that person.” In that situation, we’re always a little more timid, courteous, and willing to listen. That’s why I choose that metaphor more than any other.

It’s like the story I told you where I was competing against Xerox. Xerox would walk in with a team of 5 or 6 men. There were no women back then. They had donuts. I would walk in. Just me. No donuts or anything. My approach was so much different than theirs and I won the business every time. They could never beat me, which is why Xerox hired me.

It doesn’t matter about the dog and pony show, the donuts, or any of that. It matters about listening, getting to know them as a person, and building that rapport. You’ve got lots of steps for that. The perception has changed dramatically but what do you think the perception is now about salespeople versus what it was in the past?

Maybe 20%. I believe that 100% of salespeople have heard that we need to be human beings. I can also tell you that HubSpot will say that with the people that they surveyed, it’s hundreds of hundreds. When they ask those people, “What definition do you give to a salesperson? What word do you associate with a salesperson,” the word is pushy. That wouldn’t be the case if the majority of salespeople were acting like human beings. That’s why I say maybe we’re 20% better than we were many years ago. It’s not the salespeople. It’s the training they go through that they’re told, “This is what you must do if you’re going to sell for our company.”

It’s the perception. You mentioned something to me where you said, “Nobody questions when a doctor, lawyer, or all these professionals sell you something.” We’re the ones who have a bad reputation than some people do. Am I making sense?

You’re making sense. I appreciate all the questions that are coming in too. The most important thing to remember for us as a salesperson is that we perform as noble a function as a nurse, a chiropractor, a massage therapist, or even a doctor. I say doctor because there are mixed feelings. Nurses, chiropractors, and massage therapists are all trying to identify where it hurts so that they can apply the correct solution. That’s what a salesperson is supposed to do too. “Tell me where it hurts.” I don’t know one salesperson who has ever said that to a prospect.

I said that to you, do you remember?

Yes. Did you go in and said, “Tell me where it hurts?”

I asked, “What’s your pain? Tell me what your pain points are. Let’s solve and fix the pain.” We do have a lot of questions coming in. I want to get into the critical steps that all salespeople should follow because I know you’ve got your steps. It’s like me on my 6 Ps in my book Exit Rich. Let’s jump a few questions in here and then I’ll ask what I want. Jacob said, “You discuss in your book the concept of selling in a way that aligns with one’s authentic self. Which key insights do you think have resonated the most with your readers?” Somebody has read your book.

I’m very impressed. The key insights that people are resonating with are exactly what Michelle was about to ask me, which is, “What are my steps? What’s the formula?” It is the alignment marketing formula. It has three parts to it. I call it the new ABCs of selling. Alignment, Belief, and Consistency will always equal sales, satisfaction, and success. The key elements are in alignment, we have four parts as a salesperson that have to be aligned.

Alignment Marketing Formula: Alignment, belief, and consistency will always equal sales, satisfaction, and success. The key elements are in alignment.

Tell us about alignment. What are the four things I need to align with?

The first one is what you asked me about a percentage. Get the statistic. HubSpot years ago asked salespeople, “Do you believe you’re selling the right thing?” Fifty-five percent said no. It’s disgusting. Fifty-five percent of salespeople know they’re selling the wrong thing. That is a misalignment.

That’s one of the reasons they’re not successful because they don’t believe in it themselves. It’s hard to sell to somebody else something you don’t believe in.

It was a HubSpot survey if I remember correctly. It’s in my book. It was either Harvard Business Review but I’m pretty sure it was HubSpot. With that, first and foremost, we got to know, “Why am I in sales in the first place? What is it that I want to make better in the world?” That’s the first part. The second part is getting in alignment with a company, service, or our business but making sure that we do believe, which becomes more important in the second part of it.

“Am I selling something that is in alignment with what I want to do in the world?” It’s a calling. Some people might say, “Stacey, you’re into the woo-woo.” No. More studies are proving that people are leaving corporate jobs in droves because they have to have work that’s meaningful and is a calling. It’s no longer woo-woo. It is internally intrinsic and important. That’s the second part of the alignment.

The third part of the alignment is making sure that even when we found a company, a product, or a service, their mission and purpose are in alignment with ours. The fourth is getting in alignment with our audience. Not the audience that the company says, “Here’s your geographic territory. You can sell to anybody in there.” No. Companies, it’s time for sales managers to allow salespeople to become clear about whom they would resonate with the most that would need the product service. Incentivize them based on the territory they create for themselves. That’s the four parts of the alignment.

Alignment Marketing Formula: It is time for sales managers to allow salespeople to become clear about who they would resonate with the most that would need the product service and then incentivize them based on the territory they create for themselves.

What about drug dealers? They’re not in alignment.

I don’t know why you would say that. You put me in a position here. I don’t condone drug dealing. A soundbite could be weird here. In the principle of alignment, if their mission is to do something that’s involved with drugs and they’re doing it, then they would be in alignment with themselves.

Let’s move on to beliefs.

There are so many people that teach confidence-building techniques. We don’t need confidence-building techniques if we stay in our comfort zone. A comfort zone doesn’t mean laziness. The other reason I bring this up is because nowhere is it taught more often to get out of your comfort zone than to salespeople. They hear it more than any other people ever hear it and it is most damaging. I’m going to prove it to you. Core values, skills, talents, gifts, and purpose all live within ourselves, what we would say is our comfort zone. That’s where we feel comfortable and confident.

The first step of alignment is making sure all of that is harmonized. A part of us isn’t hanging out over here. It’s all together. When I’ve got that and I know why I am representing what I’m representing and whom I want to represent it to, my belief and confidence are right there. I know what I’m doing and I have strengths to build from. I don’t need somebody to teach me artificial confidence-building techniques. I don’t need anybody to reinforce that I’m enough. I know I’m enough. From that belief, I can have empathy with an audience so they believe in me.

I do believe people should continue to stretch themselves out of their comfort zone so they learn new things and continue to grow so they don’t plateau. I do always tell my clients, “We got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Especially entrepreneurs because we’ll never grow the business beyond what we can grow them.

Isn’t it possible though to expand from our strength to grow?

Yes.

That’s what I see because how many times have people said, “I’ve reached my breaking point?” That’s outside their comfort zone. Why not expand from our strengths?

I got to expand and start to get comfortable being uncomfortable as well. I remember the first time I spoke on stage in front of 800 people. I thought I was going to pass out. I made myself ill. I feel like I wasn’t going to do it. My speaking coach said, “Even if I have to drag you by your hair, you’re getting up there and speaking.” I’m like, “No. What’s the benefit of this? What’s your ROI?” He made me get up there and I did it. I was so proud of myself for doing it. I wanted more of that. If he didn’t force me to get up on that stage, I probably would’ve never done it, which has opened up so many other speaking opportunities. I’m an international speaker.

I see that. I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. You hired a coach to help you expand so you made it more comfortable. I can promise you. If you didn’t see the reason to get on that stage, you would never have gotten on that stage. Getting out of our comfort zone doesn’t mean we can’t be uncomfortable expanding to learn how to do things we want to learn how to do.

When I’m talking about sales, a sales manager tells somebody that they’re doing things the wrong way and they have to get out of their comfort zone. They have no idea how to do it, what to do, or where to go. They become dependent on the person who’s telling them to get out of their comfort zone. That’s what I rail against.

I agree with that. If I didn’t have somebody getting me up there, number one, I was extremely uncomfortable. You’re panicking. Your hands are sweaty. You can’t breathe. You feel sick to your stomach. You got to get the right coach and mentor. You got to have that coach side by side with you to hold your hand until you get comfortable doing something new.

Expansion and the growing pains are uncomfortable but they’re still within our zone of ability. Get a coach or a mentor to make it easier. Don’t get to the point where it is so inconceivable to do it that somebody has to do it for you. That happens far too often.

This person has to ask themselves, “Am I the right fit? Should I relay this? Is this an industry I should be in? Should I be selling or doing something else?” Do some soul-searching. I always work with my owners to get them to grow and be uncomfortable. Otherwise, they’re going to continue to do the same thing and produce the same results that they’ve always gone.

I’m with you. That’s the definition of crazy as we know. I’m not saying that you stay small. I’m saying, if you’ve got goals, then it’s going to require to grow. Let’s grow using what we’ve already got. Add somebody in as a mentor, coach, or consultant to give us bigger perspectives into places where we’ve never been and choose whether we’re going to go there or not.

Identify your superpower. What’s your superpower? What’s your superhero within yourself? We talked about the first one, alignment. We talked about beliefs. The third one?

The third one is consistent action. I love all the coaches who talk about personal growth, belief, and consistency. I’ve learned from many of them. What I’ve also learned is when I believe in what I’m doing, I feel that other people are believing in it too. Psychologists have proven that the more validation we give to ourselves, the better.

Too many people are outwardly connected, expecting to get validation. When they don’t, it affects them. Psychologists have proven through neuroscience that we can validate ourselves. It means more than any validation that comes from outside. That’s why belief is so important in ourselves. When we believe and we know what we’re doing, we’ll stay consistent.

We may be growing new skills. I may want to learn how to do video editing. I’m not a video editor. Maybe I want to learn that skill. I will go hire a consultant or a techie to teach me how to do that. Yes, it’s new and going to be a little uncomfortable. If I want to do it, I will do it because I can see how it’s going to get me to my goal. We don’t have to teach people how to be consistent or how to create a daily method of operation when they already know what they want to do, who they want to do it for, and where to meet those people. It just comes. It’s our passion.

Somebody who wants to learn how to play the guitar doesn’t need to be taught to pick up the guitar and play guitar. They’re going to pick it up, get the training, and do what they want to do with the guitar as often as they can do it. That’s why I’m saying if we have to teach people how to be consistent, they’re not in their passion. They’re not in alignment with what they’re supposed to be doing as a salesperson.

Alignment Marketing Formula: If we have to teach people how to be consistent, they’re not in their passion. They’re not in alignment with what they’re supposed to be doing as a salesperson.

A lot of people in sales don’t want to be in sales. They see it as a high ticket providing for their family. It’s a means to an end. They don’t want to be in it. A lot of salespeople cringe at it. They can’t stand it. We have to find those passions. “How can sales professionals establish connections and create long-lasting relationships with clients?”

I’m going to give an example of what we don’t want to do. This happened. I could go through every single day of my life because I’m pretty exposed on social media so people find me. I got a direct message from someone. It’s a very well-crafted but copy-paste message. “I can tell we’ve got friends in common. Don’t tell me who they are. I know that you’re involved in personal growth and development.”

She must have found that I was a coach of some sort. “I’d love to know what authors you follow.” You might say that’s a little clever. She’s trying to make a connection with me but no and here’s why. This person never went to my social profiles, read anything I said, or commented on it. I already know they never took the time to research me.

You’re reminding me of Dr. Misner, the Founder of BNI, the largest business networking group in the world. He says the same thing. “Don’t tell me you’re preaching my social media when you’ve never been on it, never liked it, or commented.”

It gets worse. I’m going to say, “Thank you for the compliment.” It’s common sense.

Common sense is not so common anymore. You know that.

I’m saying let’s get back to it. I don’t just dismiss somebody out of hand. I’m like, “That’s interesting.” She didn’t send me a friend request or a connection request either. The message came up as a message request, not actually in my messages. I went to look at this person. Are they a spammer or a hacker? No, this person is an actual human being but is promoting something on their page. You can see that she’s got some sort of training coming up.

I looked for a post that had nothing to do with their training and I commented on it. I made a short comment. She replied to that but still no reply to the private message. She sent a message to me and I wrote her back. I said, “Thanks for reaching out. It doesn’t look like you’ve looked at my content because I don’t see any comments.” Still, no. She replies to the one that I put on her page but still doesn’t think to go over to my page and put anything there, nor come back to the message she sent to see if I replied.

Why am I bringing this up and answer to the person who asked me? It’s because this happens all the time. I get pitched. Even if it doesn’t have a link in it to go look at something, I get the message. It’s a pitch. I reply. 9 times out of 10, I don’t get a reply back at all. Why are we sending messages then if you’re not going to check back to see if anybody responded? That’s first and foremost. Yes, I’m on my soapbox because it’s like, “How stupid is that?”

You’re asking about making a connection. If you’re going to send out information, check back to see if the person responded. What I’m saying is don’t send anything until you’ve researched the person. If you’re on LinkedIn, Facebook, or wherever you are making your connections and you want to talk to somebody in a particular industry or a particular title, you search and hashtag that, and you’ve got a list of people that you could contact, do not be in such a rush that you’re dropping messages. You’re throwing them out like softballs.

Alignment Marketing Formula: Don’t send anything until you’ve researched the person. See if you have a true point of connection if you’re making your connections.

Take each one and look to see, “Has this person posted anything?” Can you comment on it? Look to see what they’ve put in their profile about who they are and what they’re about. Look to see if you have a true point of connection. It takes maybe five minutes. When we send a connection request of any sort, refer to that. You can say, “I loved that post that you put out on such and such date. Here’s why.” We’re starting a conversation.

I hope that that is an answer. The person who asked that may have expected a whole long strategy. I’m saying, “Can we get back to human beings? Can we get back to somebody who says something at a party,” and you go, “Yes, that made me think.” Not they said something and then we all of a sudden pitch them our stuff.

That’s what’s happening so often. I agree 1,000% with that. There are so many questions here so we’re going to have you back on.

Even though I disagreed with him.

I’m in a male-dominated industry. I own multiple businesses. If I cared about anybody who ever disagreed with me, then I wouldn’t be around. I’ll still have stackability and continue to grow my business and my partners.

That’s why I admire and adore you. The point is consultation. I also don’t like yes people. I like folks to challenge me and all of that. It makes it awesome.

We’ll challenge each other. Let’s get into some other stuff like management. A lot of it is about training, management, and leadership. Salespeople are not trained properly, mentored, or given proper instructions. What do you feel sales managers are doing wrong, which is leading people into leaving the industry altogether? Talk to us a little bit about that. Let’s shift over a little bit.

You brought it up at the beginning, which is sales managers are still teaching the processes and strategies that have people already ready to say no. Michelle, that’s when I said that I loved your approaches from the very beginning. You didn’t set people up to say no or go armed with a script ready to hear the no so that you can do the objection response.

I don’t mean to cut you off but the average out there is it takes five noes to get a yes. Many salespeople have heard that and are like, “Let me get my five noes so I can get my yes.”

It will not ever come. The people who say that they’re doing that, if you dissect what they’re doing, they’re not going for the no. They may want to say that they are. For those of us who want to go for the yes, it starts with what I’ve already shared. How do you do the research? We cannot sell until people trust us. Back to sales managers, I don’t believe that most sales training programs are teaching how to build trust. It’s like the afterthought.

If you do all of this, make sure that they trust you before you start selling. No, there is a way from the beginning where we’re acknowledging people sincerely. We’re showing them and listening to them. We’re not prepared to immediately offer a pitch. Maybe the first time we don’t say anything at all about our company. We ask more questions because acknowledgment, questions, and repeating back to people to prove that we’ve heard them start to build trust. Michelle, that’s what you did. That’s why you didn’t need donuts. You can get in the door with donuts and croissants.

I ain’t buying men around me either. People buy from whom they trust but they also buy from whom they like. People buy people.

It’s the same. If we trust somebody, we like them. We feel our nervous system comes down. Whether we’re consciously realizing it or not, we feel it. What gets associated is, “I like Michelle. Michelle is on the phone. Tell her to hold on for a second. I want to talk to her. Do you want to come on over? Sure.” In their mind, they’re associating you with a good time in an appropriate way. It’s like, “I know I’m going to feel good when I talk to Michelle.” As opposed to, “I know I’m going to have my guard up when I talk to Spammy Pammy.”

It’s a big difference. I love that quote.

Thank you. That’s what has to be taught. How do we become somebody who’s trustworthy? How do we convey that people can trust us? It doesn’t come by saying, “Just trust me.”

If you say, “Just trust me,” your defenses go up like fingers on a chalkboard.

“Just trust me. I know what your problem is and I’ve got the solution for it.” You might as well have not opened your mouth at all because you would’ve been further ahead if you had kept your mouth shut.

Here’s the other thing too. It’s hard to sell somebody something if you don’t know that person, if you don’t know what their pain is, how it would make their life better if you fix their pain, you solve their problems, and what that means to them and the quality of their life and their family. How could you ever sell somebody anything without knowing them?

You can’t. That’s the point. You can pitch but you can’t sell. Those are two different things. You can market to somebody you don’t know anything about because you can write promotional copy and hope that somebody resonates with it. In the sales position, which comes after marketing, it’s not sales and marketing, as you well know. It’s marketing and then selling. The sales piece cannot be replaced by AI, robots, or marketing material. It does require human beings.

That’s important, Stacey. Salespeople are not going to be replaced by AI or software. We’re starting our AI software development proprietary programs. Someone said to me, “Michelle, M&A advisors won’t be needed anymore.” I’m like, “Are you kidding?” AI might streamline a lot of things but who’s going to hold their hand? Who’s going to help them from buyer’s or seller’s remorse? Who’s going to be there to deal with some emotional issues?

I remember one time when I was selling. One guy says to me, “I believe in God. Whatever God tells me to do, I’m going to do.” He went with my competitor because God told himself. I went over there to his office. It was for the Frito-Lay account that I was working on. I went over there and said, “Let’s hold hands, pray to God together, and do that.” He looked at me like I’m insane. I got on his level and he is like, “Let me review your proposal again.” He ended up going with us. AI is never going to do that. There’s a lot more to that.

I’ve kept quiet because it’s exactly that. I’ll tell you a story from years ago. We’re still friends and he is not in the industry anymore. I’m going to give a shout-out to Pete Hoffman. When I was at the ad agency, Pete was a sales rep for one of the radio stations. The station that he repped at the beginning was not a fit for my clients.

He would come over and what he did well is he knew the whole industry. He didn’t just know his station. He would periodically send me reports of things and say, “This might help you.” We got to know each other. He would throw real parties at his home with his friends and all that. I got invited. I got to know him as a friend. He eventually went to another radio station. Whom do you think I asked for? They assigned me to somebody. I said, “No. I can finally buy from this guy. He’s my sales rep.”

He wound up repping a magazine later on that wasn’t a fit for my clients and I moved on. We’ve stayed friends through all these years because that man became a trusted advisor to me. I would confide things in him knowing it wasn’t going to go anywhere else. He would give me insights that made me smarter about what I was doing. He contributed to my early days of success in the business. That’s what a salesperson is. AI could give me some information but I can’t confide in AI. Having that person who became a dear friend still is priceless.

How do sales managers find the right salespeople? All the companies I deal with were like, “Michelle, if I could just get the right sales team and salespeople.”

Michelle, the average is 50% of sales jobs are not filled across the board.

Help solve that problem for us, Stacey.

If a sales manager followed the alignment marketing formula, they would as well. Turnover or a lack of being able to hire comes from not being clear about what the company is all about. What are their goals? What is their mission? Every company has a mission statement. I know that. I’m saying when sales managers are looking for somebody to take that message out into the world, they often are not very clear about whom they want to have on their team.

I’m not talking about physical characteristics, let’s put it that way. I’m talking about, “Do you know the different audiences that could use this product? Are you identifying, when you’re in your hiring process, people that would resonate with one or more of those audiences? In your hiring process, are you talking about those audiences and asking what stories they have from their experience that would resonate and replicate what they would be talking about out in the field with a prospect and being able to be a matchmaker more than hiring?”

You can tick off boxes or explore and discover people’s true passions and then match them up with the right kinds of prospects to help them enjoy the job more. It makes it easier for the manager to manage. If you’re confined to certain human resources reviews, let’s put it that way, so that it looks more like people are taking a test in school rather than being human beings as adults, that’s what’s causing this huge gap in people saying, “I do not want to turn myself into a human billboard. Thank you very much. I will go do something else. I’ll go create my company, sell the way I want to sell, and do what I want to do.” May not be making as much money but they’re going to feel more fulfilled.

Alignment Marketing Formula: Explore and discover people’s true passions and then match them up with the right kinds of prospects to help them enjoy the job more. It makes it easier for the manager to manage.

Sales managers are so quick to hire, instead of checking those boxes. It needs to be slow to hire and quick to fire. It’s the same thing with what you’re saying. You have to get to know those people and find out what makes them tick instead of just ticking off boxes. You got to know what’s most important to them, what their values are, what they’re trying to achieve, and what their goals are. Many people don’t do that because they try to rush the process. They need to tick boxes and start selling. You got to take more time to get to know people. The human factor has to come into play.

What’s your marketing formula? You’re not just sales. You’re a huge marketing. You dropped some huge golden nuggets when we talked about social media, respond to the post. You’re going to ask a question and put something on there. Make sure you reply, look, and do your research. What is the alignment marketing formula? How does it help sales managers to train their sales team to make more sales, enjoy more satisfaction, and achieve more success? What is that formula?

It’s alignment, belief, and consistency. It’s being applied. I spoke about how a salesperson can get themselves into alignment. If you’re asking about the sales manager, it’s the same thing. The sales manager has to get in alignment with themselves as to why they are in that position. I have known sales managers who became sales managers for ego only or the title, as opposed to any real passion to develop leaders on their team.

Being in alignment, “What does it mean to be a manager of other people,” is where it all has to begin. Being able to identify, who is it you want to serve and how you want to serve them. For some sales managers, their audience is their team and the company’s audience. It’s both. They have to be able to expand and say, “I want to serve my team in this way and our audience in this way, which means I have to make sure my team can serve the audience in this way.” I’m not saying there are bad sales managers. There are wonderful sales managers out there. I just don’t think they’re all the sales managers.

It’s in any profession. You’re going to have to deal with the good and the bad.

It goes from there. They know what they’re up to, how to put together programs that are going to support their tea, and what kinds of consultants or trainers to bring in to add to what they have the ability to do. They’re going to be consistent in how they support their team to show up and be great.

Why say yes all the time? Why are you the yes gal?

I’m the yes gal because I’m teaching people how to hear a yes and get a yes as opposed to we say yes to ourselves in alignment. It’s a process of having somebody say yes to us. It doesn’t go from, “Here’s my product,” so that there’s only one yes or no possibility. I teach an eight-step strategy where you’re getting small yeses each step of the way. When people get used to saying yes to us, it becomes very easy to then say yes to the big stuff. My 8 Steps to a Sale is the gift that I wanted to share with everybody here. That training is how you get yeses along the way. I’m giving it for free to everybody who’s reading. It’s 8 Ways to Get Small Yeses That Lead to the Big Yes.

Throw us a couple of bones.

First, you have to know how to speak about yourself differently from, “I represent copiers.” No. What problems are you uniquely qualified to solve? Say that to somebody in one sentence. I solve the problem primarily of salespeople who are tired of getting out of their comfort zone and are not making enough sales. That’s the problem I solve. I get them back into their comfort zone and power zone so they can make more sales and have more satisfaction and success. When I tell people that, they want to know how I do that. I’m not saying that I’m a coach. If I say I’m a coach, they’re going to dismiss me.

Another way is having some sets of valuable content. Pete Hoffman used to send me reports about the industry that he used to get, the insider’s report. He’d say, “This will help you in being able to make decisions.” Even if it meant that I was making decisions away from his station, he was caring about what I had to offer. He’d say, “Do you want me to send this over?” I would say, “I do.” He’d say, “I can deliver or email it. What do you want? Do you want to go to lunch? I’ll bring it to you for lunch.” I’d say, “No, I don’t have time for lunch but send it over. Thank you.”

He might check back with me and go, “Did you find anything in the report that was of value to you?” The man knew I wasn’t going to buy his station at that time but he still kept sending me valuable information I said yes to. When he switched to another station and I could buy that station in all integrity for my client, he was the one I was going to buy it from. These are the ways that I always say, “If you don’t have the time to build a true relationship, don’t be a salesperson.”

Alignment Marketing Formula: Don’t be a salesperson if you don’t have the time to build a true relationship.

It’s all about relationships. Most of my clients have been my best friends. I’ve been to their weddings and baby showers. I unfortunately have been to some funerals. If you do it right, then we’ll be friends for life.

That’s it right there. It’s gold.

You should be more interested in a relationship than sales. Most people got to stop thinking about themselves. “Don’t count your money at the table,” Kenny Rogers says. Think about how you’re going to better the life of your client versus how you’re going to better your bank account. Once you’re focused on your bank account, then you’re not going to be focused on your client. Where your focus goes, energy flows.

It’s my favorite phrase. That’s exactly it. It’s what you put your attention on. People would say, “If I put attention to the money, I’ll get the money.” Yes, but maybe not in the situation that you’re in. That’s where the alignment comes from. If you want to be focused on money, go represent a financial services firm.

You might get the money but it might not be ethical too in the way in which you’re getting your money, even dealing with your clients. I’ve seen salespeople forge paperwork and do stuff that is unethical. Any last-minute thoughts? Let’s tell all of our readers how they can find out more about the fabulous Stacey Hall.

Thank you very much. What I would like to say is please remember that the comfort zone is not the lazy zone. It’s your power zone. Don’t let anybody tell you, “You have to get out of it to be successful.” Once you’re out of it, you don’t know where you are and then you have to follow their way, not your way. I’m saying this to sales managers, “Please don’t tell your salespeople to get out of their comfort zone. Find out what their strengths are, what they’re good at, what stories they have, and what passion they have for selling the product or the service. If you can’t identify a passion and they can’t identify a passion, be kind and encourage them to maybe go do something else and bring people in who have a definite connection to what the company is selling.”

The biggest mistake the companies make is quick to hire and slow to fire. It needs to be slow to hire and quick to fire. A lot of my clients keep on hanging on the salespeople. Some of them are making big salaries and not doing anything but playing on their computer.

That might be their passion. It isn’t good for the company. Mostly, I’m saying is if you know a salesperson is not passionate anymore about what they’re doing, the kindest thing you can do is release them for them to find what would be a perfect fit for them.

They’re not any good for you and you’re not any good for themselves. They’re not providing themselves value. How can all of our readers find more out about you? What’s the best way to contact you and get your book?

My comfort zone is where everybody will find me in every aspect, including the book and that’s my website, which is StaceyAnnHall.com. It’s simple. The Yes Gal. There’s a tab for the book and courses. If you click the tab for courses, the very first course is 8 Steps to a Sale and it’s no charge. You can download it right there. Thank you.

Everybody, go and get that. For all of our readers, thank you so much for reading another episode. Make sure you share this with your network, spirits of influence, and all of your friends, coworkers, and fellow entrepreneurs. Subscribe. You can do one better. Comment on our Facebook page, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter about how much you like this episode and what you got out of this. We’ll send you the first three chapters of Exit Rich. Thank you so much, Stacey, for being such a great guest. You brought so many great golden nuggets. Until next time.

Important Links

• Success with Stacey Hall
• Selling From Your Comfort Zone
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• 8 Steps to a Sale
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