How do you become an expert at turning cold calls into potential clients, potential clients into new clients, and changing the way people think about sales relationships overall? It all comes down to how you speak.
Ready to see a difference in your sales results? First, you must learn to master the language of sales.
Jim Cathcart, world-renowned professional speaker and author of multiple bestselling books, is diving into the techniques you need to know to make this your reality.
In this exciting episode of Evolved Sales Live, our host Jonathan Fischer sits down with Jim to learn more about these powerful techniques in an effort to help you change the way you speak about your business.
Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn for more engaging sales insights and discussions! Happy learning!
Meet Jim Cathcart:
Jim Cathcart’s accolades are seemingly endless. He’s a world-renowned professional speaker, strategic advisor, motivational mentor, sales consultant, and author of 23 books including international best sellers: The Acorn Principle and Relationship Selling. In fact, it was his book Relationship Selling that earned him a spot in London’s Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame. With over 2.5 million views on his TEDx talk and a top five mention for Sales/Services Speakers five years in a row, it’s no surprise that esteemed clients like U.S. Bank, Pfizer, AT&T (plus millions of other businesses and individuals alike) have taken the opportunity to learn from Jim throughout the years. Now, you can add your name to the list.
Check out the transcription of this episode below!
Jonathan Fischer 0:04
It's time for another power packed episode of all sales live. Welcome back. I'm your host, Jonathan Fisher. Are you looking for an edge? What if you or your team became experts at turning cold calls into first calls, removing people's fear of making commitments in an uncertain economy, changing the way people think about sales relationships, selling the idea, not just the product, getting all of the business closed, not just one transaction with these skills make a difference in your results. They're all directly connected to the language of sales and you're about to learn about these and other powerful techniques from today's guest, Mr. Jim Cathcart. Jim is one of the world's leading professional speakers and the author of multiple best selling books. His TEDx talk has garnered over two and a half million views. He has presented over 3300 speeches in every US state and around the world. Jim is one of only five speakers in the world who holds all of the following honors. He's past president of the National Speakers Association, recipient of the Cabot award, member of the speaker's Hall of Fame, a certified speaking professional, a 29 year member of the exclusive speakers roundtable, and he's received the Golden gavel award from Toastmasters International, just this year, he was chosen as number seven of the top 30 global sales gurus and number 19 at the top motivational speakers. He's been inducted into the International Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame. And he's here to drop some golden nuggets on you and me, Jim Cathcart. What a joy and an honor to have you with us today.
Jim Cathcart 1:31
Well, I'll tell you what, after that intro, I can't wait to hear what I've got to say this must be good. Thank you. I love that. I appreciate it.
Jonathan Fischer 1:40
Real pleasure. Well, you know, we're here to talk about the language of sales and really out of some content that you've put together. That's just top top shelf, all about relationship selling you were kind of the original author of a book by that title. It's been a best seller. Yeah, love it. Love it. A lot of people talk about relationship selling, but I don't I don't think everyone has the same definition of even what that means. I wonder if you could start us off with that.
Jim Cathcart 2:05
Yeah, I think that's a very important distinction. Let's talk about language for just a second to put this in context. Language is what we use, to communicate to effect the world, right? And our choice of words, if it's the right words, gets the intended results, if it's close to write, it could get very wrong results, just by a small error in the selection of words. You know, the words you used to describe someone could be the most generous and wonderful words in the world. You know, I could say, oh, gosh, you're so organized and so precise. And man, I know, I can rely on what you say. Because you've got it all together. Or I could say, man, you know, your your anal about this, that you're a geek. But wow, do you have any flexibility? You know, I'm talking about the same thing, but it's coming across in a whole different way. So here's the thing. When we say words, when we choose and say words, we hear them to know other words, our own mind, our own feelings are affected, even when we don't recognize it. So it's not just a sound that went out there like banging on something and creating sound waves. It's an intention that was expressed. And if we say like, when I when I was younger, young adult, I was overweight, like 50 pounds overweight. And I remember when I would do something well, and somebody say, Hey, good job, I would say yep. Not bad for a fat kid, huh? Wait a minute. Every time I said that, I was reinforcing my image of myself as being overweight. And I find there lots of things like that like saying can't when you mean, don't see how or saying can't when you say don't yet have permission. You know, I can't get in the store. Why they don't open for another three minutes? Well, hello, that's not a problem. That's a delay. And so the choice of words matters a lot. When I chose the words relationship selling, I got pushback. This was back in 1985. And the people would say to me, Jim, the relationship is like man and woman love and you know, all that and selling his business. So, you know, combining those two just didn't make sense. And by the way, you can't make sales that way. Not so well. What what what do you think relationship selling is? Well, just being nice to people. No, that's not No that's Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and I know this is selling, but it's done in a way way that values, the relationship as an asset. What does that mean? It means it's not just about being nice to people, although that may be very important. It's about making the connection with the other person more valuable. So I started asking audiences I've done, as you mentioned, 3300 speeches. So I've had a lot of audiences. And I started asking them, what's a relationship? And none of them came up with the same words. So I thought, okay, if there's not an instant, universal answer to the question, what's a relationship, and everybody knows what one is, maybe I should write the definition. So I did. Here it is. A relationship is a direct connection between people in which value is exchanged a direct connection between people, because you don't have relationships with things, you could say I'm standing six feet in relationship to that wall. Now, that's getting too technical. You don't have relationships with things, you have relationships with other beings. And value must be exchanged. And what's value could be money, could be goods could be information could be encouragement, and support could be love and affection. Could be joy, just having fun hanging together. It could be stimulation or inspiration. It could be some I liked that person, because they asked me great questions.
But value is being exchanged. No value exchange, if it's all one way, that's a short lived relationship, it's not going to last long. And so it's got to be reciprocal. But it doesn't have to be equal. Like people say relationships should be 5050. No. 100 100 are like that. If you're not all in and I'm all in this one's in this one's going to be toast down the road. Like, do you take this person to be your spouse until death? Do you part? Absolutely. Rain or shine? You know, sleet and snow darkness of night? I'm there. I'm all in here. Take it. This is me. And the other one says, Yeah, I'll try.
Jonathan Fischer 7:17
Oops. Yeah. Not gonna work.
Jim Cathcart 7:20
So what is that relationship? Yeah, direct connection in which values exchanged, okay. Now, relationship selling. What does that mean? Well, first off, if your name is Jonathan Fisher, fishers the main name. So you're a Fisher, and everything else is Fisher ish. When considering you, but of all the fissures in the world, you're the Jonathan. So in other words, that's what makes you unique among those similar beings, right? Relationship selling, what's the last name? Selling. It's about selling. It's not about, you know, love and holding hands. It's about selling. And it's of the selling concepts, the one that puts relationships up as an asset. Now, every relationship has stages or degrees. The earliest degree of relationship would be just simple acknowledgement of each other's presence. You know, we're standing at a street corner, we look over not. That's it? Well, that's the beginning of relationship, but they in much there, and I sure wouldn't invest in that one yet. Right. But it progresses. How are you? Fine. How are you? Where are you headed? I'm going to the meeting at ABC. So am I, what do you do in there? I'm on the negotiation table. So am I adversaries or same team? Same team, hell of a deal. Come with me, you know, would you like a cup of coffee? Now all of a sudden, this thing's becoming really something. And the higher highest, I guess, level of relationship is, I would die for you. Right? So you've got between I see you, I see that you exist. And I would die for you. Those are the extremes. Well, every relationship can be managed intelligently and intentionally, from those early stages toward those later stages. So if you're looking at your business that way, how many prospects do I have? What the nature the prospect, so they qualified? You know, do I look forward to 10 years or longer with each one or is this going to be your My money's in your pocket? Please come closer. Yeah, right. Right. Right. Right. Right. So that's the whole point of relationship selling.
Jonathan Fischer 9:46
Now, what kind of contrast would you draw between what you've just been saying? Because to my mind, that even speaks to how you would define sales itself. So how would you differentiate the approach you've just been describing and how an awful lot of Focus still approach sales is just it's a transactional arrangement it isn't. The relationship thing is ancillary if it's even there, how would you contrast those two?
Jim Cathcart 10:09
Well, first off, the purpose of selling is to cause people to own. In other words, selling is the help is a helping act. And if you're not helping, you shouldn't be selling to that person. So selling is a commercial act of helping you get paid for it, so that you can continue to do it. Because if you did it for free, you could only do it until you run out of resources. So it's a commercial act of helping, alright, what's the purpose of selling purpose of selling as to cause ownership? What's the purpose of marketing, to cause awareness of your existence and interest in your offer? So you do marketing to get people to realize you exist? And to say, Hmm, that's interesting. How does it work or wonder if it would work for me. And then selling is when you help that person make the decision and commitment to own. So purpose of selling is to make life better for other people and to do so profitably, so you can keep on doing it. So that's how I differentiated traditional selling is? Well, it's just basically causing people to buy. And in the earliest selling sales training that I received long ago, it was all about making people buy. It wasn't helping people. It was forcing them to relinquish their money so we could give them a product and leave before the product stop working.
Jonathan Fischer 11:44
Right. Very difficult, ethical, behind that matter. Yeah,
Jim Cathcart 11:48
yeah. It didn't matter if the person was good or bad. I remember, I sold for a very short season at a car dealership. And I say, a very short season. There's nothing wrong with selling at a car dealership. That's wonderful. But the way they were selling made me ashamed of doing it. So I never told my family and friends that I was selling cars, and I didn't get the natural sales one would get out of their own immediate circle. Right. So Month Number one, I was third from the last in sales. And they fired two people. A month number two, Lester Campbell, the sales manager called me in. He said, Jim terminations are never pleasant. I said, what? But you're, you're firing me? He said, Well, yeah, we always fire whoever's last in sales. I said, will want to teach me how to sell better. Now, that's not how we work. Wow. That is so expensive for the dealership, constantly recruiting constantly, you know, going through the whole process of orientation again, and then risking it because basically, it was fogged up a glass. And you've just qualified that was our sales test. Right? You're alive? Yeah. So give it a shot. And if you don't make sales, you're gone. No, no, no, the purpose of business is to make life better. It's the way our society makes life better for people, you're good at one thing, I'm good at another. We do that for each other and exchange either money or barter or something. And society grows well. So business exists so that people can solve problems. If everybody needs a new roof, you and I should go into the roofing business, somebody will. Right. So that's how society helps people? Well, then if the purpose of business is to make life better for people, the purpose of selling is to find out who you can help and to go get them to make the commitment to buy from you. And the process of selling begins with not cold calling. because that in itself creates an ongoing problem. New calling. What's new calling, it's calling on someone you don't know for the first time, and they didn't expect to hear from you. Oh, that's cold calling? No, it doesn't have to be. It's just new calling. And you say yeah, words, words. Excuse me. What are we talking about today? The language language knowing words have meaning. And words affect us? If I say I've got to go make cold calls. Well, first off, I've implied it's an obligation. Not a joy. It's something I have to do. I've gotten to go make cold calls. How do you make cold calls? Well, coldly Of course. Well, no, you should make them warmly but they're cold calls. Hello, you know, shouldn't we use logic and somewhere in this process? What is the call? It's the sales Call, okay, on who? On a stranger? So it's the first time you've ever called on that stranger? Yeah. So that's a new call. Yeah. Is there a reason for it to be cold? Not that I can think of. Okay. So just make it a new call. And don't try to trivialize it or make it juvenile by saying, well, they're going to be warm calls, you know, warm calls, a new call
Jonathan Fischer 15:29
on magic, right? The
Jim Cathcart 15:32
purpose of a new call is to find out whether this person is a prospect for you. How do you find that out? You can help them, they can pay for it. That's how you determine it. And so in that call, it's the first part of it's an introduction. Okay, here's, here's what I need to know. And here's what you need to know, to see if it's worth talking to me. And then you get from that to the next level, and then you're assessing their needs. So you know, you connect with the person gain a little bit of trust, start asking intelligent questions to determine their needs, assuming they they have the needs that that justify continuing, then you start solving their problem. And when you show them that you can truly solve their problem, then you get their commitment to buy, you don't close anything, you confirm a purchase, and then you assure that they're satisfied, and then go on about serving the account.
Jonathan Fischer 16:32
I really liked that. I think that the the idea of actually putting some tactical meat behind this idea that words have an impact not just on the listener, but also the speaker him or herself, you know, what does that look like? If I can, if I'm calling it a cold call that is gonna change my attitude? So let's use I think that there's a bit of a hang up with some of the younger folks in our audience, perhaps that well, is that honest or dishonest? Well, no, you're you're you're making a decision to frame it in a way that is productive. It is absolutely the truth, because you're determining ahead of time what it's going to be. So it's right in calling it a going away party versus a birthday party, you decide what kind of party it's going to be. You said, I also liked what you said about the fact that business is built to serve I heard a rabbi one time say that every dollar of profit you earn is a thank you note that you've served someone well. And we often forget that it really is about
Jim Cathcart 17:23
Yeah. Yeah. And you can tell who's helping the most people, but who's earning the most income. I mean, there are exceptions. But there are exceptions. They're not common, that most people that are wealthy have helped a lot of other people.
Jonathan Fischer 17:41
Yeah, this is not a popular thing to say right now. And you know, getting intellectual macroeconomics, just certainly big corporations that may, you know, push their weight around in ways that aren't great. We're not talking about that. We're talking about individual, you know, men and women who've made a principled decision to create something that can serve other humans and generally speaking, the wealthier have done an awful lot of helping I like that. I think that's definitely been true. When it comes to relationship building, burned, burned. Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. That's it. That's it. So the the idea of building relationship and you know, kind of having your contacts become assets, as you said at the beginning, the format in which we can do that, as obviously dramatically changed, right? We're living in a very different world from when I got into business from when you got into business. And it's also realized that that Yeah, yeah, in the the rate of change has only accelerated. So, Mick, could you give us some hands and feet on that as well? How would you translate this approach into the digital space where so many of us work every day?
Jim Cathcart 18:45
Yeah, well, first off, the stages in a sales cycle are the same whether it's digital or live in person, face to face, the stages, I call them the eight competencies of of the sales process. And if you think about it, the stages in a sales cycle. And the skills that are necessary for each one, are quite obvious. Because no matter what you sell, the first stage is always preparation, figuring out who you're going to call on when you're going to call what you're going to need, what what do you need to know? What do you need to bring with you or have available for, you know, preparation, self preparation and sales preparation, and those are separate, because one of them has to do with your attitude and things like that, and the knowledge in your forefront of your brain as opposed to back in storage, those sorts of things. And then the second stage of selling after preparation is targeting the right people, the ones who can help the ones who can pay for your help. And so you target the right people at the right time in the right way. Because different strategies, some need to be contacted online, some by phone, some by snail mail, some through referrals, some you know other credentials. Okay, so targeting the right people the right time, that's step two. Well, the skills for preparation and the skills for targeting are a little different, similar overlap, but a little different. Because targeting has more to do with research and a whole bunch of other things like, whereas preparation doesn't necessarily. So in targeting, it's targeting the right people in the right organizations. And then you go to the next stage, once you've figured out who is to connect, and in connecting, there's also two parts of it. The purpose of connecting is to gain trust. But you gain trust, with the head, through logic, through credentials through proof, and with the heart, through personality, through communication style, through all kinds of things like that. So you've got to have their emotional trust, so that they value you as the individual and believe that you care about them, and their intellectual trust in that they are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and pay attention as you explain why this was such a good purchase decision for them. So now we've gone through preparation targeting the right people connecting with the people. So we have some trust, okay, next, assess their needs, but also assess their wants. Because what they need and want might be different, may be aligned, but may not. So I want to assess what you need, and what you want. And then my next step after that, is to solve your problem or show you that I can solve your problem. And the two sides of that one are to technically literally solve the problem show you, you know, this is my product, or service and this what I'll do for you, and it's a good buy, because and the other side of that is involving you in the dialogue. So if it's all monologue, if it's all just a pitch from me, then it's the Jim Cathcart show. And that better be a pretty compelling show if I want you to buy, right, but if I involve you, and it becomes a dialogue, we're partners in problem solving. By the way, these are key words to partners in problem solving, that's the way to look at selling. Right, then you're helping me create your solution, who, and people tend to support what they help create. Right? So you feel invested emotionally, already. And now we're at the next stage, you see that I can help you you trust me somewhat. You can you get it that I was prepared, and I'm qualified now. All right. So what's the next stage in selling? People say closing the sale? Why do you want to close anything? Well, that's what they call it, what they call what? When you make them buy, when you want?
Make them buy, okay, when you get them to buy? That's coercion to? How about just confirming the purchase? Confirming the sale? What is what's the difference? Big difference? If you have collaborated with me in determining whether this is the right solution for you, then the next stage is for me to make it easy for you to say yes. And then confirm the fact that you did. So what about objections? Well, first off if they object to buying, it's already gone too far. We'll know there are ways to handle a jig Excuse me. Why call it an objection? Because if they say I object you're already ever said. Now? Yeah. Is everyone in every instance concerned about the price? Of course they are? Do they object to the price? Not necessarily. So one or the address it while it's only a concern? Everyone's concerned about whether they can trust you and your company, and your product, or your service. Everyone's concerned about whether the price is reasonable and whether they can afford it. Everyone's concerned about whether you'll follow through and your delivery will fulfill the hopes that they have. Why not address all that, while they're just concerns? Make it part of your sales dialogue? So that the next stage is just making it easy to say yes. Yeah. And then you confirm the sale. Now you don't have to close anything. Just for that matter. You didn't sure don't want to close the relationship. You want to begin it at that point. That's when it's official. Now we got a partnership, right? Yeah, now we got started getting going. Yeah, you're expecting to get something I'm expecting to give something. So that's certainly not closed. And the next thing you don't want your mind closed. Are their mind closed, you don't want to say the case is closed and you walk away, because there's follow through to be done. So forget closing, confirming it's easy. And it doesn't require major new language learning, you just use language, it's already there, the most obvious logical language. So you've confirmed the sale. Now, what do you do? Assure that they're satisfied. And that two parts of that, by the way, there were also two parts of confirming, confirming that they agree this is the right solution, they can afford it, okay, and then confirming that they actually buy. Because without the signature, or the check of the authorization, or the, you know, the code or whatever you need, it's not official. So now you're assuring they're satisfied. One is assured that they're satisfied right now, by suing them, this is how this thing is going to work. This is who you'll talk to next. These are the stages, this is a screenshot of what it's going to look like this is that it out and you walk them through it. So that's assuring that they're satisfied now. And you want to also assure that they're satisfied, ongoing through your follow through, so that you end up with a loyal customer, who will refer other people to you or come back again. Right? So assuring immediate satisfaction and ongoing satisfaction. And then one last stage in selling, managing, managing your accounts and managing yourself as a salesperson, preparation, targeting the right people, connecting with the people assessing their needs, solving their problem, confirming the sale, assuring that they're satisfied, managing sales.
Jonathan Fischer 26:47
That's good stuff. I love that indefinitely, referring to it as addressing concerns as opposed to over him overcoming objections, changes the energy entirely. Just that language alone identifies that this isn't a transactional kind of relationship, it is more than a friendship, problem solving. I really liked that. And the thing about asking the key questions to really get a little deeper. This is live. So I'm getting some questions, by the way. So I have one from Leon here. He wants to know, you know, when you're asking questions like that there's the need versus the want? What would be your, your input on the difference between the two? How to ask your questions. And, you know, what difference does that make as the sales conversation unfolds?
Jim Cathcart 27:28
Well, let's take a particular type of product. So if you can recommend an example that we use, I'll be happy to use that example.
Jonathan Fischer 27:40
So if you're involved in a conversation, where you're talking about, say their business has a need for better data tracking, or whatever your SaaS solution is about, where would want to come in, in that conversation when it comes to that?
Jim Cathcart 27:53
Better data tracking? Yeah, just a sample,
Jonathan Fischer 27:57
let's say, Okay, you have a SaaS solution, and you're solving a business problem.
Jim Cathcart 28:03
Right? What you need in that instance, is to meet certain technical criteria, it's got to have this, this, this, this and this. And otherwise, it's just not going to fit our our plan. So if you're using like salesforce.com, or something like that, and what they've got is incompatible salesforce.com, they're toast, this, this, this conversation, you know, with them is over, right? So there needs things that must be provided. But then you want one that you have more control over, you want one that has occasional, like guest experts that are online, and you can go to that website and pipe that into your training room and talk with your people about it. Or you can send it out to the the emails or the text to the people in the field and they can get that new insight. And you also want to feel like it's coming through you even if it's not it, you want it. Your want may be I'm the guy you know, I'm the gal I'm the person in charge of this department. I don't want to be left out of this loop and have everything delegated to a software. So do this in such a way that I still feel important. Well, those are wants. So it may be some of your wants can't be addressed yet. Nothing can't forever, but can't yet with what I know and what we've discovered so far. But maybe I can give a workaround. Or I can get to that further down the line. There. It's like a person says Valentin, I need to buy a car and I want a I want a Jaguar two seater sports car convertible. Great. What's the purpose of the car deliveries? How about we get you a convertible SUV? Wow, they make those I don't know but let's Look, right? So the find you something sporty to address your wants, but give you what you need something with the carrying capacity, you can use it for deliveries.
Jonathan Fischer 30:10
That makes a lot of sense. So, when it comes to having these these things lined up in order, as you're talking about what, how far apart is this framework you've just been laying out for us today, Jim, and the framework that you encounter in companies that you're working with.
Jim Cathcart 30:27
You mean the eight competencies, eight stages? Yeah. Competency does each stage in the sales cycle has a set of skills, unique to it, like assessing needs as a set of skills around it, listening and empathy and probing and that sort of thing. And solving problems has a set of skills based in presentation and dialogue and creativity and illustration, and demonstration and all that. And confirming the sale has to do with clarifying, reminding, summarizing, reassuring, highlighting, guiding, you know, that kind of thing. Assuring satisfaction has to do with kind of the nurturing skills in business for taking care of an account and guiding a new owner into the use of something that's unfamiliar, and not experiencing operator error as as an ongoing theme, which would cause buyer's remorse and then they'd want to unwind the deal and get out with sale. So going back to this objections, people say, Well, I've been taught how to handle objections, there is the sharp angle close, you know, and hat and hand close and the the lowest common denominator, reduce it to the ridiculous, close. And then there's the the Boomerang, you know, that's the very reason you should go ahead and buy from me and that, what about those things? Well, all of those are perfectly useful. Discussion structures, for presenting a response. But if you do them in a memorized canned routine, it's gonna come across as manipulation. So if someone says to me, Jim, that's, that's a lot more money than we're used to paying for this sort of thing. I could say, feel felt found, I understand how you feel, Jonathan, you know, a lot of a lot of my, my prospects feel the same way. But what they found is that, when you consider this, this and this, and this, the net cost of that is not nearly what it appears to be is, in fact, it's a savings. Oh, so I've used that structure, but not in a, I understand what you feel. Others have felt that way too. You know, it Oh, my robotic response comes back, and kills the trust instead of building it. So that rehearsal with your colleagues, and selling is a really, really valuable thing. Learn to get into natural feeling dialogues with other people who are insiders to you, and get comfortable talking about these things in a way that's natural instead of rigid. So someone says, Well, you know, this is we don't have this in our competitors do. That's the very reason you should buy this today. Yeah. I love it. What? Yeah, you know, or none of our competitors have this? Why should we be the first? Because you told me earlier, you want to be the top dog in the marketplace. That means you've got to innovate. This is a great way to do it and not waste money. Oh.
Jonathan Fischer 33:48
I love it. This is such a great conversation and the power of language Jim at the time has already flown by I wish we could keep going. If you got a couple more seconds, you can indulge we do have like a couple more questions I think might be worth just tossing your way the audience interested. So one is I'm in fact I was asked you to at once you can kind of address them as you like. And it comes from Andrew elenberg. He's a thought leader out there listening in today as well. And he asked is the film making a comeback now that people are getting burned out on Zoom? And he also wonders how important humor is in that whole relationship building piece. And you know, maybe even addressing a difficult client or prospect in conversation, what are your thoughts?
Jim Cathcart 34:26
Their humor, one is quick and easy one. Humor is if you look back at the origins of the word it has to do with the elements in your body, you know, blood, blood, blood, bile, phlegm, and you know, I mean, it's just us gross. If you go back all the way to Hippocrates and looking at the humors and so forth. They thought that's what caused personality to evolve as it does that it was based on the the predominance of one of these here numbers inside one's body. True. Anyway, the humor in selling comes from the nature of the relationship. When there's no trust, Humor has to be structured like comedy in a nightclub. But even then, the comedian has to gain the trust of the audience. And a lot of times, the laugh they get comes from a betrayal of the trust, they're going along that or that, and then all of a sudden, they reverse directions, and they do something. So out of character, you're shocked. And you laugh, because it doesn't mean you, you want to give them money. But you got to laugh. Well, humor and selling needs to be a playful attitude, maybe. The I talk about myself as a speaker, when I'm considering marketing me the product, I say, a playful presenter with a serious message. Because I use lots of stories and lots of playfulness with the audience. And the like, I might walk out on stage and say, How many of you believe that selling is essential to society? I'm making this up. And I put my hand up, you know, let me see a show of hands. And let's say I get like 15 hands out of 100 people. And I say, Okay, how many of you just checking wouldn't have raised your hands, no matter what that question had been good, I see your hands. And all the hands go up. And that gets a laugh. So I'm being playful with them. Right? And then I go on, and I make my point. And I, you know, I'm into my speech. So that's, that's the way I see using humor in sales is just being willing to be playful and, and have some fun. Always be in good taste. Always, always, always. Even if you could get a belly laugh with a dirty joke or something slimy that you do. Don't do it, because it causes them to respect you less. That makes laughter and respect aren't hand in hand. Yeah. Right. So retain your dignity and show them the same courtesy. Yeah. And the second thing is what about technology, I mean, phone and zoom calls and, and email communication and all the social media all the various ways of, of communicating today? Well, every person has a P, M. O C, this is something I came up with preferred mode of communication. I have a colleague, Dr. Tony Alessandra, who is virtually addicted to the telephone, he loves the telephone has always, even in the days of pay phones, was on the phone every day as often as he could get on the phone, just loves it, I get the phone to me is useful. It's a utility. I'm okay with that. But if it's a longer conversation, I'd much rather have a zoom or an in person. Or if it's something that requires a lot of thought I'd rather do it through email or digital communication so that I have time to think and check some of my files and maybe attach a document. So if you want to reach my my colleague, John sent him an email, you can send him a text, but he's not going to look at it today. You could call him he might not answer. But send him an email. And he's tuned into that all day long. I have a grandson. If I sent him an email, it may be next August before he sees the email. But if I text him, he responds immediately. So you know, and my son the because of his work is only available certain hours and times during the day. And if I post something on Facebook, which reaches a lot of my friends, and I'm really, really active on Facebook, because I can post so much, you know, videos and photos and everything else.
But there's so many people that aren't even on Facebook. I did my grandson was involved in one of my going pro coaching series recently. And my grandson is 21. And I had him come on as a guest. And I said by the way, all of the links and everything you need are on the group page on Facebook is going pro mentor on Facebook. He said I'm not on Facebook. So well. I'm really on it. So get on it for this purpose. He says okay. He said you got to friend me. I'm his only friend on Facebook, because I'm the only reason he's on it. Otherwise, he's using all you know, the Snapchat or whatever the heck the latest thing is with his group and Tik Tok and everything else. So preferred mode of communication is a big deal. he'll and just recognize that the fewer touches that are possible with the person, the fewer senses are involved, and the weaker the bond of trust is going to be. If it's only digital, then you better have some illustrations and images or something, or a video clip. Because otherwise, it's just gonna be like reading a book, right? If it's telephone, you've got the vocal inflections that pauses the timing. And by the way, when you think of the language of anything, specifically selling, think of silence. As a word, there are really, really, really, really long words and they're short words. And the same thing is true for silences, if I just pause, that's not much, but if I pause that says a whole lot in the words don't change at all. So that's, that's a factor, you know, when you're talking on the phone, or doing a zoom call or something. So when you involve the eyes, when you involve the ears, when you involve the feelings, you know, that can be effected through sound or volume, or, or whatever, you know, then you've got a lot more at your disposal. And also, when you're doing text only, in an email, or a text message, the choice of font, the choice of type, style, and, you know, like all caps, or mixture, or whatever. And whether it's sans serif for or just straight up letters, whether you use colors, all of that needs to be considered. I've got a colleague I communicate with all the time, I send her messages in 14 Point type in an email in Helvetica, 14 Point Type, which is straight up easy to read. And 14 is pretty good for even older people's eyes. She responds in nine point type career. And I have to zoom to be able to read the message. But that's her default setting. Yeah, so look at what your default settings are, if you're responding to someone's email, and there's really easy to read is yours. Send one to yourself in another device so that you can see how it comes across. And signature lines and quotes and things. Well, here's a way to think about email or text. Who it comes from, like if it comes from jim@cathcart.com. Okay, I'm pretty clear who that's from. Right? But if it comes from resume the boom, which is my music, my, my show that my wife and I do with guitar and singing, we do baby boom music, we call ourselves resume the boom, if it comes to you from resume the boom, it had better be about music. Otherwise, you're gonna say Who the heck is this? I'm not sure I'm going to open this right. So item one is your initial appearance is the name that you're sending under. Item two is the eye contact. And the grip of your hand for a handshake in an email or a text is the title a subject line. So get to the point make the subject line brief and meaningful so that they want to see the message. And then the message is whether it's a firm handshake or a dead fish, you know or whatever or no handshake whether there's glancing eye contact or sustained. And by the way, look at your message on i con tent. How often you saying I I'm so glad to get your message on it. And I'm looking forward to talking to you today because I'm going to talk about and I'm an I'm an I'm an avid Mee Mee Mee Mee Mee Mee, right. And that's not drawing you in. Right. There you go.
Jonathan Fischer 44:10
Lots of additional great gold nuggets there. Jim, I really thank you for that. And yeah, the time has completely breezed by. I want to I want to keep talking to you offline here just a minute my friend Jim. But before we do that, I'm gonna let our audience part ways, but not before we have you share with them the very best way they can contact you directly if they would like to do that.
Jim Cathcart 44:30
Wonderful. Thank you. Well, first off, I'm the easiest person on Earth to find, because he just used my name, Jim Cathcart. And a Google search will yield like 300,000 possible links. So if you want me just use the name straight up like on Instagram as Jim Cathcart although I've been hacked recently on Instagram so be careful when when looking at any messages that asked you to do something on LinkedIn Cathcart Institute or Jim Cathcart Facebook Jim On Cathcart, YouTube, Jim Cathcart, lots of videos you can watch my website Cathcart or Jim Cathcart. Either one will get you there. And there are free videos on there. And if you want to know about my going pro mentor program, then just do cathcart.com/going Pro. So lots of ways. If you do an Amazon search, it's going to come up with some of my 23 books or some of my audio or video recordings. Man, I'm out there, and I'm eager to hear from you. It's good because I do pay attention. And I do respond back. So, you know, just stay tuned to this broadcast. And, you know, any time I can be a continuing resource here, I'm happy to pop back in and answer your questions or add value where I can.
Jonathan Fischer 45:51
We will take you up on that, Jim, thanks again for being with here and thanks to our audience for jumping on with us. Let's close out this episode of Evolve sales live. Thanks again everyone. Have a fantastic rest of your evening.
