Scale Your Sales With Mike Mark

Many entrepreneurs have negative beliefs about building a team to grow their business. And, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, they come true. You attract what you believe.

In this interview, I’m joined by Klara Adalena. She’s a dating coach for female CEOs and one of our clients. Recently, her sales team did $25k in 5 days. She’s on track to hit a 7-figure run rate. Another success story.

Klara and I talked about her resistance to building a team, how she overcame her limiting beliefs, and how she leads her enrollment coaches. So that she doesn’t have to take any sales calls and can focus on strategy and scaling her business.

• How to position your B2C coaching offer to maximize your earning potential [02:30]
• The one organizational activity we insist all our clients do – they resist it at first until they start seeing massive growth [07:00]
• Why you need to sell the process, not the person – the key to scaling your sales [15:05]
• Why Klara doesn’t listen to her enrollment coaches’ sales calls anymore – and how it makes her feel [20:45]
• “I don’t even know if I want to have a team”... “employees don’t work, they just want money…” – Klara’s limiting beliefs about building a team and how she overcame them [30:30]

...And much more!

I love this interview with my friend and client Ravi Abuvala. I brought him on to talk about scaling agencies, but we went super-deep on "advanced" CEO-level topics.

Ravi is the founder of Scaling With Systems, as well as a couple of other businesses. He helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses through his "Eliminate, Delegate, Automate" framework.

We talked a lot about what it really means to make an impact as a business owner. About how to create and curate a culture in your company. And the milestones you must hit on the path to scaling your business to 7 figures.

• How Ravi's agency went from servicing 200-250 clients to only servicing 12-12 clients and making A LOT more money [01:42]
• Impact is one of those corny words entrepreneurs love to use, so what does Ravi mean when he says "impact?" [05:37]
• How Ravi built a culture of loyal employees who all eat, sleep, and breathe growing their company... and the one book he read that helped him do it [20:23]
• What happened when Ravi Abuvala tried to hire his own sales reps – instead of working with CoachingSales. com 😈 [24:47]
• The transformational epiphanies Ravi experienced while growing his business from $30k-$50k/month to $400k-$450k/month in a year [32:30]

...And much more!

Another client spotlight coming at you. This episode is all about overcoming obstacles in your business. I’m pumped to have Brett Ratkowski on the show. He’s a client of ours and the founder of Optimized Real Estate. He helps realtors get more listings and more buyers through the power of advertising.

Brett and I talked about his experience hitting plateaus in his business, and smashing through them. Most recently, since we’re in a recession, Brett’s had to deal with losing 70% of his business. Don’t worry, he’s made it all back since.

A lot of insights in this interview about running an effective company. You’ll enjoy it. Believe me.

• The dichotomy between service and leadership - why sometimes serving your clients isn’t the same as leading your clients [03:14]
• Why every CEO should study the Theory of Constraints and apply it to their business [10:14]
• What steps to take when Sales becomes your bottleneck… and how CEOs approach solving problems outside of their expertise [18:37]
• Why a lack of bottlenecks in your business, or you not seeing any, can be a bad sign [26:02]
• How Brett lost 70% of his clientele when the recession hit… and how he’s made it all back since [33:08]

...And much more!

Everybody's talking about the 4-hour workweek. But I'll bet you haven't heard of the 1-hour workweek. Sounds unbelievable, but it's true.

My client Joel Kaplan managed to build a social media marketing agency that's completely automated and hands-off. To the point where he only has to check in about an hour a week.

The best part? His agency manages about 200 active clients and does $250,000/month in revenue. Now, THAT'S what I call being a CEO.

If you run an agency or any kind of client-based business, this interview is a must-watch!

• The number 1 reason why business owners stay trapped as an "entrepreneurial employee" and never level-up to CEO
• How I used the "vacation test" this past Christmas to identify and eliminate the biggest weaknesses in my business
• The invisible script that's stopping you from automating your business and freeing yourself from the daily grind
• To delegate or automate? That is the question
• Do you sell McDonald's or sushi? How your business model affects your ability to systematize and automate your business

...And much more!

Would you like to build a Facebook Group that consistently gets you clients, month in, month out? How would you like to pull in $30,000, $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 or more organically, using just a Facebook group?

We've reached the end of our 7-part mindset series. These last couple of questions allowed me to summarize the "tactical" stuff you can do to perform better on calls. 

You'll Discover

• What metrics you want to track to A, get better at delivering your offer, and B, make more offers
• How to go beyond the sales call to increase follow-ups a month, two months, or three months after talking to prospects
• Practical ways to A, choose your alter-ego, and B, embody your alter-ego on calls

Helpful Resources

More Q&A. This is part 6 of our 7-part Mindset series.

Listen to my answer!

You'll Discover

• Mirroring and matching to relate to your prospect
• The difference between mirroring and alter egos
• The Nelson Mandela effect for better close rates on sales calls

Helpful Resources

Question and answer time! This is part 5 of our 7-part Mindset series.

Listen to my answer!

You'll Discover

• What to do when you don't feel challenged or get bored with your situation
• The one question you should ask yourself when you start to get stale
• What it says about you if you can stick with something, even when it ain't fun
• The Dip: the difference between successful people and the unsuccessful
• And more!

Helpful Resources

I've been bodybuilding recently to get jacked and tan. Part of my training is I have to do 30 minutes of cardio after every training session. And from the moment it starts, I hate it. But I get it done, every single time. How?

This is part 4 of our 7-part Mindset series, and we're gonna talk about how to keep going even when you're doing hard s***. 

You'll Discover

• The gap: why top-performers sometimes self-sabotage
• The best way to generate internal motivation
• The multiplicative effects of combining mindset techniques
• How to use scorecards to short-circuit the tricks your mind will play on you
• And more!

Helpful Resources

This is part 3 of our 7-part mini-series of mindset training for sales success. I'll be covering how you can stay in control on sales calls by ticking off mental checklists.

You'll Discover

• Process goals over outcome goals
• Introducing the 3-point checklist for Discovery
• How to make people feel heard and understood
• Eugene Schwartz's equation for getting prospects to buy
• And more!

Helpful Resources

This is part 2 of our 7-episode mini-series of mindset training for sales success. Tl;dr: when you're on a sales call, DON'T be yourself.

You'll Discover

• Why "be yourself" is terrible advice to give salespeople
• Sales is a performance
• Why method actors kill it in movies 
• The time I wasn't Mike Mark, but Jim Gissey
• And more!

Helpful Resources

We're starting a 7-episode series of mindset training for sales success. In part 1, I'll be covering what separates the winners from the losers in life and business.

You'll Discover

• How you react to difficult things and what it says about you
• 3 mental reframes to help you overcome challenges
• The right way to think about personal and professional development 
• Why positive thinking can lead to disaster
• And more!

Helpful Resources

We're exploring the dark side of persuasion. Skip this if you're easily offended.

There's a fascinating TEDx talk by Tim Larkin, a former military intelligence officer, called the Paradox of Violence. His thesis is that in order to protect yourself, you need to understand violence. And to understand violence, you need to study criminals.

Studying pimps and pimping is essentially the same concept. Like violence, persuasion is just a tool. It can be used for good or evil. And to know the full extent of persuasion can do, you must study those who use the tool in ways you may think are immoral, unethical, or even criminal.

Think of today's podcast as Pimpology 101, where I introduce you to what pimps call "the Ism."

You'll Discover

• The principle of magic in sales
• Why pimps dress and talk the way they do
• The true power of persuasive speech
• How pimps turn the tables of thousands of years of human behavior
• And more!

Helpful Resources

You’ll hear this often on sales calls:

• “It sounds great, I just need to do a little research.”
• “Do you have some testimonials I can check out?”
• “Can I have some time to think on it? I’m not quite ready yet.”
• “Yeah, this sounds great, but I’m not sure if it’ll work for me.”

They’re just not there yet. They’re non-committal. Maybe they believe your product works, but they don’t yet believe it’ll work for them. 

In today’s podcast, we’ll be going over how to build the beliefs in your prospect that get them to buy.

You'll Discover

• How to handle a prospect whose expectations are too low and aren't a good fit
• How to handle "can you send me a proposal?"
• And more!

Helpful Resources

I did a fun exercise in our Facebook Group recently, where I asked the members to give me an objection they've heard so I can handle it live. This is a recording of that live stream.

You'll Discover

• How to handle a prospect whose expectations are too low and aren't a good fit
• How to handle "can you send me a proposal?"
• And more!

Helpful Resources

Something I’ve noticed with a lot of entrepreneurs and sales reps that kills a lot of their deals is what I call “Happy Ears.”

In this episode of the podcast, I’m going to tell you how to stop doing that. And how to dig deep during discovery so you identify any and all red flags.  

And I have a story about an interview that I did today and I found something that I didn't want to hear, but it really could have cost us dearly later. And I'll get into that in a bit. But first, what’s Happy Ears?

You'll Discover

• What are Happy Ears and how can you stop doing it?
• Why sales calls are like haunted houses
• The true source of your success - whether that's how much money you make or the results you get for your clients
• How to discover deal-breakers that disqualify your prospect on sales calls
• And much more!

Helpful Resources

In this episode, I'm going to give you the secret to charging more for your products and services.

You'll Discover

• Why Tony Robbins turned down $1 million dollars a year for personal coaching from A-Rod
• The easiest way for you to go from $1,500 retainers to $5,000 retainers
• A good rule of thumb about marketing and sales I learned from the world of direct response
• The one tweak I made to gun.io's business model that got them to $1 million ARR
• And much more!

Helpful Resources

We're going to talk about how you can build an alter ego and make it a part of your sales persona when you're showing up on calls. And how that will, in turn, protect you from slumps, amplify your results dramatically, and allow you to show up and do things that you yourself aren't even capable of doing.

What you'll discover during this episode

• Why sales slumps happen (they're not always related to the salesperson)
• Why a salesperson should protect his self-identity
• The people who are best at creating alter-egos
• My own sales alter ego (he's based on a famous pimp)
• And much more!

Helpful Resources

Recently, I was just in the buying position on a sales call. And I want to break down what the experience was like for me. Because there were some obvious things that the guy could have done differently. So, I figured it'd be useful for you if I unpack it in this episode of the podcast.

In this episode, you'll discover

• The wrong way to build rapport
• No one wants to be "talked at"
• How to ruin discovery during a sales call
• What happens when you misjudge the prospect's level of sophistication
• And more! 

Helpful Resources

Over in our Facebook Group, we get a lot of questions in some variant of:

• "How do I ethically sell?"
• "When do I know to sell hard?"
• "How do I avoid being unethical with my persuasion?"
• "How do I not be manipulative?"

Questions like these are common from people who are learning to sell for the first time. They’re trying to understand the fine line between using their powers of persuasion for good and using them for evil.

This is something we teach a lot of beginner sales reps we work with. Or anyone who’s looking to get into in-person selling, really. It’s something I call the Philosophy of Sales and Magic. And we’d like to share it with you today.

In this podcast, you'll discover:

• White magic, black magic, and sales
• Am I selling for good or evil?
• The key to unlimited wealth
• The salesman's code
• And much more!

Helpful Resources