Ep #187 Sales Can Be Easy & Fun with These 4 Mindset Shifts

Sales people gets a pretty bad rap (think used car salesman stereotype) and how however you think about "sales" is affecting your revenue in your business. I can give you strategies all day long (as Danny and I are doing in the Up Level Workshop), but it's at least as important to also change your mindset around sales and become a great sales person. 

In today's podcast, I share with you four mindset shifts you can make that are backed up by science. The beauty is that they are simple to do,  cost you nothing and will increase your sales with practice - then combine them with the strategies in the workshop and you are on your way to a profitable business!

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If you would like help to create this foundation to create your own beautiful business, Master Your Business is now open for applications. We will officially start in January, but you don't want to miss the Q4 bonus classes to get your business ready!

Food Business Success is my signature program that helps you launch your delicious idea and grow it to $100K. Includes step-by-step videos, tools and 5 months inside the Fuel membership for coaching + community. And it's guaranteed to make your program fee back or I'll refund your money. Learn more at https://www.foodbizsuccess.com/program

Pick up your copy of "Key Ingredients" on Amazon here.

Check out my YouTube channel at www.foodbiz.tube for how to videos to start and grow a packaged food business.

Transcript

Sari  
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell, I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach, and it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journey so you can learn what worked and didn't work, and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now, let's jump in!

Welcome back to the podcast. Oh my gosh, excited to be here. I'm doing this one solo, I feel like it's been a little while. I miss you guys. I'm just talking directly to you. And I love interviewing guests and having Danny on and having these great conversations. But I wanted to do a podcast that is going to be a little bit more about mindset. But it's all the things that you wish you knew about how to be a great salesperson, how to actually make sales fun. And we aren't going to have time to cover this in the upcoming, it's actually this week, if you're listening to this podcast live, the Up Level Your Farmers Market Workshop with Danny and I, and the information you're going to get in this workshop is like mind blowing, Danny has so much good stuff. But we don't have room, we don't have time to go over these pieces. And I love great strategies. I love tools. I love like, here's how you do it, do it this way, follow the strategy. But the whole reason why I became a life coach, why I invested $21,000 to gaining skills to be a life coach is because what I noticed is that it did not matter how many strategies I give you. I can give you something you're like, I'm like, follow this, do this to a tee. And somehow it's not enough. The strategies are not enough if you don't combine it with the mindset with how do I get past procrastination? How do I do something I've never done before? How do I get to courage and overcoming my fear? How do I break past caring about rejection and what other people think and all these things, right? So I'm going to give you four mindset strategies if you will, four changes, little shifts that you can make when you show up to sell. Now these work energetically, I believe, when you are writing emails, when you are doing things on social media, if you can make these same adjustments when you are doing those things, you're going to show up differently, your language is going to be different. And it will make a difference in those settings. But specifically, I'm going to be talking about that face to face sale. And mainly around farmers markets because this Uplevel Workshop is happening. And if you want to still register, if you're listening before the 27th, go to foodbizsuccess.com/uplevel. And if after that it will be available as a replay. Plus, you're going to get the bonus of the Hiring Workshop that Danny's going to be offering a bonus. In any case, if you use these tactics when you're selling to a buyer and when you are selling, I mean to a buyer of like a wholesale, you know, a retail store of any kind or a restaurant, cafe, whatever. And these will make a huge difference in your sales at farmer's markets. And I know this because I'm a life coach. And because I see it over and over again. And because I own a frickin farmers market and I see the mistakes that people are doing every market and I know that it, I can I have data that says your sales are different. The people who are doing this, their sales are double, triple, the people who are not, and I know exactly who justify my interactions with them who's having a great sales day and who is not. And I have proof because I see the numbers. So I want to get into these four mindset shifts and things that are just as important, if not more so then am I doing the exact right strategy, right? Am I pricing my products exactly the way that Danny tells me to? Am I collecting emails? All of these things, these will go beyond that. And the best news is, you just have to change your mind. It's free. I don't need you to pay for anything to get better results, which is the best news ever. And yet, it's simple but not easy. And I find people like to rely on strategy, because it feels like a little comforting blanket, like if I just do the strategy, but if you're not changing these things, it won't matter. And I see it over and over again. Okay. So let's jump into this. When I say the word sales, when you think of somebody who's salesy, you probably get a pretty negative picture in your mind. You might think of like a used car salesperson, right? And I want to offer that being great at sales is a virtue, it is incredible, you are doing people a service. And if you believe that, it's going to be all the better. Now the problem is that we often are met, we meet people who are salesy, quote unquote, and like the sleazy way, where you know that they don't have these things I'm going to talk about, and it just feels icky. And it feels like they're trying to get something from you. And they don't really believe in their product, right? It's like all about them, and the money and all of that, and it just doesn't feel good. But if you have not had the experience, I highly recommend that you just go to a farmers market and go find some people who are doing this well, but that you can have a really enjoyable experience being sold to. I love it when people sell to me. Like when they do it well, right? It's like, they are offering me something so valuable. And I'm pumped. I'm like this is incredible, amazing. I just want to feel good about spending money as a buyer. And guess what, people at farmer's markets are there to buy. They're literally there to buy. That is the reason, the main reason they are going, sure there's some other reasons, you know, socialization, and just getting outside and whatever. But most people are there to buy, you just have to show up with the right mindset and do these things. Okay. So what are those things? The first thing is belief. Are you in 100% belief about you, your business, and your product? That you deserve to be there, that you are enough, that you can do this, that you are good at business. I may have already lost some of you there. You're like, no, I don't believe me on that. Do you believe in your product a hundred percent? Most of you probably do. But when you combine it with your price point, that's where a lot of you start to cringe. Like, yeah, I believe in my product. But I have to charge $12. My gosh, right? And so we freak out about it. And so we show up and we're not in 100% belief. We're not in full alignment of like, I'm a yes, I'm an F YES. Everything about this is awesome and I believe in this. And if you do not believe in you, your business, or your product, all of those things, then there's a different energy there. I can tell when somebody's not in belief, and it rubs off on people. They're like, cool, thanks but no, thanks.

Nice to chat. But no. And I actually did a podcast about this way back on Episode 23 called, has a longer title but something about the Belief Plan, creating a belief plan. And the beautiful thing is, you create belief through your thoughts. Belief is just thoughts you think all the time. What you believe it's not fact, right? And the beauty of that is that you can change it. We can change our thoughts and therefore create different beliefs. And so one of the things I love to do as a life coach and when we're in Fuel is helping people work through their beliefs because we just come in with a lot of unconscious negative baggage. Somebody said one time or, you know, a lot of times it's like people in your family or thing people who aren't believing in you and then it translates to like a lack of belief around yourself, and then your lack of belief around your price point and all of these things. So it doesn't matter if you're in a craft bag with an Avery label, you can show up in a 100% belief of like, my product is the best. And you're not egotistic thinking that. It doesn't mean you're better than anybody else. It just means like, I think my product is amazing. I think everybody should try it, I think everybody should buy it. And when somebody doesn't buy it, I'm like, what? You're crazy. You need this, you want this. This is so valuable. And I'm going to use some examples about my program. Hope you don't mind, but I am in business and so I want you to extrapolate this and think about your own product. But I'm going to use examples of my business because I am in 100% belief that I have the best program out there for early stage, just an idea entrepreneurs and brands who want to scale to 300 to 500k. That's what I do and I do it the best. And people who decide not to join Food Business Success, not to become a member of Fuel and get all of this knowledge, all this access, my connections, the mindset coaching, the community, the cheering each other on. We just finished a call with an attorney and people were like, oh my gosh, I didn't know I needed to do that. Well, now we can fix it. And I have so much belief. I feel like I have the cure for cancer. And when people are like, no, I don't want to do $57 a month. I'm like, what? That's what's happening in my brain. Are you kidding me?

I've heard all the reasons why you don't want to do farmers markets. I totally get it. But what if there was a better way? And what if you were using farmers markets more intentionally, and to actually grow your sales and make money? Danny Walsh of Peak State, a brand who did over 200 markets last year, and took two months off during the summer. And me, a market manager who works with people all the time, every day, helping them to make more money at the farmers market and help them be more successful. We are putting on an incredible workshop coming up live on March 27th. We are here to help you uplevel your farmers market strategy and do it with more intention and make more money. Get yourself registered to attend live, have an amazing Q&A. Plus there's tons of giveaways and bonuses because you guys know I love to be generous and do giveaways. Go to foodbizsuccess.com/uplevel. 

What are you talking about? There's so much value here. And so it doesn't matter if everybody tells me no, I'm still going to show up in 100% belief. So that's the first mindset shift I want you to make. If you're not in 100% belief, how do we get you there? And it is by changing your thoughts. It's as simple as that. And it doesn't mean you go to daisies and rainbows and like I think I have the most amazing product and everybody wants it. I mean, yes, I want you to get there. But if you don't believe it, it's bunk, doesn't matter. It's why mantras don't really work because we have these like crazy things. But if you can get to, you just got to kind of like layer it on and get a little bit more in belief. So that's the first one. The second one is enthusiasm. Oh my gosh, you guys, sometimes I talk to my vendors and I'm like, you are putting me to sleep here. Yawn. Listen, emotions are contagious. Whether you are like having a bad day. I promise you that is rubbing off. If you are yelling at my market staff as what recently happened, I promise you, you're not having a great sales day, right? But if you come in and you are so enthusiastic because you are in a 100% belief, you're like I get to do this. This is so fun. I cannot believe I get to show up on this beautiful day, whatever the day is like. It could be raining, it could be snowing, still a beautiful day. And I get to talk with people, I get to, you know, delight them with samples, and I get to exchange value with them. How cool is that? If you show up with all this belief, it's going to generate enthusiasm, and enthusiasm, they've actually done studies, is the most contagious of emotions. And this is a good to contagion. It actually lights up parts of your brain, of your own brain when you're enthusiastic, but it lights up parts of other people's brains and they like we'd like to mirror each other as humans, we do a lot of mirroring. And so you have to carry the enthusiasm at a higher level. It's like, if you were an actor on stage, you have to be bigger, right? You have to like really project and make your movements bigger, because you got to rise above, you got to get that all the way out to the people in the back. And it's the same thing. And you have a responsibility as somebody who has committed to showing up at a farmers market, I believe it is your responsibility to find your enthusiasm. I don't care how crappy of a day you're having. If you show up. Yeah, might as well be enthusiastic, you might as well dig deep and find it. So I love listening to good playlists, having like a market day playlist that gets you excited. Looking back at customer reviews and testimonials and people saying thank you for doing this, right? Going in and starting your day off by supporting other vendors, having conversations, trying to lift your mood. I mean, if you're going to be there, let's have a good day doing it. And not have so many stories of like, sour poses, or people who like hey, we're there, you know what your location does not matter. If you have enthusiasm, it doesn't matter where you are placed in the farmers market, you will attract people, people want to be around it. And enthusiasm sells. And I'm trying to show you that in this podcast right now because I am enthusiastic. You are hopefully getting a little lit up in your own brain. You're like, man, what is she on right now. And I'm like, I'm just high on life. I love what I do. I love my members, I love my clients, we had the most amazing call. I'm just fired up. And so you can hear it in my voice, right? And hopefully it's getting you excited. And enthusiasm will sell all day long. It will increase your sales if you can bring a level of enthusiasm that rises above whatever anybody, you know, people can come up and they're having their own bad day. And they're gooing to be like, start to mirror you. And that's fun, that you're shifting their mood. How cool is that? So enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm. I don't care how you get there, get there, it's your job. That's what you're doing. You're a salesperson. You know, sidenote, it's like, I feel like sometimes with entrepreneurs, we feel like we have all this choice. Like, I mean, I'm going to the farmers market, but I'm having a bad day. So I'm just going to be in a bad mood. Instead of thinking about it like blue collar worker, like if you work for the DMV, you just show up at the DMV, it doesn't matter if you're having a bad day. It blows my mind how many people cancel and don't show up because they're having a bad day. What if you're just like, my job today is to be at the farmers market and make a ton of money. Because I'm a business and I'm offering amazing value. And I'm in 100% belief, and I am enthusiastic, and that's my job. That's how I show up, right? Actors are having a bad day they act and they still show up in the character that they need to be in. That's what you need to do. So no more passes on that. I love you to give yourself a pass on a lot of things as entrepreneurs, but we got to show up with a little more blue collar workers mindset when we are doing things like farmers markets or events or things like that. Okay, coming back. All right, the next thing, the third thing is make it about them. Stop making it about you. It's human nature. You're not you know, there's nothing wrong with you. You're not a bad person. But it is so amazing how much we make it about us and people don't care. They care later, right? What does that quote that you hear a lot like, people don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. First, they need to feel like you understand them, their problems, you're making it about their experience and the benefits for them. So stop focusing on the features, like it's gluten free, and this many calories, and it's this many serving. Nobody cares at the beginning. Focus on how this is a value to them, how it will increase their pleasure or end their pain. Humans are motivated by pleasure and pain. And we have a concept, we talked about concept in Master Your Business about what business are you in. You are not in the business of cookies, or kombucha, or coffee. You are in the business of an emotion. Something like connection, or indulgence, or fun, right? That's the business you're in. So sell the emotion, sell the experience first. Humans are emotional beings. And we like to pretend. We like to think that we are making decisions from logical rational places. But think about all the commercials you see. And all of a sudden, you're like, oh, I need that thing. Well, they've sold you through emotion. And then we rationalize our decisions. So let's not pretend like all of your people are just being like super rational, all the customers that come up to you know, they want to feel something, give them an emotion and make it about them. It's not about you. I could go on and on of that, but rant over, I will stay with that and just make it about them. 

Okay, the last thing, we just did a call and we have a 10x Mastermind with my graduates who chose to do this Mastermind after they'd done Master Your Business. And this month was about money and healing some our money limiting beliefs and becoming more abundant and bringing in more money. And the thing is, you're in business, and I'm sure we all have our money. I know we all have money issues. Most of us do. Right? We have ways that we think about money that we might be bad people or greedy or it makes us look like we're better than other people or I mean, the list goes on and on, right? Like it also can separate you from other people. People have opinions about you when you have money because you have opinions about other people who have money. So we read a couple of books, and it was a really great conversation. But the thing I want to talk about here is that you are in business. And the whole point of you being at a market or selling to a buyer or anything like that is to exchange value for money, to receive money. And many of you have some real sticking points around money and receiving it. And so I'd love for you to think about like, if somebody were to hand me money, how do I feel about that? Somebody wanted to buy me a coffee, do I just accept and say thank you? And that makes it a big deal. Can I receive that? What about a compliment? Can you receive a compliment and to say thank you and not put it down or try to compliment them and return like make it not a big deal? And so so many of us are actually in our, even though we're like we love our product, but we have a hard time with this whole money exchange thing. And so your work is to practice receiving. And here's the really cool part is you can learn how to be a better receiver by being a better giver. And I love challenging people to the generosity challenge. And it was actually a bonus episode of the podcast back in April of 2021. It's right around Episode 31. But it can actually be pretty uncomfortable for some of us to be generous to, like, open the flow of money. Because oftentimes we hold on so tight and we're just like, I don't want to you know, I don't want to lose my money. Money's hard. Once I get it, I need to keep it. It always leaves me when I don't want it to, so I'm going to hold on. And that is the exact opposite of the attitude of how you want to think about money especially when you're going into a sales situation. And so I find, the best way to really open up the flow of money coming in to you, is by you going and like, let's say you have a neighbor who's selling coffee or breakfast burritos or something, go and purchase from them. It kills me when people are walking in, like these small batch makers, local makers, and they're walking in with their McDonald's mug, or their Starbucks mug, you know, or their cup of coffee or whatever. And I'm like, you want people to buy from you locally and support local, and yet, you're unwilling to do that for other people because you're trying to save a buck. Instead of I value all the things that people are doing here, and I'm going to support this market. And I'm going to start with generosity, I'm going to go give some samples to people, I'm going to go see if I can help, I'm going to offer a compliment. And maybe I'm going to pay it forward. And the generosity challenge was about me learning how to open up that valve of prosperity and abundance by giving away money, by doing a pay it forward. And we actually start all of my farmers markets that way. All of my staff takes $20 and they go buy something for themselves, like a little snack, something, coffee, or whatever. And then they use the rest of it to pay it forward. And it just, man, it like lifts the energy up so high, you know, that vibration, not to get too woowoo on you. But there is this vibration of like, exchanging money. We all know that the economy starts shrinking. If you didn't know this, now you do, the economy shrinks because people hold on, they get tight, they get afraid. And so I want you to check your own, you know, your own interior of yourself and say, am I afraid to spend money? And we're only thinking about us and the money we're making. Instead of like, how can we go start with some generosity? How can we go get this flow, right? This machine of flow going and just really get in the groove and receive. Be open, right? It's this idea of like open hands instead of the closed fists. And yes, somebody is going to go out. And because you're exchanging value. If you don't like coffee, it's probably not a great idea for you to go exchange your money for coffee, right? That's not a good value exchange. But if you love coffee, I'm like, sell me all day long on whatever fun coffee thing you got going on. Because I value it. And so we're trying to be a match for people who value what you have, and want to exchange their money in exchange for your value. And that's it. That's all sales is. We make it so personal. And we have all these money blocks and all these things. It's like, that's all we're doing here. Are you creating value through emotion, through enthusiasm? Are you in 100% belief? And people are having a great experience and they're like, this is valuable. Whatever this is, this is valuable to me. It's going to make my life better or less painful. And I'm excited. You want people excited to hand you money, and they're like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. I'm so excited. I try to make all my purchases that way for me personally, like I'm going to not swear but a heck yes. It's got to be an F Yes when I make purchases, and I believe I am putting that energy back into the universe and things are coming back to me, right? I want other people, if you're going to invest in my programs, I want you to be a heck, yes! I want you to be like, I am showing up, I am doing this. I don't want people are like, I'm going to give you my money. I want you to invest your money and be like, yes, this is going to give me exactly what I need. Thank you. Thank you for creating it, and putting value out in the world. And I want that value. And so these are all practices, you're not going to be 100% perfect, but I love for you to write down those four things and just see if you can have like a card or a reminder. You're going to markets, as you're going into sales situations, as you're writing emails, as you're creating social media. What if you shifted your mindset on these things, you got into 100% belief. You built up your enthusiasm and you're going to make it about them not you and then you're going to open yourself up to receiving and you can go and buy somebody else's product online. I can make a purchase and have it be fun. I love this product. I'm so excited, I love shopping. And I love buying things that bring me tremendous value. And money is always coming to me. It's a beautiful thing. It's awesome. Highly recommended. So those are the four things. I would love for you to sign up for that Uplevel Workshop, it's going to be incredible. Or come and get the full program, come get Food Business Success, come join us in Fuel. It will change your business, it will change your life. I believe that so thoroughly with everything I have. And I invite you to come in and just see. It's money back guarantee. So you know, what do you got to lose? And we'll do a whole podcast on money back guarantees because I've really had a whole shift in my own business and how I'm consulting and coaching other founders on that. Anyway, I digress. That's what I got for you today. Go out, increase your sales, stop sabotaging yourself with all your crappy money beliefs and be like, I believe in my product. I'm enthusiastic. It's all about them and I receive. I am a money magnet. All right. Until next time, have an amazing week!