How Can Sea Turtles Add To The Success Of Your Home Based Business?
I’m sure you’ve been pondering this question for a while… actually I’m sure you haven’t BUT I’m going to give you the answer because it is an important lesson for anyone starting their own home based business.
We’ve all heard that sales is about listening and solving problems. Ultimately all sales come down to making someone’s life better in some way. As Zig Ziglar famously used to say, “You can have everything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
I was recently listening to some wonderful sales training by Tim Sales. Tim has been extremely successful in building his own home business as well as training thousands of other people to build theirs. (For information on Tim and his training materials go to www.brilliantexchange.com)
Facts Tell, Stories Sell…
In training, Tim has a beautiful way of using simple stories to teach profound truths. Tim told this story. He was speaking with a lady (we’ll call her Mary) who absolutely LOVED sea turtles. She had statues of sea turtles. She had posters of sea turtles. She loved to go watch sea turtles. She wanted to save sea turtles. You get it. She was really into sea turtles!
Now Tim wanted her to see his business opportunity and his products. He was actually having a business and product presentation at his home and wanted her to come.
So did Tim say, “Come to my house tonight so I can show you my great products.”?
Or perhaps, “I’m having a Network Marketing Opportunity meeting at my home tonight and I think you should come.”?
No. He did not. Instead Tim gave the most brilliant invitation that Mary could have ever heard.
He simply said, “Mary, I want you to come to my house tonight. I am going to show you a way to save sea turtles.”
Why was it brilliant? Because it was EXACTLY what Mary needed to hear.
Successful Home Business Offers Customers Solutions, Not Products
Tim’s proposal solved a problem for Mary that had an emotional impact. As a result, Mary showed up at the product presentation and signed up on the spot. After giving the presentation Tim simple closed with, “Mary, do you see a way where earning this additional stream of income could open up huge doors for you to save more sea turtles!?” How could Mary refuse.
Now, let’s look at the other options. Do you think Mary would have showed up had Tim told her to come over and look at some vitamins? A home business opportunity? An MLM? Not likely. While all of those things have value, they were not the things that were going to attract Mary to Tim’s business. The only phrase that was going to attract her was… “HELP SAVE SEA TURTLES.”
Two Ears and One Mouth: Successful Business Owners Listen Twice As Much As They Talk
Now, go out, start talking to people and find out what their “sea turtles” are. It could be a hatred for their commute. It could be giving to a specific charity, building a church, adopting a child, buying a car. Don’t judge their sea turtles… just show them how to get what they need.
4. February 2010 at 8:17 am
WOW!
4. February 2010 at 9:36 am
Tim has learned the art of communicating with people and I love the fact that he so willingly shares it. The site looks beautiful! Can’t wait to see what else you’ll be sharing
And thank you, I think the sea turtles will stick with me when I’m chatting at people now!
~S
4. February 2010 at 1:50 pm
Thanks Dave! This was very helpful and I am sharing it with others on our team. We MUST remember we are in the problem solving business. Keep ‘em coming!
4. February 2010 at 4:47 pm
That was a wonderful story and puts things into the KISS rule. Keep it simple silly! Find their why it may be sea turtles:) Thanks so much for sharing with us.
4. February 2010 at 6:00 pm
Hi, David,
Thanks for your help. I really appeciated.
Lynn
5. February 2010 at 10:51 am
Very nice summary of the subject, Dave.
5. February 2010 at 4:06 pm
You know Dave You are a pretty smart cookie! Loved the insight & Many Blessings! Ciao for now! & See you soon!
7. February 2010 at 12:35 pm
Dave – Great blog! I love the Sea Turtle story. Sales really is about helping people solve problems. Tim Sales is a great communicator and we can all learn from his examples.
Wishing you all the best,
Bobbie
8. February 2010 at 8:44 am
A very good nugget of sales wisdom from Tim. I’ve always felt effective sales techiniques is an art. If we choose, we can certainly learn from those who have mastered these techniques. Thanks for sharing Dave!
10. February 2010 at 8:54 am
Dave, thanks for sharing this. I have run into this a few times, people telling me what they want to do, but always seem to get interupted by their other friends that show up while out at a resturant or other location. But will keep trying.
11. February 2010 at 2:12 pm
Thanks, Dave for your website… This is so helpful for me since I obviously miss out CD’s or presentations. I truly appreciate your time and effort doing this hard work to make it happen….Now many deaf people can read your articles… I simply love the story about the sea turtles. Real WOW! It opened my eyes… Smile and God bless you and Trisha!
12. February 2010 at 1:29 pm
Thanks Dave a great story . I will certainly remember this wee story. I listen to people but seem to freezeup on getting the right words out. Tim Sales is great as is Denis Waitley .
14. February 2010 at 11:28 pm
Thanks wonderful story.
15. February 2010 at 7:02 am
I will post them on facebook as well. Join Team Delevante for updates.
20. February 2010 at 9:04 pm
Just post a link to this article. Let me know what your website is and perhaps I can link to it as well!
2. March 2010 at 5:29 pm
It’s hard to imagine how many people forget this commonsense stuff. Thanks for sharing. BTW – this would make a great tweet, do you use Twitter?