The Commission Code for Success
Does your gross revenue come from commissions, fees, and other types of 1099 MISC income? If you answered yes, then the Commission Code for Success is a podcast created specifically with you in mind. Each episode is designed to deliver a concept or idea that will help you increase your revenue and have more time to enjoy it.
If you are an employee on 100% commission or an independent contractor you are a business owner when it comes to how you go about doing your daily work. The mindset of a business owner puts you in exactly the right spot to maximize your revenue and maximize the impact you have with your clients and customers.
The Commission Code is the library of knowledge and the set of skills you need to grow your business and reach your desires. Please join us and our guests at The Commission Code Podcast! I look forward to seeing you there, I'm your host, Morris Sims.
The Commission Code for Success
Selling Without the Sleaze: A Blueprint for Authentic Success
We explore the CROWN methodology, a comprehensive framework for creating consistent, repeatable, and scalable sales processes that turn clients into raving fans. Lynn Whitbeck shares her expertise on building authentic sales relationships based on trust and worthy intent.
• Client thinking forms the foundation of effective selling – understanding what truly motivates your buyers
• People make emotional buying decisions first, then rationalize them with logic afterward
• Nobody buys features – they buy solutions to problems or ways to achieve dreams
• Creating repeatable sales processes allows your business to scale while maintaining quality
• Being originally authentic means showing your true personality rather than using scripted approaches
• Worthy intent means genuinely caring about solving problems for clients
• Nurture relationships for repeat business and referrals – the lowest-cost client acquisition method
• Trust transfer makes referrals 99% more likely to become clients
• Ask quality discovery questions to understand client needs like a detective
• Reward referral behavior to encourage more referrals in the future
Visit petite2queen.com to learn more about Lynn's approach to joyful, authentic selling.
Check out more about your host, Morris Sims
Visit our Facebook and LinkedIn Pages!
It's client thinking. You have to think like your client and when I talk about that, it's truly important all the way through your sales to be thinking like your client. Why does this matter to them? What's in it for them so they can? Because I'm sorry to tell you, but you don't make the decision to buy. You don't make the decision to buy again. You don't make the decision to provide a referral. It's your client who does that.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Commission Code Podcast. We're here to help you overcome the challenges that most of us face in our business. From time to time, you know things like feeling like you're on a plateau and you just can't seem to grow your business. Or maybe feeling overwhelmed, just trying to make ends meet and yet it seems like you're always working. Or maybe you've done quite well for a while, but now nothing seems to be working anymore. Well, we want to help you solve those problems and many more. Our objective is to provide you with practical solutions so you can grow your business and have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Speaker 2:My name is Morris Sims and I'm going to be your host for this show. I've spent years okay, decades really in the corporate world teaching business owners how to increase their revenue and use professional sales processes and run their business more effectively and efficiently. I started my own consulting and training business about seven years ago, I guess, and I'm helping my clients do just exactly that Get more revenue, increase their revenue and have more time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But I got to tell you I'm having more fun than ever helping people build successful businesses. So, with all that said, let's get on with today's episode of the Commission Code for your Success, of the Commission Code for your success.
Speaker 2:Lynn Whitbeck is our guest today on the Commission Code and we're really excited to have Lynn back. And Lynn, I'm going to pull the cover off and just share us with the world here. Lynn and I have done this before. We did a really, really, really, really great show. I mean, it was the probably the best podcast we you and I've ever done in our lives, right, wouldn't you agree?
Speaker 2:pretty much oh, it was fantastic, it was great. And then we started listening to the playback and it was just all screwed up. The audio was just not good, so we had to kind of chunk that one. So this is take two. We're looking forward to it because we really did have a great time the first time through Lynn. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your company. You're a sales expert for sure. Tell us a little more.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm the joyful sales queen, so business owners hire me because they want a consistent. So business owners hire me because they want a consistent, repeatable, scalable sales process where sales are joyful and easy and profitable. And so that's what I help them do. And we do that by really approaching sales from that perspective of worthy intent where you truly desire to help and serve your clients and create lasting impact. So, really coming from a very good place, a place of honor, Isn't that the truth?
Speaker 2:I mean, sales is a noble profession as far as I'm concerned, and it's something we're all involved with. I don't care if we're, you know, the best salesperson in the world for a huge conglomerate, or if you're the mom of a toddler you're in sales and a mom of a teenager oh my word, what kind of sales are you creating every day? So it's worthwhile to know how to sell, even if it's not how you maybe earn your living. But for those of us that do earn our living having to do with sales, there is a process to this whole thing. It's not just fly by the seat of your pants hey, don't you want to buy 10 of these? No, I really don't want to buy 10 of those. So it's a process and I hope we can kind of go through that today so that for all of our audience, when you finish today's show, my objective, our objective because I think Lynn would agree is that, by the time this is over with, if you walked in here going sales, I really don't like sales. I don't want to be in sales. I don't want to be called a salesperson. It's all sleazy and yucky.
Speaker 2:We're going to help you overcome that mindset and give you the professional salesperson mindset. We're also going to help you if you're coming in here and you're going. Gee, I just wish I could do a better job or I could get better results from the operation. The time that I spend trying to go out and engage people and help them get what they want and we call that sales. If that's the case, you know, I just want to get better at it. Hey, we've got some ideas for you there too. So by the time we're done, we're hoping that we're going to be able to help you overcome at least those two pain points and hopefully a few that we don't even we haven't even identified yet absolutely so we'll kind of go from there.
Speaker 2:But Lynn, tell us real quickly your website is.
Speaker 1:Petite2queencom. Petite2queencom.
Speaker 2:And you got to tell me where that came from.
Speaker 1:Well, you know there's a lot of different things about that, but you know, think about it. Businesses start out small and they become big. They become the queen of their castle, the queen of their kingdom or the king, whichever the case may be. And so you know, you can think about it that way. You can also think about, you know, just that whole diversity of thought, of thinking small to thinking big. And so it's really that you know, moving from a place of where you're starting to where you want to be, Now you know what I'm.
Speaker 2:just I'm thick and slow Because I've been looking at that for the last couple of days, thinking I've got to find out from Lynn exactly what in the world that means and where it came from. That makes so much sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean you know it's. I mean we've used a lot of the whole, you know, and also I'm queen size. Yeah, I mean you know it's. I mean we use a lot of the whole, you know, and also I'm queen size. So there's that absolute tie in. And in fact my team, when I first, we first were brainstorming the company name, they were like size two, size four, maybe a size six, right, and so that also. But it has all these nuances right in the name.
Speaker 2:I love it. But just small to royal is wonderful. I love that concept. I think it's absolutely true because all of us start out that way. We all start out petite in all different cases, and then we grow a business and it becomes what we really wanted it to be. It becomes our lifeblood. For some of us it's our child. For some of us it's what I do, it's who I become. I kind of have a connection to it. But it's for sure, getting you up into that royalty section.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your legacy.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that, that is great, that is super. And having to do then with queens queens wear crowns and you have a crown methodology that kind of describes everything that we want to talk about with sales. So can we kind of go through that methodology, lynn, would that be?
Speaker 1:all right? Yeah, absolutely. So. One of the key things that you have to have in sales is you have to have a sales blueprint. So this is how you're going to create a consistent, repeatable, scalable process and apply it to your sales, and if you really want to go from being petite to the queen, you've got to be able to. Eventually, you're going to stop doing the sales. You're going to hire sales professionals to step into that role and do sales, and when you have a roadmap for them to follow, they can hit the ground running and be successful right away. And so it's also something that you can really leverage for your entire team, because everyone in the company is in sales, from the janitor who cleans the restroom so that when clients come to visit your facility, that's saying something about your company, right?
Speaker 1:And so everyone and everyone they interact with when they when they call into customer service, when they call in to shipping, or if you have you know you have a virtual assistant or something like that. Every interaction they're that chat bot, right you?
Speaker 2:want them to have a really delightful experience.
Speaker 1:So the crown methodology is a framework that can apply to any sales, and so the key components the first is client thinking. You have to think like your client and when I talk about that, it's truly important all the way through your sales to be thinking like your client. What's in it for them? So they can't Because, I'm sorry to tell you, but you don't make the decision to buy, you don't make the decision to buy again, you don't make the decision to provide a referral. It's your client who does that.
Speaker 2:And I can't force it one way or another. Well, if you force, it.
Speaker 1:you're going to plant a bitter seed. They're going to figure it out. They know they don't like it.
Speaker 2:No, I don't like it. No, I don't like it, I don't either. Who wants to be manipulated?
Speaker 1:I mean, it's exactly ridiculous, yeah, and you figure it out, if not immediately, pretty darn quick. And that is the. That's what happens with client churn, because people don't like being treated like that no, not all. Because we still sell human to human.
Speaker 2:Yes. And so even on a, even on a website, even in a, a Home Depot or a Lowe's or anything you know, bj's Superstore, it's still a human somewhere along the line that did something to interest you, to get you to to come in and see this product as a solution to the problem that you have, because we all buy things to solve problems right.
Speaker 1:Well, there's a number of different reasons why we purchase. It's not always to solve a problem. Sometimes it's to create an optimized solution. Better efficiency, solution, better efficiency. It can be so that you can achieve a dream that you've always had, or a life goal to improve your life, to improve your family's life, to protect your family. I mean. There's so many different products and services. Right At the end of the day, it all matters as to why your clients want this.
Speaker 1:So when you think, like your client, you really start with that In reference to your product or service, what do they want, need or lack? Why does it matter to them? So, in other words, what's in it for them? What pain points does it solve? The thorn in their side that it gets removed? What keeps them up at three in the morning? You know that dead sweat that they have. What solution is it delivering to them and what's in it really for them so they can? What you know? What do they? What's the goal, the initiative, the dream? What are they trying to achieve? What do they ardently desire? Because, at the end of the day, what you are selling is what they ardently desire. You know, I have it right here Nobody, nobody, buys an iPhone to make a phone call. Okay, so yeah. And most businesses?
Speaker 1:you're going to break it down into those top three reasons that people buy from you that that, what's their motivation and the emotions tied with it, that client thinking, because we make an emotional decision to purchase and we rationalize it later. So you've got to get into what's the emotions underlying that, what are the motivations, and that's the language that you need to utilize. You need to recognize, you know, because what are those three primary drivers? Which one are they? What's the top priority? Because often people have multiple reasons.
Speaker 1:Like they buy an iPhone, oh, I want to do more storage, I want a better camera, I want more video, um, but there's one that's the primary driver. It could be that I want the latest shiny, because you know it's a status symbol. That's an emotional reason. All right, there's a motivation behind that prestige. So when you can identify what that primary driver is and then what's the secondary and the one in the third position, you're really able to frame your dialogue with your client with the questions that you ask, with your follow-up, so that you can guide them to yes.
Speaker 2:And if you keep looking at the situation there where you're trying to figure out what the pain point is for your client or your prospect, that's the whole crux of the matter, because they're coming to take care of that emotional feeling that they have that need, that desire or whatever it is that they need or desire, and then we're going to help them get that. We're going to help them get to that point. So it all comes back to our job is to help people get what they want, and when we can do that, then they're going to be happy and we're going to be happy and everybody's going to win. If you will, and look at it in that kind of a standpoint. But it's incredible, isn't it? The iPhones that we have today that all fit in our pocket.
Speaker 2:The first phones we bought that were mobile phones were, you know, they weighed 10 pounds and I know I broke two of them before I ever went anywhere else and all it would do is make a phone call. I wanted one so bad I couldn't see straight. Did I need it? Did I have to have it? No, but I wanted it. There was prestige, there was status involved in being one of the few people that had one of those big old, humongous Motorola things with the antenna sticking up. I mean that was like status if you had one of those. But again, it's emotion. We buy based on emotion and we justify that with logic and data.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. In client thinking, as I said, it follows all the way through your entire sales process until you're nurturing your clients. So they're raving fans and they buy repeatedly, they provide you with referrals and you just it's a lifelong relationship. So that's the first piece. The R is that repeatable, consistent, scalable process. So what does that look like? So, for every client that I work with, that is a little different, but it always involves how are we going to attract their ideal clients? You know what does that look like. How are we going to guide them through the process? Get into the sales conversations. What are the discovery questions? What does their process look like?
Speaker 1:Because individual businesses have different processes. So some people they are selling B2B, so they're going to actually have to make a presentation and they're going to have multiple people in the room. There's going to be a bunch of follow-up. They may have to have multiple people in the room. There's going to be a bunch of follow-up. They may have to make multiple presentations. But whatever that is, what is that mapping that process?
Speaker 1:And how can we accelerate the process? How can we make sure that we're giving the clients what they need and what they want, that it makes sense to them, to create that minimal, actionable commitment to move the sale forward. And then all the way through to the yes. And then that's just the beginning. Now there's all the execution. And how do you execute, whatever that product or service is, whether it's just you're delivering something or you're working with them to implement a program. Because that is so important, because now you're creating the relationship for them to provide you with the referrals and to provide you with additional business down the road, that tremendous experience of working with you. So that is the process you got to create.
Speaker 2:Sorry, that's okay. No, no, I interrupted. I'm sorry, but that's what I love about it. It is a process I like to call those systems. We create a system to do that that is repeatable, that when you do it the same way every time, you're going to get repeatable results and you can depend on the results that you're going to get. Are you going to make every sale? No, you're not going to make every sale. That't happen, not every time you get into this, this conversation, is somebody going to choose and decide to buy whatever it is you sell. That's what what it all boils down to. So it's going to be, there's going to be a percentage, there's going to be some numbers in there. But the key is, if you do it the same in a repeatable process that is proven to provide positive results, you're going to get more positive results doing that than if you try shooting from the hip every time.
Speaker 2:You turn around and go around saying, hey, I sell blue widgets. I got a case of them in my trunk. How many you want to buy? You know it's. It's like, well, teaching people to sell life insurance, which I did for over 30 years. I used to tell them if you'll just use the process, it'll work, even if the process is. You stand on the corner in new york city and you ask everybody that buy passes by. Hey, you want to buy some life insurance. Eventually you're going to make a sale if you stand there long enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, we can create a much better process.
Speaker 2:We can create a much better process to do that. Of course, when you do like I just talked about, chances are the person that buys is, you know, headed for the infertile care unit at the local hospital. But anyway, that doesn't matter. The fact is the process, the system, the repeatability, and when you do that with a system that has been proven, you see proven results.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I do want to point out this doesn't mean that you read from a script like an Ottoman.
Speaker 2:Oh good, no yeah.
Speaker 1:Essentially, you know, because you have to be able to, I really recommend more of like a template approach, but you have all the steps and you've mapped that out and you know what to pull and you have the flexibility. If you know this person is, has this priority and these emotions behind it, you're going to pull these assets for them in your follow-up process or as you're delivering that, and that's the whole thing, though it means that it takes you so much less time because you've got this all built out and you can now bring more people in as you grow your business. So the second part is that oh, because I just mentioned that to be originally authentic, now I do not read from a script like an Ottoman, don't read something that's stilted and completely unnatural. It doesn't sound like you, because you can do that. Certainly I do something that AI generated. That's some kind of garbage, but the problem is with that is that it is not originally authentic.
Speaker 1:People buy from other people and when AI starts making the buying decisions, let me know, but until then, it is a tool that you will leverage. It does not ever replace the human to human connection and your originally authentic personality, your approach, what you bring your core genius of why people want to work with you, of what you deliver on your promise, and that's so important because it helps us stand out. It helps us create individual branding. Even when we work for a big company, you can have individual. You can be as a salesperson, a professional salesperson you can have your own individual brand about how you handle your clients and work with them. So this is really important because you can swim in a sea of sameness or you can be unique and attract the people who want to work with you just naturally, almost like a magnet, and it works very effectively.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. So a repeatable, consistent, saleable process. And then the O is original.
Speaker 1:Yeah, originally authentic Be yourself, be authentic.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the W is worthy intent, and worthy intent means well, in a nutshell, you give a darn. I mean you truly desire to help and serve your clients, to make a difference, to create lasting impact in whatever your product or solution is. You know, if you're selling, printing, okay, you're still taking something off that marketing manager's plate that they don't have to think about and you're going to deliver that product perfectly on time and they're going to be delighted, right. And so I want you to realize that this applies to widgets. Blue widgets.
Speaker 1:It applies to everything. It's the experience you're giving when you're working with them, because you are, you truly desire to take care of this for them so that they don't have to deal with it, and so, whatever frame that is, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But it's the difference in walking into Lowe's and saying I need a quarter inch drill bit and the sales associate says that's on aisle 12, over there, it's bin number eight, or having a sales associate look at you and say, super, we can help you with drill bits. What are you drilling into? What's your project? What are you trying to accomplish? Well, you know, the soap dish in our bathtub broke off the other day, so I need to drill a hole to put a bracket in to do that through the tile.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, so you're drilling through tile. You need a quarter inch bit to do that through the tile. Oh okay, so you're gonna go. You're drilling through tile. You need a quarter inch bit to do that. Then you need a, a bit that will drill through tile, not just any drill bit. And I can take you and show you where those are. They're right over here, because what you needed when you walked in the door was not a quarter inch drill bit. What you needed was a quarter inch hole in a piece of tile. So I'm going to help you get what you need, not necessarily tell you it's aisle number three, over there, bed number eight. That's because the sales associate in that second case cared.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they wanted to help you get what you really wanted and not have you get something that you were going to go home and say damn it, this doesn't work and have to come back and try again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they ask the right questions.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. And that gets us right back to the worthy intent idea. Yeah, yeah, ask a couple of questions and find out how you might be able to really help somebody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you actually a good salesperson. Sales professional is a detective. We're asking questions all the time because that helps us understand what's going on and we sometimes it's like peeling back an onion People don't tell you everything and you need to say, huh, that's interesting, tell me more. Or, hmm, I'm curious, you know, help me understand. But you've got to, because the second answer often digs a lot deeper and more is revealed. So a good salesperson always has great questions so that they can make sure that A what's really happening? What does the client truly need? You know, do we have the right product or service? You know, are we a good fit? Right?
Speaker 1:and so that you can determine that it's a win-win.
Speaker 2:Exactly because you're on the same side of the table as the client. This is not an adversarial situation, so you need to make sure your tone of voice and your questions are positive and on the same side as that person and not sounding like I'm trying to ask questions to get you to do something. You know the old tricks I can take a deck of cards and ask you to choose one and I can ask you the right questions to have you tell me what that is without me ever knowing what the card is. Anyhow, the fact is, it always comes back down to that mindset when are you and what are you doing this for? Why are you interacting with that individual? What is your worthy intent? I love that. That's such a great way to put it. There's nothing bad about it.
Speaker 1:So, and the last, the N, is to nurture your prospects and our clients as they become clients, because you, of course, as I said, you want to deliver on your brand promise and your organization and from that you want to build those relationships so that you earn repeat business. You receive introductions and referrals and of course you've actually, in a proper sales strategy, you've planned for that, you've seeded the idea of referrals all the way through the process so that when you've earned the right and you ask if they don't know of anybody right now, you just okay, you know, hey, Morris, you may not have anybody you can think of right now, but I bet you will tomorrow or next week or the following week, or next week or the following week, and please, anyone you want to have the same experience that you've had, send them my way, because I will take the same great care of them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So and that's the thing when you really develop those relationships, it feeds your funnel with referrals. Referrals is the lowest cost of client acquisition of any type of business you'll ever earn.
Speaker 2:And 99% of the time they buy something. It's amazing, you know, referrals are much more, much more. There's a much greater chance that someone who's referred to you will do business with you than that individual on the street. Because there is trust involved, lynn, don't you think? Oh, yeah, that word, golly, that word is so vitally important in the work that we do. You're building that relationship of trust, and when I trust Lynn and Lynn says Morris, you really ought to go down the street to see Jane, because Jane's a great hairdresser and she's going to be able to give you a better haircut than anybody else. You need to go see Jane. Well, automatically, you have given me some of the trust you have in Jane. You've given some of that to me already. I walk in the door expecting Jane to be outstanding and that I'm going to have a great relationship with her, so much different than a stranger on the street.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, the trust is transferred. It's transferred, and that's a big thing, between a referral and an introduction.
Speaker 1:An introduction can be you haven't worked with somebody but you know them and you provide an introduction. That's not the same. A referral actually is a transference of the trust and that I've worked with Morris. I really you know, I want you to to to. I think he can help you. This is why that person is going to really lean into that, because this is a trusted you're, you have a trusted relationship and so you've really increased the likelihood that that person is going to buy from Morris because of the trust transfer. And the other thing to think about with the referrals is that once somebody refers, they're more likely to refer over and over again.
Speaker 1:They're four times more likely to refer again. So you want to reward the behavior. That doesn't mean some big, huge gift or anything. It can be a handwritten note card, thinking. And the other thing is also, you can give something of value. Of course you could give them, you know, a gift card for Starbucks or you know, whatever you want to do, depending on the business. Now, the other thing is that the reward. I always follow up and let I would say hey, morris, I wanted to let you know how it's going with Bob that you referred to me.
Speaker 1:And it's going really well. I don't not with disclosing any information, but he's really happy and I want to thank you again for the referral. So it's you're closing the loop again and you're reinforcing that how much you appreciate that they did it, that you're doing good work with them, and it was because you provided the referral.
Speaker 2:And you know, linda, maybe, maybe you think of this one thing. You know the other thing that makes it so. I don't know how to, how to put it right now, but the fact is the people that you're referred to are going to do business with you. We figured that out right. Well, the people that you've already done business with are even that much better because you've already built that trust. You have that trust relationship. They're more likely to buy from you than anybody else in the entire world. So just because you made a sale once, golly gee. Stay in touch and stay building that relationship, continue to nurture that relationship, because there is a greater chance that those people are going to buy from you again and again and again than the person on the street. Wouldn't you rather begin a sales coverage or begin a discovery conversation with someone that you already know and trust and can have a conversation with, rather than try and begin that conversation with? Hi, my name is Morris. What's yours? I mean, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And you know there's so many different ways that you can maintain that connection. You can send them things that you think they might be of interest to them. You can introduce them to other people that you feel that would be of value. Remember that word value. What's in it for them, what matters to them? Don't just, you know, if you love race cars and they're into horsing, don't send them articles about race cars. They don't care race cars and they're into horsing.
Speaker 2:don't send them articles about race cars? They don't care. That makes perfect sense, Lynn. Well, once again, I have so very much enjoyed our conversation and I hope that everybody will leave with the whole crown idea in their mind, that whole idea of client thinking, a repeatable, consistent, scalable process, originally authentic. You're not putting on a show, You're not trying to be somebody, you're not. You got to be yourself. So you're originally authentic. You have a worthy intent about what you do and what you're trying to accomplish for your client, for your prospect. That's that worthy intent that is so vitally important, that builds that trust that makes everything work. Without that, nothing works. And then you've got to nurture it and keep it together. So that CROWN idea is a great. What is that? An acronym? Yeah, it's an acronym. It's a sales framework.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's your sales blueprint how you can be successful.
Speaker 2:And it's perfect, absolutely perfect, to help you build that relationship of trust. Lynn, thank you so much for being with me here today on the Commission Code. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1:Well, it's been such a pleasure, Morris, and I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Well, that does it for this episode of the Commission Code Podcast. This is the place where we want to help you find the commission code to success in your business. Remember, go to MorrisSimscom for more information and in the meantime, hey, have a great week, get out there and meet somebody new, and we'll see you again next time right here on the Commission Code. Best wishes. I'm Morris Sims.