September 28, 2022

EPISODE 247: Do I Need an Industry Specific Sales Training?

As the final cohort of School of Sales for 2022 nears a close, Kat and Macy sit down to answer one of your most burning questions – should I get sales training that is specific to my industry, and what’s the difference between that and School of Sales? In today’s episode, Kat and Macy explain their thoughts on industry-specific sales training. They also dive deeper into the mission of School of Sales and how its unique methodology prepares you to hit your prospect’s emotional centers by connecting your product directly with the person. They also talk about mistakes in sales, such as overcompensating the sales pitch with knowledge, and why practicing the art of selling within your industry can be less helpful than you might think. Tune in to this episode, and if you have any questions regarding School of Sales, don’t hesitate to reach out to both Kat andMacy.

In this episode, we cover:

  • Should you get industry-specific sales training?
  • How School of Sales helps you connect your product with a person
  • Why you should not overcompensate with knowledge
  • What happens when you practice selling within your industry

Enroll in School of Sales (Deadline to enroll is September 30)

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Macy
We just got the news. We are six students away from the 1000 graduate students, that is insane, 1000 people. I was just in a room with, like, 300 people and it felt enormous. It felt like so many people. Imagine there being 1000 people in a room?

Kat
I don’t know, it’s hard to believe. But what’s interesting about numbers is that they can feel so inhumane. Right? And being able to make those numbers matter and make them like, recall that they are people, each individual one was a sale. It’s why we preach brick by brick. Because it’s 1000. But it was like one conversation. Yeah, two conversation, three conversation. And of course, some of them came through different content and things like that. So it all happened so fast, yet slow. In a good way, because sales is a process, right?

Macy
That’s right. And we are closing up the final cohort of 2022 on September the 30th. That is a Friday, we’re closing up, and then it’s time to finish 2022 out really strong and get ready for 2023 with everyone with sales skills. So if you are listening to this, and I think this episode is can actually resonate with quite a few people. And you’ve been considering School of Sales. You’ve got a couple of questions. I just had a call today and she’s like she said, she’s like, I had my credit card and I just had one question I wanted to ask. So I booked this call. We offered some calls to some people that came to the workshop. We got to answer a couple questions, and she’s gonna join us. So if you have a question, like just shoot us a DM, I’m gonna bring in a couple emails too, which had been awesome. And we would love to save time and see if you’re a good fit.

Kat
Yeah, yeah, Macy mentioned the workshop. That was last week. And this week, a woman is in bridal dress sales. And she wanted to know, you know, would Guide Culture help her. And she also had a few other things on her horizon. Like, could I try selling a product? You know, could it be a part of a movement in this company that I really like? I don’t really know how to sell it, but I think it’d be worth taking a shot at so you know, just kind of that dreaming feel? And just kind of message from her nest said that her boss at the bridal shop actually had bought her a bridal dress sales training. Yeah, sounds perfect. Right? It does. And it’s kind of crazy. Didn’t know that existed? And I’m so glad it does. I don’t know exactly what it covers. I’m just excited that people are wanting to, of course you’re wanting to sell because that’s how you stay in business. Right? And so let’s just kind of break out this thought about you know, should you get industry specific sales training? Or something like School of Sales? And what’s the difference? Truly just weigh it out.

Macy
Yeah, this is really important. Cause I know there’s quite a few like life coaches that do life coaching, sales training. I know of course, are network marketers that do like network marketing, social selling, training, like very niche and very specific and it feels like that’s the obvious way to go. Like they know me, they get me they know what I sell. It’s like a win-win. But we’re going to kind of break down why that actually might not be the best fit and why kind of opening up your horizon open up your brain to some other options might be better.

Kat
I don’t know if this is totally off topic, but a few people have also asked if Guide Culture School of Sales is a social media training. And when you said social selling that made me think about it, so maybe we can talk to John a couple of those things. But yeah, why? Why? You know, maybe would or wouldn’t, industry specific.

Macy
Yeah. So we’ll just use like bridal dresses just for the example right now. Obviously, I don’t know the training. I can’t guarantee anything but what I have noticed is that when there’s anything kind of industry specific, it can go heavy on the product itself. Okay, so it might go heavy on specific, you know, designers specific beading specific dress lay it was specific, like the bohemian style wedding or the shirt style wedding and what dress goes with what. And while that knowledge is so incredibly important, what’s actually more important, in my opinion, is mastering the knowledge and the ability to communicate with people. And I’ll give you a specific example. Also in the bridal industry, I got an email from someone I think actually came from the podcast. And he was telling me a certain podcast resonated with him, I can’t really remember which one, but he was kind of telling me, you know, I’m a wedding video videographer. And the bridal market has like a very unrealistic expectatio of what they should get versus how much and what it should look like. They see all the stuff on Pinterest, they see everything going on. And all I could think about was, man, if he knew how to like, handle objections, and knew how to get the right information from people, and knew how to under promise and over deliver and communicate like what he was able to do really effectively and why that is the best thing for them. That’s all he needed. He doesn’t need to tell them about his skill, or his camera, or how long he’s been in video visit, like all that is off to the side, what actually matters is his ability to connect with people and get them on the same side of the table. And so when would you say oh, you know, I got the bridal, you know, sales training does instantly what I thought of is what is the like market saying right now the bride saying right now? And I hope they equip people? I don’t know for sure. But I hope that they equip people to communicate with people not just sell dresses, because it’s different. It’s so different.

Kat
And what you learn in School of Sales in week one is we actually start from the middle of the method, and you really learn the workhorse of sales, which is how to connect your product with a person. What you quickly realize and feel when you’re sold to in this way is how much you resonate with something emotionally. And when you go back to the different church style, or whatever the different styles of weddings and wedding dresses in this, you realize how small it is. Yeah, product knowledge demonstrates so much cool stuff like credibility, and of course, like the style someone might want. What does not matter? And actually, it doesn’t matter in the grander sense. What matters in the grander sense is Macy spoken to, is the bride spoken to for her specific thing, because when one of the interesting things about sales is that people will say they want one thing, when you learn and you dig a little bit deeper, and you uncover some needs. And once you actually realize there was something completely different. And you only learn that skill through focusing on the person, not the product. And when it gets made too much about the product, that’s actually when price becomes the biggest issue. It’s also when you get the most frustrated with your prospect. And that’s like, they don’t get it, this and that. They’re frustrating. And listen, we’re all human here, everyone can get stuck in that trap when the actual prospect is not the focus, when they feel seen and like their motive is just like met by the vision that they want for their wedding or whatever the case. All of a sudden, this new thing is unlocked. And you actually can sell properly. Versus when it’s all product focused. People typically end up overthinking. Well, do I want white or do I want cream? Right? Do I want satin? Or do I want lace? Right? At the end of the day, it’s about the person wearing it. Right? Can you communicate that? Or is it just gonna be about this dress hanging on a hanger?

Macy
Yeah, absolutely. And like, of course the dress matters. And of course your knowledge about the dress and can it be dry cleaned? And is it going to stay in or you know what all that is super important. But what matters is saying the right information at the right time based on what they need. Because what ends up happening is when you know so much you say so much correct and you over talk and it goes in one ear out the other nobody understood no one even remembers.

Kat
Have you ever been in a sales conversation or not even sales conversation but just literally talking to a person? And you maybe are the one that’s excited? And maybe there’s a little over talking? And you can just see their eyes? Yeah, they’re off into space. Like they are thinking about something. And you meanwhile, you’re over here excited talking about the thing, the dress, for example. It’s almost like me and what like isn’t connecting. It’s so fresh. It’s almost like they’re in their head. I think we’ve all been in this place and you’re just wondering, like, is this gonna work? So how do you break through that is by making it about what they actually want and not about overcompensating with knowledge because like you said, it’s so easy to say that.

Macy
Yeah, I know, I’ve talked about me being this life coach certification, but I went to the the teaching in person. And I feel like life coaching is what people like don’t understand what it is like. And I think it gets kind of the most skeptics around it. But one of the people that were in the class, they got on the mic and they said, hey, I’m a teacher, I’m a math teacher. And I can say, I’m a math teacher, and everybody knows what that is, they can place me, but how do I say that I’m a life coach, how do I say it? And the person on stage said, oh, what I say is life coaching is the best thing and everybody needs it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, a knife in my heart, because that’s what creates skeptics right there to generalize it overstaying over promise, and not be specific and clear. And she was like, I just, you know, it’s just and she was such as such a successful life coach, that people just like, cling to what and who knows how she, she was very, very good. But like, people are not going to feel like they are heard if someone tells that to them, you know, so true. And it kind of broke my heart, because there’s a lot of life coaches that are really amazing and need to be able to serve people. But people don’t understand what they do. And they kind of turn their nose up like in that like therapy, or like, where’s your certification? And how do you even how are you even qualified to do this, like, there are so many skeptics to be able to communicate so specifically to a group of people. And this is why lab is so important to group of people who aren’t in your industry is is such a huge opportunity to be able to practice and see what hits. For people who aren’t life coaches, or who aren’t in the bridal industry or who don’t do what you do. That’s what matters the most

Kat
100%. There’s a time in place to practice with your industry. And for sure, 100%. If you think about sales, you’re not going to sell a bridal dress to another bridal rep. Right? They’re going to buy their own dress because they know what to do. So if you think about being in, if you were to practice selling with your within your industry, it’s almost like a room of mirrors, where everyone’s just like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. I agree with you, I naturally just know what you mean, when you say that word, the jargon makes sense to me. Versus someone a civilian wouldn’t necessarily know what that cut means for the body type. It’s a it’s being able to communicate in a way that clicks with people who don’t know.

Macy
And that’s who you’re going after is people who need you and don’t know that you exist.

Kat
Exactly, exactly. And that’s just the power of learning how sales skills or life skills or people skills is that you get to make about people. And just like we started this with the 1000 people, I get can feel like number it can feel like this grand thing. And really, it’s just a bunch of individuals. Each person has has a story has a business has a family, that they want to communicate better with and to get people making the best decisions for them, and helping them guide. They learned how to guide the people in their life to better decisions. And that’s what sales is. And your ability to connect with people is a truly life changing experience. And honestly, when you can sell yourself, there’s really no better feeling than that. I know. That’s not what this podcast was about. But the most important sale you’ll ever make is the one to yourself, about the industry or and about the product, because you could honestly learn the skills just for that alone. And being recognizable was worth it. If you sign up, I want you to know that me, Kat, I don’t think I knew half the skills for about six months, I was just flying. I just felt good. I felt better about myself. I felt better about stuff. And it was just so little by little things got better. You know and you just kind of trust it. Like everything works out when your spirit is right and your heart for others is right. So good. You just like just sharpen little one little round of sharpening them for being at the front of your classroom sharpening the pencil just one round at a time.

Macy
Did I do that to show my outfit off?

Kat
I hope so. Absolutely. Just know it is a sharpening game. If you only ever sold yourself it would be worth it. But your ability to touch someone else with what you do is dependent on sales skills.

Macy
So good. Cannot encourage you enough to join School of Sales for this last cohort of 2022. It’s gonna be really special one brand new School of Sales training, freshly recorded hot off the press, ready to go for you. With your incredible lab group in your incredible coach ready to really give you this individualized coaching to make sure what you’re are saying does connect with the civilian civilian is just someone who might not be on mission like you are and you are helping them see what they might be missing so that they can also live on mission, whatever that looks like for you and your business and your life. We’ll put all the details in the show notes below if you have any questions or thought please message us on Instagram@theguideculture and we will see you in class.

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