The other day I had lunch with one of the top closers in the speaking industry (that’s his Rolls Royce in the background…his house is 17,000 sq ft). And if you don’t know this guy, lets just say that if you’re ever selling products from the stage, he can show you how to do it better.
Awhile ago, I asked speakers in the industry who they thought was the best closer and one name kept coming up…Marshall Sylver.
So I looked him up and watched a webinar presentation. It was clear to me that this guy was good but I couldn’t see the amount of products he was selling….since it was just on the webinar.
Then I saw him live and…
…My jaw dropped.
90% of the room.
I’m not kidding you. 90% of the room, stood up, went to the back of the room, and bought his $3,000 product. Holy shiz-nit (that’s what went through my brain).
And anyone who has seen this guy close from the stage will tell you that he’s really that good.
From that moment, I knew I had to learn about influence from this speaker because he clearly knew what he was doing.
And do you want to know what I learned from him?
(btw…this is a guy who doesn’t just sit down with people…unless you’re paying him $30,000 or more to train you so listen very closely to what I’m about to tell you)
The biggest thing I learned from him what his level of conviction.
What do I mean?
As we’re eating some sushi, I asked him questions about selling from the stage and he was giving some tips. But I noticed something interesting about his state of mind.
He knows…absolutely knows…that he can change your life. He knows that his product, his knowledge, his presence, will change your life. And that’s what allows him to sell.
I’m going to give you a story about the bad side of this in just a second, but I want you to image this…
Imagine you have a pill that you’re selling to people. This pill is the cure to cancer (not a fake pill…imagine it really is the cure).
Now imagine that you’re going to a hospital and you’re talking with a cancer patient. You have this cure in your pocket and you know it will save their life. So what do you do?
You tell them that it will save their life. But…
Think about ‘how’ you would tell them.
Would you act like a wuss and say it in a wuss-low-confidence-voice.
Or would you have this insane level of confidence about your product/pill that can change them? If they were ‘on the fence’ about buying this pill, then would you just walk away? Or would you want to slap them for not seeing how this pill will change their life?
There’s a shift, inside your mind, that happens when you truly believe that what you’re selling will change a person’s life. And when you believe this, that level of conviction is the very thing that sells people.
Now for the story…
A few years ago, I saw a speaker that wanted to sell people on ‘sales training.’ He positioned himself as a top-dog who could really sell, and I was at the event to just do my show, not speak.
So I’m sitting in the back of the room, feeling excited, because this would be one of the first times I would actually see a speaker sell from the stage. It would be one of the first times I see how everything was structured.
But guess what?
When he told everyone to go to the back of the room and buy…do you know what happened?
…Crickets…
Nothing!
Literally…nobody got up and went to the back. Not one person. It was awkward as hell.
This is a speaker who was selling the fact that he could close a room, and it was his own event (so he should have had tons of credibility). But when he offered his product, nobody bought. I felt bad for the guy.
And I immediately knew why he didn’t sell.
He wasn’t convincing because he wasn’t convinced.
He didn’t truly believe in his product (because I later found out that he stole the information instead of coming up with it himself) and that lack of conviction showed.
It’s like having a pill that cures cancer, except you know it’s fake.
That simple shift in your mind (knowing it’s fake) would have a drastic effect on your ability to influence people. But if you know that your product is the real deal, then your conviction shows.
And when I had lunch with Marshall Sylver, his conviction shows. Conviction in himself, his products, everything he does. He’s not selling you a product, he selling you on a transformation for your life.
If you want to sell, you have to be sold.
How many times have you heard a presentation from a speaker and they act like they’re not selling a product…and you know damn well that at the end of the presentation they’re going to sell you something?
You’ve probably seen it all the time right?
Well…not Marshall. He’s not afraid to tell you that he’s going to sell you on something…because he’s absolutely convinced that it’s going to change your life. And when you’re absolutely convinced, you’re obligated to sell it.
Think about it. If you had the cure to cancer (in a pill) and you’re talking to an audience that has cancer, would you be ashamed (aka hide) the fact that you’re going to sell them this cure? Hell no! You would feel obligated to offer it to them.
If you’re not absolutely convinced that your product will change someone’s life then you’re not going to sell.
And that was very clear when I had lunch with one of the best closers in the speaking industry.
Of course he revealed lots of other things, but that’s the one thing you have to do if you want to sell more speaker products.
It’s crucial that you constantly learn more, have mentors, and invest in yourself. But what’s even more important is the belief you have in yourself and the transformation you can create in someone else’s life.