Selling Through Your Heart: Empowering You to Build Relationships for Financial Freedom by Shirlene Reeves goes beyond most sales and business books by offering practical advice and examples on how to find clients, get them interested, seal the deal, make keep them coming back and even referring their friends to you. After reading Shirlene’s personal story and advice, you’ll notice your sales increase and more importantly, you’ll develop meaningful relationships that will make you happier because you’re not only making money, you’re making a difference in your life. and in your life. the lives of their clients.
Few books start with openings as dramatic as Selling Through Your Heart. Shirlene briefly tells us about her two marriages and how she built successful businesses with both husbands, only one day to discover that she was divorced and broke. Having no food for her children, she found herself standing in front of a dumpster where people were diving to retrieve spoiled watermelons to eat. At that moment, she knew that she would find a way to change this situation.
Of course she did, and that led her to grow her own business: Signing Pro, Inc., the second largest notary signing business in the nation, worth a multi-million dollar business with 23,000 people working for her. Shirlene retired from that business after seventeen years and now trains people in sales so they can learn to do what she did.
While Selling Through Your Heart is full of practical techniques, Shirlene also focuses on how to make yourself happy by being on good terms with yourself first. She gives us examples of how we can choose what is right for us, framing it as “choosing peace or pain” when making decisions. She then walks readers through what she calls the 3 C’s: Clarity, Clarity, and Confidence. The 3 Cs help him deal with his past and unresolved issues or emotions so she can focus her energy on sales instead of her personal baggage. Ultimately, the 3 C’s will help you build his confidence to be a better salesperson. Shirlene explains:
“The ultimate goal of the 3 C’s is to get people to talk about how much they love you. The rules for achieving this goal are to say nothing nasty about anyone, to give of your time and knowledge from the depths of your heart, and to understand what you give to another may not be returned by the same person, but it will most likely be returned to you in other unexpected and positive ways.
Now that you’ve figured it out, it’s time to figure out your customers. Shirlene guides the reader through how to understand and recognize potential clients’ personality types so that she can learn to communicate with them where they are and reflect their language. She also teaches you how to define your target market and reach them.
Of course, networking is an important part of finding clients. Shirlene understands the frustration many people have with networking because it doesn’t lead to the results they want. She teaches readers how to find the right networking groups and how to avoid the unhelpful ones. Sometimes she has a very direct tone, which I love; for example, she has no qualifications to say:
“Don’t give up on joining a group just because your friends are there. In fact, it’s better if your friends aren’t there. There’s no point in networking with your friends. This is your business, not a social gathering. Let go of any or all networking groups that did not contribute to your revenue unless you believe you did not get the revenue because you did not know how to sell and were not prepared.”
I also love his approach to dealing with rejection. She understands that people are busy and can’t always commit right away for a variety of reasons. She has solved this problem by learning that when someone tells her, “I can’t do this right now,” it’s better to ask, “Is it not now or not forever?” If not for now, she can stick with them at a better time, while if not forever, she can thank the person for being honest and then be glad she didn’t waste her time chasing the person anymore.
Finally, Shirlene offers her 3-Step Sales Waltz™. I won’t give you all the steps here, but I promise that Shirlene guides us through these steps in a masterful way, full of details. She provides scripts and examples on how to start a conversation with a customer, and then shows us how to talk to customers in a caring way that focuses on where the customer is rather than just focusing on making the sale; In this way, you will not appear aggressive or scare your client; instead, you’ll build a trusting relationship that makes your prospect more willing to commit.
Shirlene also has a handy way of getting referrals. Not only does he ask his customers if they know anyone else interested in the same service they just received, he narrows down the possibilities by asking, “Do you know anyone at your church?” or “Do you know anyone at your school?” By asking these more specific questions, the person can focus on one group of people at a time instead of searching for everyone they know, only to answer with “No.”
The final chapters of the book go far beyond sales to teach readers how to achieve financial freedom and even how to become celebrity experts the media will seek out. Shirlene is one of 253 CFE Certified Financial Educators® in the nation, and has over twenty-eight years of experience in the financial field, so she knows how to help people invest and make the best use of their money once that they do that. She has also hosted her own radio and television web shows, so she is well-versed in what the media is looking for in her guest experts. All of these additional tips will only further your career as you learn to sell yourself.
There is so much more I could say about Selling Through Your Heart. Shirlene is definitely a soft sell master, which has led to her personal success. There are many books on sales, but this one stands out because it really teaches readers how to connect on a human level, resulting in a more satisfying experience for both the salesperson and the customer.