145 – How to Land Corporate Business with Maria Bayer of Irresistible Selling

You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 145.

I don't want you to feel like you're selling.

I want you to feel like you're just a better version

of you.

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This here is your host gift biz gal Sue Mon height.

Hi there.

It's Sue and thank you for joining me today on the

gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to Maria Baier.

Maria is the creator of irresistible selling an online group coaching

program. She designed to help creative entrepreneurs,

book, higher paying clients,

grow their business and design a life they love.

She teaches the authentic selling and mindset strategies that helped her

triple her income in less than a year.

And go on to book over 25 million in sales from

companies like target best buy Alta office max and Hyatt.

Maria is a national speaker and has authored and co-authored several

Kindle books.

She resides in the Chicago area with her husband,

Tim and for baby GI,

usually with a cold brew in hand,

which makes us friends already Maria,

welcome to the show.

Thank you so much,

Sue. I'm so excited to be here today As an extension

of your intro.

I like to have people get to know you in a

little bit of a creative way,

and that is by having you describe for us what would

be your ideal motivational candle.

So if you could give us a visual of that,

what would the color be and what would be the quote

on your candle?

Well, I think it would be an Aqua color,

like the sky or the sea,

because that just gives me this visual of infinite possibilities.

And I think the quote would be,

you are more powerful than,

you know,

because I feel like we do not embrace the power that

is inside of us and we play small and we have

to constantly remind ourselves that the sky's the limit for us.

And we need to put ourselves out there and that we're

put here on this earth,

not to shrink and hide,

but to grow and to expand and to be the most

that we can be.

I so agree with you.

I mean,

why do we always diminish what our skills are?

Just because there are,

I think it's very common and we have to get out

of that,

particularly women.

Yes, absolutely.

I hate to generalize,

but I do think at least from my experience,

women tend to shrink more and not feel like they can

brag about what they've done well,

and we should be proud of that because we've worked hard

to get where we are and we should be proud of

that. Absolutely.

And just as men should be too,

and the majority of our listeners honestly are women.

So just bringing up the truth of it,

it seems like when we like to state our accomplishments,

but it looks like we're being overly boisterous or something like

that. Versus if men do it,

it looks like being successful.

Or however you want to say that,

I think the time is to level up.

And the big thing about that is,

I guess I'll go a different direction with this is if

you're not going to share your successes,

how is anyone going to know Exactly?

You have to be your biggest cheerleader,

because if you're not proud of what you've done,

your clients will never see that.

Absolutely. So I was so excited to find out about you,

Maria, because I'll tell you,

I think by far the biggest question I'm always getting from

coaching clients,

especially people in the creative industry is that whole idea of

selling is like the farthest thing from anything that people want

to even think about much less have to do.

So I'm really excited to talk with you because you can't

grow a business,

unless someone is going to know about your product and you're

going to talk about it and there's going to be an

exchange of money.

There's going to be a sale.

So let's dive into that right away.

I think let's just go for it.

Let's talk about the stigma behind selling.

Yeah. You can't see me nodding,

but I hear as you're talking,

I'm Italian,

so I'll continue to talk with my hands as well.

So just imagine that as you're listening,

The visual,

anytime you need to,

that's fine.

Air quotes,

whatever. Yeah.

That is absolutely by far the biggest,

I think hurdle that so many of us have to go

over to get to the other side.

And I struggled with that as well.

When I went into sales a long,

long time ago,

part of the reason I went into it was to get

out of my shell actually,

because I was so painfully introverted and I wanted to not

be so introverted and so scared to like talk to people.

I didn't know.

So I started in sales.

I met somebody that introduced me to somebody who needed to

hire a sales person.

And he was complaining because he couldn't find somebody that knew

the finance world.

And that was my background.

So I went to school for finance.

I was working in that industry.

And so he hired me with absolutely zero experience in selling

because he said,

I can teach you how to sell,

but I need someone who understands the people they're selling to

who can talk their language,

who can understand what they're thinking,

what they're struggling with.

And in this case I was selling software.

This is what the product was.

And it was selling software to people in companies too,

like CFOs or controllers,

people that were handling money.

And it was helping them with budgeting and a few other

things. So he taught me how to sell.

But what he wanted was somebody obviously that knew that industry

fast forward.

He did that.

He taught me how to sell.

He left a few months later.

So here I am stumbling around in this job and having

some of the skills that I needed because he taught me

some great things before he left.

And then I was floundering because I didn't have a manager

at that point.

And I wasn't just trying to figure it out and it

wasn't working so fast forward,

I get laid off because I'm the low man on the

totem pole and I'm not producing.

So of course they laid me off.

I find another job,

thank God in the same industry.

And they took a chance on me because I really didn't

have very much experience,

but thankfully there,

I had a manager that really understood me and was very,

very good at just cultivating what was my natural talents and

helping me realize that my mindset about selling that it was

not correct.

And what was impeding me was that I was thinking,

Oh, I've gotta be aggressive.

I've got to be this used car salesman,

no offense to any car salespeople out there,

but I didn't have to be that stereotype.

And once he helped me realize that,

that that's what I was thinking.

And that was not necessarily true,

that there are many ways to be successful in selling that

I could leverage my natural strengths of people skills and befriending

people and really understanding them and being their advocate that I

could be successful that way.

And so he helped me see that my mindset was in

my way,

but more importantly than that,

that it wasn't the only way to sell.

So he gave me a different way to frame what I

was thinking.

And he helped me align my goals with my mindset.

So that really made all the difference in my career.

And that's when things skyrocketed for me.

So once I was able to figure that out and really

look at selling in a different way,

my results just completely skyrocketed.

I almost think we should change the whole word because selling

reminds me of that.

And I was in sales for most of my corporate life.

And I think you're always in sales.

If you're in business,

you're always in sales to some level,

but the old fashioned word of sales is exactly what you're

talking about.

Like the car salesman or just that I don't even care

if you need it,

but you're going to buy it from me type attitude.

Exactly. And like I said,

I wish there was a whole different word because the approach

to having someone purchase what you have for their benefit,

doesn't equate to that old image of sales at all.

Exactly. And that's the only way I can sell.

I don't want to sell you something that you do not

have a need for.

So that's my approach.

And so one of the things that I try to impress

upon my students is that the way you think about sales

is really going to completely affect the way you talk to

your clients the way they feel when they're talking to you

and how they respond to you.

So my feeling is you are,

and after a long,

long time in sales,

I've been at so many different scenarios.

So I've seen it from so many different perspectives,

but the best thing for me is really to look at

it from the perspective of I'm your advocate,

I'm your consultant.

I'm somebody that wants the best for you,

even if that means that you're going to hire somebody else.

That's okay.

I want you to make an informed decision and make the

best decision for you.

So I want to give you the information you need to

make a decision one way or the other.

Another way to spin it is if a friend comes up

to you and says,

Hey, a lot of my clients are in the wedding industry.

So what I tell them is if a friend comes to

you and says,

let's say you're a wedding planner and your friend comes to

you and says,

Hey, I'm getting married,

but I can't use you as my planner because let's say

you're out of the country,

for example.

So what advice would you give me in selecting a wedding

planner? So when you look at it from that perspective,

as you're consulting your friend,

how to pick a wedding planner and what questions to ask

and what the differences are between different types of wedding planners

and why some are priced at this price point and why

some are priced at this price point,

that's higher.

That's the way you should look at it,

because then it helps you change your whole dynamic and your

perspective. And just the approach that you take when you're talking

to somebody and you don't feel like you're selling.

And that's my goal.

I don't want you to feel like you're selling.

I want you to feel like you're just a better version

of you and just more articulately explaining how you can help

someone. Yes.

And I think for that to happen,

you have to have a very clear understanding yourself of what

it is you offer and who is right for your product

or services and who isn't necessarily right for your product services.

In other words,

that you would want to then send them on to somebody

else. Exactly.

So for gift biz listeners,

that's one of the things that we talk about is making

sure that you really understand who your product best serves and

have that grounded,

which then falls right into what Maria's talking about.

I love when you're saying talk like you're talking to a

friend and again,

I'm going to just say this as women.

I think we do.

We really want the best for the people that we're talking

to. We're not looking necessarily at making quotas or that type

of thing,

but before you can have that friendship,

you have to have developed some level of trust.

Exactly. How do people go about doing that?

How do they build trust with someone that they just met?

Yeah. I think there's a lot of aspects to that.

So there's the things that you can do before they even

talk to you that can build trust.

So to your point,

if you know who your ideal customer or client is the

way you talk to that client on your website,

because that's usually going to be the first touch point that

they have,

make sure that you talk to them to that specific person

that will help them feel like,

Oh, she gets me,

like, she really understands what I'm struggling with and what I

desire and what I want in my life.

So that's like the first touch point and then building it

throughout your entire process.

That's one of my philosophies is one way to not be

salesy, not be pushy,

not be a used car salesman is really to structure your

process from beginning to end so that all of it reinforces

your end result,

which is to get them to a decision,

whether that's yes or no.

So giving them everything that they need to make a decision

and make them feel like you understand them,

whether that be the questions that you ask them,

the process that you take them through,

if you are offering services,

for example,

there's usually some automation tools that you're going to need to

make that process be smooth and come across very professionally.

So all of those little pieces go into building trust.

And then some of the just really easy things are a

fast response times following through on what you say you're going

to do.

Like if you're a business owner that has to give somebody

a quote,

for example,

don't say you're going to give it to them in an

hour and give it to them.

Three days later,

simple things like that.

You can do where most people think,

Oh, they have to go through hoops and do something extraordinary.

My experience shows me that a lot of people aren't doing

even the basic things,

right? So if you do those right,

you're going to stand out just by doing what you say

you're going to do.

Oh my gosh.

So true.

And it seems so obvious if you say you're going to

do something,

then just follow through and actually do it.

Exactly. I think the other thing is consistency.

When we were talking about your online presence and you're talking

about when they get to the website,

make sure that you are speaking to them so that they

really feel like you understand your customer,

but also you should be doing that across all of your

online sites.

So if it's on social media,

if you're doing live presentations,

everything you want to keep consistent.

Cause that also develops a level of trust because you're showing

up somewhere and you're the same everywhere you show up.

You're exactly right.

Absolutely. And I think that when you try to be consistent

across all platforms and you try to show them what your

personality and your philosophy is like,

then when they talk to you on the phone or interact

with you,

you're portraying the same person.

There's no disconnect there.

Right? So I think that,

especially for me,

I look at what do I want to portray?

What do I want people to know about me in my

social media,

whether I say it overtly or whether it's just the undertone

of what's the tone of what I'm putting out there.

So I want people to know that I'm approachable.

I want them to know that I am somebody that will

encourage you because I think that that's half the battle.

And that's my personal philosophy that you should aim for the

stars. And I always want to encourage people because they can

do so much more than they think Maria is talking about

how she is approaching her customers.

And she provides the services,

the sales coaching,

et cetera.

If you're an artist with a tangible product,

you are still the face behind your whole company because you're

the creator of the product.

Even if you now have that product produced by others at

this point,

because you've grown.

I think Maria,

the interesting thing that you were just talking about now is

also the hardest thing for so many people to do in

terms of consistency,

especially when you're in person,

because the real story is to be consistent.

You just need to be yourself.

And that's also the scariest thing to do.

Absolutely. Sometimes we're afraid to be ourselves because we're not sure

if people are going to like that or if it's going

to resonate with them.

But to me it's the best way honesty is in all

aspects is the easiest thing,

because you don't have to ever remember what you did.

You just be yourself and you'll always be consistent.

Right. Which brings us to your yes or no.

You were just mentioning that you're looking for that end result

and the end result should be a yes or no.

The worst result is a maybe someone who drags you on.

Absolutely. In fact,

sometimes it helps to look at it like from a dating

perspective. Sales to me is a lot like dating.

In fact,

I remember a client a long time ago,

she posted in our Facebook group.

She says,

by the way,

I've been using your strategies very effectively in my dating life.

Oh, no kidding.

Yeah, because there's so many parallels.

And I found that if you approach a sales situation,

like, and I was there,

so I get it.

I've been on both sides of it.

I was that scared salesperson that didn't want to be pushy

and always just wanted to sell somebody and was afraid that

if I did the wrong thing,

they wouldn't buy it,

et cetera.

So I get that.

But once I was able to look at it from the

perspective of it's a two way street,

I want them to like me,

but I want to like them too.

I want to make sure it's a good mutual fit.

And so I use that terminology a lot with my clients

and I have them use it with their clients to help

show their clients that this has to be a mutual fit.

I'm not here just to take your money.

I might love you,

but you may not love me.

And it needs to be a two-way street.

So when you look at it from that perspective,

it really helps kind of relax you and helps you remember

that. It's not just you,

that's on display here and that you have to give a

show or some magic spiel and then they'll hire you.

It's really a conversation.

It's really more of a friendship,

so to speak and it has to be a two-way street.

And that tends to relax both sides so that you can

have a much more intimate conversation and get to the heart

of what they're looking for.

Right. So we've talked about the switch in mindset that we

should have about sales.

We've also talked about how the conversation continues on after you've

gotten that initial contact,

developing trust,

and then you're talking with a friend and just being honest,

seeing if it's a fit from both sides,

let's back up a little bit and talk about how do

you get that first connection point?

Do you have any thoughts on that With a potential client

that comes to you that inquires?

Sure. When someone inquires with you,

I think that's a really critical point.

And in my sales background,

there's different strategies that you use to,

I guess,

test out the client to see how serious they are.

The rule of thumb is in the beginning.

You want to make it super easy for people to contact

you. So the first step is really looking at,

for example,

if the best way for them to contact you as your

website, or maybe you have an Etsy site or something like

that, make sure that you have your contact information or the

way that you want them to contact you,

whether that's your phone,

email, or a contact form,

make sure that readily accessible,

make sure they don't have to click 14 times to get

to it or to search and find it.

So that's first step is make it super easy for them

just to make that first step to reach out.

You don't want to give them too many hurdles in the

beginning because you don't want to keep them and prevent them

from reaching out to you.

So it makes sense makes total sense.

And I see that as contact numbers on your website,

contact forms like you're talking about,

it seems so obvious,

but if you go and look around,

you'll see a lot of people miss this step.

So yes,

it's super important.

I agree with you,

Right? Especially if you have a physical location that should be

front and center on your website.

So don't make people hunt for that and your location should

be on every page.

In my opinion,

just make it super easy because people might come to you

in different ways,

not necessarily your main page.

So that's the most important thing.

Next, we're going to move into an important conversation about selling

to corporations.

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And I want to just make a point to our listeners

here too.

I'm thinking of this more in the vein you guys have

when you're going after corporate business,

because people who are coming in as a customer just right

into the store are going to be able to look at

your products,

talk with you a little bit pretty easily.

Yes, no.

I think this conversation and selling in particular,

we all kind of freeze when we're looking at larger accounts,

larger business,

either getting your product or your service into corporate or else

going the wholesale route,

where you want to get products and such into whole foods

or other types of locations.

So think of this as we continue talking with that in

the back of your mind,

That's a really good point.

And also if you're going after corporate accounts,

then it's going to become really important for you to have

a tight process and automation systems and things that will alert

you as soon as an inquiry comes in.

So that those things are handled in a consistent and timely

manner because especially with corporate accounts,

time is of the essence because they have higher expectations of

response times than usually the general public does.

So that's going to be really critical to show that you

are professional,

that you've got the systems in place that you know,

your stuff.

You know what I mean?

Like if you come across as just some independent contractor type

of a person that doesn't have any automation,

it's not going to come across as professionally,

as somebody that has a system down Really,

really good point.

I think there's a couple of keys we're going to be

bringing out here when dealing with corporate,

but a thought that you just triggered in my mind also

is especially people who have never,

maybe worked in corporate before.

Couple of things to think about number one,

you're probably dealing with a marketing department,

a purchasing department,

and they are on the line for providing success to their

business. There's a lot for them riding on you.

If they're going to use your product or your services.

So you need to instill,

we were talking about trust earlier,

but the confidence that what you say you're going to do

can actually be done and that you will do.

The other thing about corporate is I'll be interested in your

thoughts about this.

Maria is you don't want to wait for them to tell

you how to proceed.

You want to have a process.

So you want to be guiding a potential corporate customer from,

okay, the initial meeting,

this is what we're going to talk about.

This is what we'll do,

gathering information,

whatever it is.

And then you having the next step so that you are

controlling, not in an aggressive way,

but where you are very confident.

You know what the next steps are,

whether it's contracts,

whether it's samples,

whatever, because if you leave it up to the other person

it'll possibly just fall flat.

That's a really,

really good point.

And that's,

I think important no matter who you're selling to.

It's one of the things that we talk about to my

clients in terms of,

in order for you to show that you know what you're

doing. I mean,

part of the reason why people hire you,

whether it's corporate or otherwise is that you're the expert.

You have something they don't have and that they want.

So one of the things that's going to convince them is

they want to feel confident that you're competent.

They want to know that for you.

This is no problem,

no brainer.

We can do this.

We've done this all day long.

We can handle this,

not a problem.

So one of the ways to do that is by gently

leading them down your process.

The fact that even have a process shows that you're a

professional. It shows that you have experienced because people that are

brand new,

that haven't had a lot of clients under their belt.

They're not going to have a process because they're not going

to have done it enough.

So by virtue of the fact that you actually have a

process that shows that you're a professional number one,

but number two,

to your point,

it gently leads them down that path because your goal is

to get them to the end point for them to become

a client.

So you want to know what that process is and be

able to gently guide them.

Because I even find this myself when I'm talking to somebody,

even if it's the smallest thing that I want to hire

somebody for or buy from somebody,

if they're not asking me the questions,

or if they're not framing the conversation and gently leading me

down a path,

I'll just take over naturally.

And that's what happens when you hear that.

If you're with a client and the client starts throwing questions

at you and starts sort of in the middle,

and then you get flustered.

The reason why that typically happens is because you're not leading

the process.

If you frame the call,

if you frame the meeting,

if you frame whatever that interaction is like,

the purpose of this is X.

And at the end of it,

this is what we hope to get out of it.

Then it's going to help you go down that process faster

and more smoothly.

Perfect. Yes.

I love that.

And I love that talking a little bit deeper in terms

of the process.

So people who have absolutely no idea what we're talking about,

let's share a little bit about what we think should be

certain elements of a process.

I know it's different for every single business clearly,

but what types of things do you feel would be part

of a process?

The very first part needs to be the information gathering.

So qualifying is another name for that,

but it's really arming you with the information you need to

determine even the most basic things like can I serve this

client, but do I have a solution for them?

Are they a good fit for me?

And what information do I need to know to be able

to determine that?

And then depending on what you do for a living and

what your area is,

then you obviously want to ask more specific questions that will

help you do your job better.

But in my mind,

the most important thing is qualifying them mutually.

So being able to get the information you need to see

if they're a good fit for you,

but then also taking that information and being able to frame

for them,

what you can do for them.

So sales to me is not just you learning a spiel

that you just throw stuff at the wall to see what

sticks. It's more about listening to a client and finding out

what is it that they truly need.

And part of that includes asking really smart questions,

which in the very beginning,

you probably won't know what those questions are,

but as you get more of those conversations under your belt,

you'll be able to frame and determine what some of those

open-ended questions should be like,

what is it that you're looking for?

Why are you looking for this?

What do you think it will do for you?

Questions along those veins will help uncover what their ultimate desires

are and their needs are.

As I'm thinking about people who are listening to when they

have a specific product,

some of the other questions could be who is your end

customer? What of my product line do you think they would

be the most interested in?

How quickly do you need us to turn inventory?

What type of volume are you looking at?

Do you want fewer items,

but a lot of them,

or lots of various items so that you understand what the

expectations would be.

It's not just,

Oh, you come in,

do you want to buy my product?

And that way,

by asking these types of questions and then how it applies

to your product,

then you can come back with a really custom proposal.

That's exactly fitting what they're needing.

Yeah. And I think also to stand out,

a lot of my clients will tell me that they're standing

out because of merely the questions that they're asking,

because now I'm giving them additional questions to ask that no

one else is asking them.

So when you are asking somebody questions that no one else

is asking,

you're going to stand out and you're going to make them

think about things in a different way.

So think about,

depending on what you do for a living,

try to figure out some deeper questions to ask.

Maybe those questions could be,

what is it that your clients truly want need?

What do they aspire to?

Or what are they so challenged with?

What solution would you give them?

If you could wave a magic wand,

help them understand their client better so that you can tailor

a solution that not just addresses physical needs.

Like I can give you X amount of product in this

timeframe. Those are all sort of just facts.

What I want to help people do is really get to

the bottom of what that end customer truly needs,

because that's what they're paying for.

They're not paying for a pen or a widget or whatever

they're paying for what that will do for them.

So the more that you understand what their clients want deep

down, the better,

you're going to be able to communicate that.

And that's when the value of your products and services increases.

Absolutely. And that separates you from somebody who sells whatever your

product is versus anybody else who's coming in.

Exactly. Because those people are order takers.

You're not an order taker.

Exactly. Maria.

I could not agree with you more.

So we talk about the fact that you're really trying to

get a customer from yes to no,

and I think no tells you a lot also,

you know,

it tells you that they're not going to buy from you

now, but what do you think someone should do if they

hear a no,

That's a great question.

And in fact,

I just tested this on my own clients and it's really

a great thing to do.

And there's lots of different ways that you can do this.

But first of all,

realize that no doesn't mean no forever.

No, it could be just not right now.

No could be not today.

Maybe tomorrow.

No might be not in the way that you're presenting it

to me,

but maybe in a different form.

So I try to dig into that and I'll ask a

client that I thought might be a great prospective client for

me that didn't,

for example,

enroll in one of my programs,

I'll ask them,

what could we have done better?

Is there any advice that you can give us for the

next time we offer this program to better meet your needs

and open it up to questions and ask and solicit their

feedback, because you'd be surprised at what you get back.

And I'm just a big proponent and having that open communication

with clients and potential clients and finding out and asking those

questions, because sometimes it's just the way you're packaging something.

Maybe it could be the fact that maybe you just need

to offer a payment plan that you didn't offer before,

or it might be something that's doable for you now.

It may not be.

And that's okay.

You need to understand that that's still good information and knowledge

for you,

but if you don't ask the question,

you'll never know.

So I think the best way is literally the direct approach

and ask them,

what could we have done better?

Or what do you recommend we do for the next time?

What could we do to make you say,

Oh my God,

yes, I want to work with you or yes,

I want to buy your product.

And the best advice I've gotten over the years has been

from my clients.

So I will ask them all the time for feedback,

ideas, comments,

because that's the only way to get better.

And that's the only way that sometimes the very quickest way

and best way to get some really creative ideas.

I just did that this morning.

In fact,

with one of my clients,

I asked her about what she thought would be a great

solution for our new clients.

And she gave me some awesome ideas that I never would've

thought of myself.

Well. And honestly,

it's always a process.

You're one point you get better.

You go through actions and you learn more and then you

adjust what you're doing and then you're better the next time.

And it just keeps growing.

I mean,

it really never ends.

Absolutely. If you have a feedback loop,

then you'll always be getting that feedback and you'll always be

refining what you have and be able to continuously make it

better. Right.

And I think when you get the,

no, you have the feedback,

you get all that information.

And then sometimes you really know it is a no probably

forever, but it might only be a no for six months.

Maybe they don't have the budget.

Exactly. Maybe there's something underlying that you're not aware of that

they're not willing to share.

So I think another thing after a no could be,

would it be all right if I touch base with you

again in six months or so just to see how you're

doing or check in on yours.

Yeah. I love that.

And the other thing to remember,

and so many of my clients and just people I know

have done this,

and it's been super successful.

Don't forget that when someone tells you no,

if you give them a great experience and you're gracious about

it and you leave that door open for them to come

back so often they will send referrals to you.

Because just because you're not a great fit for them,

for whatever reason,

if they love the experience of working with you and you

were nice about it,

they will almost always refer other people to you.

I am so glad you said that that is a really,

really great point.

So one other thing that I'm thinking our listeners might say

is, Oh my gosh,

am I being too nosy?

You're asking me to go in and ask this corporate client

all about their company.

And that makes me nervous because I'm going to be asking

them some in-depth questions potentially.

And then also at another point,

when they say no,

you're asking me to go back and then also make myself

vulnerable and ask them all these questions.

Are they even going to talk to me about these things?

Sure. I think part of it is really just helping them

understand why you want to know it.

So if you're asking what might seem like a too personal

question or too in depth questions,

tell them why.

Tell them this really helps us understand your client better so

that we can come up with better solutions for you.

And if you have an example of that,

that's even better because your clients don't know what they don't

know either.

So it helps for you to explain why you want to

know that.

And then the other part that you were asking,

what was the second part of your question?

I was asking about how uncomfortable they would be asking those

questions both for initially.

And then if you said no to understand why the why

of the note.

I have a great for that.

So when Someone says,

no, one of the great ways to get feedback back from

them is to have someone else in your company,

reach out to them.

So people just by nature will want to temper what they

tell you,

because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

Especially we,

as women do this.

But if they're talking to a buffer,

in other words,

somebody else,

that's not you because you're the one that's giving the product

or service,

they will be much more forthcoming with that other person than

they will be for you.

Yeah. That's good.

That's one of your little side tricks or something.

Yeah. It's just one of the things,

because one of the things that I want my clients to

do is to maximize every client.

So even if they lose that client,

I want them to maximize it.

So find out why and see if there's any way that

you can win them back.

And sometimes they do.

So there's strategies there for that as well.

But you need to really maximize all that information because it's

all good information for you to know helps make you better

the next time.

Absolutely. I totally agree.

All right.

So I want to spin this a little bit.

You have been talking about resources and things that you should

have in place,

automation tools,

all of that.

Can you share with us some of the tools that you

think on more of a general basis,

given that our audience can be a little different here that

you would suggest,

or that you're using in your business are referencing for your

clients? Sure.

My favorite tool is acuity for scheduling and that has saved

my life.

Any business owner that has to schedule anything with anyone,

whether it's team members or it's clients or potential clients.

It not only makes you look professional,

but acuity is so easy to use and has so many

great features.

You can set up different types of appointments with different types

of questions that you ask,

for example.

So there's so much power in it.

It's super affordable.

They have a free version.

And when I started implementing it,

it made all the difference in my time and going back

and forth with people.

And today,

really, I think consumers expect that level of automation.

So you really should have a calendar where people can just

go and click and reserve a time with you.

If that's something that you want them to be able to

do, but you can integrate it into your website.

You can just send them the link.

You can integrate it into Facebook.

There's so many ways that you can use it,

but that's a great tool for that.

And I know other people use Calendly.

So that's another tool that's very similar.

I just personally use acuity myself Schedule once,

same type of thing.

Exactly. There are many out there,

but you're recommending this one gift biz listeners.

I'm going to put this in the show notes.

As you know,

there'll be a page connected up with Maria's interview that will

give you all of the information.

So acuity will be there for sure.

Let's talk about sales a little bit more in terms of

where your reaching out,

either giving or getting more information to continue to grow and

perfect. Your in terms of sales consulting,

are there any podcasts you listen to conferences you go to,

to stay up to date or to mingle within your industry

Question. I personally read a lot of books.

That's one of my personal favorite things to do,

but I also have different masterminds that I belong to for

different purposes.

So for example,

I have one where it's a bunch of educators.

So people like myself that are teaching other business owners,

whatever the subject may be.

So we get together on a regular basis online and talk.

We have our own Facebook group.

So to me,

having those types of groups of experts that you can go

to are so helpful,

especially as business owners,

because so many of us work by ourselves or in very

small teams and you really don't have access to a lot

of outside people like you do in a corporation,

you can go to your manager or to a different department,

and you're constantly learning.

But as business owners,

you have to take control of that yourself.

So for me,

one of my favorite ways is to have a mastermind that

I can go to,

that I can lean on them.

I can be honest with them,

open with them,

transparent, and really talk about how to do something or maybe

something isn't going well,

what have you done that works?

What could I be doing wrong?

That sort of conversation you need that comradery.

Number one,

but you also need that advice.

It's sort of like your board of directors.

That's the way I look at it.

It's sort of like my higher level people that I go

to to help me vet out some of the ideas that

I'm thinking of for my business and the direction I'm thinking

of taking it.

And they're not all local.

No, they're all over the country.

So gift is listeners.

One way that you could do this.

If you're don't have access or don't know how to put

together, a mastermind is go into some of your industry,

specific Facebook groups,

some of those private groups that you're in and see if

there are a few people that you really resonate with that

you're sharing information,

that's helpful to them,

vice versa.

And you may even be able to build yourself a small

group, just like Maria is talking about within your industry.

That would be one way to do it.

Another way would be locally.

If you want to get different types of functions in like,

you may want some accounting people,

if you're a product person,

whatever the different genres are and get a group of people

together. But masterminding is a fabulous way to get new ideas

about your business because you're getting new eyes on your business

with us as business owners.

It's so easy to get so zeroed in that you don't

really see your business as well as you could.

If you are taking a little bit of a higher level,

I guess I'd say,

all right.

So Maria,

at this point,

I would like to invite you to dare to dream.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

Well, thank you for the gift.

First of all,

you're What am I giving you?

You're giving me this most fabulous gift.

That's wrapped beautifully,

by the way.

It's a gift of being independently wealthy of living life on

my terms,

meaning being able to make the decisions I want to make.

And if I want to get up and get out an

airplane with my husband,

we can do that.

I've always felt like I want to travel more and see

more of the world.

And I've been so busy working most of my life that

I really want to explore that because I feel travel gives

you so much insight and expands your mind,

like nothing else in the world on a business level.

I want to have a thriving business where I'm really impacting

the most business owners I can because I feel like we

really need to change the conversation.

And we're at a really important juncture in our world.

And I think women are poised to make amazing leaps right

now. And I'd like to help them do that and really

change the face of what it means to not just sell,

but interact with other people on a personal and professional level

and really change the conversation and how people interact with one

another and how people sell to one another.

And I think we can really change the game and empower

people. And so I'd love to do that and also be

a motivational speaker for the younger generation so that we can

instill in them at a really young age that they can

do anything and they can be,

do, and have whatever they want.

And they just have to believe it.

And that's part of the first thing that they need to

do. And if we do that,

when they're young,

they'll grow up believing it and not have to struggle as

much as we've had.

Oh, that's beautiful.

You don't see me over here,

but I'm smiling about that.

Just beautiful.

How can our listeners get in touch with you or see

what's going on with irresistible Sally or whatever else you'd like

to share.

Awesome. Thank you.

So I have a Facebook group for creative business owners,

so they can join me there.

It's called learn,

collaborate flourish.

So you could just search on that term in Facebook and

I'd love for you to join us if you join,

introduce yourself.

So I know who you are and that you came from

here. So I can give you a special shout out.

But for those of you that are interested in my irresistible

selling program,

you can go to,

and I'll give you a Bitly link and I'm sure you'll

put it in the show notes,

but it's Bitly forward slash irresistible selling all lower case.

And if you want free sales tips delivered right to your

inbox, you can just go to Maria bayer.com

and just give me your email address and you'll get free

sales tips.

That is really great because I think that everybody listening here

is like,

okay, so what Maria is saying,

doesn't sound so hard.

This is something that I could do.

I can reframe my mindset.

I could actually do this,

but you know what happens later this afternoon or tomorrow,

or when they get in a position of selling,

then it goes back to being freaked out about it and

nervous and anxious.

Again, I encourage all of you to sign up and get

these tips.

Maria, thank you so much.

I really appreciate you taking the time.

You've shared some great tips,

leveled out this whole scary thing about Saleen for us.

I think it empowers us as women now to go out.

Cause we can talk to anybody as a friend and we

can definitely do this.

And this is a way to get more business,

grow your business in a much more comfortable way.

So for sharing all of that,

Marie, I thank you so much.

I absolutely loved your dare to dream answer.

And our wish for you of course,

is that your candle in terms of empowering and all of

that, not playing small,

that your candle always burns bright.

Thank you.

That's so sweet.

And it's been my pleasure to be here.

Thanks so much for having me.

This episode is all wrapped up,

but fortunately,

your gift biz journey continues.

Are you eager to learn more?

Our gift biz gal has a free download just for you.

Head over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com/twelve steps to get your copy of the 12 steps to

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