Success Unfiltered

Latest Episodes:

122 | Becky Blalock Shares How Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone Builds Confidence Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

122 | Becky Blalock Shares How Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone Builds Confidence

When was the last time that you really stepped out of your comfort zone?

Becky Blalock is the author of the bestselling book DARE: Straight Talk on Confidence, Courage, and Career and a trailblazer to the C-suite. Becky Blalock is a sought after speaker, IT thought leader and a champion of skill and relationship building to achieve success in the workplace. She is the Managing Partner at Advisory Capital, a consulting firm providing strategic insight for companies involved in the energy and information technology. During her 33-year career with Southern Company, Ms. Blalock held a variety of leadership positions before becoming SVP and CIO.

Ms. Blalock serves on several public company boards including Hannon Armstrong and Aspen Aerogels and as an advisor in several private equity ventures. She is also active on the Board of Counselors for The Carter Center and is a trustee of the Woodruff Arts.

If you want to get outside your comfort zone, it's going to require that you stretch yourself!

I did a four month leadership training, and for one of our sessions, we went to a ropes course in the Los Angeles area. For one of the obstacles, we had to climb up a pole, and jump out front to catch the swinging trapeze.

The pole was wobbling, and I could see all of Los Angeles when I was standing on top - let me tell you, that got me out of my comfort zone! I think my legs were even shaking uncontrollably.

But here's the reality: when you stretch yourself, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone, anything that you attempt afterwards will be and feel easier.

Any of the obstacles on that course was nowhere near as hard as it could have been, if I hadn't already stretched myself outside of my comfort zone!

It's important to remember that a NO or a rejection just means "not right now", and it's a valuable place for you to get feedback! That way, you can keep pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, and it will just keep getting easier!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Becky Blalock, had a similar experience - but she was pushed! She's found, as she's been in the corporate world, pitching her book, and working as an investor, that the more you push yourself outside of your comfort zone, the easier doing the hard things becomes!

If you're ready to get outside your comfort zone, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! You'll be inspired to stretch yourself beyond your imagination!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Becky Blalock for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

Entrepreneurs, Do You TRULY Believe In YOU? You know that you have to believe in yourself. So tell me, have you done that yet? If you said NO, you're not alone. The truth is that you are the most important asset your business has...but you've probably invested a lot more in strategies, websites, and leads than you have in serious self-love. That's all about to change. Learn my 3 simple steps to shift your vibration, upgrade your mindset, and become your own biggest fan with my FREE guide, Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time)! Don't wait to give your business the solid foundation for success that it deserves--YOU!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Becky Blalock.
Becky had always had a successful career, so she decided that it was time to write a book, so that she could pass on the lessons she had learned to the next generation of women leaders.
People kept asking Becky, "aren't you afraid that your book will fail?"
"You just have to believe in yourself sometimes and drown out the negative talk and surround yourself with people who believe in you." ~ Becky Blalock
Becky got rejected eight times before she finally found a publisher!
That inner voice in your head will often tell you that you're not good enough, but you have to learn to say YES I am good enough, and qualified enough!
"We are all so much more willing to take risk when we have people that are cheering us on and that believe in us." ~ Becky Blalock
Write down what you want: if you write it down, you are 68% more likely to achieve it!
"If you stay inside your comfort zone you're never really going to reach your full potential in life because you've got to push outside that and take those risks and learn hey, these things aren't killing me." ~ Becky Blalock
Every day, challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone.
The most important part of a pitch where you hear NO is the feedback! It's an opportunity to learn why they said NO.
"Competence is a very learnable skill and comes about by putting yourself out there and failing and learning what didn't work." ~ Becky Blalock
Becky shares her story about the time she jumped out of a simulated parachute training session - it pushed her outside of her comfort zone!
When Becky retired from her job, she expected to see many opportunities - but they didn't come like she expected! So she had to go and create opportunities, many of them by volunteering with smaller organizations.
Becky was actually rejected from a job for having a southern accent: it was so demoralizing! When she was going through that, she had to remember to take her own advice, and work on continuing to build her confidence and stretch herself outside her comfort zone.
That hard work of volunteering with smaller organizations paid off, and she was able to join several Company boards.
With her book, Becky had publishers who were interested, but wanted to make edits - so many that Becky said NO - it would no longer be her voice!
She was able to find a compromise with the publishers, but learned that sometimes you have to put your foot down and say NO to them.
Becky shares a few tips on how to vet a potential angel investor.
"Reputation is everything." ~ Becky Blalock
Becky shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Becky Blalock:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

3 Tips on What To Look For in an Investor | Success Shortcuts Sep 21, 2019

Show notes

Do you wonder what to look for in finding the right investors for your business?

Getting funding for your business can be really exciting, but getting the RIGHT funding is the key. In today's Success Shortcut, I'm sharing my own experience — and some of the mistakes I made — with finding investors. I give you some of my 3 best tips to make sure you and your investors are a good fit for each other.

Enjoy today's Success Shortcut and thank you for listening! Join me every Saturday for a new insight that will boost your confidence, take the stress out of selling, and help you level up your business and your life.

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

Are you ready to take your life and business to the next level? If you have big dreams of success, I have something for you. I've put together a special program to help you develop the mindset of some of the most successful people on the planet. It's called Success Unfiltered Online: How to Think and Act like an 8-figure Entrepreneur.

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and also having had the benefit of having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

Regardless of where you are today, even if you are struggling as an entrepreneur. These insights will help you take your business to the next level because it's what the most successful people on the planet rely on to grow their business to 8-figures and beyond, and make all their dreams come true.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

121 | Dan Fleyshman Shares the Importance of Failure Sep 18, 2019

Show notes

121 | Dan Fleyshman Shares the Importance of Failure

How can you turn your failure into a win?

Dan Fleyshman is the youngest founder of a publicly traded company in history. At the age of 23, after selling $15 million dollars worth of clothing in six department store chains and surpassing expectations with his $9.5 million dollar licensing deal with STARTER apparel, Mr. Fleyshman launched the "Who's Your Daddy" energy drink into 55,000 retail stores.

He later went on to launch Victory Poker, which became 1 of the top 5 online poker brands internationally.

Along the way, Fleyshman became a very active Angel Investor and advisor to 29+ companies that range from mobile apps and tech companies to travel sites and celebrity clothing brands.

As a serial entrepreneur, some of the successes include launching a media site to garner over 300,000,000 views in the first year, a hoverboard company to $5 million+ revenue in 4 months and multiple subscription box companies to gross over $48 million dollars in combined sales.

Currently his social media agency "Elevator Studios" works with over 600 influencers and manages campaigns for a variety of large companies. The agency has also hosted 30 live events called "Elevator Nights" which has helped 1000's of entrepreneurs learn from and network with investors in multiple sectors including cannabis & cryptocurrency.

Playing poker as a hobby, he's managed to win multiple championships and more importantly use the game to be able to raise millions of dollars for various charities by organizing dozens of poker tournaments around the world.

Over the last 7 years his main passion has been his charity www.modelcitizenfund.org which creates backpacks for the homeless filled with 150 emergency supply items inside.

Money talks, and sometimes, it's telling you that it's time to shut down your business.

But what then? How do you face that "failure"? How do you face the giant NO?

When I closed FITzee Foods, I could hear the money talking, and it was saying NO. People were not buying the meals at the rate that I needed to sell in order to be successful and keep the company open. I had to make the tough decision to listen to the money talking, and say NO to FITzee Foods.

But what then? What about all the people who are watching me? How could I work with that failure, and find a way to turn it into success?

I chose to turn my past experiences into a success, teaching others to love the sales process, and telling the stories of so many entrepreneurs on this podcast.

You could even say that through saying NO to FITzee Foods, I have said YES to something far better!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered Podcast, Dan Fleyshman, knew that he was going to have to close his poker business, but he was able to leverage his experience in such a way that he turned a potential failure into an absolute success! His "failure" brought him more success than he had found in his original business!

If you're worried about the aftermath of failure, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! You won't want to miss this inspiration!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Dan Fleyshman for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

What Do Successful Entrepreneurs Know (That Most Entrepreneurs Don't)? That rejection in sales doesn't mean failure. It means that you're that much closer to the success that you desire...as long as you don't quit! But how do you put yourself back together when a dream deal goes south? Grab your copy of my FREE checklist "5 Ways To Come Back From Sales Rejection" and learn how you can harness the power of NO for yourself!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Dan Fleyshman.
Dan saw the writing on the wall that he would have to close his online 8-figure poker business - his competition was being shut down, and he knew that his time was coming!
Rather than wait to be shut down, Dan decided to be proactive and shut it down first.
"It's not easy to have that failure on the scoreboard. When you look at history, you see wins and losses." ~ Dan Fleyshman
Dan's choice to shut down proactively made him look like a good guy, and he was able to leverage his experience and get hired as a consultant at multiple casinos!
"By taking the loss, I actually had more wins." ~ Dan Fleyshman
Staying in a bad business too long can be like being in a bad relationship: you're working hard to make it work, but it's not a good fit. Eventually, you have to rip the bandaid off!
People vote with their wallets. If they aren't saying YES with their spending, then you need to know how to move on!
It's better to end a business prematurely when you know you have to say NO to it, and be able to give something back to investors, rather than have nothing in the end!
Better to stop at 70% done instead of 100% finished!
After closing his poker business, Dan decided to never have all of his eggs in one basket again! He has taken on multiple investments, and has become an angel investor in many companies.
Someone with a "failure" on their record has valuable skills! You can be a very valuable consultant: people want to learn from someone who has been there and has experience!
"Failure" can lead to a lucrative speaking career, helping share your story.
Failure can be a million dollar MBA, and teach you valuable skills. You can have a taco truck, but you'll be better in business if you teach others how to have better taco trucks!
We're always going to make mistakes: it's better to run your business under the guidance of someone who has been there, done that, and made the mistake! They can guide you through because they have been through it. That's so much better than any marketing course.
When Dan was making his pitches with his beverage company, there wasn't a NO option! He asks, "Would you like to be my distributor in the southeast, or nationwide?" There is not a NO option for that question!
Know and address objections before they become objections!
"I don't want there to be a single NO in the room!" ~ Dan Fleyshman
For a service-based business, Dan talks about showing the expertise that qualifies you above anyone else.
Sometimes it can be hard to work with large companies, especially when you are projecting sales, and you don't have a lot of money to work with, and they pay you after the product has been delivered. You have to learn to anticipate their needs, their re-ordering, and be ready for whatever - and sometimes, that requires that you be creative when working with suppliers.
When pitching investors, make sure that they know that they are in it for the long game: you won't make money with your business for a while; they won't see a return on their investment for a while!
When you're just beginning, it's ok to keep your job. In fact, you may need that income! It could be years before your business takes off.
Make a plan for when you succeed!
Dan has a "red ropes" policy for potential clients. When they cross any of these boundaries that he has for his business, he says NO to them as clients, because they will be the wrong kind of client for the business he wants to have!
One red flag for Dan that he looks out for in potential clients is that the clients that want to work with him to sign an NDA.
Dan shares what he would tell his younger self.

Connect with Dan Fleyshman:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

How to Stop the Comparison Trap | Success Shortcuts Sep 14, 2019

Show notes

Are you constantly falling into the comparison trap?

In today's Success Shortcut, I'm sharing 3 secret tips on how you can be more confident in yourself so you can stop comparing yourself, your business, and your income to other people. If you start focusing on owning your uniqueness and being YOU, it will come back tenfold in your success.

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

120 | Heather Saffer Shares How to Successfully Recover From an Unethical Business Manager Sep 11, 2019

Show notes

120 | Heather Saffer Shares How to Successfully Recover From an Unethical Business Manager

Have you seen the true colors of the people that you work with?

Heather Saffer is the founder of Dollop Gourmet; a better-for-you frosting brand sold in thousands of major retail stores. Heather is a winner of Food Network's Cupcakes Wars and author of two bestselling cookbooks. Heather has been featured on Shark Tank, QVC, Forbes, Huffington Post, Oprah.com, and People Magazine.

It takes about three months for someone to show you their true colors, and you get to learn quickly if they are someone that you want to work with, or if they are someone you have to say NO to, and run away from.

Before I started FITzee Foods, there was this guy named - well, let's call him Charlie. I was one of his clients, and I would pay quarterly for a meal subscription service.

Well, Charlie would be spending money right and left, but not paying his vendors. Eventually, he came to me for help, but I had seen his true colors and knew that working with him would be a hard NO!

I knew that I could do it better, so I started FITzee Foods.

But Charlie didn't just go away: in fact, he started stealing my potential clients, and ordering food under his significant other's business, and I would be the one delivering the food.

The few clients this happened to then called me, saying that he had a charge for food, but had not received a delivery.

Talk about unethical, and absolutely absurd!

Many entrepreneurs find themselves working with just anybody who is willing to help them, but what they really need to do is see that person's true colors first. That way, these new entrepreneurs can either say NO and run away, or create a great partnership!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Heather Saffer, lost everything, including her business, when she aligned herself with a shady worker who conned her out of her life savings. You'll be inspired by the lessons she has learned since, and how persevered and eventually got an investment from on Shark from her Shark Tank pitch!

Are you ready to be inspired to learn the importance of the follow up? If so, this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Heather Saffer for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

Sales Relationships Don't Have To Be Hard! You CAN make connections, whether it's Facebook, on the phone, or "IRL." How do you do it? By using old-school tools with a new-school spin. Relationships don't have to be hard! That's what I'm going to show you in my FREE guide "How To Build Relationships Online: Your Checklist For TRUE Connections (And REAL Sales)!" Grab your copy HERE and start making connections wherever you go, online or off!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Heather Saffer.
Heather had never had her own business before, so when she started out, she had NO Idea what she was doing!
She brought on a guy to help grow the business, and worked with him for 10 months. He was paying employees, handling payments to vendors, etc. But Heather later found out that he had done nothing!
He had used client's credit cards to make vendor payments, and using Heather's checkbook to pay for things like his car payment and his daughter's daycare.
Heather found out about his con when he used a client's card to pay for a $20,000 payment for a charity event, and the client called her screaming about a $20,000 charge.
How can you avoid this? Heather has some advice: "Never get to the point in your business where you depend on only one person to help you out; especially if you don't know them well."
She took his help because she felt desperate and stuck.
Recovery was hard: Heather spent a lot of time in court because multiple people sued the business.
Eventually the guy was caught, charged, and went to prison.
Heather did NOT make any of the struggles public, because she didn't want it to impact her business as it continued on. But now, she openly shares how she overcame her encounter so that others can learn from her.
She dissolved the current business, and started a new business so she could start fresh: she didn't want to leave the industry because making the cupcakes was something she was good at, and there was a high demand for her product.
Heather decided that it was time to pivot her business, and instead of just making the cupcakes, she wanted to sell a product to more people! So she decided to focus on making the frosting, and making a healthier version of frosting!
It took her a year and a half to find a manufacturer for the frosting.
She heard so many NO's that she actually took a month-long break during the search for a manufacturer.
Heather couldn't quit in her search for a manufacturer because she knew that she had to make this product: she was obsessed with it!
In yet another disaster, one guy who introduced her to a manufacturer came on and worked for her for a few months, but it was a disaster!
"Don't work with just "anyone" - make sure that you vet your partners, workers, and investors! It's ok to say NO to someone who is not the right fit. Just because they want to work with you doesn't mean that you have to work with them!" ~ Heather Saffer
When working with a partner, investor, or anyone, you get to see their true colors within 3 months!
Heather shares about her Shark Tank experience: she had a flawless pitch, but something crazy happened behind the scenes.
Right before she was supposed to go on air, Heather peed her pants! She has a bladder condition that actually makes her lose bladder control. After she peed herself, she ran from the area, and had to change into jeans that she had in her dressing room.
Pitching to the Shark Tank investors was her moment: Heather wasn't going to miss out on her chance by an embarrassing moment. She just had to set that aside, and do it anyway.
"When you put your ego and pride aside, magic happens." ~ Heather Saffer
Heather shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Heather Saffer:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

How to Handle Sales Objections | Success Shortcuts Sep 07, 2019

Show notes

Do you freeze when objections come up during a sales conversation?

In this week's Success Shortcut, I'm going to share 4 steps to help you reframe objections so that you can handle them with ease and overcome anything that comes your way to help a new client.I'll also share how you can diffuse your objection anxiety and be okay whether someone says yes OR no to your offer. You'll never fear hearing an objection ever again!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

119 | Mills Menser Shares How Grit and Persistence Leads to Sales Success Sep 04, 2019

Show notes

119 | Mills Menser Shares How Grit and Persistence Leads to Sales Success

Do you ever feel like your idea has so much greatness, but you wonder why it hasn't taken off yet?

Mills Menser is a third generation jeweler, owner of Brdiamonds.com and is the founder of Diamond Banc. He founded Diamond Banc to loan against & purchase diamonds and high-end jewelry from the public. Mills saw a tremendous void in the marketplace for a luxury brand that offered an innovative financial solution to those who wish to access the liquidity of their jewelry possesses.

It's not enough to just have a great idea: you need to have the grit and persistence to follow through and make it work!

I get told that I am annoying all the time! I'm more than just "professionally annoying," though. I believe in what I do, and have the persistence to do the follow up to make anything happen!

You can have every degree possible on earth. You can be the smartest person out there. You can have all the qualifications; all the certificates.

At the end of the day, if you don't have grit and persistence, none of that means anything!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Mills Menser, has an unusual business. In fact, it was so unusual, that others didn't know how to work with him. Even when he was creative in pitching, he had to have endless amounts of grit and persistence to continue reaching out to strategic partnerships and investors to make his business a reality.

Are you ready to be inspired to learn the importance of the follow up? If so, this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Mills Menser for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

DID YOU KNOW that some sales require a lot of follow-ups? That means that you have to ask for the sale. And usually more than once. How do you do it without being pushy, sleazy, or desperate? Click HERE and learn 7 ways to follow up (and close more sales)!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Mills Menser.
Mills explains the concept of Diamond Banc, a service that purchases diamonds and luxury items from consumers.
When he was 24, Mills wanted to buy out his father's business, and had secured financing. He later convinced his father to let him purchase the business, and then, three days from closing, the financing fell through.
Loss of financing led Mills to some creative planning: ultimately, he crafted the perfect sales presentation to his father that ended up being far more profitable for his father.
"If you can get traditional financing from a large bank, honestly that's always the ideal situation because you're giving up NO ownership and you're paying one of the lowest rates you can get." ~ Mills Menser
Looking back on that crushing NO, Mills would do it all again, exactly the same!
Remember: it's not a deal until the money has changed hands, and has been in your account at least 3 days.
"So many things can change, and self-preservation is every business person's number one agenda." ~ Mills Menser
"Just know, it's not done until it's done." ~ Mills Menser
With the perfect sales demonstration that Mills proposed, he had NO power and NO leverage. It was either going to happen, or it wasn't!
"If you look at any successful person there's always a helping hand or an opportunity." ~ Mills Menser
"Everything cost ten times as much and takes ten times as much effort as you may believe." ~ Mills Menser
The way Mills structured the deal meant that instead of paying the bank interest, the money would go to his family instead!
Getting Diamond Banc off the ground took a lot of work! Mills created a special campaign, and shipped video recordings describing how Diamond Banc would change the high-end jewelry liquidation industry.
Mills targeted stores with $10 million+ in sales, but found himself having to spend excessive amounts of time following up, seeing if they had even gotten the package from FedEx, and if they had a chance to view the video.
He had to follow up endlessly before he even got to his pitch! Almost every day, he spent two hours just doing follow up!
Mills finally found a partner through all of his time spent planting seeds.
There is so much work that goes into pitching, that most people fail simply because they were not prepared to have the persistence to do all of the work.
You have to push on all fronts, because the people that you are pitching are already hearing countless other pitches.
"Your pitch is like a plant in a garden: you have to keep watering it for it to eventually grow!" ~ Mills Menser
Don't track your hours, track your results.
Know what your values are, and be prepared to pay the price for that specific value. You pay the tuition for the lessons that you learn!
Focus on what moves the needle: we spend 80% of our time on that which yields 20% of the results. Refocus your time to see results.
Mills shares what he would tell his younger self.

Connect with Mills Menser:

DID YOU KNOW that some sales require a lot of follow-ups? That means that you actually have to ask for the sale. And usually more than once. How do you do it without being pushy, sleazy, or desperate? Click HERE and learn 7 ways to follow up (and close more sales)!

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

How to Rock a Sales Conversation | Success Shortcuts Aug 31, 2019

Show notes

Does just the thought of a sales conversation stress you out?

In this Success Shortcut, I'm sharing my simple 5-Step process for you to have better sales conversations without any sleaze and without any stress! You can start using these steps TODAY to improve your confidence during your sales conversations so that you can help more people, close more deals and make more money, no matter what you're selling.

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

Regardless of where you are today, even if you are struggling as an entrepreneur, this will help you take your business to the next level! These insights are what the most successful people on the planet rely on to grow their business to 8-figures and beyond and make all their dreams come true.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

118 | Lindsay Cook Shares How Sales Success Requires Endless Persistent Follow Up Aug 28, 2019

Show notes

118 | Lindsay Cook Shares How Sales Success Requires Endless Persistent Follow Up

Do you ever struggle with the endless persistence of follow up?

Lindsay Cook is the co-founder and CEO of FitOn - a new digital fitness company that is redefining the workout experience with the ultimate platform for group fitness - anytime, anywhere. Cook has always been a proponent of fitting fitness into her life to help release the built up stress that came with being a mother and working long hours. When she realized that balancing such a busy lifestyle was a struggle that not only she faced, she knew something had to be done. That's where the idea for FitOn came to be and in January of 2019 Cook introduced the world to the fitness app that provides on-demand fitness classes that fit the user's moods and locations at any given moment.

Follow up feels endless, doesn't it?

One of the most surprising aspects of sales is how many people do not follow up. But, if you've been following me for ANY length of time, you know follow up is key!

Investors, influencers, and consumers are constantly hit with opportunities and content - but when you personally follow up with them, you set yourself apart with the connections!

But still, so many people do not follow up, because they are afraid.

You've given your pitch, and you don't have an immediate answer. Your business is on the line, you've got to figure out your investors, where the money is coming from, and who you will be working with. But the fear of the NO stops many people from following up.

I like to think of it like this: when you follow up, you've got a 50/50 chance of a YES! But if you do not follow up, you have a 100% chance of a NO!

Even worse: it wasn't the person you pitched to that said NO: it was YOU who said NO to yourself when you didn't follow up!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Lindsay Cook, powered through the endless persistence of follow up as she created the FitOn App. When working with fitness influencers to help grow the workouts they had available on the app, she had to follow up endlessly - and the results have paid off!

Are you ready to be inspired to learn the importance of the follow up? If so, this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Lindsay Cook for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

What Is The Number ONE Way People Miss Out On Sales? They ask for the sale once...and never ask again! Learn why FOLLOW UP is the key to making more sales and skyrocketing your income, and let me show you 7 ways to make the perfect follow-up game plan!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Lindsay Cook.
Lindsay's first major rejection was when she asked for a promotion at her company and was told to "wait her turn."
That rejection caused her to reflect on what she really wanted out of life, and what her priorities are: it caused her to join a small startup called FitBit!
"I went from a learning curve that was pretty flat to honestly one of exponential growth because when you've got great business challenges you just learn how to do so many different skill sets that you haven't yet accomplished."
Turns out, that rejection was one of the best things that ever happened to her! It was the push that she needed to go pursue something new.
In business, you have to get used to the "noise" - the day to day things that happen and that must be dealt with. Eventually, you get used to it, and you can actually focus on the important "noise" that matters.
"The more people that tell others about your business for free, the better that you'll have the chance of really growing and getting people to use your product." ~ Lindsay Cook
Lindsay shares her tips for engagement and growing that audience.
The first key is having evangelists for the product; the people who are actively using your product, loving it, and sharing it with others and spreading the word.
Lindsay and her team actively engage with people who use the app frequently, and learn from them and use that feedback to improve the product. For those evangelists, it's not about the money - it is about the connections!
Social community is also key - getting notifications that your friend worked out encourages you to do the same thing!
Focus on what will bring people back for more!
Rejection is continuous: it doesn't go away.
Lindsay's toughest rejections came early on, when looking for fitness coaches to work with her on the app. She'd spent all the hard work creating it, and developing it, and then people said NO to her when it came time to request workouts from the fitness coaches!
The key is to brush that off and keep on going!
Often, a YES has a snowball effect, and brings more YES's!
Every NO made Lindsay's vision stronger: she would evaluate why the person said NO, and make tweaks to make the business even better.
Lindsay reached people by sharing her personal story, and her vision for something different.
You just have to be endlessly persistent with people, and follow up!
When you're working with investors raising seed money, you almost have to oversell yourself, because if these investors don't choose you, there's going to be someone else walking in the door right behind you.
Investors don't just invest in the idea: they invest in the person behind the idea.
Keep a list of your contacts that you've made, along with your status, and follow up constantly! Eventually, you'll start to see wins populate on that spreadsheet as you follow up!
Lindsay shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Lindsay Cook:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

Is Your Sales Mindset Sabotaging Your Success? | Success Shortcuts Aug 24, 2019

Show notes

Are your sales beliefs sabotaging your success?

Sales are the lifeblood of your business, and the way you think about sales and selling is a major factor in how successful your business will be! In this Success Shortcut, I'm going to help you examine your sales beliefs so that you can shift your mindset and attitude around selling. You CAN love selling, and I'm going to show you how!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

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