How to Achieve Mindset Mastery for Sales Success – In Just 7 Minutes with Carole Mahoney

Resources/Links:

• Download the eGuide: Mindset Matters and Discover How Certain Beliefs Impact Your Ability to Be Successful and Improve in Sales. Get Actionable Steps You Can Do Now to Develop a Sales Growth Mindset and Get the Results You Seek:http://www.unboundgrowth.com/ingagements

Summary

As the founder of Unbound Growth, Carole has been featured as a top sales coach by Sales Hacker and Ambition and has coached Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial MBA students on sales.

In this episode, Carole shares her insights about sales and the connection between a problem and a solution which is when done in the best interest of others, better salespeople and leaders can make the world a better place.
She talks about the responsibility both as individual sales professionals and sales leaders to raise the respectability of the sales profession. It is her personal mission to change the negative perception of sales- from the individual salesperson to the executives and leaders.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:52 – Carole’s ideal client: Ideally, I like to work with small business owners or entrepreneurs who are doing their own selling, or even individual contributors in those organizations.
• 02:07 – Problem Carole helps solve: A lot of times the problem that I’m solving for them is symptomatic. They’re seeing longer sales cycles. They’re seeing deals that are smaller than they should be, or not closing when they should be. And they’re not entirely sure why. They’ve tried training, they’ve tried books, they’ve tried workshops, and it’s still a mystery.
• 02:42 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Carole: “Sometimes they might be experiencing things like people who are asking about price right off the bat and commoditizing what they’re doing. Other symptoms may include that they’re not actually able to get to those that are actually making the decisions and they’re dealing with either gatekeepers or influencers who can’t say yes because they have no money to spend.”
• 03:46 – Common mistakes people make when trying to solve that problem: A lot of times they’ve tried, I need to find the perfect methodology. I need to find the perfect sales process that lays out for me exactly what I need to do. And they try to do those things and it doesn’t necessarily work for them the same way that it worked in the book that they read or the podcast that they listened to. And sometimes what they’re not taking into account is how they think and how they behave in the mindset that they have that is actually the thing that’s getting in their way of executing on their plan or recognizing an opportunity for what it is. So, a lot of times that invisible thing that they’re not able to fix is actually being in their own head.
• 04:43 – Carole’s Valuable Free Action(VFA): Realize that sales is not just a numbers game, it’s a mental game.Understand what your personally meaningful goals are.
• 06:41 – Carole’s Valuable Free Resource(VFR): Download the eGuide: Mindset Matters and discover how certain beliefs impact your ability to be successful and improve in sales. Get actionable steps you can do now to develop a sales growth mindset and get the results you seek:http://www.unboundgrowth.com/ingagements
• 07:15 – Q: “How biased are we in our own self-assessments?” A: When we talk about being open to understanding what your hidden weaknesses are and what your strengths are, it’s not always something that we can do for ourselves. Sometimes we need to get that outside perspective because we’re too close to it. We want to be able to do that for ourselves by hiring or finding outside perspectives that can tell us what’s real, and what’s fantasy in our minds.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Realize that sales is not just a numbers game, it's a mental game. Understand what your personally meaningful goals are.” -@CaroleMahoney Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland: 0:09
Hello everyone, a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. I’m Tom Poland, joined today by the super-duper helpful, and effective, and successful, Carole Mahoney. Carole, good day, a very warm welcome. Where are you hanging out?

Carole Mahoney: 0:22
I am hanging out in the foothills of Maine where they call it the Lakes region. So, surrounded by woods and water.

Tom Poland: 0:29
And that is actually a photo of your swimming pool in the background which is very impressive. And I know it’s a photo but just another angle you can actually see that which is, it sounds like a beautiful part of the world to be in.

Carole Mahoney: 0:41
It is. As they say in Maine, The Way Life Should Be, is our tagline.

Tom Poland: 0:45
The way, isn’t that well done. So now someone who’s know something about marketing has gotten on that act. Right. So, off the subject of Maine, interesting to know, it is, and on to the subject of Carole Mahoney. Carole is the founder of Unbound Growth. And if you stalk Carole around her website like I have, you’ll find it’s littered with testimonials that feature results. And I think that’s the key differences. So, Carole’s, folks that have worked with Carole, buy in large, not saying she’s a swell gal, which I’m sure she is. I’m talking about percentage increase in sales and volume increase in revenue, which is really impressive, Carole. She’s also been featured as top sales coach by Sales Hacker and Ambition, and has actually coached at the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial MBA students on sales. So, the creme de la creme, Carole, thanks so much for your time. Our title today is, “How to Achieve Mindset Mastery for Sales Success.” Carole’s going to show us how to do that in just seven minutes. And Carole, your time starts now. Question number one is, who is your ideal client?

Carole Mahoney: 1:52

Ideally, I like to work with small business owners or entrepreneurs who are doing their own selling, or even individual contributors in those organizations.

Tom Poland: 2:02
Perfect. Thank you. Question number two, what’s the problem you solve for them?

Carole Mahoney: 2:07

A lot of times the problem that I’m solving for them is symptomatic. They’re seeing longer sales cycles. They’re seeing deals that are smaller than they should be, or not closing when they should be. And they’re not entirely sure why. They’ve tried trainings, they’ve tried books, they’ve tried workshops, and it’s still a mystery.

Tom Poland: 2:25
Thank you. Six and a half minutes left, questions three. So, we’ve got this person who’s suffering from a longer sales cycle than maybe the average transaction sizes and what they should be. That’s some of the symptoms they’re going to be noticing. Question number three is, what are some of the other typical symptoms that someone with this problem is going to be experiencing?

Carole Mahoney: 2:42

Sometimes they might be experiencing things like people who are asking about price right off the bat and commoditizing what they’re doing.

Other symptoms may include that they’re not actually able to get to those that are actually making the decisions and they’re dealing with either gatekeepers or influencers who can’t say yes because they have the money to spent. Sometimes symptoms will include, just delays in general, where I need to go think it over, or I need to go talk to someone else about this. And as a result, they’re seeing revenues that aren’t being met, goals that aren’t being met. And if you’re an individual contributor, you’re not getting to where your personal career rolls out either.

Tom Poland: 3:19
So, it sounds like it’s could be a fair bit of frustration and disappointment in that. People are going to get motivated by that pain and they’re going to try a bunch of stuff. And just over five minutes left, sorry, and this is question number four. So, given that they’re going to try and solve these problems, it’s almost inevitable, they’re going to do some things which aren’t going to work. So, what are some of the common mistakes that people make trying to solve this problem before they find your solution?

Carole Mahoney: 3:46
A lot of times they’ve tried, I need to find the perfect methodology. I need to find the perfect sales process that lays out for me exactly what that I need to do. And they try to do those things and it doesn’t necessarily work for them the same way that it worked in the book that they read, or the podcast that they listened to. And sometimes what they’re not taking into account is how they think and how they behave in the mindset that they have that is actually the thing that’s getting in their way of executing on their plan, or recognizing an opportunity for what it is. So, a lot of times that invisible thing that they’re not able to fix is actually being in their own head.

Tom Poland: 4:20
Right. It’s very intangible, and it may not be solved by a new sales script. So, four and a quarter minutes left. Question number five is, what’s one valuable free action that you could recommend that someone listening to this problem could take that’s not going to solve the whole problem, but as my taking a step in the right direction?

Carole Mahoney: 4:43

The first thing is to realize that sales is not just a numbers game, it’s a mental game. And our mental game determines our behaviors.

And when we start talking about behavioral change, we have to start with understanding how do we change those behaviors. The very first step is to understand what your personally meaningful goals are. We all say we want to get more clients, but what’s the reason behind that? Is it so that we can prove something so we can change the world? So that we can put our kids through college? And then taking that next step in understanding from an objective standpoint what are the strengths that got us here and what are the hidden weaknesses that are preventing us from getting to the next level? So, first thing, set your personal goals and the next is to be open and transparent about strengths and weaknesses.

Tom Poland: 5:25
Wow. Boy, there’s a lot to unpack there. So folks, if you just listen to that, which if you listen to me, you will have, rewind, playback three or four times and take notes because that is a sequence that’s going to do, going enormous way to unlock, to give you clarity and to give you motivation. And to actually uncover where the blockages might be. That was terrific, Carole. Question number six, we’ve got three minutes left, one valuable free resource that you could direct people to that’s going to help them even more?

Carole Mahoney: 5:58
So, there’s actually an e-guide that I wrote that is specifically targeted at what are the skills that we need at each stage of the sales process? And what are the mindsets and beliefs that we need to develop in order to be able to do that? Now, this is taken from years of research and data into what it takes to be successful in sales and what mindsets and beliefs that we need to have because, again, this is not just a numbers game, it’s also a mental game. So, I actually have an e-guide that I’ll make available to everyone that they can actually download and read that and understand, all right, where are my strengths and my weaknesses? Where is my sales process falling apart? And what skills and mindsets do I need to develop in order to be able to fix that part of the process?

Tom Poland: 6:41
Perfect. So, the URL, unboundgrowth.com/ingagements. So that’s I-N-G-A-G-E as in, like engagements except with an “I.”

Carole Mahoney: 6:53

Yeah. In gage in your head first, before you can engage with anyone else.

Tom Poland: 6:57
In gage, perfect. So unboundgrowth.com/ingagements. Question number seven, and we’ve got a minute and 35 seconds left. Tom, finish the question. Question number seven is, what’s one question I should have asked you, but I didn’t? And, of course, the answer please.

Carole Mahoney: 7:15
I think the one question to ask that most people don’t consider is how biased are we in our own self-assessments? And we all have this tendency to overestimate our strengths and diminish what our actual weaknesses are. So, when we talk about being open to understanding what your hidden weaknesses are and what your strengths are, it’s not always something that we can do for ourselves. Sometimes we need to get that outside perspective, because we’re too close to it. You ever have that friend that is dating someone that’s really, really bad for them and they just can’t see it because they’re so involved and so close to it, but it’s, her lane is day to you. We want to be able to do that for ourselves by hiring or finding outside perspectives that can tell us what’s real, and what’s fantasy in our minds.

Tom Poland: 8:05
Perfect. Carole Mahoney, thank you so much for your time.

Carole Mahoney: 8:09
Thank you for having me.

Tom Poland: 7:49
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.