Welcome. You are someone who desires more than the norm. You desire to matter and to make a difference. Which is why you’re listening to the Ziglar Show. My name is Kevin Miller and I’m honored to be your host, and join you in finding your, and my place…in leaving a legacy. Does that sound too intense? There are many other shows that will merely tickle your ears. iTunes has 16 categories of podcasts. You’ll find The Ziglar Show in the Business category, at the top of the rankings. Our business is inspiring true performance. In life and work.
On that note, I want to recognize and thank a handful of people who posted new 5 star reviews in iTunes, and I’d ask you to give us a rating in iTunes and Stitcher, and if you’d be so kind, write a quick review.
> > Hear the reviews in the show
Today I bring you Show #329 and instead of leading off with a quote, I’m going straight to the heart with the title of today’s show. A hard hitting, stop you in your tracks question. “Are you buying what you are selling?” I guarantee this is critically pertinent to your life, right now.
Braintree
Hey, for those of you doing online business, you know…or should, that when somebody hits the “buy now” button, the deal isn’t done. Shopping cart abandonment is huge. Braintree is all about easy, and successful online payments. If you’re working on a mobile app and searching for a simple payments solution, check out Braintree. With one simple integration, you can offer your customers every way to pay. Period. To learn more, and for your first $50,000 in transactions fees-free, go to braintreepayments.com/ziglar.
The Art of Charm
Friends, as you know, the Ziglar principles have touched over 250 million people and influenced legions of businesses worldwide. One business that is young, hip, and admittedly far more liberal than Ziglar (please listen at your own discretion), is The Art of Charm Podcast.com. Host Jordan Harbinger interviews some of today’s most influential people who teach the powerful skills that are at the core of Ziglar, like influence and persuasion that allow you to network better for business, make more friends with ease and learn to increase biz contacts the natural way. Check them out!
Today’s topic is, "Are you buying what you are selling?" Folks, I’m a branding expert. There are many things I’m not competent in. But branding and communicating, I’ve devoted my vocational life to. Actually, I can’t help it. It’s part of my DNA. And in that, I believe in niching. Going narrow. Appeal hard core to a very specific demographic.
With that said, this show I’ll claim, is relevant to everyone. All. Except one group. You ready? The unemployed. And if you happen to fall into that demographic, then listen up. Here is your ticket to finding abundant, lucrative employment and opportunity.
Folks, I have 7 children and at this moment, 3 other kids living with me. A family of 12. If our sustenance depended upon your performance, then this is the message I’d impart to you. Ready?
We’ll lead off with a 10-minute clip, straight from Zig Ziglar himself. Then break it down and get our hands dirty in it. And take real action in our lives. Here is the clip and the complete show:
Folks, I’m going to spend a minute on a soapbox and step on toes. But we’re going to end on the grand opportunity for easier success. Not easy, but easier. That we can all embrace, now.
In our last show, #328, in a discussion with Tom Ziglar and my Dad, Dan Miller, we were discussing the need to learn skills for success. That experts are trained, not born. Tom made a quip that was just brilliant in regards to, do we want a trained and taught brain surgeon, or just someone who claims they are a “natural born brain surgeon”? Yet with personal relationship skills, we often just think some are born with it and some aren’t. The best, in truth, get trained.
But regarding today’s topic, let’s stick with the brain surgeon. Let’s take two equally trained and educated and skilled brain surgeons. Which one would you choose to work on yourself, your spouse or your child, your loves one?
One that simply understands the tools and procedures, but at heart, dreads the job? Is a little blicked out by blood? Who really doesn’t like having to talk with patients who are scared and anxiety ridden? And is just biding their time till the weekend and ultimately retirement?
Or would you rather take a surgeon who had a personal experience with brain issues and cares about it deeply? Who empathizes with people and is praying over them as he/she performs surgery? Who devotes their off time to further education and advocacy for brain wellness and regeneration? Who speaks as an expert on the brain and is innovating breakthroughs?
Again, on paper, both surgeons may qualify the same. But over time, who is prone to showcase a higher degree of successful surgeries and care? And whose life in and out of work will show success? Which one will be a better friend, spouse and parent? The one who believes in what they do, or the other?
Seems like an elementary question, doesn’t it? Yet we live in a world today where not just the norm, but the EXPECTATION, is we don’t much enjoy our work. That we just do the grind, get through the day, do what we must and do it for the money and live for the evenings, weekends and annual vacation.
Now I’m grateful to all who are doing whatever it takes to provide for themselves and their families. At least in the short term. But to devote your life to something that you do not care for at a great level, robs you of being your full, true self. And therefore, robs everyone in your life.
I’m not going to bore you with stats that anyone can look up on job and work dissatisfaction. It’s the reason the comic strip Dilbert was a huge success, as well as shows like The Office. We try to laugh at it to make peace with it. I don’t think it’s funny, because it’s poisoning lives.
So now, to Zig’s message, right after I share two great resources that, one, are great products, two, save time and money and three, help bring this show to you:
STAMPS.com
I don’t like wasting time, I have to many things I want to do an invest in and enjoy. If you do much of any mailing at all, Stamps.com is a no brainer, and they are offering Ziglar Show listeners a 4-week, no risk trial, right now. You can do your mailing online and on demand from the comfort of your home or office. Literally anything you can do at the Post Office you can do right now and anytime 24/7 from a computer and printer. These are the kinds of new offerings I start using and wonder how I ever did it differently in the past. Stamps.com boasts over 500,000 small business customers and last year did $1.5 billion in business. There is no hassle and learning curve either. They have made it ridiculously simple and easy and have top notch, U.S. based tech support. So Ziglar listeners, go now to Stamps.com and click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, and type in ZIGLAR. You’ll get a 4-week, No-Risk Trial and a $110 Bonus Offer that includes a digital scale and up to $55 in FREE postage. That’s Stamps.com, click on the microphone on the top left and enter ZIGLAR.
MILE IQ
So who wouldn’t like a personal assistant who just followed after you and kept track of everything, cleaned up messes and everything was in tidy order while you just went joyfully about your life? If you are self-employed or have an employer who reimburses your travel, I’ve got that magical assistant for you. It’s called Mile IQ. Folks, I’ve been using this for a few weeks. It’s amazing. I never think about it. It’s just an app that runs in the background on my phone, and keeps track of all my separate trips. I’ve doubled up on its use as it tracks my mountain bike rides too. Just a side benefit! It’s about money, tracking expenses in the form of mileage reimbursements. At tax time, mileage reimbursements are substantial. I know until now, I’ve thrown away thousands of dollars of possible mileage reimbursements because I flat didn’t keep up with it. MileIQ is the only mileage tracker that detects, logs, and calculates your drive for you -- automatically. It keeps all your drives securely stored in the Cloud. It has a five-star rating in Google Play and iTunes App Stores. People using Mile IQ capture up to 20% more drives than any other mileage tracking tool, and the average user is claiming $535/month, or $6,400 per year. Try MileIQ for free today by texting “ZIG” to 89800.
Friends, I titled today’s show, “Do you truly buy what you’re selling?” That is a literal question. Do you? Would you buy what you’re selling? The point hinges however, on…you. Folks, if you have a job, no matter what the role, you are involved in sales. You are only working or employed for one reason, to help make the sale or help fulfill the sale. If the product or service you are involved with doesn’t sell, nobody gets paid. If the sale isn’t fulfilled, nobody gets paid, or nobody gets paid again until somebody cons someone else into buying something that can’t be delivered.
Let me drive this home. You are devoting the best of your hours, days, months, years, energy and life into helping sell a product or service. Is it one that you believe in? Would you buy it? Would you proudly wear the shirt or cap? Would you be confident to have the company’s brand painted on the side of your car?
If not, then you are hurting and limiting your potential. You are handicapping yourself. You are doing a disservice to yourself, the company, and somebody else who could do your job better because they believe in it. And ever worse, you are limiting what those you love get from you, because it’s impossible to be fully who you are when most of your time is spent doing something you aren’t fully invested in.
This is not about working at something that is just fun and easy and this surely isn't just another sermon on working at your passions. We can be a lot more simplistic than that. My 18 year old daughter recently got a brief summer job at a big retailer. She loathed it. So she got a similar job at a private business that sold something she liked and believed in. It wasn’t some massively altruistic business or endeavor, just something she was ok with telling friends she worked at. Because to work somewhere is to represent something.
So with that premise in place, with you now understanding, if you didn’t before, that you are lending your own personal credibility to whereverever you work and representing them, let’s break down Zig’s message into bite size pieces.
Zig said, “Owners are closers. Owners sell.” And then goes on to say the goal is to, “believe in what you’re selling enough you would sell it to your mother, daughter, son, dad.”
Imagine if everyone you worked with believed in what they were selling and acted like an owner. Back to my current household of 12. God bless them, best people I’ve ever known. Sweetest, kindest kids. Conscientious, caring... But you know what, nobody pays attention to the food bill, electricity expenditures, wear and tear and general consumption like I do. Why? I’m the owner, and it’s my time and money that pays for it. They won’t understand it fully until they are in my place.
Seth Godin in his excellent book Linchpin, which I mention a lot, made the point of being indispensable in your work. Which isn’t possible unless you truly believe in it, and act like an owner.
Zig said in this clip, and often says, and I think he cites Bryan Flanagan, “Selling is a transference of feeling.” Feelings permeate everything. If you don’t believe in what you’re helping sell, you are hampering the efforts of those who DO believe in it. And jeopardizing your own compensation.
Zig also says the “Heart of the sale starts with the honest factor, and that is what character is all about.” So what does it say about someone’s honesty and character to apply for a job and fill a position, selling themselves on the job role, when at heart they don’t truly believe and care about and personally endorse the end product or service?
Which is why Zig then outlines:
- values determine behavior
- behavior determines reputation
- reputation determines advantages
The advantages of your life, are being determined and greatly affected by your values. Where you work, what you do, what product or service you are involved in selling, is a value.
But folks, I started out saying we’d wrap up with the grand opportunity for easier success we all have. Not easy, but easier.
What is it? Two opportunities:
- Realize your best interest is to put yourself fully behind the product or service you are involved in selling. Buy your product, just like Zig’s previous sales partner. Realize, you are a salesperson and must act like an owner. And when you do, you’ll progress like never before. Or, if you can’t,
- Start hunting for a new gig now. Knowing your overall success, fulfillment and calling in work and life is dependent upon you spending your days at something your heart is not switched off for, but totally engaged in.
Believe in what you’re selling.
Believe in what you’re selling.
Thank you. For caring. For investing in you, so you can invest in others. This was Zig’s cry. See you in the next show where we’re doing a really, really insightful Q&A session from a monster Facebook question we posted.