Mastering Influence: Sales Training Lessons for Business Leaders

In this episode of 'Present Influence,' host John Ball shares valuable lessons from his sales training experience and how they enhanced his influence, communication, and coaching abilities.

Through personal anecdotes and actionable tips, John discusses the importance of overcoming resistance, being prepared, balancing rapport, showing genuine care, managing emotional states, and avoiding assumptions in sales and leadership communication.

This episode aims to help business leaders and aspiring leaders maximize their impact and present with confidence.

Tune in for weekly episodes and expert insights to elevate your influence and inspire others.

00:00 Introduction: Can Sales Training Make You More Influential?

01:09 Overcoming the Fear of Sales Calls

01:46 My Journey into Sales and Key Lessons Learned

03:07 Top Eight Lessons from Sales Training

03:20 Lesson 1: Stop Thinking and Start Doing

05:54 Lesson 2: Go Unscripted

08:43 Lesson 3: Finding and Labeling Pain Points

11:10 Lesson 4: The Dangers of Too Much Rapport

14:01 Lesson 5: Show That You Care

17:38 Lesson 6: Be Prepared

20:49 Lesson 7: Let Go of Assumptions

26:29 Lesson 8: Take Charge of Your Emotional State

30:55 Conclusion: Implementing Sales Training for Lasting Impact

33:22 Show Rebranding and Future Focus

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training help you be more influential?

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Well, if you've ever been through

sales training, you probably

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already know the answer to this.

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And if you haven't, you may

not want to be putting yourself

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through sales training to find out.

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So I'm going to share with you how

sales training has helped me and some

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of the lessons and experience I had

in my time working in sales with a few

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different companies that have helped

me to improve my influence ability,

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and I've seen benefits that

in other areas of my life.

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It's also helped me to become a better

coach and a better communicator.

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So if you want to know how my

sales training can help you become

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more influential a communicator,

then stay tuned to the show.

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Welcome to Present Influence, the show

that helps business leaders develop

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the skills to influence and inspire.

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I'm John Ball, a presentation skills

and keynote coach, professional

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speaker, and your guide on the

journey to leadership level

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communication and presentation skills.

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My mission is to provide rising

business leaders like you with

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everything you need to maximize your

impact and present with influence.

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Follow the show on your favorite

podcast app for weekly episodes and

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interviews with influence experts.

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If you've never had to make a sales

call before, you might not understand

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the fear and dread that many people

feel about making those kinds of calls,

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especially the dreaded cold call.

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Happily, I've never had to do too

many of those and mostly had warm

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or at least tepid leads to call.

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But even then, I very much felt a sense

of resistance and hesitation to making

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the calls and getting started with my day.

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And it's one that is very common

to people in sales, especially

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making sales calls, even though

it may seem completely irrational.

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Now in 2022, I decided that I wanted to

work full time in the world of podcasting.

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Luckily enough, I received an

email around that time that one

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of my favorite podcasters was

hiring for people to join his team.

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Now I didn't know what the role

was at the time, but it turned

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out the role was being a setter.

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Now, if you don't know what a setter is,

it's someone who sets sales appointments

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for the closers, who then close the deal.

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It's a sometimes completely often mainly

commission based role that people will

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end up finding themselves doing and me

never really having done sales before,

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it was a bit interesting and a challenge.

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So the role meant that I would qualify

suitable prospects to fill out the

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calendars of the closing team and

then make commissions from the sales

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that they would go on to close.

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So, apart from selling duty free on the

plane when I used to be a flight attendant

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And a very unsuccessful stint in multi

level marketing, I had never really done

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professional sales before, and it felt

like I was entering a whole new world.

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So luckily I was about to receive

some top sales training from

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Cole Gordon's team at closers.

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io.

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Now, even though I ultimately

decided that my future wasn't in

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full time sales, I learned so many

valuable things from my experience

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that I'm still finding useful today.

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I want to share with you the top eight

things that I learned in that time

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that have helped me to improve my own

influence and impact and also helped me

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to become a better coach and communicator.

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The first thing I want to share is

to stop thinking and start doing.

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This is not just a lesson from sales,

but for any part of life, especially

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those of us who are in business

for ourselves and by ourselves.

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One of the first hurdles I had

to leap was influencing myself

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to make the flipping calls.

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The best answer to this was also

the simplest one, which is that

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you just need to get started.

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When you have a call quota and

targets to meet, you really just

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need to get your day started ASAP.

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And the best way to hit that flow state

is to already be in motion, moving.

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Sometimes the hardest thing to do with

any project is just getting started.

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But once you do, you

find you can get into it.

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You figure a way through.

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In my first week of making live

sales calls with that company, I

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certainly had a lot of resistance.

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I even had some pretty challenging,

I'd even say horrific experiences

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on a few calls with people who were

sometimes a bit of hostile sometimes

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very aggressive at least, or assertive.

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certainly had some experiences that would

have validated that fear, even during my

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first week of going live with sales calls.

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However, you have to keep going but

I'm aware that I've also had that

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experience sometimes with doing

prospecting for my own business,

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with prospecting for reaching out

for coaching clients, reaching out

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for speaking opportunities and the

likes that the fear starts to come up.

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Will they like me?

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Who am I to be doing this?

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The imposter comes up and all of

those things that can be very hard

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to sometimes motivate ourselves

into doing what we need to do.

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Really, the best thing is to make

sure that we have a start time for

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doing the work that we're going

to do and that we get it done.

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Now, look, if your business requires

you to do some level of prospecting

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or outreach, one of the best

practices you can have for yourself

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is to have a prospecting power hour.

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in your day.

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Ideally the same time every day

and one hour or even 30 minutes

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if that's all you can manage.

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Where that's all you're doing, you're

doing your outreach, you're doing

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your prospecting and that's all you're

doing because you only have that time

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and that's what needs to be done.

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And you need to know what you're

going to be doing in that time

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before you get to it as well.

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So that you don't spend your

allocated time just figuring out what

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I'm actually going to do with it.

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So it can be very hard to get yourself

to do the things that you don't

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necessarily really want to do, but know

that you need to do for your business.

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However, the more we can cajole ourselves

into doing these things, the easier

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it becomes to keep doing them . The

next thing is to go unscripted.

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Now it's having a script can

be really, really helpful.

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If you've ever been on the other end of

a scripted sales call where the person

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you're speaking to is not going to

deviate from their script, no matter what

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you say, no matter what you interrupt

them with, they're going to keep going.

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That's no fun.

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You might as well be listening to a robot,

because that's what they're there to be.

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Starting with the script, though, can

be very helpful because it's really

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useful to know what you're going to say.

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If you're a professional speaker,

you may want to practice your speech

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that you're going to be delivering

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word for word.

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You may want to practice it as you've

written it, but that's not really

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how you want to be delivering it.

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Otherwise you're going to be reading

from an auto cue the whole time, where

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you're going to be reading from your

notes, and that's going to really

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damage your ability to connect and

communicate with your audience is

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going to damage your influence and it's

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certainly a huge hit on your credibility.

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So having a script can be great for

helping you to practice, but you really

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do need to do that and make it your own.

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So practice it so well that you can

improvise around it so that you can

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have some flow with it and so that it

doesn't come out exactly the same way

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every single time because you're not

an actor repeating lines on the screen.

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And even then top actors will very

often make something their own

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unless you're performing Shakespeare

where people are likely to know the

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lines and you don't want to take

too much artistic license with that.

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Then you want to be able to

make a part your own sometimes

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where it's possible to do that.

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So having a framework or a checklist

Those are the things that can actually

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allow you to go where you want a need

to go in the conversation without

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the need for you to have a script and

to be able to follow that exactly.

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We want to be natural on the

calls, natural with the people

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that we're talking to because

we're looking to connect with them.

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We're looking to build a

level of rapport with them.

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We want to be we want to be making

real connections with real people.

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We are real people.

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Let's connect with people as real people.

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One of the times where I really see the

whole scripted stuff come off badly for

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people are having a podcast like this I

have a lot of people who want to be guests

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on the show and that's wonderful I'm

Spoiled when it comes to having people who

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want to be on the show and being able to

choose the best from all those people who

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do apply the people who I really want to

speak to and want you to hear from and so

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many of the Applications I receive from

people are just copy and paste stuff.

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In a way, it's similar to, receiving

unsolicited emails or those, if you're

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on LinkedIn, getting those LinkedIn

messages from people who don't know

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you offering products or services

saying, Hey, I can help you with this.

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And you have no idea who they are,

they want to connect with you.

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There's no relationship there.

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So that's why we have to connect to

develop some relationship with people.

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A really useful skill in terms

of sales is that of finding the

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pain points and labeling them.

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Your job on a sales call to some

degree is to diagnose the pain and

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circumstances of the person on the

other end of the prospect, as we will

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often call them in the sales world.

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On the other end of the line and

see if what you have to offer is

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actually the solution that they need.

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So you do need to be able

to diagnose really well.

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This also means that we need to

find out what they really want.

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We also need to find out what

they've already tried, some of

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their challenges, their desire for

change, all those kinds of things.

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And certainly we need to find out

what their means are to be able to

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proceed with a product or a service

that we may be offering them.

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But then we need to label

what comes up for us as well.

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And there's a way to do that.

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And if you've ever come across

Chris Voss's book, Split the

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Difference, he talks about

something called tactical empathy.

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But that's where we're

going to employ that here.

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And so we might say something

like, Hey, Phil, it seems like.

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It seems like you feel that

no one listens to you at work.

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Is that right?

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If there's no pain, there's no sale.

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Simple, right?

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So tactical empathy.

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Let's see that we need to put the

tact into tactical empathy as well.

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So we don't just want to dive into pain.

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I can tell you probably the most

pushback I ever got on sales calls

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with people was going too quick into

trying to poke at their pain where

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people do generally recognize now

that that's what you're trying to do

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You're trying to get their pain points.

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You're trying to pull them out and

certainly if you have what we'd call

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a smart customer who Understand sales

maybe has is in sales themselves,

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it's just gonna be like a red rag

to a bull And they're probably going

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to get pretty pissed off with you.

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So be tactful about this.

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Your goal is to create some

relationship here as well.

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But you need to lead into these

things or talking about their

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problems in a natural way.

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Rather than just I'm just trying

to turn up your pain points here.

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I do recommend because this

is relevant to negotiations.

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It's certainly relevant to all

sorts of levels of communication.

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Episode 103 of the show back

when it was still podfluence

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with a guy called Mike Lander.

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Mike's amazing, a really, really good

negotiator, has some different opinions to

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Chris Voss in this sense about splitting

the difference and such, but still

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some great negotiation skills and some

practical applications of things you can

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do to improve your negotiation skills.

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If that's relevant to you,

it's episode 103 of the show.

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Now , here's something that surprised me

too much rapport can derail your results.

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Now, sure, you want to be friendly with

people, but if you get too friendly,

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you can find yourself spending half

your time or more in small talk and

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in sales situations that can mean

becoming less detached and evaluating

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and potentially helping the person

on the call with you because the more

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you like them, the more you want to

see them be able to get what you want

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to help them with and get through.

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Which can mean you end up qualifying

people who really aren't qualified.

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We just want enough rapport to have a

good conversation, but enough distance

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to be able to maintain control of

the conversation, because we want to

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be the person asking the questions.

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And we also want to have enough distance

that they don't just feel that we're

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there to, that we're going to give them

whatever they need or whatever they want.

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They need to know there is still

a professional distance there, you

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kind of like the distance that A

director might have between someone

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on a much lower level in the company.

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They could be friendly.

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They could be really welcoming.

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It could be the nicest people

possible, but they have a

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professional distance from you.

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So you can still have the

rapport, there's still that gap.

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You can still like each other.

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But, , when you're talking to them,

you're there to talk business,

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you're there to get on with stuff.

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So sometimes those lines get blurred

in professional relationships as well,

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not just in sales situations where we

can find ourselves being called into

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all sorts of conversations and problems

that are going on in people's lives.

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It's been shown in studies that one

of the biggest productivity problems

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in a lot of businesses, especially open

plan offices is people talking to each

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other, not their mobile phones, but

people actually just talking to each

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other because people get caught up

in each other's lives and problems.

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And quite often, a lot of us would

much rather be talking to someone

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else than getting on with our work.

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So That can be a huge drain on our

productivity and on our ability to

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create and certainly on our ability

to have influence with the people.

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Because if we're too involved,

we're not leading them anymore.

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We're too much on the same level.

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We still need to be in a position

where we're able to ask the questions,

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we're able to lead them to where

we need the conversation to go.

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Your time is too valuable to be wasted

on long and unnecessary conversations.

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So just remember that the number

one time killer in office is too

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much rapport, too much small talk

and conversation with other people.

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And in coaching, if you're a professional

coach, or if you have some kind of

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consultancy, similar kind of thing,

it just ends up being a very expensive

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coffee for the person who's doing

business with you or vice versa.

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You can end up being paying a lot

of money when all you're really

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getting is, Oh, Hey, how are you?

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How are things going?

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What have you been doing this week?

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How's things with your partner?

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How's things with the kids?

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Whatever the conversation

ends up going to.

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It isn't always relevant to what

you're there to do professionally.

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One important lesson that just came up

for me time and time again, not just in

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sales, but in, in a number of situations

was about caring and I framed it up in

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this way, like trying to give a crap.

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If you don't like the

language, that's fine.

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There's right.

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There are other podcasts, right?

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But try to give a crap about the

people that you are talking to.

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Try to show them that you care.

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One reason that people have so much

shit around sales and sales people is

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they think That it's all about those

people getting them to buy something

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that they don't really want or need.

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And that's not what sales is about.

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That's what a confidence trickster does.

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That really is more about negatively

manipulating and forcing people to

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go a direction that you want to go.

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Sales is really supposed to

be about helping people to

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get what they really want.

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So.

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If you let someone know that your

product or service isn't right for them,

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you might lose a sale in the moment.

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But here's what that is

going to generate instead.

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Trust, respect, referrals in the long

term, because those people know, Hey,

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you didn't try and push that sale on me.

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You didn't try to force

me over the line here.

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I felt like very comfortable.

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In fact, you knew what was best for me.

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I said, no, this isn't right for you.

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And I feel more confident about

being able to send other people

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your way who you might be right for.

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Because you didn't just go for the sale.

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So it's often said that people don't

care until they know how much you care.

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And I don't know how completely true that

is, but there is certainly a ring of truth

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to it that needy people can sometimes

get caught up in their own outcomes.

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And so you may find this

in conversations as well.

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It's relevant to sales is relevant to all

parts of your life that people are caught

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up in their own lives and their own stuff.

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And it's one thing to care

and show that you care.

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Also, you don't want to be pulled into

that either, so we want to talk about that

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distance before we want to have emotional

intelligence around these things.

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We want to show some level of

sympathy and concern, but we don't

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want to get drawn in certainly

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judge things by the situation and the

level of your friendship or connection

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that you already have with the person

as to where that conversation is going

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to go and how deep it's going to go.

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But in terms of if you're communicating

to a team or to a large group of people,

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You still want to show that you care about

who they are as people and not just about

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what the bottom line is of the company.

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Now, If you care about values in your

business, and hopefully you do, whether

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you're a solo operator or whether you

have a team or whether you have a larger

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company, it's essential that you live by

those values and that you hold to them and

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I'll be honest, this is something that's

actually come up from fairly recently.

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Even when times are tough, you still

need to hold to the values because if you

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don't, here's what you're going to do.

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You're going to damage

your whole company culture.

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If you don't stick to the values that you

purport to have, just because you want

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to improve the bottom line of the company

or the sales margins or whatever it is.

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So it's absolutely essential.

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Absolutely essential that if you want to

let your values shine in your business,

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they need to shine even when you're not

in a golden time, even when some things

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are a little more challenging or the

numbers are a little tighter, you still

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need to stick with that and show the

people that you work with that you care.

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And maintain a culture in your business

that shows that you care about people

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and you care about the culture of

the people working with as well.

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Because one thing you don't want to have

is a culture where people feel like,

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we say we have these values, but we

don't actually follow through with them.

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We say we look after people,

but I don't feel safe in my job.

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It's not good, not healthy.

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Now, every good boy and girl scout knows

this motto, which is to be prepared.

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And this is equally, this is

such an important life motto.

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It certainly applies in sales.

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It applies in so many other areas as well.

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So in sales, it means really making

sure that you're ready for the day

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ahead, that you are emotionally

ready, that you are armed with

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all the information that you need.

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And that you have a good

sense of how your day will go.

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So this can relate very much to your

competence and a few things will

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lose you influence quicker than not

seeming competent in what you do

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and seeming somewhat unprepared.

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So I have had one, one experience very

early on in my professional sales life

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with a lady, she was in based in Vegas.

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She clearly knew what she

was on about with sales.

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And she actually had some of

her team with her in the car.

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Whilst we were talking, she put

me on loudspeaker, timed out

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the pressure on me a little bit,

still very new and fresh in sales.

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And I was a little nervous.

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I won't lie.

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And she was asking me for specific

information that really, had I been

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there longer, I probably would have

known, but I was not prepared for it.

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Now I can make all the excuses for this

and say I was new and I just didn't know

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enough stuff yet, but realistically, I

probably should have made more effort to

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have been that bit more prepared for it,

because when she called me out, she was

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absolutely right with what she said, and

certainly it was tough on me and she was

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super assertive about it to the point

of being, rude to me, but, she felt like

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her time had been wasted, however that's

the sort of thing that could put you off

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doing sales altogether, but you have to

take that as what can I learn from that?

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I learned from that situation

that I need to show up prepared.

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I know people in the speaking world who

will, say, oh, I can show up and I can

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deliver a talk off the top of my head.

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And there's, I know my stuff so well.

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Well, that's great.

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But there's a huge difference between

professional speakers who have

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several well mastered and crafted

and practiced keynote presentations

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There's someone who just says, oh,

well, we'll give you a topic, roll with

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it, talk to us for 45 minutes on this.

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And they might be able to do it and they

might still be able to do a reasonable job

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with it But they're never gonna be able to

do it with enough polish As a professional

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keynote presenter who has practiced

their talk and is prepared to deliver it.

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And able to do that smoothly, able to

improvise around what they're doing.

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Practice and preparation are so important.

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So always be prepared with your

coaching calls, be prepared for those.

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If you are going into a meeting, be

prepared for that as best you can.

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Now, I know there's always going to be

situations where you just don't have the

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time or the opportunity and we have to

roll with those punches, that's life.

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But whenever we do have the ability

to practice and prepare for any

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communication based situation that

we're going into, then we should

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certainly take advantage of that.

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Because it's going to massively

improve our outcomes and therefore

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our impact and influence.

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Yeah, this principle is one

that is good for life as well.

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And it's but it's certainly

very relevant in sales.

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And it certainly also can really

help you with your communication.

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It can help you with your networking.

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But it's to let go of your assumptions

about people, because their first

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impressions really very often are

wrong, but they're hard to let go of.

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And they're hard to overcome.

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It's hard to come back from

a bad first impression.

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It's possible, but it's hard.

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And obviously sometimes first impressions

can be quite correct, and some things

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will give way, but, we tend to make

a lot of assumptions about people

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based on how they present themselves.

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The way someone presents

themselves can really lead to all

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sorts of incorrect assumptions.

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We make judgments about people based

on their looks, the way they speak,

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their body shape, their gender, or

their non gender conforming, or their

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age, or their financial situation.

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And more besides,

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We really can't effectively evaluate

situations or even people if we've already

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judged them as being one thing or another.

391

And I'll say that one example I have

of this from my own life for those

392

of you who may not know, I used to

be a flight attendant with British

393

Airways long time ago, a lot of fun,

great job, and had the best time.

394

And very often I would be working in

first class on the planes and quite

395

often in the kitchen, sometimes out

in the cabin serving people as well.

396

And one of the things I would always

notice is the people who regularly

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traveled in first class, the people who

could honestly afford it and, rich as

398

anything could afford to be up there.

399

They didn't need to dress or look the

part, and they very often wouldn't, unless

400

they were dignitaries or politicians

or the likes, they really would often

401

just be in the most casual clothes,

or maybe even ripped jeans today.

402

Certainly the Hollywood stars and the

likes, jeans and t shirts, casual stuff,

403

they did not have to make an effort.

404

But you compare that, were they

generally better dressed or not

405

than the people in business class?

406

Probably not.

407

Like the people in business class

who weren't in first, either maybe

408

they couldn't get there, maybe their

first class cabin was booked, but but

409

often it was the people who, people

in business class often wanted to be

410

the people who'd be in first, and they

would be very often the people in suits.

411

Even though they might not

actually be coming or going to

412

work, they would often travel.

413

In business attire because they want to

look the part there and they want to feel

414

like they're suitable for upgrade as well.

415

Should that opportunity arrive?

416

Fair enough.

417

However, if you were to put those

people side by side as well, who has

418

the most money, who says, who has the

most influence, who has the most power?

419

Unless you know who the person was,

if you judged it on how they were

420

dressed, you would potentially think

that the business class passenger

421

had more money and influence and

power than the person in first class

422

who potentially has a lot more.

423

But again, you just don't know

it could be the case, but it

424

also very well may not be.

425

Is making those judgments based on how

people appear to you like I used to that

426

guy who was on several businesses, really,

really successful guy and would always

427

show up to some of the poshest places

in a white t shirt and ripped jeans.

428

Sometimes people would even

try and turn them away.

429

Even got turned away from a car showroom,

wanting to test drive a really posh

430

sports car because he didn't look like

someone who had that kind of money.

431

Be careful of making these kinds

of assumptions about people.

432

Now I'm not saying that you should

just assume that everyone has lots of

433

money and is rich, just saying, just

try and be aware that if you're making

434

assumptions, you don't really know.

435

We sometimes make assumptions about

people based on how attractive they

436

are, and often they can be wrong

because someone's attractiveness can

437

sometimes cause us to think better

of them than perhaps we should.

438

Sometimes we'll make assumptions about

people thinking that they look very well

439

polished and maybe look very attractive.

440

They maybe look in great shape and we

think they must have a perfect life.

441

Maybe they have an attractive

partner, beautiful looking

442

children, all those kinds of things.

443

Oh, how wonderful and

perfect may their life be?

444

And that is an assumption.

445

that Everyone has got stuff going

on in their lives, pain in their

446

lives that if you knew other

people's reality, you wouldn't

447

trade places with them in a moment.

448

We all know our own pain.

449

It's like sometimes we may overestimate

just how bad our own situation is,

450

but we never really know what's

going on with other people as well.

451

So we can.

452

Don't make assumptions, and certainly

have met the celebrities in my life

453

who I thought would be was super

excited to be and just thought

454

would be the loveliest people.

455

That hasn't always turned out

to be the same, to be the case.

456

And some celebrities I met, and I

will have one particular, I will

457

say a name here, one particular time

that I met a celebrity who I thought

458

was going to be not very nice.

459

That was Vinnie Jones, the former

footballer, and now that's been

460

in loads and loads of films.

461

And then my encounter with him,

he was absolutely delightful.

462

I had a preformed judgment about

him from the media, I guess.

463

that turned out to very

much not be the case.

464

He was really nice to speak

to and a super nice guy.

465

So, it's very easy to potentially make

bad judgements about people, like someone

466

who I didn't think much of before,

ended up coming away really liking.

467

I'm thinking, what a nice person.

468

So yeah, in terms of how does that

help us with influence and impact.

469

I think it's important for people to be

able to see that we're not making those

470

snap judgments, high tech people in my

own life, even I try to stay away from

471

doing this myself who do negatively

judge and vocalize those judgments about

472

other people in all kinds of situations.

473

People on the TV particularly get

get commented and criticized and

474

it's all really negative stuff

or stuff that doesn't, they don't

475

fit to your idea of how people

are supposed to be showing up or.

476

What they should look like, or

how they should act or behave.

477

If we can let go of that and be somewhat

less judgmental, that really can help

478

in people, our ability to connect with

people because we take away people's

479

fear of being negatively judged by us.

480

Something to think about.

481

One of the toughest things that

I've come across in all my years of

482

personal development, and certainly

is very relevant in the world of

483

sales as well, is about taking

charge of your emotional state.

484

And I alluded to this somewhat with the

be prepared stuff about how you start

485

your day as a sales person, because so

much of the sales game is the mental game.

486

So much of our lives is the mental

game, the inner game that our emotional

487

state in general governs our life

results, whether we like it or not.

488

And I know the word mindset has been

so overused and even abused that some

489

people just switch off when they hear it.

490

So let's not use mindset, let's

just call it your emotional state.

491

One of the biggest reasons why

people often don't get stuff done

492

is because they don't feel like it.

493

They feel a bit down and they feel

a little tired or a little off.

494

And we end up not doing the stuff

that we probably should be doing

495

because we don't feel super energized.

496

And then sometimes we get those

days where we feel super energized,

497

we're ready to go for it.

498

We.

499

Can go and get a load of stuff done.

500

If we can take more control over

our emotional state, we can have

501

far more of those days where we can

get into our flow and feel better

502

about ourselves and our lives.

503

What stops a bad day in sales from

becoming a bad week or a bad month?

504

Your emotional state.

505

Inevitably, there are going to be hits

to our confidence that we're going

506

to take from time to time in sales.

507

And I've seen this with closers

who I've worked with, people can

508

really can get into a rut in sales.

509

And if you've ever worked

in sales, you may have even

510

experienced this for yourself.

511

And it can be really hard to break out

of that rut, which is why we must work

512

so hard on our mental game, because

when our bubble of confidence bursts,

513

it echoes into all of our following

calls, unless we do something to take

514

charge and build ourselves back up.

515

So reading testimonials, playing back

successful recordings of past closes or

516

shaking off the dark clouds of doubt,

these are all essential elements to your

517

results and to your clients as well.

518

I've already shared with you a

bit about the experience I've

519

seen with closers as well.

520

I've seen people get into sales

ruts and I've had some limited

521

experience with that because I wasn't

in sales for a super long time.

522

But one of the things that becomes

a reality when you do start to take

523

control of your emotional state and

decide that you're going to be happy,

524

even if there's not, you're going

to be happy and energized, even when

525

there's not always cause in your

life or the world to be that way.

526

Some people are going to

start to think you're weird.

527

It's just, that's just how it is.

528

Some people will think you

are weird and there's probably

529

not a lot you can do about it.

530

Why are you happy when this is, this

horrible thing is going on in the world

531

or this is happening in your life or

when you've got no money or when your

532

partner's just left you or whatever it is.

533

How can you be happy?

534

Your life is shit.

535

Why are you happy?

536

It's like people don't get it.

537

You just did an accident.

538

How can you be happy?

539

Your medical bills are going to be huge.

540

How can you be happy?

541

Because you're choosing to be, and

you do have to make that choice.

542

And it is really hard,

really, really hard.

543

And sometimes we're going to do

better at it than other times.

544

And sometimes we're going

to fail miserably at it.

545

But the more we can actively, consciously

control our emotional state and show

546

up with good energy and show up with

motivation and enthusiasm, show up

547

with a smile and some happiness.

548

The better our results are going to be.

549

Now, if you've ever had that experience

of feeling like you're in flow, feeling

550

like things are going well, like

you're floating on cloud nine, your

551

life is going well, there's no real

problems and everything's just great.

552

we all know that those

things don't last forever.

553

Sure, there's going to be good

times, but when we have those

554

good times, great, it's so easy.

555

We can still feel like that, even

when life isn't going like that.

556

Because otherwise, every experience

that we have is always going to be

557

dependent on what's going on around us.

558

Our emotions are going to be determined

by our environment and by others,

559

if we don't take control of that.

560

This is that principle that Tony

Robbins calls your personal power.

561

You can call it being at cause rather

than being in effect in your life,

562

whatever you want to call it, but

really it is about taking charge of

563

your emotional state to show up as the

best version of you that you can manage

564

to show up as on a day to day basis.

565

It is.

566

The more we practice this,

the better we'll get.

567

And certainly I'm not going to

talk in this episode about the

568

kinds of tools that can help you

to do that, but they are out there.

569

So look, one of the reasons why

sales trading is not a one and done

570

event is the implementation of these

kinds of concepts and principles

571

just doesn't happen all at once.

572

It really does take time.

573

To build them up and certain elements

in sales have to be practiced.

574

And certainly what I've shared

here in this episode is by no

575

means exhaustive of all the things

that might help you generally your

576

communication and your influence and

your coaching, wherever else you do,

577

in relation to influence and impact.

578

So everything here, everything

we've talked about needs to be

579

practiced, focused, worked on.

580

One of the things I really loved there's

a journal that I've used a few times,

581

which is the Daily Stoic Journal.

582

And really liked it.

583

But one of the things I really took

away from that was going and practicing.

584

particular skills, particular thoughts

and ideas and concepts and take them into

585

the day because they need to be practiced.

586

Really is one thing to know something

in your head, but quite another

587

to live it and to practice it.

588

If you took just one of these

principles or elements this week,

589

that is one that you maybe know you

don't do so well at, and perhaps it's

590

about not making judgments on other

people, perhaps it's about practice.

591

And focus on just growing and

improving on that over the next week.

592

Forget about the others.

593

Come back to those another time.

594

You're going to make some big

improvements with that one area.

595

Focus makes a huge difference.

596

If you try and implement all of these

eight principles or ideas in one time,

597

you're not going to see a lot of change.

598

You're just going to have the

concept of it, but you're not

599

going to see a lot of change.

600

You're just going to know it consciously.

601

But you may not do it, but taking

one of these concepts can be very

602

transformative and you can then

continue to build up on that.

603

So as you get better at it, if you

take emotional state management as a

604

concept to focus on this week, work

on that every day, this week, they do

605

something, maybe you're going to use

some music, maybe you're going to use

606

some declarations or affirmations.

607

Maybe you've got some testimonials or

some handwritten notes or some client

608

recordings, you can listen to that.

609

When, of course, that went really well

or meetings that went really well for you

610

use those to build yourself up and look

at what went well and how good you felt

611

this time and relive those emotions, put

yourself back into those positive states,

612

you're going to feel so much better.

613

So pick your one element that you're

going to work on this week and

614

see if you can make some serious

progress by focusing on that.

615

Nah.

616

If you're really up for

this, , let's check in again

617

next week and see how you got on.

618

So the show, is back,

renamed and rebranded.

619

Now, this podcast has probably been

through at least four name changes.

620

and a few different pivots.

621

And yet I've always really tried to

keep things very much directed towards

622

improving influence and persuasion skills.

623

And I really want to focus that

in now on helping those of you who

624

are either at leadership levels

or want to be at leadership levels

625

in terms of your communication

skills, your presentation ability.

626

To develop you and help you turn up

the dials to be able to reach those

627

heights because you absolutely can.

628

So I'm going to be bringing on more

guests in the future who are going

629

to help you to do that as well.

630

So I'm moving things a little away

from focusing podcast guesting,

631

although that may still come up

from time to time and much more into

632

leadership level communication skills.

633

Present Influence is back with

weekly shows to help you boost

634

your influence and impact.

635

I hope you'll join me.

636

I look forward to seeing you next time.

637

Have an amazing week.