 Let's talk about how do we sell more successfully? How do we get clients? And typically in this kind of talk, you might hear about the importance of learning how to persuade people, persuasion strategies, psychological tactics to get people to take action. Well, as you might expect, I have a different viewpoint on that. And if you have ever tried persuading somebody who, let's just first be clear. The need to persuade somebody means that they're not already eager to sign up or to buy. Why would you need to persuade them if they're already eager to do it? If they're eager and maybe they have some questions, fine. You answer the questions, but they're the ones leading the selling process or the buying process from them, you see. So some time ago, I mean, when in the beginning of my business, I thought that I had to persuade people. And so I worked hard on learning these persuasion strategies and things. And then after a while, I kept feeling like there's gotta be a better way because when we focus on learning persuasion strategies, essentially what we're doing is one of two things. One, we're either secretly trying to get people to do things, which is manipulation, which is what a lot of marketing online is, unfortunately. They have an agenda to move you through certain emotions and certain understandings of how much you need what they have so that by the end of that movement of manipulation of going through all these emotions, and then you're like, oh, well, gosh, I have to buy this now. So the persuasion strategies are often used secretly because if we knew they were being used on us, we would feel creeped out. It's creepy, essentially, not to be transparent about what you're doing to somebody. So that's one way persuasion strategies are used in secret and in the darkness, essentially. And secondly, I have also learned from sales experts that I guess they're trying to be better and so they make their persuasion strategies transparent and they even say right up front, I'm going to try to persuade you by the end of this webinar to buy my service. And it's kind of said in the tongue in cheap way, meaning everybody knows that this free webinar, for example, this free webinar is really kind of a cleverly designed sales pitch, but at least they said it in the beginning. And so it may be better because everyone knows what each other is doing. The seller has come forth and said, I'm going to try to make you buy from me, right? And so the seller is working hard to say, well, you see how great this product is or you see how much you need this, look at these issues you're going through and you see how brilliant my solution is for exactly the kind of thing you're going through, okay? And then the buyer also knows what they're doing. The buyer is essentially going like this, right? Because you're like, all right, I'm here, you're trying to persuade me and maybe I even showed up not expecting to be persuaded, right? It's actually quite different from, they always say used car salesman, right? It's common, I guess, trope for like a bad salesperson as a used car salesman. But the irony is when you go to a used car lot, you are already signaling your interest in buying. You're already there saying, gosh, I wonder if one of these, at least I'm browsing, I mean, at least I'm signaling to you that in some time in the probably near future, I'm going to buy from some car lot and I'm here, so you might as well talk me into or try to talk me. I know what you're doing, right? So, but the problem is when you consume marketing online, when you go to a free webinar, when you just read social media posts, you're not expecting that this is a car lot. You showed up probably just trying to enjoy yourself, you know, surfing through Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or whatever, which you're not expecting to be sold something. And yet us marketers, we show up and we either secretly trying to get you to buy or we, you know, tell you, I'm going to convince you that this is the best thing. And then we're like, oh, okay, all right, all, you know, if we're really patient and we're somewhat interested in the product, we'll like sit through the video or the post that's trying to sell us something or the webinar, right? But it's not pleasant really for the buyer, you know, it's not expected. And the seller might be having a good time trying to persuade you, but if the seller, if you, the business owner were to come heart to heart with the buyer, unless the buyer is eager to have you do your persuading thing on them, most of us buyers are not eager to have you do the persuading thing on us. So there's got to be a better way. There has to be. And by the first couple of years, I tried this thing, I burned out on trying to persuade everybody to buy it from me. And finally, gratefully, I did find a better way. And the key is alignment instead of persuasion, alignment. So if we align our interests and our solutions with what the person in front of us is eagerly looking for, then no persuasion is needed. Like I said, all that's needed is to answer questions. And we can answer questions gently, confidently from a place of truth and honesty because if we are aligned our interest, we're aligning ourselves and what we have with the interest and the needs of the buyer, then we're not trying to get them to buy something that they don't need. We are simply saying, well, I've got something here. I'm an expert on my own product and my own service. So let's figure out together because you're interested, right? You have a certain need that you think I might be able to help with. So let's figure out if that's true. We are finding alignment. And so it's a heart-to-heart conversation and also mind-to-mind conversation to figure out, both, well, the fact that you're coming to me means that in some area of your heart, you're already open to my presentation to you. But now let's also meet mind-to-mind to figure out logically, well, does that make sense? You see, one of the common marketing persuasion teachings is that you're trying to get somebody who is at first closed-hearted to you to open their heart to you in the sales process, which is why they use emotions, they use storytelling. Now, I'm not saying storytelling is bad or emotions are bad, but essentially if we are making that closed heart, we're trying to force that closed heart to open within the sales process, within the hour that we talked to them or the half hour or within that social media post, we're trying to tell a story to open the heart so they'll buy from us. Do you see, it's kind of like, please love me. It's like you go up to somebody who's a stranger and who doesn't automatically, you know, they're a stranger. So they probably don't trust you yet because they don't know you. And you're saying, please open your heart to me. I gotta get you to do something within this five minutes that we meet together, within this half hour, within the 60 minutes that we meet together, I gotta get you to do something. So please, first, let me charm you with a beautiful story or a heart-wrenching story. And then now your heart's open, right? Now you're vulnerable to my wily tactics, you see. So that's persuasion. Whereas you say, well, George, what's different from how you do it? Because George, you essentially are wanting to open our hearts all the time, but the thing is that here's the difference. What I do is I'm not trying to get you to buy anything right now. You see, like what I do is I take you on a journey that is a long-term relationship. I always say authentic marketing is making friends at scale and friendship is a long-term relationship. So I'm not the kind of person who goes up to a stranger who's like, well, why are you bothering me on the street and go, let me sell you something, which is what most marketers do. They try to sell you in a single social media post to the fact that they know that they're reaching mostly strangers. And so they have to open the heart and make the logical sale at the same time in that one social media post or in that one video or in that one sales funnel, even a sales funnel. Unless the sales funnel is multi months where you really have the opportunity to build a relationship of trust because how can you trust someone with just a few email messages or even a few videos? I mean, sure, some of you are very kind and trusting, probably too trusting, right? And maybe you are able to trust someone within a few email messages or within a few videos. Maybe, maybe that's true. But what I aim to do is I hope you don't buy from me for months now. Some of you say, God, George, that's too slow. I need to get clients today. George, please stop telling me this crap. I need to get clients like yesterday. So I need to get people who don't know who I am to buy from me instantly. And in that case, I will tell you the first, take a deep breath and secondly, I will tell you, okay, you needing to get cold people, cold strangers to buy from you instantly is the very path that will lead you to desperation, to hype, to manipulation, to a cynical way of relating to other people that you will probably regret. You'll either regret it within a few months or within a few years, or certainly you'll regret it in your life review, because you're building bad karma. Let's put it plain and straight. The most important thing is our spiritual growth and our relationship with others. Most important thing in life. And by saying, I need cold strangers to buy from me instantly, you're building bad karma. Okay, now George, okay George, I still need clients ASAP. So how do I do it then? Take a deep breath, get out of that desperation though. When you realize right now in this present moment, you're fine, right now, right now, you are just fine. Sure, you might be in debt, you might need to pay the bill tomorrow or today, but right in this moment, you're okay, you're okay. And there are ways to deal with debt, there are ways to postpone the bill, whatever. I mean, let's just say, thankfully, many of you aren't in that situation, but for those who are taking a deep breath, there are ways to do it. But let's talk about getting clients still, right? How do we do it from alignment instead of persuasion? So here's the thing, two things for you. One is you already have people who trust you. You already have people who trust you that George really where? Pick up your phone or go to your email, okay? And on your phone, go to your text messages and see who you have been texting. Go to your, if you've made phone calls these days, I don't know if anyone still makes phone calls unless it's planned, but go to your phone calls and see the outbound calls you've made unless it's to businesses, but to individuals, right? Look at your email and look at your email send box and look at who you've been sending emails to. Okay, some of those people are people who already trust you, you know that. Or go to your social media, you know, private message box and see who you've been messaging. And there are some friends there. There are some colleagues there who already trust and like you. Those are the people who are ready and open, hearted to you. Otherwise they wouldn't still be messaging you, right? They're open, hearted to you already. Their heart is already open to you. And now they're open to you mind-to-mind communication to see whether or not what they need is what you can provide them. Or here's the thing. And I said that I've given you two things, right? One is the people who already trust you. If you look at what I just said, your phone book, your text messages, your email sent box, emails you've been sending to people you've been sending emails to and then your social media direct messages, there are at least dozens of people who already trust you and like you. Maybe even hundreds. If you go back far enough to, you know, 12 months or 18 months, right? Those are the people from whom your next clients are probably going to come from. Now you might say, George, I don't wanna sell to friends and family. Okay, so this is really interesting, right? You're telling me that you don't want to sell to friends and family. Why? Because selling is gross and I don't wanna sell to friends and family. But you're willing to do the gross thing to strangers? I, you know, it's like, can you, let's think this through here. If the way you sell feels gross to you and you don't wanna do that to friends or family, why would you do that to strangers who would be even more grossed out? By the tactics you're using. Do you see what I mean? This is madness. The way that we're typically taught marketing is madness. It's insanity. It's like completely saying, I don't care about human relationships and I'm just going to do the thing I'm supposed to do to persuade and to try to charm. And it's psychopathic is what it is. Typical marketing. Let's call it what it is, is psychopathy. Psychopathic it is. Is it sociopathic or psychopathic? I think it's like, I looked this up one time. The difference between sociopathy and psychopathy. I think sociopathy is like, when you like actually go and kill people and psychopathic is when you're playing mind games and to try them anyway. So it's psychopathic, most marketing, right? So how do we, so you must, what you must do to have good karma in this lifetime and still do business and marketing is to find a way to sell that brings good karma. It's a find a way to sell to even friends, not to even, find a way to sell to friends and family that feels good to you. That's what you got to figure out. Now you say, George, tell me the things to say. And I say, what, what an irony? Because if I tell, if I give you the words to say to your friends and family, you are instantly inauthentic, but I can give you the overall movements of that conversation. The overall movement is not, hey, a friend, will you please buy this from me? I'm desperate to pay the bills and I need you to buy this from me. You know, whether it's like, well, I don't want to do that to friends, but I'm willing to do that to strangers because I don't care about them. See, that's exactly what's happening. I don't care about strangers. So I don't mind doing gross things or manipulating strangers. I don't want to manipulate friends and family, but I don't mind manipulating strangers. What the hell are you doing? You're just turning a bunch of other people off who could become your friends, right? So instead, the overall movement is, like I said, alignment is the overall movement. But essentially you're saying, hey friend, you already are open-hearted to me, right? I mean, literally, again, I don't want to give you the words. If I give you the words, you're instantly going to sound like a robot or sound weird because that's not how you typically talk. But essentially you're going to somebody and you're saying, hey, I am actually looking for more business and I would like some help, essentially. And I wonder if you could give me some feedback. I mean, you can do it several ways. You can ask them for feedback about the way that you're describing and see if it makes sense to them. And if they happen to know anybody whom you can help, you'd love to help. Okay, so that's one way of doing it. The other way of doing it is to be quite direct and say, hey, I am actually, I would love to get some more clients. I love what I do and I'm just seeking the support of my friends, you know, this business thing is hard. You know, I am not, you know, this is what you can say. I can't say this, but you can say, hey, I'm not a marketing expert. So I would love some help with marketing if you have any ideas. But essentially this is what I do. And if you happen to know anybody who could use this or if you have any marketing ideas from me, I'd love to hear it, right? So essentially that's what we do to friends that we would also do to the strangers. But the strangers, what we do to make our strain, the strangers open hearted is over time, we bless them with content. We bless them with the opportunity to learn from us and to be inspired by us. So I hope this is helpful. I hope this inspires you to realize that, marketing can be done with good karma by making more friends. And the way we make more friends is through content but the friends we already have, we are very transparent and honest about what our needs are and we are doing our best to help them with their needs as well. So I hope this helps. Looking forward to your comments and your questions below and thank you. Thank you so much for joining me.