The Language of the Sales Warrior | New Home Sales and Marketing Tips 2021

People are buying in today’s market. The only question is, whom are they buying from? They are buying from the sales warriors who separate themselves from the rest by believing, thinking, feeling, acting and executing their sales process differently. 2021 is the year of choosing to be impeccable. In order to be impeccable you must dial in the three aspects of a sales warrior.

1. Mindset: The ability to remove the stories, self-image, reluctance, and rules that hold us back from earning what we are truly worth.

2. Process: A step by step set of strategies that move the prospect forward with speed and flexibility towards resolution.

3. Warrior Language: specific words and phrases that give the prospect confidence, motivation, hope and certainty to take action towards life improvement.

If you’re interested in how to adopt the mindset and process of a true sales warrior that can sell in any situation, I wrote an entire book about it last year called The Mindset of a Sales Warrior. However, in this article, I want to focus on that third piece and two ways you can level up your language. The first, is the Match, Pace, Lead, and Anchor method. The second, is reframing.

I want to share with you a Warren Buffett quote I’ve lived my by life by, and it’s never been more appropriate than it is right now.

“Be greedy when others are fearful and be fearful when others are greedy.”

By greedy, Buffett isn’t saying to glorify the chase of money for the sake of money. In a lot of ways, he isn’t even talking about money. He’s talking about mindset. The world’s most successful companies were made when times were tough, because the gaps in the market widened – but only for people who were mentally greedy when fear gripped their competitors. They were greedy for success, greedy to improve the lives of their customers, greedy to guide their prospects to a place they wouldn’t go on their own.

That’s what times like these are for you. They’re an opportunity to become your customer’s inner voice, guiding them to choose you over all alternatives by leading with certainty.

One thing we know is that your prospects won’t buy from you if they’re locked in a fear-based state, so it’s your responsibility to move them into an opportunistic state. This is the mental mode where they’re saying to themselves, “Why wouldn’t I buy today?” In order to do that, you need to convince your customers and prospects to stop taking their advice from their neighbors and the news, and to start listening to Warren Buffett.

Match, Pace, Lead, and Anchor

You can do this through a process called “Match, Pace, Lead, and Anchor”.

All too often, salespeople invalidate the feelings of their prospects by quickly moving beyond them. “You’re scared about the current market? It’s not scary at all, and here’s why.” There’s no rapport in those words, and the minute you lose rapport, the fear-based state returns. Instead of invalidating those emotions, you need to match your customer’s mental state, pace their mental state with an acknowledgement, lead them to a more proactive state, and then use the opportunistic words of Warren Buffett as your anchor.

So, what would this sound like? Let’s look at a short and sweet hypothetical conversation starter with the match, pace, lead, anchor method.

Customer: “It’s a scary time right now.”

Sales warrior: “You’re right, it is a scary time, especially if you pay a lot of attention to social media and the news. But it’s also a really interesting time, and some might even say it’s an opportunistic time. For example, Warren Buffett’s greatest advice is to be greedy when others are fearful and be fearful when others are greedy. So, let’s see if this is a Warren Buffett opportunity for you today.”

Now I’m not having a conversation through my lens, or through the fear-based lens of the culture. Now I’m having this conversation through the lens of someone who has made billions of dollars in fear-based economies. You’ve matched their mental state, you’ve paced it by acknowledging that social media and the news help create that state, then you lead them away from fear and toward opportunism. You’ll be amazed how much certainty this gives your prospects and customers.

Reframing

The second way to level up your language is by reframing.

My father owns the oldest jewelry store in North Dallas, and I’ve seen him go through numerous market cycles, including every downturn of the last 40 years. When people tell me, “Listen Jason, you don’t understand, my business is so hard-hit by this recession,” well, my dad is in the jewelry business. There are no industries more susceptible to recessions than jewelry, the ultimate luxury item.

And yet in every recession, his sales go up. You’re probably thinking, how is that possible? It’s because he would always tell me, “Jason, it’s very simple. People are still buying. The question is, who are they going to buy from? And if they’re going to buy some jewelry, why not buy it from me?”

There are plenty of people who are going to get rich in this economy, so why shouldn’t it be you? All you have to do is give certainty to the uncertain and be a light in a dark tunnel, and it’s like you have no competition.

Customers would come into my dad’s jewelry store during hard times, and they would always ask, “What’s business like right now? How are you holding up?” He’d respond, “I’m curious, what do you mean by that?” He didn’t react by falling into the trap of their story, so he immediately responded by distancing himself from the common fear-based narrative and keeping abundance-based position of strength.

They’d inevitably say, “Well, I was just over at a jewelry store across town, and they say business is down right now.” And he responded (not reacted) by saying this: “That’s them. That’s not us.” He’d also physically use hand motions, extending a palm outward when he said, “that’s them,” and then bringing it back to his chest when he said, “that’s not us.” He wasn’t just putting mental and emotional distance between himself and the negativity. He was also showing physical distance. I invite you to use this technique with your customers and prospects and watch the fear and indecision melt off their shoulders right before your eyes.

Then he would always add stories about how people were still purchasing from him, and how they improved their lives even when there was rampant fear all around them, before transitioning directly into his selling message about the pieces of jewelry he just knew would improve their lives right at that moment.

That’s them. That’s not us.

Remember, a person’s desire to improve their current situation has more influence over their buying decision than any other factor. When a customer buys from you, their final decision comes down to more than just market conditions or price. They are choosing a path of growth. This strong desire to continually be better than you were the day before is what leads customers to you even in times of market trouble.

Only you, the sales warrior, can tap into this desire and develop the buyer’s urgency to purchase. If customers fall in love with your solution, they will choose you over the competition. They will purchase regardless of market circumstances. Do you realize what this means? You are the most important variable in the equation.

You—not price, not the number of prospects marketing brings you, but you.

You make the sale happen. Your choice to create emotional urgency will create success for you, market-in and market-out, whether we’re talking about a global pandemic or an easy economy when everyone is buying. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Unforeseen circumstances can and will affect you. But you do have to make choices in life, and all I want you to do is to make the choice that gives you the highest probability that you will succeed. If you’re looking for even more ways to sell through this uncertain time, and learn how to bring more certainty to your customers, you can check out my latest book, How to Sell Through the Coronavirus: The Proven Steps to Owning the Current Moment.

Yes, these times are uncertain. Yes, you have new obstacles standing in your way that you’ve never dealt with before. But here’s the thing, you achieve success by choosing to convert more sales from the prospects you have. You do that through your mindset, your process, and warrior language.