I am in front of people - now what
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Scott Greening: Evidently there's a global matcha shortage, which adds complexity when the title of your podcast is Sippin' Matcha and Helping You Make More Sales.
So I'm not saying we're responsible, but I am saying there wasn't a problem until this podcast started. So you can do with that what you want.
Brooke Greening: So just a bit of a side note, if you don't like talking to people, counseling is probably not going to be your career choice. It's gonna be a bit awkward.
curiosity is better than promotion. You'll get so much further.
curiosity is better than promotion.
Scott Greening: Hey everyone. Thank you for tuning into another episode of Sipping Matcha and Helping You Make More Sales. Brooke's gonna be joining in just a moment, but I want to give our episode reminder to join the conversations by submitting your sales question at buildingmomentum.info/matcha. Share your question and we'll feature it on a future episode.
Let's bring Brooke in and we've got some breaking, crisis news to talk about today. They like poor liquid gold. They talk about podcasts kind of trailing off, and 90% of podcasts end after three episodes and then 90% of those that keep going stop after 20. I think this is episode 15 for us, and it might be, woo, it might be the end.
Brooke Greening: No,
Scott Greening: because
Brooke Greening: we're just kidding.
We're just kidding.
Scott Greening: No. Yeah. We got no plans on stopping. We're trucking along, but there is a a problem. And what the,
Brooke Greening: yes,
Scott Greening: what is the problem, Brooke?
Brooke Greening: We got a letter from Intelligentsia the other day. And they are having a matcha shortage.
Scott Greening: Yes. Evidently there's a global matcha shortage, which adds complexity when the title of your podcast is Sippin' Matcha and Helping You Make More Sales.
So
Brooke Greening: yeah, I was asking my husband, I was like, okay, so. Is this going to be like a COVID toilet paper situation or what's going on? And so I didn't know if you understood the urgency that was involved, but he did order two more bags of matcha for me. So that was nice.
Scott Greening: I did
And I think the takeaway is that this podcast is having a global impact on the supply of matcha.
So I'm not saying we're responsible, but I am saying there wasn't a problem until this podcast started. So you can do with that what you want. Alright. Enough of that. Let's go in today's question
it's a follow up question to some of our previous discussions.
This may or may not be a question that I've asked you, but it's this you told me I'm supposed to get in front of people, NOW WHAT?!?!
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: So you're, you want people to, to. To pick up the phone. You want people to talk to people. You want people to show up at networking events and get in front of people.
Somebody has entered the room, they've taken your advice, and they've realized, oh, okay, may, maybe I need to think about something more here.
Brooke Greening: Yes, and I, it's such a great question and it is, it takes a lot of confidence and effort to get in front of people. And so then we're like, okay, well now, now what do we do?
And I just want to encourage, like I do probably have a little bit more of a natural tendency in regards to talking with people. I really enjoy it. But that didn't necessarily start right away. There were a lot of things that were. In my life and in my experiences to be able to get me to that point. And so even when I was in high school, I was blessed to be able to travel all around the world.
And so by the time I was like in my first year of college, I had already visited five of the continents. Antarctica and Asia are the only ones that I haven't, and so they are on my bucket list to be able to do. But by going into other countries, and when I was a junior in high school, I flew to Brazil by myself.
I would never put my daughter on a plane right now to fly to Brazil by herself, but I did. Those experiences in regards to the mission trips, different things that I did, made a huge difference in regards to how I would be able to start interacting with people and talking with people. And then after that, I got my master's in counseling.
So just a bit of a side note, if you don't like talking to people, counseling is probably not going to be your career choice. It's gonna be a bit awkward. And then also just as I continued to grow in our career in what I did at Sunrise and in all of the other sales roles that I had, those were really talking to people in like difficult, stressful situations.
And so it just continued to keep building and building and building to be able to be comfortable to talk to strangers or to people you don't know very well.
Scott Greening: Yeah. And I knowTorah, our daughter jumps on these stories is see, you need to let me go to.
Wherever she wants to go in the world. 'cause you did it.
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Scott Greening: But then two, they always roll their eyes at you because you end up talking with people and having these conversations. And it just happened yesterday at four in the morning when we were getting ready to go on a plane at the end of our family vacation.
You
Brooke Greening: mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: End up. Talking to someone and
Brooke Greening: yeah,
Scott Greening: connecting. And then Asher, as I am trying to keep them out of the traffic and unloading our suitcases from the hotel shuttle. He's like, why, why is mom talking to that lady about LinkedIn? I'm, oh she's doing what she does. but like you, okay, so you may have some natural skills. You may have an above average amount of experience. And I know being married to me and my
Brooke Greening: Oh yeah.
Scott Greening: Pastoral role also helps in that. 'cause who knows what type of people I'm going to have you meet. It ranges from homeless to like fundraising galas, so we
Brooke Greening: It does. It does. And that is so true.
Yes. I married a pastor. I was single and then the day I got married I became a pastor's wife. And so yes, that definitely had some things to do.
Scott Greening: Right?
Brooke Greening: 18 years later, here we are.
Scott Greening: Yeah but the good news is for people like me who are not maybe as naturally extroverted always, I do fine. But in comparison to you, it is what is,
Brooke Greening: which is ironic because you are the pastor
Scott Greening: and in comparison to that, like there are some principles that you've picked up on.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: And it's not just Hey, I'm a people person and, you are not, so you're stuck.
What are some of those principles that have helped you develop this skill to connect well with people?
Brooke Greening: I would say the very first one, and this actually reminds me a lot with you, Scott, so I know we give each other a hard time. Like I'm the one that's more personable and you're the one that's more introvert, which is very true.
But this is something that you really lean into and I think it makes a huge difference, and I would encourage anyone to. The reality is understanding that people like to talk about themselves. You are not the one that likes to talk about yourself. You are the one that's able to draw things out and lean into that and happily let other people talk about themselves instead of you having to do that.
And so that's the very first thing. So many times people think, okay, I'm in front of someone now. I have to lead the conversation. I have to be the one talking all the time. And I would encourage you, no, don't do that. Realize it's everybody's pretty much natural tendency to want to talk about themselves. So let them do that.
Give them the space to be able to talk about who they are, their family, their business, whatever the case is. Just actually don't talk the whole time and give some silence to allow them to do that.
Scott Greening: Yeah, I know. I do lean into that and I'm very comfortable with the silence and in fact, when I'm giving people advice on leading group discussions, which is not exactly what we're talking about, but my very first principle is: Get comfortable with silence. 'cause if you're,
Brooke Greening: mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: If you're comfortable with it, other people will fill the gap. And I know you can't just say hi to someone and then sit and stare at them at at a networking event, but
Brooke Greening: so awkward.
Scott Greening: But but the, if you give space the room to talk, if you ask genuine questions about them
Brooke Greening: mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: And then maybe even ask a follow up question, like, tell me more about that. They'll do that. And that I think takes us to your second. Principle or point, which is
Brooke Greening: curiosity is better than promotion. So anytime, whether we're in the airplane, whether we are at a networking event, I'm headed to the Sell Well Conference in three weeks, and it's literally going to be talking to people for two to three days, just all about them and their businesses.
Just keep reminding yourself, curiosity is better than promotion. Everybody knows that you want to be able to talk about your business. Everybody knows that you have things that you're probably going to want to talk about or sell or whatever the case is. And so just step away from that and realize being curious is much more impactful than promoting yourself.
And like what you were saying, have intentional follow-up questions, like tell me more about that. Oh, you mentioned. Whatever the case is, how does that affect da da da, da? Just truly be curious, not from a perspective of okay, I gotta find their pain points so then I can hit them with my pitch. No, just how would we have a normal conversation and we wouldn't necessarily just run the whole entire conversation and just talk about ourselves the whole entire time with our friends.
So don't do that when you're in any other type of environment either. Just continue to remind yourself curiosity is better than promotion. You'll get so much further.
Scott Greening: Yeah, and I think even yesterday we saw that as I was picking the sleepies out of my eye and that I am not great if the time is before 8:00 AM but you asked questions of this individual.
For the five minute ride from the hotel to the airport.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: And then as we're getting off of the van and as we're transitioning to say goodbye, all of a sudden she was like, oh, what do you do? And then in less than a minute, you were getting ready to exchange LinkedIn information because you showed interest in her and her situation and what she did.
So, we talked about people like to talk about themselves. Curiosity is better than promotion. And then what's the third thing that, that we should remember?
Brooke Greening: Yeah. This is probably one of the most important things, don't stop at that first conversation. That's when people feel like, oh, okay. I did it. I'm done. Well, no, now the work has actually just begun. Now you're going to have that intentional follow up or that connection on LinkedIn or that phone call that you guys talked about.
Don't stop it. Make sure that you have a next step. Make sure that if you are saying, Hey, I'm gonna be reaching out to you, or we're gonna get connected on LinkedIn, or whatever the case is, that you actually do it and you do it in a timely manner. Because if you do it a week later or two weeks later, everybody's forgot that they've even had the conversation at that point.
So have timely, intentional follow up.
Scott Greening: Yeah, and I think like even for networking groups that might meet weekly or two times a month or something like that, it's easy to make those connections and think, oh I'll see them in a week, or I'll do this. And then a lot of things happen in a week and people don't, we think about our business all of the time.
That doesn't mean anyone else is thinking about it, our business. And so if you can follow up and make, circle back, complete the loop. Extend the conversation then there's much more likely to get out of that.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm. Absolutely.
Scott Greening: This besides our experience yesterday morning and seeing these skills and practice, another reason why we're thinking about this is
Brooke Greening: mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: Because you are headed to something called the Sell Well conference that's happening.
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Scott Greening: September 11th and 12th. And it's in Austin, Texas. And so if
Brooke Greening: Houston, Texas,
Scott Greening: I'm sorry, Aunt Nancy lives in Austin. The conference is in Houston. Yes. And that, and so if you're interested in improving your sales skills, of being at a conference that is a great networking conference. And the organizer behind it and all that is all in on helping people get connected that can help each other in their businesses and that this is a great opportunity. Tell us more about it. Brooke, there's four tracks.
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Scott Greening: I think you're leading one of them.
What other?
Brooke Greening: I am leading it. I am the track champion of the optimize your sales systems. So it's really important that we're not winging things. In regards to our follow up in regards to our sales conversations, in regards to how we're even being able to develop those leads and talking to those customers and what we do after that.
So I get to lead a couple of sessions in that. So you've got Optimize Your Sales System, you've got Amplify Your Fractional Business. So if people are starting to try to figure out how can I do fractional work? What does that look like? Those would be the tracks for you. We've got Scale Your Sales Team, so whether you've got a sales team of one or it's much larger, these are great sessions to be able to go to.
I'm also leading one of those sessions specifically in what do we do when we need to start adding a sales team? Whether we're adding one or we have multiple ones and we're trying to add more people to it. What are the red flags, the green flags in regards to being able to hire the right sales team for your business and then also Elevating Your Personal Brand. And so these are great things for you to do in regards to if you're needing some business development. Also it's an incredible network for referral development. The organizer, the brains behind it, her name is Catherine Brown. I have really enjoyed. Talking with her.
Working with her, and I'm so excited to be able to come. If that's something that you want to learn more about, we are going to put the information in the show notes and then also you can feel free to reach out to me because I have a discount for you if you decide that's something you'd like to do.
So it is in Houston, Texas, September 11th and 12th and I am so excited to be able to go, there are a lot of great people who are going to be there and it is going to be a great place, one, for you to be able to focus on your business and also to be able to build relationships with others who really care about others and wanting to be successful in their business as well.
Scott Greening: Yeah. And you can go to the Good Humans Growth Network. So that's a great name for a sales and networking group, but the Good Humans Growth Network kind of tells you their heart behind it. But that's theGHGN.com.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: To get more information. And then Brooke does have a secret discount code that she can give you.
Brooke Greening: I do.
Scott Greening: If you reach out, if by chance you happen to be listening to this podcast after the global matcha crisis has been solved. The Good Humans Growth N etwork is a year-round organization. They have different yes, networking events and there's different groups popping up all over. And so it's a great place to connect regardless of whether you make it in time for the Sell Well Conference this year or maybe put it on your calendar for next year.
Brooke Greening: Yeah, they have other conferences in February as well, and we'll talk about those as they come up.
Scott Greening: Yeah.
Thank you all for joining us for Matcha. If you have a secret supplier, I don't know that we're ready for the black market yet, but we're efforting to, to manage our matcha supply.
We've scaled Brooke back to a small cup for the podcast.
Brooke Greening: Yeah. Seriously.
Scott Greening: Thanks for putting up with our matcha banter today, and we hope that you make some more sales as you're sipping your matcha or drink of choice. Have a great day.
Brooke Greening: Bye.
Scott Greening: And that, and so here we've got a little Oh. That has joined the podcast. Do you want to say hi real quick? Sweets.
Brooke Greening: Hi. Bizzy.
Hi. Alright all. Thank you.
Naomi Greening: Hi mama.
Brooke Greening: Hi. sweet girl.
All of us. That
one also has a natural tendency to be able to talk to
people.
Scott Greening: Yes. Hence the random appearance on the podcast.
