Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous! This is episode number 261 with the Sales Maven, Nikki Rausch

Nikki Rausch [0:09]
This is Nikki Rausch and you are listening to Heart Sells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:15]
I am over the moon to have Nikki Rausch on the show today. She has just been an amazing guest delivering so much value at the Sales Mentality Makeover Masterclass #4 which ran in May 2020. And now she is back on the podcast and I am so pumped to share her knowledge with you, you will just love it. Today we are talking about how to protect your sales mindset. And Nikki will lead us through a process. She is using that you can set yourself up before any call, before any sales meeting so that you are approaching your potential client with an open mind and an open heart and you are not afraid of a No. Nikki knows what she’s talking about after 25 years of experience selling through such prestigious organizations as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett Packard, and NASA. Nikki decided to trade in her road various status so she could help entrepreneurs sell in a way that builds relationships, creates true connections and results in closing more deals and having long term clients. As a sales coach, author, speaker, and Founder of Sales Maven, Nikki helps to transform the misunderstood process of selling. And she helps business owners move their clients along the selling staircase so that they can enjoy sales and they have a concept that they can follow. So let’s dive in with Nikki Rausch today. Get on a piece of paper and to pan because I’m quite sure you want to take some notes while I am so super excited you’re here Nikki, welcome.

Nikki Rausch [2:03]
Thank you for having me.

Christine Schlonski [2:05]
I’m so grateful that you did make time for this interview because a couple of months ago, I had you on the Sales Mentality Makeover Masterclass and your interview or class I should say was so amazing, people just loved it. So I’m so excited that you are back, that you’re sharing more of your wisdom and that I get to ask tons of questions.

Nikki Rausch [2:31]
Well, thank you. Thank you for having me as part of the Masterclass that was really exciting. And I’m so happy and honored to be asked back.

Christine Schlonski [2:41]
Well, I mean, we both love sales. Yeah. So and with, you know, our background and sales. For us, it’s pretty easy to teach people and to get the process and everything. But let me ask you like from your beginnings Were you always that confident when it came to sales?

Nikki Rausch [3:04]
No, oh my gosh, no. I always say like I was, I’m definitely falling towards the introverted side on that, you know, on the spectrum. I’m more of an introvert. I was very shy growing up. And the thing that really I did grow up in a family-owned business and so I worked in that business from a very young age, I think at the age of 10. I got to work the cash register and make the change, right. So I understood this process of buying and selling things. But being good at sales, no, not by any stretch of the imagination. I will say that I have learned over time, how to use my own personality style, and be more strategic in my conversations to be more effective in the selling process.

Nikki Rausch [3:56]
Yeah, awesome, well that was pretty young when you started to handle money so to speak.

Nikki Rausch [4:01]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [4:02]
Do you remember like was it something that was easy for you to do? Or were you maybe kind of nervous about messing up numbers and you know, giving out too much change, like, you know, stuff like this, like I remember when I was at the cashier the first time of my life and I was always very like that I gave out too much. But I might not have some numbers, right. And it takes a little bit of time to kind of settle in and knows the pricing and things. But yeah, like, yeah, being in the environment where you know, money comes in, and then money goes out like all the time is a pretty interesting experience.

Nikki Rausch [4:48]
It is. I mean, I will say it’s definitely a blessing that I had that experience and I also had a grandfather. It was his store that he owned, and he loved to talk about money and money was a big part of a lot of conversations between us. And it was interesting because he actually was legally blind. But he would teach me how to give change. And he could tell, he had a little bit of like reflection, so he could hold certain, you know, bills up to the light. And he could kind of tell if it was a five or a 10 or a 20. Like, he could tell that little bit. And so he’s the one who really taught me how to give change. And yes, I made many mistakes, starting out, around giving change, and he just, you know, kind of continued to coach me through this idea of how to make a change. And he would always ask me, like, okay, so if it’s 20% off, what is it, you know, how much is that and he would kind of quiz me around things like that.

Christine Schlonski [5:50]
Oh, that’s so cool. So I feel like that, you know, you’re really fortunate to have been in that environment so young because so many people haven’t and then money is something they are fearful about and you know making mistakes getting into trouble for you know, maybe not giving the right choice and yeah so I just see that this was really wonderful teaching and the process you had the opportunity to go through so how did you actually then come to have a sales job?

Nikki Rausch [6:26]
Well, when I grew up in Boise, Idaho, which is you know, pretty It was a small kind of town when I grew up there now it’s a little bit more of a city but when I moved to Washington State to the Seattle area in the States, My first job that I got was working at the mall during like the holiday season. And there was this kiosk and they hired me, and they started paying me a commission. So if I would sell a start over a certain dollar amount during my shift, I would start making extra money. So whatever and I was making minimum wage it was, I can’t remember what it was, but I think it was either 4.75 an hour, it was like $5 and 25 cents like it was so small amount of money. But I realized pretty quickly that I could double and triple that every shift that I was working. So that was my first time ever getting a commission on any type of sales. And I really thrived there. As a matter of fact, I think they hired me initially just to be like a salesperson. And they promoted me right away to become the manager of this kiosk because they realized that I really love to make money. And so there was that piece and then my first professional sales job was out of a college project, where I started working for a technology company and selling technology for them and it was one of those. We call it here like dialing for dollars type positions where you had to make a certain number of phone calls that were outbound sales, you know, we would get this list of people and we would just dial and call and see if that any interest in buying the technology that was selling and so that was my first kind of you know, stepping into that professional sales job and I did well there as well like you know, I stayed with that company for seven years and I moved my way up and became their national sales manager before I left so that was really where my professional sales career was born.

Christine Schlonski [8:27]
Yeah, yeah, it sounds pretty similar also, like I ended up in sales cold calling. We didn’t get you to know the numbers handed but you know where to do the research and figuring things out as well. But I remember dialing the numbers like for the first weeks or even months, always felt so difficult. There. Was that something that came easy to you or did you enjoy it from the beginning or was it something you had a feeling of like you have to overcome this?

Nikki Rausch [9:05]
It was definitely a feeling of having to overcome it. It didn’t feel easy. It was really scary. There was a lot of rejection, you know, people like have no interest in this at all, you know, or people just wouldn’t give you the time of day or they wouldn’t answer the phone and we weren’t caught, we were actually calling on businesses. So it wasn’t like I was calling somebody at home during dinner time or anything like that, but, you know, calling on businesses that needed this technology, but it was still kind of new technology in the marketplace. And so, and it was very expensive. I think the average price was $5,000. And now you know, with my sales career $5,000 doesn’t seem like that much money. But back then, to you know, this girl who grew up in a pretty, kind of poor family and didn’t make a lot of money didn’t come from money, you know, $5,000 was like a crazy amount of money. for somebody to spend to buy a piece of technology,

Christine Schlonski [10:03]
Yeah, I totally hear you. Especially when you work for minimum wage and that key, like figuring things out getting started, then you know, obviously that that is huge makes a huge difference.

Nikki Rausch [10:16]
Yeah,

Christine Schlonski [10:16]
Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about rejection because I feel that this is the piece that needs to be addressed more often. And I already had some really amazing interviews about that with Andrea Waltz who has written “Go for No” maybe you’re familiar with the book. And how did you handle rejection back then, like what did you do? To not suffer to maybe not take it personal or maybe you did take personal and then it changed later? Like, what’s your secret sauce to feeling great? Even if people say no or slam the phone or? I don’t know.

Nikki Rausch [10:56]
Well, I will say it was never easy for me. But at some point, I started studying Neuro-Linguistic Programming. And I became pretty proficient in that I have a really extensive background in that. And it started helping me reframe my idea around things. And so what I realized is that I stopped looking at NO as rejection and I started thinking about it. And I talked about this a lot. I talked about it on my own podcast, I talked about it with my clients all the time, that it’s to me now when you offer somebody an opportunity to work with you and they say no, to me, it’s the equivalent of, you know, you go out to a really nice restaurant, you have a beautiful meal. And you know, the waiter comes by at the end of the night and says, you know, may I show you the dessert menu and you say, Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly I’m so full. You know, they don’t go behind the counter to their co-workers and be like, Can you believe that lady, she totally rejected me. She said no to the dessert menu. And so now I just think of it as I’m here to be of service, and it’s my job to make the offer. And it’s totally fine. If somebody says like, Oh, no, thank you. I couldn’t possibly, like, I don’t take it personally, and I don’t take it as rejection anymore. I just think it’s part of the process. And it’s finding those people who really want and need what you offer. And that’s your job. Your job is to make sure that you’re walking people through the selling process, getting to the place where they can say yes or no, and if the answer is no, then I say bless and release these people and move on to the people who do need you and who do want to pay you for what you offer. Yeah,

Christine Schlonski [12:41]
Yeah, that’s such wonderful advice. And I’ve seen so many people, especially when I was still working in the corporate job and you know, we had this big office space so I saw my team at the time. And when they got a NO you like saw it in their whole body language, the expression. Right, and it’s yeah it’s really gonna change the whole energy which doesn’t help the call or maybe the next call or like, helping you with making your day a good day. So what kind of advice could you give me like two or three steps for people they could implement right now after listening so they feel better the next time somebody says No like you just have to reframe it but how can I reframe it if I really feel bad about it.

Nikki Rausch [13:31]
Yeah, if you really feel bad about it, you might actually want to check with somebody like if you’re kind of surprised that somebody says no, and don’t ever feel uncomfortable to say to somebody, is it okay to ask what you know, your reason for declining to work with me? Like it’s okay as long as you ask in a really curious way, because it may actually give you some additional insight like yes, it may be hard to hear because they might say like, you know, you came across too aggressive or pushy. Okay, we’ll take that in, decide if it’s true. And then make a change, you know, but sometimes people will say things to you that, frankly, are not true. And you need to be able to establish for yourself, do I agree? Or do I disagree with their reasoning, and even if you disagree it’s not about arguing or trying to convince them to change their mind. It’s about taking that in and going to the next step.

Nikki Rausch [14:23]
So I will say one of the things I’m pretty protective of is my sales mindset. So I don’t allow myself to kind of wallow in a place of like disappointment and No. And I actually have a process that I do before I get on a phone call with a client with a prospect. Before I go into a meeting before I speak any of this so I have, I have a process. It’s an NLP process. Where you actually do go through this process and it takes like, now it takes me less than probably five seconds to do it because I do it so much. But there are four sayings that I say to myself, and I don’t just say them like, I actually allow my body to feel what it feels like to have that, that emotion or that. what I’m going to tell you, what does the statement feel like in your body if you say it out loud?

Nikki Rausch [15:13]
So the first statement is I say, I’m glad I’m here. And I know what it feels like to be really glad to be somewhere. So I let my whole body fill up with this. I’m so glad I’m here. And then I think about who I’m meeting with, and I think, Christine, I am so glad you’re here. Right? And I think like, Oh, this is what it feels like when I’m just really looking forward to getting time with somebody. And then the third statement is, I know what I know. And I call this your power statement because you don’t have to know everything. And yes, you’re going to get asked questions that you might not know the answer to or that you might be disappointed with their response. But if you can stand in your place of credibility and go Hey, I do know what I know. Like, for me, I know the stuff that I teach works and whether somebody agrees or wants to even take a chance on it, that does not impact my credibility and my absolute belief that the things that I teach make a difference, right? So I know what I know.

Nikki Rausch [16:15]
And then the fourth statement is I care about you. Because I truly believe, you know, relationship, first rapport always with your clients. And so when you show up in this place, I’m glad I’m here, I’m glad you’re here. I know what I know. And I care about you. It kind of changes the way you show up in the meeting. And I feel like it makes you more resilient. So that if you do get those like objections, or if you do get a no, you don’t take it quite as personally, it’s kind of like, you know, when you’re having a bad day and somebody cuts you off in traffic, it seems like how dare you do this to me, right? And it feels like it’s so personal. And I think the same thing happens in sales. Like if you’re having a bad day, or if you’re having a bad attitude and you go into that meaning anything that is then the yes can be detrimental to your mindset so you gotta protect that mindset you have to go in already feeling resilient so that when it doesn’t go as planned you can course-correct and or you can bless and release

Christine Schlonski [17:16]
I love the bless and release part because it’s probably often needed right and when we get so yeah like Connect well connected is not the right word oh man get so

Nikki Rausch [17:31]
Like attached?

Christine Schlonski [17:33]
Yeah attached, like you know in German we would like to say like when you know a dog bites your leg and doesn’t let go. Ah, I’m looking for the word. And yeah, it’s like bless and release. Because no means not now, it might not be the right moment. It might not be your right client, the right person for you and you never know of what kind of stress you will also let go with not onboarding that person?

Nikki Rausch [18:05]
Yeah. And also, I think it takes some pressure off, you know, if you’re showing up from this place in this in, in this mindset of like, I have to make this sale, you come across like a little bit desperate sometimes almost right and the other person feels that energy from you. And then they just want to get out of the conversation as fast as possible because it feels like a lot of pressure. But if you show up from this place like, Hey, I’m gonna bless and release if this is not the right thing. It takes the pressure off the other person and allows for them to enjoy the experience with you, and then make an educated decision about moving forward with you or not. And there isn’t so much like pressure.

Christine Schlonski [18:50]
Yeah, I always call it the energy of neediness.

Nikki Rausch [18:54]
Oh, I love that.

Christine Schlonski [18:56]
Like people will feel that even though you might have had a smile on your face, they will just, they will sense that from miles and miles away. And it repels people.

Nikki Rausch [19:08]
Totally.

Christine Schlonski [19:09]
So I love what you shared earlier. I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad you’re here. I know what I know. And I care about you. It just puts you in a nice state. And I think when you are really in the state, and you feel it in your body, you are this person, so you leave your troubles behind, whatever that is, whatever pressure or maybe even financial pressure there might be. You can just be with the person and open up that space to have the conversation.

Nikki Rausch [19:40]
Yeah, I agree. Totally.

Christine Schlonski [19:41]
And they will feel it and then they will feel that you do care.

Nikki Rausch [19:46]
Yeah, because I mean, I don’t know about you, but I refuse to give my money to somebody who treats me like I’m just a big dollar sign. You know, like they’re just trying to get something out of me that does not feel like a good exchange. But as somebody who really loves sales I also really love to be sold by somebody who shows interest in me, who cares about me, who has some vested interests like, you know, interest in my success or solving a problem, you know, that I need to solve. So I really love people who show up from this place of like, you know, the relationship so important, the rapport is there. And then I’m, I’m happy to, you know, give my money to the person in exchange for whatever it is.

Christine Schlonski [20:30]
Yeah, totally. And that’s like, that’s a whole nother conversation about how we as people that really know the sales process and feel great selling. How we choose people to buy from? I think that’s going to be a really cool conversation and I’m so glad we do have another interview set up to go deeper. But before we are leaving today. Well, first of all, I want to invite people to listen to the next episode. But also you brought us an amazing gift. So tell us a little bit about your wonderful ebook.

Nikki Rausch [21:10]
The book is called “Closing the Sale” and it is a three-step process of how to walk somebody through the close and it’s all about building your confidence giving you some language suggestions and making it easier for you to walk somebody from that kind of discovery proposal to close piece and so to get that just go visit yoursalesmaven.com/heart so this is for your audience specifically so yoursalesmaven.com/heart and you can download that ebook as my gift for listening and for having me on the podcast and you know, following Christine.

Christine Schlonski [21:51]
Yeah, well, thank you so, so much. I really appreciate that and I know it’s a really great book. So like for people going deeper like really getting those steps will make their life so much easier. Right? Because it does come down from the heart. It doesn’t feel pushy or sleazy or salesy. It’s just you can enjoy the conversation. Like, how amazing is that? And at the end of the day, you get paid for enjoying a conversation and for offering your awesomeness.

Nikki Rausch [22:20]
That’s right. I love that.

Christine Schlonski [22:22]
Well, thank you so, so much, Nikki. I really appreciate that you spent, you’ve invested your time with us today. And, and shared your amazing wisdom. And yeah, as I said, I’m super excited we get the opportunity to speak again soon. And for everybody listening, thank you so much for having tuned in.

Christine Schlonski [22:45]
Wow, what a powerful episode. I am really, really pumped and I hope you are too. I could talk to Nikki all day long about sales. I think we are so aligned in what we do. And that’s so much fun to see other people out there doing such a great job and teaching people how to sell from their hearts. Hop on over to christineschlonski.com find the podcast tab. There you will find the transcripts, the show notes and all the links to connect with Nikki. Make sure you connect with her on social media to follow her work and also get her wonderful free gift her ebook “Closing the Sale”. This is going to help you with whatever you want to do to give more of your gifts to the world. And then don’t miss out on the next episode that is coming up again Miss Nikki Rausch she’s going to be back and we will have a very important topic “Don’t Sell Past the Close”. And she has learned such a valuable lesson at a very young age. And she’s sharing that with us so we can really make sure that we do not sell past the close because usually, that will end up in a disaster.

Christine Schlonski [23:53]
So hop on over to christineschlonski.com find the podcast tab for the resources and also make sure that you subscribe to Heart Sells! Podcast on Stitcher, iTunes, iHeartRadio. I mean, I think we’re everywhere Facebook, YouTube, so you can check that out. And once you’re over at christineschlonski.com you also want to sign up for the Empowerment Notes to get empowerment right into your inbox, which is also including the updates on Heart Sells! Podcasts and amazing content that I usually do not share. And once you are signed up, you probably will get an invitation to a wonderful community, The Heart Sells! Members Community and depending on when you’re listening to this, it could be that enrollment is closed, but you will definitely have an opportunity to put yourself on a waitlist. Thank you so much for listening and for tuning in. Have a wonderful day wherever you are in this beautiful world. And I’m saying bye for now.