How to Sell with Integrity with Deb Brown Maher

Today our guest is Deb Brown Maher, and we’re going to be talking with her about how you can sell with integrity. Deb is the President of Deb Brown Sales and author of Sell Like Jesus. She helps business owners and entrepreneurs change the way they sell from convincing a prospect they must buy to instead being of service. Deb is passionate about helping people sell from a position of integrity. During the episode, Deb dives into her sales experience and touches on her strategy for selling better. She also shares why selling in service is more fulfilling and effective than trying to make a buck. On this episode of the Live. Love. Engage. podcast: Deb’s journey to becoming a sales coach. How Deb landed her first experience in sales. Why Jesus is a good model for sales. Why it’s important to find out if you have the right solution for the buyer or not. The common trap a lot of salespeople continuously fall into. Useful questions to ask prospects in the initial stages of selling. Why it’s important to draw out your prospect’s needs. The common struggle Deb sees among her clients. Why most salespeople don’t follow up (and why they should). The best way to approach a discovery call. What it means to consciously break your own rules. Why Deb says God wired her with a love of color. The unique way Deb merges her love of both worship and painting. The pitfalls of a victim mentality. Why a shifting in perspective is powerful in life and in sales. Connect with Deb Brown Maher Deb’s website: https://debbrownsales.com/ TRANSCRIPT Quick Links: Join the Live. Love. Engage. Community Intuitive Business Coaching The Live. Love. Engage. Book Support the Podcast with BuyMeACoffee.com Enjoying what you're hearing on Live. Love. Engage.? Subscribe on Goodpods or your favorite podcast platform, and click here to leave a 5 STAR Review. You can also watch the conversation on YouTube. TRANSCRIPT You're listening to the live love engage podcast on today's show, we're gonna be talking about how to sell from a position of integrity. Stay tuned. I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of the love method and author of the number one Amazon best seller live love, and engage how to stop doubting yourself and start being yourself. In this podcast, we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully love, deeply and engage authentically. So you can create a life and business with more impact, influence, and income. Welcome to live love, engage Namaste and welcome to another addition of live love. Engage. I am delighted to be with you again today and to have a fabulous woman on the show who is, has a different approach to sales, unique perspective on how to approach sales, shall we say? And I first off wanna welcome Deb Brown Maher to live love, engage. Thank you so much, Gloria. It's great to be here. Well, it is excellent to have you here. And, for those you who are not able to watch on YouTube, you're, you're gonna, those of you who are seeing have, have a clue already what we're gonna be talking about. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna explain for those of you who are listening, um, who Deb Brown Maher is she is a sales coach, an author, and a speaker who helps business owners and solo entrepreneurs change the way they sell from convincing a prospect to buy, to being of service. And she is really passionate about helping people sell from a position of integrity. And she shares her methods in her book in video training course, which is called “Sell like Jesus - seven characteristics of Christ for ethical sales. And when I first met you, I saw that that said, what? That was the book you had written. I was like, okay, I'm intrigued right away. I definitely definitely wanna talk to this woman and find out more about that. But before we get to that, um, I wanna have you share with our listeners and our viewers a little bit about, um, your journey and how you came to become a sales coach. Yes. So I got a degree in Latin American studies and undergrad degree, which I, although I spoke Spanish and thought I was going to work at the UN, I found out that you needed three languages minimum. Oh, Not just two. And I really didn't wanna teach in the public school systems. So what the heck was I going to do for a living? Um, I ended up for about three years in a, um, teaching role with underprivileged youth where I taught them basic job skills. Um, and then I ended up running the customer service department for Nutrisystem weight loss centers. Oh, wow. And learned quite a bit about dealing with the public and customer service us in general, but it wasn't where I wanted to stay. So, um, one of the owners of the company was for me and said, Deb, what do you wanna be when you grow up? And I said, well, I'd really like to be in training. And he said, well, in order to train here, really need to work the jobs. And one of them was sales. So that was my first experience. And Laurie, I have to be honest and say it was one of the hardest things. One of the most uncomfortable things that I ever had to do now as a kid, I had sold potholders that I made, I sold newspapers. I sold girl scout cookies, and I had no problem with that. Right. But now I was in a role where I was expected to use a script that was using high pressure tactics, Which fell icky, manipulative insulting, honestly. And I just couldn't do it. So I, Hmm. Yeah, I did it as long as I needed to, to get the experience to go into the training department. Right. Right. Um, and I got a good foundation for teaching and training in that role, but once I left there, uh, my husband got a job in another city, so we moved, what was I going to do? Well, I ended up in another sales role this time selling computer and medical practice management software. Oh my wow. Yeah. So that was the time when I started studying, taking courses and learning from other people about how to sell in a way that didn't use high. And that was the beginning of my journey to, um, which ultimately culminated in writing the books, uh, like Jesus. Wow. Um, yeah, it's interesting. Yes. I, I similar situation in a way, because I did, uh, as a kid, I think I did have like a lemonade stand or something, you know, when I was really, really little and then I did sell girl scout cookies and I sold, uh, I sold shampoo door-to-door in high school to raise money for a band trip. Now that, that, that was like, I think that was the one that kind of did it for me where I was like, I don't wanna be in sales. You know, I was like, I do not wanna do this until I realized when I started my own company that, oh, that means you have to sell to people. Oops. Right. Right. And actually you're the target audience that I wrote for small business owners who have to sell, but hate to sell because of the negative stigma. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We, you know, we all know that the stereotype of the, you know, the car car salesman and, and all of that, which has really helped not to mention other, other folks out there, you know, even, and even television sales and things it's, it's, it really has gotten to be, um, a bad way about it. So let's, let's dive into the book a little bit and share with me, uh, a little bit of what are some of the characteristics that, um, that makes Jesus, I guess, a good salesperson or, or, or good a model for us to emulate. Right. I would say in general, Jesus was all about building relationships and restoring us to relationship with God. The father. So sales is really at its relationship building when it's done from the perspective of being of service. If I am in selfish mode and I'm just trying to meet my numbers, get paid, make a buck. And I really don't care about you as the buyer, then that selfish way is going to come across to the buyer. If instead I put the buyer first and I try to understand them their needs, their expectations, their wants, their hopes, their dreams, depending on what it is that you're selling. Right. Understand them. What happens is in that process of asking questions, to understand them, we are building a relationship. They hear through my questions that I care that I'm listening, that they matter. And in that dialogue, we can figure out whether I have the right solution for them or not. And if I don't, we still have a good connection, which means if things change in the future, they'll feel comfortable coming back to me, or they might know somebody that I could help and they'll refer me. So I think a lot of salespeople fall into the trap of short term thinking instead of long term relationships are a long term deal when they're done. Right. And so if you're thinking long term, if you make this sale, that's great. But it isn't the only objective for connecting that changes how the other person perceives you. Yeah, absolutely. Can you give us an example, maybe of a couple of questions that, uh, someone should ask a prospect, you know, in that developing that Congress and developing that relationship? Sure. So first off when someone says, because it's my world, I'll just coaching. When someone says, Deb, I wanna talk to you about sales, coaching, traditional sales, would I say, oh, that's great. I do this. And I do that. And I do the other, and I've got this, that and the other, and I've lost them because it's all about me. So instead from the get, go, thank you for asking, what is it that prompt a you to ask about sales coaching at this particular time? So right there, I'm asking an open ended question to start to hear their story and whatever they respond. I'm going to listen for the keywords, the key element of what they're saying. And I'm going to ask another question based on those words, And that will take us deeper into their story, their concerns, what they're looking for, the challenges they've had fulfilling this need and that process of putting them firs