April 3, 2023 • 37 mins
Dr. Cindy®, also known as the First Lady of Sales®, is a gifted public speaker, and you can find her on the conference circuit, presenting on a variety of topics. Through engaging stories, humor and even a little audience participation, she helps people to realize that they have been selling their entire lives. And they are good at it! Her energy and drive inspire the audience to embrace their inner toddler and remember that they can sell and they can get what they want in work and in life using those skills they already have.
https://drcindy.com/
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https://drcindy.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:12):
Welcome back to the Mark Howard Show. I am very excited to have my
special guests on with doctor Cindy McGovern. Cindy, thanks for being here tonight.
Thank you so much for having meMark. It's exciting to be here
with you today. I'm excited tochat. So I had mentioned before the
call here, before we got startedon the interview that I had about three
(00:33):
or four pages of notes scattered withquestions for you, and so just plan
on for at least a three tofour hour and a nomine merchant just a
few minutes. But I want tostart tonight with talking about your book that
you have out called Sell Yourself,How to Create, live, and Sell
a Powerful Personal Brand. So myfirst question for you is what is a
(00:57):
powerful personal brand? And who needsthat? Who's this book for? So
the book is literally for everyone.And the reason that I say that is
because everyone has a powerful personal brand, whether they realize it or not.
And so once you realize that you'vegot one and it's either working for you
(01:17):
or against you, you might aswell read the book and do it on
purpose. Absolutely. Now when yousay it's for everybody, and everybody does
have a personal brand. When you'rethinking about that and saying that is that
related to business and to careers orare we talking about everyday live and single
moms and construction workers and what areyou referring to? It is literally all
(01:42):
of the above mark because we've gotthat brand and we're multifaceted, right,
We're just like a diamond. We'vegot different facets to our brand. So
maybe you are that single mom andthe construction worker and the person at the
PTA and the person that you knowmakes the best chocolate pie in the world.
Great, So if you're all thosethings, you can be all of
them. But it's who do youwant the world to know you as?
(02:05):
Mostly? How do you want themto talk about you when you're not in
the room. You have to controlthat narrative a little bit. So when
I say it's for everybody, itreally is for everybody because we're all leaving
a legacy. Might as well leavethe one you want. You recently talked
about a twenty eight day challenge rightto challenge people to live their most powerful
(02:25):
personal brand. So can you tellus about kind of what's that challenge entailed
for the people who've participated. Yeah, so I believe there's three steps to
really selling yourself. You've got tocreate that brand, you've got to live
it every single day, and thenyou have to be proactive about selling it.
And for a lot of people whenthey've really thought through who they want
(02:46):
to be known as, and youkind of do some exercises around it and
do your brand inventory, figure outhow you're known already, and then maybe
you need to change a few things. And it's a perfect time of the
year at recording now, you know. It was sort of a when I
set out the challenge. It wasin the month of February, so right
at the New year, everybody hadthese New Year's resolutions. I'm going to
do this, I'm going to bethat. I'm going to try this.
(03:08):
Take the shortest month of the yearand see if you can do it consistently
for twenty eight days. So Iposted this in a walk to work with
doctor Cindy on Wednesday and said,hey, y'all, let's do this.
Let's actually do it for twenty eightdays straight. Whatever it is, is
it waking up and working out,is it making sure that you are mindful
(03:29):
in your emails? I had alistener, actually, one of my followers
mentioned me on social media and said, hey, I'm actually thinking about the
emails before I'm sending them because I'mrealizing I'm selling myself every time I send
one of those. So maybe that'syour intentions, but I wanted people to
really try to stick with it becausewe create really good habits and really good
routines after that amount of time.So it was a little throw down the
(03:53):
gauntlet and see what everybody can do. Wow, that's exciting. It would
be neat to see the results andhow what you mentioned some of those directions
that they took that and I thinkthat's an interesting challenge. So when you
talk about powerful personal brand, andI often use the word identity and teach
and talk about identity, you dothose coincide it all or hold hands or
(04:17):
are they totally opposite in your mind? You know, I think that they
hold hands, And that's a reallygood thing to think about. Is you've
got your own identity, that's yours, You own that. The brand is
what you sell about your identity tothe other people. It's what pieces of
that like. I know who Iam, I know my core values.
I think our personal brand is builtaround those. That's my identity, that's
(04:41):
who I am, But how doI want others to interact with that?
What do I want them to thinkabout me? What is my reputation that
I'm building based on my personal brand? So I think the identity is really
at the core of that. Theydefinitely hold hands. Absolutely, that's a
beautiful way to put that. Soand you talk about knowing your core value
and you're kind of your ideas ofwho you are. And then every day,
(05:04):
now make sure I understand this andcorrect me if I'm going down the
wrong pastor But every day we getup and we go out into the world
to live out this life and liveout our identity. So now we need
to make sure that we're branding ourselfto everybody else. So whether that's to
the teachers, or whether that's toour employer or employees, or to our
(05:26):
spouse or whatever. So what wedo and how we present ourselves, that's
the brand that we're selling every day. Right, That's exactly right. And
you are selling whether you realize itor not. And I think this is
the part where people get a littlebit tripped up. It's like, well,
I wasn't trying to sell them.It doesn't matter you were, you
interacted with another human being. Youexchange energy, you exchange words, you
(05:47):
exchange glances. They held the dooropen for you when you walked into the
store. That was a sales conversation, so you might as well do it
on purpose because you left them withan impression of you. Was it good,
bad or missed? I love thatbecause you said, you know,
some people get kind of skinnish.We talk about the word cells, but
in reality, whether you call itsalves or a word, that's the same.
(06:10):
That's what it is. Is thatthat transaction. So if you go
out and, like you said,you're doing something nice, well you're maybe
you're talking a certain way right,or you're dressed for acting a certain way,
Well, you're telling people around youwho you are about those actions and
those words the one hundred percent.And what's funny is we have to talk
about that word sales, right becauseeverybody thinks it's this icky, pushy thing.
(06:34):
And they said, but I don'tsell. You do if you if
you are literally leaving an impression onsomeone you want them to think away about
you, that's a sales conversation.And even when you say you don't care,
and I hear this from people,they are like well, I don't
care about if I leave a strongpersonal brand or not. I've had people
say that to me. Well,that's good because you've left one that you
(06:56):
don't care. That's the one yousold. So you actually did a really
good job of selling it because peopleare buying it. So you know,
it's sort of like we learned somethings from the sales world of how we
can be more intentional about that salesand how we can do it with more
purpose since we're doing it. Anyways, you mentioned again and that said this
earlier bit about your core value.So how important is it for people to
(07:20):
be intentional when they're getting raised tothink about their personal brand and go out
there and how they're presenting those stuffand selling them stuff to the world.
How important is it to really identifytheir values and their I guess identity going
back to that word before they goout to start that process. It is
(07:40):
absolutely paramount mark because if you don'tcreate your brand, you're not going to
be able to live it consistently andyou're not going to be able to sell
it. And the only way thatyou can truly live it consistently is if
it's real and authentic to you.You don't want to create this brand or
a persona that you have to keepup because that's not you. It's not
(08:00):
going to be sustainable. So it'sgot to be you. It's just the
best version of you. It's thethings you want others to know. So,
for example, the first segment inthe book is all about creating the
brand. That is that plan thatis recognizing those pieces. And I think
if we haven't gotten clear on whowe are and who we want to be,
(08:22):
that's where we get a little bitmoney and what we're selling. And
that's maybe a confused brand or asplit personality brand is what I call it
in the book. And maybe that'spreventing you from reaching some of your goals.
Maybe it's holding you back in yourcareer. Maybe that's the thing that's
keeping you from the promotion, orkeeping you from being the favorite mom at
school or the favorite dad at theneighborhood barbecue. Like what is it that's
(08:46):
competing against you? And maybe it'sthat you. You know, I'm originally
from the South, so maybe youplanned a brand that was too big for
your bridges. Kind of a thing, you know, So go back to
that plan. Tough question for you. The phrase you know, fake it
till you make it, And I'msure you've heard that. And so if
(09:07):
someone goes, Okay, here's myidentity, my core value is who I
am, and looking out to theiroutside world now they're again their work,
their spouse or whatever, you know, I need to present this in a
positive way to them, and thenmaybe then maybe there's some room for improvement.
(09:28):
Right, maybe they start digging intotheir values and they're like, wow,
I have not been the person thatI really want to be or need
to be. So I'm going tostart changing that in my life. I'm
going to be better at you know, anger management or whatever the situation might
be. So I'm going to startchanging that and working on that. Do
you think it's okay knowing that andthen going, hey, I'm going to
(09:50):
start projecting this this powerful personal brandof someone who is you know, very
caring, loving and kind? Isit? What's your thoughts on that?
So I have a lot because Ithink this one's so important, and this
is one of the questions that Iget from so many people who've even read
the book. They're like, youknow, I feel like I'm faking it.
(10:13):
I think there's a big difference fakingis pretending. What you're doing when
you're creating, living, and sellingyour most powerful personal brand is you're creating
this with purpose. You're not pretendinganything. So I think we use the
catchphrase we take it till we makeit because we feel imposters, like we
have imposter syndrome around this, andit feels like, gosh, maybe is
(10:33):
this me? Can I keep thisup? But if you have that true
purpose behind it, and you've givenyourself permission to live this most powerful personal
brand, you'll do it. Andwe're all going to have a little bit
of that imposter syndrome as we're stretchingourselves. I think imposter syndrome is a
really, really nice co pilot fora half a second, and I'll explain
(10:54):
what I mean. I don't thinkanybody is without imposter syndrome at some stage
their life and career. And it'sa good co pilot for half a second
because for that half a second,when that creeps up into the back of
your mind and says, ooh doyou belong here? Are you sure about
this? You sure you're not gettingtoo big foo bridges? That tells you
you're growing, That tells you you'reat the edge of your comfort zone,
(11:16):
and this is where growth happens.So that's actually a good sign if we
know how to then stop that negativethought and use that to propel us forwards.
Absolutely, I love that. Sothe imposter syntome is great for a
half a second, you said,because that's when you know that you're stepping
out past your comfort loane, pastyour comfort level to grow and be better
(11:41):
in that area. Right, So, and again, I think everybody who
strives to be better good to great. I think with you. I'm with
you. I think that if youdon't have it, I think that's that's
interesting if someone doesn't experience it,because I think when you're going into a
new positions and new season of life, I think that, yeah, you're
going to have that moment where it'slike, am I really? Am I
(12:03):
really good enough to do this?Am I'm really in the position to do
that? So I think that's healthy. But what you said faking is pretending
and creating with purpose versus creating withpurpose. I will probably use a lot
in the future. I will credityou as much as possible and that,
but I'm just saying that is athat is a great statement when it comes
to separating that that issue of hey, I'm going out there to live out
(12:28):
this personal, powerful personal brand.Even though I may not be where I
want to be right now, I'mgoing to get there. And that's that
creating with purpose, right but insteadof just forkidding. So I absolutely love
that and I'm going to use thata lot, go for it, help
others with it. Absolutely, That'sthe whole point, right is we want
to have everybody to live their mostpowerful personal self in their personal brand.
(12:52):
And you have to recognize that impostersyndrome is going to be there, so
don't excuse it, recognize it,thank it for the service that it provided
for you, which was a nicereminder that this is cool because this is
growth. This is going to benew and it's going to be exciting.
But let's talk about your five steps. And I've heard you mentioned these before,
(13:13):
but if you don't mind, canyou share these with the listeners now?
Absolutely so, Like any good processor recipe or formula, there are
steps. And I believe in afive step sales process because I want people
to be able to take it andreally just apply it to basically any sale,
whether it's getting your kidneat there broccolior getting somebody to buy something from
(13:35):
you. So the first step isplanning, really having a good plan of
what your goal is and also planningfor maybe what they're going to push back
on, maybe what the challenges arethat how are you going to differentiate yourself
all those things. And then thesecond step is looking for the right opportunity.
And I really do believe if you'vegot a good plan for your brand
(13:56):
and for who you want the worldto know you as, you'll see opportunities
to elevate those facets of your brandin the moment. If you want people
to start seeing you as you know, very thoughtful and well read, you'll
find opportunities to share little little youknow, truth bombs that you've learned in
your reading and things of that nature. And then the third step is listen
(14:18):
to established trust. And this isthe one and I know you're you're a
sales guy too, so you getit. This is one even where season
sales pros fall down, because nosale is ever going to happen until trust
is established. And the best wayto establish trust is to listen. So
you've got to be a good listener, and you've got to ask good questions
You've got to make sure you understandwhat the other person needs out of this
(14:41):
interaction, so then you can askfor what you want, which is step
foward. And step four is anotherone more season sales pros fall down is
they don't ask for what they want. They expect the other person to kind
of be a mind reader, andyou know, we need to ask.
We need to invite people to helpus, invite people to help the advocates
for our brand, and then it'sour responsibility to make sure that they remember
(15:03):
us. And that's step five.With this follow up with gratitude and whether
they help, whether they don't help, whether they buy something from us,
whether they don't. You've created animpression with that other human being, and
so be grateful about that and findways to stay top of mind, find
ways to follow up so that youcan show them that you appreciated that moment
that you shared that chance can makean impression because you did, so might
(15:26):
as well make sure that it's theright one and that it's a lasting one.
I love this conversation and the topicbecause I think that no matter where
the listener is career wise or lifewise, I think that this applies.
And so You started off by sayingthe book is for everybody, and I
absolutely agree and believe that. Soif you are a cook at a restaurant
(15:54):
and you begin to think about creatingand living out this powerful person brand,
you know, what does that looklike? Well? Is it? And
you please give me some insight onthis too, But is it to be
the uniform you wear? How's itlook? Are you on time? Well?
How do you perform when you're onthe job? And so what is
(16:15):
your powerful personal brand that you're buildingas that cook or chef in that restaurant?
Is that DEMI on the right page. Absolutely, and I talk about
this in the book that we sellto the five senses. So it is
what you wear, it is howyou carry yourself. It's the way you
make somebody feel when they've interacted withyou. It comes down to all of
(16:36):
those things. And for that cookin the restaurant, you know, maybe
they want to be the cook inthe restaurant and they're just trying to keep
that job and be seen as agood worker. Maybe they want to move
out and do their own restaurant oneday. Maybe they want to get a
Michelin star James Beard Ward right,So how are you branding yourself to get
others to buy into that vision,because what they're actually buying is you.
(17:00):
You're selling them trust in you sothat when you make that move or you
just want to stay where you are, you've got advocates to help you with
that. Nobody does this life alone. We all help each other. We
all have help. And so youwant to make sure that you're selling to
those five senses so that everybody knowshow they're supposed to think about you,
(17:22):
think about you, talk about youafter that encounter. The importance of this
and some people may have never evenconsidered this or thought about this before about
their personal brand, but the importanceis the benefit of this. Right,
So if you start thinking about thisand you start being intentional, and you
(17:42):
make your plan and now you're livingthis out, what could possibly happen?
Well, you're the cook and youwant to stay the cook, and you're
happy there. But what would happenif you begin to focus on a plan
to have a better or more powerfulpersonal brand? It be could it be
more money, Could it be araise, could it be a different you
(18:03):
know, maybe a management position thatthat's something you wanted to do, But
there's so many opportunities, and it'snot you say right where you're at to
be happy, but the benefit andthe personal pride I would think of that
having that brand would would speak volume. It does. And it's very interesting
because I have people that will cometo us for coaching or help or something
every once in a while and they'llsay, you know, I've been trying
(18:25):
to get this promotion, and Ido everything right. I do everything right.
It's not about what you've done right, it's about what you sold them
on. It's how they're buying intoyou. And if you've been passed over
it you know, any listener that'sbeen passed over for a promotion or you
just feel like you're spending your wheels. It's like, I've tried everything and
I'm doing everything right. I'm checkingall the boxes. Look at your personal
(18:47):
brands. What does your brand sayabout you? What are you selling them
about you? What is the impressionthat you've left? And maybe you sold
yourself short. It's not that youdid anything wrong. Maybe you sold yourself
short. And I we almost namethe book that because I think that's something
that happens a lot. People dosell them sells short because they don't have
a plan, they don't think aboutit. They think, well, I'm
(19:08):
a good worker. Don't see howgood I am, they'll want to give
me a raise. You're giving alot of credit to other people where we
live in a noisy, crowded,distracted world. So you got to got
to be clear about what you want. You got to look for the opportunity.
You've got to establish trust that youcan handle it, you got to
ask for it, and then yougot to follow up on it. It's
those five simple steps. But ifyou leave any of that to chance,
(19:32):
that's probably why you're not reaching thegoal that you want. Wow. Great
point. Okay, so we're goingto take a little detour and let me
ask you said, what about mentorsand who do you do? You have?
Mentors? Your favorite authors, speakers, anybody that you follow. So
I follow a time. I ama lifelong student. I think it's the
(19:56):
PhD and me I can't stop.So I am constantly looking for things and
I am reading, I'm listening topodcasts, I love books, I love
blogs. I am constantly seeking knowledge. And I'll tell you what ends up
happening is I go down this rabbithole and I'll find a topic, and
then I start reading everybody and everythingI can around that topic because I want
(20:19):
to have sort of I call itmy three sixty view of the of the
whole topic itself. So you know, i might see something that Gary Ze
posted, but then I'm going togo look. I'm literally going to sit
and google the topic that he posted. I'm going to find other stuff,
and so I kind of go afterthings and lessons in a slightly different way
than most people, I think,because I try to get as much as
(20:42):
I can about the topic. Ithink that's actually a great advice when it
comes to those who love self developmentbut consume a lot of material or you
know, videos, podcast books,but then they look back and they don't
feel like that they're advancing. Ithink that might be wise because we're listening
to enjoy, which is highly recommendedthat you should. But if there's a
(21:04):
situation or a season of life that'sthe challenge, whether to say it's finances
that's great, that well, it'snot great. But if there's a season
of the life of challenge, likefinancial, what you can do is reach
or research those people that you wouldconsider to be successful in those areas,
right and like you said, godown the rabbit hole and see what they
(21:26):
have learned the lessons. Matter offact, I was just working on a
chapter of the book coming out inApril, one of my books, do
some final touches, And one ofthe things I just wrote right before we
jumped on this call was kind oftalked about this. It actually is that
that you find those mentors that youthat you find successful you think the successful
(21:47):
in those seasons, and then andthen obviously research and go through their material.
But here's the thing. What questions? And I'll use this example.
Pretend like the top five are settingat a table with coffee with you.
You're going to ask them questions.What questions would you ask them to be
able to learn from them to helpyou with your situation, and then consume
their material videos, books, podcastsor whatever with the intent to answer those
(22:12):
questions. So ooh, I lovethat. That's a great approach. So
if you could only have you're goingto be on a desert island and three
books is all you could take,or at least three people's material, what
one, two or three people wouldyou definitely, you know, want to
take their books with you. Sothe first book is going to be good
(22:34):
to great, just because I thinkJim Collins nailed it. One of my
most favorite It's what I go backto in the management coaching that I do,
and it's sort of a personal mantra, you know, I think we
can always be good to great.Another one would actually be Aubrey Daniels,
and he sort of was one ofthe fathers of performance management, and he
(22:56):
writes books like Bringing Out the BestPeople and Management Mistakes and things like that,
and it always takes it back tosort of the research psychology side of
the world, and I love that. I love going back. It's the
inner nerd in me, I guessgoes back to that and he really makes
it easy to understand those principles andthey're really good fundamental pieces. And then
(23:19):
the third one I would actually haveto say would be something kind of fun.
It have to be probably whatever authorI'm reading at the moment that like
a James Patterson book or something thatwould allow me to have a little life
balance in there too. Absolutely,Now the second room, did you say
Aubrey Daniels. Aubrey Daniels, DoctorAubrey Daniels. He's a consultant and author,
(23:42):
and you mentioned mentors. I considerhim one of my mentors. I
met him when I was in graduateschool and he's been amazing to me and
given advice to me over the years. And he runs a consulting company.
I run a consulting company, andhe's just he's been awesome. But I
really do love his books. Ithink his principles are amazing, wonderful.
(24:02):
I would check him out. Solet's go to I know you do some
consulting and companies call you in tohelp increase their sales. Correct, absolutely,
all right, So now I knowsome of the things we've already talked
about would kind of go into whatyou cover with them. But here's my
question. As you're doing this,as you're going in and you're kind of
(24:22):
evaluating and helping coach and get themto raise yourselves, what are some common
mistakes that you see that maybe someonewho's listening right now that's running a company
that needs to increase sales, theycan go, oh, I think we're
doing that too. So what aresome common mistakes you see? Oooh,
I love this question. Okay,twofold question. Answer for the question.
(24:45):
The first one is does that leaderrecognize that every job is actually a sales
job or are they relying solely onthe sales team to do the sales.
So that would be my first question, because I really do believe every job
at a sale job, not justthe title of the book. And so
that leader's got to get buy infrom everybody. They have to recognize that
they are selling to their internal customer, that every single person that's a relay
(25:08):
race than any kind of a companyto deliver whatever the product or service is.
There are people behind the scenes,there are people that are forward facing.
Every single one of those people isin sales. They just don't look
at it that way. So thatleader needs to sort of deiccify the sales
conversation get everybody bought in. Sothey need to sell themselves to get people
(25:30):
rallied around that common goal. Sothat's the first one, and that's a
big mistake that I see a lotof leaders make. The second piece is
if you have a dedicated sales teamand you're leaning on them, are they
absolutely clear on the data? Arethey absolutely clear on what the sales process
is? And I'll explain that.So the data, we have a digital
(25:52):
footprint. You know, you senda thousand emails and you got three responses,
which led to two meetings, whichled to one sale. Okay,
so now you know your hit ratio. Those your clothes ratios. If you
don't know that and you don't payattention to the data and you don't look
at the market data and the trends, you're probably working a lot harder than
you need to be. And sothat's the first thing, is to do
a little assessment of what data dowe have? And then the next piece
(26:15):
is what's the sales process that you'reusing to make the numbers work to get
there? And I give you aquick example. There was someone that I
had coached in the insurance space,believe it or not, and he had
gone through a workshop of ours andI was his coach very early on in
his career. Years later, yearslater, his manager called at a blue
(26:37):
and said, Hey, we needto put this person back in coaching,
And I said, oh, really, what happened? He goes his clothes
ratio fell. The only reason heknew that is because he learned how to
track it from our workshop. Helearned how to do that, so he
knew that he should have been gettingmore deals or more appointments based on the
activity that he was doing. Hewas watching the data, came back in
(26:57):
to coaching. That's what we figuredout. He skipping parts of the sales
process. We get a little bityou know, cutting corners as we get
a little bit more seasoned. AndI'm sure you've seen this in your sales
training and consulting too. Is yousell into a vertical so you start to
think that you've heard this before.You start tuning out the prospect or the
(27:21):
client because it's like, yeah,I heard it before, I know where
this is going to go. No, no, no, So we start
cutting corners, we start skipping steps, we start assuming excusing, we start
assuming that they're going to buy in. You can never skip those bots.
Those five steps have to happen inevery interaction in that order because we know
(27:42):
that formula works. So those aretwo big ones. Is they don't get
the buy in and then they don'tlook at the data and watch how the
data informs the sales process. Welove that. And number one that you
do all the leaders recognized that everyposition is that is sales. Really I
love that, that's reality. Absolutely. Okay, so wow, this has
(28:07):
been great conversation. But I dohave three maybe four my own questions for
true that I ask everybody, andI'll still have my list here next to
me. But the three questions thatI ask everybody that comes on the show,
the first one is this. It'sa hard one, so'll be prepared.
If I give you a one hundreddollars bill and you have to spend
(28:29):
it on yourself, what do youbuy? It's an awful question. I'm
a giver. I'm a giver,not a taker. No, I don't
mean it that way. It's anawful person I have to answer and puts
me on the spot. You knowwhat's funny, I'd probably spend it on
a class or books. I would. I'd spend it on some lessons for
myself because I'm I do love tolearn, so it'd probably be taking a
(28:52):
course or signing on for an onlinesomething. But it's an awful question because
I would want to spend it onsomebody else I love to give. I'm
the giver, so it's really hardto say, oh no, I'm going
to take it for me and themajority of the guests are. And that's
why I ask you because it's sucha tough question. That's the majority of
(29:12):
it's a struggle at the end here, So it is and my answer,
my answer would be about the sameif if you know, if I had
to send them myself, it's goingon probably audible credits for audio books,
so I get it completely. Yeah. Now the second question is do you
have any goals or resolutions that youwould like to share, you know,
(29:34):
for this year. I do so. One goal that I have this year
in particular, is I pick.I pick a word every year that's my
word of focus. And this yearmy word is opportunity. And my word
is you know, sometimes wacky.One year it was spunkle, so I
mean there's you never know what it'sgoing to be. But this year my
word is opportunity. And this isone of my goals is I'm challenging myself
(29:56):
to see the opportunity in every everything, And it's not a selfish opportunity.
Maybe the opportunity is a lesson,Maybe the opportunity is to do something more
for somebody. Maybe the opportunity isto take a moment and take a beat
for myself. But I'm trying tochallenge myself and every circumstance and every instance
(30:17):
and every interaction is what was theopportunity and did I take it or did
I leave it? And I'm reallychallenging myself to take it this year and
I love that, so I mighthave to use that at some point too.
I'm going to still every thing andI'd just say, you know,
the last was sacrificed. And thisyear my word is build, So it's
(30:38):
about building different areas of my lifefor stability. So yeah, I love
I love adopting the words and thehighly recommend to the listeners if you if
you don't do this, I thinkthis is so powerful to really take that
one word and be be committed tothat word all year for twelve months and
(31:00):
use that as as kind of yourbaseline or you know, had a perspective
or your lens on how you're goingto use situations your life throughout the year
and really use that and allowed toshape you. Right, So changes everything
when you have that focus, itliterally changes everything. I was having an
(31:21):
a quick story. You can cutthis if you want to say no,
please share. Sure. I washaving an IT issue and we had an
outsourced company that was working on itand it was unbelievably frustrating and time consuming
and awful, awful, awful,and I am not a technology girl.
We have a joke here that technologyis a sharp knife, len I'm not
allowed to touch it. So thefact that I was dealing with it was
(31:42):
was not a good situation. AndI literally stopped myself when I'm sitting here
in the chat with the person andI'm going, Okay, what's the opportunity
here. I can look at thisand I can be really ticked off about
the fact that I've been on thischat for forty five minutes, or I
can look at this as an opportunityto maybe learn something, maybe work on
my interpersonal skills, maybe make thisperson's day, because that's kind of a
(32:05):
crummy job to have to deal withpeople who are really ticked off all day.
So maybe I their day a littlebit better. So that's just an
area where my words showed up forme recently where I went, Okay,
how can I how can I changethe energy around this and see it as
an opportunity And it's really cool todo that. Actually, it was really
fun to look at it through thatdifferent lens. And you know, for
(32:30):
a lessons, I don't know,three four or five bucks, you can
have a personalized arm band. Riskband made I love on where them all
the time to remind myself of thingslike one that I'm wearing today, So
seize today. So you know,when I'm going throughout my day, I
look down and see that. Butyou know, you can have your word
put on an armband or whatever youdecide to put it on kickers and just
(32:52):
post it around to kind of helpyou keep that focus on that word for
the for the entire year. Again, let that be be a lens that
you used to look through all yearlong. So thank you for sharing that
story. By the way, weare kindred spirits because I actually did that
one year when my word was joyand I promised myself I would see the
(33:13):
joy in every day and I hadit put on a little bracelet. So
I love that. It's It's awonderful and constant reminder. One of my
favorite sayings is never let them stealyour joys. That. Oh I would
love to give somebody credit to that. I don't remember who said that.
It may come to me before weend, but anyway, the point is,
(33:34):
I love you know. That wasjust one of the things that had
stuck with me for a long time. Has never let them steal your joy?
So that way when you go throughyour day, you can be grateful
and happy and content and all thatbecause nobody can steal that from me.
So thank you. So my thirdquestion for you is how can I and
the listeners of the Mark Howard showour community? How can we serve you
(33:59):
this year? What can we dofor you? I would love to hear
success stories of how people are livingtheir most powerful personal brand. That would
bring me the most joy. Itis my favorite thing when I wake up
and on my social media somebody hassent me a direct message and said I
did it and it works, andI'm like, yes, just what I
(34:19):
want to hear. So that ishow they could serve And I think that
that success and celebration begets more ofthe same, and it's contagious. And
I really think that we're a strongersociety, or a stronger community, or
a stronger world if everybody lives theirmost powerful personal brand and brings their I
(34:40):
call them superpowers to the forefront.I think we're all better for it.
So that's what I'd love to see. You know, read the books,
get out there, but most importantly, show the world your superpowers help others.
So I'll have links and show notesof course that where can they can
they find you and where can theytell you about their success stories. So
(35:04):
doctor Cindy dot com is the website, and I do check my own email
at doctor Cindy at doctor Cindy dotcom, DRC I at Drcandewy dot com.
And then first Lady of Sales.It's the number one st Lady of
Sales. I'm on all the differentplatforms you name it, and I check
my messages daily, so I loveto hear it. In fact, that's
(35:27):
I walk in the mornings with mydog and I wipe through my social media
and see what messages I've got,And it literally is my most favorite moment
of the day when somebody shares withme what they're doing to live their most
powerful self. It's just talk aboutjoy. It brings the joy to the
morning. Awesome, well, doctorCindy, thank you so much for being
(35:50):
here again today, just visiting withus and allowing our listeners to kind of
get to know you and for youto kind of pour into their lives through
the conversation. So thank you somuch for being here. Thank you so
much for having me Mark. Thiswas great fun. I feel like we
could have talked for an hour anda half more and then some so I
really appreciate it. Thank you.All right, everybody listening to the show
(36:12):
right now, here's what I wantto do. We're getting ready to wrap
up, So start clicking links inthe show notes. And I, for
some reason you're listening, maybe ona platform that doesn't have the show notes,
be sure to go to demarcourshow dotcom or Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
all Heart and you've been finds theshow notes. It'll have the link to
the book. Go buy that today. And then here's the thing. Don't
buy one copy, right, buyseveral so you can pass them out,
(36:36):
share that with the people that youcare about. So buy several copies of
the books. And then, asyou start building your powerful personal brand,
please connect with doctor Cindy on socialmedia. Tell her how things are going,
ask questions, and allow her topour into your life. So thank
you for listening, and we appreciateyou so much for being here.
Welcome back to the Mark Howard Show. I am very excited to have my
special guests on with doctor Cindy McGovern. Cindy, thanks for being here tonight.
Thank you so much for having meMark. It's exciting to be here
with you today. I'm excited tochat. So I had mentioned before the
call here, before we got startedon the interview that I had about three
(00:33):
or four pages of notes scattered withquestions for you, and so just plan
on for at least a three tofour hour and a nomine merchant just a
few minutes. But I want tostart tonight with talking about your book that
you have out called Sell Yourself,How to Create, live, and Sell
a Powerful Personal Brand. So myfirst question for you is what is a
(00:57):
powerful personal brand? And who needsthat? Who's this book for? So
the book is literally for everyone.And the reason that I say that is
because everyone has a powerful personal brand, whether they realize it or not.
And so once you realize that you'vegot one and it's either working for you
(01:17):
or against you, you might aswell read the book and do it on
purpose. Absolutely. Now when yousay it's for everybody, and everybody does
have a personal brand. When you'rethinking about that and saying that is that
related to business and to careers orare we talking about everyday live and single
moms and construction workers and what areyou referring to? It is literally all
(01:42):
of the above mark because we've gotthat brand and we're multifaceted, right,
We're just like a diamond. We'vegot different facets to our brand. So
maybe you are that single mom andthe construction worker and the person at the
PTA and the person that you knowmakes the best chocolate pie in the world.
Great, So if you're all thosethings, you can be all of
them. But it's who do youwant the world to know you as?
(02:05):
Mostly? How do you want themto talk about you when you're not in
the room. You have to controlthat narrative a little bit. So when
I say it's for everybody, itreally is for everybody because we're all leaving
a legacy. Might as well leavethe one you want. You recently talked
about a twenty eight day challenge rightto challenge people to live their most powerful
(02:25):
personal brand. So can you tellus about kind of what's that challenge entailed
for the people who've participated. Yeah, so I believe there's three steps to
really selling yourself. You've got tocreate that brand, you've got to live
it every single day, and thenyou have to be proactive about selling it.
And for a lot of people whenthey've really thought through who they want
(02:46):
to be known as, and youkind of do some exercises around it and
do your brand inventory, figure outhow you're known already, and then maybe
you need to change a few things. And it's a perfect time of the
year at recording now, you know. It was sort of a when I
set out the challenge. It wasin the month of February, so right
at the New year, everybody hadthese New Year's resolutions. I'm going to
do this, I'm going to bethat. I'm going to try this.
(03:08):
Take the shortest month of the yearand see if you can do it consistently
for twenty eight days. So Iposted this in a walk to work with
doctor Cindy on Wednesday and said,hey, y'all, let's do this.
Let's actually do it for twenty eightdays straight. Whatever it is, is
it waking up and working out,is it making sure that you are mindful
(03:29):
in your emails? I had alistener, actually, one of my followers
mentioned me on social media and said, hey, I'm actually thinking about the
emails before I'm sending them because I'mrealizing I'm selling myself every time I send
one of those. So maybe that'syour intentions, but I wanted people to
really try to stick with it becausewe create really good habits and really good
routines after that amount of time.So it was a little throw down the
(03:53):
gauntlet and see what everybody can do. Wow, that's exciting. It would
be neat to see the results andhow what you mentioned some of those directions
that they took that and I thinkthat's an interesting challenge. So when you
talk about powerful personal brand, andI often use the word identity and teach
and talk about identity, you dothose coincide it all or hold hands or
(04:17):
are they totally opposite in your mind? You know, I think that they
hold hands, And that's a reallygood thing to think about. Is you've
got your own identity, that's yours, You own that. The brand is
what you sell about your identity tothe other people. It's what pieces of
that like. I know who Iam, I know my core values.
I think our personal brand is builtaround those. That's my identity, that's
(04:41):
who I am, But how doI want others to interact with that?
What do I want them to thinkabout me? What is my reputation that
I'm building based on my personal brand? So I think the identity is really
at the core of that. Theydefinitely hold hands. Absolutely, that's a
beautiful way to put that. Soand you talk about knowing your core value
and you're kind of your ideas ofwho you are. And then every day,
(05:04):
now make sure I understand this andcorrect me if I'm going down the
wrong pastor But every day we getup and we go out into the world
to live out this life and liveout our identity. So now we need
to make sure that we're branding ourselfto everybody else. So whether that's to
the teachers, or whether that's toour employer or employees, or to our
(05:26):
spouse or whatever. So what wedo and how we present ourselves, that's
the brand that we're selling every day. Right, That's exactly right. And
you are selling whether you realize itor not. And I think this is
the part where people get a littlebit tripped up. It's like, well,
I wasn't trying to sell them.It doesn't matter you were, you
interacted with another human being. Youexchange energy, you exchange words, you
(05:47):
exchange glances. They held the dooropen for you when you walked into the
store. That was a sales conversation, so you might as well do it
on purpose because you left them withan impression of you. Was it good,
bad or missed? I love thatbecause you said, you know,
some people get kind of skinnish.We talk about the word cells, but
in reality, whether you call itsalves or a word, that's the same.
(06:10):
That's what it is. Is thatthat transaction. So if you go
out and, like you said,you're doing something nice, well you're maybe
you're talking a certain way right,or you're dressed for acting a certain way,
Well, you're telling people around youwho you are about those actions and
those words the one hundred percent.And what's funny is we have to talk
about that word sales, right becauseeverybody thinks it's this icky, pushy thing.
(06:34):
And they said, but I don'tsell. You do if you if
you are literally leaving an impression onsomeone you want them to think away about
you, that's a sales conversation.And even when you say you don't care,
and I hear this from people,they are like well, I don't
care about if I leave a strongpersonal brand or not. I've had people
say that to me. Well,that's good because you've left one that you
(06:56):
don't care. That's the one yousold. So you actually did a really
good job of selling it because peopleare buying it. So you know,
it's sort of like we learned somethings from the sales world of how we
can be more intentional about that salesand how we can do it with more
purpose since we're doing it. Anyways, you mentioned again and that said this
earlier bit about your core value.So how important is it for people to
(07:20):
be intentional when they're getting raised tothink about their personal brand and go out
there and how they're presenting those stuffand selling them stuff to the world.
How important is it to really identifytheir values and their I guess identity going
back to that word before they goout to start that process. It is
(07:40):
absolutely paramount mark because if you don'tcreate your brand, you're not going to
be able to live it consistently andyou're not going to be able to sell
it. And the only way thatyou can truly live it consistently is if
it's real and authentic to you.You don't want to create this brand or
a persona that you have to keepup because that's not you. It's not
(08:00):
going to be sustainable. So it'sgot to be you. It's just the
best version of you. It's thethings you want others to know. So,
for example, the first segment inthe book is all about creating the
brand. That is that plan thatis recognizing those pieces. And I think
if we haven't gotten clear on whowe are and who we want to be,
(08:22):
that's where we get a little bitmoney and what we're selling. And
that's maybe a confused brand or asplit personality brand is what I call it
in the book. And maybe that'spreventing you from reaching some of your goals.
Maybe it's holding you back in yourcareer. Maybe that's the thing that's
keeping you from the promotion, orkeeping you from being the favorite mom at
school or the favorite dad at theneighborhood barbecue. Like what is it that's
(08:46):
competing against you? And maybe it'sthat you. You know, I'm originally
from the South, so maybe youplanned a brand that was too big for
your bridges. Kind of a thing, you know, So go back to
that plan. Tough question for you. The phrase you know, fake it
till you make it, And I'msure you've heard that. And so if
(09:07):
someone goes, Okay, here's myidentity, my core value is who I
am, and looking out to theiroutside world now they're again their work,
their spouse or whatever, you know, I need to present this in a
positive way to them, and thenmaybe then maybe there's some room for improvement.
(09:28):
Right, maybe they start digging intotheir values and they're like, wow,
I have not been the person thatI really want to be or need
to be. So I'm going tostart changing that in my life. I'm
going to be better at you know, anger management or whatever the situation might
be. So I'm going to startchanging that and working on that. Do
you think it's okay knowing that andthen going, hey, I'm going to
(09:50):
start projecting this this powerful personal brandof someone who is you know, very
caring, loving and kind? Isit? What's your thoughts on that?
So I have a lot because Ithink this one's so important, and this
is one of the questions that Iget from so many people who've even read
the book. They're like, youknow, I feel like I'm faking it.
(10:13):
I think there's a big difference fakingis pretending. What you're doing when
you're creating, living, and sellingyour most powerful personal brand is you're creating
this with purpose. You're not pretendinganything. So I think we use the
catchphrase we take it till we makeit because we feel imposters, like we
have imposter syndrome around this, andit feels like, gosh, maybe is
(10:33):
this me? Can I keep thisup? But if you have that true
purpose behind it, and you've givenyourself permission to live this most powerful personal
brand, you'll do it. Andwe're all going to have a little bit
of that imposter syndrome as we're stretchingourselves. I think imposter syndrome is a
really, really nice co pilot fora half a second, and I'll explain
(10:54):
what I mean. I don't thinkanybody is without imposter syndrome at some stage
their life and career. And it'sa good co pilot for half a second
because for that half a second,when that creeps up into the back of
your mind and says, ooh doyou belong here? Are you sure about
this? You sure you're not gettingtoo big foo bridges? That tells you
you're growing, That tells you you'reat the edge of your comfort zone,
(11:16):
and this is where growth happens.So that's actually a good sign if we
know how to then stop that negativethought and use that to propel us forwards.
Absolutely, I love that. Sothe imposter syntome is great for a
half a second, you said,because that's when you know that you're stepping
out past your comfort loane, pastyour comfort level to grow and be better
(11:41):
in that area. Right, So, and again, I think everybody who
strives to be better good to great. I think with you. I'm with
you. I think that if youdon't have it, I think that's that's
interesting if someone doesn't experience it,because I think when you're going into a
new positions and new season of life, I think that, yeah, you're
going to have that moment where it'slike, am I really? Am I
(12:03):
really good enough to do this?Am I'm really in the position to do
that? So I think that's healthy. But what you said faking is pretending
and creating with purpose versus creating withpurpose. I will probably use a lot
in the future. I will credityou as much as possible and that,
but I'm just saying that is athat is a great statement when it comes
to separating that that issue of hey, I'm going out there to live out
(12:28):
this personal, powerful personal brand.Even though I may not be where I
want to be right now, I'mgoing to get there. And that's that
creating with purpose, right but insteadof just forkidding. So I absolutely love
that and I'm going to use thata lot, go for it, help
others with it. Absolutely, That'sthe whole point, right is we want
to have everybody to live their mostpowerful personal self in their personal brand.
(12:52):
And you have to recognize that impostersyndrome is going to be there, so
don't excuse it, recognize it,thank it for the service that it provided
for you, which was a nicereminder that this is cool because this is
growth. This is going to benew and it's going to be exciting.
But let's talk about your five steps. And I've heard you mentioned these before,
(13:13):
but if you don't mind, canyou share these with the listeners now?
Absolutely so, Like any good processor recipe or formula, there are
steps. And I believe in afive step sales process because I want people
to be able to take it andreally just apply it to basically any sale,
whether it's getting your kidneat there broccolior getting somebody to buy something from
(13:35):
you. So the first step isplanning, really having a good plan of
what your goal is and also planningfor maybe what they're going to push back
on, maybe what the challenges arethat how are you going to differentiate yourself
all those things. And then thesecond step is looking for the right opportunity.
And I really do believe if you'vegot a good plan for your brand
(13:56):
and for who you want the worldto know you as, you'll see opportunities
to elevate those facets of your brandin the moment. If you want people
to start seeing you as you know, very thoughtful and well read, you'll
find opportunities to share little little youknow, truth bombs that you've learned in
your reading and things of that nature. And then the third step is listen
(14:18):
to established trust. And this isthe one and I know you're you're a
sales guy too, so you getit. This is one even where season
sales pros fall down, because nosale is ever going to happen until trust
is established. And the best wayto establish trust is to listen. So
you've got to be a good listener, and you've got to ask good questions
You've got to make sure you understandwhat the other person needs out of this
(14:41):
interaction, so then you can askfor what you want, which is step
foward. And step four is anotherone more season sales pros fall down is
they don't ask for what they want. They expect the other person to kind
of be a mind reader, andyou know, we need to ask.
We need to invite people to helpus, invite people to help the advocates
for our brand, and then it'sour responsibility to make sure that they remember
(15:03):
us. And that's step five.With this follow up with gratitude and whether
they help, whether they don't help, whether they buy something from us,
whether they don't. You've created animpression with that other human being, and
so be grateful about that and findways to stay top of mind, find
ways to follow up so that youcan show them that you appreciated that moment
that you shared that chance can makean impression because you did, so might
(15:26):
as well make sure that it's theright one and that it's a lasting one.
I love this conversation and the topicbecause I think that no matter where
the listener is career wise or lifewise, I think that this applies.
And so You started off by sayingthe book is for everybody, and I
absolutely agree and believe that. Soif you are a cook at a restaurant
(15:54):
and you begin to think about creatingand living out this powerful person brand,
you know, what does that looklike? Well? Is it? And
you please give me some insight onthis too, But is it to be
the uniform you wear? How's itlook? Are you on time? Well?
How do you perform when you're onthe job? And so what is
(16:15):
your powerful personal brand that you're buildingas that cook or chef in that restaurant?
Is that DEMI on the right page. Absolutely, and I talk about
this in the book that we sellto the five senses. So it is
what you wear, it is howyou carry yourself. It's the way you
make somebody feel when they've interacted withyou. It comes down to all of
(16:36):
those things. And for that cookin the restaurant, you know, maybe
they want to be the cook inthe restaurant and they're just trying to keep
that job and be seen as agood worker. Maybe they want to move
out and do their own restaurant oneday. Maybe they want to get a
Michelin star James Beard Ward right,So how are you branding yourself to get
others to buy into that vision,because what they're actually buying is you.
(17:00):
You're selling them trust in you sothat when you make that move or you
just want to stay where you are, you've got advocates to help you with
that. Nobody does this life alone. We all help each other. We
all have help. And so youwant to make sure that you're selling to
those five senses so that everybody knowshow they're supposed to think about you,
(17:22):
think about you, talk about youafter that encounter. The importance of this
and some people may have never evenconsidered this or thought about this before about
their personal brand, but the importanceis the benefit of this. Right,
So if you start thinking about thisand you start being intentional, and you
(17:42):
make your plan and now you're livingthis out, what could possibly happen?
Well, you're the cook and youwant to stay the cook, and you're
happy there. But what would happenif you begin to focus on a plan
to have a better or more powerfulpersonal brand? It be could it be
more money, Could it be araise, could it be a different you
(18:03):
know, maybe a management position thatthat's something you wanted to do, But
there's so many opportunities, and it'snot you say right where you're at to
be happy, but the benefit andthe personal pride I would think of that
having that brand would would speak volume. It does. And it's very interesting
because I have people that will cometo us for coaching or help or something
every once in a while and they'llsay, you know, I've been trying
(18:25):
to get this promotion, and Ido everything right. I do everything right.
It's not about what you've done right, it's about what you sold them
on. It's how they're buying intoyou. And if you've been passed over
it you know, any listener that'sbeen passed over for a promotion or you
just feel like you're spending your wheels. It's like, I've tried everything and
I'm doing everything right. I'm checkingall the boxes. Look at your personal
(18:47):
brands. What does your brand sayabout you? What are you selling them
about you? What is the impressionthat you've left? And maybe you sold
yourself short. It's not that youdid anything wrong. Maybe you sold yourself
short. And I we almost namethe book that because I think that's something
that happens a lot. People dosell them sells short because they don't have
a plan, they don't think aboutit. They think, well, I'm
(19:08):
a good worker. Don't see howgood I am, they'll want to give
me a raise. You're giving alot of credit to other people where we
live in a noisy, crowded,distracted world. So you got to got
to be clear about what you want. You got to look for the opportunity.
You've got to establish trust that youcan handle it, you got to
ask for it, and then yougot to follow up on it. It's
those five simple steps. But ifyou leave any of that to chance,
(19:32):
that's probably why you're not reaching thegoal that you want. Wow. Great
point. Okay, so we're goingto take a little detour and let me
ask you said, what about mentorsand who do you do? You have?
Mentors? Your favorite authors, speakers, anybody that you follow. So
I follow a time. I ama lifelong student. I think it's the
(19:56):
PhD and me I can't stop.So I am constantly looking for things and
I am reading, I'm listening topodcasts, I love books, I love
blogs. I am constantly seeking knowledge. And I'll tell you what ends up
happening is I go down this rabbithole and I'll find a topic, and
then I start reading everybody and everythingI can around that topic because I want
(20:19):
to have sort of I call itmy three sixty view of the of the
whole topic itself. So you know, i might see something that Gary Ze
posted, but then I'm going togo look. I'm literally going to sit
and google the topic that he posted. I'm going to find other stuff,
and so I kind of go afterthings and lessons in a slightly different way
than most people, I think,because I try to get as much as
(20:42):
I can about the topic. Ithink that's actually a great advice when it
comes to those who love self developmentbut consume a lot of material or you
know, videos, podcast books,but then they look back and they don't
feel like that they're advancing. Ithink that might be wise because we're listening
to enjoy, which is highly recommendedthat you should. But if there's a
(21:04):
situation or a season of life that'sthe challenge, whether to say it's finances
that's great, that well, it'snot great. But if there's a season
of the life of challenge, likefinancial, what you can do is reach
or research those people that you wouldconsider to be successful in those areas,
right and like you said, godown the rabbit hole and see what they
(21:26):
have learned the lessons. Matter offact, I was just working on a
chapter of the book coming out inApril, one of my books, do
some final touches, And one ofthe things I just wrote right before we
jumped on this call was kind oftalked about this. It actually is that
that you find those mentors that youthat you find successful you think the successful
(21:47):
in those seasons, and then andthen obviously research and go through their material.
But here's the thing. What questions? And I'll use this example.
Pretend like the top five are settingat a table with coffee with you.
You're going to ask them questions.What questions would you ask them to be
able to learn from them to helpyou with your situation, and then consume
their material videos, books, podcastsor whatever with the intent to answer those
(22:12):
questions. So ooh, I lovethat. That's a great approach. So
if you could only have you're goingto be on a desert island and three
books is all you could take,or at least three people's material, what
one, two or three people wouldyou definitely, you know, want to
take their books with you. Sothe first book is going to be good
(22:34):
to great, just because I thinkJim Collins nailed it. One of my
most favorite It's what I go backto in the management coaching that I do,
and it's sort of a personal mantra, you know, I think we
can always be good to great.Another one would actually be Aubrey Daniels,
and he sort of was one ofthe fathers of performance management, and he
(22:56):
writes books like Bringing Out the BestPeople and Management Mistakes and things like that,
and it always takes it back tosort of the research psychology side of
the world, and I love that. I love going back. It's the
inner nerd in me, I guessgoes back to that and he really makes
it easy to understand those principles andthey're really good fundamental pieces. And then
(23:19):
the third one I would actually haveto say would be something kind of fun.
It have to be probably whatever authorI'm reading at the moment that like
a James Patterson book or something thatwould allow me to have a little life
balance in there too. Absolutely,Now the second room, did you say
Aubrey Daniels. Aubrey Daniels, DoctorAubrey Daniels. He's a consultant and author,
(23:42):
and you mentioned mentors. I considerhim one of my mentors. I
met him when I was in graduateschool and he's been amazing to me and
given advice to me over the years. And he runs a consulting company.
I run a consulting company, andhe's just he's been awesome. But I
really do love his books. Ithink his principles are amazing, wonderful.
(24:02):
I would check him out. Solet's go to I know you do some
consulting and companies call you in tohelp increase their sales. Correct, absolutely,
all right, So now I knowsome of the things we've already talked
about would kind of go into whatyou cover with them. But here's my
question. As you're doing this,as you're going in and you're kind of
(24:22):
evaluating and helping coach and get themto raise yourselves, what are some common
mistakes that you see that maybe someonewho's listening right now that's running a company
that needs to increase sales, theycan go, oh, I think we're
doing that too. So what aresome common mistakes you see? Oooh,
I love this question. Okay,twofold question. Answer for the question.
(24:45):
The first one is does that leaderrecognize that every job is actually a sales
job or are they relying solely onthe sales team to do the sales.
So that would be my first question, because I really do believe every job
at a sale job, not justthe title of the book. And so
that leader's got to get buy infrom everybody. They have to recognize that
they are selling to their internal customer, that every single person that's a relay
(25:08):
race than any kind of a companyto deliver whatever the product or service is.
There are people behind the scenes,there are people that are forward facing.
Every single one of those people isin sales. They just don't look
at it that way. So thatleader needs to sort of deiccify the sales
conversation get everybody bought in. Sothey need to sell themselves to get people
(25:30):
rallied around that common goal. Sothat's the first one, and that's a
big mistake that I see a lotof leaders make. The second piece is
if you have a dedicated sales teamand you're leaning on them, are they
absolutely clear on the data? Arethey absolutely clear on what the sales process
is? And I'll explain that.So the data, we have a digital
(25:52):
footprint. You know, you senda thousand emails and you got three responses,
which led to two meetings, whichled to one sale. Okay,
so now you know your hit ratio. Those your clothes ratios. If you
don't know that and you don't payattention to the data and you don't look
at the market data and the trends, you're probably working a lot harder than
you need to be. And sothat's the first thing, is to do
a little assessment of what data dowe have? And then the next piece
(26:15):
is what's the sales process that you'reusing to make the numbers work to get
there? And I give you aquick example. There was someone that I
had coached in the insurance space,believe it or not, and he had
gone through a workshop of ours andI was his coach very early on in
his career. Years later, yearslater, his manager called at a blue
(26:37):
and said, Hey, we needto put this person back in coaching,
And I said, oh, really, what happened? He goes his clothes
ratio fell. The only reason heknew that is because he learned how to
track it from our workshop. Helearned how to do that, so he
knew that he should have been gettingmore deals or more appointments based on the
activity that he was doing. Hewas watching the data, came back in
(26:57):
to coaching. That's what we figuredout. He skipping parts of the sales
process. We get a little bityou know, cutting corners as we get
a little bit more seasoned. AndI'm sure you've seen this in your sales
training and consulting too. Is yousell into a vertical so you start to
think that you've heard this before.You start tuning out the prospect or the
(27:21):
client because it's like, yeah,I heard it before, I know where
this is going to go. No, no, no, So we start
cutting corners, we start skipping steps, we start assuming excusing, we start
assuming that they're going to buy in. You can never skip those bots.
Those five steps have to happen inevery interaction in that order because we know
(27:42):
that formula works. So those aretwo big ones. Is they don't get
the buy in and then they don'tlook at the data and watch how the
data informs the sales process. Welove that. And number one that you
do all the leaders recognized that everyposition is that is sales. Really I
love that, that's reality. Absolutely. Okay, so wow, this has
(28:07):
been great conversation. But I dohave three maybe four my own questions for
true that I ask everybody, andI'll still have my list here next to
me. But the three questions thatI ask everybody that comes on the show,
the first one is this. It'sa hard one, so'll be prepared.
If I give you a one hundreddollars bill and you have to spend
(28:29):
it on yourself, what do youbuy? It's an awful question. I'm
a giver. I'm a giver,not a taker. No, I don't
mean it that way. It's anawful person I have to answer and puts
me on the spot. You knowwhat's funny, I'd probably spend it on
a class or books. I would. I'd spend it on some lessons for
myself because I'm I do love tolearn, so it'd probably be taking a
(28:52):
course or signing on for an onlinesomething. But it's an awful question because
I would want to spend it onsomebody else I love to give. I'm
the giver, so it's really hardto say, oh no, I'm going
to take it for me and themajority of the guests are. And that's
why I ask you because it's sucha tough question. That's the majority of
(29:12):
it's a struggle at the end here, So it is and my answer,
my answer would be about the sameif if you know, if I had
to send them myself, it's goingon probably audible credits for audio books,
so I get it completely. Yeah. Now the second question is do you
have any goals or resolutions that youwould like to share, you know,
(29:34):
for this year. I do so. One goal that I have this year
in particular, is I pick.I pick a word every year that's my
word of focus. And this yearmy word is opportunity. And my word
is you know, sometimes wacky.One year it was spunkle, so I
mean there's you never know what it'sgoing to be. But this year my
word is opportunity. And this isone of my goals is I'm challenging myself
(29:56):
to see the opportunity in every everything, And it's not a selfish opportunity.
Maybe the opportunity is a lesson,Maybe the opportunity is to do something more
for somebody. Maybe the opportunity isto take a moment and take a beat
for myself. But I'm trying tochallenge myself and every circumstance and every instance
(30:17):
and every interaction is what was theopportunity and did I take it or did
I leave it? And I'm reallychallenging myself to take it this year and
I love that, so I mighthave to use that at some point too.
I'm going to still every thing andI'd just say, you know,
the last was sacrificed. And thisyear my word is build, So it's
(30:38):
about building different areas of my lifefor stability. So yeah, I love
I love adopting the words and thehighly recommend to the listeners if you if
you don't do this, I thinkthis is so powerful to really take that
one word and be be committed tothat word all year for twelve months and
(31:00):
use that as as kind of yourbaseline or you know, had a perspective
or your lens on how you're goingto use situations your life throughout the year
and really use that and allowed toshape you. Right, So changes everything
when you have that focus, itliterally changes everything. I was having an
(31:21):
a quick story. You can cutthis if you want to say no,
please share. Sure. I washaving an IT issue and we had an
outsourced company that was working on itand it was unbelievably frustrating and time consuming
and awful, awful, awful,and I am not a technology girl.
We have a joke here that technologyis a sharp knife, len I'm not
allowed to touch it. So thefact that I was dealing with it was
(31:42):
was not a good situation. AndI literally stopped myself when I'm sitting here
in the chat with the person andI'm going, Okay, what's the opportunity
here. I can look at thisand I can be really ticked off about
the fact that I've been on thischat for forty five minutes, or I
can look at this as an opportunityto maybe learn something, maybe work on
my interpersonal skills, maybe make thisperson's day, because that's kind of a
(32:05):
crummy job to have to deal withpeople who are really ticked off all day.
So maybe I their day a littlebit better. So that's just an
area where my words showed up forme recently where I went, Okay,
how can I how can I changethe energy around this and see it as
an opportunity And it's really cool todo that. Actually, it was really
fun to look at it through thatdifferent lens. And you know, for
(32:30):
a lessons, I don't know,three four or five bucks, you can
have a personalized arm band. Riskband made I love on where them all
the time to remind myself of thingslike one that I'm wearing today, So
seize today. So you know,when I'm going throughout my day, I
look down and see that. Butyou know, you can have your word
put on an armband or whatever youdecide to put it on kickers and just
(32:52):
post it around to kind of helpyou keep that focus on that word for
the for the entire year. Again, let that be be a lens that
you used to look through all yearlong. So thank you for sharing that
story. By the way, weare kindred spirits because I actually did that
one year when my word was joyand I promised myself I would see the
(33:13):
joy in every day and I hadit put on a little bracelet. So
I love that. It's It's awonderful and constant reminder. One of my
favorite sayings is never let them stealyour joys. That. Oh I would
love to give somebody credit to that. I don't remember who said that.
It may come to me before weend, but anyway, the point is,
(33:34):
I love you know. That wasjust one of the things that had
stuck with me for a long time. Has never let them steal your joy?
So that way when you go throughyour day, you can be grateful
and happy and content and all thatbecause nobody can steal that from me.
So thank you. So my thirdquestion for you is how can I and
the listeners of the Mark Howard showour community? How can we serve you
(33:59):
this year? What can we dofor you? I would love to hear
success stories of how people are livingtheir most powerful personal brand. That would
bring me the most joy. Itis my favorite thing when I wake up
and on my social media somebody hassent me a direct message and said I
did it and it works, andI'm like, yes, just what I
(34:19):
want to hear. So that ishow they could serve And I think that
that success and celebration begets more ofthe same, and it's contagious. And
I really think that we're a strongersociety, or a stronger community, or
a stronger world if everybody lives theirmost powerful personal brand and brings their I
(34:40):
call them superpowers to the forefront.I think we're all better for it.
So that's what I'd love to see. You know, read the books,
get out there, but most importantly, show the world your superpowers help others.
So I'll have links and show notesof course that where can they can
they find you and where can theytell you about their success stories. So
(35:04):
doctor Cindy dot com is the website, and I do check my own email
at doctor Cindy at doctor Cindy dotcom, DRC I at Drcandewy dot com.
And then first Lady of Sales.It's the number one st Lady of
Sales. I'm on all the differentplatforms you name it, and I check
my messages daily, so I loveto hear it. In fact, that's
(35:27):
I walk in the mornings with mydog and I wipe through my social media
and see what messages I've got,And it literally is my most favorite moment
of the day when somebody shares withme what they're doing to live their most
powerful self. It's just talk aboutjoy. It brings the joy to the
morning. Awesome, well, doctorCindy, thank you so much for being
(35:50):
here again today, just visiting withus and allowing our listeners to kind of
get to know you and for youto kind of pour into their lives through
the conversation. So thank you somuch for being here. Thank you so
much for having me Mark. Thiswas great fun. I feel like we
could have talked for an hour anda half more and then some so I
really appreciate it. Thank you.All right, everybody listening to the show
(36:12):
right now, here's what I wantto do. We're getting ready to wrap
up, So start clicking links inthe show notes. And I, for
some reason you're listening, maybe ona platform that doesn't have the show notes,
be sure to go to demarcourshow dotcom or Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
all Heart and you've been finds theshow notes. It'll have the link to
the book. Go buy that today. And then here's the thing. Don't
buy one copy, right, buyseveral so you can pass them out,
(36:36):
share that with the people that youcare about. So buy several copies of
the books. And then, asyou start building your powerful personal brand,
please connect with doctor Cindy on socialmedia. Tell her how things are going,
ask questions, and allow her topour into your life. So thank
you for listening, and we appreciateyou so much for being here.
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