Kendrick Shope

I’m ready!

Kendrick Shope

It’s such a great question, and it’s almost a taboo topic.

Kendrick Shope

Women want to have every opportunity that men have, and of course, we deserve that, but it’s not popular to talk about some differences.

I get a lot of pushback from people sometimes saying, “I’m stuck in an old-fashioned way of doing business.” but the research is there to support it that men and women are different. It’s not rocket science.

Kendrick Shope

I think some of the most common ways we sell differently are not surprising to people. Neuro research shows that when men are in a confrontation or discussion, and they can push back with somebody that they are in almost like a zone of genius. In their brains, the neurotransmitters that fire are some of the same ones that fire when you’re having an orgasm. They’re in their prime and zone.

In contrast, that doesn’t happen to women in business.

Kendrick Shope

Yeah! All of a sudden it looks amazing.

But, when women, when we’re in this place where we’re feeling like we’re being tested or being pushed a little bit, those same neurotransmitters don’t fire at our brain.

Kendrick Shope

Those neurotransmitters fire in the minds of women in business when they are engaging or having long conversations with people or when we are selling through relationships.

The difference between the way men and women in business and sales are pretty much what you would think it would be. Women sell through relationships. Men like to get there. They like to get there quick. They’ll push back and like control the conversation.

Kendrick Shope

Yeah. I understand that.

Kendrick Shope

That’s a great question.

I’d love to touch on what you said about “I just want the bullet points.”

Kendrick Shope

I’m kind of the same way like “Just give me the bullet points.” That is what would be called in authentic selling, a red personality.

Personalities are broken down into colors; red, yellow, green, and blue. Red is that “Just give me the bullets, let’s get it done.” You typically sell to that person through fear of missing out or they like short compact sales. That is not a gender specific thing. That is both men and women. I’m willing to bet, you’ve got some red in your personality.

In contrast, when you are having conversations or when you like just to talk and have conversations, that’s a yellow personality. That’s that social butterfly.

Kendrick Shope

Yeah. Luis is the social butterfly.

What’s interesting is, even though that’s the way your personality is when you’re selling, when it comes right down to the close or making the offer, genetically, we are wired to make that offer in a way that maybe different from the way we function, perhaps different from your dominant color. That’s following up on your question.

But then, the real question was “How do we sell the men and women in business differently?” This is where I get a lot of pushback.

Kendrick Shope

Over a decade, I sold lumber to a male dominated industry. You can think of every stereotype about me you want to think of, and it’s going to be true. I was in Valentino shoes, walking through lumber yards in skirts and dresses, and those people I’m sure were thinking, “Oh dear God. This woman is going to talk to me about building products?”

Every stereotype you can think of was pretty much right about me, and it worked. It wasn’t an act. That’s who I happened to be.

As a person, I’m extremely feminine. I knew my stuff. I knew when I got the opportunity to go in and talk to those men. I knew about lumber and building products, but my way in wasn’t through the science. It wasn’t through the product’s knowledge. My way in was looking prettier than the guy who was trying to get in. You may not like it, but it worked.

I transitioned from selling lumber to pharmaceutical sales, and that’s when I sold the women.

Kendrick Shope

Yeah, exactly.

I didn’t change who I was. I’m still wearing Valentino shoes and my dresses, but my way in there is absofreakinlutely through the science, and through the education. I’m not just another pretty face trying to hit on all the male doctors. I know my stuff.

For women, I feel like there’s a little bit of a double-edged sword here. Men, I’m sorry, but I’ve been selling for 20+ years, I don’t see you having this problem. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I don’t see you have to “Let me not be too smart, so I can get back and talk to this person,” or “Let me show my smart so I can get back and talk to this female.” It’s unique.

Kendrick Shope

One of the things that are interesting about just the differences between men and women when you’re looking at biology. There are some drastic differences.

For example, women have verbal communication on both sides of their brain, and men do not.

Dr. Louise Brisbane has a lot of research about the differences in the way men and women thrive in life.

One of those is that even at a very young age, female infants are more receptive to body language and energy. When things get tensed in a room, they tend to react more than male babies. We tend to be more intuitive. Let me tell you what that means specifically in a sales conversation.

Kendrick Shope

I can remember going into an office with my district manager in pharmaceutical sales. He said, “We need to get a commitment for Dr. X to write 14 whatever today for the right patient.” I went into that office, and it was wild. The nurses, the MAs, and the gatekeeper were stressed. I thought there is no way I’m going to push doctor whoever on getting 14 new scripts today. It’s just not going to happen even though my boss wanted me to do that. I could pick up on the energy. I could tell not my time to close.

Kendrick Shope

Men, if your boss says “Let’s go in. Let’s get the close,” luckily, you’re going to go in, and you’re going to get the close because of you like that environment which is a pressure cooker kind of environment.

Kendrick Shope

Those are ways that men and women in business sell differently. Using different parts of your brains, and biology can help you succeed.

Kendrick Shope

I love this. You hit the area I like.

Kendrick Shope

First of all, I think you’re right. We’re all in sales. If you are engaging with other people on the planet, you’re in sales. I was on the Steve Harvey Show recently, and he said to me, “Prove to me that we’re all in sales. I’m going to let people in the audience to ask you a question who are not women in business, and you solve their problem with selling.”

The exact example you gave here Luis about if a woman said, “How do I sell my night owl on going to bed at a decent hour? How do I sell my husband on helping with the laundry?”

Kendrick Shope

Sales get a bad rap, and then you transition into launching. You transition into the online world that is full of people who just want to make a difference, and do good, and live an amazing life. Selling even becomes a little bit sleazier, and a little bit harder to do but here is the biggest takeaway.

Kendrick Shope

The black and white definition of the word “selling” is the exchange of money for a product or service. It’s the exchange of money for a product or service.

If you’re running a business and if you don’t have sales, your business is broke. If it feels icky, sleazy, slimy, pushy, you got to reconcile that fast. That’s step number one, man, woman, whatever.

If it’s an activity that is making you feel, “I don’t want to do it. It feels gross. I don’t want to be that person,” we got to reconcile that, and approach selling from helping.

Kendrick Shope

Selling is helping, especially in the health field.

If you don’t tell people about your offers, somebody may miss the opportunity to live a longer life and to spend more time with their kids. It is the definition of why people get into this industry.

The first step is realizing that selling is helping and you got to believe that.

Kendrick Shope

Launching is one of my favorite things to do. All my colleagues say “You launch with such intensity” and I do. I freaking love it.

Kendrick Shope

Here are a quick few tips to keep in mind.

1. When you’re launching and before you do anything, use this formula. It’s called your sales math. Pain point + Feature = Benefit

Your pain points are simple. It’s all the problems and all the things that are going wrong in your potential customer’s life that they want your help with.

For health coaches, it may be, “I eat a pizza every night,” or “I’m feeling sluggish, and don’t have the energy.” or, “I can’t walk around the block with my daughter anymore.”

The features, those are easy. That’s just your offer. Whatever you’re launching, your product, your program, your book, the benefits are where people mess up. Benefits, when you get this right, selling becomes so easy.

Kendrick Shope

A benefit is not the reversal of the pain point.

In the example, we used where we said: “I eat a pizza every night, and feel like crap, and don’t have the energy.” Then I come through this fantastic program.

What happens is not just that I don’t eat a pizza anymore. It’s what I’m able to do because I don’t eat that pizza. It’s that I wake up every day, and I feel a little bit better about myself, and my pants fit a little bit less tight. I cannot only walk around the block with my daughter one time, but we’re learning to run together. It’s all the things you’re able to because of the program.

Kendrick Shope

I’ve worked multi-million launches, and anytime I start a launch with somebody, we always do sales math. It’s funny because people will be like, “Oh dear God. I don’t need to do this. I’ve launched it 12 times.” I’m like, “But, you do need to do this.”

Every piece of communication you get should stand from that pain points plus features equals benefit.

Then, your social media, your emails, your Facebook live, and your webinar are all consistently on message. Consistency equals trust. Trust equals people paying you money. They’re more likely to give you their money if they trust you. Number one reason they don’t buy is that they don’t trust.

Before doing anything, start with this sale’s equation: pain points + features = benefits