All Selling Aside With Alex Mandossian

Imagine a pathway. You’re at point A and you are looking to get to point B. It sounds simple enough, but dividing the pathway is nine locked doors. There are big locks, little locks, ancient locks, you name it, but each lock requires a different key. Your mission is to craft the keys that unlock each door, one by one.  What’s at point B you ask? Well, it’s a sale. That illustrious construct that means the difference between running a business and having a hobby. What if, instead of having to craft new keys every time you made the trek down that hall, you had a mold ready for every specific lock? A mold, that you could replicate and provide to all of your salespeople who are also making the trek? Objections aren’t the end of a sale; they are the beginning. By preparing your salespeople and yourself to deal with those objections, you are creating the mold that will help you craft the keys to unlocking sales objections every time. Listen in to learn the method that I use to obliterate objections every single day

Being nice means different things in different cultures. In the world of sales, being nice means not closing the deal. I was reading Closer’s Survival Guide by my friend and colleague Grant Cardone and he discusses the root meaning of nice and how the word is defined in other cultures. Nice in Middle English means stupid, in Old French it means to feel good but have no impact. The problem with being nice in sales is that you create no tension. There is no immediacy and you fail to reveal why your product or service is necessary for the person you are speaking to. A sale should result in either a “yes” or a “no,” but being nice leads to the dreaded and costly “maybe.” I share with you three key insights on the word nice and how to eliminate it from your sales vernacular. The three insights are:   Why being nice doesn’t create enough tension to “close” sales opportunities. What the root meaning of nice is and why it suppresses sales opportunities. How to create sales with genuine authenticity but without bein

Jeffrey Gitomer, one of my colleagues, friends, and an amazing salesperson, wrote a book called the Sales Bible. In his book, he writes that a sale is always made. Either you sell your prospect on the yes, or your prospect sells you on the no. Such a simple concept but one that will forever alter how you approach sales.   There are four decision-making personas that one must consider when entering a sale. Each of these decision-makers need to be approached in different ways. For instance, the competitive decision-maker processes things fast and logically. This would be me. I want to quickly know what I’m being sold and why it makes sense for me.   Once you’ve dialed into the type of decision-maker you’re working with you can anticipate their needs and objections and obliterate them. This all starts with first realizing that both sides are selling the other at the same time.    Listen in to learn more about the three key insights for this episode:     What are the 4 decision-making personas you’ll meet in any

What is a connector? I can’t think of a better way to explain this than by sharing the story of my friend Joe Polish. Joe is now known as the founder of the Genius Network, but he started out with nothing. I share how he rose from nothing to achieve overwhelming success by learning how to connect people.   Joe started out in the carpet cleaning industry. He taught carpet cleaners how to grow their network thereby growing their businesses and their profits. He took what he learned in that industry and then applied it to many others. He learned that being able to connect people is a wonderful skill to have and a necessity in business.    Today I share how connecting with connectors directly affects your business by shining some light on Joe’s background and what I learned when he started the Genius Network. See, I was supposed to be one of the original members, but the value was lost on me at the time. Hear why I changed my tune, and how connectors have affected my business.   The three key insights for this ep

Ever heard of Fred Reichheld? He’s written several books and hundreds of articles on why loyalty marketing is the lynchpin of any business. Fred is a Harvard BA and MBA graduate who has been named the priest of loyalty marketing and for good reason.  Fred is the creator of the Net Promoter System (previously Net Promoter Score.) Have you ever been asked if you would refer a friend or family member to a certain company? Then you have participated in establishing some company’s NPS. This question is the ultimate question!  “The Ultimate Question 2.0,” Fred’s latest book, guides you through what the ultimate question is, when you should ask it, who you should ask it of, and why you should ask it. He also shows you how to calculate your NPS. You should definitely read the book, but for now, listen in as Alex dives into the NPS and how you can calculate it for your business. The three key insights for this episode are:   What is the ultimate question and what true value does it yield? What is your company’s net p

In 2004, my friend Joe Polish and I put our heads together to build a system for creating lifetime clients. After all, selling and marketing to people you are already affiliated with is much easier than appealing to a new audience. We created “stick strategies” to boost maximum profits, minimize losses, and increase the lifetime value of our customers and clients.   Stick strategies are ways to pamper your clients and make them feel invaluable. We have found more than 45 different strategies that are effective, but today I want to share with you just 5 of them. Listen in as I describe the strategies and why they are effective.   Once you’ve enacted your stick strategies, it is time to indoctrinate your clients. Learn why stick strategies work, how they apply in your marketing funnel, and how to indoctrinate your newly sticky customers. The three key insights for this episode are:   Why do stick strategies maximize the lifetime value of clients?  What are 5 time-tested stick strategies any business owner can

Have you ever considered space travel? How about what it takes to get a rocket ship to the moon? As a rocket ship is leaving the Earth, it takes 85% of its fuel just to breach the outer layers of the atmosphere. From the ground to the sky it’s 75 miles.  Do you know how far it is to the moon? About 239,000 miles. 85% of the ship's fuel is used to go an unbelievably short way because the rocket is going against gravity. This is why I believe that it requires more discipline to start a habit rather than to maintain one.  In this episode, I share three key insights that I want you to consider regarding discipline, forming habits, and why willpower is needed for disciplinary actions rather than habitual actions. The Three key insights for this episode are: Why discipline is only necessary when you’re shaping a new habit. How to identify the 4 levels of consciousness and why they’re relevant. Why getting started requires less willpower than getting down. After listening, don’t forget to write down your AHA! Mome

Passion does not beget commitment, rather commitment begets passion. When Gabriel Alex Mandossian was a sophomore in high school he decided he was going to get into an ivy league school and he was passionate about attaining this dream. He was a champion rower and received several leadership awards in relation to the sport. His passion however did not feed any commitment. His schedule was packed with school, rowing, and travel, but his desire was to be admitted into an ivy. He was a stellar rower but needed equally stellar grades to obtain his dream. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the time to study like he should have, and while his grades were good, they weren’t great. His inability to create a habit of study along with his habit of practice kept Gabriel from being accepted into his school of choice. His story certainly hasn’t ended and he’s doing very well at his junior college, but no matter the level of passion he had, his passion did not create commitment. These same principles apply to your sales habits.

In May of 1904, the young John E. Kennedy walked into the saloon at the Lord and Thomas Advertising Agency, the most powerful of its day. John sent a note upstairs via bellboy to Ambrose Thomas, a co-founder of the agency. The note read, “I am in the saloon downstairs. I can tell you what advertising is. I know you don’t know. It will mean much to me to have you know what it is, and it will mean much to you too. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word “yes” down by the bellboy.”  Kennedy was a 20-year-old Canadian Mountie who was also a copywriter and looking for a job. In the room with Ambrose Thomas was Albert Lasker, the man who eventually took over the agency. Mr. Thomas was not impressed by Kennedy’s stunt, but Lasker found himself intrigued. He asked for permission to chat with Kennedy and Thomas gave in, so they bring the kid up and have a conversation. The discussion turned into a test in determining the true definition of advertising. Kennedy slowly drew Lasker in by asking questions i

It’s October 26th in the year 2000 and I’m at Mt. Sinai Recovery with my then-wife Amy looking at our brand new baby boy. He was expected three weeks later, but because her doctor was going on vacation and he was getting bigger and bigger, they went ahead and induced her. Sounds fantastic right? I had my new baby boy right there! But because I wasn’t expecting him for three more weeks, I had a teleseminar scheduled for that evening… Rather than simply taking up my post in the requisite bedside chair, I decided to go ahead and proceed with the teleseminar by taking the hospital phone into the bathroom. I did what I did and made my offer, but during the teleseminar, the room speakers kept going off announcing the end of visiting hours. I ended up confessing my situation on the teleseminar, let them know what was going on, and then hung up after making my offer. Want to know what happened next?  I sold over $13,000 in that one day. It occurred to me then that if I could sell that much in one day whilst sitting o

In 2004, my friend and colleague Yanik Silver launched Mind Motivators, a course built through teleseminar recordings, notes, and executive summaries. This is before YouTube and social media channels, and we put a lot of time and effort into this launch. It was going great! Then we got an email from copywriting and direct response marketing legend Joe Sugarman. At the time, Joe had recently released a book called Triggers, and the promise of his book was almost word for word the premise of our course. He emailed us to point this out and note that he was upset because he felt people might become confused over the similar messages. We went back to the drawing board, altered the message of the program, and then sent it back to him to make sure it met with his approval. All was well, he agreed that the issue was clarified, so we then asked him for an endorsement for our course.  You see, the only way to get testimonials and endorsements for your products and services is to ask for them. Listen in to learn how to

It’s 2008, the heart of the Great Recession, and a couple of great friends of mine and I were trying to figure out how to sell more resources to fewer people. T. Harv Eker, Michelle Burr, and I were working to create a framework for creating more income in a very tight market. Out of that strategy session, Harv created the Reasons or Results coaching program. Do you tend to get things done? Are you timely and results-driven?  OR… are you the person who has great intentions, but also a million reasons for why things don’t get done? You can see why a coaching program that focuses on the mindset of results versus reasons would be a big-ticket item right? Ethical influence is built upon results. Listen in to learn why you can either have reasons or results and how that clarification can and will change the lives of your clients. The key takeaways for this episode are:  What’s the most important word for the question: Give reasons or results? Why the reasons or results mindset changes the lives of the people you

I’ve referenced Dr. Robert Cialdini many times throughout the course of this podcast because of his impact on ethical influence. The pillars of influence Dr. Cialdini has provided the world have changed the way salespeople approach selling. Ready to learn what fuels the pillars? Listen in! Have you ever picked up a really heavy box, set it down, and then picked up a lighter box, then thought to yourself that it felt like a feather? The actual weight of the lighter box didn’t change but your perception of its weight did. This is called the Contrast Effect and it illustrates the how the human brain perceives the world around it. This same concept applies in sales. In fact, you can apply the Contrast Effect to just about every negotiation you’re involved in. In this episode we learn:  What the Contrast Effect is and why it is so influential. How the Contrast Effect works with human buying decisions. Why the Contrast Effect works with pricing. Are you ready to absorb one of the keys to successful selling? Then

In this episode, I want to share with you the story of my student Phil. He is a musician, artist, and now novelist, but needed a way to expand his relationship capital in the world of novelists. He hired me to help with his networking strategy and I shared with him the F.I.T Formula that I recommend to all of my clients.  I asked him to start following three big-name novelists in the field and to interact with them daily. If he was unable to interact daily because they didn’t post daily, then I asked that he at least take the time to check so that he could consistently bring his name to their attention. He did this and started a relationship with Stephen King. Follow is the first step in the three-step F.I.T Formula and I look forward to sharing with you the other two steps in the course of the episode. Our three key insights for this episode will help define and explain the F.I.T Formula and why it works so well. We learn:  What the F.I.T Networking Formula is and why it works so well. Why growing relations

Today I share how choosing who to lose opens up more doors than simply deciding on who to keep. In 2011 my mentor Roy H. Williams and I were at the Pathfinder Mastermind, and I had a question I was burning to ask him. I wanted to know how he managed to target his audience so effectively. Roy’s response was that I needed to, “Choose who to lose.” When I asked for clarification he referred me to one of his Monday Morning Memos (specifically the one from 5/30/2005) discussing how deciding who not to target is more clarifying than deciding who to target. The memo goes on to discuss three other rules for properly targeting the right audience.  I also share an amazing case study of my own. I share an ad that I created with T. Harv Eker that made over $22 million dollars in just three years. Let me know if you can spot the four targeting concepts we discuss in the episode. Our three key insights for this episode explore why narrowing your targeting creates more effective messaging and how to niche down. We learn: 

Today we learn the keys to upselling and how to make upselling work for you in your business. My friend and colleague, T. Harv Eker, started his paramount sales career in the women’s shoe department of a store. Obviously, he went on to much bigger and better things, but it was while selling shoes that he learned one of the keys to sales. One day young Harv was helping a woman try on shoes. She tried on several, decided on a few, and asked him to put them behind the counter while she shopped around the mall. He told her that was okay and put the shoes aside. He was very excited about this purchase because the woman was prepared to buy several hundred dollars in shoes. Unfortunately, that woman never came back. When selling high-frequency, low-end products such as shoes, clothes, accessories, books, etc., remember one thing, the sale has to happen “now or never.” Sell to your customers while you have their attention and then capitalize on that attention and upsell. Our three key insights for this episode all in

Today’s story is about me, Ryan Levesque, and my P.L.U.S. marketing funnel. Here I was at the gym in my apartment complex when I receive a call from Ryan. He had just heard about my marketing funnel and gave me a call while he was going through the TSA pre-check at the airport. The P.L.U.S. marketing funnel was formed when a launch when south. I created this formula and managed to make back all of the debt the launch created and then some, saving the launch and my relationship with several of my friends who were joint-venture partners. Ryan was embarking on a launch later in the year and I was one of the joint venture partners. The launch was designed used the PLF formula, but Ryan heard about my success with my P.L.U.S. launch formula and wanted to know more. After his launch, Ryan only netted about 15% in profit. His goal was to increase his return on investment by employing a post-launch upsell strategy which my sales team and I created. Ryan had two offers he was looking to sell but the cost margin on the

Today I share with you the story of a wise man in the Middle East who was challenged by a young ambitious man. The wise man was known for providing good counsel and solving disputes. He appeared to know the answer to every predicament brought before him and solved those predicaments over many years. When the young ambitious man heard of the wise man, he sought to undermine the wise man’s authority and prove him wrong.   The young man hatched a vicious plan involving a dove and death. He would go to the wise man holding a dove in his hands and ask whether or not the dove was alive or dead. If the wise man said the dove was dead, the young man would release the dove and prove him wrong. If the wise man said the dove was alive, the young man would kill it in his hands. The young man felt his plan was foolproof.   Alex goes on to reveal the dilemma the wise man was put in by the young man. Rather than speaking immediately, the wise man ponders the question of the young man. When he was ready the wise man spoke. H

Today I want to share with you the story of Jerry Acuff and the car buying experience that he shares in his book Stop Acting Like a Seller and Start Thinking Like a Buyer: Improve Sales Effectiveness by Helping Customers Buy, on pages 18-20. Jerry was considering buying a BMW, same brand of vehicle I own.   Jerry recounts walking into the BMW dealership and not being accosted by salespeople. Instead, he was able to walk about and check out the different vehicles. After a while, a salesperson approaches him and asks a series of questions. The questions lead Jerry and the salesperson to the ultimate conclusion that BMW is not the right fit for him, but the way in which it was done is supremely important.   In today’s episode, I walk you through the steps of the D.E.L.T.A. sales process, why it is much more effective now than other sales tactics, and why connecting is better than closing. We also discuss the certainties which have to be true before a sale can be made. Sales is not about making the close, it’s ab

In December of 2000, I produced my first information product to sell online. It was called Marketing with Postcards, and I was selling it for $247. The ecosystem that I was in back then, the early days of the internet, was the time when people were selling $20 e-books, all digital, and my product was physical. I decided to create a secondary offer when I realized that the profit margin on the physical course was not in line with the industry. So, inside the sleeve of the 3-ring binder which housed the Marketing with Postcards course, was a card offering two 30-minute post-course consultations. I answered any questions that my clients had about the course and then I offered a $5,000, 90-day coaching program, which became my primary offer. All of this was made possible by the Wealth Creation Formula, the formula I used to generate my then annual income, monthly. What is the Wealth Creation Formula? It’s a 4-part system outlining the steps to take when scaling your business. As my business grew, I did not change