EP 105: How to Build Trust: Lessons from Best Selling Author Larry Levine

Building Authentic Relationships is the foundation for professional success, and bestselling author Larry Levine breaks down exactly how to master it in this episode of Prospecting on Purpose. Larry shares his proven strategies for building authentic relationships by fostering trust, self-awareness, and personal growth—essential components for thriving in today's post-trust business environment.

Drawing from over three decades of sales experience, Larry reveals how building authentic relationships can accelerate revenue growth and personal fulfillment. He unpacks his powerful trust formula: Authentic Relationships, Meaningful Value, Inspirational Experiences, and Disciplined Habits, emphasizing the importance of personal accountability and continuous feedback for long-term success.

🔑 Key Highlights:

• Why building authentic relationships is the key to professional success.

• How trust, value, and self-discipline transform business growth.

• The difference between sales reps and true sales professionals.

🎯 Whether you're a sales leader, entrepreneur, or professional striving for excellence, this episode offers invaluable insights to help you master relationship-driven success with integrity and heart.

#BuildingAuthenticRelationships #SalesLeadership #BusinessGrowth #LarryLevine #TrustInSales #AuthenticSelling #SalesExcellence #ClientRelationships

👉 Connect with Larry:

• Website: Selling from the Heart

Connect with Sara https://www.saramurray.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/

What is Prospecting on Purpose® with Sara Murray?

Prospecting on Purpose is Forbes meets Saturday Night Live - it’s *the* show for everything prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.

As business grows more complex, the biggest opportunities emerge when we learn beyond our own industries. From hospitality and design to technology and travel, this is where professionals come together to exchange ideas, uncover new perspectives, and prospect for business with creativity, authenticity, and intention.

Hosted by Sara Murray, a heart-centric sales champion, each episode helps you raise both your vibes and your game. Sara's playbook is simple - ABAV: Always Be Adding Value. Embrace your authentic self, lean into your unique strengths, and sell the outcome instead of the product or service.

Join Sara each week as she sits down with world-class thought leaders to unpack today's business strategies, mindset shifts, and relationship-driven approaches to growth, giving you practical ideas you can put into action right away.

Connect with Sara: www.saramurray.com IG: @saramurraysales LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/

here's the conundrum most people never ask

most people never ask but if you ask not

you get not

most people will never sit down with their customers

clients however you want to refer to them

look them in the eye and say Sarah

thank you so much for doing business with me

it's been an great experience serving you here at ABC

Company

I just got into thinking

because I'm always on a quest to bring value

as much value as I possibly can to your business

Sarah

I'm just curious and looking at this through your lens

what does value look like

how would you describe it

what words would you use

how do you know when you're receiving value

stop and don't say a word

and you cannot say a word

and there might be let me tell you

there might be some awkward silence

and I don't care they will finally speak

and when they speak you listen and you keep asking that

you ask that to all of your customers

and pretty soon

you'll understand how to bring value to your customers

that simple

you're listening to prospecting on purpose

where we discuss all things prospecting

sales business and mindset

I'm your host Sarah Murray

a sales champion who's here to show you that

you can be a shark in business

and still lead with intentionality and authenticity

tune in each week

as we dive into methods to connect with clients

communicate with confidence and close the deal

Larry Levine is the best selling author of two books

selling from the heart

and selling in a Post Trust World

he is also the co host of the award winning

selling from the heart podcast

blending a heart of service

with over three decades of infield sales experience

Larry helps sales professionals develop a mindset

and a skillset for authentic success

in a post trust sales world

Larry helps teams leverage the power of authenticity

to grow revenue

grow themselves and enhance the lives of their clients

Larry has coached sales professionals across the world

from well tenured reps to new

up and coming salespeople entering the workforce

they all appreciate the practical real relevant

relatable and street savvy nature of his coaching

Larry believes people would

rather do business with a sales professional

who sells from the heart

as opposed to a salesrop who is an empty suit

Larry welcome to prospecting on purpose

oh thank you so much Sarah

I I've been looking forward to this

so I know we're gonna have a great conversation

thank you for having me

I'm so excited we were able to meet

and I'm Janice Porter

gave us an introduction to each other

she was our connector

so I want to give a shout out to Janice

and now that I've read your book

now that you I totally understand why

she put us in touch with each other

I feel very Kindred spirit to you

and I just finished your book

selling in a post trust world

discover the soft skills that your yield hard results

and excuse me

that year yield why am I struggling yield hard

and I have to tell you I really liked this book so much

because it was very tactical

and we are living in a post trust world

it is it's kind of upsetting when you

when you let yourself get in that hole

so I just I wanna commend you for putting it out there

because it was a nice anchor

that I think people are gonna be able to hold on to

no thank you

you know and it's

it's so interesting

because I've had people over the years

poke holes at the word post trust

really but but I go listen

I go it's just this is on it's a sad situation

but it's the world that we live in today

people just I mean

there's very few people that most people trust

I mean truly trust

but now if we direct this into the sales world

or professional services and I could even say

throw this into retail in the B to C space

or the b to B space unfortunately

we were we live in this world of

I don't trust you until I trust you

and it's it's post as in fact

I think post trust was the word of the year

and Miriam whips Webster this could have been five

six seven years ago

and I kind of caught on to it and I'm like going hey

you gotta learn how to build and establish trust

right away that that's why

you know for those who choose to read

selling in a post stress world

this book will transform your personal life

but it'll also transform your career

if you take the four pillars in the book

and you take it to heart yeah

and we're gonna get into the four pillars

I I think one of the things that you said that really

really resonate with me when I was starting my business

you know I was telling people

I'm gonna teach you

how to build authentic relationships

and sales leaders would kind of be like

this isn't a problem for us

we don't need this but when you look at the fact that

if trust is what gets people to buy and make decisions

but you can't have a relationship or excuse me

you can't build trust without the relationship

now all of a sudden we're solving a problem

so for me

I think it made it a little bit more quantifiable

why the relationship matters

when at the beginning of my business

I was having a hard time explaining it

so I think that it really puts dollar bills on

the problem and

and oh I'm

you know I'm so glad you brought this up here

here's why cause I remember I had a mirror moment

and this is really how the book came to be

and I'm so glad you just you brought this up

I remember about three and a half years ago

not quite four

my business coach and his mentor

we were we were just

we're all together and they looked me in the eye

and this plays into what you just said

they go hey listen

you're having all kinds of nice

you know air quote success with selling from the heart

however

you gotta be able to look in

executive in the eye and say

if you implement

the foundations of selling from the heart

this is how you can turn this into revenue and profit

so what does selling from the heart do

and right away I said

builds trust and credibility

if you can implement my first book

this will help you build trust and credibility

then they said okay

now you're onto something

I didn't know that was the crux of my book

but it plays on what you just said

is you gotta be able to look right

and I don't this applies to everybody

you gotta be able to look people in the eye

and with conviction say

if you implement what I have to offer

this will help you increase revenue and profit

uh huh and so they said

how can you help sales people

sales leaders implement revenue and profit

it's how you build authentic relationships

and really unpack it

how you build meaningful value and unpack it

and how you bring an inspirational experience

and unpack it and how you become disciplined with it

and you unpack it

they go now you're onto something

yeah but it play

but it plays on to what you just said

and it triggered a thought is

most people don't understand

how to build an authentic relationship

and so it is a hard skill

it is a skill it's 100% skill

and here's what's interesting about this is

there's a lot of assumptions that are being made

we assume as humans we understand how to build

we already know this

humans are messy relationships are messy

and the relationship that you think

you have with somebody

may not be the relationship that they think it is

and so there's a lot of AB

testing that goes on

in building authentic relationships

but we just don't understand how to build one

what constitutes an authentic genuine relationship

I submit to everyone

it starts with the authentic relationship

yeah with yourself

I loved that part of the book too

because I don't know if people as a whole

spend a lot of time getting to know themselves

and building a self relationship

so I loved the video gives tactics in that

on the book in the book yeah

you know it's like people will look at me Sarah

and they go man

I don't know if I could buy into some of this

I've walked through it I've literally walked through it

I tell people in the last 10 years

I've Learned more about myself and what makes me tick

that's directly translated out in the business world

and helping grow

selling from the heart to where it's at

because I was willing to go inward

I was willing to look at

the relationship I have with myself

what's working what's not working

by the way people

this all plays in to your ability to grow

the professional side of your life

if the personal side of your life is in turmoil

Mark my word the professional life will be in turmoil

at some point in time it will come out

I don't mean to take this down a

you know a dark path

but the internal misalignment you all have

will directly play on the outside part

which is your professional life

and your ability to earn a living

and those those

you would said relationships are messy and they are

and I think we separate ourselves

it's like here's work Sarah over on this hand

and here's real Sarah and they don't

those two worlds don't exist

but as soon as you start to really blend the two

then you're being vulnerable

then you're being actually authentic

cause you're yourself and that's when I think

true connection can actually happen

nobody wants to do business with robots

or you call them empty suits

would you explain what um

what your definition of an empty suit

it's just you know

it's just to get people to picture this in their head

right yeah

yeah I mean

I always say this if you're failing to educate

if you're failing to engage

if you're failing to excite people into conversations

if you're if you're failing to inspire

and influence and bring passion to what you do

they're just gonna view you as being empty

if you're not bringing anything to the relationship

if you're not helping them become better

their business become better

all they do is view you as

you're not bringing anything to the table

and so

as I was piecing together selling from the heart

and I had to put a bow on the last chapter

I just said don't be an empty suit

and now it's just kind of whole thing is just stuck

I get people tagging me in empty suit pictures

and things like that but in all sincerity

I want I want just

people to conjure in their mind for a moment

just emptiness right

it can't be I mean

most people don't wear suits anymore so

but you get

the whole concept behind it is perception is reality

and if you're not bringing anything to the table

and you know this Mark my word

you know

when you're not bringing anything to the table

people start to notice and and it was so interesting

I asked a group of salespeople not too long ago

I asked them do you think in today's world 2024

people are your customers are expecting more of you

or less of you than they did before

it was so interesting sir

cause I got a mixed bag on this one

and some people that said more and I said okay

explain and I and so then once I heard them out

I said

for all those who said they're expecting less of you

why and the most common responses were why

people can put their orders in now online

people can research things online

people can leverage technology and so forth

keep it really simple and I go

interesting now I'm gonna flip this around

do you think the reason why they're asking less of you

is you're not bringing anything to the relationship

that's new

do you think that

you're not bringing any value to the forefront

and then they go you know what

I really don't need you coming around anymore

and again I'm being really direct with this

that's the classic signs that

you're heading down the road of being an empty suit

when your customers start asking less of you

because they're asking more of you

your sales professional

you're bringing more to the table

you're educating them you're inspiring them

people look forward to seeing you

I want more of what Sarah has to offer

I want more of what Larry has to offer

when you come in

you leave me in a better place than when you walked in

I love that that's so powerful

and I think that was

you mentioned it quite a few times in your book

and and I wanted to talk about this

what is the difference between a salesperson

or a business person who sells

and then you have your sales rep sales professional

and I feel very strongly that

it's the sales professional's job

to add value to the to the client's business

and now it's really I think what

what your message in your platform really teaches us

is the actual ways on how to do that

in a way that's authentic to you

the hundred percent

I just I just equate all this to be in a commodity

hmm and regardless of what you sell in fact

I think it was Gary Vayner Chuck it one day

it said some I caught something on a LinkedIn

just scrolling through one day

he said you all live in a commodity world

you all live in a commodity driven world

and some people have a hard time

really latching around this

but one way to be viewed as not being a commodity

is you gotta start carrying yourself and view yourself

and walk and talk like a sales professional see

I believe sales reps are replaceable

some of y'all may not believe me on this

that's okay

sales reps in today's day and age are 100% replaceable

there's always a sales rep

who's gonna come around with better speak

they're gonna carry themselves in a better sales rep

way you're gonna find yourself replaceable

sales professionals

in today's day and age are irreplaceable

cause there's so few and far between

but I always say

sales professionals work harder than themselves

sales professionals are not excuse maker

sales reps will find every reason

not to do what sales professionals are doing

but they'll be the first ones to poke holes at them

I appreciate how direct you are too

because I think that's something that people need to

hear like in your book

you were talking about no excuses

and looking at yourself in self reflection

and if you have a relationship with yourself

then it's not gonna be a scary to ask for feedback

or to yeah

you you talked about um and after a conversation

almost just doing like a mini

feedback of what went well in that conversation

and what didn't and I

I had a conversation yesterday with someone

and they started to say oh

did so and so tell you

and I said oh yeah I heard and the guy says no

that's not what I was gonna tell you

and it was a it was a little like

oh Sarah

practice your active listening skills and it was yeah

it's hard to do but

but I think that self

accountability and self reflection is a lot easier

if you have your relationship with yourself yeah

you know it's interesting about all this Indiana

I'm a big I love everything about sports and people

and people always want to tie in professional sports

analogies to sales things like that

hey listen

if you look at the elite of the league

if you look at right

again love these people or hate these people

that's not the purpose behind this

but you look at the LeBron James and the Kevin Durant's

and the show hey

Atanis in the baseball world

you look

at some of the greatest managers that are out there

right me being a Dodger fan

Dave Roberts right

or this could be Brian Bochi or yeah

I think that's what his name is

nevertheless last name is Bochi

his name is Bochi right

but but nevertheless

managers world these people work harder on themselves

they hold themselves to a higher degree of standards

they're the first ones in there

the last ones to leave they have a no excuse mindset

they're not pointing fingers

they're reflecting they're not deflecting

and I just bring this up

because professional athletes plan

prepare and practice better than anybody else

now if you're in the sales world

can the same be said of you

are you planning

prepping and practicing better than anyone else

I'll leave anyone to answer that for themselves

but I remember yeah

I just got a touch on what you said about being direct

and I Learned this a long time ago

this is probably 25 almost 30 years ago

and the saying stuck with me

I was in a workshop one day

I grew up in the office technology space

so I was in a workshop

bunch of people selling copiers and all that

I was in a two day workshop

listening to some guy

talk about leadership and management

in the office technology space

and he had these chair moments

and these chair moments is when

he would stand up on a chair

and mess up his hair

and then he pull out an old pocket comb

and he'd comb it back again

that was just to like to get everyone's attention

and his saying was this Sarah

you as a leader you as a manager

you got to be able to deliver a message

with an iron fist

and a velvet glove

hmm and that stuck into my head

iron fist velvet glove

iron fist velvet glove

it's okay to deliver a stern message

as long as you don't beat somebody over the head

with the stern message

deliver a stern message in a very loving

caring way the reason why I'm delivering this message

in the way that I'm delivering it is

cause I care about the sales profession

I wanna elevate the sales profession

and sometimes

it's saying the things that need to be said

as opposed to brushing them under the table

or throwing them in the closet

or dancing around it or using words

just to avoid saying what really needs to be said

sometimes the best things that need to be said

just need to say it

but say it in a very tender loving

caring way and there's a lot of kindness and clarity

yeah well

if you're not giving someone feedback

and they keep repeating the same thing

cause no one's ever said hey

have you ever considered this is a different way hey

that person's interpreting it wrong

and another thing that you had said was

perception is reality

and I think that's something that

if you can grasp that

it helps you kind of take yourself out of it

so if you are getting feedback

or if you're giving feedback and it's challenging

it's all from how you're perceiving it being received

so you can perceive it as

I can't believe Larry gave me that harsh feedback

what an a hole or wow

Larry cares so much about me and my success

that he was able to

to bring up this uncomfortable conversation

it could be the exact same situation

but the way you're viewing it really put you in

in the seat of control

and that's something I only kind of recently Learned

and it's been really helpful

and not taking things personally

I mean you really can't and I Learned this the hard way

I would take everything personal

I would really take and I beat myself up over it

and you know

setting aside the percent I mean perception is reality

I believe it 100% some people may not believe me

that's okay but whether you're a salesperson

sales leader a solo entrepreneur

you're out doing stuff by yourself

you gotta manage perception

you gotta manage perception

through the lens of the people

who are interacting with you

that means sometimes

you gotta open yourself up for feedback

you gotta open yourself up for critique

you gotta open yourself up for things that

you may not wanna hear

because those are the things are gonna make you better

I've always said this

I write about it in both my books feedbacks

Breakfast Champions it's how you perceive the feedback

see

professionals are gonna take feedback with positivity

they're gonna go say bring it on

just bring it on as much feedback as you possibly can

bring it on sales reps

they don't even wanna hear anything about feedback

cause they're gonna look at it through a negative lens

why you beat me up all of this

I don't tell me right

I already knew that already been down there

already been down that road

y'all get where I'm going with this

let me ask you this so

I feel like

the people that need to hear this type of stuff

the most are the people who don't listen to podcasts

and don't do don't read business books

I mean

some of the people that I've worked with her I'm like

oh you're just missing it

and it's because they don't do that self reflection

and I want to call continuing education

but there's a lot of knowledge

out in the world

and a lot of people that we can learn from

what are your thoughts on like the

the professional development from a

like a self starter standpoint

you know what first of all

there's no excuse around not doing any of this

I will tell you this and plays on what you said

this is an exaggeration

but this is gonna prove what Sarah and I

are speaking about you can get a PhD in knowledge

business knowledge for free

on the internet yeah

by listening to business podcast

by watching business oriented things on the internet uh

by reading business journals and all that right

not I'm not even saying

making an investment in buying business books

or anything like that

you can just freaking listen to business podcasts

all day long which by the way

cost you absolutely zero to listen to

because they come in on your smartphone

or you can just Google them right

yeah you could watch freaking YouTube videos for free

you can talk to your current customers for free

you can talk to your friends for free

you can talk to influencers out of the marketplace

for free if you're willing to get vulnerable with it

so there's no there's

there's literally no excuse why you can't

continually educate yourself

it goes back to I'm a massive Napoleon Hill fan

I'm just a Napoleon Hill junkie

and Napoleon Hill once said

you know I mean

obviously when I say once said

because what just too bad I can't meet this dude

because he checked out a life a long time ago

but he said most people Waller through life

they're like a rudderless ship it's sad

it's concerning

but that's okay right

if you want to carry I'm not I'm not here to say right

wrong or different y'all can carry your life

however you want to carry your life

but at some point in time you'll hit a brick wall hmm

at some point in time you're gonna go man

what's causing all of this

why am I doing the things that I'm doing

money is not the root of everything

but money sure makes things go away

and I'm and I'm sure this whether you're in sales

whether you're in professional services

whether you're a solo entrepreneur

really doesn't matter it's fair to say this

you wanna make more money

every year than you did before

agreed you don't wanna say

you know what

I made really good

I made really freaking good money this year

whatever freaking good money is

you know what I think I'm gonna take 30% less

I'm not I'm not gonna work that hard

I think I'm gonna

I wanna make 30% less than I did last year

I don't know too many people who have that mentality

at least I run around in the circle I run around in

right well

so hi what's up

I said

you probably don't hang out with the rudderless ships

yeah but

but

but there's a point behind this is to get you thinking

you can't make more money year over year

by not investing in yourself right

you can't rely is so say your W2

you can't rely

on your employer to constantly give you merit raises

and tenure raises and things like that

and that's your ability to earn more money

if that's all you're banking on

then that's a mirror moment

but if you wanna make more whatever that more money is

it's a thousand bucks more than you made the fall

you know previous year

you gotta work on yourself

you gotta think about

what do I need to do personally and professionally

in development to earn that extra thousand bucks

and not rely on my company say

you know what I've been doing such a great job

I deserve a thousand dollar bonus

put pooi on all of that stuff yeah

a pulley I love it well

I also think with you have any direction

you have a vision you're working on yourself

it gives off a type of

energy that other people wanna work with

other people wanna be around

you get to meet other people like you

because people wanna do business with people that are

doing something interesting

and that are at not draining you

cause you the boring suits the empty suits

after a conversation with them

they leave you so drained

people don't wanna hang out with people that drained

they wanna hang out with energizing people

and the way you energize is by having

interesting things and

and I think that I really appreciate you saying that

because sometimes it's nice to have that

that reminder and kind of that reframe

hey listen I I

I I said this

I will

I will go toe to toe with anybody out there on this

if you don't bring passion

and you don't bring excitement

and you don't bring inspiration to what you're doing

stop it right now go find something else to do

that you can bring passion to

that you get excited about

that you can bring inspiration around

there's too many people that have a J O

B for the sake of having a J O B

more power tomb

if that's how they want to carry their life

but if you're not bringing passion

excitement inspiration

go find something else to do stop what you're doing

go find something else to do

I know that's hard to hear

but there's a lot of truth behind it

well and life is short but it's also long

we have a life

so let's have fun with it while we're here

but but here's the thing people notice this stuff oh

big deal your customers notice this stuff

if you're out business developing

people pay attention to all of this stuff

they actually 100% do

Larry has a chapter in this book that's are you

boring your clients and I laughed out loud

because now that I have a business

I am now a customer in some ways

and now I'm on the receiving end of sales pictures

and some people are so boring

and I just

I just let it roll off my brain cause I'm like

you know

you're not I don't see any passion or excitement

why would I wanna work with you

and I clearly don't matter to you

people can tell

I think that the BS meters are finally tuned

post trust world we have different blinders on

so how are you gonna break out from the noise

and you have a trust formula correct

hundred percent it's all

it's all spelled out in selling in a post trust world

and it goes back to the story that I shared

in the very beginning of our time together

where I was really challenged

I was challenged at the core

around what is selling from the heart

and we got a successful podcast

Darrell Amy is my co host

we have a successful podcast

it's how the book was built

it's how this whole business was built

that we call selling from the heart

but executives wanna a lot of executives unfortunately

think selling from the hearts

pixy stix and rose petals

that's what they think it is right

this is too lovey dovey stuff

I can't deal with any of this stuff

but the subtitle of selling in a Post

Stress World plays out

soft skills will drive and yield a hard dollars

but it's all based on the trust formula

which I was challenged to

by my business coach and business mentor

and you know we came up here selling from the heart

with the trust formula I just ran with it

we coached to it

we've been coaching people and companies to it

before the book was even out

surround four pillars

it's are you building authentic relationships

which is who you know

and it's not surface level

relationships is what do you really know

what do you know about these people personally

professionally what makes them tick

where do their goals dreams aspirations

where is their vision in life

some of y'all might be going

this doesn't play out in my space

it does you just haven't thought about it that way

first leg of building trust is

you got to build authentic relationships

and you got to combine it with meaningful value

meaningful value is what you know

that's business smarts business insights

they both go hand in hand

two sides of the trust coin

the accelerators on the Trust Formula

One's really exciting one's tough

the exciting part of this is inspirational experiences

that's how you show up

so it's authentic relationships is who you know

meaningful values what you know

inspirational experiences are how you show up

by the way you're responsible for this hmm

if you're self employed you're responsible for it

if you're W2 you're responsible for it

it's not your employers not your managers

not your leader

you are 100% responsible for how you show up

and interact with your customers

and your prospects you're 100% responsible for

how you show up in the community

how you show up in the marketplace

the last part of this is discipline habits

and discipline habits is when you show up

discipline habits

by far is probably the hardest part of this

because most adults that I know

really struggle with self discipline

and self discipline requires consistency

and consistency

in an inconsistent world is king and queen

so if I remove discipline habits

if I remove discipline habits

completely out of the trust formula

this whole thing falls apart

if you don't bring discipline habits to the forefront

you cannot build authentic relationships

you cannot bring meaningful value

cannot bring inspirational experiences

it's the fourth leg of a chair

and that's the whole foundation

and selling in a post trust world is

we're taking the foundation of heart authenticity

caring and selling from the heart

we call given a rip

and we're putting some substance behind it

and selling in a post trust world by saying

if you can implement these four

foundations of the trust formula

you'll skyrocket revenue you'll increase profit

you have a more fulfilling career

and you'll feel better about yourself

I freaking love it because I think let's go

so let's break down the four things

and let's give examples for each

so authentic relationship building

that's kind of what we've been talking about

in this conversation

give us a tip on on how to do that

so here's so here's what here's what's interesting

when when it's not just relationships

it's authentic relationships by the way

I gotta preface this

I am no PhD masters in all of this human psychology

in human behavior and all this

this is street saviness stuff

I Learned from 30 years ago

in the snot kicked out of me

selling copy machines

so what I'm bringing to the forefront

what I'm sharing is through a practitioner's lens

not through a professor's lens or doctorial lands

why we relate to you we relate so when

when I when I think of authentic relationships

I think a congruency does the walk match the talk

so I want I want and I challenge people

I do this cause I care

I don't do this to say I know more than you

I do this because I care

and when I start thinking about relationships

authentic relationships and when I ask people

so for all of you who are listening to this

I want you to send

this will really hone in on authentic relationship

Sarah

I want you to think of your best customer right now

just everyone just think of your best customer

whoever that is whatever industry you're calling into

and your best customer

my definition be the one if you're having a crappy day

you're calling this person as your go to

because they're gonna put a smile on your face

I want you to think of all the key decision makers

and influencers that are in that business

what do you really know about them

and what do they really know about you

what are three things you know about them personally

what are three things you know about them

professionally what are their hobbies

what are they like listening to

what are they like reading

what's their favorite restaurant they love going to

what's their favorite food

what's their favorite vacation spot

what are their goals over the next 90 days

what are their dreams for their business

where do they see themselves a year from now

I'm here to tell you this if you don't know any of this

you don't have truly authentic relationships

that's my tip

that's what I leave everyone to think about

because it's it's it's so interesting cause I

I literally I get fired up over this

I ask people this all the time all the time

no one's taking me up on it

because they don't want to get embarrassed

I'll say this I want you to think of that again

I want you to think your best customer

that you got the best rock solid relationship with

however you however you define it

would you give me their phone number

so I can call them and ask them to clearly define

the relationship they have with you

but you're telling me the relationships rock solid

can I just validate it by simply giving them a call

of course no one's

it's the mirror moment

I'm not saying y'all got crappy relationships

that's not the point behind any of this

the point is

is the relationship that you think you have

with your best customer

is that the relationship that they think it is

and if not

that's opportunity for improvement

I want relational alignment

I don't wanna go through and by the way

I do this and my team does this

at selling from the heart

I'm constantly on the quest

for these authentic relationships right

I leave no stone unturned

even with my selling from the heart

clients around the relationship part of this

I'm pouring into the relationship

I wanna know something about them

every time I get on a call with one of my clients

I wanna know something new about them

I wanna bring something

that I've Learned from them to the forefront

and I wanna share a little bit of me every single call

that's how you build these relationships

it requires an investment

uh huh we can't take them for granted

unfortunately

a lot of people take relationships for granted

they think they've got this thing wired

until that customer stops doing business with you

and you wonder why

I'm just saying I don't

I don't know that is

I mean I appreciate that you

gave us some really specific things to ask ourselves

cause I'm thinking as you know

I'm thinking about my clients as you're talking

and there's definitely

some of the questions I can answer

but there were a lot

I don't know if I know their hobbies actually

I gave a gift the other day to someone

one of my clients are contract ended

and I know he likes nice liquor

so I was gonna buy him a nice bottle of Bourbon

and instead at the Ralph's

the grocery store I found a candy cane filled with um

little fireball whiskies

and I just kind of took a gamble

I said I think he's gonna think this is funny

so I wrote my thank you card

I gave him a candy cane left on his desk

and I get a call from him

and all of a sudden he's telling me about skiing

and he will take the little mini shot skiing with him

and now we're talking about where do you ski

oh I'm in Park City

dah dah dah

but I had no idea who was a skier

and it was a little bit of like a huh

I should know that because I live in a ski country

you know it's just

it was a little bit of a mirror moment for me too

I'm like oh but at least I got the opportunity to

do a little percent more little bit more and I like

I think that I think when people think about having

how do you do this it's kind of a big nut to crack

how do you build this relationship

what you're telling us is

giving some framework of things to ask ourselves

and then just a little bit more

a little bit more a little bit

you know and that's all that's all it is

it's like people go overboard with the stuff

cause right away and and I prefaces

every time I hop on calls

with the teams that I work with

I said I gotta preface this

I know I'm like a broken record on this

but y'all gotta figure out the ways this could work

and not immediately tell yourselves this doesn't work

hmm that's all and it's

and it's why in selling from the heart

one of my my all time favorite quote

and selling from the heart is this

sales people have hypnotized themselves into believing

what they're not doing doesn't work

now there's some double negatives in there

sales be odd even take right

if you don't think you're a salesperson

if you're not in sales by the way

I beg to differ but we'll give you benefit of the doubt

we'll take salespeople out of this

we'll just call people

people have hypnotized themselves into believing

what they're not doing doesn't work

so a vast majority

all that might be listening to this or saying

I don't know I doubt this will I doubt this right

you're coming up with all these excuses

well guess what

have you even tried it

just saying

that's no that's a really helpful reminder

I cause I I'm guilty of it for sure

I think everyone is to some degree

and so authentic relationships boom

meaningful value I think that's the other thing

you know

you're talking about getting a PhD from the internet

it's it's information is out there for all of us

I think what I really resonated with

in that part of the formula was

we always have to be adding value

that's a big part of you know

understanding their business model asking questions

but also having business acumen

because in a sales world you you said it so eloquently

we're business we're business professionals who sell

versus a sales rep or a sales salesperson

so I really like that reframe

because this is a business conversation

it's a partnership

when you're in and we're near in a sales role

so people are listening

how can they focus on adding value to their clients

understand what value means to them

again this is simple stuff

yet so difficult to actually put into play again

this isn't rocket science stuff

truly not it goes back to the relationship part of this

is the relationship what you think it is

here's the other thing

is the value that you're bringing to the table

what you think value is is it what they think value is

that old saying

values in the eye of the beholder is really true

here's the conundrum most people never ask

most people never ask but if you ask not

you get not

most people will never sit down with their customers

clients however you wanna refer to them

look them in the eye and say Sarah

thank you so much for doing business with me

it's been an great experience serving you here at ABC

Company

I just got into thinking

because I'm always on a quest to bring value

as much value as I possibly can to your business Sarah

I'm just curious and looking at this through your lens

what does value look like

how would you describe it

what words would you use

how do you know when you're receiving value

and stop and don't say a word and you cannot say a word

and there might be let me tell you

there might be some awkward silence and I don't care

they will finally speak and when they speak

you listen and you keep asking that

you ask that to all of your customers

and pretty soon

you'll understand how to bring value to your customers

that's simple yeah

I'm gonna put that as our

hook at the beginning of this podcast interview

because I feel like that's something

we're gonna wanna replay over and over

that script that you just gave us

so we are authentic relationship building

we're bringing meaningful value

then the next is inspirational experiences

simple as this it's how you show up

what are you doing to inspire an influence

and wow your customers

what's really interesting is I can

I'll give you an example

I came out of the office technology space

I saw copiers for almost three decades

late 80s all the way till 2015

it's almost 10 years ago

and I had a hard time putting profit in deals

it goes back to you know

things that happened in the past right

things like that just the industry came out of

so I had a really hard time putting profit in deals

cause it's just I wanted to do what's right

and I had a hard time with money

a lot of things sales people

entrepreneurs have a hard time dealing with

until I latched on to the experience part of this

and I knew people would pay for an experience

and I had to figure out in my space

what was my defining moment

that set me apart from everybody else

and my experience was this that I walked around

I literally

I'd wear business suit every single day to work

suit and tie

I carried Windex

window cleaner and rags and rolls of paper towel

my car

and I went around to my clients

and I clean their copy machines

hmm I clean the outside of the copy machines

I clean the glass I open drawers I put paper in it

made sure everything was okay

did I have to do that no people caught on to it

that was my inspirational experience

I was cleaning did I have to do it

absolutely not

we had service technicians that could do that

but it was my opportunity to go in

build authentic relationships

learn something new about my customers

that I did know before

walk the halls pay attention

be observant then I clean copiers and I put paper in it

and I went and I had to go wash my hands and things

I got people would see me doing all this

before you know it the stories were getting repurposed

and the stories were getting repurposed

pretty soon

I was known as the guy that cleaned copy machines

and then when I was on boarding

or bringing new customers into my dealership

I'd say you know what Sarah

if you decide

I'm the right person to help you with your office

technology needs let me share with you

the experience that I'm gonna be providing

that you can expect from me

not my company

that you can expect from me on a monthly basis

I'm gonna be doing this on a quarterly basis

I'm gonna be doing this

and their jaws would drop

and I have to pick them up off the floor

cause no one there

sales people weren't sharing any of this

that was my defining moment

that had a direct impact to profitability

that had a direct impact to sustainability for me

in the sales career that I chose

that's inspirational experience

I just wanna ask everyone

what's the inspirational experience that you can bring

I happen to do a lot of work in food services

and I was out riding

this was like a month ago with a salesperson

this person was going man Larry

I just don't under an inspirational experience

I don't get it I don't understand

I said you will be in that moment

you will find it

find something that you can wow somebody with

so couple weeks ago he walks into a restaurant

to try to be with the restaurant owner

well the restaurant owner is in a meeting

and it happens

being a meeting with one of his competitors

cause they co share restaurants and things like that

very common in food services

so he could have gone outside and waited

but right then and there he goes

what inspirational experience can I bring in the moment

and this person decided to get with food service

cause they're prepping for the day and he grabbed

he saw them he grabbed silverware

and he started rolling silverware and napkins

and put in little circles around the tape

around them

he kept doing that

then he filled salt and pepper shakers

then he grabbed a rag and some Windex

and he cleaned the front door

and as he's doing all of this

who do you think's watching

out of the corner of his eye

the restaurant owner who's talking to his competitors

my friends that's an inspirational experience

oh I love it

cause I think that applies to any type of role too

not just sales roles how can you show up differently

and that's really showing your character

and kind of your personal brand too

hundred percent well

stress world that's just another asset

another tool you have I love those examples

so let's round it out with the fourth one

the hard one discipline habits

this this is the hardest one

I really feel this is the hardest one

discipline habits require self discipline

and it requires personal accountability

it's the glue it's the Elmer's freaking glue

to the whole trust formula

without personal accountability

without self discipline

without all these habits

none of this can take place

there's no secret sauce there's no silver lining

there's no quick tip no hack

to get you from where you wanna be

to the destination you desire

you just can't flip a light switch on and get light

with this

it's gonna require some work

but it's gonna require discipline

it's gonna require consistency

it's gonna require holding yourself accountable

to all this stuff

you just can't you just can't like poof

all of a sudden all this happens

elite athletes don't become elite

because they're God's gift to the world right

heck

freaking Tom Brady was a 6 round draft pick in the NFL

I'm not mistaken wow right

I mean just think about it

think about Brock Purdy

the quarterback for the Forty Niners

the last pick in the draft couple years ago

the last Mr Relevant

and now

he's probably one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the NFL

totally hilarious

discipline habits personal accountability

what are you gonna double down on to become better

that's discipline habits

it's doing things right

it's doing things over and over and over again

even if you feel like you don't wanna do them

that's pushing through in resilience

and you had a quote that I highlighted

you said what is the difference between a salesperson

or a business person who sells

the answer is responsibility and accountability

yep hundred percent

it's deflection versus reflection

and I've always said this right

the mirror never lies

only the person looking into it lies

think about that one

the mirror never when it comes to accountability

the mirror never lies

only the person looking into the mirror lies

and we know who that person is

yeah I

I definitely have some areas that I wanna look at your

you know in terms of

honing my craft because that's what this is

is we're athletes

were sales athletes if you are professionals

but um

but I like those analogies

because this is accessible to everyone

I think that that's really my

the thing that I get the most out of your work

Larry is that all of this is accessible to everyone

it's easy but it's not simple or simple

but it's not easy

maybe that's a that's a better way to say it

so I just really I

I feel so energized after talking to you

I know that your clients feel the same

what um

before we wrap up

is there anything else that I didn't ask you

that we wanna make sure we hit on

before we close out our interview

you know I would just say this

and by the way thank you for having me on and you know

thank you for entrusting me with your audience

but I would just say this is it goes back to feedback

I don't know everything

I don't even claim to know everything

I don't wake up every day with a know it all mindset

I wake up every day with a learn it all mindset

but I seek help from my inner circle

I really wake up every day and I'm craving feedback

and I wanna know cause I wanna become better

so if there's anything

I can leave your listeners with this

this is in order to sell from the heart

in order to sell in a post dress world

you gotta bring your authentic self to the forefront

you gotta figure out what makes you tick and not tick

what better way to do this

than to find people in your inner circle

your friends your family

as maybe it's even a close client

have them find the roadblocks

have them sit down with you right

I always said you know

business coaches and mentors

people in my close inner circle

have helped me remove

the roadblocks that have been stumped in my growth

cause I can't see things the way they can see it

so I would just ask everyone

you know if you have a burning desire to succeed

however you all wanna define it

find somebody in your inner circle friends

family business associates

that can help you remove the blinders

and then when they help you remove the blinders

take action on what they tell you

I'll I'll

I'll always

seeking out advice from people who have been there

done that who can get me somewhere faster and farther

I love it and I think there's a lot of

us that have that in our circle

we just need to remember that it's okay to ask that

yeah 100%

oh awesome

well Larry

I will link um

your books the podcast

your website and our show notes

but where can people find you

if they wanna connect and learn more

uh you can go to song from the heart.net

if you wanna find out what we're up to

at Song From the heart

just go to Song from the heart.net

I'm not too hard to find on social

you can find me on LinkedIn

I'm all over the place on LinkedIn at Larry Levine 1992

and since I know most people have a smartphone

if you text the word trust t R U

s t to 21,000 you'll immediately get access to

all kinds of free goodies

so just text the word trust to 21,000 wow awesome okay

I love it I'm gonna text it as soon as we wrap

haha

you so much for joining us on prospecting on purpose

that was my pleasure thank you

thank you so much

for listening to the prospecting on purpose podcast

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for more info on me or if you'd like to work together

feel free to go to my website sarahmurry

com on social media

I'm usually hanging out at Sarah Murray Sales

thanks again for joining me and I'll see you next time