Authentic Selling vs. Jedi Mind Tricks -  Coach Dan Gordon

Now, I've got to tell you, I said to Coach Dan Gordon, this is who we've got on the show, how I should introduce him. He said, "I want you to say the greatest fraud I've ever met,". Well, Authentic Selling is the focus of today's show, but that's clearly not the truth!

Dan Gordon is an executive coach and speaker, and his mission is to raise the consciousness of bad-ass entrepreneurs all over the world. So there you go, welcome to the show Coach Dan. Good to have you here.

Gratitude and Insight

Thank you so much. It's a real delight. And I just so appreciate what you do, Michael, helping people really step into the things that they struggle with and look at the parts of their life and their business that they need to work on. And just by the nature of the conversations that you have, you force those thoughts. It's beautiful.

Authenticity in Conversation

Not a sort of soft, cuddly guy, really. I guess British people have a habit of being, you know, a little bit on the cooler side, quietly blunt, I guess in a way. So yeah, I try to keep it real and that's definitely the topic of today's conversation.

Authentic Selling vs. Jedi Mind Tricks

Our topic, authentic selling versus Jedi mind tricks. Really like this one because it's a huge corrective to what's going on out there. So tell me what's this all about for you.

The Overused Concept of Authenticity

So last year, the Miriam Webster word of the year was authentic or authenticity, which means it is a widely overused word that now has no meaning. Right. So everybody wants to be authentic. Everybody, you know, and now, you know, people are training people how to be authentic, which is insane, right?

Challenges with Traditional Sales Methods

When you think about selling authentically, that betrays all of the Sandler type methods, which is, you know, the customer's pain points describing your products, features, and benefits, the open, the middle, the close, all of those things that people use as leverage to sell their crap and what. What makes it so inauthentic is you are not actually engaged with your client.

Embracing Authenticity in Sales

And so, I love that because it's forcing people to reevaluate how they show up in a sales meeting. And the reevaluation is, I'm going to put you first, Michael, if I want you to buy my coaching, then you have to come first. Not me, not this cool thing, not your pain points, but you, what are you struggling with right now? How can I make you a better person? Whether or not you buy my services and that's what authentic selling is.

Adapting Authenticity in E-commerce

I mean, they often do, but they probably don't think of it as a sales conversation. If you're talking to a supplier, if you're talking to a freight manager, if you're hiring a photographer, but you know, the essence of what they do is done by a computer screen.

Implementing Authenticity Online

So that's a great question. I get it. I get that kind of question a lot. I don't do one on one sales. Very few people do one on one sales. What's the point of what I'm talking about? The point is in messaging. How do I reach out to you as a person?

Testing Messaging through Human Interaction

And so you really have to test your messaging on human beings. And I would say that my best suggestion is to go to a networking meeting, go to a chamber of commerce, go to a place where people are and talk to them about what you're selling and see how they respond to it, right?

Appealing to Human Emotions

You know, the kids today, they do not go for that crap. If you start doing your product qualities and your, you know, the features and benefits, they go, "Whoa, wait a second, hold on. Just talk to me."

Authenticity in Pricing

If you start saying, yeah, you're going to get rich. You're going to get a Tesla. You're going to get a Ferrari, instantly.