Anybody?

Anyone?

I know there are a few of you out there — but if you didn’t immediately put up your imaginary hand, you’re not alone. I love sales now — but I didn’t always.

When I started my coaching business, I was focused entirely on working with retreat leaders. It was the perfect way to use both my mastery as a math educator and my passion for spiritual transformation.

I worked with brilliant healers, coaches, and spiritual teachers helping them plan and execute transformational retreats that had a huge impact on their participants.

What I discovered through the process was a startling trend in my clients: they lacked experience, resilience, and mastery around sales. My clients wanted the people to just show up — as if by magic. They also had major blocks around doing the math and charging what they were worth — and the combo of these blind spots with their resistance to sales meant that they consistently struggled to fill their programs and retreats or make enough money to sustain their businesses.

Not having full programs led to them doubting their purpose and themselves. It ate away at their confidence and self-esteem and intensified their feelings of imposter syndrome.

And it honestly didn’t matter how good their curriculum was, or how beautiful the retreat center if they didn’t fill the room.

So, I started teaching sales in a way that truly resonated for my clients. And demanding that my clients master sales. Which meant a daily routine.

I taught my clients how to approach sales as a spiritual practice — a service to others, an expression of their spiritual leadership, and a self-development tool.

Here are the three main pillars of this teaching:

1. Sales is a Service

Sales are about helping another person make a clear decision about what they want to experience in their lives. This is radical and powerful because most people are used to tolerating a lack of clarity and messy decision making (or total indecision) in most areas of their lives.

Your job as a salesperson is not to get someone to buy what you’re selling: it’s to help them make a clear decision about what’s next for them. If part of what’s next for them aligns to your product or service, great! Then it’s your job to sell that to them.

That’s service.

Let me say it again: your job is to help people find clarity — not buy your product.

When you change your mindset to approach a sale as service, you automatically make the sale about what will serve the other person. You also understand that if hiring you or buying your product does not directly serve the other person’s vision then there’s no need for a sale. It’s your job to celebrate their clarity and release them with love.

The next time you’re entering into a sales conversation, ask yourself, “What would need to happen to allow this sales conversation to deeply serve the other person?”

Then do it that way.

2. Sales is Saying “Yes” to Change

Anytime you make a clear decision to purchase any product or service, you are doing so because you want something to change.

Let’s look at some examples:

• When you buy dinner, you want to feel nourished.
• When you buy a TV, you want to be entertained.
• When you buy a session with a spiritual teacher, you want to go deeper, experience less suffering, claim more freedom, know the truth, etc.
• When you buy a book on marketing, you want to learn something new that you can apply to your life and business.
• When you buy a six-figure coaching program, you want to completely transform your relationship with your partner, business, money, self, etc.

These examples have a range of intensity and scale, but the heart of each purchase is about saying “yes” to some type of change in your life. Whether big or small, internal or external, short term or long term, spiritual or material — sales is about change.

When you have that clarity in mind, you can easily see who truly wants change and who doesn’t.

If your potential client or customer wants the change your product or service makes possible, it is your job to help them create that change by buying what you’re selling.

3. Sales is a Spiritual Practice

As we’ve discussed, the sale is an offering to a potential client or customer. The sale is also the practice for you to become a more powerful leader, teacher, healer, guide, or coach. Why? Because each moment of a sales conversation demands that you stay in service — and all the moments you’re distracted, resistant, judgmental, codependent, or emotional show you the next place you have to grow and give you the opportunity to release it.

In my experience working with spiritual entrepreneurs, sales isn’t the best spiritual practice — but it’s the “next” one, the next meditation, the next growth opportunity. Sales takes us deeper by holding up a mirror to our egos, our co-dependencies, and our emotional dysfunction. Sounds fun, right? LOL. It is truly uncomfortable to look at this stuff — AND it’s one of the fastest and most effective tools for getting free.

When I first started sales, I was constantly thinking about myself. I thought, “Will the person say ‘yes’ or ‘no’? Am I doing this right? Am I going to get a ‘yes’?” I was constantly spinning out and believing that the content of my thoughts needed my attention. It did not.

The only thing that truly needed my attention was the person in front of me. And what I learned to do — and do well — was wake up when I was not being attentive to the person in front of me, and pivot my attention back to them instantaneously.

Hence, spiritual practice.

Doing sales requires stepping into your most generous, unapologetic, conscious, and mindful self — the perfect spiritual practice.

Do you want to go deeper into sales and spirituality? Join me June 29–30 for a virtual 2-day retreat, “Sales as a Spiritual Practice”. Click here to learn more and sign up!

The post Sales as a Spiritual Practice appeared first on CEO Medium.

Four years ago, Susanne was a full-time teacher and found herself amidst a health crisis and in the midst of many diagnostic procedures and unanswered questions she began exploring self-healing and connection modalities such as Yoga Teacher Training, Meditation Teacher Training, attaining her Reiki Masters Certification, becoming a Certified Life Coach, and Neuro-Linguistic Practitioner.  These modalities helped her manage a chronic health condition and navigate the waters through a Malignant Melanoma diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. One to always prioritize her physical health prior to this health crisis she recognized the importance of all of these practices to her healing. She realized how important the connection of body mind and spirit was to integrative health and wanted to share this with others.

Susanne works in-person with clients in her area as well as virtually around the world to help them connect to their most authentic selves.  Using all of her training and certifications, as well as life experience and natural intuitive gifts, Susanne’s approach is unique and transformative in helping others reconnect to themselves and navigate life, health, abundance, and relationships with a new lens.  

Susanne has created an online school using her 15 years of experience as a school teacher and the importance of education as well as her learned insights to help others work at their own pace on content in any of her courses that are designed to help you reconnect to your passions, purpose, health, and wellness.  Use the code 25ALIVE at the checkout of her online school to apply 25 % off any of her course content.  

Finding a “label” has been a struggle over the last 4 years for Susanne as her practice, offerings, learnings, and integrations shift and nuance with her growth.  Rest assured she is competent in holding safe space for healing and growth as proven in her numerous testimonials both on her website and on Instagram.  The everyday challenges are those of any parent balancing work, personal life, and family life.  One thing she is grateful for is her health in being 3.5 Years Cancer Free!  A portion of all sessions (virtual or in-person) in March 2021 will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Susanne’s dream for the next year is to write a book on living an authentic life.  Using life lessons, anecdotes from her lived experience, and her sense of humor it will be sure to be some time you’ll want on your bookshelf!

If Susanne were to share one piece of advice, it’s that you are not your story, but you ARE creating your story with every breath you take while on this planet.  The possibilities are endless, and you can find your passion and purpose at any point or age in life.  “It’s never too late!  I’m 41 years old and I feel like I’m just starting on this journey of life!”

Company name: Susanne Venaas Energy Alchemy

Email Address: soulsenseab@gmail.com

Website URL: www.susannevenaas.ca

Instagram: @susannevenaas

The post Coming Back Home to Yourself appeared first on CEO Medium.

From corporate life, she takes skills and tools she learned along the way and helps women refocus their dreams to achieve things they didn’t think possible. There are endless possibilities when you know what you want, set the right goals to get there, and connect with your body, mind, and soul in a way that feels right to who you are.

On paper, Emily led a perfect life, successful, enjoying fine things, and having the ability to travel in luxury. And yet, she was empty. Struggling with depression, she needed to take a good hard look at what success meant to her.

In finally unlocking her true calling, she was able to redefine her life and career and now helps other women do the same. She’s all about taking women from 9–5 to thriving alignment which allows women to finally connect to their dream career and life. In connecting to your values, you’re able to find your true happiness and calling.

So many women follow a path they feel they’re supposed to because their family or society expects it of them. And yet, they’re left feeling empty. With her five pillars that focus on mindset and goal setting, she can help guide you toward a new vision, one that feels right and fulfills you.

It’s important to connect with body, mind, and soul. When each piece is in alignment, your possibilities become endless. She then helps you work with your unique zone of genius, which allows you to thrive in the very best way. With the right clarity, there’s freedom. Knowing what you want, having the strategies to get there, and believing you can achieve those goals will change your life.

If you’d like to learn more about Emily Gornick’s Luxe Linwood coaching program, be sure to find her at LuxeLinwood.com. You can live the life of your wildest dreams when you’re ready. Emily can help.

The post Get off the Hamster Wheel and Live Your Best Life with Luxe Linwood appeared first on CEO Medium.