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I'm Sari, Kimbell. And I've done just about everything in the food industry. I have helped hundreds of packaged food business entrepreneurs. And now I want to help you make your delicious dream a reality. Whether you want to be successful at farmer's markets, online, or wholesale on the store shelves, Food Business Success is your secret ingredient, I will show you how to avoid an expensive hobby, and instead run a profitable food business. Now let's jump. Hey there, welcome back to the podcast, we are continuing on with this sales series. This could be a several month sales series, it sort of keeps growing. But it's because you guys need this so much. This is probably the biggest area that that most of us struggle with. And so I really want to come at it from all different angles, I want to bring you some amazing guests. You heard from Dylan last week, we have some more amazing people who are VPS of sales or former buyers. I'm even working on like some actual store, store owners door buyers to come in and talk to you. We're also going to hear from clients of mine who just happened to be really good at sales in their day jobs. And so they've been able to translate it over really well to to this industry. And just to share from their point of view, like they're out there doing it and give you some tips and tricks and just how they approach sales. I also, as a coach, you guys have heard a lot about my coaching practice, as I've introduced business coaching, and I am now a certified life coach through the Life Coach School. So I really believe that mindset is so key to being successful at sales. I think there is that myth out there that certain people are just born as a salesperson, and the rest of us are just, you know, out of luck. And I don't think that's true at all. I do think that you can learn these skills, and create a mindset that's going to help you be more successful. If you tell yourself you're not good at sales, guess what, you're probably not going to be good at sales. So I want to help you with your mindset piece. as well. It says I can figure this out, I'm willing to try. I also am a student of sales myself, right? I'm always getting on calls with you. People who apply for Food Business Success are now who apply for the business coaching program. I'm always getting on calls, and I am getting a lot better. It's been an evolution I'm not, I would say I'm not a natural born salesperson. But I am a student of this, I have some great mentors. And so this episode, I really just want to give you some a concept that I've learned from my mentors who are Grant Cardone, Stacey bayman, and my coach Dave Moran, Oh, those are really kind of the three people that I look at for teaching me, inspiring me and giving me new thoughts to think about sales, because so many of you probably hear sales, and you feel like that is a icky dirty word, right? Like, you're just like, I don't want to be a salesperson. I don't want to tell people about my product. But here's the thing. You guys can make the product all you want, right? You can be the chef, you can make product all day long. But if no one is selling your product, then we have a problem. Right? It is possibly the most important role that you will play in order to determine the success of your business. Without sales. You don't have a business, right? business, by definition requires money coming in, somebody's

paying you for your product. This role I truly believe you cannot hand off to anybody else at the beginning. Certainly as you grow your business. Yes, absolutely. But you are the chef, you are the CEO and you know your business, the best. You are the one that's going to bring the passion and the fire and all of the things that you need to to get it up Going once you've done that, you can definitely Hand it over right? You can definitely find sales people to help you at the farmers market, or work with a broker or create a little sales team. all fine and good. But I'm going to give you some concept today and some ideas that have come from those three folks. Right Grant Cardone, which I will say, he's a character. I just recommended one of my clients listen to his sell or be sold. I usually listen to books. But you can certainly pick it up as well. If you listen to it, I mean, he is such a character, he has so much energy. He may not be for everyone. But the concepts in his books are probably the best out there on sales. Stacey bayman is actually a life coach. But she has a great podcast called make money as a life coach. And she is a master sales woman and teaches sales and a lot around mindset. So definitely I'm very inspired. In this kind of series about sales, she's definitely one of my inspirations. And then you guys heard from my coach Dave, I think Episode 5051. And he he is a great salesperson is definitely taught me a lot. So the first thing that I want to mention is that you guys are always selling as human means. I just want you think about this for a minute. Like I said, Grant Cardone has this book sell or be sold, the concept being the first product concept being you are always selling, or you are being sold to. I was trying to explain this to somebody the other night. And that, again, we think sales is like a dirty word that we're like trying to convince somebody of something they don't want. And we think about specifically in the way of like a purchase, right? So I was at a restaurant. And when I was talking about this, and like the server was selling us on this one dish, right. And I was pointing that out. He was like, I don't know, I don't think we're all selling all the time. I was like, Listen, I sold you on this restaurant, I sold you on the wine, the server backed up my recommendation on the wine,

you know, she's sold you on that dish, right? So either you're selling her on a different choice, or she's selling you on choosing this one dish, right. And that could be that's basically getting your way. Like, if you get your way you are selling, you are telling somebody that, hey, let's go see this movie, or let's go to this restaurant. Or if you have children, you are selling them on, hey, we're we're going to church or we're going out like you need to wear this thing or, you know, selling your kids on having to wear a mask, right? That's not fun, but you're selling them. Because you believe that's the right thing to do. Think about even if you're married, right? Like you had to sell your partner on marriage that you were a great person for him or her to marry. And vice versa, you had to be sold, right? That they were going to be a good fit for you. I mean, that's ultimately one of the biggest contracts of sales you could enter into. And sometimes it's about selling ourselves, you got to sell yourself on going to work out or getting, you know, getting outside. Like it's way easier to sit on the couch and watch Netflix and eat popcorn, right? But we have to decide and be like, Hey, here's the reasons why self we should go work out or why we should go work on our business or why we should do anything else that like our brains don't really want to do it. It's not conserving energy to go work out right. But we know it's for our best good we know that there are long term benefits for that. And the same is true about you and your dream. You are here because you want to start or grow a packaged food business. And I will say that one of the main reasons that I see why people do not sign up for my program, do not join Food Business Success is because they are not sold on themselves. They do not believe that they will follow through. And so I'm curious if you are sold on your dream. Do you believe you will follow through? Do you believe you will do what it takes? Do you believe you will never ever give up All right. So that's, that's just kind of the first concept that I found really great in Grant cardones book is just that we are selling all the time, right. And so if we can kind of reframe it, and not have it be so compartmentalize like you're only being sold to when you walk into a store, and instead see it as like, no sales is happening, always, I'm always selling, or I'm being sold to. And so it's not a big deal. And then the second thing I want to talk about in this podcast, I have a lot of a lot of concepts I want to talk about in future ones. But I don't want to, you know, make an hour and a half long podcast here. So we're going to break these up into chunks. But I got this from my coach Dave, but it's definitely reinforced from all sorts of people, all my mentors in sales. So here's the equation sales are the sale, right equals connection, plus certainty. And I love this kind of keeping it really simple connection, keeping in mind that when you are going out and you are trying to sell your product, right, your granola, your salsa, your cookies, your kombucha, your jam, whatever it is. And if you're going to the farmers market, or you're going to retail store shelves, you are in the people business, you are not in the granola business, you are not in the computer business. People buy your products. It's people are at the core of this. And I think so many of you get tied up into I'm a kombucha business or I'm a salsa business. I'm a seasoning business.

So the first thing is to really recognize that No, wait, I need to be in the people business. It's really all about connection. That is where it starts. And so I love this concept from grant is he talks about agreeing with people that this needs to be at the center of every interaction. And it doesn't mean that the customer is always right. But you can agree with somebody, even if you don't believe that they're right. Hey, I love your seasoning, but it's too expensive. Instead of trying to convince them and put up defenses about why it's not expensive. Say something more like, yeah, you're right. It is expensive, because it's amazing. Because it does all of these great things. It immediately when you agree with somebody, it it kind of puts them at ease, and helps them open up if you think about kind of leaning in versus leaning out. Right. Like, if you go at them with defensiveness, they're gonna lean out versus like, yeah, you're right. Like somebody told me the other day on a console for coaching. She said, Well, coaching is not in the budget. As I thought about it. I wish I had thought about this in the moment. But now, if you get on a call with me, and you say coaching is not in the budget, I'm gonna say Yeah, I agree. When is coaching ever in the budget, you have probably never put coaching in your budget ever. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Let's do it. Right. Coaching should be in your budget. But you're right. Is it expensive? Yeah, absolutely. And it's worth it. 100% If you can 10 times your revenue, why would coaching not be in your budget? So you guys can do this? All the time, you need to practice a green, how are you just give yourself like seven days, I have put up sticky notes around my house because this has not come naturally at all. So when I'm trying to learn a new concept, I put up sticky notes all over the island right here on my computer. So I am practicing anytime somebody says something that I would normally be like up let me correct you. Let me tell you why that's wrong. Instead I'm working on Yes, I agree. And, and let's still do this, right? Yes, I agree that this granola is too expensive. But here's why it's so awesome. Here's why. Come on in. Like let's why wouldn't you do this? How many bags can I give you? So I think that's such a wonderful way of putting it and he even talked about like he had example like his son be like, I don't want to get up. You know, I'm tired. I want to get out of bed and stead of saying like no, we have to set it up saying Yeah, I agree. It is early. No one likes to get out of bed. But that's what we do. We're still going to get up and get out of bed and go to school. So practice with your family practice with your friends, I think you will find that this actually just makes your life a lot smoother, a lot easier. And it is definitely a skill you have to practice. So when you go in to talk to a buyer, and they say, Well, I already have four granolas. You say, Yeah, I agree. But they're all crap. Here's why mine is amazing. Right, or here's all the ways that I'm going to support you to help this be your number one seller. So that is a huge one. Remember, you are talking with people agree with them first, and then tell them all the reasons why it's still amazing. And they should do it anyway. assume responsibility for the entire process. Whenever you're going after the sale, right, you're at a farmers market, you're talking with the buyer, you own the process. And this is great news. The bad news is that it's you. The good news is that it's you that you can change

it, that you get to own it. And I would love to see you actually be practicing this not on a buyer but with other people that are doing this with people like myself, inside Food Business Success, we have our group calls every month. And we are going to be practicing sales and role playing, and getting better at all of these things we're talking about today. And the great news is that you even if you're not inside Food Business Success can now join our monthly membership where you can be a part of those calls. So if you are ready to practice more and to work with people like myself and your peers and have a safe space to do this work, I want to encourage you to sign up to join us monthly on these group calls and join our monthly membership program. And the link for that will of course be in the show notes. Again, this is great news that you get to assume responsibility for the entire process. But that does mean that you need to assume responsibility and do something now own the process. Practice, right get better at it sharpen your tool to use a cooking reference, it's easy to use, like workout references, but you wouldn't go run a marathon without actually practicing running a marathon and working up to it. And you wouldn't go enter baking contest at a state fair without practicing your baking and getting it really good right dialing in your recipe. The same is true for sales, I think so many of us just go out and wing it. And then we blame the circumstance, we blame the buyer instead of taking ownership of our own process and practicing ahead of time. And the last piece of that around connection. And you guys will see this with me, I give you so much value ahead of time, right? There's the podcast here that you're listening to. There's the YouTube channel, I just give and give and give. I give value, I give you my attention. I give my services I over deliver. And I want you to think about how you can give, give give. And that doesn't necessarily always mean giving product away. But how can you give value? How can you show up from a place of serving your buyer and not just gimme, gimme, gimme, give me the sale, right? And somebody feels you walking in that way? And they're like, gimme, gimme, gimme. No, that is not the feeling that generates a sale. When you're talking with somebody at a farmers market, selling your product directly to your consumer, how can you come from a place of service instead of give me money. So give them value ahead of time, give them recipe cards, give them samples, give them lots of ways to use this product, give them all the reasons why this is going to make their life better, over deliver have a great attitude. Stacy bayman causes adding value to your value bank and I have put so much value in the value bank. Right that you guys, you know exactly what you're going to get when you start working with me. So how can you translate that into your own sales practice? I mean, think about why do people pay four times a hotel room at the Four Seasons or more then at the holiday They in, right? It's a bed, it's a room, it has a bathroom, it has a closet. It's because of the service that they're going to get that the experience that it's creating. That is the human connection. So that's one part of the equation connection. And then the other piece. So so important, it is certainty. Are you sold 100% sold on you and your product. I've talked about how, when I first launched Food Business Success, I wasn't as sold, took me a little while to really step into the belief that like, this program gets you results. I believe that so strongly, and I haven't changed the program. I've added to it, but I haven't changed it.

And I believe in it so strongly that it's like, this is a no brainer, why would you not get help from me, from your peers, learn all the things that you need to do and save yourself a ton of money and time. That's crazy to me, right? I am so sold on my product, I'm sold on my coaching, I'm sold on the value of my services and who I am. And I want you to ask yourself the same thing. Again, this is where I think a lot of you guys aren't as certain that you will first follow through. And some of you aren't all that sold on your product that it can be amazing that it will solve problems. And so if there is doubt other people will sense that. If you're like yeah, my granola is pretty good. But I don't know if it can really compete. I can't compete on price with those other granolas. So I don't know. Right? Like are you sold that your product is so amazing that they would be crazy? Not to buy it? Are you all in people respond to your certainty you're being sold on your product? Are you committed to your success? No matter what. Right? Do you have that compelling reason that is moving you forward? That is going to come across in your delivery? If you're just like, this is the most amazing product you've ever tried? Why have you Why don't you have three of them. And it is never ever about price. I know you guys think that it is. But it isn't. People go over their budget all the time. We buy $5 $8 coffee, we buy $2 water, because we are certain that when we are really thirsty, I can get tap water for free, right? But when you're at a ballgame, saying the hot sun, you're willing to pay $2 or more for that bottle of water. Right? Because you know that it will you're certain that that will quench your thirst, right? And you know the experience the delight that you're going to get when you get that super fancy $8 coffee. So are they sold on the value? Not on the price? Again, people are if they're at a shop at the farmers market, like they're there to spend money, they just want to have a great sales experience. They want to learn about your product and be sold sold on the value of it. I was at a farmers market recently with a friend and we were I was like, Oh, you got to try this, this new vendor that I recently discovered. And it's like fried peanuts. And so you they fry it with a shell on and you actually eat the whole shell.

I actually there's a reel of me trying these A while back. So I was telling you about those. I'm like, Oh my gosh, you got to try these. See what you think. Right? They're super different. Right? So I'm already like, creating some value and that there's gonna be an experience, right? And he was just like, That's so cool. Like, I love this, right? Like, the owner was really friendly. And he was just making the whole thing a lot of fun and he was clearly very sold on his peanuts and why they were so amazing. They're like $6 for a bag of peanuts. Like do you think that was in the budget that there was like I'm going to spend $6. peanuts. Because like, yeah, give me a bag. These are awesome, right? So you want to help your your people, whoever is buying the product, whether it's a buyer directly or at a grocery store, you want to really help them in the experience and seeing the value, and that you are just so sold on it, you just think this, these are the most amazing products, transfer certainty. And if I don't sell you on my program, when we get on the phone, it's my fault, because I do not own the process. And I did not transfer enough certainty to you, you need to do that with your buyers as well support people in their desire to be right in their decision, right? Like, we want to be right. So if I'm leaning towards buying it, then tell me all the great reasons why I should buy it support my decision. And other ways you can do that, especially with a buyer, because they get people coming in all the time. Right? Again, like with the granola example, like they have granola on their shelf. There's no reason they need another granola. So are you sold first of all on the value and then tell them why everybody else is sold. Give them a data story. Tell them about all the reasons like all the people at the farmers market, and all of your followers that social proof like, Hey, you put this on your shelf, and I can guarantee you people are going to come in you will have new customers coming in buying this because here's, you know, here's my sales at the farmers market. And here's all of the comments and the followers I get online. You know, here's how the market is shifting and why people are looking for this specific kind of granola, right? So offer them reasons to support their decision to bring you in because they want to be right. And if you really, truly are sold on your product, and you believe that this is the best thing for the store, what are you willing to do or not do to go all in and make that sale happen? When you finally get that face to face with a buyer? do everything in your power? To get them to say yes, even if that means you are giving away that first case for free. especially early on you guys. I know you all want, you know, the big take home. But sometimes you got to lose the battle to win the war. I don't know if that's exactly how the phrase goes. But in this case, if that means you have to sell that first case, on a consignment, again, always start with small stores that have the flexibility to do this. Do you have to do it on consignment? Do you have to give them the first case for free? Do you need to offer extra samples that they can give to their customers? Do you need to say I will be here in here every weekend for the first four weekends doing demos? Or I'm going to put it on promotion? What do I need to do to help you get this on the shelf? Right? I will support that decision in all of these ways.

Because you are so sold on your product and yourself. Get the Yes, you got to get to the Yes. And then you can build that data story. But it's always going to be those first couple stores that are the hardest to get into. I remember getting my first client right and that was like the hardest thing but when I finally got that first one, then it opened up the door to make it easier and easier for other clients be like oh, well she already has a client Great. So she must know what she's doing right? Same thing with stores, or even at the markets when other people see other people buying, they're going to be more inclined to come over. So do whatever you possibly can to make that offer really, really enticing to support them 100% that this is going to be a great decision. Alright, so that is the sales equals certainty plus connection. And I would really recommend that if you aren't sold yet on your product and on you as a entrepreneur and a business owner, that you need to spend time every day spend 10 minutes making a list writing down why your your product and why you are the best fit why you are sold on this. I actually have a sticky note that says sales equals connection plus certainty IQ I'm a computer, I would highly recommend that you do the same. And you really start taking that in, like, how can I create more connection? agreeing with people? How can I create more certainty? How can I sell myself harder on this business? The last thing I want to offer in this episode is I want to challenge you that if you are hard to get a sale from, if you are frugal, cheap, stingy, if you are, you know, never open up your wallet to anything outside of your budget, that's fun, that's different. If that is you, you're going to have a really hard time getting money from others, because you're going to carry that belief and that energy that people should not open their wallets for you. If you go back and listen, I was in April, when I did the generosity challenge. If, if you have a hard time, if you notice, if you're like, yeah, that that might be me. And I get it like, it's not an easy time. And never is an easy time, right? Like, money can be challenging. I know a lot of you guys are working multiple jobs or full time jobs, like you have a family you have other expenses. And this is that passion that you're going after. But if you do not go to farmers markets, if you don't shop the local areas of your store, if you don't open yourself up to the abundance and the generosity and be generous yourself.

I really think you're going to struggle with asking for the sale with being okay, having the capacity to have people pay you. It's really money is an exchange. And you can go back and listen to some of those money episodes from April. But man, this is something that mindset piece that can really trip people up because you can do all the the sold and the connection. But if underneath you're like yeah, but I don't think it's worth it. Because I would never pay $8 for my seasoning, right? That would not be in my own personal budget. And you're not willing to go out and support other people doing the similar thing that you're not enjoying being sold to, you got to go change this first thing. Go Go find experiences, let your guard down a little bit, find a little wiggle room in your budget to take $20 or $50 or $100 something where you can go to a farmers market, you can go to an interesting store, like a butcher shop or you know, a little market and enjoy being sold to open yourself up to the experience Don't be so closed down. Like I just you know, I don't want anybody to take advantage of me, because you're going to take that with you into your own sales process. If you want help with any of these pieces, if you want help with how to communicate the value of your product, how to craft a pitch to a buyer, whether that's in person or an email, or you're looking for help overcoming some of your mindset blocks, whether that be your belief about your product, or your belief about sales and some of those negative things that are going to really drag you down. And you're going to do all of this work and receive a whole lot of nose right like we might as well do some of the prep work. Or if you're in a place where you like it's just not working what's going on. Let's explore that. There are two ways to get help from me directly either inside Food Business Success, and you can apply for that program at Food Biz Success calm or you can coach with me one on one. I offer a new business coaching program. It is a 16 week program. And you can learn more about that at Sari kimball.com. So the links for both of those will be in the show notes below. And until next time, have an amazing week. Are you ready to start that delicious idea that you make in your home kitchen or grow your existing package? food business and take it to the next level. The most successful food business entrepreneurs have support, guidance, focus and accountability to help them make it happen quickly without wasting time or money. Plus, I think starting your packaged food business should actually be fun. Food Business Success is your secret ingredient to creating your food business dream. Please don't go this alone. Check out the private free Food Business Success Facebook group to connect with other food partners. get your questions answered quickly. Share your wins and receive special training and tools I only share inside the private community. Just search for Food Business Success on Facebook, or get the link in the show notes. curious about how Food Business Success can help you head over to Food Business success.com and fill out the application to see if you're a great fit for the program. Together let's make your food business dream a reality.

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