How To Easily Sell Your Client’s What They Want! With Jan Janzen

Episode Summary

Jan Janzen has a unique background in sales. This is truly an interesting conversation that you don’t want to miss. (There are all sorts of lessons and value bombs here.)

Learn
-the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when selling
-how to avoid major hiccups when closing a sale
-the most important (and overlooked) part of sales Jan Janzen bought her first franchise at just 19 years of age. 

Over her 40 years as an entrepreneur, she has worked in several industries, including having 3 businesses in the automotive industry, started a home pole dancing business, had a 6-figure healing practice and has been president of a network marketing company.  Today she helps entrepreneurs learn to grow their businesses by focusing on the sales conversation.   After traveling the world for 9 years, living out 2 suitcases, Jan now lives in central BC Canada on 20 acres in the woods with her husband.  Her motto to inspire entrepreneurs is:  6-Figures is the New Minimum Wage.

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You can find Jan Janzen at:
Website: https://selllikeaqueen.com
Email: jan@selllikeaqueen.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janjanzen

Check out the Outsourcing Playbook For Busy Entrepreneurs here: https://winthehourwintheday.com/outsourcing-playbook

Jan Janzen Podcast Interview

[00:07:56] Kris Ward: Hey, everyone. Welcome to win the hour, win the day podcast. I’m your host, Chris ward. And today we have Jan Jensen in the house.

[00:08:05] She has been an entrepreneur for 40 years. Now. Let’s talk about that for a quick second before we finished the intro. Cause that sounds like a really long time, but she started really young. So wait to hear her story. She, uh, bought a home cleaning service franchise at 19, and then she became a serial entrepreneur in a wide range of businesses.

[00:08:25] And she is really passionate about helping entrepreneurs with their relationship, with money and sales and everything else. And I can’t wait for you to hear this really interesting part of her story. So stay tuned. Welcome to the show, Jan.

[00:08:38] Jan Janzen: Thank you, Chris. I’m looking forward to it.

[00:08:41] Kris Ward: Oh, good. Okay. So we chatted, we were talking about different things and you tapped into sales.

[00:08:46] And what I thought was really interesting to me and such a, a double-edged sword is you said, listen, I was, you know how I was in a Jehovah witness family as a child. So I was doing sales door to door at six years old or something ridiculously young. Is that true?

[00:09:04] Jan Janzen: That’s true. I was trained in sales. I actually started going from door to door when I was still in a baby stroller by the tie.

[00:09:12] And then I started, you know, ringing doorbells or knocking. And then by the time I was six, I was actually making my presentations and selling watchtowers and awakes for 5 cents each.

[00:09:21] Kris Ward: Okay. All right. So you’re no longer in Joe of a Hova witness. We’re clear on that escaped

[00:09:26] Jan Janzen: 21 years ago.

[00:09:28] Kris Ward: Okay. So what, you know, giving credit to Jehovah witness, but you must’ve learned things in sales of either it’s in bread into your fiber, where you got older and the rest of us would struggle with how the Aspen sale and you were taught with the pushiest of pushes approaches.

[00:09:45] Like. What, what were you takeaways from that? As far as sales go, like what was embedded in you that you didn’t even realize that the rest of us didn’t know her or like, I didn’t even know what to ask as far as Jehovah witness goes, but I bet you there’s a lot. There

[00:09:58] Jan Janzen: there is. Okay. So there’s a few really important things.

[00:10:01] One is you just get super used to the hearing the word. No, because it hearing yes, doesn’t happen hardly ever. Right. So you hear no, no, no, no. Now constantly. So you become really kind of immune to it. It’s like no big deal. Whereas for a lot of entrepreneurs hearing the word, no is kind of like, wow, nobody loves me.

[00:10:22] Right. Which isn’t true at all. So. Hearing no is a huge training thing. And really just learning about rejection in every way, shape or form, because of course being raised as a Jehovah’s witness, you know, we don’t celebrate Christmas and they don’t celebrate birthdays and they don’t celebrate Halloween.

[00:10:39] And, you know, you’re just, you’re weird. Like you’re super weird, right from the get-go. So right away that whole feeling of not being liked or being different or being rejected doesn’t even phase me because that’s how I was raised.

[00:10:54] Kris Ward: Okay. That’s that’s our heartwarming story. Okay. So, so I see your point and you made it sound very positive, but so that will always lead.

[00:11:02] My, I wanted to say to, is enterprise, like, what is the point of going to door to door? I dunno if I’m tapping into the wrong question here with Jehovah witnesses, but who is going to open the door and say, Oh my gosh, you’re so right. This is what I want to do. I have like, whatever, like how, when do you get a yes.

[00:11:19] So if from a sales perspective, at some point in somebody say this isn’t working.

[00:11:24] Jan Janzen: They actually don’t because it’s such a weird viewpoint and I have to be honest with you, Chris. It’s, it’s weird. There is no other way around it. The whole belief is that your life is on the line. If you don’t go and warn people that you know, this kind of band called Armageddon is just around the corner, which of course.

[00:11:45] It was just around the corner, my entire life. Um, so it wasn’t about necessarily saving them, although that was right. That was part of the intent, but it was also about making sure that you didn’t have their blood on your hands.

[00:11:59] Kris Ward: Okay. So I’m looking at it from a sales conversion point of view, logical like business and it, what it is, is a religion perspective of being tapped into earn your keeping at the next plateau.

[00:12:09] Okay. Got it. So you have, you’ve answered a question. I’ve always wondered. Thank you very much. Okay. So, what you’re saying too, is what holds most of us back is this whole idea. If I ask and they say, no, it’s kind of embarrassing. And that whole rejection thing, and that the stuffing of that has been beat out of you.

[00:12:26] That is of not an issue for you whatsoever.

[00:12:29] Jan Janzen: No. Okay. You can enter my head.

[00:12:32] Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then starting sales at like, you know, at toddler, which no, you know, I can’t think of another person I’ve ever met that would have had that age, that training and experience. Tell us what else we need to know about sales.

[00:12:46] Jan Janzen: Well, I think what happens with entrepreneurs is they get so stressed out about sales is that they, they kind of lose their, their perspective of what sales really is. And if you can just get over it. The idea of selling and you can get to the point where you realized that you were there to help people solve a problem.

[00:13:07] That’s

[00:13:07] it?

[00:13:08] Kris Ward: That’s all right.

[00:13:09] Jan Janzen: And if your solution is the right answer to their problem, then me gay. And if it’s not. Then it’s okay. Cause at least you offered, which is better than not offering because how many times have we, you know, how to experience Chris, where finally you say to somebody, well, I wish you just told me that you knew that, or I wish you had just told me about that.

[00:13:32] Right? We’ve all done that people go, well, I didn’t want to, you know, I didn’t want to be pushy and this, and it’s like silly because we need, we have a problem. We need a solution and leave it up to that person to decide whether your solution is the one they want.

[00:13:46] Kris Ward: That’s a really, yeah, that’s a really good point.

[00:13:48] And I know sales has this, this taint to it as if it’s one person imposing, you know, something on another, like, you know, aggression or I’m going to hold you down to you by. And I know when I started doing my podcast, one of my first interviews, like let’s say in the first 10, I was talking to somebody and then after the show we started talking because she was struggling with her team and all that.

[00:14:10] And so I’m telling her about, you know, how to create your win team so that you can, you know, do what is next and all that stuff. And, uh, She started asking more and more questions and I was giving her more and more information. And then she came back to me weeks later and we were talking about something else and she kind of said, you know, are you open to some feedback?

[00:14:28] I said, yeah. She goes, well, I really liked what you had to say and I could have used it. And I learned a lot from you, but I never knew what you sold because you never told me, or you never said, well, we have this package. We have whatever now. And that’s the Nario I said to her, here’s the thing I had not been in that situation before where.

[00:14:46] I interview you we’re have this conversation. So I kind of felt like, um, I don’t know, like you’re inviting family over to sell to them or something. Like, I felt like, Oh, I actually to come on the show I interviewed you. So I kind of felt like all, like the bets were off, like, okay. You know, like if she wanted, she would ask them questions, but I didn’t want to be taking that step because they thought it would.

[00:15:09] Be misleading. Like I was doing a bait and switch and she was like, yeah, I wanted to buy it. But at the, you never told me really what the package was or how much it cost. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I could have done that. And now she’s looking at me, frankly, as less of a business person than I was cause she’s like, Oh, do you not know?

[00:15:25] Like, she’s trying to help me now saying, do you not know how to ask for the sale? I was like, Oh my gosh, all right. I just thought, you know, you can’t invite somebody over for dinner and then sell them so that, so you do get lost.

[00:15:36] Jan Janzen: There, but there is a way that that could have been handled, which is where a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck.

[00:15:41] Right. Which is in really just asking for permission yes. Or asking, you know, did you want some more information? Like. You know, I just want to be, I’m kind of getting that vibe, but I just want to make sure. And if you had just said that it would have opened up the door, but we seem to get, so I dunno, tongue tied.

[00:15:59] We can talk about it, anything else? Right. But then when it comes to having that sales conversation, it’s like every brain cell kind of goes on, goes on a siesta and we get tongue tied and it’s just, it’s really interesting, Chris. It happens to a lot of

[00:16:13] Kris Ward: people. Yeah. And I mean, I kind of, I know that name now and I sort of knew that debt then to ask for permission, but it was just a different scenario and I got confused and I was in my head, which is an issue.

[00:16:25] I have a fair amount of time, but you just get all worked up in your head. Right. Um, okay. So that’s a really good point. All right. Let’s go through some of the other things that we do poorly, or dare I say wrong as sales, because, you know, we could talk about this all day long. Every one of us, you, you just, you can’t be an entrepreneur in any level whatsoever and not have to do sales.

[00:16:44] So this certainly is worth it’s, you know, a conversation.

[00:16:48] Jan Janzen: I think one of the other really big mistakes that I see. Entrepreneurs make particularities, someone who’s like a coach or a consultant, a trainer, someone who’s, you’re selling a package and usually a fairly substantial package. And this would apply to someone who’s selling a car, you know, anything that’s really realtors, anything is they really don’t spend enough time finding out what the person wants.

[00:17:11] They’re so busy talking about what they have and who they are and what they offer. And really for when I do an enrollment call, I don’t say anything about what I do or what I offer for the first 75% of the call. So by the time we’re through, you know, maybe 45 minutes to even an hour, I know a whole lot about that.

[00:17:36] I know exactly where they’re at, what they’re, what they’re going through, what they’ve tried, where they’re at, what they want. And then I can really address what I have to offer, because really up until that point in time, you don’t have any business offering your offer. Cause you don’t know enough, you are winging it.

[00:17:55] You are guessing. And really you’re not doing your service any justice and you’re, and you’re doing a huge disservice to the potential client.

[00:18:03] Kris Ward: Yeah, I think that’s a rookie mistake. And even not even rookie mistake, I would call it an enthusiastic mistake. It took me a really long time to, uh, what I would be talking to someone.

[00:18:14] And then they would give me a problem or two that I, I know I could fix and make such a difference. And I had other clients, I really turned it around for them doing this. So then my enthusiasm would like a wild horse escaped me. And I would jump in with start giving solutions, which frankly. First of all, I didn’t have all the information.

[00:18:32] Secondly, you know, it’s, it’s, uh, loud and hard on your head and if not, not aggressive, but it was just too much coming at you like water hose coming, you know, in your mouth. And, and it, then I really, if you’re, if you’re not careful, you can start to get into teaching mode and like the wheels are off now.

[00:18:47] Right. But it was my enthusiasm to help. And I dove into quickly and I gave too much information and I will give you that when you do sales better and better and better, you talk less, less and less. And you talk later, later in later.

[00:19:01] Jan Janzen: Yup. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s the secret and it’s so. Hard in the beginning until you start to see the results of doing it differently.

[00:19:11] And then you go, Oh my goodness. I am never going back to that old way. And you just learn to keep your motion.

[00:19:17] Kris Ward: And I think too, that goes back to the idea that sales has a bad name on it because. The people who are doing it poorly are so loud in your near face. Like the traditional fast talking salesman all over you, no matter what you say.

[00:19:31] So then we all go, Oh wait, I don’t want to be like that. So you either say nothing or you do it, you know, whatever. There’s just a thousand ways you do it wrong. Right. So, okay. Talk less, the I’ve learned talk less and, and, and later that’s my big takeaways. Okay. Keep us going down this path of wisdom. It’s really helpful in some of the stuff, even though if you think, you know, it’s like, Oh, I need to be reminded.

[00:19:53] Or I thought I knew I needed to know again, that type of thing.

[00:19:56] Jan Janzen: I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see as well, and this is. I think particularly for women entrepreneurs, but you know, men can be definitely, they have a feminine side to them too, and it can be, there’s lots of what I call nurtures.

[00:20:11] Um, so they are the ones that will discount their prices or Ove, and then oftentimes their prices are already too low. Hmm. And so this is a big thing because there’s a whole fear of, Oh, they’re not going to like my price and it’s going to be too high. So it’s really comes down to valuing yourself and the experience and everything that you bring to the table.

[00:20:33] And then oftentimes you’ll. At the slightest hesitation before even giving the person a chance to make a comment, you go, Oh, but I’ll give you 25% off, or I’ll give you a 10% off or I’ll throw this in. Right. Which is a huge misses, a huge mistake again. So it’s really valuing what you have and being okay with your price.

[00:20:53] And you need to be, you need to be really good with your price. Like I think that that’s one of the most fundamental things is if you’ve got any little nigger Lees you have going on in your head about the price. The investment in whatever you have, that energy is going to be projected onto your potential client.

[00:21:10] And they’re going to know what they’re going to feel it, even if you think you’re hiding it and you’re doing a great, great job of covering it up, it is going to be detectable. And they’re going to pick that up. And consequently, it’s going to really come back and bite you because once they’ve picked that up, then you’re really, you are hooped, right?

[00:21:29] Because now, now your worst fear has literally. Come into play and you created it and you don’t even know you created it. You think that there was something all out there that was wrong, but really it was, it was your belief initially from the very start.

[00:21:43] Kris Ward: Yeah. It’s like dogs, they smell fear. And you, you it’s really like trying to hand somebody something, but not letting go when they go to take it.

[00:21:50] So, you know, you, it, it is and you come off like, Oh man, she really needs to sail and there’s pro it just. Yeah, I can smell it. Right. You can smell it. So that is really important. And I have found too, that I think at the end of the day, you know, it’s never about the price. If you don’t make a sale, it really is that you, you know, you didn’t connect with their pain or their problem.

[00:22:16] And that, you know, I’ve seen situations in my much earlier years where I’d be like, okay, I gave it to this person for this price and another person thinking, Oh, I really, really want to work with them. And I. Drop the price. And it’s like the price just, wasn’t a factor, you know, putting it down, putting it up.

[00:22:32] It’s not that they can’t afford you or that you’re asking for too much. It just clearly was not invest enough value or certainty in your message. Right. So, yeah. Perfect. Okay. All right. So sales, what are some things that we can do to close the sale or make it easier? You know what, just. Keep throwing your, your wisdom on w so hold on, let’s back up for a second.

[00:22:57] When you were doing CA when you switched from Jehovah witness to regular sales, what did you have to unlearn?

[00:23:06] Jan Janzen: Well, I was still at Jehovah’s witness when I bought my first franchise at night.

[00:23:10] Kris Ward: So

[00:23:11] Jan Janzen: I had another 19 years. Of being an entrepreneur as a Jehovah’s witness. During that time, I, you know, brought Molly maid out to the West coast of Canada with my mom.

[00:23:23] We were one of the, one of the first two franchises. And that was 1981. So that was at a time when the average woman. Was not having a maid team come into their homes. That was kind of for the rich and

[00:23:34] Kris Ward: famous, right.

[00:23:35] Jan Janzen: So that was sales. And then I went into, I had businesses in the odd, I had three businesses in the automotive industry, which were all, you know, that was tough.

[00:23:43] I was dealing with every department in, in, uh, an auto car dealership. Um, I started a home pole dancing business back in 2004, you know, and sold businesses in the box. So I did a lot of those things before I was a Jehovah’s witness. What happened?

[00:23:59] Kris Ward: I think before you left being Jehovah witness,

[00:24:02] Jan Janzen: before I left being a Jehovah’s witness.

[00:24:03] And then after I left the

[00:24:04] Kris Ward: Jehovah’s right, your story has you pulled dancing before you were a toddler because you started being Jehovah Jehovah witness when you were a toddler. So before you left the Jehovah witnesses,

[00:24:13] Jan Janzen: and actually I started the pole dancing business after, because the Jehovah’s witnesses would never have gone for a pole dancing business.

[00:24:21] There was a lot of big things I did before I left the Jehovah’s witnesses. And then there was a lot of things I did. After I looked at those witnesses and I think that I don’t think a lot changed in my sales conversations. I think what changed was obviously me. I was now free to be me. And that was, that was the huge shift.

[00:24:39] Um, I never really changed how I sold. I just changed my personality and I had so much more fun and I was so much more relaxed and I wasn’t so uptight because I wasn’t, I wasn’t living in a cult.

[00:24:52] Kris Ward: Okay. So the freedom to be you and you felt you were no longer living in a cult. So then all of a sudden, even though the cult, I would argue, like, I guess I would say, cause I’ve never been in a call that you think, Oh, you go to work.

[00:25:06] You’re escaping that call because you’re at work, but no, it’s still like beat into your, surrounding you with it. Right.

[00:25:11] Jan Janzen: Always in the cult.

[00:25:13] Kris Ward: Okay. So you’re always in the cult. And so then what happens is you probably, I would say, as you come into your own and be more your own personality, that would aid your sales.

[00:25:23] So it’s really my question of what did you all learn? It’s really just about stepping into your own light.

[00:25:27] Jan Janzen: Yeah. And just, and really, yeah. Owning who I was and, and also owning that I was actually really good at it, because again, you weren’t allowed to have that. Any kind of self pride that was really kind of pushed down.

[00:25:41] So, and especially as a woman in the organization, it was very, you were very much, I think a second class citizen, they would decide, you know, that’s how I always felt as you weren’t allowed to move ahead in the organization. There was restrictions. So I would say that just, just all of a sudden liking who I was and being able to be completely free of all of those, those restrictions.

[00:26:04] Just made a world of difference in my confidence, in how I felt about life and how I felt about everything.

[00:26:11] Kris Ward: So like something I learned in your earlier years, I remember finally realizing before what I am before five is, you know, who I am before five. It’s not separate from who I am after five. So I used to think that, you know, okay, sometimes I’m patient a little bit rushed, but at work, this is my zone and I’m really good at it.

[00:26:30] And I really like it and blah, blah, blah. And then I didn’t realize, you know, how I was articulating myself of. Bulldozing through things or rushing. Cause you know, I felt I was behind or whatever and the consequences of my work when I’m rushing, rushing, rushing. Right. So I think it’s a bigger lesson for all of us is stepping into who you are, does impact every aspect of your business.

[00:26:51] And in your case, it’s, you know, getting relief from being in a cold, somebody else, it might be relief from low self esteem or whatever you need to do in order to find alignment with who you are in the business.

[00:27:02] Jan Janzen: Because I think that shows up. Yes so much when you’re selling, because if you’re out of alignment with your price or the value or yourself or your, you know, whatever, again, it’s all energy, right?

[00:27:15] And so that comes across and, and when you’re not really in alignment with who you are, you’re not being authentic. You know, that’s what people, why people talk so much about authentic selling. But I think to excel in selling starts with being authentic with yourself and really knowing yourself and being okay with yourself.

[00:27:32] Kris Ward: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So we’ve got a few minutes left. What are some final things you feel like we need to know?

[00:27:40] Jan Janzen: Well, I’ll tell you, Chris. I think the biggest thing that comes across always in sales is people’s poor relationship with money. Right because money is the foundation of business, right? You don’t, if you don’t have money and you don’t have sales, you don’t have a business.

[00:27:58] You just have what I call an expensive hobby. So until you really come to terms with money, relationships, Then you really will always struggle with money, which is why I always start all my clients off with the sacred money archetypes assessment. And what it does is they, it’s a free assessment and they do it and they find out what are their top three archetypes?

[00:28:21] Well, they find it all their architects, but then I do a complimentary reading with them that really helps them to see. How those top three archetypes are affecting their sales, their business and their bank account. So I mentioned earlier about a nurture. So a nurture is all about their prices. Usually aren’t too low and then they discount on top of it and then they over-deliver.

[00:28:43] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:28:43] Jan Janzen: So right there, there’s like a triple whammy that is really going to affect. Your your income, you can have someone who’s, um, you know, the, the celebrity, that’s all about image and all about caring about how they, how they position themselves in the marketplace. Um, you know, the, the accumulator, the ruler, the Maverick, they all have such different personalities and what can happen with your archetypes.

[00:29:06] And it’s fascinating is you can have, for example, a connector, which is all about building relationships. And that connector’s going, Oh yeah. You know, we got to connect with these people. We got a network here and you can have then the, uh, the, um, let’s say the accumulator, that’s all about saving money.

[00:29:24] Hmm. And so their only concern is what is your bank account, bank account look like? So you can feel like you’ve got the devil on one shoulder and the devil on another, and it can be like cacophony in your head. Is they, two of them are competing for where you’re going to prioritize in your business. So when I do this reading with them, it’s really, it gives them like, they go, Oh my goodness.

[00:29:46] Now I understand. Stand that I’m not crazy that I haven’t got a split personality. That is really it’s. I understand now that my, my money archetypes are really having a massive impact on my business and on, uh, how I view sales and how I handle money.

[00:30:03] Kris Ward: That makes sense. Yeah. There’s so much subtleties, right?

[00:30:07] You are the business. Really. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling. You are the business and all that stuff you sort of take for granted or just think, Oh, once they get to a certain level and make you more money, I won’t need the sale as much. And so that I won’t feel like I, you know, I’m sitting on the edge of my seat.

[00:30:21] Do they buy or whatever? And I know I learned in my early years too, I might have somebody. Um, where, like, I almost wanted to prove to them that I could do it. Like the person that you had to dare, I say, sell a little harder and you’d be like, Oh, I’m really going to show them that they spent good money here.

[00:30:38] And I wouldn’t do that with a 10 foot pole now. Like. If you don’t see my worth, this is not going to be a good fit and I’m going to be doing all the work. And so I just have no interest in working with you and proving myself where in the beginning he gets sucked into that a lot. So I do agree with everything you say, like it just, your energy dictates everything.

[00:30:58] So it fabulous lessons, but yes, I don’t think we’ve ever had somebody that. Started the sales journey as early as you did. So. Interesting. Interesting. All right. So where can people find you when they want to find out more?

[00:31:12] Jan Janzen: I suggest that everybody starts with doing that sacred money archetypes assessment, because it’s so fascinating and it will give you such an amazing insight into your world.

[00:31:21] So that can be found@thenumbereightmoneyarchetypes.com. Okay, so, and I’m sure that can go into your show notes for sure. Do the assessment. It takes less than 10 minutes. Seriously, it should take. And it’s always first thought is best thought. Just answer comes into your head. You will get a copy of it.

[00:31:39] I’ll get a copy of it. You’ll have an opportunity to book a 30 minute complimentary. And I really, I look at, I asked, I, I explained to you your top three, and then I asked you about your business so we can find out exactly how it’s having an impact on your business. People go away just going. Oh, my goodness.

[00:31:54] I cannot believe how much I learned about myself and money. And as I said, this is the root of all business. This is the foundation of your business. And we have, we get so little education on it. Nevermind. Understanding how we are uniquely different because every combination will be, be very different.

[00:32:12] Kris Ward: That is spectacular. We’ll take her up on that. Offer everyone go there. We’ll make sure it’s in the show notes. Let’s get on that. I mean, Hey, it’s a free gift, right? So we want to take up on that. All right. Thank you again, Jan. We appreciate you and everyone else for the next episode. We’ll see you then.

[00:32:27] Jan Janzen: Thank you, Chris. It was fun.