Why KickButt Sales Training?

The story behind KickButt Sales Training, the secret, and the principles that have helped thousands of people finally own their sales skills – with confidence and comfort.

Sometimes people ask me, “Pat, why are you doing this?”

“Why sales training?”

Or they’ll say, “This sales thing is so easy for you. You know all the right words. You’ve been doing this for years. You’re used to selling things that cost tens or hundreds of times what mine does!”

Let me tell you a little secret.

Yes, I sold high-value software and consulting for years, and I found it challenging, exciting and rewarding. But, guess what, 13 years ago when I stated my own coaching and consulting business, I discovered something. Now I can look back at it and say it was interesting. At the time, I found it absolutely appalling! Even demoralizing!

I was stumbling over asking a prospect for $150 – $200 for three 1-hour coaching sessions a month! (yes, I was a very new coach.) What had happened to the savvy negotiator who confidently asked for a purchase order for five- and six-figure deals?

I’ll tell you what happened to her.

She was scared. Not just a little, she was terrified! Tummy hurting, head aching scared.

Maybe you’ve never had this happen to you. The voices in your head yelling, whispering, blaming, scolding:

• Don’t blow it, you need this one to pay the rent!
• Don’t do that, he’ll think you’re pushy!
• You’re asking too much!
• He would have paid a lot more and you just gave it away!
• If you don’t agree, they won’t like you!
• Oh, please don’t say you want to think about it!
• I can’t believe you said that, Pat! What an idiot!
• What on earth were you thinking?

Believe it or not, I thought this would be easy for me. But I realized a huge a critically important lesson. There is a big difference between selling someone else’s product or service and selling a service or product that is essentially YOU.

Yes, if someone didn’t want to buy the software or consulting I used to sell, I was annoyed, puzzled and there were definitely times I took it personally. And yes, I really liked and wanted the money. But when I was selling MY services, that was really ME. And indifference, rudeness or people pushing back on my value was not just hard to deal with. It was devastating!

I had two choices:

• I could crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head and hope for a happier future to magically appear, or
• I could get off my butt and do something to figure this out before I lost the house.

So I started looking at coaching and consulting prospects the same way I had looked at my Fortune 500 clients.

• What were the critical problems they needed to solve?
• How important were the problems/solutions to them?
• How urgently did they need to change?
• What happened without my services?
• What did the ROI (Return-on-Investment) look like if they invested in my services?
• Were the financially able to make the commitment?
• Were they willing to change?

And I started implementing a handful of key principles:

• Apply the same processes regardless of the dollar amount.
• Get my head on straight and take the emotion out of it.
• Get my hurt feelings and fear out of the way.
• Understand that by doing the sales conversation poorly, I was failing to be in service to my prospects.
• Recognize that I had a responsibility to make a difference for my clients.

And guess what? A solid process IS a solid process, regardless of the dollar amount. The skill sets applied, even though they needed some fine tuning and customization.

And more importantly, I discovered that I wasn’t alone in facing this challenge. These problems of self-doubt and lack of clarity on how to have the sales conversation were an epidemic in the coaching and consulting industries, as well as for small business owners who had to sell for themselves or had only one or two salespeople.

When I started teaching others the process and helped them over the emotional hurdles as well as getting the new skill sets, they started saying things like:

• “This feels so natural.”
• “I never believed I’d look forward to returning those calls.”
• “I can’t believe how confident I feel.”
• “I’m not afraid of seeming pushy any more!”
• “I just love the difference in my business.”

I knew I was in the right place and I could make a huge difference for people. They wouldn’t have to crawl back to the cubicle farm or live with all the doubt, fear and anxiety about whether they could pay the bills. I could help them see their value and get it in the market place.

My clients get to look forward not only to providing their service but to talking to new potential customers, instead of looking on that conversation with fear, loathing and distaste.

This is a change you, too, can make.

Take a look back at all the skills you’ve acquired in your career.
How many times did you look at a new skill and say, “That’s too huge! I’ll never get there.” And yet, in a few months you were doing it, maybe not perfectly. And in a few more months you were doing it with your eyes closed.

The same is true with Kick Butt Sales Training™.

You can do it. I know you can. Thousands of others have already done it, and if they can, you can, too!

I’m here to lead you step-by-step and make sure you don’t get lost on your journey to walk in confidence and transform your business – and your life!