Mimi Brown had a confession to make: “I’m addicted to Thin Mints.”

She recalled how a few years ago her weight started to creep up, and knew it was time to make a change. So she started making smarter food choices, and began a routine of walking farther and farther each day. The journey taught her an important lesson about forming habits.

“Habits,” she said, “are the foundation of creating a successful sales career.”

ASI Fort Worth keynote speaker Mimi Brown urged attendees to shift their mindset and deepen their listening skills, just two of the many takeaways she offered to help the audience improve sales.

In her ASI Show Fort Worth keynote titled “Skyrocket Your Sales: The Keys To Unlock Your Earning Potential,” Brown engaged attendees with a combination of energy, personal stories and a barrage of actionable strategies designed to instantly boost their sales. The CEO of Amp Up Success – and the Michigan Meetings + Events Magazine’s Best Speaker of 2020 – Brown broke her talk down into four key habits.

1. Mind Your Mindset

Many people have a negative view of salespeople – including the ones who do sales for a living. This influences how salespeople think of themselves, Brown said, and highlights the fact that everyone needs self-belief to succeed.

“Ultimately,” she said, “the first sale is to yourself.”

Brown stressed the need for confidence and positive innerwords, and encouraged attendees to harness the power of visualization and see themselves where they want to be. “You can’t always control the outcome,” she said, “but you can control your outlook and your output.”

After her keynote speech at ASI Fort Worth, Mimi Brown joined ASI Media Editor-in-Chief C.J. Mittica to discuss how people who aren’t naturally confident can start building self-belief.

2. Elevate Every Exchange

“How often are we in a conversation and we totally miss the point?” asked Brown.

The heart of the issue is learning to become better listeners, and then using that to create trust with future clients. Brown engaged attendees in a pair of listening exercises to drive home the point, including having attendees pair up and ask each other three consecutive open-ended questions without talking about themselves. (Select attendees throughout the session scored copies of Brown’s book from her swag bag – a bag literally decorated with the word “SWAG.”)

The exercises were designed for salespeople to reflect and drill deeper. Brown built out the lesson with a host of strategies, from crafting a discovery questionnaire to using a client insight journal to measuring and sharing campaign successes.

3. Define Your Distinctive Difference

Are prospects comparing you to your competitors as apples to apples, or apples to oranges?

When you can’t differentiate yourself or you’re not offering value, price often becomes the deciding factor, said Brown. She urged attendees to present the best option for clients and set the price without judgement. “They may have told you their budget is ‘X’ amount” she said. “Guess what? Their budget is none of your concern. Stay out of their pockets. Because if they want to pay for it, they’ll figure it out. If you presented in such a way that they see value in it, they will buy it.”

4. Pre-Empt the Doubts

“The objections are going to be there,” said Brown. “The doubts might linger. Your job as that trusted adviser for that individual is to know what that objection is up front and be prepared to handle them.”

And how can you be better prepared?

Brown outlined six steps, including hearing the objection out, feeding the objection back, questioning the concern, answering the objection, confirming the answer and then changing the direction. She told attendees to practice “real play” by honing their presentations on colleagues as a dress rehearsal instead of waiting until they’re in front of clients to test things out.

To conclude, Brown shared a lesson she learned from Oprah Winfrey.

Of the countless luminaries that Oprah interviewed throughout her career, they always leaned over at the end of every interview and asked,“How did I do?” No matter your status or stature, everyone wants to be acknowledged and understood. “You don’t have to be a billion-dollar mogul like Oprah to make someone feel acknowledged,” concluded Brown. “You can do it with your clients, your customers, your spouse and your kids. I want to encourage you to go out and acknowledge someone today.”