Cole Gordon, CEO of Closers.io, is constantly asked about the best sales scripts. From being questioned about which sales guru’s scripts to follow to queries about how to write their own high-closing rate scripts, salespeople around the country never get tired of talking about scripts.

Of course, they don’t.

Scripts help them to make a lot of money.

“The truth is that almost all sales scripts work, and they work for the fundamentally same reason. They have the same underlying mechanics,” said Gordon.

His company has projected sales of over $30 million this year, and more than 10,000 salespeople are currently using his lessons, drawing comparisons between Gordon and sales superstars such as Grant Cardone, and his reputation is only growing.

He founded Closers.io to cater to entrepreneurs who dream of building unstoppable internal sales teams with valuable skills that run themselves. The founder has consulted with over 1,000 sales teams and has more than a half-million Instagram followers. Sales pros around the country watch his reels to pick up tips on closing, scripting, handling objections, and more.

Helping Newbies to Pros

Gordon prides himself on creating content that serves both newly minted sales reps trying to close their first deal and seasoned industry veterans looking for hacks to tweak their income and take it to the next level.

However, the sales wunderkind was not always on the track to success. Before making it big, Gordon was a bartender. Through willpower, he battled his way to success as a closer, and eventually became a business owner.

After becoming an eight-figure earning salesperson, he realized that he wanted to share what he had learned and founded Closers.io, a place to teach his sales secrets to anyone who wants to learn.

“The easiest way to encapsulate why we started the company is because I was a high-performing sales rep but left to get into sales coaching and training. I was always asked, ‘Where do you find good sales reps?’ At the end of the day, good salespeople know other good salespeople — which is really the key to recruiting good salespeople. Leverage them, their network, and find referrals. We started that business purely from that demand,” Cole explained.

Questions about sales scripts are still among the most common topics he encounters. Below are his thoughts on which scripts to use, how, and why.

Beliefs and Sales Scripts

From Gordon’s research, he has found seven beliefs (with related limiting beliefs) that every prospect needs to have to buy from you. The most skilled salespeople he’s seen break each of these down during the pitch by asking the right questions.

Using this technique, the prospect will have already discarded each objection that keeps them from buying before the salesperson even transitions to the closing.

“So, instead of hard-closing the prospect or doing some jiu-jitsu, the prospect will essentially close themselves — and they will do it thinking you’re a leader, not a salesperson.”

Objectionless Closing

“If you can break down, through your questions, the prospect’s limiting beliefs and reinstall the empowering beliefs that make them move forward before you transition to the close, you’ll be setting yourself up for an objectionless close,” explained Gordon.

This is the rare holy grail in the sales world where a prospect, after hearing your pitch, simply signs on the dotted line.

“If you’ve ever been on a sales call that feels effortless, like a downhill ride, and the prospect is asking how to move forward, it’s because they held seven certain beliefs. If they raised serious objections, they didn’t have the seven beliefs, and you didn’t convince them,” said Gordon.

The Seven Beliefs

Gordon has identified the seven beliefs that all prospects need to have in order to confidently buy what you’re selling.

He calls pain the first belief, and breaks it down by calling it the gap between where they are and where they want to be. The second is doubt; or their inability to fix the problem on their own. The third is cost; and believing that not using your solution will cost them more time and money than using it.

The fourth belief is desire; they have to want to try what you’re selling. The fifth is money; and whether or not they have the resources to consent. The sixth is support; and whether they need your support to get their spouse, business partner, or team on board. The final belief is trust; they need to believe in your solution and think it is superior to others on the market.

According to Gordon, if you use a script designed to confirm these beliefs and quiet objections before losing, you will likely come out of your call as a success.

Gordon provides information like this and much more through Closers.io, an integrated solution for entrepreneurs looking to build internal sales teams that run themselves.

About Cole Gordon

Cole Gordon is the CEO of Closers.io, the leading sales and marketing education and training company that fulfills companies’ needs for talented sales teams. Gordon is an 8-figure entrepreneur, investor, and sales trainer who has sold over $10 million worth of online coaching, consulting, and agency services. For more information about Gordon, please visit https://www.instagram.com/colethomasgordon/?hl=en and for more about Closers.io, visit https://closers.io/

Entrepreneurs often work long hours while facing the potential consequences of failure. As a result, high levels of stress are common among business owners.

Dallas-based fitness professional Eugene Pallisco wants entrepreneurs to understand just how damaging stress can be and learn three things they can do to keep it in check.

Understanding Stress

To know how to best handle lifestyle stress, it’s important to understand what stress is and how it works. And it all starts with cortisol.

Cortisol is often known as the “stress hormone” because your body releases it during times of stress. It affects nearly every system in your body, including your:

• Immune system
• Nervous system
• Respiratory system
• Reproductive system
• Cardiovascular system
• Musculoskeletal system
• Integumentary system

The hormone impacts your metabolism, ability to suppress inflammation, blood pressure, sleep cycles, and the release of glucose from your liver.

Pallisco recommends consulting with your medical provider, but he takes a tripartite approach to manage cortisol, and the adverse effects stress can have.

1. An Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Anti-inflammatory foods help reduce cortisol levels in the body. Foods that reduce inflammation directly affect lowering total cortisol levels and preventing problematic spikes.

Vitamin B

Foods that contain high amounts of B vitamins, especially B12, can help your body metabolize cortisol. Some of these include:

• Chicken
• Eggs
• Beef
• Organ meats
• Nutritional yeast
• Certain fortified cereals

B12 and other B vitamins promote a healthy nervous system. When your nervous system is functioning properly, your body doesn’t produce as much cortisol.

Omega-3

Omega-3 fatty acids are also excellent for reducing inflammation and keeping your cortisol levels under control. Some popular omega-3-rich foods are:

• Avocados
• Seeds, such as flax and chia seeds
• Olive oil
• Seafood like mackerel, oysters, salmon, and tuna
• Nuts

Another convenient way to supplement omega-3 in your body is to consume fish oil capsules.

2. A Well-Regulated Sleep Schedule

Cortisol can also affect your rest, making falling or staying asleep difficult.

Your body’s melatonin (the hormone that makes you sleepy) and cortisol levels usually follow a regulated 24-hour pattern known as the circadian rhythm. High levels of cortisol and stress can derail your sleep patterns, resulting in:

• Fatigue
• Irritation
• Moodiness
• Weight gain
• Brain fog
• Decreased ability to concentrate

To fight the effects of cortisol, you should commit to a solid sleep routine, which includes going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, putting electronic devices away an hour before bed, and keeping your bedroom cool and dark.

3. Consistent Exercise

A dedicated exercise routine is one of the best ways to combat stress and cortisol.

Exercise not only reduces cortisol levels in your body but also stimulates your body to produce endorphins. Endorphin production can help foster relaxation, helping you feel better physically and mentally while promoting better sleep.

Managing Stress with Eugene Pallisco

Eugene Pallisco has an insider’s perspective into the stressful lives of entrepreneurs because he’s one himself. As a fitness instructor and certified trainer in Dallas, Texas, Pallisco has had to learn the hard way how to regulate stress for improved health.

Since working with inspirational fitness mentors in high school, Pallisco has spent years refining his training philosophy for the betterment of others. After starting as a group fitness instructor, he expanded his experience by working directly with gym members as a personal trainer before launching his private training business in the fitness industry.

Whether through high-intensity, cardio, weightlifting, or sports-specific training, Eugene is committed to helping people find joy and freedom in movement.

Almost every system has gaps, and they are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, gaps in systems give users ongoing opportunities to improve the system until it is finally flawless.

This is true for most HR gaps as well, according to thought leader Kelly Kubicek, CEO of Fulcrum HR Consulting, which focuses on human resources management and people strategy.

However, there’s beauty in finding those gaps and closing them to reveal a more seamless, inclusive, and holistic organization.

“There are gaps everywhere. If we know where our gaps are, we can fill them with strengths later, said Kubicek.

Getting to Root Issues

When Kubicek onboards clients for HR consulting, she tries to drill down and identify exactly what the client is looking for to improve their team. This is how Fulcrum HR finds what each client really needs from them. And it’s surprising how often the client has not identified the same root issues as Kubicek and her team found during their fact-finding.

They call this signature process their ‘Get Real Philosophy.’

“One thing we commonly see is companies that are blinded to the things they see every day — how colleagues talk to each other, workflows, and interactions that have become commonplace on teams,” said Kubicek.

She offered an example from two senior executive clients she recently worked with. After having them answer the initial questions, she also spoke to the employees before performing a deeper analysis of the HR issues at the company. The clients were shocked at what she came back with.

“When they saw their results of the Get Real Philosophy analysis to see where they should start and what their actions should be, the biggest feedback was that the tension between the two of them was the biggest stressor for the team. The employees could always hear them arguing, making it difficult to concentrate and remain relaxed. I’ve never heard a room so silent as when I delivered that news,” she said.

What is The Get Real Philosophy?

“Because of not being able to initially see our blindspots — or gaps — the Get Real Philosophy helps us identify where those gaps are on a team,” said the CEO, who is considered an expert at solving management and operational blockages.

Get Real is an acronym for a workplace philosophy. The first part isolates and identifies Gaps, Evaluates their impact, and Translates a way to solve them.

This portion of the intelligence-gathering stage identifies the problem, for example, between leadership and mid-level management. From there, it’s easy to evaluate that there is a lot at stake if these two groups can’t get along. As far as a way to solve them, their communication would have to be improved, and they need more opportunities to interact openly.

The ‘real’ part can be broken down to Real recognizes real, Expectations, Accountability, and Leadership.

In this portion of information collecting, Kubicek and her team often learn that the people closest to these issues don’t realize they exist. “Teams are blind to their potential and their own glass ceiling, and we identify that in the philosophy,” she shared.

And, far from being angry with her for pointing out the flaws in their ways, her clients often welcome her advice. After all, most companies won’t bankroll a consultant who shows up and tells them, ‘everything’s fine.’

‘Get Real Philosophy’ in Action

Self-aware organizations will get the most out of the ‘Get Real Philosophy’ since it does employ a measure of self-awareness and introspection. It’s also not for the faint of heart since it often reveals issues organizations would prefer not to deal with.

But, to be truly people-centric, organizations have to take good, long looks at their gaps, problems, and issues.

“These conversations are part of the process and are not warm and fuzzy. These are cold, prickly moments. They don’t feel great, but they are a necessity to growth, and it’s honorable when clients own their shortcomings and gaps and embrace a sense of vulnerability with their team that they may have never done before,” she said.

With these forward-thinking ideas surrounding gaps and solutions, Kubicek is helping HR departments in the country’s top companies become stronger, more united, and more human.

About Kelly Kubicek

Kelly Kubicek, CEO of Fulcrum HR Consulting, is on a mission to make HR more transparent. Fulcrum HR Consulting boasts vast HR experience, including accomplishments such as consolidating the entirety of over 9000 Nebraska state employees in one system in under 12 months and extensive work in Diversity and Inclusion efforts. To discover how to uplevel your HR Process visit www.fulcrumHRconsulting.com

Can you succeed in business and forge a career without a four-year or even two-year college degree? Without question. Among those who have done so are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Rachel Ray, Sir Richard Branson, and David Malcolm, a highly successful San Diego entrepreneur with five decades of professional experience.

But should you count on being able to succeed without a traditional college degree? Well, that depends on what you want to do, but it is likely to be a steeper path to the top.

Education is More Than a Degree

Every individual is different and every life path is different, but as David Malcolm has found – education is a critical success factor. Education comes in many forms.

“I did not earn a traditional college degree, but I benefitted tremendously from education. While still in high school, I earned my real estate license and went into the industry in which, 50 years later, I still ply my trade, loving (almost) every moment,” said Malcolm.

“My formal education included earning my CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation, considered the gold standard for commercial real estate professionals. I even took the first class during my honeymoon!”

Later in life, Malcolm was fortunate enough to go through the Harvard Business School’s Presidents Program and today is a distinguished Harvard Business School contributing lecturer, giving lectures to smart, young people on an annual basis.

The School of Hard Knocks

Pretty much an unavoidable form of “education” comes via the school of hard knocks.

Malcolm began his real estate career at 18, full of youthful energy and fresh perspective, which enabled him to work long hours and see new ideas, but he faced obstacles. Unfortunately, young business professionals can be dismissed as rookies because of their lack of experience.

“I ultimately overcame that through perseverance (not accepting no as an answer) and relationships with mentors who shared their failures and helped me avoid their mistakes. I strongly advise anyone, especially entrepreneurs, to seek out mentors and treasure the education you receive from them. Consider them to be professors of real life … because they are,” shared Malcolm.

“Another very hard knock came when I sold a property in my first six months in business. My commission was $100,000 (in 1972). But the seller hired an attorney who told me I could take $50,000 then or sue them and win, but it would take three years. I took the $50,000 … a very expensive educational opportunity.”

Pros and Cons of a College Degree

Let’s turn this around and start with the cons. College is expensive and the cost is skyrocketing. According to U.S. News, the total cost of a college education has doubled in the past 20 years. Now student debt is a hot topic these days and with good reason. According to the same source, student borrowing increased 25 percent from the class of 2009 to the class of 2021.

Money talks, and sometimes it screams and presents insurmountable obstacles.

On the other hand, a college degree has real perceived value and gives you a considerable advantage. A degree is still a requirement to even apply for many, if not most, jobs.

And a college education is designed to provide exposure to a very broad base of knowledge, ideas and ways of thinking. That broadens your thinking and perspective in ways that pay off big time in a career. According to Malcolm, “It is a ‘booster rocket’ to a better life, especially if you come from a family that did not have degrees or need to overcome personal adversity.”

That’s why Malcolm and his wife personally support colleges and college scholarships for those who have overcome obstacles and face others in their chosen path. The David Malcolm Scholarship was created precisely for that.

Consider the Options

There are numerous ways to get a career-focused education other than college or university, especially today. There are certificate programs (like the CCIM), apprenticeships (yes, those still exist), vocational education opportunities and a myriad of online options.

You don’t need a college degree to become an air-traffic controller, dental assistant, detective, sports coach or stylist. And you don’t need one to start your own business.

“A term I grew up with, but don’t hear so much anymore is ‘on-the-job training’. Never underestimate the value of OJT because that is real-world education,” said Malcolm.

How Do You Decide?

Whatever path you take, take education seriously and seek it out. Again, always find mentors to impart their hard-earned wisdom. Try different things … even different paths or different careers. Don’t be afraid to try and fail – maybe dropping out of college if it isn’t working for you.

“What is important is to pick yourself back up again and to learn from the experience. And then keep going. Persistence pays.

“Take the long view – something that seems to be out of favor lately. Look at your life from a perspective of decades, not months or even years.

“The bottom line is that you will never have a greater opportunity than your preparation will allow you to make of it. Preparation requires education … whatever that means for you. Whether that includes a traditional college degree or not is up to you,” concluded Malcolm.

More About David Malcolm

With a five-decade track record of excellence in the real estate industry, David Malcolm is the President of Cal West Apartments in San Diego, CA, which has provided financing and homes for thousands of residential and commercial clients. He has also served in several civic offices and is a generous contributor to many public and private organizations.