Transcript
Well hello there. Welcome to podcast episode two of the I Am Possible Radio Show. Today’s episode is all about how the Cheese Cartel in prison taught me even more about offers. Listen, Maria Gudelis here. I’ve taught over 25,000 people worldwide and I am coming to you for one reason and one reason only, this podcast is about I am possible. Audrey Hepburn has this great quote, “The word ‘impossible’ stands for ‘I am possible.'” This is what of want to impart to you right now. I like to tell stories, and also lead into how it could help you and how it’s helped me. I hope you get some value out of this. Let’s get right to it.
All right, so while I was in prison, yes, some of you may or may not know this, but I did spend two years in Tallahassee, Florida in Federal Prison, and was related to tax stuff with the United States. I am a Canadian. That’s a whole other story which I will start sharing as you listen to this episode. But what I want to share with you here is when I was there, one of the interesting things, true story … You know, when you’re there, there’s a lot of things that … There really is an underground economy. If you’ve watched Orange is the New Black, there is some element of truth to what happens in Federal Prison.
What you see happening, when I was there, is all of sudden … No word of a lie, all of a sudden one day a bunch of guards came in and just cleaned out the lockers of about five to seven women, fellow inmates, that … and took them off to what they call the SHU, Solitary Housing Unit, basically solitary confinement. All of a sudden in a snap, literally, five to seven women were taken away. We were like, “What’s going on?” Then it started getting whispering around, because they were part of the Cheese Cartel.
I asked my fellow inmate there, I said, “You know, hey listen, what is that? What is the Cheese Cartel? What are they talking about?” Because I’m thinking, what, is this some kind of like multi millions of dollars being stolen or somewhere? What was happening, and I elude back to the underground economy, what was happening is that inmates that worked in the kitchen as part of the cafeteria, they were stealing cheese from the cafeteria and selling it to fellow inmates to exchange for things that they could buy or them, say on commissary or something.
What I learned about some of this as I remember this now is that they would go … There’s certain individuals that would come, literally bunk to bunk saying, “Hey, want some cheese?” “Hey, do you want to buy some cheese?” “Want to get some cheese?” “Want to get some cheese?” Literally almost every week. They had created …
What does this relate to business and sales and marketing and offers? Well, I want to bring home a few points here. The first thing is that sales and selling is the vehicle to success, no matter what environment you’re at. Now, I would never wish upon you a prison environment, that’s for sure. However, I will say that because the Cheese Cartel, the individuals, the inmates asked, asked, asked, they weren’t scared to ask for the sale, they were bold in asking, that they then made their life more comfortable, until of course the got to the SHU.
But research says that 73% of sales people, this relates now to social media, 73% of sales people use social selling as part of their sales process and exceed their quota. Basically, a lot of individuals out there, maybe it’s you, maybe you’re frustrated with your business right now, or you’re not making the sales and the profits you really, really, really, really want, the thing that’s happening is that you might not be asking for the sale enough in social media. Because that’s where the attention is right now.
What does this relate to business and sales and marketing and offers? Well, I want to bring home a few points here. The first thing is that sales and selling is the vehicle to success, no matter what environment you’re at. Now, I would never wish upon you a prison environment, that’s for sure. However, I will say that because the Cheese Cartel, the individuals, the inmates asked, asked, asked, they weren’t scared to ask for the sale, they were bold in asking, that they then made their life more comfortable, until of course the got to the SHU.
But research says that 73% of sales people, this relates now to social media, 73% of sales people use social selling as part of their sales process and exceed their quota. Basically, a lot of individuals out there, maybe it’s you, maybe you’re frustrated with your business right now, or you’re not making the sales and the profits you really, really, really, really want, the thing that’s happening is that you might not be asking for the sale enough in social media. Because that’s where the attention is right now.
One of the things that I learned from these fellow inmates is that they were not only … weren’t scared to ask, they asked more than once. That’s the other thing. If you’ve ever done a webinar, I can tell you this, probably 90% of people out there right now that do webinars don’t ask for the sale enough, don’t brag enough about the testimonials. Most people just wait to put the testimonials at the very end of the webinar, and they don’t put at the front, in the middle, they don’t ask more questions. They don’t actually ask for the sale more than maybe three times. Statistics show that you you actually close people more by the seventh or eighth ask for the sale. That’s from Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale. Fabulous book, if you haven’t read it, go for it, y’all.
So, what I want to impress upon you, you know, I’ve brought in just in one webinar, 90 minute webinar, brought in $100,000 of sales just through this one webinar. One of the reasons why is because I wasn’t scared to ask for the sale.
What I want to impart upon you, whether it be the lesson or it jars your memory because I told this story about the Cheese Cartel in prison and how they had this underground economy going, is that they weren’t scared to ask for the sale, and more importantly, they kind of had a value ladder. Value ladder, if you don’t know what that means, is you have more than one thing to offer or whatever, so they were then cross selling you other items. I know, I don’t condone what they were doing, however, I will say the lessons learned from a business perspective, my goodness. Then they were cross selling other things that they could get for you once they found their buyers, and get this, they had repeat buyers. One of the most powerful ways to increase you’re growth, even 10X your growth is referral marketing and repeat customers. That’s two ways, actually. But repeat customers. They kept … Once they found a customer, then they would almost put them on a continuity system where they’re regularly getting them the goods. Okay?
Now, if I come back to what does this all mean to you? First of all, if you’re enjoying or getting value or entertainment out of this particular podcast episode, please go on over to iTunes to leave me a review. I’d really appreciate that. That would be great. Second thing, you know what, if you use Instagram, you know what, do a little Instagram story of yourself watching or listening to this episode, tag me @maria.gudelis, and I will share you’re story to my Instagram story as well. All of this comes back to the Ultimate Personal Brand Blueprint that I’m giving away absolutely for free.
In episode one, I talked about my accidental $100,000 revenue mistake. I encourage you to go listen to that if you haven’t yet, where I detail how I made an extra $100,000 by … It’s not just about sales offers, but also by asking for the sale. I think … I truly believe that one of the things that holds a lot of individuals back, maybe it’s you. Maybe you’ve got something inside you, you want to share your expertise. You want to grow your company, you want to impact and influence more people. But one of the things that may be holding you back from growing is just being bolder to ask for the sale. I don’t mean being sleazy about it. But I just mean having call to actions in everything you do. This episode is an example. I’m having a call to action for you to go leave a review or to share you listening to this podcast on iTunes.
I have another call to action, I might as well bring it up. If you head on over to iampossibleradio.com, again that’s iampossibleradio.com, you can get actually the absolutely free Blueprint. The Ultimate Personal Brand Blueprint that I’m using to create a seven-figure business, and you can too. It’s kind of cool because I’ve done it before, so I’m doing it now with a new brand and you can see step-by-step how I’m doing that that works for now, 2019 and beyond, all right? That’s using my fast track for social media
and marketing methodology. This episode here is talking a bit about step two, the offer.
Step one, you need to have a strategy or blueprint. A strategy of what you’re doing online to be successful, and you need to have an offer. Step three, you need to have a sales page. Yes, we do have to have a sales page. Then you also have to have an experience or delivery. That’s what’s new for 2019. Everyone is being bombarded with so many things. There’s a fight for attention. If you can give your ideal customers, ideal prospects a wonderful experience in the delivery of your content, in the delivery of once they become a customer, how you treat them, because trust me, you treat them great, they’re going to treat your business great by giving you more referrals.
Having said all that, one of the things that I want to come back to is the offer. You may have an offer. If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re interested in marketing and business and making money, and making money’s a good thing, guess what? You very well may need to go back and figure out what you’re offer is and what’s called your value ladder is. Just like those inmates in prison, the Cheese Cartel, their initial offer was cheese, but they had other things they were cross selling, whether it be fresh tomatoes, whether it be fresh green peppers, whether it be eggs. Yes, even eggs. Then they had other upsells. For you, let’s translate that to your business. What is your offer right now that you’re having, and do you have another higher level offer?
When I started marketing online, I started with a $17 ebook sold on eBay, because that was back in 2005, before the big social medias existed. From there I went to a $5,000 and $10,000 bootcamp and also collected then a prospect list that I can continually sell to. Nowadays, some of the things that I’ve done in the past is challenges. Bring people in for a free challenge or a dollar challenge, or a $10 challenge. Then sell $97, $3,000, $10,000 of your product or service. Trust me, when you do that, your bank account will thank you for it, your family will thank you for it, your lifestyle … You’ll be able to have balance and peace of mind, and most important … because I do believe that you all have something inside of you to share with the rest of the world, that you will be able to impact and influence so many more others.
The one thing I don’t want to have happen, and I’ve learned this through my own experiences when freedom is taken away from you, one of your most precious things you can have is time, right? Can’t replace time or replicate time. When that’s taken away, for me it was for two years … One of the things that I want you to consider is are you discounting your greatness. I don’t want you to die with the music still inside you. That’s a famous quote from … I believe it was Thoreau. It relates to how Thoreau said, “Some of us hear a different drummer. We must march to the music that we hear.” All of you, you have some music in you. We all have a purpose. By listening to these marketing tips and strategies that I’m giving to you in the I Am Possible Radio Show, I know that I can help you elevate your brand. I know that I can help you get more balance and peace in your life, because that’s one of the most important things to do. It’s not all about just making the money, it’s about also having peace inside you.
I know that you may have a course inside you to teach, or a book you want to get out there, or coaching, or higher level coaching. Here’s what I want you to do right now, head on over to iampossibleradio.com and grab yourself the Ultimate Personal Brand Blueprint. It’s absolutely free, and actually will show you also throughout the 30 day period how we’re building a seven figure brand, because I want you to have a seven figure brand, and that’s how you can get it, is just go on over to iampossibleradio.com. I look forward to having you on my future episodes.
The next episode, we’re going to talk about strategy, that’s basically step one of the fast track of Social Marketing Blueprint that I’m using in the Personal Branding Blueprint. I think you’re going to get tons and tons of value out of it and heck, you know what, if you ask me, maybe I’ll share some more stories from that gated community in Florida.
Maria Gudelis signing off. I hope you have a fantastic day, and remember one thing and one thing only, you are great.
