Many of you seemed to love the “Abundant Selling” approach that cuts sleaziness & awkwardness out of your sales process. Not only that, you feel truly inspired to get out there and talk about what you do with full confidence.

Today, I’m jazzed about bringing you part 2 of this concept so that you can continue building up your customer pipeline.

By the way, the juiciest part of this post will be my 3 secret tips at the end, so don’t forget to check that out!

In case you haven’t read “Abundant Selling Pt. 1,” go there first (link) & come back to this because if you don’t start off right, the rest of the steps won’t add any value to your effort. Trust me on this one.

Just to recap, the entire cycle of the Abundant Selling framework looks like this:

Be Seen (Cultivate Curiosity)

Invite (Extract & Learn)

Offer Possibilities (Offer Beyond Their Desires)

Part 1 was all about “cultivating curiosity” by executing the S.O.S. method. I don’t care if you are an extrovert or introvert. Increasing your chance of being seen is the most optimal way to avoid coming across as sleazy or awkward. And, there are many “introvert-friendly” business activities you can do to protect your energy level.

Through the S.O.S. Method, you are basically doing your part by simply showing up while allowing people to decide whether they want to know more about how you help others through your business.

That was part 1.

The next step, the step we are going to cover today is Invite. As I previously outlined, even here at this stage, you don’t have to feel obligated to sell or make an offer.

Instead, consider this step to be the Intel-Gathering stage by extracting information from people you are interacting with in more of a focused setting such as video conferencing, calls & meetings as opposed to being at conferences and/or networking events.

The core objective of the Invite stage is to:

There is one lighthearted question I wish I could have asked my grandmother who passed away a few years ago, at the age of 103, just for giggles.

“Hey, grandma. Did you know that young people nowadays don’t mind paying $12 - $14 for a big bowl of quinoa salad? They even eat millet, willingly. Mind you, willingly. What do you think of that?”

Yeah, I didn’t get to ask her this, but I’m not too disappointed because I know what she would have said (although it would have been a treat just to see her reaction).

My guess is she would have said something like this:

“Why in the world would you want to eat QUINOA when you can eat bowls of pearly white rice?! Feed that to birds!”

Bear with me for a few more seconds. There is a point to this story, and it is related to how you can make your prospects say “yes” to your offer faster. I promise. 

Quinoa was never a trendy health food until now, especially from where I am from, Japan. 

Back in the old days, commoners couldn’t afford highly processed white rice, so they ate brown rice. When they couldn’t afford rice - any form of rice - then they would eat barley mixed with quinoa, millet & other hardy grains that didn’t taste as good as white rice.

Even if you are not of Asian descent, you get the idea by just replacing white rice with white bread and how people in the old days would kill to trade their whole wheat bread for a loaf of white bread. 

OK, getting back to the story.

So to older generations, having to eat quinoa is like a punishment. For the rest of us, eating quinoa is a symbol of “I’m taking good care of myself.” 

Punishment vs. A Status Symbol. What a stark contrast! Right?

So what changed?