016: Jon Berghoff on The Referral Framework, Building Your Sales Team, and Taking Your Business to the Next Level

"True curiosity comes from humility -- the humility to realize that there's always another level." - Jon Berghoff This week, Jon Berghoff is here to share his proven strategies for generating leads, building your sales team and taking your business to the next level! Jon Berghoff serves as co-founder and Managing Partner of the Flourishing Leadership Institute. He previously served as the head of sales for the direct sales team at Vitamix Corporation, where revenues grew by 400% in less than 4 years, and their team expanded from 175 to 600+ members. His work on Appreciative Leadership, Emotionally Intelligent Negotiating and Influence has brought him to Australia, Japan, UK, and South America. Jon is in high demand, known for his authenticity and highly engaging style of creating powerful learning experiences for participants. This conversation turned into a bit of a marathon as Jon is a “lifelong learner” at heart and continued to drop knowledge with every question I asked, so I just kept asking them! Here are a few highlights of what we covered: Jon starts out by retelling a story from his early days of selling knives door-to-door at the age of 17 and a lesson he learned on a late night sales call that’s still with him today. Jon dropped a TON of sales knowledge during this conversation that all you financial advisors can benefit from, including his step-by-step framework for… Engaging a prospect Generating referrals (almost 100% of his sales were generated this way in his Cutco days) How to overcome the dreaded “I want to think about it” objection. I love the process Jon shares here, so get the notepad ready as I know you guys will love it too. For you advisors out there that are curious on how to build and train a team of younger advisors, Jon walks through his framework at Vitamix and the blueprint they used to train and grow revenues by over 400%. As I said, this episode is a little longer than usual, but it will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time! It’s absolutely loaded with solid advice and resources from someone with in-the-trenches experience and is 100% applicable to financial advisors who are looking to take their business to the next level. SHOW NOTES: What Cutco Corporation is and how Jon came across that opportunity [4:30] Jon shares a few stories from his early years in Cutco [9:40] Two lessons that Jon learned from his past manager and how this helped him discover the power of purpose and visualization [11:10] The number one reason Jon became the number one sales guy [18:30] A few tips and a great book to read if you’re new in sales [21:10] Find out what it takes to succeed according to Jon! [26:00] Going from the learning stage to the actual action stage. [28:05] Jon talks about a referral framework for financial advisors based on his Cutco experience [30:23] Jon’s secrets to building and training a successful sales team [42:40] The reason why top performers struggle and how to deconstruct your own success factors [48:38] Jon gives advice on how to train new members of a team [51:30] Role play as an effective training exercise [59:00] The 3-step formula to responding to objections during a sales presentation [1:00:30] The Appreciative Inquiry Method and how it can help you connect and facilitate change within a group of people [1:19:51] Facilitation techniques and how effective they will be to different groups [1:31:50] Best business advice Jon has ever received [1:37:20]  SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE Connect with Jon Berghoff Website | Facebook Cutco Corporation Vitamix Front Row Dads One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard Situational Leadership Model The Flourishing Leadership Institute Appreciative Inquiry Method The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy Conscious Business by Fred Kofman Encyclopedia of Positive Questions The Purpose Economy by Aaron Hurst The Living Company by Arie De Geus The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge Spiritual Capital by Danah Zohar The Future of Management by Gary Hamel Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE John Ruhlin Jon Vroman founder of the Front Row Factor John Edwin founder of Strength Personal Training John Kane Director of Sales Development for Vector Marketing Corporation Dan Casetta Director of Program Development for Vector Marketing Corporation Tony Robbins Darren Hardy Og Mandino author of The Greatest Salesman In The World Ken Blanchard Brian Tracy Fred Kofman Aaron Hurst CEO of Imperative - Fast Company Peter Senge Danah Zohar Gary Hamel Jim Rohn Zig Ziglar