When you have a product to sell, one of the most important things to have is your A to Z fever story. That is your story that you want to share with everyone, from A to Z. This story should be infectious and exciting. Your passion needs to be front and center. Join your host, Darren CdeBaca as he speaks about crafting your A to Z story. Learn how to craft your storyboard so that you can spread it to others like a fever. This creates excitement, which then breaks barriers. Create your A to Z fever story today.
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A To Z Fever
I want to thank you for tuning in. If you're not taking notes because you're on a walk, chilling out on the couch or driving to your favorite destination in the morning, afternoon or evening, don't be afraid to come back and reread any part of this show to get those meaningful thoughts, suggestions, stories and ideas that fit into your vision as you see fit. Your vision could be this week, this month or this year. It doesn't matter as long as you have a vision that you can act upon. We're very large at DCB Strategies on getting that bold vision we call goals and acting upon them. I want to congratulate you for sharing some time with me. If you are able to take some notes, we have some ideas for you to write some things down and to put into action.
I'm excited about this topic. It's one of my favorite topics that I've ever had the opportunity to get introduced to a few years ago when I started my wholesaling career in the business. It's called the A to Z Fever. Before I get into this topic, let me share the phrase and remind you, our audience, that best defines our work at DCB Strategies. That phrase is the following, "Being the best and average have nothing in common." Think about that for a moment. Those of you in the professional circles, personal circles, faith circles, non-profit circles and etc., you know who the best is. They separate themselves by what they do, the way they act and the way they say things. When you compare the best and average, there is nothing in common in terms of the cadence and momentum of what they share. This embodies DCB Strategies work.
Our work is for those of you who would like to become the best in the way you decide, commit and become. Go after your bold visions and goals and separate yourself in a professional and personal way to reach your goals of personal desires. I want to ask you before we start this topic. If you can take a moment and repeat that phrase to yourself. When you do that, your mind intuitively says, "I draw a line on the sidewalk and say, 'Am I on the best or the average?'" As you know, from our previous episode, we're not here to judge where you are. We're here to excite you about where you're going. It's like what I was told in the past years ago, inhale the future and exhale the past because we've got a lot of future ahead of us. We have a large opportunity to take one of these building blocks, thus allowing ourselves to become the best in our personal and professional growth.
Now, A to Z fever is exciting. When you're talking about A to Z fever, intuitively as a fever, is that contagious? I hope this is in a good way. The topic of A to Z fever is for those of you who are in the business of offering something. Selling an item, an idea or a concept. Whether it's a product, again, an idea to an audience or a concept to form a vision for your team and supporting cast, that's a lot in there of what I had just said but it's getting people involved.
Inhale the future and exhale the past because you've got a lot of future ahead of you.
Get them involved to the point where they want to carry on with that A to Z fever story. This is a huge momentum building block for us as individuals, as salespeople or as sales teams, such as sales team leaders in offices or internal sales desks leaders and client experience support teams. Whether you're in the securities business, real estate business, plumbing business, etc., it applies to the team and your success by designing a story that this A to Z fever that everyone gets contagious about.
Let's Define A-Z
Yes, I'm excited. I have an opportunity to, at times, accentuate the existence of reality only because I set myself up not knowing what's coming but expecting what is unexpected, which brings peace in my excitement of going after it in a big way. This is what it's all about. A to Z fever's going after it in a big way. This topic has brought applications in everyone's professional lives. Let me share with you a little bit about the clear definition of A to Z. Where did this come up from? A to Z, the definition is the 26 letters in the alphabet. If you have exhausted the alphabet in your book of clients from A to Z, your book of COIs, Centers of Influences that allow your business to expand, increase your networking, etc. Your alphabet of contacts and prospects.
This is an analogy and a reality when in practice, to go to everyone you know. If you want to follow the A to Z plan to stay on track, that's what you do. You literally put it into play. I cover the A to Ds now, the A to Gs tomorrow, etc. It provides a plan of action, a new habit, as we talk about in the DCB Strategies. It will take a while to get through everyone. This isn't a hurried process. This is a precise feverish process that becomes part of your memorable distinction. Everyone needs to hear the A to Z fever story. That's the attitude.
Fever And Excitement
As you know, attitude is 95% of the way there, 5% is the effort of making sure that it's well-prepared. When your attitude springs out loudly and exciting in a fashion that's clear, clairvoyant, one of the same and able to be repeated by your audience, the focus on getting through this to your books becomes easy. In fact, A to Z, go for it. If not, when you're finished with A to Z in your first story or your second idea, go Z to A. Change it up. The point is it gives you a calculated way to go after it. Let's define fever, A to Z Fever. Fever is a state of nervous excitement. That's the way I look at it in the professional world. This excitement breaks barriers, as you may have heard in one of my prior episodes.
When you have someone who's excited, they're breaking barriers. When you have excitement with a, A to Z plan backed by a story, things happen. I had the privilege of being introduced to this idea when I was starting my wholesaling career and this is a sales business. That's what I was in wholesaling, asset management products and limited partnerships way back with a company called Paine Webber, which is now UBS and this was back in 1982. With the definition of execution, by one of my mentors, he said, "Always go to the four corners of the offices of the buildings you're going into in Paine Webber because they have the most money to share with potentially and buy your limited partnerships or asset management products."
I always want to be around the people who had the most money because they can buy more of my product. The reason I went into that four-corner reality is because they have an opinion and passion like no other. Here's what I learned in going into one of those four-corner offices. I went through my open-end questions like I was taught through my Communispond training. For those of you out there who have been in the business for a while, they're phenomenal. After my Communispond training, learning how to ask open-ended questions to get to their interests versus sharing with them why I'm interesting, I was told by one of the rainmakers of the team after I was going through those open-ended questions.
After I asked my questions, it comes down to this, "Young man, do you have an A to Z story that I can share with everybody in my book? Are you feverish about it?" I did get thrown in the back. I said, "No, I don't. I didn't come prepared with that." He said, "Let me share with you what I do and why this is important." It was a yikes moment for me. What did he mean by do I have an A to Z fever story? That's the way that the corner office created success in the growth of their business. They had a story. They couldn't wait to tell everybody in their book, everybody in their COIs, everybody in their contacts. Their clients became excited to hear about the next one. Not 10 for 10 work, but that's the meaning of diversification and proper representation. That was a pivotal moment in my career.
That question he asked me was a gift. It was the difference and it was a challenge. It was a challenge to develop attractive storyboards for my products, ideas and concepts until everyone does A to Z with nervous excitement. That's unusual but if you ask in retrospect. When you listen to the most recent Olympics, these wonderful athletes were so well-prepared. They're nervous, but they're nervously excited. They're not anxious. Great athletes are nervous because they're well-prepared and ready to go. They just want to get out of the gates and go.
Craft a story that you can go and tell everybody, from A to Z, about it.
A-Z Story Introduction
As I mentioned in one of my episodes, excitement does break barriers. When you start supplying a story with an A to Z attitude and say, "Is this story good enough to go to everybody in my book and everybody I want to exhaust my list with a feverish contagious attitude?" If it isn't, drop it. If it is, go for it but that's the key I asked you. Do you have your A to Z story? Do you? Think about it. Write it down. What is it? You go to everybody right now and be the differential moment in their day that they know of a new product or an idea or a concept that they become personally intrigued about but you're personally convinced that everyone should at least know about it. Let me share this introduction with you and proposing an add A to Z story with your audience.
After a small talk and appropriate open-end questions to get on the same page with your audience, client or individual, ask them this, "Can I share something very exciting with you that literally, I'm sharing with all my clients, colleagues, contacts and strategic partners? This is something that doesn't come around very often, but I feel obligated because I'm endeared with your business. I know you're a clear thinker about wonderful stories. I like to share that with you." Again, a little bit longer introduction, but you get where I'm going with this. They say, "Sure," and there you go. You then get your A to Z story out, which I'll share with you how to do in a moment.
This is very similar to a few years ago when I brought out DCB Strategies and even now. When I brought out DCB Strategies, I couldn't wait to tell everybody in my many years of knowing COIs, contacts, networking and I did. It was the best long-term effort. It was about 2 to 3 months of getting everyone to know that DCB Strategies is here. One of the only unique coaching modules in the business for getting great goals accomplished. When with these shows, it's the same thing. This show, I can't wait to tell everybody it's up and running because this is an opportunity to take a moment, begin a self-examination of your sales career, see what this building block is and how we're going to develop it.
Do you currently have an opportunity now to craft your aide as A to Z story or a to Z fever story? There is a big difference. If not, you have a choice. Again, do you have an opportunity with your product idea or concept to craft a story that you can go to everybody A to Z with a feverish mentality? Keep in mind, if you have a choice to reset, research, what I mean by research, research enough on this topic concept idea. It makes it somewhat bulletproof when you talk about this story with people, which builds your excitement. When you come out with something that's bulletproof in your mind, it gets exciting to tell everybody. It's the fuel that allows you to form and create or craft that story. If you don't have the toolset or the experience or the confidence to craft your story now or the product, I would second guess.
Everyone has a product or an idea to sell, but I would take it by your own interest in this show that you're not here to say, "No, I don't have anything creative to sell," because I think that you are endeared to your interest in creativity. It's one reason you're on this show and you're excited about learning something new about how it applies to your business. It's not in your mindset to say, "No, I don't have anything." When it comes to this type of growth idea, let's get ready.
Again, in practical reality, if you don't have the experience and so forth, which we all grow from and we're all still learning, reached out to your mentor, a leader of your firm, shared this with them. A colleague, share this concept with them. Maybe they're interested in and making sure they're developing this great momentum-building block or call me or contact me at Podcast@DCBStrategies.com. I'd love to talk with you and share with you how half the fun of crafting your story sets the exciting table for everyone to know about.
Creating Your A-Z Story
Again, an unforgettable storyboard needs to be crafted. When it's unforgettable, when you've done the research, it's bulletproof in your mindset. Now, you're ready to put it into action. Let's share with you again the steps of creating this A to Z fever story. Number one, craft the sales storyboard. My suggestion is five bullet points at most. It's repeatable. What do I mean by repeatable? Your audience, your individual, that you're selling to your prospect, your COI, they can get these 3, 4, 5 bullet points and repeat it to the people they're selling it to. Make it repeatable. If it's a data dump, it's not repeatable. Three to five bullet points with some backup, they'll write it down and they can repeat it.
Make sure you have an ask at the end of your storyboard. How does this sound to you? Does this sound as though you can fit it into your current business practice in the way that you or your team is looking at accentuating and expanding your business? That's the ask at the end. Number two, rehearse it. Memorize that story, walk it, talk it, feel it. Once you do that, it becomes part of you. When it becomes part of you, there's an old saying, "I didn't know. I felt that story. I didn't hear some of that at all," but is that guy or gal passionate about what they're doing? I'm exaggerating a bit, but when you rehearse it and memorize it, no one stands in your way. Thus, excitement breaks barriers. That's how excitement begins.
Your job as salespeople is to educate your audience to obligate them.
Number three, go to your A to Z lists and get started. It is either with clients, prospects, networking COIs and etc. Number four, rinse and evolve. The A to Z fever story gets recognition and anticipation from your audience as these stories are delivered with some space in between. This is going to stretch your intellectual uplifts into ideas, concepts and visions in addition to actual products. What I mean by this is to have a goal to have an A to Z story once every quarter. As you excel and deliver on this path, your audience is going to be anticipating. What's the next A to Z fever story? It becomes fun as long as you're adding great value add to their business and not taking it for granted because we're engaging them with a wonderful building block that adds value. Thus, they're learning a new idea, concept or product to expand their business.
Guess what happens when they anticipate the next A to Z story? You are educating them to obligate them. That's a great saying. Our job as salespeople is to educate our audience, our clients and our COIs to obligate them. For example, I'm a salesperson. I have you as my client. I'm telling you about an A to Z story and sharing this with you because you're open-minded about it and you learn something. You're going to go to your clients and talk about it. You've learned something from me. I educated you. I've hopefully done it in a professional and precise manner that makes your business better. Now you're obligated to listen to me next time, intuitively. Educate to obligate.
Decide, Commit, Become
Let's repeat that. Craft the story, rehearse it, go, rinse and evolve. Once you have that process in place, you're now ready to rinse and evolve to your new story once a quarter or once every six months, depending on where you are in your sales business and your products. Ideas, concepts and products. All are in play. When you educate, you obligate. It's interesting that the A to Z fever practice is a textbook of Decide, Commit, Become. It's one of the real primary reasons I brought out this Decide, Commit, Become curriculum is because of the A to Z fever.
When you take a look at the A to Z process, initially on the Decide, you're deciding to create excitement through your storytelling plan. How many of you have a goal to do that? Decide to create excitement amongst your audience through your storytelling plan. The purpose is for the growth of your business.
You're deciding. You have a purpose. Your focus is present. I am telling the A to Z story today. I am crafting A to Z story. I am known by my A to Z story. I am present focus. Everything I'm doing. My internal sales partner knows that A to Z story. The Decide is yes. I'm deciding on a new goal. I'm creating excitement. I have a purpose and I have a present focus.
The Commit about the A to Z fever building block, the strategy is to share the story with everybody. Everybody deserves to learn about this. The action steps again, the new habit set about the Commit. Again, Commit is developing new habits to get new results. The new action steps in the Commit are the daily calendar blocking for calls, visits, lists of information and confirmation. You're culminating all this new information, new habits blocking out your calendar, new visits, again, creating new results.
Then the persistence factor in staying in this momentum and cadence is that once you are successfully doing this, remind yourself, it's the future. My future can be expanded upon in huge amounts of ways. As long as I have the strength, courage and guidance and then it becomes a practice of developing A to Z stories. It is a fever story of my business. The persistence trigger is my future. The Become is your success of sales increase. You're going to have a sales increase. You're going to have more people following you. You have success thus in your future and you become fulfilled, then it gets contagious. Again, rinse and evolve.
It fits perfectly in the Decide, Commit, Become platform of building huge goals for big success and achievements. Decide, purpose focus, strategy, calendar blocking calls, visits, persistence and the future become your success. You get a taste of it. You're fulfilled and you become contagious. It’s the A to Z story. This is my A to Z story for you. It's a building block. Explore it. Scratch it out on a piece of paper. Get an intellectual uplift. Challenge it. Bring other people into your talking centers and develop your own A to Z stories. Become the leader in A to Z stories at your firm, your complex, your nonprofit, your sales organization, etc. I thank you for your time. There's no better growth goal than this book of mastering how memorable you truly will be when you become the person that delivers that A to Z Fever story.
If you want more information on how this applies to many different parts of professional and personal parts of your opportunities and outlook, go to DCBStrategies.com. You'll see that our website's full of ideas and thoughts that may light a candle about what your next A to Z fever story should be or give me an email at Podcast@DCBStrategies.com and let me help you. This is what it's all about. We come together to create ideas, to make sure that we're on the right path and this building block is incredible. This is one of the best building blocks I look back in my career for many years. It is the story. As I say to everybody in my show, stay healthy, stay passionate and let's make it a great day.
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