People Want Transformation

BUILD AFRICA THURSDAY: PEOPLE DON’T CARE

The $1,000,000 Piece of Advice That Could Change Your Career or Business

Life is made by people, not just businesses or careers.

And every single day, whether we realise it or not, we are marketing and selling ourselves.Every interaction. Every encounter. Every conversation is an opportunity to communicate who we are, the value we bring and why someone should choose to engage with us.

I once had a boss who told me:

I value you so much because what you do is the heartbeat the North Star of the business.

That statement stayed with me.

Because whether you are an employee, entrepreneur, business owner, job seeker or personal brand, one of the most important skills you can ever develop is the ability to communicate value.

BUILD AFRICA THURSDAY FOCUS: PEOPLE DON’T CARE

The $1,000,000 Piece of Advice That Could Change Your Career or Business

Today, my focus is on [Brian Tracy](https://www.briantracy.com/about/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a bestselling author, speaker and business educator whose work has focused on personal development, sales, leadership, strategy and business success. His journey into sales and his decades of studying high performance have made him one of the most widely known teachers in the field. ([Brian Tracy])

And one of the biggest lessons I take from the world of sales, negotiation and business strategy is this:

PEOPLE DON’T CARE.

Now, before you misunderstand me, let me explain.

People do not wake up caring about your company.

They do not automatically care about your product.

They do not care about your qualifications.

They do not care about your office.

They do not care about the university you went to.

They do not care about your previous job titles, the companies you have worked for or even, in many cases, your impressive background.

What they care about is this:

WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME?

What will you do for me?

How will your product improve my life?

What problem will your service solve?

What will change as a result of working with you?

What benefit will I get?

How will I feel?

That, for me, is the million-dollar question.

LIFE IS MADE BY PEOPLE

Life is made by people, not just businesses or careers.

And every single day, whether we realise it or not, we are marketing and selling ourselves.

Every interaction.

Every encounter.

Every conversation.

Every interview.

Every pitch.

Every negotiation.

Every meeting.

Every relationship.

We are constantly communicating who we are and the value we bring.

I once had a boss who told me:

I value you so much because what you do is the heartbeat the North Star of the business.

That statement stayed with me.

Because whether you are an employee, entrepreneur, business owner, job seeker or personal brand, one of the highest-return skills you can ever develop is the ability to communicate value.

MARKETING IS HOW YOU PRESENT. SALES IS HOW YOU COMMUNICATE.

A major part of how we present ourselves is non-verbal.

As a person, how you look is often your first marketing and selling point.

Your presentation communicates before you say a word.

How you dress.

How you carry yourself.

Your posture.

Your energy.

Your attention to detail.

Your personal brand.

That is part of your packaging.

Marketing is the packaging.

It is how you look.

How you present.

How you position yourself.

Then comes the second part: the verbal cue.

What do you say?

What comes out of your mouth?

How do you communicate?

Can you explain what you do?

Can you explain why it matters?

Can you explain the value you bring?

Sales is what you say and what comes out of your mouth.

As a business, I look at it this way:

Marketing opens the door.

Sales ushers you in.

But sales is not simply about talking.

In fact, some of the best salespeople are not the people who talk the most.

They are the people who understand people.

They build trust.

They ask better questions.

They listen.

They understand the real problem.

And then they offer a solution.

That requires a builder and thinker mindset.

Don't just focus on closing a deal.

Focus on understanding the person on the other side of the deal.

CONFIDENCE WITHOUT VALUE IS NOT ENOUGH

You might ask:

What is more important in sales  confidence or communication?

My answer?

You can be the most confident person in the room and still provide absolutely no value.

Confidence can get attention.

But value is what creates results.

You must be able to communicate:

What problem do I solve?

What improvement do I create?

What result will happen because of me, my product, my service or my idea?

Because people are not simply buying products.

They are buying outcomes.

They are buying benefits.

They are buying improvement.

And at the highest level?

They are buying transformation.

WHAT DO PEOPLE REALLY WANT?

People want:

A change in their life.

An improvement in their life.

A better result.

A benefit.

A solution to a problem.

An easier way.

A better experience.

A good feeling.

And the cream the highest of them all is:

TRANSFORMATION.

People want to know what their future could look like after choosing you.

A powerful way to think about buying behaviour is this:

People may be influenced by their past experiences, but they are often making decisions based on what they believe will happen next.

What will happen if I buy this?

How will my life improve?

What will change for me?

What result will I get?

That is the conversation.

STOP SELLING THE PLANE. SELL THE DESTINATION.

Let me give you an example from an industry I know very well: hospitality and tourism.

If you are selling a trip to Kenya or Africa, spend most of your time talking about the destination and less time talking about the plane that will get someone there or where I will sleep e.g the hotel beds.

Sell me the experience.

The island.

The ocean.

The palm trees.

The food.

The culture.

The people.

The wildlife.

The places I will visit.

Where I will stay.

What I will do.

How I will feel.

The memories I will create.

The transformation I will experience.

Imagine going to a travel agent because you want to book a holiday in Mombasa.

And instead of talking about Mombasa, they bring out a diagram of the plane.

They show you the seats.

The food.

The movies.

The aircraft.

The technical details.

And they spend 90% of the conversation talking about the journey to the destination and only 10% talking about the destination itself.

You would probably be thinking:

But I came here because I want to know what I am going to experience.

And that is where many of us get it wrong.

MOST OF US ARE SELLING THE PLANE

As business owners, job seekers, salespeople and entrepreneurs, we often spend too much time talking about:

Our location.

Our building.

Our product features.

Our prices.

Our discounts.

Our qualifications.

The university we went to.

Our now or previous job titles.

The big brands or companies we have worked for.

Who we know.

What we have done.

Our background.

And yes, those things matter.

But they should not be the entire conversation.

Because the person sitting across from you is asking:

WHAT AM I GETTING FROM YOU?

What value are you bringing to me or my business?

How will you make my life better?

How will you make me feel?

What problem will you solve?

What will change after I use your product or service?

Why should I choose you?

Why should I collaborate with you?

Why should I employ you?

Why should I come to your hotel instead of another hotel?

Why should I buy from you instead of your competitor?

NEGOTIATE ON VALUE

As a marketer, this is one of the questions I constantly ask in partnerships, pitches and negotiations:

What is in it for me?

What is in it for the company I am representing?

What will we benefit?

How will we benefit?

Why should we collaborate?

I see you.

I hear your proposal.

But why should I do this with you?

That is not selfish.

That is understanding value.

And the same principle applies to job seekers.

Do not only negotiate based on your qualifications.

Negotiate based on the value you bring.

Don't just tell me:

I have worked for this company.

Tell me:

This is the problem I can help you solve.

This is the opportunity I see.

This is how my experience can create results for your organisation.

That is value.

HOTELS DON'T JUST SELL ROOMS. THEY SELL EXPERIENCES.

A hotel is not simply selling a bed.

It is selling rest.

It is selling celebration.

It is selling romance.

It is selling status.

It is selling connection.

It is selling memories.

It is selling experiences.

And experiences are feelings.

Feelings create value.

So, what makes you stand out from the rest?

Why should someone choose you?

Why should they come to you and not another business?

Why should they employ you?

Why should they invest in you?

Why should they trust you?

Why should they listen to you?

These are the questions every builder, entrepreneur, employee, personal brand and business owner must learn to answer.

CHANGE THE STRATEGY

My challenge to you is simple:

Communicate better.

But more importantly:

COMMUNICATE VALUE.

When you are selling, pitching, negotiating or presenting, spend more time helping people understand and also listen more to their pain points:

The quality or quantity of improvement they will receive.

Show them why the value is greater than the cost.

Show them the trouble your product, service or idea will remove.

Show them the problem you will solve.

Show them the future they can experience.

Whether you are selling a product, a service, an idea, an experience, your skills or even your potential as an employee:

Don't just tell people what you have.

Tell them what will happen because of what you have.

That is the difference.

AND THIS IS WHERE MN COLLECTIVE COMES IN

At MN Collective Builders School, our mission is bigger than simply creating entrepreneurs.

Our mission is to create more builders and thinkers in Africa and to reduce the number of people who are simply waiting for opportunities by increasing the number of people equipped to create them.

But let me also say this:

Not all of us are called to be entrepreneurs or business owners.

We also need exceptional employees.

Exceptional thinkers.

Exceptional problem-solvers.

Exceptional leaders.

People who can communicate value.

People who can build within organisations.

People who can improve systems.

People who can solve problems.

People who can think differently.

Through our three philosophies:

BELIEVE. BRAND. BUILD.

We want future generations to arise, do better and be better.

To believe in their potential.

To understand their value.

To position themselves better.

And to build solutions that Africa needs.

Because whether you become a business owner, an employee, an entrepreneur, a professional or a leader:

You must understand people.

You must understand problems.

And you must learn how to communicate the value of the solution you bring.

Because in the end:

PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU UNTIL THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT VALUE YOU BRING TO THEM.

So stop selling the plane.

START SELLING THE DESTINATION.

BUILD AFRICA THURSDAY FOCUS: PEOPLE DON'T CARE.

The $1,000,000 piece of advice that could change your career or business.

Read more on MN COLLECTIVE — INSIGHTS UNFILTERED.

BELIEVE. BRAND. BUILD AFRICA.

Less Waiting. More Building.

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[1]: https://www.briantracy.com/about/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Who is Brian Tracy | About Me"