Episode 001: Sales Mastery and Adjusting your Business Model to Align with Motherhood 

Merit Kahn, CSP, is the Founder of Merit-based Business, author of Myth Shift: Challenging The Truths That Sabotage Success and creator of The Merit Method: Sales Mastery for Life program. With more than 20 years of sales, sales management, coaching, training, consulting, writing and speaking experience, Merit has worked with thousands of clients across multiple industries with one goal in mind... grow sales and influence. She is certified in Emotional Intelligence and earned the highest designation in The National Speakers Association, one held by less than 12% of professional speakers worldwide, The Certified Speaking Professional, CSP.

In this episode, Merit describes how motherhood is a priority for her decisions. There was a time when Merit would literally breastfeed her baby while responding to emails. Merit realized that she wasn't doing either thing very well. Multi-tasking is currently fashionable and trendy; however, Merit understands that she is no good at it. While reflecting on her brand new baby, Merit decided to refocus and adjust her business model to be more family-focused. 

Then, Merit explains how she made adjustments to her work schedule after her son's birth. Merit found that she could effectively do her work remotely. Plus, there were opportunities to combine multiple tasks and delegate to others. Basically, Merit put her family at the center and worked all her other obligations around that. Merit thought about all the ways she could give value in the workplace without sacrificing her personal life.  

Merit wishes she was better at collaboration and asking for help. The first thing Merit learned to outsource was cleaning. The second thing that Merit got rid of was grocery shopping. Grocery shopping does not require her talents, nor does Merit enjoy it. Why would she be at the grocery store when she could be with her son? Get rid of everything that doesn't require your skill level, your unique gifts, and your love. The last thing Merit outsourced was cooking – she has given herself full permission to be that woman. 

During COVID-19, people are coming to Merit more motivated to invest in themselves. We shouldn't be waiting for COVID-19 to end in order to start investing in ourselves. Merit says that her “Can't Wait This Out” Movement is a community of business go-getters who will do whatever it takes to go out there and make things happen. They believe the crisis does not define us; it outlines us. Plus, the movement expands the edges of what we are capable of. Also, the movement will help you strengthen your sales skills and mindset to sell despite the crisis.

Later, Merit describes what it’s like to make sales during COVID-19. There is a difference between empathy and assertiveness in sales professionals. If empathy is too high, and assertiveness is too low, those people do not make sales calls at all. Most likely, they were not selling before COVID-19, but now they have an excuse. On the flip side, too much assertiveness and not enough empathy is also a bad thing. Those are the people who are saying the same things today as they were three months ago. You want to strive for a balance of empathy and assertiveness. This means, acknowledging COVID-19 while also making your sales pitch. 

Stay tuned as Merit Kahn speaks about what it's like to work with her, and Merit gives us the scoop behind The Smarter Sales Show, a podcast all about getting the tech and technique you need to sell more and stress less.

• “I haven’t vacuumed a floor in twenty years.”
• “It’s easy for me to offload things on the personal side.”
• “I put a lot of emphasis on a strong business mindset.”
• “I can’t wait for circumstances to change before I invest in myself and reach my goals.”