Selling Your Mindfulness Meditation Programs to Organizations | Part 2 with Danny Grieco
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by American Express. Welcome back to the Mindfulness Exercises podcast. I'm Sean Fargo, and this is part two of our conversation with Danny Grieco on bringing mindfulness into organizations. In part one, we explored why now is a crucial time to offer mindfulness in the workplace and how the demand for qualified mindfulness teachers is growing.

continues to grow. Today, we're diving deeper into the practical side, common mistakes to avoid, how to structure your sales conversations, and the key nuances of offering mindfulness programs that truly resonate with organizations.

Danny's expertise in both mindfulness and corporate sales gives him a unique perspective on how to ethically and effectively position your mindfulness offerings without compromising the integrity of mindfulness. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your approach, this episode is packed with actionable insights that help you confidently sell your mindfulness programs and make a greater impact.

in organizations. Let's continue. Can you think of maybe any other mistakes or things that people do that may not be serving them when they're trying to go in and offer their mindfulness teachings for an organization? Yeah, absolutely. And I'll add one more thing you just kind of jogged for me on the last point. Imagine people listening have felt this as well, too.

And I've heard this directly from clients who purchased from me. They purchased from me and they tell me, you know what? There were actually other vendors we were speaking to who are cheaper and maybe their product may even seem a little better, but we just felt like you understood us.

the best. So don't underestimate that. And like I said, the two big issues people have with, you know, salespeople, they don't listen, they don't understand. So you'll be far ahead with that. So mistakes that I see when people start doing sales. Yeah, I think what's so funny is I think we have this understandable perception of or misperceptions of sales. It's either sort of this boiler room type of thing, or it's very transactional. Or I

I'd say particularly for B2B sales, business to business, which is kind of what we're talking about here, selling into organizations. And to be clear, when we say organizations, this isn't just companies. This can be selling into education. This can be selling into public government as well, any sort of organization. And also, I'll just add one more nuance. A lot of these companies,

strategies or kind of, you know, ways of being also apply just if you're doing one-on-one coaching with people, you know, just going deeper with them, really understanding them. So it really kind of is pretty universal at that. So what I'd say that the biggest, one of the biggest mistakes I see, which I understand is that we think the process is going to be very linear. And this is what people typically think it's going to look like, but it

But it turns out it's not. I'll tell you what we think it's going to be. And then I'll tell you what it actually is. What we think it's going to be is, okay, we reach out to somebody. We have a first call. We learn a little bit about them. We tell them about us. We send them pricing. And then we keep sending them emails until they sign the agreement.

And that can happen maybe with a best friend or somebody who's already 100% bought in before we even got to them. But the key is, in that case, we're not leading it. We're just kind of giving them stuff and sitting back. Sales is about leading this conversation. Think of yourself as the guide, maybe like a mountain guide, leading them up a mountain.

maybe like a personal trainer who we understand the goal, you know, they're at this weight and they'd like to get there for these reasons because they want to look good in the wedding dress for a wedding date at this time. We keep leading the conversation. And so a few things go into that. What a sales cycle really typically ends up looking like is, you know, reach out to them. We have the first call and I'll say this, this isn't necessarily what it looks like, but this is how it works the best. This is how the most successful sales cycles are run. We have a first call.

We see if there's alignment and I'll provide questions to see if there's alignment. It's kind of that first conversation, you know, maybe that first date, so to speak, where really the only intention is to see whether or not we want to have a second conversation. Then it's like, okay, it feels like there's alignment here. Obviously, there's more to understand around your needs. Also, to explain our program more, let's have another conversation. Great. Okay. Understand deep what's really going on there. Maybe how they do trainings there, what their calendars look like.

And one thing I provide in the course is kind of the series of information we really want to gather, which is, you know, their timelines, their needs, how they make decisions, how they decide on budget and stuff. And then we have a second conversation and we find out how else they what else they need to make a decision. And it might be I'm talking to Sean, but Sean mentions, yeah, you know what, like,

you know, I know we'll just make up a name, Katie, you know, she's someone who deals with this stuff too. And you know that, and then we pause and say, cool. Oh, Katie, tell me about her. What's her role in this? Oh, well, Katie, you know, she kind of is one of the ones who helps kind of create the calendar for this. You might say, oh, great. It sounds like she has buy-in. I think what might make sense is we have a conversation with Katie to make sure this fits and aligns with her. How does that sound? And

And then maybe we realize that in some of these situations, you know, there's we'll say Maria, who is the one who actually kind of does the kind of the technical side of these things of setting out invitations or something. Great. Well, it sounds like she's important to talk to. Let's chat with her. So usually it's a few calls with different people.

And then the other thing, too, that I see a lot is so basically the process kind of goes like this, talking to multiple people, sharing pricing somewhere in there. Then things might slow down because Sean had a big project land on his app and then things slow down for a bit. And I have to be empathetic to Sean, understand that.

And then we talk pricing in there. And then maybe another conversation to discuss pricing, discuss it again maybe. And then, oh, we realize, oh, actually, you need to speak to this person. And then there's a busy season at that company. And then we have to kind of maybe or maybe not wait through that. And then we sign it. So it's...

Not linear, it's kind of, you know, forward, up, down, left, right, maybe kind of lagging for a little bit here and there, and then picking up again, all this. But this time we're always leading it. We always are asking for what else, how else can we help? What else needs to be done to make a decision on this? And we're guiding them through this process. And, you know, we talked about in the course how to do that very tactically, which is helpful and kind of the questions to feel out.

And I say this because I feel like part of my job in this, Sean, is to be honest about what to expect. And when you know going into it, yeah, you're probably going to have a few more calls than you think you might need to have. But that's just what it takes for companies to decide to spend thousands, tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus give up, so to speak, or invest the time of their employees.

But once you know that, you're able to navigate it. And that's why you have multiple conversations going, you know, the same time and some move faster, some sort of slow down, some might drop off for a few months, but then they come back and say, hey, Danny, guess what? Let's revisit as we continue to check in with them.

So that's sort of the reality of it, but we're guiding it. My managers always ask me, what's the next step? So always having a next step is really, really critical because it's not just here's everything. Come back to me when you're ready to buy. That doesn't typically really work that way. I'd say the other thing, too, as far as mistakes, and this might feel a little controversial. I don't think it is.

but just sending over pricing or sharing pricing too early. Because once you send over pricing or if you just email it, people feel like they have everything they need from you. And then they kind of close their doors and kind of like, okay, let's get back to you with how this feels. And one thing we want to do is build up as much value as we can before we share pricing. I kind of use the analogy of imagine,

walking into the entryway of a house and then you're like, how much is a house? Like it's, you know, $5 million. You're like, Oh no, turn around walking out. But if you get the chance to walk through the house, realize, Oh my gosh, it has a pool that we wanted our kids to have forever. It has a perfect study.

that will allow me to do my work and really excel in that. It has this sewing room where my partner can actually launch her business and make money on that too. Five million might be a big number in those numbers, but you get the idea. Once we share pricing, people are closed off to value.

And so what I really recommend, and we talk about in the course how to sort of, you know, frame this in a way where it doesn't feel like we're withholding, but it's typically along the lines like, hey, every engagement's a little bit different. We want to make sure we're really in alignment and have one that's the best for where you're at right now so that I can come up with something that's the best and most accurate for you. Is it okay if I find out a little bit more information so that what we have for you would be kind of more tailored? And you can give a range, of course. And then I really recommend having a conversation

on Zoom to discuss pricing. I worked at a company where we literally weren't allowed to send pricing. The only way we could share pricing was via a call with

the client. And what this allows us to do is understand their relationship to the pricing we share. Because say, you know, we give a higher number, higher than they're expecting. And then they are kind of like, if we had, we have the opportunity to be like, okay, that's fine. Tell me, you know, how does that feel for you? Why does it feel that way? You know, what considerations do you have on your end? What were you thinking? And then we can continue to collaborate and sales should really feel like

Like maybe the first conversation feels like we're kind of sitting on other opposite sides of the table. But after we find alignment and they realize that we're helping them, we're sitting on the same side of the table with, you know, the books laid out in front of us looking at it together. And so by sharing pricing over a conversation,

a call, we can understand, oh, that does feel high. No worries. Tell me why. What were you expecting? What were you thinking? Okay. Maybe instead of starting with this, what if we consider starting with something a little bit smaller like this? How might that feel? So I just see so many people. I hear this story all the time. The number one kind of thing I hear with people that I am helping doing sales is I reached out to them. We had a great conversation.

I sent over pricing and then I never really heard back from them. And I'm guessing some people might have tried sales, have done it in this way. And it's for those reasons I mentioned, we didn't go deep enough with them yet. We didn't really understand their problems. We weren't really able to share the value of our program. And then we didn't have a chance to sort of contextualize pricing or to sort of revise what we're sharing with them to find something that really fits with them. So yeah.

There's just some mistakes and some stuff they can do. Yeah. I really like the that image of sitting on the same side of the table with someone kind of working with them to find something that that makes sense for both parties. It's a really great image. Yeah. Great insights. And you mentioned the course, which is the mindfulness sales course.

that we have on our website at mindfulnessexercises.com, which helps mindfulness and meditation teachers to implement all these trainings and

to learn much more from you about how mindfulness and meditation teachers can offer their mindfulness trainings in these organizations. And I'd like to talk a little bit about what that course is, what it includes. There's a lot of great material in there with a lot of training videos that walk people through

through step-by-step techniques and processes, some of which you've touched on. Can you talk a little bit more about what the course is and what's included in it? Yeah, absolutely. So I'll start kind of, you know, more tactical high level. It's essentially...

six pre-recorded modules that go through each step of the sales process one by one. The first one focusing on mindset specifically, and I'll go through those modules and it's self-paced. So you can watch, you know, each module when you have the time, whether it's in the evenings or weekends, whatever works for you, it's made to be really flexible like that. And then there's a really large collateral library of additional, um,

supporting documents which i'll talk a bit about so it's this great online course self-service there's also a um connect portal which if you're part of mindfulness exercises you're probably already familiar with but we have a specific group for this course where you can ask questions as well and kind of see what other people are sharing there too which is really nice and as far as what kind of course does itself does itself i'll kind of quickly sort of share what those modules are um

We start high level. The first module is just about mindset and kind of an introduction. So understanding what B2B sales really is. We work on the intention setting, which we kind of did a bit earlier in this. Actually, we do a bit of work to unblock potential bad experiences you might have had with sales.

because if you still feel like sales is dirty, then you're gonna have a hard time doing it, of course. So even have a slide that's sales feels dirty when it feels this pushy, but it feels clean when it feels like this. So you can kind of, you know, deconstruct those potentially limiting beliefs, replace them with better frameworks, and then also connect to your intention with it. The second module, it

it gets into the sales tools. It's a more tactical. We talk about sales lingo, you know, leads versus, you know, clients versus customers, just kind of standard stuff, but also sales tools that make your job so much easier. As a salesperson, I had a good manager who said, I got to have my tackle box, you know, my tackle box of tools. And so these are things that pretty much any salesperson is using. And so stuff that allows you to have email templates that are really easy to

Sales is, I don't know if repetitive is quite the correct word, but you do a lot of the same actions over and over. And so the more you can streamline those from the start, the more efficient you are, the less time you have to spend doing it, the better your energy. And so I give you these specific tools you can use for

You know, one thing I really recommend, which hopefully people feel right with is email tracking, you know, just so you can tell before I reach out this person again, I can see, oh, you know what? They have opened my email five times or 20 times. Cool. I'm not too worried. CRM type of stuff to where these are customer relationship management tools where you can keep everything organized.

One thing I say is there's two ways to kill a salesperson's performance. One is giving them as if they don't have enough leads. The other thing is if they have too many leads.

And so ask any salesperson, be really honest with themselves and say, how many deals have you probably lost because you kind of let things slip or you forgot to follow up or you weren't quite as prompt or didn't get them what they needed or forgot where it was. 100% of salespeople are going to raise their hand. And so we're going to give you the tools to help keep those organized, which we talk about and show everybody.

in here and examples of ones. And my goal is to find ones that they're either free or a very nominal monthly cost. Then from there, we get into the actual sort of tactical side, module three is prospecting.

where we kind of, you know, figure out who's your customer, what's their persona, what is the right prospecting mindset look like that doesn't feel like we're spamming people, and then give some examples of how to structure a good email, how to structure good reach outs, how to create that initial contact list of who you want to reach out to. So you can start going that way. Also in person prospecting, I recommend that the most. Mod

module fours, then, okay, we got someone on the line. Now what do we do? It's that initial call, that pitching. We talk about how to build rapport. And one of the biggest pieces, how to qualify. Just because we got someone on the line, we need to know whether or not they're going to be a good fit. And we can waste more time selling to unqualified organizations. As any salesperson, your biggest asset and the only thing you can really control is your time. So for example, maybe we get a call with a big company, but

We're speaking to an intern who is just kind of, you know, clicking around during the day. You know, we might not be chasing the best time there. So we figure out how to see, you know, is the need there, is the ability to buy, how to ask those questions. We talk about how to talk about your offering in a way, how to structure that. There's a sample pitch deck for that. And then most critically, how to transform

transition to the next call. And then module five is around pricing and objection handling. I don't know if anybody felt a little bit of change in the nervous system. We talked about sharing pricing or responding to objections. We talked about how to think about pricing, how to maybe come up with different pricing, different options for that, how to feel comfortable sharing it.

how to be ready to respond to feels high, pricing feels high. What do we say in those situations there? Guide you through that and objection handling. These are common. We want objections. It means people are actually thinking and trying it on in their head. If people aren't asking us kind of what feel like objections, then it means they're apathetic and they're checked out. And that's the bigger concern. And then module six, the final module is around selling and closing. This is that...

ongoing leading the sales cycle? How do we keep momentum? How do we navigate to the organization? How do we figure out who needs to see what, what needs they have as well too? How do we kind of create a bit of a close plan? We talk about how to help them uncover timelines that we can work toward as well. That's very powerful tool. And then ultimately even some of the logistics around, you know, how to create an electronic signature type of document to send them.

And in each of these modules, Sean, one thing that I really kind of went out of my way to do is everyone, they all start high level. You know, what is, you know, objection handling? What's the mindset to have? And then each one gets tactical. Whereas here's stuff you can actually say with literal, you're not going to say it word for word, but to give you an idea and put into your words of what you might say in each one. So it goes from high level to the completely practical and objective.

What comes along with this, and it's presented in a slide deck that you'll have access to the slide deck as well. So you can have the information. There's also a collateral library that's part of this. It has, can't really count right here. I have it here, but probably at least a couple dozen documents around everything from building rapport and transitioning, sample pitch decks, compelling event urgency sheets to figure out how to ask for those, FAQs.

account note templates you can use on call. So kind of all these resources that I've created for myself and have used in any organization. So you have the full, the full tackle box in that regard as well. So yeah, that's, that's the course. It's a lot included. And, and as you said, it's step-by-step, it's practical, uh,

People get, you know, very usable resources to actually implement. I've been hearing a lot of great feedback from people who have been part of the program. They love you, Danny, and find a lot of value from you. You know, you mentioned the Connect community where people can ask questions and gather and share wins and seems like a very live, organic, you know, experience.

encouraging community of people who are really just wanting to help others. In your experience in the program as the lead teacher, what kind of feedback have you heard about the program? Yeah, yeah. So it's been great. It's been great. And I actually...

Use my words. I actually pulled up a few type of testimonials here, some that I thought were really helpful. I very much appreciated Danny's humanness and realness on how he makes the participants feel comfortable, especially those with not much sales experience. They appreciate my stories. I weave in a lot of stories. I'm a storyteller and sales is a lot of storytelling. And one thing I'll add to Sean is that it's fun.

The course is fun. You know, I use little funny gifs here and there to kind of illustrate points to get it. I add in some kind of funny quotes from myself to make it engaging and also stuff that kind of sticks in your head versus, you know, I mean, part of me is definitely an entertainer. So I weave that into it as well to make it engaging. And I'll be honest, that's what makes it fun for me, too. Someone said, you know, they really appreciate the the talk tracks and customized pitch decks.

The sense of humor and mindful connection really made them look forward to each session. Someone said, you know, they felt before this, they felt like they were fumbling in the dark on calls. But now this has been the flashlight they needed. Someone said also, I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially it allowed them to not have to think during the calls.

Because they were provided with a structure that they could go by. So that allowed them to just be themselves on the call, which I was really touching. I appreciate that one. You know, some examples. Someone said they just got the first phone call using the tools that were provided. Yeah, they feel like they've been blindly moving in their marketing efforts until now. They have the next appointment set, action items going, and a great connection established. There are some previous ones. We have a few more from...

The most recent people who took it, Monica Traceman, great person. I know you know her too, Sean. She's really engaging. The presentations were clear and concise.

The slide's easy to read, tempo wasn't rushed. It's a key subject to add to mindfulness training for beginners and those who haven't had those trainings as entrepreneurs. It definitely builds confidence. And she even shared a success story. She recently was hired three days before Christmas to work for the Hollywood Florida YMCA. She's going to be providing yoga classes plus working on the mindfulness meditation classes with them as well too, which was great to hear. Really excited about that. Gwen White, she's a coach.

And she said, for example, I use the course's methods to craft more persuasive sales scripts as well as marketing copy. The result, question mark, increased engagement and more clients signing up. And this is one thing I really like hearing too. She said she learned how to connect with potential clients on a deeper level, leveraging the principles of mindfulness to build rapport and trust.

And this has been invaluable in converting leads into sales. She says it's been a game changer for her business. And she highly recommends it to anyone looking to enhance their sales strategies. So those are a few examples there. I have another email where someone just literally asked. I checked in with them and they sent me a quick list of all the organizations they've been speaking with. Some of them that they... And...

The majority of them that they actually ended up closing for, you know, thousands of dollars each, which is awesome. Some are Swiss multinational companies. They're located overseas. How they start out with for about 60 people to start with. But then it's grown into this, which equaled more sessions and more, you know, revenue and income for them. That was really positive to see, too. And how, you know, it's just kept kind of.

growing and growing. They even shared a few stories of things that got away, but they were able to say, because of your course, I can see why we didn't get that deal. So now we know how to change and adjust. A lot of sales is learning and adjusting. And the more you do it, the better you get. And expect a little bit of ramp up, but you're planting those seeds, but then you keep watering, tending to those seeds, and then they start growing and fruiting. And the most positive part, and one thing that a lot of...

the actual technical founders I work with, or with a lot of Silicon Valley founders is they said, I just want to make sure that if I lose a sale is not because of something I did wrong in the sale cycle. I want to make sure it was either because a product wasn't the right fit

or it was something external for them. Like, you know, they, you know, they got acquired or something like that. So I think that what this allows participants to do is to know, Hey, I know that I'm controlling everything I'm able to control. And that way I'm not worried about, you know, whether or not I did it right or wrong. If a deal doesn't happen, I know clearly, Oh, it's because of this. Oh, it's because of that.

So I really had that confidence to go in there and do that. Beautiful. It's so lovely to hear these success stories of people in the program. I recognize several of those names, people who've been in our community for years. And it just makes me so happy to know that they are evolving in their mindfulness practice to the point where now they're like really teaching in the real world and

and finding connections and relationships with others to the point where they can share these practices and keep the practices alive and spread these teachings to help more and more people. And that just has a big ripple effect when we're able to share mindfulness and meditation and its impact

So it just brings me so much joy to hear of these like real concrete stories. And, you know, I think that a lot of it is a testament to you, Danny, in the sense that you do understand that

this niche of mindfulness teaching in organizations. And you're able to blend the meaning and integrity of mindfulness, knowing what that really means, being able to connect with mindfulness practitioners and their intention to help others, to increase their impact, their influence, and also their income in a way that's

very meaningful, that has integrity, and that aligns with our mission to have a more mindful planet. So I think that the fact that you understand us as mindfulness practitioners, because you are a mindfulness practitioner who's done this, where you've pitched and sold mindfulness teachings,

in large organizations that you have this real example of how to do it. So I think that's one of the big reasons why this course is so successful. So for everyone who's listening or watching, I do encourage you to check out the mindfulness sales course at mindfulnessexercises.com. You can find it in our premium section.

called the Mindfulness Sales Course. We will be offering a nice promotion in March of 2025 for those of you who like deals or would like even more incentive to join. And if anyone has any questions about the course, feel free to drop us a line on our email or

schedule a call with us. We're happy to chat with you about the program to see if it's a good fit for you or not. We're really not trying to sell you anything per se, but rather encourage you to register if you feel like it really resonates with your intention. I know it's been a delight to share this conversation with you, Danny, and to share your thoughts and your insights with others. Just

freely and I encourage people to take advantage of this course because it really does transform lives in real like measurable ways Danny do you have any closing thoughts or encouragements for anyone listening right now

Yeah, Sean shared the website for that. There's an opportunity to schedule 15 minutes with me at the bottom of the page if you want to know more. But I would say also one interesting bit of feedback that I didn't really expect to get to is that people said that it's helped them with their mindfulness sales, but they've said these are just universal skills that have been really helpful for them when it comes to even buying products. It's helped them to understand the system.

when it's helped them, you know, just stuff like, you know, buying or selling cars or just, you know, even if they're doing other aspects of life, knowing basic sales skills is, you know, I've told me that feels more like a universal tool that they feel much more enabled by, by having this, that's going to serve them, you know, from now throughout the rest of their personal and professional careers. I'd say the last thing too is just

connect to that intention again and connect to that vision of what it would feel like, what it will feel like to create this impact. I honestly believe, and I'm glad that with this audience, I can get a little bit more meta or metaphysical, so to speak, that if you're here, if you've come this far, you might be called at some level. You can choose what level that feels like. I know I certainly feel like I have been to spread these types of tools. And so I'd honor that.

And feel that, you know, if it truly is what you feel. And if that intention does feel powerful to you, if it does feel right, then to, you know, do what feels right to explore and enable yourself to do that further. Because, you know, it all comes down to that. And I think that, you know, we wouldn't have gained mindfulness tools if we didn't have our own personal struggles that led us to needing something a bit deeper and more nourishing.

And that there's so many other people out there who are struggling with that too. And if you feel like you might be someone who's called to share it at this level, then I'll take that seriously is the right thing to say. But explore the depths of that because I certainly have. And it's been very fulfilling for me as well too. But regardless of either way, I'm just grateful to have the opportunity to share anything with anybody who's wanting to share these types of tools or exploring these tools are going to have any impact in sharing this type of energy to the world. I think if...

the world was 2% more chill, the ripple effects that that would have, you know? And, you know, we all kind of have our own little niche. We all have our space where we can absolutely contribute to that. I've seen it happen. And I believe that anybody who's here absolutely has a capability to make it happen as well. So, and this is part of my intention to be able to spread and be part of that journey for everybody. We all kind of have our spots in the bigger scheme of things. So,

Thank you all for the time today. I'm truly honored to get to be here. And this means a lot to me as well, too. It really does. So thank you all. Yeah, thank you, Danny. And just to echo that point that you made that anyone can do this. It's not reserved for just a few gurus. It's really anyone who can practice this gentle moment to moment awareness. And, you know, these practices are really simple.

And it just takes a little bit of practice articulating them from a place of presence. But anyone can learn how to do this. And this course really walks you through a step-by-step practice of how to do this. So if it feels daunting, I encourage you to take that first step and see that it's actually doable.

But thank you so much for joining us today, Danny. I'm sure we'll have another conversation later this year. Everyone, please be on the lookout for the promotion that we'll have. And we look forward to seeing you inside the course. Thank you all so much. Thank you.