“I hate selling!”
That’s a common statement I hear over and over again from self-employed professionals. The statement comes with a lot of feelings. It’s also almost always accompanied by a lengthy explanation of why the person hates selling.
How does the idea of selling make you feel?
It’s not a great feeling for many and unfortunately, many of us have a negative image of selling. However, the ability to sell is essential if you want to succeed as a self-employed professional.
If you have an aversion to selling, this is something you’ll have to get over. The good thing is that it just takes a slight change of mindset.
4 Mindset Shifts to Help You Sell Without Feeling Salesy
1. Selling is helping people
One major drawback to selling is that many people see it as being manipulative. It may feel as if you’re trying to convince someone to buy something against their will. Or maybe you feel as if you’re using dirty tricks to convince them to hire you.
If you’re offering a product, program or service that is actually going to help the prospect, then there’s no manipulation involved. When you tell them about what you do or how you can help them, you’re “serving” them, not “selling” to them.
For example, say you’re selling coaching sessions to help someone create a better relationship with their teenage child. Rather than convincing the person to sign up by emphasizing your skills and credentials, you could offer a complimentary session where:
- You help them work through a problem they’re having with their teen.
- You teach them a few tactics they can apply today to get better results.
- Once they try what you taught them, they’ll realize the value of what you offer.
If you take this approach, make sure you work on something that can be completed in the session and not something that requires a longer-term engagement.
For example, you could offer them a new way of responding to their teen. Even teaching someone a breathing exercise they can use the next time they get worked up is enough relief for them to value your expertise.
2. Listen to the prospective client
Another reason many people hate selling is that it seems pushy and annoying. The typical salesperson is more like an insurance salesperson or a multi-level marketer.
Most of these people talk endlessly and overwhelm a prospect until the prospect is helpless and ready to buy. Others keep nagging with endless phone calls and social media chat messages.
Actually, in order to sell your services well, you need to be a very good listener. You need to understand your prospect and know their needs very well.
You need to be like a fly in the wall of their mind:
- Know their frustrations, whatever is keeping them awake at night.
- Articulate these frustrations in words that are similar to what they would say.
- Know what they desire (it’s normally the opposite of their frustrations).
- Get to understand what they have tried before to solve this challenge. What worked and what didn’t?
- Be able to show them how you can bridge the gap between their frustrations and their desires. Your process comes in handy here but it must be articulated in a way that matches the prospect’s frustrations and desires.
Unfortunately, many of us jump in and start offering solutions or we spew out our well thought out process before we understand exactly what this person is going through.
Listen more than you speak. Ask open-ended questions so that you get the prospect to open up. Then offer your service, program or product if it’s a perfect match for what they are looking for.
Some will take up your offer and some will not. Don’t give up and also don’t pester them.
If they don’t take up your offer immediately, follow up with them to see what they liked. Also, find out what they’d like to see improved or changed in the way you handled them. This will help you improve your sales process.
3. Make selling a personal process
I used to hate selling and feared telling people what I do or inviting them to work with me. There are so many times when I’d complete a complimentary session and still not invite someone to work with me.
Today, I have no problem selling. In fact, I now love the process of connecting with new people, getting to know them and letting them know what I do.
What shifted?
One of the biggest mindset shifts for me was when I made selling a personal process.
You see, we view sales as impersonal. The people we’re talking to or expecting to talk to become just numbers. When you do this, you end up going for quantity over quality. because your goal is to hit as many prospects as possible until one buys because it is a numbers game after all.
Yes, sales is a numbers game. But good salespeople connect personally with their prospects. Always make sure that you first make a personal connection with the person. This can happen in your first conversation or over time as you build the relationship. Then, with respect for your prospect, you work together to find solutions to their problems.
Don’t take on clients whom you know are not a good fit for you. Also, don’t be afraid to refer someone to another expert if you know someone who is better suited to help them than you are.
There is enough work for us and what goes around truly does come round. Build a network of credible experts whom you trust enough to send people to. With time, this will work in your favour as others will send you referrals. Your clients and prospects will also trust you more and…send you referrals!
4. Increase your confidence
Many of us fear selling at a deeper level, especially when we think we might be told the dreaded word: NO.
Rejection does hurt, even when it’s not a personal rejection. It can be painful when you go to great effort to explain what you do and how you can help, and in the end, someone says, “No”.
Fear of rejection can be tackled by boosting your confidence. There are many ways to build up confidence.
For one, confidence grows naturally through experience. The more rejection you overcome, the easier it is to handle it. With time, you learn to move past the sting of rejection very fast instead of wallowing in it.
You can also gain confidence by understanding what you do and how it genuinely helps people. It’s much easier to communicate the strengths of what you’re offering if you know your product, service or program very well.
Are you ready to sell without feeling salesy?
I invite you to check out my program Kickstart Your Business where I’ll help you remove the mindset and physical blocks that keep you from effective selling.
This is a live 12-week group program where I teach you a step-by-step system that you can replicate on your own in the future.
Through a combination of training, coaching, peer-to-peer accountability, and a private community, you will finally overcome the mindset and physical blocks that keep you from effective selling.
We also have a private members area with amazing resources, bonus learning activities, and templates you can customize for your business.
Click the button below to find out how this program will help you finally overcome the negative feelings you have about selling.
(Image credit: Pixabay)
