Many business owners will admit to having some negative thoughts around selling. It conjures up images of unwanted calls, pushy sales people and feeling pressure to make a decision to buy.
Unfortunately any self-sabotaging beliefs you hold about the sales process will get in the way of you making a profit in your business; which, of course, you need in order to reinvest and improve your services.
Sadly, businesses that struggle with selling their products and services often fail to maintain a competitive edge and soon start to decline.
On the other hand taking a positive and authentic approach to selling will not only benefit you but, ultimately, new and potential clients gain greater benefits and better value from what you provide ….leading to a cycle of more clients, more sales and more revenue.
To overcome any natural resistance and to re-programme any negative thoughts you may have around selling, work on creating an environment where a sale naturally takes place.
This means taking the focus off yourself, your products and services, and putting your attention on others by:
Developing strong relationships. As you know, people will work with and buy from those that they know, like and trust. So, unless you have a very strong brand and are well known in your market then customers usually want to feel they have developed a relationship with you or know something about you before making a purchase. You can achieve this through a regular newsletter, one to one meetings or by speaking to groups. But most importantly pay attention to what your clients really want or need to know about you, your products or services, so that they can make an informed decision.
Being non-attached to the outcome. Neediness drives people away! No matter how hard you might try to cover this up, when you are desperate for a sale, others will sense it! If you are in this situation start creating reserves in your life (time, money, resources) so that you always have a cushion for life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Overcoming objections elegantly. When objections about purchasing your product or service come up it is often because your potential clients are not sufficiently convinced about the value or benefit of what you have to offer. If objections do come up don’t fall into the trap of defending or challenging instead..
~ Work out potential objections in advance and your response
~ Be understanding. You don’t have to agree but don’t make them feel wrong or bad about raising concerns.
~ Add additional information or provide a client story to add credibility
~Ask questions to find out what they do want – if it is too much money you can explore options with them – perhaps another service, a discount or a payment plan. Or ask a question that gives them a solution to the objection – ‘if we offered you a payment plan which works for your budget would you like to go ahead?’
Taking the pressure off. When you focus on the other person, and take time to explore whether your service is of value to them, then you can ask if they would like to go ahead. If they say yes that’s grea,t but if they hesitate take the pressure off. Pressuring someone into making a decision is the fastest way to lose a sale. If someone is hesitating let go of control and open up the possibilities for them to consider different options.
When you base your business practice on giving rather than getting you will soon find that the sales process happens more naturally, and your mindset will shift from negative thoughts based on fear and worry to how you can truly best serve others.
That’s when you’ll experience real business abundance.
If you’d like to know how my private business coaching programme can help you create services based on feminine success principles please click here
Amber
Fantastic post and blog!