Selling ain’t easy. At the beginning.
As a Freelancer, Digital Nomad or Entrepreneur, you will need to sell. Because you do have leads (which is great) but they don’t all turn into your customer. As you need that customer to keep the business alive and start thriving, it doesn’t matter whether you feel uncomfortable selling, or you lack the skills.
Really? Yep - really. Let’s find out what’s holding you back!
You feel uncomfortable selling (yourself)
There are two main reasons you might feel uncomfortable selling.
1. You don’t know how to sell.
You would like to sell, but because you have never been taught, you don’t have the required knowledge or skills to sell. And going into a meeting while realizing you don’t have what it takes would make anyone feel uncomfortable.
As a result, a lot of sellers struggle to close deals. These business owners climb most of the mountain, only to let their dreams die a few feet from the peak.
2. You don’t want to sell.
You are not that person with a commercial mindset. You just want to work on your passion. And that makes sense. Business owners often go to business for themselves because they’re great at their functional skill. Not to do sales. Rather; to earn a high(er) income, do what you love, how you want it, when you want it.
But just because you’re good at something, doesn’t mean that customers will automatically show up at your doorstep. You still have to sell.
And for this reason, every entrepreneur is a salesperson. Whether you like it or not. Because without sales, you won’t be an entrepreneur for much longer.
Luckily, sales is a skill anyone can learn (Matthew Pollard)!
You’re pitching
Telling is not selling (Brian Tracy).
If you’re not asking questions, you cannot diagnose. If you don’t listen, you cannot advise.
People love to buy, but don’t want to be sold (Jeffrey Gitomer). In fact, a client only wants to hear and see one person: herself. For those reasons, never start a conversation with your pitch.
In addition, the buying and selling process is one of emotions. Yet another reason why you should diagnose and not pitch. People want to feel that you get them, including the emotions that come with the problem.
Therefore, it is your job to ask questions, listen and diagnose; to help you to understand the customer’s issues or wishes. From there, you can start advising.
Do you want to learn which questions to ask and what good strategies are with regards to advising your client?
Check out the Sensaletion E-Academy and you’ll learn all about it!
You are too focussed on a Yes from the prospect
We all want that deal. We do.
Yet - focussing on that Yes usually has the opposite effect. You start to act against your self interest. You are so focussed, so willing and so badly hoping to hear that Yes, that when it takes longer than you would want, you get frustrated or anxious.
And since buying and selling is such an emotional process, during which emotions are quickly transferred between people, you want to retain emotional control and transfer positive emotions instead.
So what happens if you miss out on a deal? You just shake it off, right? Well, that is easier said than done.
Two strategies to deploy here:
1. Winning > Advising
Change your mindset from winning to advising. Customers will appreciate your advice a lot, which increases the likelihood of you winning the deal.
2. Become detached
Build a pipeline and have multiple sales meetings in your agenda. Knowing that if you don’t close this deal and you have more opportunities lined up, you can go into a meeting much more relaxed.
Stop focussing on winning and stop accepting low ball offers. Instead, control your emotions, start advising and become detached.
You sell your product instead of its value
Whatever business you’re in, you will have a competitor. Selling your product (or service) therefore serves no purpose. Anyone can sell that. It will not set you apart.
Shall I sell the benefits of my product then? You could. You sure get a lot closer. However, benefits lack soul. And more so, emotion. And as it happens, emotions play a crucial role in the buying and selling process.
So what should you sell?
Well, first you need to uncover the implications of the problem. Once you discover that, you need to find your intangible value.
It’s that intangible value that you must sell to the customer for her to understand the true benefit!
Do you want to learn how to uncover implications? And how to find your intangible value?
Join the Sensaletion E-Academy and you’ll learn all about it!
You don’t know how to handle objections
Every salesperson will experience objections, no doubt about it. It’s part of the process and to be honest with you, it’s not that bad actually.
Most objections, in effect, mean that the customer is engaged and interested in working with you. What’s the point of objecting if you’re not interested in the first place?
So no need to prevent objections from happening. What you do need to figure out is how you need to overcome the different potential objections. Because that’s what determines your success.
Two quick-wins:
1. Control your emotions.
Objections are highly emotional. You, the seller, must demonstrate a high level of emotional control when being faced with an objection.
2. Work with your customer
You don’t always have to convince your customer. Just work with them. Show understanding and ask what should change to make them move forward.
You don’t gain micro-commitments
If you want to close deals, you need to gain micro-commitments from your customer. It effectively means that you keep the customer engaged throughout the process.
Specifically, you need that commitment at the end of every step in your sales process, in order to move on to the next one. The key is to never leave a conversation without a firm next step. Vague statements such as “I’ll call you next week” are terrible and set you up for failure.
Winning the commitment on the other hand leverages the investment effect of time, money, effort and emotion. It moves you from momentum to momentum
.
What you need to do is to direct the customer and secure a committed next step. Such a step requires action from both you(1) and the prospect(2) as well as a date(3).
There are several tactics to implement micro-commitments. Learn more about these tactics in the Sensaletion E-Academy.
You don’t have a proven system to rely upon
Not having a system: one of the biggest mistakes in sales. A solid system you can rely upon is crucial for success in sales. It serves as a framework that includes all the steps of the selling process in a chronological order. Each and every single step tells you what the repeatable process is to execute.
The great aspect about a system is that it works for any personality type. Because of the system, you are not depending on your personality, on your customer or the mood of the day to sell. You rely on the system you use consistently throughout the process.
To construct your system, write down your selling process step by step. From there, assemble a basic structure that serves as your guideline to success. The better your system becomes, the less other external factors will matter.
Implementing a sales system is one of the highest income producing activities you can do for your business!
So, did you discover what is holding you back from success?
Even though you don’t want to or you simply don’t know how to sell, sales can be learned by anyone. And one key factor is to ask questions and listen instead of pitching. As well, you want to change your mindset to advising and become detached from a desperate Yes. In the advising stage, you must know your intangible value.
A few “musts” are knowing how to handle and overcome objections. The same counts for securing micro-commitments. Both facets allow you to move to the next step in the sales process.
All these methods and procedures only really work out when you compile them in a system!
To ensure you will start selling a lot more, to truly get your business thriving, join the Sensaletion E-Academy. Everything discussed and a lot more is being taught in detail, including exercises to execute and handouts to download.
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