How To Sell When It’s Just Not Your Thing
Years ago I had a boss tell me, “You’re either a natural born salesman or you’re not.” I laughed because he was including me in the natural born side of that equation. I was his top seller after all so of course he would think that I just came out of the womb with sales skills.
Little did he know just how bad I started off. My sales skills as a child consisted of eating a couple of the candy bars for the fund raiser and my parents getting mad at me when they had to pay for them. I never won a single prize for a single fundraiser!
When I started my first business at 22, I was doing cosmetic sales for a direct sales company. I told my upline that I didn’t have anyone to sell to and I remember her saying, “That’s okay, we’ll teach you how to meet people.” Little did I know that a week later, I would be walking the mall trying to strike conversation with random strangers in the hopes that they would feel inspired to want to buy something from me.
“Cute bag.” I said to the woman in Nordstroms with a big friendly smile. She smiled and walked away.
“I love your shoes.” To the woman in JC Penny’s who told me where she got them. She also walked away.
“This seems like a really fun place to work.” I told the girl behind the jewelry counter. She couldn’t walk away. She was paid to stand there. But I still couldn’t seem to figure out how to transition from friendly conversation into actually pitching my product or service.
Finally in my last ditch attempt to not have to report my upine that I failed at meeting people, I found a girl sitting down reading the newspaper. I took a deep breath, “You’ve got this Amy! She’s your girl!”
“Um hi,” I awkwardly mumbled. “I’m sorry to bug you, but you are just really pretty and I…” She looked up at me with fear in her eyes. She clearly thought I was asking her out on a date! “No,” I backtracked, “Not like that. I mean, I just… I sell makeup and I thought maybe…”
She didn’t even let me finish! She said no thanks and looked at me like I was crazy. And you know what? I felt crazy! I wasn’t a sales person! Why in the world would I put myself through all of that?
The answer to that question is easy. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to run my own business! And like many of you reading this post, I just wished there were some way to do it without sales skills!
Fortunately, business does require sales skills. And fortunately, they are learnable! But trust me, save yourself, and the poor people you hit on in the mall some trouble and learn some sales skills!
- Have good scripts. When you are nervous you stumble over your words. Strong scripts will give you, and the person you are speaking with confidence in the sales process. It allows you to be in the position of assisting someone to get what they need and want, rather than talking them into something don’t need or want.
- Focus on your avatar. Who exactly wants your products? If you are trying to sell to someone that is not really interested, it will make the sale experience so much harder. Market your business in a way that you have leads coming to you and letting you know they are interested. It is so much more fun to sell to the right people!
- Solve their problems. When you can solve a problem for someone, they will purchase from you. Your job them becomes finding the issue and showing them the solution.
- Give high value in your sales experiences. You are not going to close every deal. But you can run your business in a way where you serve every prospective client. I love that when I get off the phone, my prospective clients say, “Thank you so much! This has been so helpful.” Whether they purchase or not, I make sure that time spent with my team or myself results in a benefit for the person we have spoken to.
Sales Skills take time to develop. It will take practice before you really feel comfortable in the conversations. And I guarantee that you will only get comfortable through practice! So get out there, follow these tips, and don’t worry, if I can do it, you can do it! For more details visit here: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/
Years ago I had a boss tell me, “You’re either a natural born salesman or you’re not.” I laughed because he was including me in the natural born side of that equation. I was his top seller after all so of course he would think that I just came out of the womb with sales skills.
Little did he know just how bad I started off. My sales skills as a child consisted of eating a couple of the candy bars for the fund raiser and my parents getting mad at me when they had to pay for them. I never won a single prize for a single fundraiser!
When I started my first business at 22, I was doing cosmetic sales for a direct sales company. I told my upline that I didn’t have anyone to sell to and I remember her saying, “That’s okay, we’ll teach you how to meet people.” Little did I know that a week later, I would be walking the mall trying to strike conversation with random strangers in the hopes that they would feel inspired to want to buy something from me.
“Cute bag.” I said to the woman in Nordstroms with a big friendly smile. She smiled and walked away.
“I love your shoes.” To the woman in JC Penny’s who told me where she got them. She also walked away.
“This seems like a really fun place to work.” I told the girl behind the jewelry counter. She couldn’t walk away. She was paid to stand there. But I still couldn’t seem to figure out how to transition from friendly conversation into actually pitching my product or service.
Finally in my last ditch attempt to not have to report my upine that I failed at meeting people, I found a girl sitting down reading the newspaper. I took a deep breath, “You’ve got this Amy! She’s your girl!”
“Um hi,” I awkwardly mumbled. “I’m sorry to bug you, but you are just really pretty and I…” She looked up at me with fear in her eyes. She clearly thought I was asking her out on a date! “No,” I backtracked, “Not like that. I mean, I just… I sell makeup and I thought maybe…”
She didn’t even let me finish! She said no thanks and looked at me like I was crazy. And you know what? I felt crazy! I wasn’t a sales person! Why in the world would I put myself through all of that?
The answer to that question is easy. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to run my own business! And like many of you reading this post, I just wished there were some way to do it without sales skills!
Fortunately, business does require sales skills. And fortunately, they are learnable! But trust me, save yourself, and the poor people you hit on in the mall some trouble and learn some sales skills!
- Have good scripts. When you are nervous you stumble over your words. Strong scripts will give you, and the person you are speaking with confidence in the sales process. It allows you to be in the position of assisting someone to get what they need and want, rather than talking them into something don’t need or want.
- Focus on your avatar. Who exactly wants your products? If you are trying to sell to someone that is not really interested, it will make the sale experience so much harder. Market your business in a way that you have leads coming to you and letting you know they are interested. It is so much more fun to sell to the right people!
- Solve their problems. When you can solve a problem for someone, they will purchase from you. Your job them becomes finding the issue and showing them the solution.
- Give high value in your sales experiences. You are not going to close every deal. But you can run your business in a way where you serve every prospective client. I love that when I get off the phone, my prospective clients say, “Thank you so much! This has been so helpful.” Whether they purchase or not, I make sure that time spent with my team or myself results in a benefit for the person we have spoken to.
Sales Skills take time to develop. It will take practice before you really feel comfortable in the conversations. And I guarantee that you will only get comfortable through practice! So get out there, follow these tips, and don’t worry, if I can do it, you can do it! For more details visit here: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/
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