With respect to each of your “perspective fears”, it is your perspective (or viewpoint) that is giving you these fears. Change your viewpoint, change your perspective, and you will reduce or even eliminate your fear. To overcome your “perspective fears”, the process is to simply change your perspective to one that empowers you rather than one that makes you fearful and holds you back.

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Are you having sales conversations from your head? If you are, chances are that you are struggling with selling your services. Get out of your head and speak from your heart and watch how much easier your sales flow.

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Step One – Work out the value of what you offer.

Get really clear on the value you offer your clients and the results you deliver. The clearer you get the more passionate you will become and your confidence will naturally soar. People will notice your confidence, your passion and your authentic desire to help them and there will be no feeling – or presence – of manipulation in the conversation.

Step Two – Have a conversation with the intent of gaining a client versus making a sale.

The difference is subtle but the long term ramifications on your business are enormous. Come from a place where you view the first sale as just the beginning of a long term relationship where they are now your client. I am sure you have had the experience with the “hit and run” salesman. They made the sale, got your money, which is all that they wanted and you never see them again. You were left feeling manipulated.
Step Three – Ask questions with the intent to understand if you can help the person get what they want.

If you ask questions with this intent the person you are talking to will feel relaxed and will open up to you. Contrast this with people who zoom through asking you questions and you know they are not really interested in your answers. You feel that all they want to do is quickly get to the point of telling you what is good for you – their solution. Again, you feel the presence of manipulation. So it’s easy enough to change – just change your intent.

By following these three steps you will find it easy to avoid being manipulative or being perceived as manipulative in your sales conversations. Try out these three steps and not only will you be more relaxed but you will attract more people who will want to be your client.

Ask questions. Ask questions. Ask questions. In case you didn’t get this, ask questions! Asking questions is one of the most powerful keys to successful selling. It really is. So, why should you ask questions?

Ask questions to find out if you can help/serve your potential client. By asking questions, you’ll be able to find out if your solution will help them at this point in time. It may be the right time and then again it may not. You’ll know by asking questions.

Ask questions to qualify. By asking questions you will find out if the person has a problem you can solve and if it is big enough for them to want to solve it now. If the answer is “no” to both questions then there will be no point in progressing with the sales conversation.

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Some of your fears arise because of your perspective on selling and some of your fears arise from simply not knowing how to sell – you don’t have a selling skill set. So your fears can be classified as either “perspective fears” or “skill set fears”.

With respect to each of your “perspective fears”, it is your perspective (or viewpoint) that is giving you these fears. Change your viewpoint, change your perspective, and you will reduce or even eliminate your fear. To overcome your “perspective fears”, the process is to simply change your perspective to one that empowers you rather than one that makes you fearful and holds you back.

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A lot of people associate selling with being a “used car salesman” and don’t want others to think of them that way. The last thing you want is for people to think you are a pushy, aggressive “salesperson”, so to stop people thinking of you that way you simply avoid and resist selling, right? Not a good idea, if you want clients!

It’s definitely true that there are a lot of stereotyped salespeople out there. It is true that some can be pushy, manipulative aggressive, etc. What is also true is that there are a lot of open, honest, authentic salespeople too. These are the truly successful salespeople, and their track records prove it.

Acknowledge that you are not a stereotypical salesperson. Acknowledge that you are an open, honest, authentic person. Know that you if you are open, honest and “yourself” when selling, you will be more successful. Be yourself and you will start to feel a lot more relaxed and less stressed about selling.

Building trust between you and your potential client is a very important step that needs to occur first or else they won’t buy from you. In fact, building trust is a prerequisite to selling. So how do you go about building this trust? Follow these three tips.

Tip #1 When having a sales conversation, explore whether you can help the person get what they want.

Forget about selling because as soon as someone feels you’re trying to sell something, they’ll instinctively not trust you. That’s just human nature. If, however, someone feels you are genuinely trying to help them, then they’ll be more likely to trust you and buy from you.

Tip #2 Ask questions – be sincere.

When you sincerely ask a potential client questions and you come from the perspective that you want to understand if you can help them, the more likely they are to trust you. Please note that I use the word “sincerely.” People will know if you’re just asking questions because you think you ought to.

Tip #3 Listen to people – be sincere.

When you ask someone questions, actively and sincerely (there’s that word again) listen to their answers. Put yourself in their shoes and listen from their perspective. Be fully present and release all judgment. The more you sincerely listen to someone the more they will trust you.

Use these tips whenever talking to a potential client and watch your sales soar!

Do you find yourself competing on price? Do you often talk to a prospect, think you have made the sale and then they decide to shop around and buy based on price? If this sounds familiar, then potential clients probably perceive you as a commodity. They think the service you’re offering is much the same as the service offered by LOTS of other people. So it makes sense for them to shop around and buy the cheapest. Wouldn’t you? Read the rest of this post »

You are about to speak to a potential client, go to a networking meeting or give a presentation. What should you be saying to yourself in those few minutes beforehand?

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Believe it or not, no one actually buys your service. No one buys coaching. No one buys consulting. No one buys financial planning. So what do people buy? Well, there are, in fact, two things people buy.

The first thing people buy is a solution to a problem.

People buy a service only because they believe it will solve certain problems and give them certain results.  They are not buying the “how” of a service. Your service is simply the “how” you do it. Your service is the tool or method you use to solve problems and deliver results. 

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