Hate selling? 5 simple steps to follow when the product you are promoting is you

You’ve hung your shingle outside your front door and are excited at the thought of the work you’ll be doing to support your clients. However, excitement soon turns to dread when you realise that prior to being of service to your clients, you need to become skilled in not only marketing, but also in the selling of your services – with the latter being an activity that makes you cringe. Can you relate?

If you’ve answered ‘yes’, you’re certainly not alone. Many service-based businesses who have to sell ‘themselves’ can struggle to reach their income goals due to their dislike and extreme difficulty in selling their services to a prospective client.

Here are 5 simple yet very effective steps that will support you in promoting yourself in an authentic way that will have your prospects lining up at your door ready to invest in you.

1. Challenge ‘unhelpful’ beliefs

One of the first and foremost steps is to confront two unhelpful beliefs that can block and inhibit you from effectively promoting your products/services.

>> Belief 1: Your belief that all sales people are pushy and would say practically anything to get the sale

We all have a story to tell where we have been put under pressure by a hard-nosed sales person, who had as much tact as a gnat when trying to get you to say ‘yes’ to their offer.

This is certainly not the approach that a heart-centred service-based entrepreneur wants to adopt – right? Well, just because there may be some annoying and unpleasant sales people in the marketplace, doesn’t mean that you have to use the same approach.

In fact, I highly recommend that you do the exact opposite. So what approach would you rather take that will enable you to incorporate your values and what’s really important to you when speaking to people who show an interest in what you are doing?

>> Belief 2: Your self-belief that you are unworthy

The first sale you have to make is to yourself. Would you invest in your own services? Do you believe that what you have to offer is of real value to your clients?

If you have a lack of confidence in your services or can’t list the benefits that your clients will receive through working with you, it will be very difficult for you to promote these services in a confident and professional manner.

These 2 mindset issues, along with others (including fear of rejection if the client says no, etc; fear of success, etc) are often what keeps people blocked and is something we dedicate quite some time to in our coaching programs.

However, an exercise that I’d encourage you to do is to spend some time identifying your strengths, your talents and the results you can support your clients in achieving. The true value you bring to your clients is a combination of all these things, and it’s extremely important that you are able to recognise and speak confidently about this when talking to a prospect.

2. Reframe ‘selling’ to ‘service’

Once you recognise the amazing benefits your service (and/or product) will deliver to your prospective client, it’s then time to reframe your thinking around ‘selling’ into the mindset of ‘service’. When thinking of ‘selling’ we can often imagine a person trying to influence and persuade another person into purchasing something that they don’t really need, which is not the mindset or the approach we want.

Instead the mindset of service is one where you are offering them the value support and accountability they need to overcome the problem/issue that prompted them to make contact with you.

Allowing your struggles to continue and by not sharing information on how your product or service can support your clients, could mean that they continue to remain stuck with their issue. So, you’re actually doing them a disservice by not sharing this information with them.

Sharing information about how your service can support them in overcoming their issues means that you are being of ‘service’ – which is something all heart-centred entrepreneurs aim for – right?

3. Think ‘connection’ not ‘conversion’

Connecting and building a relationship with a contact is far more empowering than trying to convert your prospect into a client before you’ve even had the opportunity to build rapport with them or before you have taken the time to find out the reason they contacted you.

Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust, so spending time to build a strong connection with your contact not only helps you both be more at ease, it will also give you the opportunity to build a level of credibility and trust.

Don’t think conversion, where you concentrate on your needs. Instead think connection and showing a genuine interest in THEM and THEIR needs.

4. Transform your ‘sales pitch’ into a ‘strategy session’

Jumping in and trying to ‘sell’ your services to a potential client often fails when you haven’t truly identified the needs of the client or haven’t yet had the opportunity to demonstrate that you have the ability to help them overcome their problems and issues.

Rather than launching into a sales pitch that tries to ‘sell’ your client into one of your programs, create a strategy session so that they can begin to experience what it is like to work with you.

This session could involve some powerful questions that focuses on what they WANT to achieve; getting clear on some of the action steps they need to take; while also sharing some of the success stories of how other entrepreneurs who were initially struggling with similar issues, are now reaching goals they had once only ever dared to dream about.

A strategy session that uses this approach is far more empowering and will enable you to build credibility, believability and desirability in your services, as they will have gained first-hand experience of how you can support them and the outcomes they can expect to achieve.

5. Conclude with a compelling call-to-action

We all like to make our clients feel special, so why not offer them an amazing package that covers all of the areas that they will need to work on. You could also consider including bonuses to make your offer even more irresistible. Or perhaps offer a ‘quick decision’ bonus that rewards them for taking action and enrolling in your programs.

So there you have it; 5 simple yet powerful steps to support you – a heart-centred service-based business owner - in promoting your products and services in an authentic way that will have your prospects flocking to your door ready to invest in your amazing services!