“Selling is icky.”
“I hate selling.”
A lot of entrepreneurs want to start their business and love everything about it… except selling their offer.
They tell me “Amy, I love helping people, but I really don't like selling.”
I get it. If you don't have good sales experience or haven't seen ethical selling modeled, it's easy to think sales equals sleazy. It's understandable that some people feel like it's icky to sell.
However, sales are the fuel of your business and without sales, there's no cash flow. Without cash flow, there's no business at all!
So how do you sell your offer in an authentic way when you hate selling? Today I'm sharing six of my best tips on how to make sales feel less icky and maybe even fun.
1. Reframe Your Perspective on Selling
The first step to stop hating sales is reframing your perspective.
When people think of the word “sales,” they often think it's something bad. Like you're making people hand over their cash. I always laugh at this because it's like you're holding a gun to someone saying “pay me, b*tch, pay me for my services.”
But that's not actually what you're doing.
If we reframe the perspective on selling, you're basically just helping people reach their goals or get what they want. We're helping people overcome obstacles. And in return, they're giving you money if they want that.
So reframe your perspective on selling. You're not doing something bad. You're not ruining their lives. On the contrary, you're offering them something that will ease a problem or worry they have.
Sales is not an obligation. It's you giving someone an opportunity.
Stop looking at selling like it's the work of the devil.
2. Start From “How Can I Help This Person?”
When you're selling, start from the question: how can I help this person instead of how can I sell my product?
Ask yourself this question during sales calls or sales conversations.
Whenever I do intake calls for my masterminds, I don't really care about closing the sale. I have sales scripts and stuff, but I literally just sit there and sink into this feeling of: I'm talking to this really interesting person. What do they need? How can I help them?
I tell them the same thing. In the end, I don't actually care if they're gonna pay me or someone else. Because if they would pay me but I wouldn't be able to offer them what they needed, it would end up wrong.
So I'm always really focused on what do they actually need. And I sometimes tell people: I can't actually give you what you need.
If I were sleazy, I would just give them the thing and have them pay for it even though I couldn't help them.
When you ask yourself “how can I help this person” instead of “how can I sell my product,” you shift from seeing the sale as the goal to seeing your offer as a tool. That tool can help this person reach their goals.
The sale isn't the goal. Helping the person with the right tool is.
3. Give Before You Ask
The reason selling might feel icky is because you only ask. You're constantly pushing, pushing, pushing online.
But if you focus your marketing on giving by sharing valuable posts, podcasts, free lead magnets, and webinars, you'll feel better about asking for something in return when the time comes.
I share so much value through my podcast that by the time people actually invest, they've convinced themselves. When people tell me they can't invest in a program right now, I say: “That's okay. I have 400 podcast episodes that are totally free. Hopefully when you implement those things, you'll get to a point where you can invest when you want to.”
I've definitely had seasons where I felt like I was selling too much. What I noticed is my value was hidden. It was in the podcast, in emails, in the blog. But on the external part of my Instagram, it wasn't really obvious how much I was giving away for free.
The moment I shifted that and gave value on the front end, I got people asking me to buy something instead of me asking them.
When in doubt, give, give, give value.
I know people hesitate. They're like “I don't want to give too much away for free because then they won't buy.”
If your free stuff isn't as good as something people would pay for, they're never gonna pay for stuff. If you want to build an empire, give more than you ask.
4. Focus on Connection in Your Marketing
Instead of directly pitching your offer, focus on getting to know your leads and making sure they get to know you.
When people DM me thinking there's going to be some automated sequence, I'm like “Hey, nice of you to text me. Do you want to tell me about your business? How's it going? What are you struggling with?”
We really talk about stuff. People assume I'm going to send them into an automated funnel. But I want to get to know them because I want to ask questions. I don't know if we're a fit for each other. I just want to see if there's a connection.
You can do that through direct conversations. But you can also do that in your marketing by telling stories and sharing about yourself.
Really look at how can I engage with people. A lot of people think online marketing is pushing out sales page content. They forget that a person has to buy it. Make sure it feels personal.
And when you're having conversations, be an actual human. I've done conversations where I was like “So good that you texted. I'm just running out to meet my grandpa. If you can drop it in here, I'll check it tomorrow because I was headed out to dinner.”
It actually helps. People don't expect you to be on all the time. They expect you to be a real person. People like buying from people.
5. Be Honest and Authentic
There are a lot of people with strong opinions about using discounts, bonuses, urgency, and scarcity.
My advice is: do what feels good. And if you use bonuses and discounts to create urgency and scarcity, make sure to be honest about it.
I use bonuses and discounts. But I'm always really, really honest. When I say doors are closing, they're actually closing within 15 minutes. I'm not going to post later like “Oh, I still left them open.”
I don't do stuff like that because then people start distrusting you.
Never lie if you have urgency and scarcity. Don't say you only have 10 spots at a certain price point if that's not true and you're actually giving other people bigger discounts.
That's just shitty marketing.
6. Show, Don't Sell
My last tip is something I saw on TV once: show, don't sell.
Show people what you're selling or how your offer will help them instead of constantly pushing hard.
I fall into push mode too with my Business Freedom Elevator™. But I also know when I show things like checklists I'm making for myself, people start asking: “Is that stuff we can find inside the BFE™?
So if I'm selling like “buy this,” people resist. But if I'm showing “this is how I do that, this is what I do when a client asks me for information,” people start asking me for stuff.
When you don't want to push or you want to go live but don't know how to be like “buy my mug,” maybe just go live and be like “Hey, this is how I designed the mug. This is why I like the design so much and why it's so large. This is the box it comes in.”
Show people what you have. Show people what you're doing instead of thinking selling.
When in doubt: show, don't sell.
These six tips can help you feel less icky about selling. But maybe you don't hate sales. Maybe you just hate that you don't get results from sales.
If that's the case, download my Selling Checklist. It'll help you figure out if you're focusing on the right stuff or missing obvious opportunities.
Listen to the full episode.
Sales are the fuel of your business. Make sure you can sell.If you want to learn how to run a business and become your own boss, my Business Freedom Elevator Fast Track might be right for you. Inside, we have an entire module on sales. Discover the Dutch program at fastforwardamy.com/elevator.
If you speak English and want to focus specifically on launching and sales, check out The Launch Gamebook at fastforwardamy.com/thelaunchgamebook.
If you’re not sure what’s right for you, coachingwise and you have a question: email team@fastforwardamy.com to ask me and my team any questions!
PS I listed my top 10 tips for authentic sales and turned them into a mini guide. DM “SALESTIPS” on my Instagram @fastforwardamy to download for free or get it here: fastforwardamy.com/sellingchecklist
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