Selling. Sales.
How do those words make you feel? You won’t be alone if they make you shudder a little or squirm in your seat.
So many of us are afraid of selling.
Because selling means getting visible. It means saying “Look! This is what I am offering! I think you would find it valuable!”.
And because sales are about MONEY. And money makes so many of us uncomfortable.
As I was starting my business, I was hanging out in a lot of Facebook groups (still do!) and I kept coming across the same struggle again and again. People were struggling with sales.
I kept hearing phrases like:
“I just really struggle with finding new clients”
“I hate selling myself”
“I’m just not a born salesperson”
“I find it really hard to put myself out there”
“I cringe at trying to plug my services”
“I worry I might push them into something they regret”
And these were from a really diverse range of women, all hugely talented with so much value to offer. But the one thing they couldn’t quite make friends with was selling.
But here’s the problem: if you can’t master sales, you won’t master business. Your business is nothing without sales. Those are the cold hard facts.
So you HAVE to get good at selling – no, scrap that – GREAT at selling.
It’s non-negotiable.
That’s why sales confidence is one of the pillars of my coaching practice. I know how essential it is but I also know how hard it can be to feel good about it.
It’s my mission to help women feel good about selling and to learn how to sell in a way that feels natural (not gross!).
In my private coaching practice, I teach several techniques and we do lots of different work to overcome sales reluctance and to move to a place of confidence.
But I want to tell you about one aspect of that work that can really help boost your energy around selling or sales conversations and help you to adopt an approach that feels good to you (without feeling icky).
And as the of this post would suggest, it is about reconnecting to your WHY (otherwise, that title would have been a tad odd).
First things first…(after the jump!)…
Have you lost touch with your WHY?
This can happen in all different phases of business and in my experience doesn’t exclusively afflict only the newbie entrepreneur or the well-seasoned entrepreneur.
And I’ve noticed this tends to come about when you become too engrossed with numbers.
When panic sets in.
Either you are so desperate to get your new business off the ground, or you are so desperate to hit that new stretch target. Whatever the case, desperation creeps in. It becomes all about the goal, the number, the target.
You forget about the humans. The service. Your purpose.
You forget your WHY.
And then there’s this snowball effect of not seeing the results (sales!) you want to see in your business… feeling disillusioned… feeling unfulfilled… and round and round.
But guess what? Reconnecting to that WHY can help you to re-centre.
It can help to re-energise you.
It can help you get your sales mojo back.
So let’s all take a moment to reconnect with our WHYs.
How to Reconnect to Your WHY
1. Purpose Journaling
Grab your journal, a cup of tea (or whatever floats your boat) and get comfy. Lock yourself in a room somewhere that the kids can’t disturb you for 10 minutes. Start thinking about and writing down ALL the reasons you started your business.
ALL the things you want for your clients, yourself, your family, your life, from your business.
Get to the heart of WHY you are passionate about serving people with your business.
Why is it important to you?
How do you feel when you are doing your best work?
2. Re-read Your Why
Once you’ve finished, read it back to yourself. Out loud if you can. Really connect with the words and notice how it makes you feel. It is that feeling that we want to tap into.
3. Remind Yourself
Now that you’ve read through your purpose journaling, were there any key phrases or statements that really stand out? What really makes you feel like busting out into an excited dance? If so you can use these: dot them around your life – physically or virtually – to remind yourself on a daily basis of your WHY.
So for example, I have a couple of quotes on my vision board and I have a couple of reminders on my phone that ping up at different times of the day with these quotes from my own purpose journaling.
Reconnect Regularly
Now that you’ve done this great groundwork you have what you need to be able to reconnect to your why or your purpose whenever you feel you’ve lost touch.
What’s really powerful is, if you can reconnect immediately before doing something sales related.
So… before a discovery call or before writing sales copy or before sending a follow-up email to a warm lead, try reconnecting with your why. Re-read what you wrote – add to it if you like! Get all excited and energised by it and THEN sit down to your sales task.
What you’ll find is… your energy shifts. The activity becomes less about the money, the numbers, making the sale, trying so hard.
And more about serving who you are meant to serve.
More about doing the work you love to do.
The best part is, that energy shift will translate into the activity at hand. Your discovery call will flow more easily. Your sales copy will be imbued with that magnetic energy. Your follow up email will resonate with the reader.
Because all that selling really is, is offering someone the opportunity for you to HELP them.
If you are struggling with sales, don’t continue to suffer. Head over here to find out more about my Sales Confidence Coaching package.
I want to start selling with ease!
