If you hate having to sell your business, yourself and/or your or services to a potential client, you're about to be let into a huge secret. The reason you hate selling, is because your Marketing...well sucks.
Before you get angry at me and hit 'unsubscribe', please hear me out.
Most of us unfortunately tend to have quite a negative view of sales. We often associate the word ‘sales’ with someone trying to sell us something we don't want. So the person doing the selling appears pushy and annoying, and that is the absolute last thing we want to do to our prospective clients. We want them to want our services, so we don't have to convince them that what we offer is the best thing since sliced bread. Ideally we want them to have come to that conclusion long before we even have our first direct contact with them. We dream of a steady flow of pre-qualified prospects who have already decided they love what we do. That’s where your Marketing comes in.
When I started my first business a few years ago in the UK, I spent a lot (far too much) time knocking on doors, and having most of them closed, sometimes slammed in my face. Ouch! I promise it wasn't fun. After a few, very discouraging months of experiencing what it's like to be a failed salesperson, I decided I had to change my tactics.
As embarrassing as it is to admit this, I realised at the time that I had been completely neglecting the one area I was supposed to be an expert in - Marketing! I had a top degree, certificate and several years experience in Marketing, and I still failed to realise the big mistake I was making.
I needed to create demand for my product. I started to spend 90% of my time and efforts on Marketing, and put sales on hold completely for a while. The results, as you may imagine were dramatic. I began to receive inquiries for my product from all over the world, and the only selling I had to do was closing the deal.
So, if you dread selling, spend more time and get really smart about your Marketing. Make sure that you are targeting the people whom you believe to be your ‘dream clients’ with the correct messaging i.e. the key messages which convince them that you are the perfect supplier for them.
