Business 101: Are You Giving Too Much Away Because You Are Afraid to Sell? How to Get Over Your Fear of Selling

Maybe you’re one of them. A “sales-natural.” Selling has always come easy to you and you’ve never felt any kind of fear during the sales process.

Then, dear reader, this article is NOT for you (get out there and sell something)!

However, if you love what you do, but on a regular basis (waaaaaaaay more than you’d like to admit) you’ve experienced some stress over your sales – hey- you’re in the right place!

Sales stress can happen anywhere – either just thinking about it, or meeting with a client or lying awake at night at 3 am panicking about your revenues.

Plus you catch yourself “giving too much away” – too much free info, free meetings, free advice, free products…and that’s causing you even more stress and some resentment. Why? Because all those freebies aren’t turning into sales revenue for you.

3 Reasons Why We Worry About Selling:

• Because you really like helping people and you hate the thought of being salesy or pushy!
• You have great passion for your product or service, but you wonder why your customers don’t understand that FASTER.
• Rejection and no customers means no money- honey! (This is what really scares you)!

Listen. I know selling can feel like an on-going root canal. Here’s Why: You Don’t Know What You’re Doing!

Selling is like all things in life – when you first start doing something it feels uncomfortable and awkward. So you stop. Which makes it even harder the next time.

Focus on your strengths. Remember you like helping people, and you have a product or service that people are looking for – so now dive into the following tips!

6 Foolproof Sales Tips For The Faint-Hearted

#1: Attract versus Chase – Cold-calling is dead. I repeat – cold-calling is dead. Get some credibility and referrals instead so people are drawn to you versus being repelled! (Trust me – the world does not need another pushy salesperson)

#2: Customers Need To Know You Exist – Look,  the philosophy of build it and they will come has sunk a thousand ships. You need to network, get in front of people, potentially advertise, join associations, get into the media. Do not sit quietly in front of your phone or website hoping for gold coins to drop from the heavens. Make it happen!

#3: Customers Don’t Buy From “Risky Companies” – Sorry, you may have the most amazing youth juice on the market, but if Oprah isn’t using it (or any of my friends), then I probably won’t either! Remember – you need to build credibility – so get some REAL TESTIMONIALS as fast as you can. Let people sample your stuff SOMEHOW.

#4: Being Boring Will Make You Broke – Don’t worry about the so-called competition. You need to STAND OUT from the crowd – what makes you unique and oh-so-compelling? If you don’t know, then I guarantee your customer won’t either.

#5: Follow-Up “Forever” – Everyone asks me when they should quit following-up. Hmmm. It depends. Make sure you’re following up with the customers who are the best fit for you. Everyone else – release. Be creative with your follow-up: social media, of course, use a monthly e-zine, blog, direct mail, Fed Ex – think of 5 different ways you can stay in touch and keep bringing ADDED VALUE to your customer.

#6: Give Hors d’Oeuvres NOT The Whole Turkey – If you give people too many appetizers before a big dinner – you guessed it – they don’t eat much of your big, fancy-schmancy turkey dinner. In business, we do have to share our advice and/or product, but we do it AS TRACKABLE TEASERS. You shouldn’t be giving anything away unless you’re getting something in return. Email address for your newsletter, for example. You need to TRACK those freebies to see if they’ve turned into sales.

You’re not a coward. Or a chicken. You’re someone who is really serious about learning what it takes to create success. That’s fabulous!

So here’s a Diva Dare for you – go through the above tips and choose 3 activities you can do within the next 7 days. No whining. Procrastinating. Complaining. So there.

Want more sassy, savvy sales tips for women? Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at www.salesdivas.com!