I am always amazed at how many people are traumatized when it comes to selling their product and/or services. When I looked up the verb “sell” in the dictionary, I found these definitions.

• to transfer services to another in exchange for money. (OK. I can live with this definition.)
• to persuade or induce someone to buy something. (Used car salesman approach.)
• to convince. (hmmm. Still a bit negative.)
• informal definition: to cheat, to betray, or to hoax. (OMG!)

Yikes! No wonder those of us in sales often fight the negative public perception of sales people and NO WONDER many of us don’t  like to sell. We want people to like us and if we induce, persuade, betray or hoax other people, they certainly won’t like us. Also, we don’t like being SOLD TO in this manner so why would we do that to anyone else?

There are many negative beliefs about selling. For those of you who think that you need to be born a salesperson or need to be a certain personality type to sell, I challenge you. You are hiding behind this limiting belief and assuming that only certain people can sell well. It’s too easy to adopt this belief and the consequences of this are far reaching if you have your own business. After all, who can sell you business with more passion than you?

Selling does not have to be a daunting task. Selling is about having basic conversations and dialogues with people. I emphasize dialogue because good selling involves asking good open ended questions and listening. Don’t be intimidated into believing that you need to make spectacular slick presentations. Good sales technique is more about building rapport and relationships, gaining trust, and education others about your product or service. Even sales professionals know that these are the basic skills they need to be successful. Establishing the connection with a prospect is the key component, not any fancy marketing material.

You can have the best business concept in the world, but if you don’t get out there and acquaint people with your product/services, you will not be successful. Talk with people about what you do. Sometimes it can be just that simple. Connect with the passion you had when you first started your business. Make your message personal and interesting. The more relationships you build and the more you communicate your message, the more successful you will be.

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