Selling for People Who Dislike Sales

For many people in small business, creating sales is often a chore akin to doing taxes. It HAS to be done, but you sure don’t like it.

There are three primary reasons why you dislike sales

1. You have no system to follow. You are forced to wing it every day. This leads to overwhelm and confusion.

2. You have not found (or you lost) the passion, value and monetary worth other people find in your work. You are hesitant to tell more people about your offer out of fear.

3. You do not have a well-defined, well-articulated offer to sell. This leads to both confusion and fear. You are confused about what to say and fearful the person you are speaking to will reject you.

All of these problems are easily resolved. All you have to do is develop a system and process to take thinking out of your sales system. Develop it once and use it forever.

Here’s how to put your sales effort on auto-pilot

Start by understanding the true value you offer your clients. Use the words of actual clients and not a recap of what you ‘think’ they would say.

Create an offer based on that value.

Answer the real questions that are on the mind of buyers. What are you trying to sell me? What’s in it for me, the buyer? Why should I trust your company?

Communicate that value to people who are just like your ideal clients. Remember, your ideal clients are the people who receive the most value out of using your services.

Then simply purchase or create a list of companies that are similar to these ideal people.

Now you’re ready to begin touching

For years, conventional wisdom has said that it takes seven touches to create a sale. This still holds true in a direct selling model.

Start with a phone call. Introduce your services and qualify for need or desire. Offer the value you provide your best clients.

If the prospect is qualified, set a consultation meeting. Offer to add value to the prospect’s company.

If no meeting is warranted due to timing, ask when you should follow up.

Either way, follow up with a written communication. Recap the discussion and the clear and focused next follow up step. Send a thank you gift.

Emails work great for follow up IF you have permission to send them. You can even automate your email send outs by using an auto responder program.

Wait a week and send an article, white paper or case study. Be sure you (or someone you hire) authors it. Demonstrate how you have solved similar challenges for other people.

Send a newsletter, blog post or other communication you create on a regular basis.

Send information from a third party that verifies your position and shows you are on top of the latest trends in your industry.

Follow up when promised to offer new information or advice.

Conduct a consultation meeting. At the end of the meeting, establish a clear and focused next step or close the sale.

Send greeting cards or post cards on a regular basis. Programs like Send Out Cards automates this process for you.

Mix up your touches to communicate effectively

Call, mail, email and visit in person. Schedule a consistent number of touches per day in your planning calendar and take time to accomplish them.

Mix it up. The idea is to touch your prospect consistently so that you will get noticed in a crowded business world.

In one instance I ran a campaign where I sent a shoe in the mail with a note, “Just trying to get my foot in the door.” Use your creative thinking to create new ideas.

Direct sales is not a magic bullet. Develop your sales process once and use it every day. If you cannot figure out how to develop offers and touches, hire someone to create them for you.

The majority of your competitors stop touching after one or two contacts. Imagine the advantage you’ll gain by planning seven touches.

The result will be a full pipeline of qualified prospects that values what you offer.

 For more on this topic: Find out why marketing alone may not work for your business on the blog.

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