Are You Afraid To Sell?
Kenny T left a great comment on the site the other day:
“It seems like a lot of people want to do everything but sell.
They’d rather build authority, or “nurture” their audience. But giving away premium information for free doesn’t do anyone any favours. People don’t tend to value free information as much as info they had to pay for, so are less likely to put it to good use. And more importantly, it doesn’t put any money in your pocket.
Speaking of which… you really should monetize this site in some way. A lot of good info on here”
This is a big problem for a lot of people, and Kenny hits it right on the head; people don’t want to get to the point where they say, “Right everyone, here’s where you give me your credit card number and pay me for the work I’ve been doing.”
In this article, I’ll talk you through the psychology of convincing yourself to sell.
I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this before, but I’m going through the process myself right now so these are my exact thoughts on the subject.
Let’s Talk About Psychology and Morality Within Sales
I’ve been spending the day working on what’ll be my new professional site. While this blog started out as a portfolio with a blog on the side, it’s kind of organically grown beyond that point. So I figure I’ll create a better, cleaner outlet for clients and keep on doing the stuff you’ve become accustomed to here.
The reason I mention that is because it’s still a bit weird when I write sales letters on behalf of myself. Writing a sales letter for a client or writing a product review is easy because it’s not you on the scales of judgement; if I recommend a product and a person hates it, then it’s not really my fault.
Whereas when you’re selling yourself, it’s easy to fall into the entirely personal realm of fearing rejection, worrying about not delivering to people’s expectations and all of that sort of stuff.
Here’s the thing though; your business isn’t personal. This is what I tell myself, and what everyone should tell themselves when it comes to business.
Quick Example
Let’s say you’re a tax adviser. That’s a fantastic job and god knows people need the service. It’s also got a nasty reputation; you’re a swindler, a tax cheat… whatever.
Now, you’re obviously not like that and you want to provide a great job. But you worry that your grandmother will see your site bigging yourself up and ring you on the telephone to tell you what a snake you are.
Or you worry that when you say you’re the best tax adviser in Texas, that somebody is going to angrily comment on your blog about how you’re rubbish.
This attitude will lead you nowhere fast. And you shouldn’t have that attitude.
People aren’t paying for your personality nor your existence. It’s not for sale. They are paying you to do a job or provide a product. For you, that’s tax advice.
Now, hopefully you’re offering a great service and you help people save on their taxes without getting sent to a debtor’s prison.
Even if you’re not then it’s the service that’s to blame. Not you personally. If you’re ethical and trying to help people out and you can’t, then that’s a problem with your product that you can address.
Occasionally, we all get a customer that’s not happy with our service. It’s inevitable. Limitations exist but expectations don’t have limits, people expect different things and need different things. Sometimes you just mess up.
There are two important points…
1) You can improve your service. Maybe your information isn’t as up to date as it could be and a client gets mad. All you need to do is say “Sorry” and then improve your service.
2) If you mess up or whatever, that doesn’t make you a terrible person. If you run into a bad patch where you don’t have many clients or a customer screams at you because they thought you could save their business when you can’t, then you aren’t a terrible person and it’s important to remember that. You’re still a great Dad, good friend, decent at golf and most importantly you’re still a professional. Keep your chin up and move on.
The Key Thing To Remember
Let’s finish up the article with a final point, and the most important one. We’ve established that the negatives aren’t as bad nor as personal as they need to be. Let’s talk about the good you can do by selling.
As a salesman of any sort, you’re addressing people with real-world problems. Out there somewhere, people are asking for solutions and willing to pay for them. If you have the solution and you’re not giving it to people, then you’re doing more harm than if you take $10, $100, or $1000 from them and fix that problem.
Most problems are expensive in the long run. If left unsolved, a small issue like a leaky tap can cause your floorboards to soak through and collapse your ceiling in a few months’ time. A broken toe, if not fixed, can cause people to overcompensate, get horrid posture and damage their whole body. If a person has a skin complaint, it might be easily fixed by a topical cream or they could end up getting anxiety and depression that lasts years.
If you can fix a problem, you should. If you have to charge to provide the solution, then it’s better than not doing anything.