Let’s face it. Most of the entrepreneurs that I work with do not enjoy “selling.” To a lot of people, selling feels icky. It feels demeaning. We feel self-conscious about it. I mean, people should just be able to figure out that we are great at what we do and then seek us out. Am I right?
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You wouldn’t believe how many people think that if they are super passionate, they can create something and post it on their social media pages and then ta da! If you build it, they will come!!
But that isn’t how it works.
To be successful in business you have to be good at sales. Notice I didn’t say you have to be salesy. You have to be good at sales because sales is nothing more than persuading someone to take an action. And, if you really are great at what you do and really do care about helping people, then you are doing a disservice to everyone you help by hiding behind your computer screen instead of going out there and selling.
How do you do this if you are uncomfortable with sales? Turn selling into serving.
How do you serve? By listening and understanding what your ideal client or customer wants and needs. Not what you think they want or need but what they think they want and need.
A huge mistake that I see with businesses is that they fall more in love with their product or service than they do with their clients. Let me repeat. A huge mistake I see with businesses is that they fall more in love with their product or service than they do with their clients.
What does that mean? If I care more about what I want to deliver and how I want to deliver it than I care about serving my customers the way they want to be served, then I have missed the mark. I have seen businesses completely refuse to adapt and be flexible in meeting their clients’ needs because they were so in love with their ideas, thoughts, and approaches. Just like in an intimate relationship – if you are only focused on yourself, your partner will feel neglected and unappreciated and they will move on to someone else.
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Businesses who commit this sin do not survive long time. You have to understand, anticipate and consistently fulfill the deepest needs of your clients.
You do this by creating a relationship where you know more about your clients’ needs, wants, and desires then they know themselves. When you stop focusing just on making the sale but instead shift to serving by focusing on creating a long-term relationship where you are looking out for your client’s best interest at all time, the more your company will grow.
The companies that resist the urge to be solely focused on their product or service in order to focus constantly on finding a better way to meet their customer needs create the ultimate creative advantage that can help sustain them through even the toughest economic times.
How do you do this? How do you ensure you are spending more time loving your client than you are your product or service? With questions of course!
The following questions can be found in Keith Cunningham’s book, The Road Less Stupid. I highly recommend this book as it is full of what Keith refers to as “thinking time questions.”
- What is the solution I need to design to meet my customers’ needs and address their pain? This could be the exact product or service that you already provide. It could be a modification of something you already do. Or it could be a complete rework. The key is that you won’t know if you don’t take an honest look at this. I won’t lie. It’s hard as an entrepreneur to take your baby – the thing you have invested your blood, sweat, and tears into – and readily make adjustments to it without your ego screaming a bit. It’s not always easy but it’s necessary if you want to truly love your customers.
- Another question – Do I have the ability (meaning skill sets and resources) to successfully build this solution?
- How will I deliver this solution to them? This question became even more critical during the pandemic. Delivery became a very important piece to the puzzle and often determined which businesses stayed in business and which did not.
- Where have I substituted my judgement for what I want to deliver for what the customers actually want to receive? Here is where ego gets in the way. Again, an honest answer here could be the difference between successful launch and a crash and burn OR life and death if you have been around for a while.
What’s another way you can show that you love your client or customer more than yourself? Make sure you spend more time talking about them than you do talking about yourself. PS: This makes the sales piece feel less icky, too.
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One of my favorite recommendations is to start by crafting the “Captivating One-Liner” as described by the marketing company StoryBrand. The Captivating One-Liner is a simple and clear way to explain to people what you do. It is composed of 3 components.
- Component 1 is the problem: What’s the pain point you help customers resolve?
- Component 2 is the solution: What’s your unique solution to that pain point?
- The final component is the reward: How does your customer’s life look after their pain is resolved?
If you notice, component 1 is the problem. It doesn’t say anything about, “at Minerva Management Partners we provide…” It doesn’t start with information about your company because no one cares about your company. It starts with your customers and their problems, because that is what they care about. They care about them, not you. They care whether you understand that problem, not what you provide.
Keeping the focus on who you serve instead of yourself and what you are selling, shifts the emphasis. You can’t be SELF-conscious about selling if you aren’t focused on yourself. In The Underdog Advantage, Dean Graziosi writes that we have a moral obligation to sell, to promote, and to let the world know our business exists because there are people out there who need us. Making the mindset shift from selling to serving will make it easier to share your passion and excitement for what you provide resulting in more effective interactions with your audience. And more effective interactions lead to more sales!
STACY OLDFIELD
After nearly 25 years in Corporate America, Stacy launched Minerva Management Partners as a way to combine those years of business experience with her life coaching certification and love for coaching women. Minerva Management Partners is a business coaching practice designed to support women entrepreneurs committed to launching and growing their business. Also, as a Results Coach with Robbins Research International, Stacy helps business women to focus their ideas and efforts and holds them accountable for achieving their goals. Whether it’s helping women discover creative solutions to their business challenges, coaching them to be clear and decisive, or helping them see and take action on new opportunities, Stacy guides them to achieve the business and career results they are seeking. Stacy is also the creator of the Minerva 3-Day Networking Challenge and the Network Like a Boss Lady On-Demand training program. Stacy has been invited to speak to many audiences within South Carolina including the Center for Women, Women Entrepreneurs of Charleston, the Women of the Workforce program of the Naval Information Warfare Center (SPAWAR), Charleston Women in Business, Association of Fundraising Professionals, SCANPO, graduate classes at both The Citadel and the College of Charleston (CofC), and Leadership CofC. She currently serves as a mentor through the Women of Excellence Program at Xavier University and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Beautiful Gate Center and on the advisory board of the SC Women’s Business Center.
