Speaker 1 (00:05):

Hello, and welcome to The Midlife Business Show with Suzanne Mountain. This is the podcast that celebrates all those of us who are building a business during our middle years. I’m an ex corporate girl who started my business six years ago in my fifties. And I’m loving it. This podcast is here to inspire you with conversations with other entrepreneurs about the messy and magical ups and downs of this period of our lives. Plus, I’ll be sharing simple, actionable step by step strategies to help you build a business with impact and a life that you love.

Hello,

00:44):

Welcome to this episode of the Midlife Business Show. And today I want to talk to you about the art of the soft cell and why you need to overcome your fear of selling. 

Now, selling is an integral part for any business. Many of my clients and many other midlife business owners are fearful or anxious about actively selling their products or services. 

So I’ve put together here some tips for you that can help you get over your fear of selling. 

And actually, can you imagine it, become excited about selling? 

Sometimes this is the word that is dreaded and feared by most, all but the most intrepid business owners can have a real fear of selling. It seems that even though we know that we need to sell our products and services to make it a business, many of us still feel fearful or anxious about actually doing so.

(01:47):

And I remember when I first started my business and people would come on consultation calls with me, potential clients, and I would give them lots of helpful, free advice, but I would avoid talking about how they could work with me. And certainly the idea of actually having to tell them how much it might cost would cause me real problems. 

I would often let people leave with me having given them at least part of the solution for free without ever telling them how they could work with me. I don’t want you to be in that position. 

So that’s why this episode is here today. So here are some tips that are designed to help you shift out of your fear of selling and into excitement and all about sharing what you have to give, sharing your genius with the world. 

 

So the first step is to know the source of your fear.

It is necessary and foremost, to know what it is you are afraid of. 

Now, many of us fear selling because we think that if we try and sell something to someone they’re not going to like us, or maybe they will perceive us as pushy, some people it’s because they lack the confidence in their product or services and are worried to say, you know what the outcome might be. And I get it certainly with coaches and many of you guys out there, you can’t guarantee an outcome because what you sell is a service. 

And it depends on the work that the other person puts in to achieve the results. So that can make you hesitant to actually say what the end result might be. 

And for some of us, it’s about struggling with the idea of rejection. So we hate it when people say no, and we start to make that ‘no’, be about us.

Speaker 1 (03:45):

When naturally in reality, there’ll be so many other reasons that someone might say no. So really knowing the source of your fear. 

 

Sometimes it can be a combination of all those things I’ve mentioned. 

Now naturally once you know what the source of the fear is, the next step is to try to address it. So in this way, you’re taking action to actually overcome the fear. 

In some cases, this might mean that you improve your product or service, and you can use client feedback for this, or you can find ways to share your product or service so that it feels more authentic and natural to you. 

Now, for me, when I look at my clients and I look at their genius and what they have to give the world, I understand why they might feel that they don’t want to sell.

Speaker 1 (04:41):

They hope that people will just recognize the natural value that they’re providing, but my message to them and to you, if you are listening is, you need to come from a place of service. 

You need to realise that you are actually solving someone’s problem. 

And once you get in that place of solving problems, it feels natural and authentic to talk to them about that, to talk to them about how that can happen with regards to the fear of rejection. 

Then to be honest, sometimes it comes down to just learning to be resilient and to bounce back when that’s happened. 

And when you know your conversion rates. So say for every ten people, you get on the telephone for a consultation call or a discovery call or a getting to know you call one might become a client. If you know that that’s your conversion rate, then every time you get someone on the call and you get a No you are one step nearer to getting the next yes.

Speaker 1 (05:46):

So that can be a really good way of overcoming that fear of rejection. And also remembering that it’s not always about you. One of the best techniques I’ve ever used to overcome my fear of selling has been to tap into my passion and enthusiasm for what I’m trying to do. 

I know that I am trying to improve the business life of small business owners. I am passionate about ensuring that midlife business owners make the impact on the world that they want to make and create the whole life that they deserve at this stage in their life. 

And I know that my services can help them do that. 

 

It’s a good idea to make a list of all the really wonderful benefits and successful outcomes that your past clients have achieved. So for example, one of my clients has tripled her income. Another one has made her annual salary in three months.

Speaker 1 (06:50):

So think about the difference that you are making to them. 

If you write this list down and then pop it on, on your whiteboard in your office or on your desk, facilitate it to your desk or whatever, so that you can see it every day or create a screensaver out of it. This will help your confidence to skyrocket. 

This will help to remind you that actually it’s not about you and will give you that enthusiasm. You need to be able to continue getting yourself out there. 

An alternative or an additional technique to use is to shift your perspective in this case. Think about how it would feel if you thought of yourself as sharing information about what you do or showing benefits and sharing your passion. If you feel uncomfortable or anxious about selling, find a way to shift your perspective to one of sharing information, rather than trying to convince someone to buy.

(07:49):

As we don’t participate in unethical selling. 

One of the key things that we do is present our offers and allow people to make decisions about whether that offer is right for them. 

So we’re not pushing people into buying things just for the sake of it. 

It’s a good idea to start small. 

Often what I see is people tend to tackle much larger projects than they’re comfortable handling. So when you want to overcome your fear of selling, maybe you will share your new business with a few trusted friends first, and then gradually find ways to expand your sharing into a larger circle. 

The most successful business people are those who interact with others in an authentic, passionate way so that it feels comfortable, both for them to say, and for the listener to receive is also key. And I would say this with wouldn’t I as a business coach,  keep track of your successes.

(08:52):

So keep a list of your wins or success journals nearby and record your achievements every day. Even the small things. Small things count, small things, add up. Recording them will help you stay aware of just how much you do, right? 

Because I find that we’re very quick to overlook the things that we’re doing right and spend far too much time ruminating on the things that aren’t going so well. 

How about you think about having fun with sales? Now you are probably cringing at the thought that that could ever happen. But rather than approaching this from a heavy ‘have to’ find a fun, interesting way to share your knowledge or passion. A good way of doing this is sometimes offering free giveaways, donated services, or making a donation to charity. All of these can be easy and fun and income generating.

(09:55):

So the question for you to think about is what would be fun for you to do what would make it more fun? 

Now, one of the easiest ways to sell is by telling stories. 

And this is a great way to entice readers and viewers into understanding you and your background. 

 

You can share your story with your potential clients and why you are the right person to help them or share that you have struggled with what they are struggling with now.  And that you’ve learned and that you can help them find a solution too so sharing your story is a really, really positive and simple way to sell without feeling pushy.  

And other people’s stories sell too. So share the stories and case studies of your clients who you’ve helped and tell your potential clients and your audience how that person went from A to B with your help and with your product or service.

(11:00):

And this can help you get the words out because generally when we’ve helped somebody, we feel good about the work we’ve done. We feel passionate about the change and we’re excited for the person that we’ve helped with that transformation. It then feels much more natural for us to share this and in doing so we can bring in sales. So aim to be genuinely helpful. Want to be the person that other people, refer people to, because they know that you will be helpful. 

 

However, it’s important to stay focused on your desired outcome. So most people take actions and reach their goals because they stay focused on the benefits of doing so. So thinking about the life that you want to create, thinking about the things that you want to be doing at this stage in your life and therefore what that means that you need to be earning, writing those targets and setting them down can really help you focus on what needs to be done.

(12:01):

And then looking at your pricing and saying, okay, so what does that mean I need to sell. How many clients do I need to have each week or each month in order to make that happen, in order to give me the lifestyle that I desire and the reward for all the skills and experience that I’ve built so far. 

I will do a separate episode on pricing, but for the moment, just make sure that you are pricing at a level that you can actually afford to pay your bills. 

It’s also important to detach from the outcome. It’s really easy to get attached to making the sale. And if business is not going well, then it can be that you become so focused that you need the money and you need to make that sale in order to pay yourself or pay your bills that when someone comes on the phone with you to talk about working with you, your angst and desperation can show up and they pick up that sort of feeling from you. And they’re not sure why they feel uncomfortable, that they feel uncomfortable. 

They’re picking up a particular vibe from you and they will leave the call without having committed because they can feel that. 

So I want you instead to focus on the effort. Tell yourself,  I’m going to be great on this call with this potential client. And I am going to really help them understand how investing in my services will move them to where they need to be. 

Next will help solve their problem. If you focus on that energy, then that is completely different and you will stay focused on the effort rather than the outcome. 

And if you do a great job, then often it turns out better than you ever imagined. 

So you’ll get more than you expected in your outcome. And the final thing is keep practicing. So like all other business skills, selling gets easier the more you do it. 

So get out there, start small and practice.  

Things that you can do to help you along the way is writing blogs and writing newsletters and emails within your business. All of these things can contain a call to action at the end, which is basically asking the person who’s been reading or watching to do something next. And that could be as simple as, book a call with you, or buy your product or service. 

 

So think about those things and think about how you can use them as a soft sell. I hope you found this interesting.

Speaker 1 (14:58):

I will be addressing the subject of selling in other episodes because I know it can be a real bug bear for many, many small business owners. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me suzanne@suzannemountain.com. 

And I look forward to talking to you in the next episode. 

Don’t forget, I have a wonderful free Facebook community full of over 600 midlife business owners. So come and join us in the business group on Facebook. 

You’ll find the link in the show notes, along with a link to my website and a link for you to book a consultation call if you feel that now is the time to get your sales strategy or some other part of your business, sorted out. 

 Speak to you soon. Bye then. 

Okay, that’s a wrap for today. Thanks for listening, please subscribe. Great and review the midlife business show. And if you’ve enjoyed it, tell your business buddies all about it. Bye for now.