Hate selling? Here’s what you can do
Selling hasn’t had the best reputation over time, but every business relies on it to attract new customers. Let’s break away from the old stereotypes and look at how you can sell with ease without breaking out in a sweat.
Marketing and sales have evolved in the past 20 years. A marketing campaign once included taking out ads in the newspaper and on local radio with sales professionals making sales calls and meeting clients for lunch.
Today, the focus is on relationship selling.
Breaking the salesperson stereotype
Why do our hands start to sweat, and we get that tingling in our neck when we think about being a salesperson? There’s a stigma that lingers from the days of strangers showing up at your front door unannounced or calling with a sales pitch at dinner time.
So many people fear sales because they don’t want to be like them. We associate this type of selling with pushy sales tactics and relentless questioning.
The good news is you don’t have to be an annoying salesperson to be an excellent salesperson. We all need to sell, so let’s look at how we do it in a way that’s more natural and more effective.
“Sales don’t have to be pushy. Think of yourself as a matchmaker. You’re assisting your customer find the thing that could really help them. ”
How to sell if you’re not a salesperson
Selling is about helping someone make a decision. Providing information, answering questions and helping customers solve a problem. When we think of it in those terms, we relax.
Be confident (not cocky)
Be casual (yet professional)
Use polite language (be optimistic)
Talk as you would to a friend
Think of yourself as a matchmaker (connecting solutions to a problem)
Be clear and concise (be mindful of waffling)
Follow up
Related reading: A beginners guide to selling your services
Time poor?
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How to sell if you’re time-poor
If you decide selling isn’t for you or you don’t have the time, consider hiring sales support. Hiring a salesperson can be a full-time employee or an as-needed assistant.
It’s a big leap to hire someone full time. Recruiting fees and hiring expenses all add up fast. If the person doesn’t work out, you’re back to square one.
On average, it takes a company 3-6 months to get an experienced sales professional up to speed. Add 6-9 months more if you’ve hired a junior salesperson. That’s a long time. Training staff is resource-heavy, especially for a small business, and when there isn’t a guarantee that they’ll work out (or stay), the risks are even higher.
During the time you’re training a new sales rep, keep your pipeline flowing by outsourcing.
Outsourcing sales
Outsourcing sales is the perfect solution for small businesses not large enough to hire a full-time employee, especially if the business is seasonal, or needs a maternity leave cover or is in-between hires. The best part of outsourcing sales is the team you outsource it to love doing all the sales things that most people don’t.
Most sales consultants will have 10+ years of experience. This means they ‘get it’ and all you have to do is educate them on your business. It’s a valuable exercise to go through, as you’ll need to be able to articulate and share your collateral, pitch and target market.
What a sales consultant can do for you:
● Outbound sales (cold calling)
● Inbound sales (responding to enquiries)
● Appointment setting
● Partnerships (negotiating)
● Account management (relationship building)
● Closing (handling objections)
Meet Jonno
Jonno has an established business, but sales have been slow. He doesn’t enjoy selling but knows he needs it to survive. It was time to hire sales help. He hired someone, but it didn’t work out. The new hire wasn’t willing to do the hard work to make a sale. Jonno hired again, and again it didn’t work out. Time and money were spent when new relationships stalled and sales were declining in the meantime.
Jonno heard about BDM by the hour from a friend and decided to hand over the most immediate tasks to avoid losing jobs to competitors. Outsourcing 5 hours a week of active outbound sales keeps the pipeline moving. This gives Jonno more breathing space to find the right long-term hire.
Next steps
If you’re struggling with sales, list the tasks causing the biggest headaches. Assign a reason to each item. Why are these tasks bogging you down? Is it because you don’t know how to do it, don’t have time or simply don’t want to do it?
You can’t do it all and hiring a sales specialist is a smart investment to growing your business.
Contact BDM by the hour and to learn how to get your sales efforts moving forward.
About the author
Kirsten Karbowiak is the founder of BDM by the hour. BDM by the hour partner with small business owners who need sales support but aren’t ready to take on full-time sales staff. For more information about outsourcing sales, contact us.