Someone has to do the selling or you don’t have a business.
There are lots of people who have great ideas, skills, processes or inventions but hate the thought of selling.
These people usually come from two camps:
Camp 1: Those people who understand they have to sell in order to have a business but just don’t know how to do it. They often harbour some fears and anxieties about selling because of its bad public reputation and can feel overwhelmed about what they have to do. However, most of the time, these people are willing to have a go.
Usually, these people are ready to learn; to master the process, skills and tasks of selling. They are prepared to address their fears and beliefs. They have the courage to try.
Camp 2: Those people who resist the concept of selling at every turn whinging about how unfair it is that they are not just accepted for being brilliant at what they do, why people just don’t get it the first time, how selling is beneath them, how it’s tacky and demeaning, how selling will compromise their values, and so on.
These people need to build a bridge and get over themselves because everybody lives by selling something. They need to drop the belief that selling is something degrading and beneath them.
Selling is ubiquitous. It is a life skill of incredible value to everyone.
Learning the various skills and processes that underpin good selling can help you out in many situations.
The world is full of people with great products, services and/or ideas, but unless these people can sell them, they are just that, an idea, a dream. Nothing happens until something gets sold.
And before you start –unless we are talking about a complete online shop or an e-commerce system-, the answer is No, marketing will not make it happen. Marketing can help you, make it easier, but in the end, you need to pick up the phone, pay that visit and make the sale.
Learning how to sell properly, with a system and a process you can follow can help you understand what selling is really about (Spoiler alert: is about helping people) and get into the right mindset so you can go out there and make a living out of your idea/product/service/job.
Of course, you can always hire people to do the selling for you, but learning how to sell will still help you in many other situations.
Regardless of our role, we all benefit from knowing how to sell well.
Author: Sue Barrett, www.salesessentials.com