How to Overcome All Your Fears of Selling
Do
you love what you do but hate the thought of having to "sell"
your services?
Do
some of these fears arise when you think of selling?:
*
fear of rejection
*
fear of being thought of as pushy
*
fear of getting a "no"
*
fear of being seen as a salesperson
*
fear of .....................
Do
any of these fears resonate with you?
What impact is your fear of selling having on your business?
Your fears and unease around selling are no doubt holding you
back from having conversations with potential clients. Or, if
you
are having these conversations, you can feel your fears
negatively impacting your results.
Just imagine if all your fears around selling were eliminated.
I
invite you to think about this for a minute. How would having
no
fears of selling make you feel? What difference would that
make to your business?
Would you feel more confident and relaxed? Would you speak to
more people about what you have to offer? Do you think you would
attract more clients?
The question then is what are the steps to overcome all your
fears of selling?
The first step is to identify all your fears of selling. I'd
encourage you to make a list right now before reading further.
Some of your fears arise because of your perspective on selling
and some of your fears arise from simply not knowing how to sell
-
you don't have a selling skill set. So your fears can be
classified as either "perspective fears" or "skill set fears".
With respect to each of your "perspective fears", it is your
perspective (or viewpoint) that is giving you these fears.
Change your viewpoint, change your perspective, and you will
reduce or even eliminate your fear. To overcome your
"perspective fears", the process is to simply change your
perspective to one that empowers you rather than one that makes
you fearful and holds you back.
For example, a lot of people fear getting a "no". This arises
from the perspective that a "no" is a bad thing. I'd like you
to
try on the perspective that a "no" can be a very good thing
and that you are sometimes grateful when you get it. In fact, I
would encourage you to be in active search of a valid "no". The
sooner you find a valid "no", the better it is for both you and
your potential client as you will save each other a lot of time.
How does this perspective on a "no" make you feel?
Can you see how powerful it is if you change your perspective on
a
"no"? The same process can also be used for your other
"perspective fears" around selling. Look at each "perspective
fear" and ask yourself what perspective you can take so that you
are empowered rather than fearful. Hint: try the direct
opposite and explore what it would be like if you took on that
perspective.
There will be some fears that will not be altered by changing
your perspective and these are the selling "skill set fears".
These are the fears that arise because you do not know how to
have a sales conversation as you have simply not learned and
acquired the necessary sales skills. These "skill set fears"
can be overcome by increasing your competence in selling and
learning the skill of having a sales conversation.
Find and learn a simple process for having a sales conversation
so
you can become skillful at it. Be careful because you
absolutely must find and learn a process for having a sales
conversation that is in alignment with who you want to be. If
you learn a process for having a sales conversation that is in
alignment with who you want to be, you will enjoy having sales
conversations and your fear of having these conversations will
be
reduced and even eliminated.
If
you work on your "perspective fears" and your selling "skill
set fears" as I have outlined above, you will find yourself not
only having more sales conversations but you find yourself
actually enjoying them too. I have a hunch that you will also
start to get a lot more clients!
---------------------------------
(c) 2007, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. You are welcome to
"reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and
unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end).
Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering
salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients
without being sales-y or pushy. To learn her 8-step process for
overcoming all your fears of selling, get a copy of her free
ebook at
