Can I Just Get Something Really Important Out Of The Way Straight Up? I Hate Sales.
I hate trying to sell to people and I hate the idea of being that person on the other end of the phone trying to get into someone’s ear who probably has just as long a ‘To Do List’ as I do. I was never born to be a salesman and I’ve avoided it at every turn, relying on prayer (just kidding), word of mouth, repeat business and from wowing people attending the events we produce. Of course, all of the above is not a strategy and it took me a long time to really accept that the only way to really capture new business was to put myself out there.
There are so many methods and theories on how to go about creating a sales strategy but what I’ve learnt is two very important approaches in helping me to generate new business:
1.Give – It doesn’t matter how good I think our service or product offering is, it’s all about what the prospective client thinks and the only way to give anyone the confidence to trust us is to give them a sense of what we can do. Therefore, knowing who I’m approaching and having a clear understanding of their products and brand allows me to give teasers of what we’d love to do for them. There’s nothing like giving a authentic taste of what you can deliver when given the opportunity. For example, we love to be creative and to conceptualise from the ground up. That gives us the scope to walk in with an idea of what we’d love to do and to create visuals and words that brings the idea to life.
2.Be yourself – We are social beings and we tend to work and connect with people that we like and relate to. Therefore, I think it’s absolutely vital to just be ourselves in a way that is true and genuine. Who we are may not appeal to everyone but we don’t have to. We just need to connect to the people that we’re naturally suited to and in turn that will allow us to create the right relationships with the right people.
For me, there is no greater reward than having given my best for people that I genuinely connect with. It’s that kind of authentic connections I seek in business and enjoy.
