Why We Fear To Sell … And How You Can Overcome It
So, you have set up your business, got the premises and office sorted and now you have to get out there and …sell! The fear of selling is something that most first-time business owners suffer from, and in this article, we are going to look at exactly why we have this fear of selling and what you can do to overcome it.
fear of selling: how to overcome fear of selling
So, you have set up your business, got all your stationery printed, got the premises and office sorted, and now you have to get out there and …sell! Suddenly, you break into a cold sweat, but you persevere, pick up the phone, or approach your first customer, and it all goes wrong! This sets you up for the next one!FREE INFORMATION
The fear of selling is something that most first-time business owners suffer from. Selling is not something we are taught in school or shown by our parents (unless you are immersed in business from an earlier age!), and so the whole process is alien to us.
In this article, we are going to look at exactly why we have this fear of selling and what you can do to overcome it.FREE INFORMATION
What Is Fear?
But first of all, what is ‘fear’? One great definition I have heard is that fear stands for alseal. That really sums up what fear is – our mind has gathered all this evidence to back up our inner doubts.
This evidence is usually false but to our conscious mind it appears real and so translates into fear! At the end of the day, our fears are mainly thoughts and that’s it!
When our fears grab hold of us we find every excuse under the sun not to do something to get a sale – “I’ll ring again because it’s too early/lunch time/too late”, “I won’t approach them now; they don’t look in a good mood”, “I have a feeling that it’s not the right time to get in touch – may be next week.”
Sound familiar? With these ‘blockers’ getting in the way, your business will never take off! This is why you have to conquer those fears. But what are our main fears when it comes to selling and how can they be overcome?
Fear of failure
Undoubtedly, top of the list for any first-time (and some experienced salespeople!) is the fear of failure. We never like to fail, especially in a success-oriented environment. When we do, it makes the task even harder next time around.
In school, we are taught to fear failure (remember all those tests when the results were read out for all the class to hear?) and this stays with us in our adult life. Success has one fatal enemy and that’s the fear of failure!
But, don’t be like Homer Simpson when he tried to console his son Bart who had failed in his bid to be class president,
“You tried and you failed. The lesson is … never try.”
So, what can you do to conquer your fear of failure? The bottom line is that you need a rock-solid positive attitude. You must have an inner voice that is continually pushing you onto the next prospect and saying, “Come on, let’s find the one who’s going to say yes!”
Failure has to be seen as a learning opportunity. In every failure, there is a nugget of information, which next time, can point you in the direction of better success.
James Dyson, the inventor of the revolutionary vacuum cleaner, summed up the need for a positive attitude, when he said, “Success is made up of 99% failure. You galvanise yourself and you keep going as a full optimist.”
Image Fears
We all have the image of a successful salesperson – self confident, well dressed, good communicator, knowledgeable. We are our own worst critic and we quickly see the supposed flaws in our characters, which are either not there, or are so small that most people cannot detect them.
Yet we allow our poor self image to drag us down. We convince ourselves that we cannot sell. Unless you are confident about your own ability to sell then the task is twice as hard. Remember that you are not born with confidence – it’s something we learn!
Not everyone has boundless self-confidence. When you start out in business, there is sometimes a nagging doubt that you may have bitten off more than you can chew.
This inner doubt chips away at your self confidence and soon you have a poor self image, which reflects in your sales pitch. To be a successful salesperson you have to have a strong self image.
To improve your self image follow these steps:
• Write down the qualities which you believe a successful salesperson should possess. Try and limit the list to 4 or 5 key qualities
• Find a quiet spot and relax your body and mind with deep and steady breathing
• Once you are totally relaxed recite the strong, self-image qualities you identified earlier
• Imagine or visualise yourself possessing each of these qualities. See in your mind’s eye how you look, now that you have these qualities. See how successful you are, how you look, the car you are driving, and where you are living
• Repeat to yourself that you are assuming each of these qualities and becoming a better person with each day that passes
Repeat this exercise first thing in the morning and last thing at night and you’ll soon find your self image and confidence levels increasing!
Fear of Rejection
No one likes to hear the word “No”! The fear of rejection is another major stumbling block some people have to overcome when selling. Sometimes the fear of rejection is so big that their whole sales presentation is overshadowed. Their subconscious is saying, “Why are you bothering?
You know they are going to say no!” The presentation gets even worse; words are mumbled and product features are forgotten. The result? They get a ‘No’!
Hearing the response “No” is not a great motivator! The main way to deal with rejection is just to accept that it happens. FREE INFORMATION
Try and reframe any rejection you get by saying to yourself that it’s the customer who loses out, not you. Walk away with a smug smile on your face and remind yourself that you are one step closer to someone who will say “Yes”.
Product Knowledge Fears
Successful selling can only be achieved if you know your product or service inside out. If you don’t know all the features and benefits how can you ever hope to persuade someone that your product can solve all their problems?
You may have had one bad experience where a customer highlighted your lack of knowledge, but for some reason, you have not put it right. Your subconscious continues to recognise this weakness and does what it can to sabotage your future presentations!
A lack of in-depth knowledge about your product or service quickly finds its way to making for a poor presentation. There is only one solution … and that’s to get learning! Absorb yourself in the product.
Understand all the features and benefits, so that you can confidently talk about all aspects of your offering. Banishing this fear is one of the easiest ones to put right.
Fear of Criticism
No one likes being criticised for what they do! We may do something to the best of our ability, but our self-confidence soon disappears when someone criticises our selling style or product.
This links in with the fear of a poor self-image. If you have a low self-image, then criticism can hurt even more. On the other hand, people with a high self-image can usually bounce back from a critical comment.
If you carry out the exercises on improving your self-image, your ability to take criticism will also improve. Decide to view criticism more as feedback than a direct attack on you. There is usually some element of truth in the majority of critical comments, and you must take the opportunity to learn and change.
presentation Fears
You may be aware that your presentation skills leave a lot to be desired! Your sales pitch may be all over the place and lack any real structure, resulting in an inability to get the customer to commit. Your lack of confidence quickly shows up, and the customer walks off with his wallet firmly in his pocket.
This fear all boils down to a lack of training. If you can spot this weakness or fear, then you are halfway there. Many salespeople don’t even know they have a training problem!
Your presentation fear can be down to a lack of structure around your sales process. Write a basic outline on how you wish a perfect sales pitch to go. Prepare a script for the key parts of the presentation and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!
Why not ask someone to help you role-play a sales presentation? This will allow you to make all the mistakes you want, but in a risk-free environment! You should also visit your local Business Link office and see what courses they are running on sales skills.
Look out for books and tapes on effective selling. All of these actions will assist in improving your confidence and result in a more professional sales presentation.
Selling does not have to be a fearful experience! If you have the right attitude, a strong self belief, a full understanding of your product and plenty of practice, then you will have nothing to fear. So, take a look at each of these fears and put a plan in place to tackle them today!Your Internet Business: How to Succeed Where Others Fail
When you know what to look for, it’s not difficult to separate the best Internet business opportunities from the dregs.
work from home, internet business, business opportunity, make money online
If you’re in the market for a business opportunity, the chances are good that you’ve explored a variety of ways to make money online and work from home.
In truth, there are so many Internet business opportunities out there that it’s almost impossible to tell the best from the rest.
The grim reality is that, while thousands of people launch online businesses in the hope of achieving financial freedom, the majority end up making very little money at all, or worse, paying out more money to their uplines than they’re ever able to recoup.
The good news is that, with the right partnership, you can promote your existing business while multiplying your revenue streams. That way, you don’t have to rely on a single, make-or-break source of income. It’s a bit like planting a garden.FREE INFORMATION
It would never cross your mind to plant a single seed in the spring and count on that to feed your family throughout the summer. Instead, you’d plant many varieties of seeds, knowing that one or more will bear fruit as the seasons progress.
The Internet business partner you choose should be one that can provide you with the one thing that is the downfall of most work-from-home opportunities: training.
All too often, people who intend to succeed come up against their limitations and fail to properly market their products.
In our garden analogy, that’s like planting your seeds in a drought – why bother? The company you select should have a proven track record of Internet marketing success, and give you the water spigot and hose you need to tend to your business garden.
So, make sure to look for a company that provides you with training on topics ranging from online and offline marketing to back office functionality and goal setting. They should also be equipped to provide you with tutorials on a wide variety of powerful marketing techniques.
After all, there’s stiff competition on the Internet, and to successfully compete, you need to know all there is to know about methods such as article marketing, blogging, email marketing, banner advertising, press releases, pay-per-click advertising, and viral marketing – just to name a few.
At the same time, being knowledgeable about Internet marketing doesn’t mean that you need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, look for a business opportunity that provides you with tools like professional lead capture pages, automated follow-up, a sales center, and a secure website.
Ideally, they should also provide you with highly sought-after products that you can resell – items like audio, video, software, templates, and guides.
This way, you can increase those revenue streams by earning a healthy commission on every sale, and still have the professional infrastructure in place to promote your existing business.FREE INFORMATION
When you know what to look for, it’s not difficult to separate the best Internet business opportunities from the dregs. In no time at all, your seeds will have sprouted, your plants will bloom, and you’ll be reaping.
Your Business Plan Will Become Your Partner
Are you planning to start a new business? Or are you considering expanding your current business and requiring a bank loan or investment from outsiders?
If you are going to look for an investment of capital, it is quite likely that you will be required to have a business plan. If you are starting a business, despite the work involved, a business plan can prepare you for the obstacles ahead and help ensure your success.
business plan, business, partner,
Are you planning to start a new business? Or are you considering expanding your current business and requiring a bank loan or investment from outsiders?
If you are going to look for an investment of capital, it is quite likely that you will be required to have a business plan. If you are starting a business, despite the work involved, a business plan can prepare you for the obstacles ahead and help ensure your success.
A business plan is something that many small businesses fail to create; however, many business owners are adamant that having a written business plan is one of the keys to their present success.FREE INFORMATION
Creating a business plan forces you to contemplate possible obstacles to your business and prepares you to find solutions that will help you to overcome them.
To find investors or get a bank loan, they will want to see that you have the experience or resources to run the business. They will want to see your projected income as well as your suggested repayment plan already laid out.
Taking the time to do this is not only important for them, but it also gives you a measuring tool to verify if your business is growing properly.
You can gauge your success by how close to the plan your business has performed. Perhaps you’ll do worse, or perhaps you’ll do better; either way, it helps you determine how well your business is getting on.
If you have never seen a business plan before, you may be concerned that it is too difficult a proposition for you to manage on your own.
While there are services available where you can hire someone to write a business plan for you, depending on your needs, it may be wise to familiarize yourself with a business plan’s layout. This will not only help you to provide the necessary information, but may encourage you to try your own hand at it.
There’s a free tool at www.bdc.ca which will assist you in creating a business plan. Some of the topics you will be required to explain are your Market, Customer, Competition, Marketing Plan, Research & Development along with financial forecasts.
You may consider hiring someone to help you with your financial sheets after completing the written part of the Business Plan.
Your Business Plan will become your guide and silent business partner-indicating where you need to improve and helping you stay one step ahead of your competition. Make it a priority to have this crucial road map for your business
Courting the Millennials
Recruiting top-notch young talent who can enter your workforce and provide that kind of long-term growth
potential can only come from a smart and productive staff, is always a challenge.
One of the big reasons any business works to keep its public image high and to project the concept that they are an employer of choice is to recruit the best and the brightest from the youth ranks.
Young employees bring a lot to a business that can complement an older workforce and make the business much more vital. Younger employees are savvy to the wants and needs of their peers.
So instead of trying to guess how to market to the current generation of 18-28 year olds who are the age segment with disposable income, by keeping such employees on staff, you have the inside track to the priorities of the current generation.
Further, youthful employees are often optimistic and out to change the world. Their sense of mission and belief in the system as a means to make the world a better place results not only in better morale internally but in a business philosophy that shares those values.
The tendency to name the upcoming generations can be a bit trite but it helps in knowing who the target group for recruitment are. And that group of youthful future employees that will be hitting the job market in the next few years has been dubbed “the millennials”.FREE INFORMATION
And despite the traumatizing events of world terrorism, war, and the decay of the environment, the millennials come to you with that youthful enthusiasm and desire to make a big difference in the world that sets them apart from previous generations.
To lure the brightest minds coming from the nation’s colleges, some rethinking of what we put in front of these young people is in order.
They are not leaving academia strictly to make a lot of money. So to turn the head of youth workers who can make a change for the better in your business…
Don’t just make the potential job about money or your recognizable business name. The reputation of the company can be as much a negative as it can be a positive. The millennial recruit will look past the sign on the building at what the company is all about.
The millennial is more internet savvy and wants to use modern technology to accomplish business goals. It’s in our best interest to facilitate that goal because it will keep us in touch with the marketplace.
Corporate culture is an important factor for both recruiting and retaining good employees from this generation. Millennials are looking for a creative business climate that is, able to change when new things become available, highly accessible upper management, and responsive.
Corporate values mean a lot to the millennial crowd. That means that those high-minded values printed on posters and plastered all over the Human Resource department have to mean something. By demonstrating that the business lives up to its ethics and values, that will appeal to the idealistic side of youthful workers.
The values that the business supports must reflect a modern attitude toward diversity and “going green”. If you walk a millennial around the office during his or her interview, they will notice the recycling bins scattered about. They will notice the diversity of culture and race in the employee mix.
Be prepared to recruit from various disciplines. Even if you are recruiting for a financial services function or some other specialization, keep your mind open to recruiting students with a focus on liberal arts or teaching.FREE INFORMATION
These millennials can be trained for the specific job, and they bring a fresh approach to the job description that comes from their college area of focus.
These are things that might take time to change if the corporate culture is behind the times. But it’s worth the effort to start now to attract the kinds of workers that mean long-term growth for the company.
By doing some serious analysis on how up-to-date the business is, you can begin to effect change now, so by this time next year, you will be in better shape to court the millennials.