Selling Without Getting Squirrely
Do you break out in a cold sweat when you think about selling the wonderful product or service you finally completed? You labored over it, every nuance, every detail, assessed it, revised it, poured hours of thought and action into it.
NOW WHAT?
You created something that is sure to be useful to a lot of people based on the market research you spent hours doing and the people you asked for input. Are you really going to deny your solution to people who need it, want it, are thrilled about it, and are ready and eager to pay you for it? Really?
BUT, BUT BUT…
If that sounds like you, you are anything but alone in your feelings about the whole idea of selling, much less selling something you created. Your concerns and fears quickly surface. Anything seem familiar here?
Worrying about damaging a friendship or other relationship
Feeling like you’re asking someone for a favor
Assuming someone has limited financial resources
Minimizing the value of what you are offering
Thinking you’ll have to convince someone of something
Looking and sounding too pushy
No reason to give you more ideas than you’re already telling yourself. Any one of them can (and maybe has) already stopped you in your tracks, helping no one in that process.
WORDS MATTER
Merely hearing or seeing the word “selling” or “sales” can be enough of a trigger to stand in your way as an overpowering obstacle. So here’s the good news: Thinking in terms of other words can actually open your mind, expand your perspective, and remove the resistance you’ve been living with for long enough.
Imagine this scenario instead.
You recently completed a 52-how-to tip manuscript of small, easily digestible, instantly actionable content reflecting your expertise. Even though you know it is very basic and far from being rocket science, you also know people will indeed find value in it. It’s either new information to them, something they knew and forgot, or confirmation that what an expert (you) put forth is something they already knew. Value, no matter how you slice it.
DONE. NEXT?
Now that you finished this manuscript and feel really great about it, you’ve got many opportunities to share this accomplishment with lots of people. You know some of these people better than others. However, visiting with them and sharing your enthusiasm is simply that – Visiting and Sharing, getting your enthusiasm all over them. You know how contagious enthusiasm can be, right? Then, see how you can help.
Whoa, wait a minute. Help? What’s THAT about?
Try this on for size.
WHO KNOWS WHO?
You know that neighbor three doors down from you, the one you wave to when you walk the dog or jog around the neighborhood? You truly have no idea who your neighbor knows.
Well, it turns out she’s got a 3rd cousin 12 times removed who she adores and still talks to who is the Senior VP of Marketing for the Southeast Asia region of a Blue Chip Corporation. That cousin is the very person who has the final word on creating and implementing four promotional campaigns a year for his region. Your neighbor knows that about her cousin and is jumping out of her skin, eager to introduce you and her cousin. Think about that. How do YOU feel when you help someone? The guess is you probably feel pretty terrific. And that’s all from agreeing to meet (VISIT) over coffee to catch up (SHARE) with each other the bottled up enthusiasm you have over your recently completed tips project…which turns out to be a possible tool that would solve a problem (HELP) someone you never met who lives thousands of miles away!!
How does THAT feel to you? Still squirrely? Or is that more like fun – easy, effortless, and enjoyable – something you can hardly wait to do? That’s right, VISIT, SHARE, and HELP. Hmmm, a completely different perspective, isn’t it?
YOU’RE THE BEST ONE
And the great thing is that you get to do that on your own behalf. You wouldn’t want to let someone else represent you and your creation, would you, even if they could do a half decent job of it? (which is highly unlikely, by the way.) You are the only one who can tie the pieces together, do a deep dive into the information that’s embedded in your DNA, that prompts your curiosity, creativity, and connection in ways no one else on the entire planet can ever do.
NEW FILTERS, NEW RESULTS
Who would have thought that up until now, you’ve deprived yourself of the joy of all that VISITING, SHARING, and HELPING that is uniquely yours to do? See how things look and feel using those filters, and enjoy the abundant results that brings you and those you help in all kinds of ways. Who are YOU going to VISIT,SHARE, and HELP next?
