“You guys just don’t want to sell”

I’ve had a couple of interesting conversations this week.  The first with my mastermind group, concerned the fact that a few of us enjoy what we do so much that we forget that there’s meant to be a commercial aspect to it.  So busy being busy, doing what we love, that we just never get round to the ‘making money’ bit.

The other was with an old hockey mate of mine, Lara Morgan, as hard-hitting in business as she always was on the hockey field – the sale of her first business for £20 million bears testament to that.  Lara was sharing her frustration with me about the fact that so many of us shy away from selling…”you guys just don’t want to sell’’ she was saying, which to someone who built her business on the back of hard-core selling, was clearly exasperating.  I needed to do a “disproportionate amount of selling” she told me, if I wanted to have real success with my business.

Reflecting on these two conversations, it strikes me that they are two sides of the same coin…whatever the reasons…most of us just aren’t out there selling enough.   Some of us might hate it with a passion; some of us are terrified by it; and some of us just bury our head in the sand, telling ourselves that our product isn’t quite ready yet…our pitch not quite perfect.

The truth about selling is that it’s all about building relationships…but with a punchline!

If we do our jobs right…if we know WHY we are in business, what we believe, and what our cause is; if we start a conversation with like-minded people, give them heaps of valuable free content, show them that we have the solution to their pain; and if we understand our own value, what our skills, expertise and experience are worth…then the punchline is easy.

People buy into us.  Whether they are employees or customers, they will choose to buy what we’re selling based on whether they like us, and how much they trust us to give them what they need.  Build the trust, have what the customer needs…and they will often deliver the punchline for us.

For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk