7 Steps to Step Up Your Sales Success

What is your biggest challenge in bringing in business?

Notice that phrase: bringing in business. Not sales. Sales is an important part of bringing in business, but it’s just one part. That’s important, because a lot of people tell me they hate sales and will do anything to avoid doing anything remotely considered “sales.”

That’s not irrational. I think most of us, when we think of selling, think of a pushy salesperson who’s only interested in closing the sale, not about what we want or need as a buyer. If we dislike being on the buying side of that, why would we ever want to be on the selling side?

But we do need to bring in business. If we don’t, we won’t have any of those wonderful customers to deliver our amazing product or service to—and that’s why we got into business, isn’t it? To deliver an amazing product or service that we’re passionate about because it has a positive impact on people’s lives.

So how do we sell without “selling”? We do it by following the 7 Steps to Step Up Your Sales Success.

Step #1. Embrace the right mindset.

As I mentioned above, a lot of people have a negative response to the idea of selling because they've had a bad experience with selling or salespeople. Others don't think they can be successful at it because they don't have the “salesperson personality”—which, let's be honest, is not a personality type most of us like.

This is why mindset is vital. When you stop thinking about how you can sell to someone and start thinking about how you can serve them, it changes everything. Think about selling not as a one-sided activity where you’re pushing a prospect to buy by touting the bells and whistles of your product or service, but as a collaborative process where you’re learning about and understanding a prospect’s needs and challenges and delivering value through solutions.

Serving doesn’t mean you’re not closing the deal; it’s actually the most effective way of closing the deal. When you serve someone, you develop a relationship with them: You get to know them, and you offer a solution that improves their lives. In doing so, you create a raving fan who wants to work with you again and who—very importantly—is eager to refer you to others. That, in turn, brings in other high-quality prospects who are already excited to work with you.

Selling by serving does require intention. To do it well, you have to supercharge the power of your mission, market and message.

Read more here. 

And, to listen to a podcast on this subject, please click here.