Success
Stopper
#2:
Selling Yourself Short
by
Rosemary Davies-Janes |
Many of us are absolutely brilliant
at delivering the services we have dedicated our careers to
pursuing.
For example, I know many successful:
• Dieticians, Nutritionists and Personal Trainers who live to help
their clients achieve optimal health.
• Writers who delight in concocting word combinations that convey
both their subject’s essence and
subtle nuances to their readers.
• Coaches who love to support their clients in discerning and
achieving their goals.
Those who succeed in a talent-based
business consciously leverage their strengths and manage their
limitations. They also manage their perceptions and beliefs, as when
these run rampant, unidentified and unacknowledged, they have the
power to multiply both our strengths and limitations exponentially.
It is in this quiet, subconscious realm that some of our most
significant success blocks arise.
One of the most common perceptions held by educated, professional
service providers, is that “selling is sleazy”. We perceive selling
and marketing to be activities undertaken by aggressive tele
marketers or ethic-less, low IQ “used car salesman” types. However,
when we sell a product or service based on the value it will provide
to it's purchaser and the genuine need that it will fill, it both
“feels” great, (as we’re in integrity) AND is highly effective.
Many hucksters sell to people's vanities, hopes and dreams, using
blatant or thinly veiled hype. These "hypesters" leverage our
"magical thinking", our wish to believe that there is a "magic
bullet" that will help us lose weight, grow hair, enlarge our
breasts, or whiten our teeth, overnight. While most people dream of
becoming wealthy, (lottery ticket sales are booming!), affluent
folks know that it takes a lot of hard work to achieve prosperity.
Those who sell people on plans that assure them they will become
wealthy /in a month / working from home / by distributing a "wonder"
product that "sells itself", etc., are running two faced scams -
their "too good to be true" premise hooks into our 'magical
thinking". The resulting, highly toxic combination is lethal to our
innate "common sense".
Selling with integrity is simply communicating, with confidence, the
reasons our current or past clients/customers love our
product/service. Explaining to those who haven't tried it, what
others have found most valuable, is value-based selling. Of course,
to do this well you must ask current and past customers for
feedback, on an ongoing basis, so that you stay up to date as your
clients find new applications or uses. Simple. Clear. Honest. In
addition to appreciating your professional talents your clients will
respect your business ethics and will help you develop a reputation
for honesty and integrity.
Another common perception is that “we don’t need” to market our
businesses or practices as the “power of attraction” will deliver an
abundance of enthusiastic clients, eager to purchase our
products/services. While there is truth in the concept that the
"universe" will deliver, there is a religious tenet that illustrates
well where many of us go off track with the "Law of Attraction". It
is: "God helps those who help themselves". Attraction principle
will do their bit, and as business people, we must do ours. Another
popular saying captures this thought nicely "If you build it, they
will come". So build your business, create a strategic business
plan, do some visioning work on future growth possibilities,
identify the most profitable, well fitting services/products to
offer, figure out who wants to buy them, and market your business
to this group, then add extra leverage through prayer, affirmation
and meditation....
Plan it. Build it. Market it. Sell it. Service it. You'll attract
customers who need it, want it, like it, like you, refer you to
their friends ~ and you will succeed!
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