If you want to make more money, especially in your business, you need to know how to sell. Period. Point blank. End of story. You don’t make money without knowing how to sell.
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Now, selling can go across a ton of platforms. But we are going to keep things a bit generic and talk about sales in general. Here are three sales mistakes you may be making, and how to fix them.
Sales Knowledge Is Learned
Before we jump into the sales mistakes you may be making, let me just start by saying sales is a skill that you can learn. When you first start learning about sales, it could be very awkward and it could be very scary, and I just want you to know that I’ve been there.
And I also want you to know that if I can overcome it, you can overcome it too. Your best bet is to find teachers that could really train you and help you in terms of learning how to sell, keep listening to podcasts like this where we talk about sales and of course, practice. Keep putting yourself in positions where you have to sell and that is really going to help you get to a point where you’re really good.
For example, I’ve gotten to a point where I can get, credit card information over the phone for a $2,000 program. Now granted, I have lots of systems and lots of marketing and lots of things in place that helped me get to a point whereby the time someone gets on the phone with me, they’re pretty much ready to go, it’s just a formality at that point.
Sales Mistake #1: You Think It’s Only About Money
So, sales mistake number one is that you think sales is only about money. Sales isn’t only about the money, the money is only a part of sales. Sales is nothing more than just sharing a solution with someone who has a problem. That’s it. Sales is a fair exchange of value. You put value out there in the form of solving someone’s problems and they give you value in return in the form of money.
Money is only a part of one very long process because that’s the other thing that people to don’t realize. They don’t realize that sales is actually a process. And I’m using the example of phone sales as an example. So, this is like you have consultations and someone’s on the phone and then you sell them that way.
There’s a whole process that goes into place before someone even gets on the phone with you. And a lot of times they’re not going to say yes right away. I’ve gotten to a point where I’m really good at sales and I get a lot of yeses on the phone and I get payments on the phone. But there was a time where that didn’t happen. And sometimes it still doesn’t happen.
Sales Mistake #2: You Don’t Understand Your Market
Mistake number two is you don’t really understand your market. What do they need? And what do they want? What language do they use? What are the obstacles that they’re facing? Are there any fears that they have? What do they wish they had? What social media channels do they use?
You need to know all of this information so that you can create the whole sales process. The moment that you can answer these questions is the moment that you can go from trying to get anyone to pay you to create an actual strategy that leads to money in the bank.
Sales Mistake #3: You’re Too Attached To The Outcome
Mistake number three is you’re way too attached to the outcome. And I left the most difficult one for last because I understand how difficult this can be. I also understand how difficult it can be when you’re in a position where you feel like you’re not making any money.
So, to give you a little bit of a backstory — I once got rejected 60 times in one month (this was many years ago). I did 60 consults after a teleseminar in one month, I didn’t land a single one of those. Now, fast forward a few years and a lot of those people who rejected me back then have become clients. Which is a funny full circle moment, right?
But back then I wasn’t really making that much money. So, to get rejected 60 times in a month was a really difficult thing to do. But I had to learn how to detach. And once I learned how to detach, that’s when I actually started making more money.
Sales is a little bit of an energetic exchange. And this might get a little trippy and it might get a little woo, but it’s true. It is an exchange of energy, it’s an exchange of value, as I mentioned earlier in this episode and it’s an exchange of energy. So, if your mouth seems to be asking for the sale confidently, but your mind is freaking out over rent, you’re going to have a hard time making the sale and your prospect can unconsciously pick up on this.
How I Became Unattached
People can pick up on those types of things. So, you know what? Fake it till you make it, that’s all I can say about that. And then additionally, being attached to whether or not you’ll make some money, actually oftentimes causes people to sabotage themselves anyway. So, that’s why it’s so important to detach yourself from the situation as much as you can. Y
At this point, I can do it pretty easily. But when I was learning how to detach from the outcome, I would focus on the person I’m speaking to and also reminding myself that at the end of the day, it’s not really about me, you know, it’s about trying to help the person that I’m on the phone with regardless of whether or not that actually leads to money.
So, I’m going to end this by saying that speaking as a former sales-phobic business owner, all the mistakes that I outlined in this episode and changing my perception around sales and negotiating that allowed me to get really good at sales. Don’t make the sales mistakes I made.