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How To Get Over Your Fear of Sales

January 30, 2014 by Rosemary 2 Comments

Twenty thousand bees were swarming just on the other side of the wall.

They were honeybees, and no real threat to our family, but it was pretty much my worst nightmare come true. As the beekeeper came and scooped them off into a cardboard box, his little boy stood next to him, completely unconcerned.

(This is an actual picture of the actual swarm of bees.)

face your fear of sales

Many business owners and entrepreneurs feel the same way about sales that I do about bees. They approach it with stark, abject terror, or they try to get someone else to handle it. “I’m no good at sales.”

First, Understand that Your Fear Isn’t Rational

The most effective sales person is someone who is knowledgeable and passionate about the thing being sold. Guess what? That’s you!

If you have the privilege of sharing your service or product with someone, remember that you’re helping them. You’re only going to gain them as a customer if you provide them with something they need. You don’t need to be apologetic, you don’t need to fret over your pricing, and you don’t need to worry that you’re “bothering” them if you follow up.

Don’t Learn Sales, Learn to Connect with People

One reason why entrepreneurs or consultants fear sales is because it seems to be mysterious and difficult. It’s no mystery. It’s all about uncovering a human connection with the potential buyer.

Yes, you need to be able to articulate your unique value proposition, but it doesn’t need to be a fancy, memorized pitch. Just ask them for their story, and then you get permission to share your story.

Enlist some Technology Tools

If sales isn’t your primary function, it can be daunting to keep track of the contact information, background notes, and requirements of your prospects. Fortunately, there are a lot of inexpensive sales and CRM tools out there that suit the small business owner. Nimble is fantastic for keeping up social networking connections with your contacts, Nutshell has very good pipeline reporting, and OnePageCRM is a one-stop-shop for the sales process. Check them out and find the one that supports your organization’s personality.

Get out of your comfort zone, and stop telling yourself that sales is scary. The next time a sales-related task comes up, use this visualization: you’ve just cooked a delicious meal, and the prospect is a hungry friend.

How would that visualization change the way you approach a “sales” call?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Filed Under: Marketing /Sales / Social Media, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, getting past fear, sales

The Secret to Success

August 9, 2012 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

by
Rosemary O’Neill

Success in Life, Business, and Golf


BigStock What is success?

Molly:
That was incredible! That was the shot of the tournament!

Roy:
I just gave away the U.S. Open.

Molly: It doesn’t matter.

Roy:
One time in my life I know
the safe play to hit and I still …,
I still can’t make myself do it.

Molly: It doesn’t matter.

Roy: My whole career, my whole life on the line …
I just made a 12 on the last hole of the Open!

Molly: You sure did. It was the greatest 12 of all time.
No one’s going to remember the Open 10 years from now, who won … but they’ll remember your 12! My, God, Roy, it was…Well, it’s immortal! I am so proud of you!

–Kevin Costner and Rene Russo in the movie Tin Cup.

Perhaps I have golf on the brain this week, since I live just a few miles away from where the PGA Tournament will be played this year. But I’ve always had a soft spot for Tin Cup, Kevin Costner’s movie about a washed up golf pro.

The enduring lesson of Tin Cup is that, sometimes, no matter how crazy you seem to the rest of the world, you’re still doing the right thing for you. After all, Roy gets the girl in the end.

The Secret to Success

In business, as in life, you often have the choice of the easy lay up onto the green vs the risky shot across the water hazard. It might even be in a clutch situation, with everything on the line and crowds of people watching.

The person who wins in that situation is the person who has clearly defined criteria for success. And that might not mean winning the tournament. It might mean getting past fear and going all out in a quest for knowledge.

Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, these things keep us from going straight at our goals. We tell ourselves that it couldn’t possibly work. Stop worrying about how it’s going to work, and start focusing on what success means to you. See it, savor it, vividly imagine it every morning.

Then pick up your trusty 5 iron and go straight at that hole.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Buy the Insider’s Guide to Online Conversation.

Filed Under: Business Life, management, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, criteria for success, fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, getting past fear, LinkedIn, secret to success, small business, what success means

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