What I mean is stop trying to sell. It only gets you wound up and sweaty. Who would want to buy from a tense, sweaty person who is forcing themselves through a cringe-y sales script that immediately triggers alarm bells of “You’re being manipulated”? No one needs that.

I’m about to blow your mind. You don’t need to sell in the traditional sense to make sales. You’re just helping prospects make an informed decision about whether to work with you or not. What’s the best option for them to overcome their problem? Nothing more; nothing less. That’s calmed your heart rate, hasn’t it?

1.  Plan it to death

One of the worst parts of sales is not knowing what to say. “How do I respond to this? What do I do if they say that? Do I sound weird?” It causes so much stress that it’s almost inevitable you’ll mess it up and lose the client.

Compare that to knowing exactly what to say no matter where the conversation goes and understanding why it will help them to make their decision. Over-practice your sales conversation plan so it’s second nature and as routine as going for a tinkle. (Beware not to get the two mixed up!)

The more comfortable you feel, the more comfortable your prospect will feel. The more confidence you have in what you’re saying, the more confidence your prospect will have in what you’re saying. Feel in control of the conversation without taking away any power from your potential client by having a sales conversation script you know and believe in.

2.  Explain their problem to them

One of the biggest misconceptions about selling is that you’re talking to people who know how bad their problem is and are motivated to solve it. There will be some people who are desperately looking for a solution and ready to buy from the right person. There are also plenty of other people who desperately need your services without fully realising it.

It’s not until you do some investigation into the time they’re wasting, the money they’re losing and the opportunities they’re missing out on that they have any idea how bad their problem is and have enough motivation to solve it.

We’re busy people. We’re not going to prioritise problems that don’t seem like a big deal. This doesn’t mean scaring them into buying from you because otherwise their life will fall apart. You’ve just got to collect facts about the reality of their situation. I’ve shocked many a prospect by asking about information they already knew, they just hadn’t thought about and considered the consequences. My top tip is to establish the nature of the problem before you go into any detail about what you offer.

3.  Help them to justify the purchase

Most of us don’t have tonnes of money to throw around (if you do, mind sending some my way?) so we’ll only spend money on things that we value as worthwhile. Especially if it costs more than £20 which I’m hoping your services do.

Instead of leaving prospects to figure out if your services are valuable enough for them to invest in during a sales conversation, help them out. You’re the expert in what you do so you’ve got the best idea of the impact you could have. What measures of success are you looking at – money made or time saved? How can your prospect work out the likely outcomes of working with you? Walk them through it.

So many business owners say “I don’t know, it depends” when asked about expected results and return on investment. If you don’t know, your prospects certainly don’t. Buying from you is basically gambling if they don’t understand what their money will get them.

4.  Let them lead the way

Ever got off a call when someone tried to sell to you and thought “They had me wrapped around their little finger but actually I think they were talking BS!”? We’ve all had those moments but you don’t want to create that experience for your prospects.

So when walking them through the severity of their problem and the return on investment they could achieve, don’t pluck the numbers out of thin air. Of course you’re going to say their problem is terrible and they’ll get a massive ROI! Let them give you the information about their situation for you to interpret, increasing the legitimacy of the expected outcomes you’re sharing with them.

For example:

You: How much time do you usually spend on this ask?

Them: About 10 hours a month.

You: If I were to do it for you and save you 10 hours a month, how many of those hours would you spend on the business?

Them: Around 6 hours.

You: And how much do you charge per hour again?

Them: £100 an hour.

You: So you could be making an extra £600 a month while only paying me £250!

My Ingenious Alternative to Selling has a bit more to it than that but you get the point. You’re giving them so much clarity about the likely outcomes of working with you. They’re not wracking their brains to figure out if it’s worth it.

The next step to achieving your 2023 sales target

I could go on but then I’d be giving away my whole sales conversations course! In summary:

1. Stop trying to sell because we’re not good at the things we don’t like doing
2. Have a script you are comfortable using with prospects and learn it by heart
3. Make sure to establish your prospect has a problem before offering them a solution
4. Don’t leave it to them to figure out if your services are worth it
5. Use information from the prospect to draw conclusions to make it real.

If you like this way of flipping sales on its head and think it could help you to achieve your 2023 sales targets, you’ll love my free e-Book ‘5 Things You’ve Likely Never Considered To Improve Your Sales’.

It’s 22 pages packed full of strategies to make gaining more clients simple and stress-free just like this article but on steroids.

Just get in touch though the links at the bottom of the page.

Achieving my 2023 sales target? Oh, it’s a piece of cake. *licks fingers*