How to Sell Outside Your Comfort Zone
Being in business allows you to push the boundaries of what you think can be achieved. But can you honestly say you sell outside of your comfort zone?
What could happen if you did?
Think it through….if your current marketing strategy allows you to create your current supply of customers what could happen if you pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone?
(Here’s a clue, it will definitely involve more time creating invoices and less time chatting on social media !)
So How Do You Do It?
- If it feels big and scary….keep going. Things feel scary and out of our ability range when we feel there is something to lose. We feel like there is a lot to be missed out on if it goes wrong….so polarise that thought. If there is a lot that could be lost there is just as much (if not more) that could be gained.
- Keep doing what works but ask yourself what would take you so far out of your comfort zone when it comes to selling? If you normally choose to sell over the phone or via word of mouth, would picking up the phone panic you? Networking a No No? Media work moves you in all the wrong ways? Do it anyway!
- Don’t ask Don’t get. Asking is the scary part. Men traditionally are great at closing the deal but lack the nuances of relationship building that women do and so go straight for the sale and risk scaring the buyer off. Women on the other hand can be brilliant at creating great relationships but can lack the ability to close the sale. So ask for what you want.
- Believe in better. If you think something is likely to go wrong, your brain will be as considerate as possible to create as many reminders of previous failure and plenty of hints on how to recreate it, undermining your ability to achieve. So believe in what you do. Believe in your course of action, your ability and visualise the end goal. That’s right, more invoices created, more money banked and less time to play Candy Crush!
Mandie Holgate specialises in helping women grow their businesses, overcome their fears and gain more customers. To see if you could work with someone that will boss you around (in a nice way), help you set clear goals for business growth, and motivate you to keep going, however tough it gets, get in touch with Mandie.
Networking Assumptions That Cost You Business
At a networking event the other day I got talking to a rather fabulous business woman and the conversation went like this;
Mrs Fab “So and So is coming today.”
Me “Oh, really. I’ve not seen her in years. I must ask her how business is. Mrs So and So does this and this and is very unique in that.”
Mrs Fab “She doesn’t do this and this, she does that and that.”
Me “No I’m sure she does this and this. She was on the radio talking about it.”
Mrs Fab “She definitely does that and that I know because I was talking to her yesterday!”
Leaving me flabbergasted that I had Mrs So and So labelled so wrong and so for years had been under the illusion she did this and this. Turns out she did do an aspect of what I had thought she did for a living but because I had not chatted to her since, I didn’t know about the vast array of other things her unique company did. Which meant that I couldn’t possibly have been out there being a good networker for her.
The moral of this story. If you don’t network regularly what illusions are being created about what you do?
Turns out if I had known truly what Mrs So and So did for a living I could have put work to her at least twice in the last few years, as I couldn’t find anyone on the planet that does what Mrs So and So does.
Assumptions get made all the time in networking. And here is what assumptions do for your networking success:
Not good right?
So how do you stop networking assumptions from happening?
Network regularly.
Allow other networkers to learn what they want to learn about what you do. NOT what you THINK they need to know.
Reinforce your networking with good social media networking. That means your message is the same where ever anyone goes. So that they really feel like they can connect with you. (Not repeating the same stuff I hasten to add.)
If you don’t understand what someone does, ask questions. How can you be a successful networker for your new contact if you don’t understand the nature of their profession?
Be consistent with your action.
And love it, because let’s be honest networking is just so good for business!