When it comes to attracting more clients and growing profits, it's important to remember that without asking for the sale, it just won't happen!
Not long ago, I was talking to a healer who had a really difficult time growing her business because she was very uncomfortable picking up the phone and letting people know of her services.
I had met her at a conference and I was following-up with her to see if I might be able to serve her with a new division in my business.
I remember that she said, "When you called, I sort of knew that you were making a future appointment to promote something, but the way you did it got me so excited at the idea of talking to you again!"
I considered that as a huge compliment and I was quite humbled by her words!
When it comes to selling over the phone or in person, I've often down played my natural ability to strike a conversation with just about anyone and find a common ground to engage with them that was still authentic. It's a skill I've had since University when I used to work for a high-end Canadian designer and I used the be the only salesperson to grab my clients details on a 3 x 5 card (there were no computers in most retails shops back then), call all my clients when our new collections arrived and invited them to come in and try the new collection while spending an hour chatting, laughing and connecting and at the end have the client buy pretty much everything I had recommended!
I transferred that skill to door-to-door sales and later on to selling $5,000 coaching programs over the phone on behalf of American clients and then as an Affiliate Manager where I'd connect big Internet marketers together for those million-dollar-day launches among Gurus you see online.
Connecting with people and working a room is so natural to me that it pains me when I speak to entrepreneurs (especially women) who have such a hard time at it.
The real drama for entrepreneurs is that your ability to present your product or program is directly related to you being able to remain in business! The bottom line is if you're too uncomfortable to present your business in a way that can entice potential paying clients, you're in trouble.
One of the best piece of advice one of my sales mentor recently gave me was to focus on three key things:
1. Belief
2. Attitude
3. Knowledge
Those are the same core lessons I tried to share with that healer who was having a hard time with cold calls.
After hearing her share how passionate she was about relieving people of pain and emotional baggage, I knew that she simply needed a little bit of reframing to make her see the phone as an inviting tool as opposed to something she's afraid of.
I told her that if you feel like you're pestering people when you pick up the phone to present your services, your subconscious mind will link this to the last 20 calls that were a frightening experience. Instead of approach your cold calls like that, why not look at them as an opportunity to help someone.
I explained that her phone call can offer a much needed solution to someone who's in pain and she'll never know how much she can be of service to others unless she actually picks up the phone, starts a conversation with them to know more about them and share the same level of enthusiasm about her services as she had shared with me!
I asked her if she could see the difference between the two approaches and she said "YES - I CAN SEE IT"!
To go back to the three tips my mentor gave me, it's simply a question of:
1. Believe your products or services can help the person you're approaching.
2. Adopt an Attitude of service and you'll project that you actually care and want this to be a win-win for you and your clients.
3. Know that what you have to offer WILL make a difference in people's lives!
Having a "cold calling mentality" is so 70s, because it was about how much you can profit from that conversation with a client more than how you can benefit them. Things have dramatically changed in the world and in the way we do business and if you want to grow your business by securing more paying clients, you'll need to make sure you approach potential clients with a "how can I serve you mentality". The two approaches are vastly different! That said, the later ensures that you'll build deeper relationships with your clients because you'll show that you care and in return your clients will be more likely to want to do more business with you, buy more often from you, buy higher priced products or services and refer you their friends and contacts!