Hey there, it’s Jenn! Hope you are amazing.

Thanks for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

I have been podcasting for 6 years – week in, week out – never missed a week. I’ve been late – for sure, but never missed one.

So, this summer/Christmas season, for the first time, I am doing a “Summer Series” of the podcast for a few episodes. That means that I am choosing from my HUUUUUUUGE library of podcasts and repeating a few.

So, that means that I might mention episodes that are older, dates that are slightly wrong (like the wrong year etc) and it’s not because I am going cray cray, it just because I am taking a break and showcasing some episodes that you might have missed or might be fabulous to relisten to.

This one is about how to plan your marketing.

So, happy Summer series. Please don’t stop listening but just appreciate that I am taking a break and giving you some amazing “not so new” podcasts to listen to.

Big love,

3 REASONS WHY YOU’RE NOT CONVERTING MORE SALES

Hands up those who LOVE sales?  Hands up those who think they couldn’t sell a heater to an Eskimo?

Love them or hate them, if we’re in business, we in the business of sales.

Sales does have a bad rap, we still think of say anything, promise anything door to door salespeople when we say the word sales.

But the reality is we buy from people we like.  Sales is all about the know, like and trust factors. 

David Penglase, my hero when it comes to sales, taught me what I know – shout out to David, talks all about the art and science of building customer trust and what it really means to give value.

So, we need to change our mindset of what it means to sell.

Today I’m going to give you 3 reasons why I think you’re not converting more business into sales.  They’ll be hints, tricks and little tough love along the way.  So, let’s get into it!

1. Negative Self-Talk

First one, negative self-talk.  This is a biggie – so let’s start here!

Few things will diminish your sales results more than negative self-talk. If you walk around telling yourself you’re no good at sales, that you’re not a natural sales person (whatever that is), then you have doomed yourself before you even start.

If marketing is the heart of your business, then sales is the oxygen.  No sales equals no business. If you have a negative image of what selling is or must be, then being able to sell will be almost impossible for you.

One great way to eliminate negative self-talk is to re-frame what sales is and is not. It is NOT about trying to convince people to buy or justifying your price or comparing yourself to your competitors!

The first step is to remember selling is not about you, it’s about your prospect. You are there to serve them, not sell to them. Shift from a selling mindset to a serving mindset and you will be a long way towards eliminating the negative self-talk of I’m not a salesperson!

2. Doubting Your Product

If you harbour any doubts about the value, quality or benefit of your products or services, then it’s likely your sales results will suffer.

How about your team if you have one?  Do they believe in your products or services?  The quality, the value? 

If you or your team doesn’t believe in the product you sell, my advice is simple – stop selling it and go and find a product or service that you do believe in.

By its very nature, if you persist in selling something you know is inferior, then you are wilfully and deliberately deceiving your customers and damaging your own integrity in the process.

Life is too short to spend time selling products you don’t believe in.

Without doubt the greatest myth in the world of sales is the idea that great sales people have the gift of the GAB!

The truth is great sales people don’t talk, they listen. Customers or clients don’t want to be convinced, manipulated or talked into buying. They want to be heard, understood and respected.

You are not there to convince ANYONE of ANYTHING.

Good selling, or no pressure selling, is a process of discovery. A process of asking good quality questions.  If you fail to take the time to understand what a customer wants, then it’s likely that you will fall into the trap of trying to sell them something they don’t want – which is frustrating for you and them!

Oh, and just a side note.  Our elders always taught us, there’s no such thing as a stupid question – well I’m afraid to tell you there is!

If I’m in a white goods store looking at fridges for 5 minutes and you come over and ask me if I’m interested in fridges, I will roll my eyes at you and mutter something under my breathe like “seriously – good guess” (well actually probably something worse but this is clean podcast – so I can’t say that!).

So, ask good quality questions, not doosh bag ones!

3. Trying to Outsmart Your Customer

Which is a great Segway into number 3 – don’t try and outsmart your customer!

One of the most undisputed elements of sales success is we buy from people we like. And we like people who will take the time to understand us, listen to us and respect us.

What we don’t like is salespeople who try to show us how smart they are by showing off their product knowledge. Nobody likes a smart-arse who tries to flex their knowledge and prove they are smarter than the us – the customer.

The bottom line is, one of the dumbest things you can do is try and make your prospect look stupid. In the end the only person who will lose will be you. So, guide, assist and advise, but do it respectfully or suffer the consequences.

At the end of the day, you (the salesperson) are there to serve the customer – that’s it. You exist to serve them; they do not exist to buy from you. When sales people or business owners become focused on reaching sales quotas, they tend to lose focus on who matters most – the customer.

We all know what everyone’s favourite subject is – themselves.

The equation is simple: the more interested you are in them and their needs, the more likely a sale becomes. Conversely, the more self-focused you become, the more likely you will run into a sales stopper with a thud.

4. Forgetting to Follow-up

Ok, I know I said there would only be 3 but I couldn’t have a sales conversion without going through this one – Failure to Follow-up!

This is probably my pet hate.  There’s such a fine line between guest and pest and I get that uneasy feeling in my stomach whenever I need to follow up a few times.

But failure to follow up is one of the most common sales traps of all.

Here are just a few of the ways no follow up hurts your business.

Reduces the chance of future sales resulting in the business leaving a lot of money on the table that will now be spent with a competitor.

Diminishes the chances of referral business being generated meaning the sales person must go back out to the cold market where the cost of lead generation is much higher and the conversion process much slower.

If you want to immediately impact your sales results, start following up regularly with your customers. 

You don’t know what you don’t know!

One of my favourite sales quotes is “if you aren’t looking after your customers, your competitors will”.

So, before we wrap up, let’s go through those reasons for not converting more sales again, just quickly

1. Negative Self-Talk – stop the negative self-talk – just STOP IT
2. Doubting Your Products – If you harbour any doubts about the value, quality or benefit of your products or services, then change your products. You can’t sell what you don’t believe in.
3. Trying to Outsmart Your Customer – we buy from people we like. So, don’t sales bash people with everything you know – listen, ask quality questions and solve their problem – make the sale that way!
4. Forgetting to Follow-up – follow up. Don’t forget to follow up.  Even if you feel Uncomfortable – follow it up.  Oh, and if I’m eating my own medicine I’d say – pick up the phone or pay them a visit – don’t always follow up via email!

So that’s it for Episode 12.  I hope you enjoyed some sales tips, tricks or a little tough love.  Some of which I was giving to myself!

So, the 72-hour rule.  And for those who aren’t sure what that is – the 72-hour rule is what are you going to do in the 72 hours to move you towards your goal – in this case it might be closer to a sale.  I always use it from stage and thought I should enact it here on my podcast for my podcast family too.

So, do you need to give yourself a good talking to about negative self-talk or is there a few follow-ups that have been hanging around that you just should tick off your list in the next 72 hours?  Whatever it is, commit to it and do it in the next 72 hours.

Write it down or to be held accountable, put it in social and tag @smallbusinessmadesimple!

I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery.

If you’re liking the podcast – please head over to where you listen and leave a rating and even a review – those things are GOLD for podcasters like me!  I’ll be eternally grateful, and it helps others find this podcast and enjoy the free training, tips and tricks too.  It could be the best gift you give them!

I am very grateful to have you as part of my world, listening in, but I’d also love to catch up between podcasts – and get social on social – all the links are in my show notes. 

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave me a DM on Instagram!  The DMs seriously make my day!

Catch you next week, happy sales making, ……

…….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!