“But I don’t work in sales!”

That’s what the voice in your head whispers whenever someone offers you ‘sales advice’ right?

Speaking about this with my F.R.A.M.E. coaching clients last week, the response was similar. “We don’t really HAVE sales conversations?”

If you help people by providing a service or a product to help them with something they want or need and your earnings are dependent on them giving you money in return . . . then you DO work in sales. At least partly.

But sales isn’t about persuading someone to spend money on something they don’t need. That’s the picture that tends to pop into people’s heads at the mention of ‘sales’. Possibly someone selling used cars or double glazing. Nope. Selling in our world is simply asking questions to understand the real struggles, pain points, and needs of our clients. Then, using our expertise to offer them a solution. Cost, price, the budget shouldn’t come into it. At least not for you . . . that’s not your decision to make, that’s your clients. Your job is simply to offer them the solution to their pain. Easier said than done though right! Absolutely. And that’s why this week, I’ll be sharing the simple shifts you can make to improve your level of comfort with selling but to improve the results you get. Yes . . . MORE sales. 

THE EASIST SALES STRATEGY

I wonder what the combined weight of books on the subject “Sales Strategies” is?

I bet Amazon could tell us. Sales is a muscle, a skill, a discipline. It should be learned, but also practiced. But you are running a business, wearing the hats of the ‘do-er’ and the ‘seller’ and the ‘marketer’ and many others. Who has time to become an expert in sales?

Well, let’s argue about the relative value of different business skills later. For now let me give you the number 1, proven skill to have an instant and dramatic effect on your sales results and your sales skills.

Ask.

That’s it!

Simply Ask your clients and people that could be your clients to buy something? Simple as that. Now you may be thinking, “that’s stupid . . . I already so that.” But do you? Does every interaction you have with a client you see today or someone that enquires about what you do, end in you offering them something that would be beneficial to them and you asking for money in return?

A product regimen to a client that’s come in for a treatment, a treatment to a client that’s called about your services? I know you already ask questions of your clients to get to know them better and for you to provide a better service . . . so ask that one extra question. “Would you like to book/buy? Try it today . . . every client or potential client you interact with, challenge yourself to offer them something that would help them or they’d enjoy.

SERVE DON’T SELL

Stop ‘Selling’ if you want to have more confidence and more success in your business. Yes, that was a first sentence designed to get your attention, but I can back it up. Give me a second . . .

We’ve already talked about people’s misunderstanding of the word ‘sales’ and try as we might that word will seemingly always have certain negative connotations attached. To quickly and easily remove this as a block for yourself, change the word ‘Selling’ to ‘Serving’. So instead of ‘Up-Selling’ a client . . . . ‘Up-Serve’ them instead by offering them, for a fee, something that will enhance their experience, or better help solve their problem or pain. This shifts the perception of sales from being ‘they’re doing me a favour’ to ‘I’m doing them a favour’ and when we are helping people, that no longer feels awkward or icky. We should run towards that as a caring human being, which I know you are. So by NOT offering your client that product you know could help them, you are holding them back from curing their pain. You wouldn’t want to do that now, would you? Go forth and ‘Serve’

THEY’RE ALREADY A YES

They’re already a Yes! Four of the most powerful words I’ve ever learned when it comes to having a sales conversation with a client or potential client. And I have to credit my good friend Pete Scott for bringing this transformational phrase to my attention.

So often we go into an encounter where we are having to offer a solution to someone in return for money (a.k.a. a sales conversation) with the mindset of ‘they probably won’t buy this’ or ‘this is too expensive for them’. This is our brain attempting to pre-prepare us for things not going the way we hope. Thanks, brain! But rather than go in with this thought, whether conscious or subconscious, actively tell yourself, that what you are offering will help them. They came to you for help with something and so if you have a solution to their problem, then by rights ‘They’re already a Yes!’

Trust me . . . this simple reframe for yourself, shifts your perspective and confidence to an entirely different place. Your prospect will feel this and if they want to solve whatever issue they’ve come to you for, then they’ll find it almost impossible to say no.

Try this today . . . in any conversation you have, not just sales in your business, but any conversation where you are offering advice, consider the person already to wants to say yes.

KNOW YOUR NICHE

The riches are in the niches. Unfortunately, this only rhymes if you say the word ‘niches’ wrong. But it’s true nonetheless. You’ll find selling to your perfect potential client a breeze, whereas trying to sell to someone who isn’t your ideal client can be like trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Do you really know your niche? Because most people get this wrong ALL THE TIME. People that live in your area . . . is not a niche. People that are interested in facials, massage, lashes, reiki . . . also NOT a niche.

A niche, when it comes to a beauty business like yours, is the combination of ‘Who’ and ‘What’ with a dash of ‘Where’

• WHO specifically you want to work with

• WHAT result you offer them

Ideally, you want decent clarity on both of these, but if you are laser focussed on one of them, you can afford to be a little broader on the other. But understanding and dialling in your niche will make all of your marketing and sales activities easier and way more effective.

Being able to sell anything is a skill. You need to understand it and most of all you need to practice it, and there’s no better way to practice how to sell than simply doing it. Not all selling is transactional. I have to ‘sell’ my kids on pretty much everything they’d rather not do – bathtime, bedtime, cleaning their teeth, eating anything green.

My goal here isn’t to turn you into some sort of hardened money-grabbing sales machine. The 4 simple how to sell strategies outlined here take almost no time to put into place. The first 3 are mindset shifts that you can make right now and use today. Nailing down your niche might take a little more work, but it’s probably the one ‘strategy’ that will make the biggest long-term difference to both your marketing and your sales.

If you’d like some help with how to sell, I’ve got a free program I’d love to share with you to help you get this right. I’m teaching this LIVE in a couple of weeks and all you need to do to take part have a Facebook™ account. Click here, to come and hang out in my BeautyBusinessHackers group and we’ll nail down your niche together.

If you want more great tips on how to sell without sleaze, getting more customers and making more money, why not head over to our Membership – it’s packed full of amazing ideas and courses, plus it has a lively community of like minded people growing their businesses together. And right now, you can join for just £1!