Becoming more comfortable in the sales role

Isn’t it amazing what you can learn from a child? 

I swear my little one is just a budding business man waiting to happen. Over spring break, he decided to sell rocks and lemonade.

(I kind of feel like a bad mom for the rock part… but he decided he wanted to sell something in the middle of a work day, and I just didn’t want to run to the store. It happens.)

Now, I’ve been in sales since I was 18. I’ve done other things, but honestly, everything has a bit of a sales component to it. Even now. I write speeches. I help others define their message and take the stage, or get in front of the camera. But, really? How can I do any of that if I don’t also sell? I can’t.

So many people have to stop themselves from gagging when they hear the word, “sell.” But it doesn’t have to feel yucky to get the job done.

My son had to learn this himself during his first experience as a mini business owner. Sure, it’s cute. But it’s also spot on in terms of how the rest of us fight through the process of becoming a better sales person. And we can learn a lot from it.

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As I see it, here are the three stages we all go through when learning how to become better at sales.

1.We hide from everyone.

At first, he stayed up by the house. When people walked by, he hid in my arm. He was terrified. 

“What if they say no?” “What if they think lucky rocks are stupid?” 

I told him to expect most people not to want a rock, but that no one right now even knew what he was doing, or that he even has anything for sale. If he wanted to sell a rock, he had to tell people they could buy them. 

You have to put yourself and your products out there. No one’s going to buy what they don’t know exists.

2. We talk to no one. 

He started yelling into the street, saying, “lucky rocks! 10 cents!” 

No one showed up. He was making a whole lot of noise, but he wasn’t actually talking to anyone. 

After a few minutes, he got really upset with himself.

“No one wants rocks.” “This isn’t working.”

And boyyyyyy oh boy do people do this. Maybe you’ve done it? I know I did in the beginning. If you don’t have a target audience, or you don’t know where to find them, or you don’t specifically address them or speak their language, or if you’re just contacting everyone and their mother…. you’re probably burning yourself out, and not making very much money. 

It’s like yelling into a street.

I told him to think about who might want those lucky rocks, and ask them specifically if they’d like to check them out when they walk by… he decided a kid his age might be interested. So, when children walked by, or someone he thought might “be a mommy”, he simply said, “hey, I have some lucky rocks… want to see?” 

More people started to show up. 

3. We actually start to enjoy sales, because we realize that, when we do it right, it isn’t so scary. 

As he started specifically talking to people, their response ended up being warm (didn’t hurt that he’s freakin’ adorable (not biased at all 🙂 

Some people bought rocks. Some people checked them out. Some people acted like they didn’t hear him. 

But, something really amazing happened. At the end of the day, he asked if he could sell lemonade the following day. 

I asked why – what was his favorite part about the stand? He said he loved that he met a bunch of new people, and there were lots of people that stopped to talk to him…. which was the exact thing he was terrified of about 5 hours before… 

And it’s because he was just having conversations with people. He wasn’t screaming about rocks. He wasn’t hiding when people walked by. He was talking… like a normal person.

When people stopped by, they asked about the rocks. But they also asked about his school, how old he was, told him they had a kid his age, etc. 

Were people nicer because he’s a kid? Absolutely. But, I’ve had the same experience. 

I notice that, if I’m on a sales call, the less I worry about selling and the more I try to be myself and connect with the potential customer, the more fun it is…. and the more likely I am to leave with money or a contract in my hand. 

I’ve sold a lot of things. Credit cards, hotel rooms, pizza.

I used to sell flooring… carpet, hardwood, even window treatments. 

It was in home sales and the customers were nervous when I showed up. They were on guard, closed off and quiet.

They didn’t know if I’d pressure them to decide, or if I’d make the whole thing uncomfortable. So, instead of walking in and talking about floors, I walked in and played with the dog. Or the kids. I interacted like an actual person would in someone’s home…. and after a few minutes, they’d relax, open up, and tell me all of their frustrations… their pain points… why they wanted floors to begin with… and how much they were willing to pay. 

I always crushed my sales goals. During most weeks, I closed double of what was expected of me. 

And nothing about it ever felt gross. 

My son had a similar experience. He took what he learned and the next day, sold over $40 worth of lemonade. And he had a lot of fun doing it. 

Sales doesn’t have to be scary, or icky, or full of pressure. But you do have to put yourself out there, address your target audience, and connect with them on a personal level so they’re comfortable enough to share their struggles, pain points and desires. 

If you can do that, not only will you crush your sales goals, but you’ll also have a lot of fun doing it!

If you’re struggling with the idea of selling your products, I offer a 90 minute session, completely customized to you and your specific situation, where we work through your sales process and help you feel really comfortable about getting on a call, and closing the sale.

I call it the Power (and a half) Hour. You can check it out here.