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Selling you

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I’m listening to a podcast from Pod Save America. Celebrity businessman Mark Cuban is the guest, and they’re analyzing what went wrong with the Kamala Harris campaign. You might remember that Cuban was heavily involved in it.

So there he is telling Dan Pfeiffer the Democrats relied way too much on research, testing, and traditional advertising.

“There was not a single salesperson in that campaign,” Cuban explains. “There is nobody that ever sold magazines door to door. Or sold construction equipment. Or sold whatever. They were lifers in politics. And it was just so obvious.”

“Where Trump was the opposite,” Cuban says. “He could sell.”

Yes, he could. Can you?

Because that’s where Cuban’s comment takes me.The ability to sell changes everything for political operatives and the candidates they work for. It also changes everything for people like you and me.

Maybe your work doesn’t involve literal sales. Your business card tells us you’re in computer services, human resources, or logistics—sales is somebody else’s job. Here’s the thing. You’re selling yourself and your ideas every day.

And if you’re an independent professional, well, whatever services you offer, nobody has the benefit of your talent and expertise until you make an agreement, land a client, start an engagement. And how do you do that? You sell.

How does that sit with you?

I never sold magazines door-to-door, but I did march around the neighborhood offering Girl Scout cookies and tickets to the Rotary Club’s pancake breakfast. And I was pretty good at it! Thinking back, that may have been because I wasn’t self-conscious at all.

Here I am, a full-grown adult woman, and I am self-conscious about selling. A lot of us are, right?  I’m so nervous about the “no” that might be coming, I have a hard time launching a sales conversation.

There are several new coaching clients in my world right now, and as I think about it, nailing down engagements with them was easy, natural, and comfortable. It was a conversation, not a sale. Although they did wind up buying.

What do those conversations have in common? They didn’t stem from me making a cold call, that’s for sure. Every one of those people came to me because they’d heard from somebody they trust that I could help them be more confident and comfortable about speaking. And they know they need that.

It’s a two-part lesson for me. And maybe for you too.

Lesson One: referrals are golden. When somebody hears how good you are at what you do, whatever that might be, they’re already primed. They have a positive view of you before they even meet you!

That makes the rest of a sales conversation easy, doesn’t it? It just flows. And in the end, of course they might say “no.” Maybe it’s not quite a fit, or the investment is more than they’d expected.

But, when the conversation begins because someone they trust gave them your name, it sure paves the way for a positive outcome.

Lesson Two: they know they need what you offer. Two of my new clients have an important presentation coming up. They need to knock it out of the park. One is campaigning for a professional association office, doing speeches and Q-and-A sessions all the time and they have to get better at it.

Any day that ends in “Y,” I talk to people who’d kind of like to be better speakers. Could I help them get there? Yes. And it’s a fool’s errand trying to sell them a coaching package. They kind of want to be more effective when they speak up at a meeting, or give a presentation, or make a sales call of their own. But it’s not important enough for them to spend time and money and effort making it happen.

Same in your business, right? You can’t sell your services to someone who’s kinda, sorta, maybe, interested in what you do.

My new clients are serious about improving their skills and their confidence. They’re doing presentations that will have an impact on their business or their career, and mediocre won’t cut it.

That makes it much more likely for them to say yes to a coaching package that will help them hit a homerun when they present and enjoy all the business benefits that will follow.

What do we do with all that?

I’m keeping an eye out for people I can refer to the professionals I trust. Listening for their comments about a need they have, especially a need that seems urgent, for whatever reason.

And I’m going to be asking former coaching clients, people who’ve hired me to speak, and you to do the same.

As you listen to the people in your world, maybe you’ll hear someone nervous about a big presentation coming up or upset about that review that included criticism of their presentation skills. Or maybe they’re changing jobs; speaking with presence and poise will help them land a new one.

I hope you’ll introduce those people to me and let us know who we should be introducing to you.