The First Principle of Authentic Selling
What do you have to know and do to be able to sell with authenticity and integrity?
The first principle of Authentic Selling is TRUST.
Trust of yourself.
Trust of the other person.
Trust of the process.
One of the reasons you shy away from learning to sell well is that you don’t trust yourself to be true to your values and to honor the other person.
Let’s look at that now.
Have you ever been overbearing and tried to force someone to buy something?
Maybe you have. Maybe that’s the way you thought you were “supposed” to sell because that’s all you’ve ever seen.
How did it work out?
I’m guessing it didn’t work out so well. The other person may have resisted or even gotten angry. And you may have wound up feeling awful about it.
You may have even said, “I’m never doing that again!”
And with that declaration, you put yourself into the unfortunate position of not being able to be yourself and sell your services to someone who could really use them.
Let’s unravel this ball of complications.
What would be different if you were to trust yourself and your instincts when talking to someone who is interested in working with you?
What would be different if you trusted your prospect to ask the questions she needs to know to make an informed decision about working with you.
Unless you are working with children, what would it be like to trust you the other person to make a decision best for her?
What if you trusted yourself to show up as you, be fully in the conversation, and respond with your values intact?
These actions would significantly change the way you approach sales. In fact you would begin to find your natural rhythm and welcome the chance to talk with people who are interested in your work.
Practice trusting yourself, the other person, and the process when you have conversations about working with you.
Oh, and go ahead and forgive yourself for being that pushy sales-y person. After all, that was what you knew then. Now you are learning a way that’s better and more true to you and your values.
PS We’re talking Sales Conversations at Abundance with Adele on Wednesday, April 25th at 11:45 am at the Frontier in Durham, NC. It’s a free in person workshop and I hope you’ll join us to get a deeper understanding of what really goes on in a successful and authentic sales conversation.
Go ahead and register your ticket at www.AbundancewithAdele.com. Bring a friend (ask her to register too!) and your lunch if you like.