THIS WEEK ON THE MORNING MARK:
Must a small business owner like “selling”?
Many of us don’t like selling. We feel uncomfortable. As a small business owner, this is something we must overcome. I’m not saying that you have to do all the sales for your business, but certainly you should never be completely removed from the selling process.
Try these four steps to see if you can learn to like, if not love, selling.
STEP ONE
Review your value proposition.
Value Proposition: an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers.
You get into trouble when you are trying to talk someone into buying something that they really don’t need. Giving a prospect something that can help them vs. talking them into something will change how you feel about selling.
As the owner, you understand the problem you solve for clients better than anyone in your business. Make sure your solution is accurate and well communicated to your staff and customers. It should show up clearly on your website, in ads, and on social media.
STEP TWO
Get organized.
Getting your ducks in a row is really half the battle. These days marketing tactics like sales funnels really do most of the work for you. You may only be actually “selling” one-on-one a very small percentage of the time.
The first tool you need is a CRM or a Customer Relationship Management system.
CRM: customer relationship management, denoting strategies and software that enable a company to organize and optimize its customer relations.
These are available for free online, so find one you like and start using it. It practically decides for you when you need to follow up with leads, releasing you of another awkward part of selling. Hubspot offers a good CRM.
STEP THREE
Get the resources you need.
Even very small businesses can benefit from further automation. A sales funnel may sound like overkill, but at its simplest, it’s really just a system of emails to follow up with your leads.
A tool like Mailchimp can help you get started with a funnel for your business.
STEP FOUR
Reframe the way you think about sales.
Remember it’s the best way to really know your customer.
Whether you’re speaking to someone one-on-one or presenting to a large group, the feedback you receive is invaluable.
You may learn the prospect:
– has been doing business with your competitor
– has an idea for a new feature
– knows where your product is not fulfilling its promises
-has a referral for you.
Takeaway
All this type of information and more is yours for the taking when you engage in the sales process. For this and these other reasons cited, you never want to completely delegate the sales of your business. Take these four steps and learn to like it.
Want a new bit of marketing each week? Subscribe to the Morning Mark. Like our simple-but-proactive approach to marketing? Visit us at smallbizbrands.com.
