A fabulous tip for unsalesy sales!
Written by Julia Bickerstaff // April 22, 2014 // Daily Juice // 4 Comments
Here’s a fabulous tip for unsalesy sales!
A friend of mine just sold his business. 12 years ago he moved to a new country with his wife and one year old son. When he couldn’t get the kind of job he was looking for he started his own business. Talk about tough! He knew no-one, couldn’t borrow a dime, knew nothing about business and had a young (and expanding!) family to support.
Anyhoo, because it kinda had to work, the business did! It REALLY did! For at least a decade my friend made a very healthy income. And now, to top it off, he’s sold the biz for a lovely little pile of cash. Hurrah for him!
I asked him for a tip I could share with you. Here it is:
“Have a lot of conversations!”
My friend reckons he ‘pitched’ his business to more than 5000 people over 12 years by just ‘starting a conversation’. Nothing salesy. Just a “Hello/ Here’s what we do/ Here’s what you do/ Maybe we can help you”
What a FAB idea. 5000 conversations!
I’ve morphed this into a little routine, and I thought you might like it too:
1. I decided to commit to 365 conversations a year. That’s one a day (very doable) or two or three on some days and none on others (very doable but not such an easy habit!)
2. I have a list of people to have conversations with. That way I can organise myself to easily to make sure it happens!
3. I grouped my list into ‘types’. This helps me get my head into the right space and is useful for Number 4 (below). So if I’m talking about the Healthy Income Program my types include: small business owners, networking groups, industry groups and big businesses. You’ve probably got different ‘types’ too.
4. To make the conversations super- easy I’ve prepared a little outline. Nothing formal, just some notes to remind myself of what to say and the order in which to say it! I can get very forgetful and this helps me to remember to say the important stuff. Plus it means I don’t have to think too hard, I can just DO!
5. I LOVE a sense of progress (do you?!) so I keep a tally of my conversations! And I always make sure I’m slightly ahead of where I would be if I really did one every day!
6. I put the whole “sales” thought right outta my mind’. Eugh! It’s just a conversation!
Fancy giving it a go?!
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4 Comments on "A fabulous tip for unsalesy sales!"
Thanks Julia. That sounds like a great idea.
Do you tee up the conversations in advance or just call out of the blue?
I presume some are face-to-face but most would be by phone?
I’m thinking that having a conversation with LinkedIn contacts would be a good place to start.
It would require a lot of thought in terms of what you can offer the other person rather than just being a one-way conversation.
They need to understand the benefits to them.
Mostly I tee up conversations in advance, but not always. Depends a bit who I’m talking to. I think you’re right – the most important but is the THINKING before the conversation. I’ve definitely got better at that! x
This is great advice Julia! I find myself creating social media posts that sound salesy so I’m trying to break that habit. But when I’m talking to my customers through messaging I always conversate with them. My target audience is just like me so it’s easy for me to connect with them on a deeper level.
I like the idea Wendy mentioned about using LinkedIn for meeting new people. I would like to pitch (conversate) with more reporters & bloggers about featuring my jewelry line!
Oh I know Brittany – it does feel much easier to have chatty conversations in real life than it does on social media – but I think it comes with practise! x