how to get better at selling

I’m not a psychic, but since you’re here to learn how to get better at selling I’m guessing you didn’t start your business because you’re having a love affair with sales! Quite the opposite: most of us become entrepreneurs because we have special talents to offer the world, and the idea of being trapped in the confines of a 9 – 5 where we can’t freely share those talents makes us wanna curl up in the fetal position and quietly sob Céline Dion lyrics.

But whether you love it or hate it, selling is a crucial part of being a business owner; it’s literally HOW you make money! The good news? Selling is a skill, and one you can improve over time, so let me introduce you to 5 of my proven methods that will help you get better at selling!

How to get better at selling as a business owner who doesn’t really like sales:

1. Have confidence in your prices

If I said “charge your worth,” would you roundhouse kick me in the face? Good, because it’s terrible advice. I’m also going to caution you to avoid Googling “what to charge for [insert your product or service here],” because going by what some random person posted on Reddit three years and seven months ago could hurt more than help. Knowing what other people charge doesn’t give you any indication of their business model OR whether their business is even profitable!

Pricing your products and services comes down to three things: math, branding, and energy.

When you price for profit you have to consider things like: what’s your annual income goal? How many hours do you want to work every day? How many clients do you want to take on a month? How many products do you want to sell a quarter, and how long does it take you to make those products? What are your tax rates? Pricing isn’t a guessing game or a clever ploy to take advantage of people; it’s just math.

Pricing is also a branding strategy, which is why it’s so important to have a clear understanding of your ideal client! The cheapest option isn’t always the best for everyone. In fact, many people are actually searching for people with higher prices because that’s how they determine quality. In other words? Pricing yourself too low could actually be turning your ideal clients off.

Lastly, you need to feel energetically good about the number you come up with. Confidence is critical to get better at selling, so feeling solid about your prices is a critical first step in talking about them.

2. Get comfortable setting boundaries and saying no

When it comes to selling as a business owner, the scariest part is the potential for people to say no and reject you. Or worse, to give you pushback and demand something different than what you’re offering. But being prepared for these possibilities will help you navigate your sales conversations like a pro!
Getting a “no” doesn’t make you a bad person. Honestly, it doesn’t even make you a bad salesperson! It’s not your responsibility to convince someone to buy from you; it’s your responsibility to give people the information, guidance, and agency they need to make their own empowered decision.

Practicing empathy while also enforcing your boundaries will go a long way toward your goal to get better at selling – if you need some help with handling discount requests, I have a blog post for you right here!

3. Let your marketing do the heavy lifting

There’s actually a big difference between marketing and selling: marketing is telling people how your product or service can help them. Selling is the exchange of money for that product or service. Which means your sales calls are going to be way easier if you’re able to communicate the value of what you do long before your potential clients are faced with the decision of whether to buy it.

So since you’re wondering how to get better at selling, it’s totally reasonable to also ask yourself how you can get better at marketing. As much as we’d like to believe buying is a logical decision, it’s usually emotional. We make up our minds about whether we want something because of how it makes us feel, and then we justify that decision with logic. So tap into those feelings, motivations, fears, frustrations, and ambitions –  your marketing will do most of the work for you and selling will become a simple invitation to make that feeling a reality!

If you’re not sure how to tap into your ideal client’s feelings, check out Ideal Client Magic! It’s a practical video training that helps you understand the psychology of your ideal client so you know exactly what to say to them to get their attention.

4. Remember selling is just an invitation

Imagine you’re throwing a party. You’ve got the music, the snacks, the drinks, and the decorations all lined up and you KNOW it’s going to be killer. Now imagine inviting someone to this party and having them RSVP with a no. You might feel a little disappointed, sure, but you’re probably not going to obsess over the fact they said no. You’re probably not going to try to convince them to come. You’re probably not going to lose sleep over it. Instead, you’ll say you understand, let them know they’re still welcome if anything changes, and move on to sending the next invitation to the next person.

Selling in your business can be approached in the exact same light & fun way, except instead of throwing parties you’re creating offers. Getting a “no” doesn’t mean the party/your offer will be any less awesome, and it doesn’t mean every single other person is going to decline. There will always be more people to invite. There will always be more parties.

Try to detach from the sale a little bit and give people the autonomy to make their own decisions. Your responsibility is to throw an awesome party. Articulate the value of your offer, explain the outcome and what problems it solves, answer questions, and extend an invitation to buy – but your responsibility stops there.

5. Truly understand how what you’re selling helps people 

The work you do is extremely valuable. Yes, even if you’re in a luxury industry! Just because you’re not saving lives doesn’t mean you’re not changing lives, but it’s your job as the business owner to figure out HOW what you sell changes lives so that you know how to communicate that to potential clients.

This process is a massive part of building a unique brand that sets you apart in your industry, but you have to be willing to go deep and think beyond clichés. What literal problem does your business solve? What broader effect does this have on the lives of those you help? How does the result of your work make people feel, and what does that feeling allow them to accomplish?

When you know the deeper purpose behind what you do, it’s a lot easier to stand confidently behind the value of it. (Just one more reason why branding is important in business!) If you need more help with this part of branding so you can finally get better at selling, enter your info below and I’ll send you a free copy of The No-Bullshit Guide to Branding: