Transform the Fear of Selling into the Art of Serving

One of the biggest fears entrepreneurs have is the actual selling or marketing process and this prompts me to offer another small business marketing solution.

Recently I was talking to a business owner about how to take the fear out of selling. And when we talk about selling, we are talking about marketing.

The fear of selling or marketing is an issue many small business owners have when they start marketing their products and services. It’s actually a fear of rejection. I know it well. When I was starting up my coaching business, I had leads to contact but I hesitated. Not knowing any better, I thought I shouldn’t be chasing after people---they should be contacting me if they are truly interested. After all, I didn’t want to appear as a salesperson.

But behind that idea was the fear of selling---and being rejected. What if they say no? What if I come across as just another salesperson? What if they do buy my product and don’t like it? What if my product or service isn’t good enough? These all stem from the fear of rejection.

During my coaching training I learned a marketing solution to this fear. It made such a difference for my business that I’d like to share it with you. It will transform your sales and marketing experience overnight. The way to overcome the fear of selling…marketing…rejection…is to change your mindset from one of “selling” to one of “serving.”

When you think of your job as SERVING the potential client instead of SELLING them, your mindset is open to more favorable results. Selling has an agenda that you are trying to fit a prospective customer into, but serving is just helping and seeing if that person is a good match with your program or service.

Being in the mindset of serving not only serves the client but it serves you also. You see, you only want to be working with people who are your ideal clients. An ideal client will appreciate your product, gladly be willing to allocate resources to it, and get so much out of it that they tell their friends and give you referrals. If they aren’t your ideal client, then you move on to the next potential client.

Having this attitude of wanting to serve people and only working with those who are a good match, takes away the fear. If someone says “no,” you can just assume that it wasn’t a good match. This takes the emotion out of the equation. And it’s the emotion that makes you feel rejected. If your attitude towards a “no” is, “OK, that wasn’t the right client for me,” you don’t take it personally. It’s just a neutral event.

A neutral event is nothing to be afraid of, is it? How hard is it to say no to a telemarketer or door-to-door salesperson? You aren’t judging them, trying to hurt them, or making it personal. So when the tables are turned and you are the salesperson, remember that you are just trying to help. There’s nothing scary about that, is there?

The next time you feel that fear of selling, put yourself in that serving mindset and make that call. Transforming selling into serving is a small business marketing solution that anyone can do to take the fear out of selling once and for all.