How to see your own value – and sell it

July 3, 2013

How to see your own value – and sell it

Last week in my post about sales, we discussed that clients don’t buy if they have the tiniest bit of doubt in their mind about your products/services.

One of the areas I’m very passionate about teaching is how to sell on the front lines of a sales call.

I’ve spent a lot of time in sales, from services that cost a thousand dollars to several million dollars. The principles that I teach are the same no matter what you’re selling and at what price points.

There are two key areas that I believe matter most when it comes to sales: one is about communicating your value, and the other is about relieving all doubt from the customer’s mind.

My value, what value?

We were all born with very unique skills that are meant to be expressed in this lifetime. Lots of us know what we’re great at — we can probably do the work of our soul in our sleep, without sleep, and probably without getting paid!

To us, the skills we were born with come so easily and naturally that they don’t seem like skills at all. We either believe that everyone else has them (so, what we got ain’t all that special), or we believe everyone already knows this about us (like, isn’t it obvious?).

The trouble is that both of what we assume is wrong: no, not everyone has the skills that we have. And unless that person knows you really well or has worked with you before, no, we don’t automatically know you’re as fabulous as you are — not unless you show us so!

It’s a little bit of wrong assumptions, a little bit of lack of communication, and it’s also a little bit of lack of self–confidence.

When you mix all of these together, what you’ve got is a frustrated entrepreneur who can’t figure out why no one is buying her stuff. People are definitely interested in what she’s got to say — the mailing list and Facebook likes will prove it to you — but when it’s time to sell, sell, sell, the silence is deafening.

I’m here to help you get through to the other side of this (phew!). So let’s talk about communicating your value for a second.

Communicating your value

When you are the owner of your business, you’ll quickly come to realize that everything you do relates back to sales, and I mean everything. In other blog posts, I’ve taught you how to use your blog and testimonials to market yourself.

It’s not as if every page you publish must be plastered with “work with me” buttons. And it’s not like you have to be a walking billboard for your services. But what you have to do is never stop communicating your value at every turn.

Visitors come through your website via lots of different ways. Perhaps they googled something and you blogged about it, or someone might be sharing your content or musings on Facebook. It is not possible for you to convert every single potential lead that walks through your door or hears about your name.

But what your visitor should know is what value you bring to people’s lives.

You may communicate your value by talking about your work, or you could simply show people your value when they interact with your content or website.

Even after we manage to convert that lead into a client, we don’t stop communicating and showing our value. Why? Because it’s another opportunity to reinforce your value, so that the client has a reason to buy from you again.

In other words, never. stop. selling.

It’s a big reason why I don’t advocate entrepreneurs to rush through writing their sales pages or free download products. I don’t even advocate taking your blog too lightly. It’s worrisome when I see undeveloped ideas, grammar and spelling mistakes, and sloppy work because you never know what else that person could have bought if you made a better impression the first time around.

By no means do we have to be perfect, but there are lots of things within our control. If we were writing a very important letter to say, the president of our country or someone of royal capacity, I bet we would get serious and compose something clear and convincing. We would get to the point, sell that point, beat that point into a dead horse, for as long as it takes, and then some.

Sales, in its most passionate manifestation, is like that. I want to see each entrepreneur bring that level of enthusiasm and idealism into their work.

When we look at sales in the most humbling light, it’s truly about helping people, and also helping people who need us to recognize us when they see us. As success mentor David Neagle would say, “Sales is not what you do to someone. It’s what you do for them.”

Given that, it’s really your responsibility to communicate, show and reinforce your light all the time. If we don’t, we are taking away the help and healing that our clients truly need. And worst yet, we’ll have to go look for a job — ew!

Homework!

What do you believe is your strongest, brightest, most undeniable value? In reviewing your testimonials, what do clients say is your biggest value?

Step outside of yourself for a second and look at yourself through a potential client’s eyes. What experiences have you been able to give to others? What does your love look like from the receiving end? What does your help look like from the other side? Can you put that into words?

Now, look at yourself from a distance. How have your skills been able to help yourself? How have you been your most important client? How have your skills gotten you to where you are today?

As an exercise, write your own testimonial several times. Pretend you are 5 different clients that you helped on different issues. From their point of view, imagine what you are being thanked about. What are they showing you gratitude for? What positive outcomes did you bring into their life? How did you uplift or restore them? What did they most thank you about? What do you want to be most thanked for?

As I’ve said before, doing ideal customer profiles are only helpful from one side: yours. Knowing how to sell on the front lines means knowing how your potential clients see you. Drill down and deep into this. Use your powers of empathy and compassion to know what it feels like when you bring comfort and light to those who feel lost and helpless.

Finally, come up with 5 to 10 different ways where you can show your value. We’re going to graduate from simply talking about our value to showing our value. Whether you interact with people through your blog, freebie product, or paid services, how will you express the treasure troves that you hold?

Focus on showing, not telling. This doesn’t necessarily mean free content, but it simply means ﬁnding a meaningful way to express your most strongest, brightest, most undeniable light.

In the next, upcoming part of the post, we will talk about getting your potential clients to trust your value. That is where relieving all the doubt in their minds come in.

Hi, I’m Ana Coeur

I teach entrepreneurs how to create their business straight from their soul. I offer a complete Intuitive Business Suite to help you create, design, write and sell all from your intuition. Here’s the services you can take advantage of to empower your business: Intuitive Web & Brand Design, Intuitive Copywriting and Intuitive Selling. If there’s anything I can help you with, I would love to hear about it! You may email me at anaintuitivepicture.com