Advice to Business Owners Who Hate Sales (by a Business Owner)

From The Sales Whisperer: http://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/advice-to-business-owners-who-hate-sales-by-a-business-owner/comment-page-1#comment-505

On a daily basis I am amazed and befuddled by people in business that hate – really and truly despise – sales and marketing, yet scratch their head and wonder why they are not doing better in their business.

That’s like a 400 pound man with a season pass to the all-you-can-eat brisket and biscuits buffet wondering why he’s still fat. It’s like Al Gore wondering why nobody wants to listen to him about global warming after he’s picked up in a stretch limo where he landed in his private jet to attend an international conference hosted by proven liars and cheats. (But I digress.)

Say goodbye to the “stupid money” forever. Business won’t just come to you anymore. The marketing landscape has changed. The economy has changed. However, the consumer HAS NOT changed.

Sure, their surfing and shopping and comparison shopping has changed along with their ability to light you up online if you treat them poorly but the underlying nature of the human consumer has not changed since the advent of Western Civilization, if not longer.

What is that common thread found in all of your prospects – at least the ones you want:

Community. A sense of belonging. A desire to be accepted and acknowledged as special and understood.

It’s written in our DNA. God, Himself, is community (“Let us make man in our image,” Gen 1:26). And God saw it was not good for man to be alone.

Your customers are afraid of being alone. Sure, some want to appear to standout by being an early-adopter or trend-setter but all they’re really trying to do is be a part of that fashionable, visionary community.

So help your customers and clients belong. This does not require “hard-sells” or gimmicky marketing. It just requires consistent, honest, meaningful efforts to connect, to educate, to inform, to sooth, to calm, to encourage your customers that what you offer will help them scratch the itch in that hard-to-reach spot that they yearn to go away.

“But, Wes. My business is different. I sell to the government. I sell to Fortune 100 companies. I sell to hard-to-please moms. I sell to rough-and-gruff bikers. I sell to (insert your own whining excuse.)”

What do all of these people have in common? A mother and a father. The need to wear clothes and eat every day. The need to laugh more and worry less. A sense of inadequacy about something (even Donald Trump hates his hair!) The desire to be healthier. A longing to be loved.

Begin seeing your clients and customers as people instead of “seats or eyeballs or end-​​users or consumers. (They) are human beings — and (their) reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it.” — From “The Cluetrain Manifesto”

As soon as you begin speaking and connecting with people as people and you stick with it your sales will grow.

If you’d like a little help fill out the short form on my Sales and Marketing Consulting Services page and we’ll be in touch soon thereafter.

You can do it.

Happy New Year.

Good Selling,

Wes Schaeffer

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About the Author:

Over 3,000 sales professionals at Dell rated Wes Schaeffer as the #1 trainer during their intensive sales transformation and CRM implementation process. He has helped over 9,700 sales reps and business owners save literally millions of dollars in sales stupidity taxes via lost margin, wasted sales calls and prospecting impotence.

He is referred to as The Sales Whisperer© because he rehabilitates sales people and trains sales professionals.