A common response I get when I tell people that I’m a sales person is “I could never do that. I don’t want people to think I’m pushy.” On one such occasion the person I was talking to, I have known for a few years now, and so I asked them “do I come across as a pushy person?” She laughed, and replied “well, no… you’re Sal… you’re just more confident than I am”.

Asking somebody to give you money is difficult, particularly if you’re selling something where there are – potentially cheaper – alternatives available.

How do you stand in front of someone and declare that your time is worth $XXX dollars to them?

What if they don’t believe you?

There is a very simple two-step process that anyone can follow:

If you don’t believe what you’re selling, why should anyone else? That doesn’t mean constantly proving you’re a technical expert – you don’t want to get bogged down in heaps of detail. Believe that you can deliver the value your customer is looking for.

We all know that a person’s favourite topic to talk about is themselves. They have come looking for your product. Why? Find out! Ask them questions about them, and what benefits they see. Talk about their answers, and provide snippets of how your product fulfils those questions. By asking them questions and listening to their answers, you bring your value (product/service) to them.

This is not a “sales trick”, but is a genuine interest in your customers and why they are interested in buying. You never know, they may teach you a thing or two that you hadn’t considered!