I Hate Selling!

I Hate Selling!

The biggest mistake that most professionals make when it comes to selling is avoiding it. For many people, selling is an undertaking that is greeted with little enthusiasm. Many declare, I hate selling and I hate sales. Even though sales are the only way to stay in business, many people tell me that they would rather market their product or services than sell them.

Today, the professionals who are closing more business, winning more clients, and gaining an edge on the competition are tapping into the skill that guarantees that they keep it that way. Sales skills.

Selling has been pushed to the back burner for far too long, and in the process, many smart people are unprepared for how to best sell their product and services to today’s savvy consumer. Modern selling skills provided the strongest possible opportunity to be perceived as the first and only choice for a prospective client. What used to work, no longer does.

To most people, the word selling conjures up images of the stereotypical, obnoxious individual who won’t take no for an answer, someone who uses high-pressure gimmicks and cheesy techniques to close the sale. I hate selling too when it is done that way too.

Traditional, old-school sales training methods are largely to blame for having perpetuated this perception. It is imperative that you set conventional notions aside or erase them from your memory. When you do, you will never experience a drought in your business again. Sales are like oxygen. You need sales to survive. Sales are how you get paid. You can no longer resist the only thing that brings in the business. Sales. Delete I hate selling from your vocabulary.

Many of the business owners with whom I work come to me with a love/hate relationship with sales. They love what they do, but they hate to sell. They love their client work, but they hate the process of finding new business. They love meeting with potential clients, but they hate the idea that they have to sell themselves. To them, sales are a daunting and unsavory chore.

Given how essential sales are to the bottom line of every business, I am often shocked at how many people would rather have a root canal and a colonoscopy on the same day than learn the skill that will make their business thrive. There is nothing but upside to learning how to sell.

The professional with an anti-sales attitude sounds like this: I’m not a natural salesperson. I am not comfortable with selling. I don’t want to be perceived as pushy, aggressive, or manipulative. I hate selling.

They drop their lip, stomp their feet, and use these mantras as a way of letting themselves off the hook when it comes to selling. They permit themselves not to develop the skill that will keep them in business. That baloney only works until you run out of money, all the while passionately proving to yourself that you don’t have to or like to sell.

On the other side of those power-depleting assertions, I have heard others make statements of the opposite kind: I know that if I don’t embrace selling for my business, I won’t have a business. Selling is uncomfortable for me, but I will find a way to make it fun and appreciate the process. I know that I need sales skills to grow my company.

You can learn the greatest skill on earth: sales. Refuse to let a fear of or a distaste for selling threaten your business and profits. There is absolutely nothing wrong with sales pursuits. There is only something wrong with your perception of them. Every single business is sustained by sales, including yours. Sales are the lifeblood of every business.

Don’t run your business into the ground by demonstrating that you’re not a natural-born salesperson. Just like anything else, selling is a skill that must be learned, nurtured, and business to improve upon it. If you keep declaring I hate selling or keep ignoring the act of selling, you do so at your peril. Your business won’t last long if you can’t bring new business and new clients in the door.

Why not learn the sales skills that are needed to close and win more business? Every penny invested in learning how to sell will return to you in the form of new clients and endless referrals.