I hate Selling. Wait. No I don’t.
Have you heard people say “I’m just not a sales person”? Have you said it yourself?
The thought behind that is usually “I don’t want to be a stereotypical version of a pushy used car salesman” or “Remember the ad sales guy Herb from WKRP in Cincinnati? Aghh.” The emotion is usually fear; fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of screwing up and being embarrassed.
The reality is this: Nothing Happens Until Someone Sells Something. The good news is that “Selling” is merely the transference of energy and excitement from one person to another (seller to buyer) is boils down to this thought: “If you knew what I know about this thing, if you felt the results I’ve felt, you’d really want to have it”. That’s talking with our friends, that’s genuine excitement, that’s taking pride in what you do and letting people know. That is a positive attitude and they way you convey it is by telling a little story about it. Storytelling as Selling.
As small business owners and entrepreneurs, we have the finest sales skills in all the land – even if you don’t realize it. People don’t want to be beaten over the head with your message (unless you’re promoting the RV Show on “Sunday-Sunday-Sunday”) people don’t want to know your “Unique Selling Proposition” – they just want to know what’s in it for them and that answer is simple; results. We solve problems, we provide inspiration, we give beauty, comfort, healing – we make our customers lives better. There is no ‘selling’ that has to go on here – just sharing. “We do this thing ___ for these sorts of people ___ and they get these kinds of results ___. We can do that for you.”
You’re explaining and demonstrating, you’re sharing what your other customers experienced and how their lives are better because they bought from you. Your focus isn’t on you, your focus is on the prospect, on the customer. If you try to slather on the drivel about having ‘the lowest prices and the best service you are going to lose people, because we don’t believe that crap anymore. You aren’t selling a commodity, you’re selling an experience and experiences have a little story.
You have the opportunity to actually talk to customers – you can discover their pains and problems and you will know if you can help them. If you can, then you should. You owe it to your prospects to offer them a solution, to offer what you have. You merely have to ask “Would you like us to do this for you?” That’s not selling. Wait. Yes it is 🙂 it’s just painless.
Marketing for small business owners is now much more focused on stories than on ads. Typical ads deliver information and attempt to trigger a buying decision or at least uncover a desire for the product. It’s been going on a long time and it worked … because that’s all there was. Now, we communicate differently. We have so much information being blown at us, so many marketing messages being thrown at us, that we have to tune most of it out. We know not to trust ads. We have learned to rely on the recommendations of our friends to help steer our decisions.
Here’s the good part; because stories deliver information wrapped in context, they are memorable and effective – and people are willing to share them with their friends, vouching for you and creating a fresh new batch of prospects. When this happens on social media, you’re not spending money on ads, you are expending time and energy on story marketing.
Many good things will happen in your business, but you won’t get there by ‘selling’ – you’ll only get there by … selling 🙂 in the form of customer-focused stories that show what’s in it for them and provide “social proof”. This is the kind of proof that shows that it works and that others are buying it – and is often all we need to make up our minds.
Now – go have some fun and tell some stories about your customers, their results and what you do.
If you’d like to learn more about Storytelling as Selling you’ll enjoy the free videos and webcast training we do – you might even want to take advantage of our full training course as many other people just like you have already done and used what they learned in that course – Business Storytelling 2.0 – to make powerful changes in how they connect with, market to and sell their customers – visit www.SocialJumpstart.com to learn more.
-Mike Wolpert
Full Disclosure: I love both storytelling and selling – I’ve been telling stories since I could speak and got my start in sales at 7 with a Kool Aid stand in my parents driveway. My mission in life is to inspire you to tell your story, as marketing, and grow your business.
Hate Selling? No You Don’t 🙂 
