Rethinking the sales conversation

If sales is about getting something, you’ll usually lose.

Most creatives have the hardest time with the idea of selling. We just want the other person, the potential client, to love our craft & style so much that they hire us on the spot.

But that’s rarely the case, is it?

No, instead we toil and worry about our prospective sales. We fear missing out on a client, without considering whether it’s the right client for us, and we become the peddler of small trinkets hawking in the street. Clients can smell the commission breath, as @Josh Braun calls it.

In order to pull away from this vicious cycle, we must rethink what it means to sell what we do.

Let’s take the perspective that we don’t need money at all. We’re financially set already. We don’t have time for a new client. Now what’s left?

Pure conversations. Answering questions. Helping others with their struggles. Teaching. Which invariably leads to sales. Why?

Because teaching earns enrollment and trust, positioning you not only as an expert in your trade, but also as a generous human being they would rather hire than anyone else.

And, if their need is great enough, they will often come back after a generous conversation with you, and say, “When can we get started?”

If we can manage to teach generously, even in times when we need new business, we can close new deals faster. We simply earn clients’ trust, rather than trying to manipulate an outcome.

Rethink your sales conversations—just be there to share information. Teach. When it comes time to do the hard work, they’ll be looking to you.