How to Get Better at Asking for Sales in 3 Not So Easy Steps

Does asking for the sale (let’s be honest you’re asking for money, cash, dollah bills) make you nervous?

My gig around these parts is to encourage you to create a presentation so good that your audience is moved to act. This means persuasion, but really I’m talking about sales and asking people to trade their dollars for your genius.

Asking for money is hard. I’ve seen enough presentations where there’s an offer at the end and you can totally tell when someone is comfortable asking for your cash and when they are not.

How do you spot the difference?

There’s a change in the energy, comfort level and presentation style.

Perhaps they stumble when they’ve been fluent the whole talk.

Fidgeting.

A nervous laugh.

It’s easy to spot. How do I know?

I’m talking about me. When it comes to asking for dollars, whether it was one-on-one or to an entire audience, I felt uncomfortable. I HATED asking for money.

The key to sales is getting comfortable asking for money

Gaining confidence around asking for money is not easy. It’s not a simple fix. You just can’t practice your discomfort away. It’s not about writing a can’t miss call to action. It’s about changing your relationship with money.

For the past several months, I’ve been working on my piss-poor relationship with money.

I grew up poor. Lived in a mobile home. Stood in line to get government cheese (which makes the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches). My mom and I were no strangers to the food bank and food stamps.

My mom pawned anything she could to make ends meet.

She felt shame. Embarrassed to ask for the help. Scared to ask my child support skipping dad to do the right thing and pay for my care. And sad that the situation was different, and she couldn’t do better for me.

The money message that I grew up with is that money is scarce. Asking for money is shameful, embarrassing and incredibly difficult.

Wow – no wonder why I feel uncomfortable!

Asking feeling full of shame is no way to run a business. I could hear it in my voice when I talked about my rates or gave a talk asking people to sign-up for my newsletter.

To be a successful business person, my relationship with money needed to change.

How do you change you change your relationship with money?

Admit you have a money problem

If you don’t acknowledge a problem, you can’t change it. Admitting that I carried money baggage from my childhood to myself was tough. Then I told a small group of friends, then I began to ask other entrepreneurs about what books they liked on money that helped them understand their relationship with money.

When I did this, I not only got great reading recommendations, but realized I was NOT alone on this money thing.

Take action to change your relationship with money

Owning up to money issues cause you to take action and DO something.

I read Get Rich, Lucky Bitch!: Release Your Money Blocks and Live a First Class Life& Money: A Love Story: Untangle Your Financial Woes and Create the Life You Really Want. What I loved about these books is that they are action oriented. You rewrite and declutter your money relationship if you do what these books suggest.

I told my business coach, Erika Lyremark, who sent me to place where a girl who lived in a trailer park and feasted on government cheese never goes. The Chanel boutique at Nordstorm. I felt nervous, out of place, and lingered in the Coach section (which is how I’ve been flying my whole life).

I put on my brave, brave girl pants and confidently strolled in. I struck up a conversation with the sales guy. He dished about Chanel. How they value small craftsmen who make their purses, and support their business when the big guys threaten to sink them. Chanel’s about creating a product.

I left the store realizing that Chanel, and I had a lot in common. We are both for the little businesses who want to see their passion and ideas into the world, we’re about quality, telling a great story and creating a crazy amount of value. Chanel is not just for the rich, but Chanel shares a vision with me.

I did EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) with Claire Hayes to let go of my past and start a fresh relationship with money.

Finally, read this blog post by Ash Ambrige at The Middle Finger Project – how not ask for money and what to do instead.

Your money journey will differ

But the steps you need to take to get comfortable and confident asking for the sale are the same.

1. Admit you’ve got a bad relationship with money that you need to breakup with.


2. Tell people – friends, colleagues, business coach, life coach, therapist – own it!


3. Take action – read books, do the work, and forgive and declutter your past.

You might be wondering about my results. Telling a potential client my rates no longer causes me anxiety. I state it as a fact (because it is a fact). January was my best month in business EVER.

I’m grateful to the universe, to the books I read, to Erika and Claire, and to me for admitting my money relationship was broken and causing me to go broke.

The bottom line is if you want to get better at sales, change your relationship with money!

If you worked on your relationship with money and have a great resource to share, tell me about it in the comment section below!

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1iqApJ9