Successfully Getting Sales Without Feeling Icky

The art of selling doesn’t come naturally to many entrepreneurs. Even people who are persuasive and outgoing have to practice this skill, and for shy business owners, selling can feel completely out of one’s comfort zone.

However, successfully getting sales is critical for the survival of any business. We recently sat down with Nikki Rausch, a talented salesperson who came up with her own sales tactics to achieve great success in a male-dominated field.

She uses her experience to help women business owners sell without resorting to “icky” methods.

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What holds women back from successfully getting sales?

During her long career in the tech industry, Nikki observed that her male colleagues often used strong methods to land new clients. These methods didn’t work for her – pushy tactics and blunt ultimatums just weren’t a fit for her personality. Instead, she had to find authentic sales tactics, so she dived deep into books about neurology and human behavior.

During this research, she discovered that many women struggle with sales. They sometimes don’t pick up on buying-sign behaviours and can often stumble during conversations about money. In particular, asking for a sale – a necessary step in closing any transaction – is especially challenging for women.

However, many women excel at building relationships and establishing rapport. Nikki saw the power of this early on and built a selling system around these skills that helps women achieve their goals while being authentic with customers.

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The power of realistic scripts

People often have a negative perception of sales scripts. It’s true that scripts can come off sounding rehearsed or inauthentic. However, sample scripts are a good starting point for building your own set of statements and questions that you can fall back on while selling.

You can infuse scripts with language that you use often, sayings that you like, or questions that you feel comfortable asking. At the very least, scripts provide a framework for approaching conversations that may not feel natural at first.

It’s also worth noting that scripts are living documents – you can and should make changes to scripts after testing different approaches to see what’s effective.

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Mindset matters in getting successful sales

It’s common for people to project their limiting beliefs onto others. For example, if you’re trying to sell someone an item that’s expensive or non-essential, you might decide from the beginning that the person won’t want it. So, throughout the whole interaction, you’re thinking “they can’t afford this” or “there’s no reason for them to buy this.”

These limiting thoughts stunt the effectiveness of your sales tactics. Additionally, by trying to read the other person’s mind, you risk breaking the rapport that you’ve built up. Remember that there’s much more to people than meets the eye, so it’s not your place to decide whether they can afford or need what you’re selling.

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Nailing sales as a new entrepreneur

As you start to sell, facing your fears is essential. Nikki’s extensive study of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) has helped inform the strategies she uses to get people in the mindset to sell. NLP is all about harnessing the power of the mind to reach your highest potential.

Nikki uses a multi-step process called the Selling Staircase that’s based on NLP principles.

1. Create curiosity: The process involves creating curiosity in the listener's minds so that they are eager to continue the conversation with you. You can create curiosity by answering questions in a way that prompts listeners to ask for more information.

2. Know the buying signals: Next, successfully getting sales requires looking and listening for buying signals. These can include words, body language, or certain actions. You can use these cues to gauge a person’s interest in your conversation or to pivot if your approach isn’t working.

3. Ask for the sale: Finally, it’s essential to ask for the sale. It’s not enough to assume that people know what you want. Although asking can feel uncomfortable, it’s best to be straightforward about your intentions so that there’s no confusion on either side.

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Join us for more on the Online Business Liftoff (OBL) podcast

To learn more about Nikki and her proven sales systems for women entrepreneurs, tune into episode 30  of the Online Business Liftoff podcast.

We regularly meet with business owners, consultants, marketers, and other professionals to bring our listeners useful and actionable information. Learn more here.