Episode 57 : How to Feel Good About Sales

Episode Description: In this episode, we dive deep into the psychology of money, sales, and pricing. If talking about pricing makes you uncomfortable, you're not alone. Learn how to shift your mindset to become more confident and effective in your sales approach.

• Introduction to Sales Discomfort
  • Common feelings of ickiness and dread around discussing pricing.
  • The necessity of mastering sales to run a successful business.
• Shifting the Focus
  • Recognizing that sales is not just about the seller but about the buyer's journey.
  • Understanding that a buyer’s decision is often influenced by their own beliefs and limitations.
• The Art of Sales
  • Breaking down what a sale truly is.
• Energy Exchange
  • Viewing money as a form of energy and balancing it with the value you provide.
  • Demystifying money to remove the discomfort around asking for it.
• Buyer’s Journey
  • Recognizing patterns in your own buying behavior to understand your clients.
  • Addressing objections effectively by understanding the buyer’s journey.
• Debunking Money Myths
  • Identifying and challenging money blocks and limiting beliefs.
  • The impact of societal and familial beliefs on our perception of money.
• Money as a Tool
  • Understanding money as a means to achieve freedom and choice.
  • Recognizing that pricing impacts perceived value and client commitment.
• Improving Sales Comfort Level
  • Assessing your comfort level with sales and setting goals to improve.
  • Making conscious decisions about discounts and avoiding impulsive devaluation of your services.
• Impact Beyond Business
  • How your money mindset influences all areas of your life.
  • Detaching your self-worth from your financial status.

Key Takeaways:

• Sales discomfort is common but can be overcome by understanding the buyer’s journey and the value of your offer.
• Money is an energy exchange, not a measure of your worth.
• Challenging and reframing limiting money beliefs can positively impact your business and personal life.

 If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review. Share it with other entrepreneurs who could benefit from understanding their money mindset better. See you next time!

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Transcript

 How does it make you feel and what thoughts come to mind when you know you need to talk about pricing? And how does that feel in your body? Don't worry, you're not alone. Ickiness and dread at the thought of selling your offer is very common. But the truth is, it's not possible to have a successful business if you can't talk about these things.

So, you may as well get comfortable with discussions about money. 

And that's what we're going to talk about today in this episode of the Elevate Your Small Business podcast.  

Sales is not something that comes naturally to most entrepreneurs because they didn't actually start their business focusing on the art of selling, mad though that sounds in hindsight. They were thinking more about WHAT they were going to sell, the solution they would provide. 

But of course, selling is a necessary part of any business, because if we're not going to sell, it's just a hobby.

 So, sales is something that, although it’s not what we would necessarily choose to be doing with our time,  needs to be mastered, because it’s an art form. If you're going to grow your business, if you're going to share your solution, if you're going to help the people that need you, then you need to get more comfortable with selling.

One of the things that a lot of people with a small business do, is they make the transaction all about them. So, if someone decides not to buy,  they make it mean something about them as a person or their offer or their ability to sell.  And yes, they may need to do some work on some of those things. But often, when somebody decides not to buy, it's not about you, it's about them.

It's about their limits. It's about their beliefs. Not their beliefs in you necessarily, but more often about their beliefs in themselves and about what’s possible FOR THEM.  And it may be that they’re not aware of this because it’s on a sub-conscious level . It's often about how much they trust themselves.   So here we can bring in our compassion and understanding for what may really be going on for them. And that can take away some of the ego around selling.  Knowing that we’re selling to real people with their own vulnerabilities and limitations, that it’s more complex than just being about us, the seller.

The truth is that there are a whole range of reasons why someone says no, or not right now,  to buying. And you can't actually know what those reasons are without a conversation.  But when we don’t know why someone is doing something, we tend to fill in the gaps ourselves. 

Your mind will make up its own story.  And often that story about them and their willingness to buy, will reflect your own limiting beliefs.  It’s like holding up a mirror. Do you recognise your beliefs about them in yourself?  But the truth is…. you don't know the truth. So, in these moments, just remind yourself that a reluctance to buy, or an objection, is rarely only about you.  It goes deeper than that.

 So, if there's only one thing you take away from this podcast, it’s that if someone isn't ready to buy, that means nothing about you personally.  

Let’s take a step back and look at what a sale is. A sale is a transaction. It's a balance. So what do I mean by this?  

If you dissect your offer into all of the component parts that have contributed to its brilliance, there’s quite a list.  There's your time, your expertise, your skills, your experience, your original concepts, the original system that you’ve devised, costs, your energy, materials, all the different parts that make up your offer. And that makes you the expert, the creator and teacher or the guide or practitioner, whatever role you play.   There's a lot there, there's a lot of experience, a lot of skills, a lot of ideas, there's a huge amount there. People forget about the true worth of their offer and the solution it delivers. They only think about the 3D, the tangible, the things they can hold in their hand.  Or they focus primarily on the time spent with the client.  But that’s only a fraction of the bigger picture.

Now if you put all that on one side of an imaginary pair of old fashioned scales, all those different attributes that you bring, that would be heavy, wouldn't it? 

And that is your side of the scales.

Now, when you're thinking about pricing,  how are you going to balance those scales? 

If all that you're offering is on one side and the price of your offering on the other side, that starts to give you an idea of where your pricing should sit. So, if in the past you have found that you are over delivering or, under-pricing, or that you feel resentment for the disparity between all the effort you're putting in and the price that you’re being paid, this exercise will help you start to understand where that's coming from, because there probably is a disparity. There probably is an imbalance.  So, no wonder you feel under rewarded.

Now everything that you've got on your side of the scale is a form of energy including the time and the effort and experience over the years that you've put into formulating this solution. 

And on the customer’s side of the balance,  where they’re putting their money, that too is a form of energy.  And this is a great way of understanding the exchange – the trade – that is taking place between you and your buyer.  It’s an energy trade.  This can help us to take some of the ickiness and discomfort and emotion out of the situation.  Because in our society,  we have put money on a pedestal. 

We value it over our time which, unlike money, can’t be replaced. We have made money into this kind of mystical, magical thing, and elevated its status.  And that's where many of our mindset issues stem. By elevating the status of money, above other things that are in fact more important, like time, we give it power over us.  And this can result in how we feel about it, which in turn affects how we talk about money and the decisions we make about money.

This is why there is so much discomfort about asking for money in return for our work.  Particularly when that work comes easy to us because it’s our zone of genius. So doing this balancing exercise, balancing your contribution on one side and their contribution on the other,  this can help you to see money in a more helpful perspective. 

You’ve got to balance the energy on each side of those scales.  And when you think about it in these terms and you think about what you deserve for what you're contributing, then it makes that pricing and talking about money so much easier. It sits better. Because you're giving so much, and you deserve to be rewarded fairly.

Another fact that we need to stay aware of is that money gives us the means to be able to help and serve more people. When you’re rewarded well for your services and solutions, you can afford the time to continue to create better solutions. It also allows you to maintain a positive life balance, to have more choice about how you work.  So, money is a tool to freedom and choice, so it’s worth becoming more comfortable with the conversations that lead to this outcome.  Because don’t you want more freedom and choice? I know I do.

We've now demystified money and taken it off that pedestal we’ve been putting it on for so long, that’s created certain mindset blocks and had power over us. 

We know that it's a form of energy and that a fair exchange is about balance. 

We also know that it is a tool, and it can enable us to do more good in the world, which is why we started our business in the first place.

So, we’ve touched on the psychology of money, and another way this shows up is that when people pay, they play. They put skin in the game. Which means that they’re more likely to commit and do the work. That they’re more likely to overcome the problem that has been keeping them up at night and caused them stress and pain. So, money is absolutely necessary  within that transaction. Think about how your pricing can help your client get better results by giving them the accountability of investment.

Money helps you to provide a better service and it helps them to be more committed to the transformation that they've been looking for.

So, you can see that there are all sorts of reasons to feel good about transactions, about asking for money, about talking about pricing. Make sure that you are jotting these down and keeping them somewhere so that next time you feel uncomfortable when thinking about pricing or talking about money, you can remind yourself of the positives of pricing, the positives of the transaction, and how to make that fair for both sides. 

Question…Do you understand your customer’s buying behaviour? 
 
 

If you’ve ever bought a service from an expert like yourself, chances are you went through a process, a buyer’s journey. And it’s no different for your potential clients and customers.

When we create something amazing that’s going to deliver transformational results for our ideal client, it feels like it should be a no-brainer for them to say yes to this fantastic opportunity. And it can be hard to understand why people aren’t jumping in with both feet

But hold on a minute. Let’s take a minute to think about your behaviour patterns you’re your presented with a great offer? 

Do you snap it straight up? Whip out your debit card and hand over your money, and your time, and your energy without consideration? No of course not. And neither does your client or customer. 
 
 

Think of the last few purchases you made that solved a problem for you. It could have been to help you scale your business, improve your health, remove emotional or physical pain, to develop a skill. 

Why did you buy? 

You had a problem you needed to solving, right? 

Were you already looking? 

How hard did you need to look into the offer to find the information that you needed to make a decision?

How long did it take to get to a decision? 

Was the provider new to you? 

Did you trust them? 

More importantly, did you trust yourself? 

Did you try to talk yourself out of it? Come up with objections?

How long did you mull it over for?  I know that I’ve waited a year before making a big purchase in the past.
 
 

So can you start to notice a few different patterns in your own buying behaviour, depending on what it was, what it was for, familiarity with the product or the seller, any trust-building factors like recommendations.

Your buyers are no different. 

So next time you put your offer out there, don’t assume that just because it’s great it will sell out quickly. And it’s often NOTHING to do with the price.  If you discount or underprice, that isn’t going to make all of these buying behaviours null and void.  In fact, pricing plays an important part in the perceived value of your offer, so under-pricing can become an objection as much as high pricing if the buyer assumes that a low price means low value.
 
 

When you understand that buyer’s journey, you’ll be able to do your part more effectively, by addressing objections that come up for them and by communicating the transformation in a more effective and impactful way, which will help your future clients to come to a confident decision that feels GOOD. And pricing will play less of a dominant role in the decision someone makes, which takes the pressure of the whole money/pricing conundrum.

We've talked about a few money blocks that both you and your clients may have. Ideas and thoughts that, over the years have developed into beliefs. 

Beliefs are thoughts that we think about regularly and sometimes don't even notice.  So they’re a hidden habit that we often don’t recognise, but they are powerful and influence how we live our life and run our business.  But beliefs are just opinions, and usually ones that we’ve adopted throughout our life from external sources, people in authority, our family, the media. And it’s important to remind ourselves that these are just thoughts, they are not facts.  However, they can, if we let them,  affect our beliefs about who we are, about what’s possible for ourselves, and therefore what we believe is possible for others.  Which is where they can influence our beliefs about what others are willing to spend on or what they can afford.  So are your thoughts and beliefs, helpful or unhelpful? 

The good news is that you can change them if you want to.  So that they serve you better.  And if you think that your beliefs are unchangeable and absolute, would they stand up in court?  Could you prove, without a doubt that they are the one and only way of thinking? If a belief can't stand up in court, then it’s not fact, it’s a choice. But how many beliefs do we hang our hat on and live by even though they make life more challenging and limited than it needs to be. We are so affected by these beliefs and thoughts.  But you're usually able to trace back to where they came from.

I was doing some money work recently myself, because we’re all a work in progress, right? And I had this aha moment. I realised that when I’m deciding whether or not to buy something, it falls into one of two categories. It's either a good purchase or it's a bad purchase. And therefore, it’s a moral purchase or an egotistical purchase. And of course I want to live by good morals, so if it doesn’t tick that box, it’s a no.  Because, if it's a “bad” purchase, it must mean something about me and who I am as a person.  It affects my identity and my values.  That’s a bit heavy isn’t it!

Now, I looked back at what I had defined as good purchases and bad purchases, what I’ve said yes to and more so, what I’ve said no to.  And I can clearly see how certain things fall into certain buckets, based on what I was told or overheard throughout my childhood.  And it became clear as day that there was no sense to this whatsoever. By these criteria buying a boat is good, having a designer handbag is bad. Huh!  Crazy right!  Going on holidays is good, having an expensive car is over-indulgent.  What?  Says who?

These ‘rules’ were based on the opinions I heard growing up, because if we did it, it was fine, we had a boat, we went on holiday. Which meant we didn’t buy brand new cars or spend lots of money on clothes.  Because the money we had went only so far.  And I’m sure that other people would look at these choices and think ‘that’s crazy, I’d much rather have a new car that I use every day than a boat that’s only used a couple of times a month.  And of course, neither is right or wrong, it’s just a different choice. It sounds so silly when you step back and see which beliefs we live by.  That then influence our choices because of how they make us feel.  And the irony is that we have infinite choices to live by but we tend to restrict ourselves to just a few.  

And the point is, that our money beliefs, that we choose to keep believing, are holding us back, keeping us small, restricting our options and affecting our business relationships.  They are restrictive. So it’s important to see them impartially, so that we can debunk the ones that are holding us back, and see them for what they actually are.  Thoughts, not facts!

Do you have an opinion about wealthy people that stops you from scaling your business? I hear from clients how, when they were young, they heard family make comments on how someone wealthy must have either inherited their money without having to work for it, or that they made it through ‘ill gotten gains’, in other words they were up to something dodgy!  The other common conception is that you have to hustle and struggle and work to the point of exhaustion to become wealthy, in other words you have to make massive sacrifice.  It’s no wonder, with all these influential messages in our early years that we struggle as entrepreneurs.  But people don’t become bad when they create wealth. Money expands who we are already. So if you have bad intentions,  you'll make and use money in nefarious ways. If you have good intentions, you’ll use your wealth to improve your life and lives of others. 

Understanding where your money blocks are coming from and being able to debunk them and to see them as just opinions that we've adopted, that they are not based in fact is the 1st step to being able to reframe your money beliefs so that they no longer hold you back.

If you want to build your successful business, you can't continue to allow money conversations and decisions make you feel bad. You can't allow them to keep stifling your potential. It’s time to debunk these myths about money that are holding you back from making sales, which is what your business is designed to do.  

So what's your comfort level right now in making sales on a scale from one to 10?

Hopefully a little higher than when we started. And when you do this work, your score will keep climbing. But if you are totally uncomfortable, it makes your skin crawl and you avoid doing it, you're right at the bottom of the scale, it's a one or two. If you love it and you can't wait to sell on a daily basis, and you revel in conversations about prices, you’re absolutely fine.  

So many of us are not at a 10 quite yet. So do take time to do this work and revisit it regularly.  Make it part of your daily or weekly routine.   See if you can raise your level up a few points over time.  Because how valuable would it be if you could talk about the cost of your offering without feeling awkward or apologetic or guilty, without automatically discounting?

Have you ever done that before in the middle of a discussion where you just feel like, Oh, I'll just discount. Oh, I'll just give them this special offer. Oh, I'll just make something up on the spur of the moment.  And then felt bad for making that choice.  Make a decision today not to give in to that impulse under pressure, to de-value your work, ever again.  Discounts are a conscious choice, not a knee jerk reaction.

Your money mindset, and therefore how you feel about selling, is going to impact all areas of your life beyond your business. It will influence the stories that you pass on to others, including your children, and grandchildren if you have them.

It's going to influence the decisions that you make about how you're going to spend your money and invest your money.  And more importantly, it's going to detach money from your sense of self-worth, because the amount of money in your bank account doesn’t define who you are as a person.  Money is a tool, it does not define your worth. 

Hopefully by now you've got a better understanding of where your feelings of selling-discomfort have come from.  And how developing a new belief system around money will positively influence your emotions around money, and your ability to scale your beautiful business to knew heights. 

Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you on the next episode of the ‘Elevate Your Small Business Podcast’.