It is human nature not to want to show up as being weak or vulnerable, yet there is strength in your weakness, especially when it comes to selling.
A lot of people feel like selling is the weakest part of their business game, but the truth is, you have a lot of strength in what your perceived weaknesses are. Here are three ways how.
The quirkiness of your personality, that weirdness of you, there's lots of wisdom in it. It can be one of your greatest selling strengths. When you allow yourself to show up in your quirkiness, guess what? There's wisdom in that weirdness, and it makes people connect with you. It makes people want to listen to you. For example, if you like to quote movies or music lyrics to answer people's questions, share that perspective in your social media, copy, and marketing. Because nine times out of ten, your audience gets it as well. It makes you relatable.
The big struggle in selling is there's a lack of relatability. Selling feels adversarial because it's the social story we've been told. You have the power to change that social story, and the easiest way to do that is to show up with your weirdness intact. So, instead of creating this adversarial relationship against the person you're selling, create a connection by being vulnerable and showing you're weird so that people can relate.
The next thing most people struggle with is numbers. Saying numbers and asking for what you're worth is a massive, massive struggle. To overcome the number problem, simply write it down.
We've all seen movies where people slide that piece of paper across the table with a number. You don't have to be that slick, but make sure that numbers are easily accessible to your audience.
If that's putting your price on your website or the starting price if that's making sure that when you do an in-person presentation, you have printed material where the numbers are printed, and then all you have to do is the point. All you have to do is the point to the sheet of paper.
It's already written down for you. If you know you struggle with the numbers, this is the best way to stop yourself from undercutting your offer and undercutting what you say your price is worth. Because when it's printed, it's way worse to start trying to discount that printed number than to simply point at it.
Lastly, when selling what you're about, you have to believe in yourself. Simple yet complex. Before you go into any meeting, before you jump on any strategy call, before you do anything, make sure you truly know in your heart of hearts what it is you're about and why it is you're damn good at.
It's okay that you're not the low-price leader. You don't want to be. It's okay that you don't do it the way everyone else does. You don't want to.
But you need to know from your core heart what you are awesome at. You need to be able to fearlessly and unapologetically say that to people because when you're able to do that, when you're able to truly know what you're good at, all the rest, any opposition, any hesitation or doubt, goes away when you're talking about what you do. When clear about that, you can honestly and authentically say that you are awesome at what you do. Yes, show you're weird, use your fear of numbers to your advantage, and more importantly, know exactly who you are. When you do that, selling isn't such a struggle anymore.