A big topic right now for entrepreneurs is selling in the current global situation. You don’t have to be scared of selling right now. It’s not a bad word and it doesn’t make you a bad person. There is a balance between serving and selling… and when done well, they’re actually the same thing!
Serve – Serve – Serve – Sell.
This is something we’ve taught our clients for years.
Always, and even more so in these times, you have to build value for your people. It’s important to deliver even more value ahead of time.
With the rapid changes, uncertainty and anxiety people are encountering, it’s smart to break down what you’re sharing with your audiences into small, bite-size pieces of information. Almost micro-sized.
In today’s environment, I think it’s more about:
Serve – Serve – Serve – Invite.
When you’re consistently offering value, providing helpful resources, being a guide and leader for your people to help them navigate these times, you’re establishing a deep sense of trust.
The more you can authentically lead and serve in this way, the more your folks will naturally feel safe taking advantage of what you offer them – be it free resources and/or paid programs.
One of the ways I love “selling” to people is to INVITE them. When I put on the lenses of “inviting” someone to join my program, use our software, sign up for a coaching package, it creates a sense of joint-acknowledgement. Acknowledging that what I have is something they need. And we’re both in agreement with that. So then the decision for me is what part of the wisdom I have, the resources I’ve created, the lessons, exercises and tools I provide do I want to share for free versus invite people to purchase from me. That’s the balance.
When you’re sharing free resources and providing a ton of value it’s often the tip of the iceberg. I often say “With the little bit of time we have together, this is what I can share with you about topic XYZ. But when we can spend more time together, we can go deeper on this topic.”
The tip of the iceberg is what you give away for free. When I know the framework of serve – serve – serve – invite, it makes it easier for me to understand that in advance. It also makes it easier for me to make and offer and have a sales and enrollment conversation because I know I’ve delivered a ton of value so far and that I will keep doing so.