laneimageconsultingIn this week’s article, I’m talking all about selling and I know that for a lot of you, it’s a sticky subject.
I’m going to let you in on some of the biggest mistakes I see happening so that you can avoid them and sell with confidence.
First of all, though, I want to talk to you about why I think you should stop thinking about selling to your clients and think how you can SERVE them instead.
To sell confidently, you have to ditch the ‘selling’ word altogether. You should move away from the idea that you’re selling something to someone and instead understand that you’re serving them or helping them get something they want.
What comes to mind when you think about selling?
Does it scare you? It did me for years! That’s until I understood that you don’t need pushy sales tricks if you make serving your clients the focus.
The idea of selling has negative connotations. I’m sure you’ve been on the receiving end of sleazy, high-pressure sales tactics at least once in your life. As with other negative experiences, they filter into how we perceive selling and how we feel about doing it, which often leaves us feeling anxious and under pressure. Nobody performs at their best when they’re feeling those kinds of emotions. The people you’re trying to sell to intuitively feel how uncomfortable it makes you and run a mile!
That’s why I advocate that you focus on why you want to help people.
Do you want them to feel like you felt when you had your colours done?
Do you want them to take their next steps in life full of confidence?
Maybe it’s so they can get a new job, meet their soulmate or find their purpose in life again after retiring or children leaving home.
Focusing on serving enables you to uncover the value in your services so that people can see how you can change their lives. That’s all that people are really interested in – what’s in it for them.
So here we go – The top 5 mistakes I see personal stylists make around selling…
1) Thinking that selling is something you DO to people, not FOR people
When you first think of selling, you think of selling to someone – you’re doing it to them. However, if you switch it up and think of it as doing something FOR someone, you’re serving them or, in other words, helping them. Take my high-ticket program, the 6 Figure Stylist, where I mentor stylists to have consistent 8-10 K months. I believe that when I get that result for them, I am giving them an invaluable gift for the rest of their lives. They’re getting something that’s going to deliver over and over again, setting them up for life. So, when it comes to sales calls with potential clients, I don’t focus on the price of the program; I focus on what getting that result means for them.
2) Not making enough offers This is the one I see all the time! People publish a social media post, and no one buys, which makes them feel bad and think that because it didn’t work, they won’t post about it again. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will buy after seeing one single post, so you need to share offer posts regularly! Switch up which service you talk about every once in a while and tell people how much it costs and how they can buy. Tell people how you can help them.They’re not going to take those next steps if you don’t make the solution obvious!
3) Selling what you desire to sell instead of what the marketplace wants to buy
This is another common one. I’m worn out from talking about it so much! 😅
What is the problem your client wants to solve? Work that out, and then sell them what they want! You will often hear me say ‘stop selling colour analysis!’ because that’s not really a problem that people see they have, is it? Most don’t even know what it is! However, their situation might be that their relationship has broken down, they’ve lost themselves, and want to get their mojo back again. *Enter you with your styling services who can help them!*
Meet your clients where they are, listen to them, dig deeper to discover what’s going on for them, and explain how you can help them with your colour and styling services.
Selling becomes a lot easier if you illustrate how your services solve a problem rather than trying to flog a seemingly random service.
If you know your ideal client well, you’ll know their deep pain points and what they want to have in their lives. If you don’t know that, it will be tough to sell to or serve them because they won’t see you as the solution.
4) Trying to find people to sell stuff to instead of making yourself findable for people who are looking for your solution
Stylists ask me all the time about where they can find their ideal clients. I tell them the same thing: you need to put yourself out there, sharing clear and consistent messages about how you can help your ideal clients instead of hunting for them. Make yourself findable by sharing valuable content such as blogs, lives, social media posts, etc. Once you start publishing your content, Google and other search engines will pick it up, and people will find you when they search for help with their problems.
5) Trying to get people to buy instead of creating an environment that makes people FEEL like buying
Have you ever been to an event and listened to a compelling speaker who never said a word about buying from them, but you went away desperate to know more and found out how to work with them? I have, loads of times!
Those speakers have created an environment where you want to buy from them, so they don’t need to sell to you! In your online communities, social media posts, and wherever else you share your content, you need to create an environment where people feel safe, can ask you questions and want to spend more time with you. If you don’t make that space, people will lose interest quickly and buy elsewhere. When you look at the most successful business people, in many cases, you want to spend more time with them because they provide such valuable content. They always share helpful tips and encourage their audience to think outside the box and try something new. If you create the same environment for your audience, people will be drawn to you, asking how to work with you.
There you have it, the five biggest selling mistakes that most stylists make.What do you think of these mistakes? Which ones do you make, and which ones do you want to fix? Leave a comment and let me know.