How to Feel Confident in Selling Your Services
When are you not confident in selling your services?
It’s when you don't believe the transaction is truly a win-win.
If you really believe in your services, and know that the person you're talking to would find it to be a great deal at the price you're offering, then you're no longer afraid to sell. It becomes a worthwhile cause to let them know.
Think about it: When you're excited by a service you've used and loved, it's so easy to tell a friend if you think they would love it. You take pride in informing your friends about a great deal for them. It feels like an act of generosity.
Why don't you feel that way about your own services?
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Problem 1: You don't really believe your service is worth the price you're charging for it.
Here are some solutions…
(A) You can create a new, lower-price service or product that makes it easier for people to say “yes!” to try out your expertise.
(B) You can improve your current service until you believe it's worth the current price. This is a worthy, longer-term solution. It takes time to improve your skills. It can speed it along if you get some coaching in your field.
(C) You can lower the price of your current service, to the price where you feel like your service is an amazing deal.
As a result of a more accessible price, more people will give your services a try, which gives you the opportunity for more practice, thereby allowing you to improve your skills more quickly. See the tapering strategy for getting clients.
(There's a common myth being perpetuated out there: "When you raise your rates, you'll get more clients." In my own experience, and having heard from lots of others who have tried this, we have not found that to be true. There are always exceptions, but I wouldn't recommend raising your rates when you're already having a hard time getting enough clients.)
After being at an accessible rate for a while, you'll start feeling like you're charging too little for all the benefits you're giving your clients, and you'll feel a natural pull to increase your prices. This is the right time to do so.
❦
Problem 2: You’re not confident that your audience even wants your services.
Some solutions:
(A) Have more 1-1 conversations with your audience. Start with the ones who are supportive of you, who are already engaging with your content. Or friends and colleagues who know about your skills.
Ask them to tell you: what services (similar to yours) they have bought or are considering buying, and why they’re considering it.
Ask them for honest suggestions about what services you can offer. Brainstorm widely – including what’s outside of your current service arena. There is some service that they would love for you to offer, that they could easily refer to someone they know – do your best to discover that together with each conversation you have.
Remember: "I can't afford this" often means "Even though I can afford it, it's not the right match for me."
If you get to know them well enough, and what they would love to pay for, you can then align your services so much to their wants, that it would feel like a natural joy to sell it to them.
(B) You can change the audience you're selling to.
For example, use Facebook Ads to reach audiences that might be a better match for your services. I teach a whole course about how to do that here: Facebook Ads for Solopreneurs.
However, before you try selling to a new audience, it's a good idea to build trust with them first. Do this by advertising your best free content for a little while. In other words, start with authentic content marketing.
Another way to find new audiences is by seeking out some colleagues who do not provide the same service as you do, but who have an audience who might love your services. This could be fellow coaches, experts, bloggers, FB group owners, or others with an email newsletter.
When reaching out to colleagues to ask them to promote your services, the same principle: the only time it's scary is when you don't really believe it’s a win-win.
Therefore:
(1) Make your incentive for your colleague so good that they will find it a great deal.
For example, share a high percentage of commissions, such as 50% or more for a paid webinar that is specifically taught for their audience.
Or give them some free sessions of your services so they can benefit and truthfully endorse and promote your work.
(2) Research your colleague's content and audience in advance, before contacting them, so that you feel confident that their audience would love your services, and that it would be appropriate (based on their content) for them to share you with their audience.
As you contact your colleague, you may want to give a link to a few pieces of your best content (choose something similar to what you're asking them to promote) so they can see what a good fit this partnership could be.
To summarize:
Selling is scary only when you haven't done the homework of making that offer a true win-win for the audience that’s receiving your offer.
Follow the tips above. Do the work, until it no longer feels like selling, but instead, a feel-good activity of connection and offering of great value.
Why don't you feel that way about your own services?
❦
Problem 1: You don't really believe your service is worth the price you're charging for it.
Here are some solutions…
(A) You can create a new, lower-price service or product that makes it easier for people to say “yes!” to try out your expertise.
(B) You can improve your current service until you believe it's worth the current price. This is a worthy, longer-term solution. It takes time to improve your skills. It can speed it along if you get some coaching in your field.
(C) You can lower the price of your current service, to the price where you feel like your service is an amazing deal.
As a result of a more accessible price, more people will give your services a try, which gives you the opportunity for more practice, thereby allowing you to improve your skills more quickly. See the tapering strategy for getting clients.
(There's a common myth being perpetuated out there: "When you raise your rates, you'll get more clients." In my own experience, and having heard from lots of others who have tried this, we have not found that to be true. There are always exceptions, but I wouldn't recommend raising your rates when you're already having a hard time getting enough clients.)
After being at an accessible rate for a while, you'll start feeling like you're charging too little for all the benefits you're giving your clients, and you'll feel a natural pull to increase your prices. This is the right time to do so.
❦
Problem 2: You’re not confident that your audience even wants your services.
Some solutions:
(A) Have more 1-1 conversations with your audience. Start with the ones who are supportive of you, who are already engaging with your content. Or friends and colleagues who know about your skills.
Ask them to tell you: what services (similar to yours) they have bought or are considering buying, and why they’re considering it.
Ask them for honest suggestions about what services you can offer. Brainstorm widely – including what’s outside of your current service arena. There is some service that they would love for you to offer, that they could easily refer to someone they know – do your best to discover that together with each conversation you have.
Remember: "I can't afford this" often means "Even though I can afford it, it's not the right match for me."
If you get to know them well enough, and what they would love to pay for, you can then align your services so much to their wants, that it would feel like a natural joy to sell it to them.
(B) You can change the audience you're selling to.
For example, use Facebook Ads to reach audiences that might be a better match for your services. I teach a whole course about how to do that here: Facebook Ads for Solopreneurs.
However, before you try selling to a new audience, it's a good idea to build trust with them first. Do this by advertising your best free content for a little while. In other words, start with authentic content marketing.
Another way to find new audiences is by seeking out some colleagues who do not provide the same service as you do, but who have an audience who might love your services. This could be fellow coaches, experts, bloggers, FB group owners, or others with an email newsletter.
When reaching out to colleagues to ask them to promote your services, the same principle: the only time it's scary is when you don't really believe it’s a win-win.
Therefore:
(1) Make your incentive for your colleague so good that they will find it a great deal.
For example, share a high percentage of commissions, such as 50% or more for a paid webinar that is specifically taught for their audience.
Or give them some free sessions of your services so they can benefit and truthfully endorse and promote your work.
(2) Research your colleague's content and audience in advance, before contacting them, so that you feel confident that their audience would love your services, and that it would be appropriate (based on their content) for them to share you with their audience.
As you contact your colleague, you may want to give a link to a few pieces of your best content (choose something similar to what you're asking them to promote) so they can see what a good fit this partnership could be.
To summarize:
Selling is scary only when you haven't done the homework of making that offer a true win-win for the audience that’s receiving your offer.
Follow the tips above. Do the work, until it no longer feels like selling, but instead, a feel-good activity of connection and offering of great value.
