How to take the "ick" out of selling so you can land more clients
I was scrolling through a Facebook group the other day, and I saw a post that got me fired up…
It was from a woman who was venting that she didn’t like marketing and sales. And while my gut impulse is always to try to jump in and help, she specifically requested not to be pitched anything to change this—she simply didn’t like those kind of business-building activities.
You see, I’ve gotten a lot quicker at detecting some serious self-limiting BS and I could have smelled this one from a mile away.
But here’s why this post got to me:
As women who have created heart-centered, soul-filled, impact-driven businesses that light us up, it is quite literally OUR JOB to share our work with the world. And you know what that means? Damn right you have to sell.
Not only that, but you have to do the mindset work necessary to LIKE selling (because we always get more the results we want when we actually enjoy what we’re doing!).
You have to believe that what you’re putting out there is so effing AMAZING that you want to share it with people.
And we need to dispel this crazy implied myth that you’re doing something wrong by getting PAID to do something you love.
Because those women you follow on social who are making insane amounts of money in a business that they find both profitable AND fulfilling have done the mindset work necessary to get clear on their message and market the hell out of it.
Not only that, but you better believe they LOVE IT. Not only because it means more money in the bank, but because of what they can CREATE in their life WITH that money and how they can serve more people.
And that post I mentioned earlier? OF COURSE she didn’t want to be sold anything to shift her mindset around marketing and sales because it seems she has this deeply-rooted belief that sales are icky. → It’s incredible how even the tiniest belief can show up in bigger ways until we make a conscious decision to flip the script.
But girl, I’ve been there too. 🙋
I used to absolutely HATE hopping on sales calls. I was sitting in a story about how I was “bad at sales.” I was convinced that my marketing wasn’t working, when I can see now, I wasn’t really marketing at all. And I didn’t have a consistent, repeatable system for generating leads and clients so everything felt like I was throwing spaghetti at the wall waiting for something to stick.
That is… until I decided to shift my mindset.
So this week, I’m changing the conversation around marketing and sales because I think it’s SO IMPORTANT that you do the mindset work necessary to see this as an asset to your business that generates more leads, converts more clients, results in more money in the bank, and creates more of what you WANT in your life.
Confidence in your business stems from confidence in YOURSELF
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Confidence in your business stems from confidence in YOURSELF.
Like I tell my Future You clients, this underlying belief is the foundation of literally every single post you’ll write, every pitch you’ll send, and every sale you’ll ever make.
Because if YOU don’t believe in yourself and your business, then why the hell would anyone else want to invest in what you’re selling?
That’s why it’s more important now than ever to do the mindset work you need to actually BELIEVE in yourself, even when it’s hard and you have zero evidence of anything working yet.
You see, people buy based on emotion. If planning a wedding last year reinforced anything, it’s that right there.
As I scrolled BHLDN looking at dress after dress (‘cause ya know, bridal shower and rehearsal dinner!) it’s amazing how much my brain will rationalize spending more than EVER for something I’ll wear once, simply because it’s a special moment.
It’s all the EMOTIONS that come with that purchase that make it so much easier to open my wallet and get something I love.
There’s evidence of this everywhere.
I’ll happily pay for my bookkeeping software because it saves me dozens of hours and it’s way less stressful than a spreadsheet.
I don’t think twice about paying for Dropbox to back up my files because of the peace of mind it gives me having had several failed hard drives in my lifetime.
And investing in coaching and mentoring has quite literally always propelled my business forward in massive ways.
But here’s the thing: when YOU are the one selling, it’s your job to bring the emotion with it. You can’t be less excited about what you’re selling than the person on the other end.
When I started coaching, I was TERRIFIED to give away free calls. What if no one wanted them? What if no one signed up?
But here’s the thing: if I didn’t even feel good about the coaching I was doing for FREE, why on earth would anyone pay me for that very same thing? They wouldn’t. And I knew clear as day that it would show up in my sales conversations.
This is an area where affirmations can be so incredibly powerful.
Sometimes your brain needs a little nudge to remind it about all the GOOD you’re doing in sales instead of indulging in those thoughts of self-doubt and fraudy feelings. So give it something good to chew on.
I’d play with the affirmations of, “These sales calls are so much fun” and “My clients always have major breakthroughs on these calls.” So it’s no surprise that’s exactly what was showing up for me.
Clean up those underlying money beliefs
It’s no surprise that running a business will bring up every underlying money belief you never knew you had.
Not only that, but it can seriously affect the way you run your business from how excited you are to do the work each and every day, and subsequently, how much income you generate as a result.
You see, we dive into some aspect of money mindset on every single free coaching call that I do. And here’s the thing: even the smallest belief can show up in major ways...
...Telling yourself no one would ever pay way you’re charging? It’s no wonder your business has only ever felt like a hobby, unable to generate profit.
...Feeling like the market is oversaturated and there’s no way to do it better or differently? It’s no wonder you feel like sales calls are icky and they’re not converting.
...Not sure what you would do with that money if it DID come in? You better believe you’ll be hanging out on that plateau for a while.
Like I tell my Future You clients, it is ESSENTIAL to that you decide the kind of relationship you want to have with money.
Too many of my clients have an underlying belief that money is “bad” or “scary” or that there’s “never enough” so they avoid it altogether and it makes it that much harder to sell.
So, of course, they’re struggling to charge what they’re worth and send out those proposals at a premium price point.
I had a client recently who I encouraged to ACTUALLY run the numbers on her time and her overhead.
Hellllooooo, healthcare, software, tools, and all those little expenses you may not be thinking about that can seriously add up.
The results were mind blowing because for the first time she had concrete numbers around how much it REALLY cost to run her business and how much profit she was actually making instead of just a vague idea.
When she made a conscious decision to no longer avoid the numbers, but get to know them instead, she was able to cultivate so much confidence around what she was charging. And that confidence showed up in how she handled new leads, proposals, and signed clients.
No matter how small you might think your underlying money beliefs are, they can show up in every aspect of your life and business.
So it’s ALWAYS worthwhile to take a look at those beliefs and ask yourself if there’s a conscious choice there or if it was simply a belief you were raised with.
Start ACTUALLY marketing your business
Another thing I see often in my free calls and Future You clients is the belief that there’s a MONEY mindset block that’s holding them back from reaching the income and impact that they desire, when in actuality, it’s a mindset challenge around MARKETING. So I want to take a moment to clear things up around the topic.
Marketing is simply showing up consistently, sharing your message, and letting people know how they can work with you.
Yet you’d be surprised how few creatives and entrepreneurs are actually doing this. (I know I certainly wasn’t in the beginning!) So it's not that they are blocked around money—they're blocked around taking the marketing efforts that will bring the money in.
But marketing doesn’t have to feel like something big and scary. You don’t need to be overwhelmed by all the social media options available to you to share your content. And certainly doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing in this area.
What I see most commonly is that creatives and entrepreneurs THINK they’re marketing their business, when in actuality it isn’t clear what it is that they do and how you can work with them because they simply aren’t talking about it.
And chances are, they’re not clear enough on their message to actually know WHAT to talk about. Or they have too many offers so it’s confusing to someone looking to purchase. And just a reminder: confused people never purchase!
This is why it’s so essential that you’re clear on your message and your offers BEFORE you spend tons and tons of time generating content or posting to social media.
I’m certainly not immune from this one either. I spent WAYYY too much time taking photos for Instagram, editing said photos, writing and rewriting a caption that in NOW WAY represented the type of work that I do, what I help my clients with, or how they could work with me. It was like draining time and money.
It’s when I got super crystal clear on my message—I help creatives and entrepreneurs who are stressed and overwhelmed to create a beautiful, balanced life and successful, thriving business—that I actually started seeing more of the results I wanted in my business. So just to recap:
Solid messaging → leads to easier marketing → which results in more sales. Are you with me?
Sales is simply a conversation
Now if the marketing piece doesn’t make you squirm, chances are the idea of sales sends you into a tailspin.
I had a Future You client that was fearful of coming across as “too salesy” and it was holding her back from marketing her business in major ways.
But I actually don’t believe that anyone who is concerned about being “too salesy” can be exactly that. Just the fact that she was aware of that feeling and bringing consciousness around it would make it really difficult for her to come across as icky or slimy in a sales call.
Think of it this way: Every once in a while we would get Airbnb guests who are SUUUUPER concerned about our quiet hours. They’ll apologize for closing a door too loudly or coming in late at night.
But those are NEVER the people that are actually making a ruckus. Just the fact that they’re aware of how much noise they’re making already means that they’re not the people who are throwing loud dance parties at 1 am.
So if you can move past that fear of being salesy, you’ll see that sales is really just a conversation around sharing your value and expertise. And that feels so much more manageable, doesn’t it?
The other thing I see that holds clients back from marketing and sales is the fear that they’ll annoy people if they talk about their services and their offerings too much. My self-limiting BS radar is going off again.
Look, we’ve had some chilly mornings up here in the mountains so when I was in Target the other day, I found the softest, coziest sweatshirt on earth and decided it had to come home with me.
Nowhere in there did I get MAD at Target for putting that sweatshirt in their store. I was not annoyed that the sweatshirt was solving a problem I had. And there was no, “how dare they assume I’d be cold!” thought that passed through my head.
The same way that no one will be annoyed that your product or service is solving a problem for your ideal client. And if someone is annoyed that you’re talking about how you can help, well, they’re probably not your person anyway. 😉
The bottom line:
Too often, I see creatives and entrepreneurs who have mindset blocks around marketing and sales because they aren’t clear enough on their message to actually know what it is that they’re marketing, and this makes it that much harder to actually sell.
Together, we clear up the confusion around their messaging and offers, as well as do the mindset work necessary for them to gain confidence, clean up those money beliefs, release the fear associated with marketing, and more, so they can start taking the right actions CONSISTENTLY. Because that’s how they’re able to generate more leads, convert more clients, and see more money in the bank.
Tell me in the comments below:
What’s your favorite way to show up for your people and market your business?
Photography by Jennifer Morgan Photography
