Let’s face it, very few of us like to sell. I’ll bet you don’t get out of bed in the morning excited to go out and sell.  You have a great service or product that you know if you could get it out there, you could really have an impact. The problem? Yes, the selling piece just feels icky.

Here’s the good news – You don’t need to sell.

If you’ve been hanging around with me for a while, you have heard me say “people buy when they are ready to buy.” Think about it… Do you buy when someone asks you to or do you buy when you are ready to purchase something you need? Yep, you buy when you are ready.

The other thing I learned from Mary Kay a jillion years ago is “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

You put those two things together and you’ve got people you are trying to sell to who may not be ready to buy and really don’t care how much you know, because you haven’t shown them how much you care.

So, what do you do?

You serve. You put your heart into it. You deliver excellent value to your ideal clients around a problem they want to solve. You show them how much you care about having an impact and helping them solve their most pressing problem or challenge.

“The most important mile in our business walk is the ‘extra mile’, the one called service.

It sometimes takes the time we don’t think we have.

But we always do.

It sometimes means going out of our way.

But helping someone along the way, helps us on our journey to the top!”

~Mark Kay Ash

When you do this, bingo – They know you care, they know you know your stuff because you have been giving them value, and you are on the top of their mind when they are ready to buy. They call you or sign up for one of your programs.

This is how I built a top organization in direct sales and a highly successful coaching business.

Deliver value.

Serve your clients/customers by solving their most pressing problem or challenge.

It doesn’t have to feel icky, you don’t have to be pushy, and you certainly don’t have to salesy.

Be you! Be authentic! Come from the heart! Solve a problem that needs to be solved! Do it with excellence! Give great value!

When you do this, your word of mouth and referral business will grow exponentially.

It is so much more fun building a business from this place.

Here are a few things to think about as you stop selling and start serving:

1. Identify who do you really want to work with? Who is your ideal client/customer? The great part of having your own business is you get to choose who you work with. If you are going to be serving them, you better love being with them. Take some time and figure this one out.
2. What is the most pressing challenge or problem your ideal client/customer has? This is where you really want to listen. Talk to them. Find out what they want and what is getting in the way of obtaining their goals. Listen more than you talk!  Mary Kay always said “you have two ears and one mouth for a reason.” I loved this one. Mostly because it gave me an excuse to not talk when I first started in Direct Sales. (I was terrified of talking to people:?).
3. What can you create or what do you have, that will solve this problem/challenge? If you have a service business, what can you offer that would serve them by helping them solve their challenge? If you have a product, how does that product help them solve their problem?
4. Be strategic. Play with different ways to serve your ideal client by offering free content that can help them. This may be a blog, webinar, Q&A, resources you can share, etc.  I don’t know about you, but I hate it when everything has a pitch on it. Please do yourself a favor and don’t put a pitch on everything. Just serve. It all comes back, I promise.
5. Have patience. Yep, I said it. No, quick path to riches here. You are developing a loyal audience that will refer you business because they know you care, they know you know your stuff, and you have delivered in giving amazing value. Yes, there are quicker ways, but those clients and customers usually don’t stick around.  I have lots of clients that have worked with me in groups, workshops, retreats and one-on-one.
6. Always, Always do you! Be authentic, be direct, and love up your audience. Now, doesn’t that feel good☺.

Make sure your ideal clients know you exist. Get out there and show them what you got!