Tips & Talk 61 – Put the Brakes on Selling

Hi there.

It's Sue.

And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

If you'd like to submit a topic,

DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,

before we get into the show today,

I want to make sure that you know about the newest

thing happening over here.

It's called the gift biz bash a zoom party that turns

into a podcast episode.

Several weeks later,

the party consists of a short training with Q and a,

from yours truly.

And then an opportunity for you to give a shout out

about your business.

You can tell us about a promotion you currently have going

on or share a collaboration that you're considering so that you

can find a perfect partner for the event.

A little bit of learning and visibility for your business.

What could be better?

There is a catch though spots are limited to keep the

party to about 45 minutes or so.

That means you should grab your spot right away.

It's totally free to make sure you're included.

Why not do that right now?

Pause this episode,

go to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash bash to sign up and then come back

and listen to the show.

I'll see you at the bash.

So let me ask you,

are you putting in way too much energy towards getting people

to buy in exchange for what you're actually seeing for your

efforts? I hear this from many of you,

things like I spend hours every week posting on social.

It feels like such a waste of time because nobody orders

or why bother with emails.

They're so stressful.

I don't ever know what to say and they don't get

opened anyway.

It's just not worth it.

Or I finally finished my website and I'm really proud of

it, but I'm not seeing any sales things are just like

they were before.

Nothing has changed after all this work.

If what I've described sounds familiar.

I want you to consider whether you're trying too hard,

because there is such a thing as going too far when

selling what you may actually be doing is pushing past the

purchase point.

And that's what's causing the no or low sales that you're

experiencing demonstrating this kind of random way.

Think of this when you're making whipped cream,

what do you do?

You get out your bowl,

make sure it's cold.

Pour in the heavy cream and then whisk it to its

desired stiffness.

What happens if you over whip,

your result is no longer a whipped cream it's butter,

right? You've worked too hard and gone past the perfect stage

for you to have whipped cream,

not a baker.

Here's another analogy.

You're on a road trip and it's past time for you

to stop for gas,

but not a problem.

You'll get off at the next exit.

Then you get into a deep conversation and are so focused

on talking.

You miss the exit.

At this point,

the longer you drive,

the further you get away from the exit.

The next one's too far ahead.

Your tank is already showing empty.

The more you keep driving in that same direction,

the more distance you've created from your desired exit that is

now behind you,

that perfect whipped cream stage and the exit to take for

gas represent your customers.

There is a point where working too hard or going to

far results in you missing out.

Let's apply this now to selling.

You may contact with a potential customer.

They become interested.

You see the possibility of a purchase happening.

So you put pedal to the metal and fly past the

point, which could have brought you to the sale.

Is it possible?

You're trying so hard to get sales that what you're actually

doing is pushing them away.

Perhaps it's time for a new approach to hit the brakes

on selling so hard and go a different route.

It certainly can't hurt.

If what you're doing now,

isn't producing results.

Doing more and more of the same is like grinding your

gears. You end up digging a deeper hole versus making any

forward progress.

If you're in this position,

I bet this is how you're selling your message to potential.

Customers goes something like this in its very raw sense.

Listen to me,

I have this awesome product.

It's only X dollars.

Buy it here.

I know you see this way of product selling done all

the time at craft shows and social on website.

Even at networking meetings,

it's a focus on me,

my product,

my price by here's,

how I'd like you to switch up the narrative.

The first contact should be more like,

hi, let's get to know each other.

After a short time,

that turns into I've been listening to you.

I think I have a solution to what you've been looking

for or the problem you're trying to solve based on your

product. Of course,

instead of pushing products on people,

you're switching to sharing information and offering an opportunity for them

to own what you sell.

Honestly, it's pretty egotistical of us to automatically assume that people

want what we sell within the very first few seconds of

meeting us.

There are things to be said and learned first,

like the basics of your product,

what's in your soaps.

That will smooth my skin.

How is your candle?

Eco-friendly what sizes,

colors and flavors are available.

Also. What makes your product my best choice?

How are you different from other soap makers convince me that

your product is special and worth an exchange of my money.

And then there's the question of trust?

Who are you as the maker of this product?

Why did you start your business?

What can I learn about you?

That makes me relate to you and want to buy and

support you?

These things never happen when you're selling with a here's my

product, here's the price,

buy it approach.

And the more you push that messaging,

the further you push a sale away,

if you're feeling guilty because you fall into this category,

it's okay,

you know,

better now.

And it's never too late to make a change.

Plus, I know this approach will be much easier and feel

much more comfortable for you to this type of communication can

happen in the first encounter and result immediately in a sale,

or it can happen over a number of customer touches where

gradually they warm up to the point of purchasing.

Everyone is different and everyone has different needs at any given

time. Some sales happen immediately.

Some will take time to nurture,

but all sales are worthy of an approach.

That's friendly,

creates a relationship with the customer and takes respectfully into account

their choice of when it's right to buy.

So how do you do this?

It's accomplished by making a switch in your messaging from buy,

buy, buy to entertain,

inform buy.

What you want to do is spend time in the relationship

building stage versus pushing the relationship into decision mode.

If your potential buyer is ready to go faster,

they'll be giving you those signals and you can speed up

with them.

Let's talk some specifics.

Here's how this new messaging approach looks in various scenarios at

craft shows.

When someone comes into your booth,

welcome them,

summarize what your product is and let them know you're available.

If they have any,

then let them look around.

And if they're there for a bit,

check in on them,

light and friendly.

If you've done your job with your display,

your product already speaks for itself.

Intuitively you'll know that you can take the conversation beyond specific

product questions,

ask about them,

share something about you,

create a welcoming experience with your interaction versus a customer buyer,

exhibitors seller divide.

Of course,

these are your roles,

but when you force it and overly push you lose moving

on to social media,

there are many more effective ways to build a relationship here

than what I see going on out on social instead of

every post,

being a picture of your product and a link to where

to go by and in some personality and stories about your

business images of you at craft shows behind the scenes of

your workshop explanations of what it's like to be in business

for yourself,

all sorts of posts like this,

make your brand relatable.

And if someone's curious,

they can always click on the links in the social media

account to learn more.

Again, I repeat not every single post should be a direct

product sale.

What I just described is still related to your business,

but it's not in your face sales,

still not sure of ideas or ways to do this.

I cover it all in detail and give you a whole

year of options in a program that I created called content

for makers.

If you already have it,

go back and look at it again.

If you're interested,

you can check that out@giftbizonwrapped.com

forward slash content for makers to learn more.

And now if you have a blog,

the ideas I just suggested,

and a lot of the options in the content for maker's

program can be expanded into a full article.

The goal here is to cover topics that your customers want

to know about one powerful result of this besides ramping up

your SEO of course,

is that you become perceived as the expert in your field

articles, like what to look for in a candle that maintains

a clean home environment,

the mental health benefits of aroma therapy,

what your attraction to different sense means about your personality.

There are so many entertaining,

educational and interesting topics that can spin off of any product

that you make.

And finally,

let's look at your website,

oh gosh,

please delay that popup from appearing until I have a few

seconds to actually see your site.

I time it for somewhere between 15 and 20 seconds out,

let a new visitor learn about you some before you offer

a first-time discount entry into a sweepstakes or addition to your

special group,

which of course would be your email.

Popups are great,

but don't throw it in my face,

right? As soon as I enter your site,

give me a second before you do that.

And now that I have a minute to see your site,

make me feel welcome.

Talk to me like a real person.

Don't just give me a rundown of everything that you do.

This is the place where you can show your potential customer

that you care and understand them.

And it's typically where most people get it wrong because all

they do is talk about their business,

their product,

but not what's in it for me after all.

Isn't your website supposed to be trying to convince me that

I should buy from you.

Be sure you balance out your product displays with personality from

you and a few sentences on the benefits your product provides

that I'm going to benefit from by having your product,

the feel and branding with colors and words and images should

all be aligned.

Navigation should be easy too.

And if I want to know more about you,

do I see exactly where to go to find that?

And when I do get there,

do I feel like you're talking to me or is this

simply a resume of you?

In essence?

Do I feel like your website exists to inform and cater

to my needs?

Or is it really all about you?

One way to know if you're doing this is if you're

using the word I,

or we throughout the copy of your entire site,

you should be talking to your customer,

not talking at them.

There is so much more to talk about with websites,

but you get the idea at this point,

I'm thinking it would be good for me to demonstrate how

not to oversell.

I'm suggesting you consider this different approach,

a more comfortable and inviting way to introduce people to your

brand. Naturally leading them into a purchase and then building a

lasting relationship with those who support you after all,

you don't have a business.

If you don't have customers attract them to you,

instead of pushing them away,

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl.

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.