Goddess/God: A man or woman of supernatural powers or attributes, a person with great strength, grace and beauty … a tanning product sales genius who wins all the sales contests![gap height=”15″]
You work hard, you’re honest, creative and passionate. You have pretty much conquered any challenge you’ve faced. You know who you are and what you stand for and even in the difficult times, have found a way to persevere – through everything EXCEPT the dreaded face-to-face/person-to-person customer interaction. To many, selling is such an overwhelming challenge that even abundant confidence gives way to paralyzing fear. And just the mere thought of selling a product or service to someone who did not ask for it literally makes them physically ill.[gap height=”15″]
You’ve even convinced yourself that you just don’t have what it takes to sell and even if you tried, it couldn’t possibly be fun or rewarding, and I’m positive that there are hundreds of other reasons you could come up with to justify not even trying it. And, this is what the geeky guys with super-thick eyeglasses and white lab coats call “hiding behind your fears.”[gap height=”15″]
The first step to unleashing YOUR inner sales goddess is acknowledging and looking fear in the eye and then, realizing that conquering your face-to-face selling fears CAN be S-E-X-Y and put more shopping $ in your pocket![gap height=”15″]
I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the subject and just like you, I had to face my own fears just to be in this career as the Global Sales Trainer for Sun Evolutions. Ten years ago, I threw myself to the sharks when I accepted a position with Performance Brands that, as luck would have it, would require me to do the two things I feared more than anything over and over and over again: fly on an airplane and speak in public.[gap height=”15″]
How can you overcome fear? Burn the boats! That’s what the ancient Greeks would do when they voyaged across the sea to battle their enemies. The first thing they would do when they came ashore was burn their boats to the ground, leaving the army with no way out and victory was their only option. When success and failure are the only options, fear becomes invisible and impossible to hide behind.[gap height=”15″]
If you want to become great at the things that intimidate you the most, force yourself into action by “burning the boats.” In other words, dive right in and put yourself into situations in which your only choice is to do the very thing you fear.[gap height=”15″]
If you have a hard time approaching salon guests and presenting products to them, try these surefire ways to get past your fears. Practice on your family, then your friends and then your friends’ friends. Role-play with your co-workers or switch places with the team member who does most of the selling at the salon – they can clean the beds and check people in while your only job is to converse with all the guests. Ask your boss to make you present a product in front of the entire staff daily. Play the “question game” – come up with three or four really interesting tanning questions that you have to ask each guest and each time you chicken out, you have to do something embarrassing in front the team.[gap height=”15″]
Good luck! Gotta run … hopping on a flight to another public speaking gig AND looking forward to it![gap height=”15″]
