Understanding and Coping with Sales Anxiety
Tips for Handling a Common Selling Problem
SALES ANXIETY is a universal problem among all entrepreneurs and home-business owners, regardless of their past sales experience or the type of product or service being offered for sale. Whether you’re offering a new product line or individual work of art, announcing the publication of a new book, launching a new website, or introducing a new service, it’s only natural to be a little tense about how your offering is going to be perceived by prospective customers or clients.
Will they like it and, more important, will they BUY it? Whether beginner or pro, the more you need money at the time of your new offering, the more uptight or anxious you’re likely to be.
Different Kinds of Sales Anxiety
There are different levels of sales anxiety depending on whether one is just getting started in business or has been selling for years. And the type of product being offered for sale makes a big difference, too. The artist or crafter who sells at shows and fairs, for example, is always on display along with their products. If sales are dismal, it’s easy for a creative person to think that there must be something wrong with them, when in fact it’s only the products themselves that are being rejected.
AND PRODUCTS CAN BOMB for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with an individual’s artistic talents or personal worth, including wrong market, wrong price, competition from imports, bad economy, poor booth presentation, etc. The only way past this is to try, try again.
Consider, too, that even successful long-established pros with big egos can feel apprehensive when offering something new. Whenever anyone in business leaves his or her comfort zone to venture into a new marketplace or offer a new kind of product or service, a certain “fear of the unknown” is likely to accompany them. There is something similar in show business, where it’s called “stage fright.” Performers aren’t exactly scared, but they may be very fidgety and uncomfortable until they step on stage or in front of the camera.
To a seller, those first sales of a new product or service are the kind of applause that can quickly kill sales anxiety and fire one with enthusiasm for marketing the new product or service to a larger and even more appreciative audience.
Tips for How to Overcome Sales Anxiety
1. STUDY YOUR NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE. Try to look at it through the eyes of your imagined customers or clients. Remember that they are going to be asking themselves “What’s in it for me?” and “What will I get for my money?” Then make a list of all the beneficial things about the product or service you’re offering. This will not only give you reassurance that you’re offering a quality product or professional service at a fair price, but will also give you some good selling points to use in your sales and promotional copy.
2. WORK AT BUILDING YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL. Yes, this is going to take some time and effort, but self-confidence can be greatly increased through research, self-study, and networking with your peers (where it’s always okay to express your concerns and ask for feedback and ideas). From experience, I can tell you that one key to overcoming anxiety of any kind (or even naked fear) lies in positive self-talk either done mentally or through journaling. Always strive to look confident and successful even when you aren’t because people pick up on body and voice signals and will respond accordingly.
3. RESEARCH YOUR MARKET OR NEW SALES OUTLETS CAREFULLY. Crafts author and blogger James Dillehay, told me that in his early days as a weaver, he overcame his sales anxiety simply by positioning himself in front of target audiences of people he was sure would appreciate the kind of products he was offering. ‘Then all you have to do is sit back and let people sell themselves on your work,” he said.
4. STAY INFORMED AND UP TO DATE on everything related to your industry, your market, and business and marketing in general. One way to do this is to subscribe to a variety of ezines and magazines, several of which are now offered in a digital format.
A Concluding Thought
If your sales anxiety is related to a shaky economy and the concern that some of your prospective customers or clients simply may not be able to afford the product or service you’re offering, that’s a different problem altogether–one that directly relates to the possibility that you might have to change not only your product or service, but your entire marketing strategy.
For more information on this topic, read “A Conversation with Barbara Brabec” on BusinessWeek online.
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