Serving Is Better Than Selling
I meet lots of people who say that they don’t like selling. I get them. I’m one of them too. The word “selling” brings up all kinds of unsettling emotions and images.
But what about “serving”. You can serve someone by helping them solve a problem that is troubling them that day. You serve them by helping them win their story.
If you were a plumber and someone called you up and asked, “Can you fix my toilet? There is a Barbie that got flushed and it is clogged?” (This scenario is not as much of a hypothetical in my life anymore).
You wouldn’t tell the person in crisis,
“Sorry, I don’t really like talking about sales or how I can help people. It just feels a bit too ‘pitchy’”
That would be ridiculous. It would be in the inquirer's best interest if you told them exactly how you could help them and even cleared up some questions they might have about cost.
That means talking about money right away too.
Would this be too pushy? Not at all. It serves the person well to tell them how you can solve their problem, how great it will feel once it’s done and even to include the cost in the discussion.
Can you be too pushy? Sure you can. But no one I know personally is in jeopardy of this. Most people I meet are great at what they do but they are too shy to talk about it with any kind of conviction because they could get lumped in with the guys who are sawing mattresses in half on TV at 3am.
That’s a long way off.
Start with seeing yourself as a servant. You and your business solves problems for people. You do them a great service when you can clearly articulate the problem you solve, the value it will add to their life and the investment it will take from them to make it happen (talking about money).
If you believe in what you do. If you believe that your business exists to bring good to real people who have struggles that you can elevate - do the world some good today and talk about what you do!
Stop pretending you are humble or not one of “those people” who are in sales.
Be a servant. Go and serve today.
