How to Grow Your Business When You Hate Selling

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 259. Today I'm going to help you grow your business when you hate selling. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance and movement, package and position their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up, coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and today we are going to be breaking down how to grow your business when you actually hate selling. So this is something that comes up a lot with people that I work with, with people that I have conversations with, the profit plans that I do. People are oftentimes very, very, very, very concerned about. I don't want to sell. I don't want to feel like I'm being pushy and being sleazy. And I just. Everything is ick. Our whole world is just. I just. All I want to do is help people. Okay? So if you are feeling any apprehension around having conversations around money, you really just have like a deep pit in your stomach around selling and then feeling like you're taking from someone, then we're going to be breaking out all, all of this down today inside of this episode. So hopefully you're just as excited as I am. And again, if you didn't tune into last week's episode, I definitely would, would recommend that you go back and listen to that so that we can have con any and all resistance. Because what we are dealing with right now, when you feel like you hate selling, this is resistance. And what I want to offer to you as you're listening to this episode or if you're on a walk right now and you're just thinking about this conversation around, around selling. This is probably very similar, I'm willing to bet, to the resistance conversations your clients have around working out that your clients have around. I just don't want to. I don't want to work out. I don't want to get fit. It's too hard and I just can't do it. I've tried before. This might be a very similar conversation that your client is going, that is your client is going through. So I just wanted to acknowledge that here. So let's go ahead and dive in. Okay? So if you hate selling, number one, I just want to acknowledge that there's probably a reason why you do. And oftentimes people will say things to me, oh, I just hate, I don't want to be sleazy. And so we're going to have a conversation around, you know, what to do when you hate selling. And the first thing that we need to really look at is, you know, there's probably a reason why you hate selling and what is it about it that, what is it about having a money conversation that makes you feel uncomfortable? And so let's, and so we need to lean into this, okay? So the first thing at play, okay, in my opinion, and I'm just going to be fully transparent that this is absolutely my opinion, so take it or leave it. But it is, it is remiss to say that we all don't have, we all have different experiences around accessibility, different experiences around our relationship to money in terms of, of what it was like to have a silly conversation. We have evidence, we have experience that has shaped our relationship to money. Whether we didn't have access as children, whether we are in a, a different circumstance that other people can't understand, whether we have more privilege for whatever reason. These are all very real reasons to how you have developed your relationship to money and to the ease and certainty of whether it's going to be there. And I'm just going to go ahead and acknowledge that that is very real. It's very real for you and it's very real for your clients. And so the first thing we need to, to really look at when we're having this conversation around money, around abundance and around selling is what is your relationship to money? We don't even necessarily, necessarily have to ask how did we get there? Because it can still be re. Programmed, it can still be rewired in order to, to shift our perspective. Despite the fact of how, how we got there, we don't need to relive our terrible traumatic pasts in order to move forward. Okay? That's not what I'm saying. And we also don't need to move into relentless positivity and not move through some of the pain that we've experienced around money that, you know, in order to get, feel good about selling. Okay, that's, that's not what I'm saying. However, we do need to get very present and process that relationship in order to shift it. That's, that's number one. Okay. When it comes to selling and money and having a conversation around the neutrality of the tool because money is just paper. It's paper, it's printed paper and it's gross. It's got a lot of gross diseases on it and it stinks. I hate holding money. Okay, so when you can really release the charge of the actual tool, then we can start having conversations around how to ask for it. Okay. And this is going to require you to get very present to what your relationship to money actually is and what your relationship to selling actually is. Then we can shift it and then we can rewire it because it's just like a hammer. A hammer can be used to tear down a house, but it's also essential in building a house so people have a lot of feelings and around money itself. And honestly that's just way, it's way too big of a conversation. And inside accelerator programs we've been diving into this more recently and I'm am working on putting together resources, but there's also so many, so many conversations out there right now that, that, that I would encourage you to start looking into so that you could just get present to what your relationship is to money and how your relationship is to selling. So that's number one case, kind of like the pre work. This is your, this is your pre work to this conversation. The second thing that we're going to start diving into is the relationship to selling. Right. So, so I think it's twofold. I think that people feel sleazy because they've had experiences of being sleazy or in, in a sleazy conversation, which in my opinion really comes down to four things, which is five things I think. Let me just, I'll work through it is just the number one is that you know, do you do. When you get into conversations, when people stop listening, then they don't feel heard. And when you don't feel heard then you don' feel loved. And that is an issue when it comes to sleazy selling is that people stop listening. And when you don't feel heard, then it's done. We get into a sleazy conversation. And then number two is that people don't lack empathy and they'll start to say you things like oh well, you need 20 same 24 hours in a day. And if you really cared about this, then you would, then you would do this. But they're saying these things without the context of your relationship to money. Maybe, maybe you know, when someone said when that, when someone says that to me it's straight up, doesn't work. I all I'm internally referenced and I get super Fierce, because I'm like, yeah, but you didn't come back from 120k debt, did you? So you don't know what it's like to go and access my line of credit when I had 120k debt on there that I was drowning in. Like, you can't say these things to me without the context. It's that same concept we hear a lot of people. Like, you can't tell a mom, a brand new mom who's got four kids and three jobs, that she's lazy, but she's not prioritizing herself. Oh my gosh. It's funny. I'm laughing because I just, I can't believe that that's really real that people are having these conversations. But it is. Okay, so the third reason why people get. Get tripped up around selling and have resistance and feel like selling is sleazy is because they don't take no for an answer. And when you don't take no for an answer, people's don't. You're stopping listening. Okay, so now here's the truth. However, okay, is that two things that I want to offer to you. Take no for an answer and take no for an answer. So what does that mean? It means you have to get your client and your prospect to actually say no. You have. So in the conversation that you're having with them when you're communicating through resistance. Because if you listen to last week I said it is 100% natural you are going to have resistance on the call. It's just, it's going to happen. And so we have to be able to communicate through that resistance. We have to be able to communicate through that resistance in a powerful way so that we can calm the nervous system down. For your client, this is going to mean that you have to get them back to a yes conversation. However, it also means take no for an answer. But what happens is that people don't take no for an answer. They hear no and then they keep badgering, they keep pestering, and that's not what we're doing. But most times people aren't even getting to the no. They're hearing a little bit of resistance and going, nope, not for me. We have to take no for an answer. This will require you to get to the no. So that means it's like, hey, listen, you can. We're either going to say yes or this is a no. Is this a no for you? And then your client is going to say, yeah, it's a no for me. It's a no. Okay, great. Best of luck to you. Talk soon. Most people aren't even getting to the. No, they're not. They're, they, they're, they're not communicating through that resistance. You must take no for an answer. The fourth thing that happens when people are feeling sleazy is that they are, is that they're selling bad stuff, making false promises that aren't really true, and they're selling bad stuff. Now, that's no one here listening to this podcast. Now, what's interesting to me is that people who hear that are going to think, oh, no, maybe I am selling bad stuff. But nine times out of 10, the people who hate being sleazy about selling aren't and worried that they're being sleazy are oftentimes not the people that are sleazy. So if you're listening to this podcast, you're not selling bad stuff. So that's why people are get, get concerned and feel like they're, they're, they're being sleazy. And then if you can move through those things then, and really shift your perspective around what it means to sell, then there's no way you can be sleazy. And the fifth thing, that's also. I knew there was five. The other thing is that people will sell it in opportune times. It's like that, that MLM got the. Made a really bad rap because they were friending a whole bunch of people on Facebook, and then they would slide into that person's dm like, hey, I've got a really great business opportunity for you. When you're selling it in opportune times, then there's no way you're going to get someone to a yes conversation. Okay, so that's just, that's just not going to happen. Okay, that's just, that's, that's, that's. We're not having those conversations if you're hanging out here with me, okay? So that's why people will feel sleazy about selling as part of it. So number one is the context of how you grew up and how you feel about money and how you feel about selling. And then number two, when it's the evidence and the experience that we have had that give us feelings around selling, and if you have bad feelings around money, you have bad feelings around selling, then innately your brain does not want to link you to being bad. So if we don't handle those things, we're not going to be able to move through and sell. And plain and simple, you, the value you bring to the market deserves to be compensated. So whatever you need to do to shift your perspective perspective to get on board with that is a requirement because the, the work that you do will require jobs. The work that you do will feed yourself and your family. And plain and simple, if you've ever run a, a non profit before, the number one thing that they need is money so that they can help more people. And the more resources that you have access to is going to let you help more people. So we have to look at how to shift our, our thoughts on selling. Now we can start also talking about like well how can we, well how do we shift it? How? If that's the, if that we know that that's what we're going to do, what do we do around selling? And I just hate it. Okay, so now that we understand the context of selling and our relationship to money and then now we understand the context of why we potentially hate it, now we need to shift it. And so let's take a look at this. Okay. When you, how many times have you tried to to. And here's the thing, when people pay, they pay attention. And that doesn't even mean money. This could be inbox real estate. This could be time. When people are invested and they have an emotional investment to getting the desired outcome, they, they're gonna show up. And how many times have you tried to give something away for free that people don't show up to or you've charged low ticket for something and, and then people don't show up to that. Well, there's a reason why. And then what happens is you start to feel deflated that no one's getting, actually getting results. So you start to feel incompetent. And that when you feel incompetent, how are you gonna feel confident that your process works? You're not. This is going to mean that you have to energetically ask for the, the resources. And it doesn't matter what it is, whether it's time, whether it's money or whether it's, it's. It's a lot of money or a little money, but a lot or little compared to what it's all contextual. So all of this has to be aligned in order for you to feel good. So this requires. So the way that I shift this for my clients and for myself is to remember that selling is a service because when people pay, they pay attention. And it's not for me to decide what is expensive and what isn't. And asking for money is not about me. When you Ask for an exchange of resources. This is the opportunity for your clients to say yes to themselves. And that's what we're doing. You are facilitating a way for your client to say yes to themselves. Because if you don't, what's at stake, that's really the conversation that we're having. So we need to be able to look at how can we make this a service because that's what's happening for your client. All right, so if you need help with this and really need help around shifting your perspective around around selling, then I want to encourage you to reach out. Come to the free Facebook group. We can have conversations around this. But if you already want that fast track and you're like, no, I want facilitate a service based enrollment process, then send me a dm. We're having a conversation right now around Cold to Sold. So just DM me Cold to Sold and I'll be happy to share with you an accessible way for you to really create these powerful enrollment conversations from a perspective of knowing that selling is a service. So thanks so much for hanging out with me today. I'll catch you on the next episode.

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