You're not SELLING! You're BEGGING! | Small Business #Marketing Tips

There's a big difference between selling and order-taking. Supposing you're dining at a restaurant. You peruse the menu and after a modicum of deliberation, you make your decision. When the server comes to your table, you let them know what you would like to eat and drink, and after a short time, your meal arrives and all is well. Looking at that interaction, I don't think anybody would describe what the server did as selling, right? But now imagine the same scenario, but this time, my server recommends a choice of accompanying wines based upon what I've ordered as my main course. Or maybe they suggest a light refreshing sorbet for dessert because they've noticed that I didn't want any dressing on my salad or a cream-based sauce on my chicken. Now is that selling? Well, I'd say that was. If your sales process could be summarized as giving the customer information they can already find on your website before asking them some kind of variation of So do you want to buy this? You're probably used to disappointment. Not only that, you're probably one of the main reasons why customers hate salespeople. If what you're doing is asking people to buy, then you're not selling, you're begging. You're not interested in helping the customer. You couldn't give a stuff about actually taking the time to learn about their issues, understand their concerns, or making their lives easier. You're only interested in trying to close a sale and get your commission. You're lazy, disinterested, and self-serving. And you know what? It shows.