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Confident Sales In Your Small Business

Updated: 3 days ago


 

Article Summary

If the idea of sales feels gross or scary to you, this article is for you. As soon as you step into entrepreneurship, most people run into the discomfort when selling something they've created. But in order to have a successful business, you have to sell your products or services and that's why I brought on this guest today. Gwen Tinsley is a sales coach that helps you uncover the value of your offerings so you can sell with confidence.


Takeaways

  • Reframe sales as highlighting an outcome to attract the right clients.

  • Most sales are related to: saving time and money, increasing sales and revenue, and reducing risk.

  • Feature vs benefit analysis helps businesses highlight the value of their offerings.

  • Surround yourself with supportive communities and coaches to overcome imposter syndrome.


**This was also a podcast episode (episode #241). If you'd like to listen to this conversation, use the link below.



Ep. 240: [Laura Sinclair] It's Okay To Desire (& Make) More Money


 

"You are an expert in what you do at the end of the day, your audience wants to know what the outcome will be working with you." - Gwen Tinsley


"We know too much when we go into our own businesses. And so because we know too much, we forget to take about 25 steps back and recognize that most people don't know 25 steps back. But this is when imposter syndrome comes in and you think you don't know enough." - Gwen Tinsley


"Imposter syndrome is real. We all have it. I don't care what level you are in your business or how long you've been doing it." - Gwen Tinsley


Sales Messaging Basics For Small Businesses


As small business owners it's often difficult to sell our offerings for many reasons. We are in our head about pricing, we aren't confident in what words to share, the list goes on but we need to step back and make it less complicated. Gwen shares the basics of selling so we can boil it down to the basics.


"It comes down to this, how are you helping someone do one of these three things: Save time and money, increase their sales and revenue, or reduce their risk?" - Gwen Tinsley


In order to know which of the things you need to focus on in your sales messaging, you have to know what the person (the potential client) needs. For example, you may be a health coach and one person you meet with wants to reduce the risk of health issues but another wants to save money.


"Everybody's drivers are different. You need to understand the outcome they want before selling to them." - Gwen Tinsley


Sales Calls Support Small Business Growth

While not every small business needs sales calls to sell your offering, this is a great place to start if you're not making sales. When we solely rely on our website to be the "sales person" we're likely missing information. By talking to potential clients we can truly understand what they need and it can help us sell but also create future offerings that help solve their problems.


"If you're selling a lifestyle change outcome, you're selling yourself as part of it, right? That's part of the journey and so if you think that you are going to grow a business purely email selling, you're not." - Gwen Tinsley


"You can tell so much from body language and you can misinterpret so much in tone and other things in email." - Gwen Tinsley


"This also builds confidence. It's all about not just you having confidence in like your sales processes but other people having confidence in you and conversations do this." - Gwen Tinsley


"People want the outcome but they themselves don't even know what their problem is and so it's your job as the business owner to be responsible enough to ask the questions to help them discover their problem. Then you can show them how you are the solution." - Gwen Tinsley


"When you ask [why] six to seven times, you get an emotional response and that is the true motivator for them. That's the problem they are trying to solve." - Gwen Tinsley


"It's understanding if you're a good fit or not. And finding out you're not a good fit is a great thing!" - Amanda McKinney


"It's so freeing and you know so many people are in a position or at least a lot of my clients that feel like they can't say no because they're in a financial crunch or they need to grow their business and what I'll say to that is like it does you more harm in the long run than you realize because it takes your energy." - Gwen Tinsley


Woman using a laptop

Questions To Ask On A Sales Call


  • Tell me why we're on this call today?

  • What's causing you to look into.... (ex: your health)

  • I'd love to hear more about your journey, tell me more about that


"Are they just in the research phase and trying to get free information? Or are they serious about finding a solution to their problem? And how quickly are they looking to do that?" - Gwen Tinsley



Features Vs. Benefits Analysis Will Help Your Sales

Most of us love to list out the features we've included in our offerings (ex: 6 modules, 4 live calls, etc.) but we need to focus on benefits, not features. This is often difficult for us to do so doing a feature/benefit analysis is a great exercise.


"Because when they come to work with me, it's like they're not closing sales, right? And there's a lot of different reasons for that. But a lot of times it's because they're not talking to the things that matter to the client, potential client. They're talking about the things that matter to them and they think are the sexy thing that they want to put out there that they do that has no relevancy or bearing or care in the world to your prospects" - Gwen Tinsley


  • Feature = anything that goes into the creation of the outcome (the components of the offering)

  • Benefit = the positive outcome they receive from the specific feature (why you included the component)


"Don't just understand your features, you need to understand the people who will benefit from those features and how it impacts their lives. That's when sales messaging gets easier and more impactful." - Amanda McKinney


"People often think that they have to show up and they can't ask questions. Well, asking questions is how you get information and we're all trying to find information to make the right decisions, for us and them. And so I think that there's this like preconceived notion of if I ask questions, they might think that I'm not confident or competent. But really, I need you all to have a little bit of a different mindset shift here. It's like you asking questions to them says you care." - Gwen Tinsley



Take Away Message / Action


If your business sales are lower than you'd like, it's time to talk to potential clients. Not sending a survey but getting on a few zoom calls to truly understand what people need. This could immediately increase your sales but it could also open your eyes to a different take on your current offering. Remember things change in business so you have to adapt with the times and what people are searching for.


Until next time give yourself permission to sell and grace along the way. I'll talk to you soon.



About Gwen:

With over 20 years in sales and business strategy working in corporate, MLM, and start-ups Gwen experienced constant value misalignment with high-stress sales tactics that felt inauthentic, and disingenuous while putting numbers above people which defied common sense as a way of selling and doing business. As a result, Gwen helps female entrepreneurs grow their businesses by refusing masculine sales norms and leaning into their authentic selves and gifts of empathy, intuition, and relationship-building skills. Through her personalized B3 framework, she helps you build repeatable sales processes that feel good and value to lives as well as create clarity, ease, and purpose, resulting in increased confidence and sales.


Gwen's Links:



Other Resources:



Ep. 240: [Laura Sinclair] It's Okay To Desire (& Make) More Money

"You are an expert in what you do at the end of the day, your audience wants to know what the outcome will be working with you."


- Gwen Tinsley











 

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