Where are you stuck?

I want to tell you a little story and see if you can relate. 

I had a call with a client last week, and I asked her where she was feeling stuck in the sales process.

She replied, “EVERYWHERE!”

After a shared laugh, I assured her that even though she may feel stuck everywhere, that’s likely not the case. 

In my experience, most business owners excel in some areas of selling but have some major room for improvement in others. 

Why is this an important distinction? Because when we don’t know where we’re getting stuck, we can easily get overwhelmed and give up. If we decide we simply “suck” at sales in general, we’ll continue to throw spaghetti at the wall, hoping something will stick. 

I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds like a pretty exhausting way to build a business — and in a year like 2020, we need to preserve and protect our energy every chance we get.

Instead, I invite you to participate in the exercise I shared with my client — evaluate your level of competency and confidence in each area of the sales process. Be willing to acknowledge where you shine and where you’re getting jammed up. Once you identify the problem areas, it’ll be much easier to make improvements.

Grab a pen and paper, read through the list below, and rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 (1 being “I’m absolutely terrible at this” and 5 being “I’m pretty good at this, if I do say so myself”):

(1) Finding clients — moving beyond word-of-mouth and spotty referrals to proactively get in front of your ideal clients

(2) Nurturing — follow-ups and strategies that nurture your ideal clients into a sales conversation with you 

(3) Sales conversations — leading powerful conversations that ignite action and invite the potential client to clearly understand your value 

(4) Closing the sale — owning the proposal process, handling objections with ease and negotiating with confidence

Once you’ve identified where you’re getting tripped up, let me know in the comments. I’ll take your feedback and share tips and strategies right here in the coming months. 

If you start to feel overwhelmed, take a deep breath and remember what you’re good at — then take a few more deep breaths and endeavor to improve where you may be falling short.