The Art of Not Appearing Salesy
It can seem a bit like a mix-up at first; sell products, but don’t be salesy?
Don’t you want to be salesy enough to sell?
If you’re feeling confused about this concept, we want you to know that you aren’t alone. Many new network marketers struggle to balance their desire to sell with the coming across as too pushy or too scripted.
The Problem With Pushy Salespeople
Here’s a bold and unexpected statement: pushy salespeople drive everyone nuts, even network marketers.
That’s because most of us get into this business to escape the daily grind trap in the first place – including being slammed with advertising online, in person, on billboards, by telephone, and even in person.
Walk into a tech store on a Saturday and you’ll see this in action first-hand. Suddenly, there’s a college student using high-pressure sales tactics to convince you why you need that new $1900 iMac even though you came to buy an SD card for your phone.
That strategy may work for the store, but it won’t work for you as a network marketer. If you’re too salesly, you will immediately notice that you start losing people shortly after you begin to explain the product.
People realize you’re trying to sell them something, so they just tune out. We’re all used to doing this in our media-soaked world, so you need to find ways to break though that.
The Answer: Be More Human
Most network marketing businesses are lifestyle businesses. People buy into them because they want the experience. Including the freedom, the success, and the life they see you living right now.
What they are most definitely not picturing themselves as is a pushy, overly salesy product pusher who only cares about their bottom line.
So, be yourself. Inject your personality into your pitches; bring it back to who you are and why you chose the opportunity or product in the first place. Tell people exactly how it benefits you rather than telling them its benefits.
Want to amp your human factor up? Stop selling and start telling stories. Reveal how the product helped you by telling emotionally evoking stories about your life and how you benefited from it. Draw people in and become a master storycrafter, all while telling the truth about why you love this business so much.
Be Willing to Speak Frankly
The number one rule of network marketing is to keep it positive and exude an upbeat attitude – but that doesn’t mean you can’t listen or hear opinions (or even agree with them from time to time).
Keep it positive. But don’t be afraid to talk frankly about issues or questions that come up during the pitch. There’s nothing worse than sharing your concerns with a seller only to have them tell you exactly why you’re wrong without even hearing them out first.
This isn’t the same thing as simply not countering objections.
Keep countering!
Just be sure you’re hearing the other person out respectfully. Give truthful, respectable objections that make sense, rather than just telling them they’re wrong.
Have a lead with a question you can’t answer? It’s not a crime to say you don’t know. Bad sellers make up an imaginary response on the spot just to sell. Good sellers admit they don’t know, and then work to find the answer.
They do this because they recognize how marketers serve other people.
Serve, Don’t Sell
The next most important tip in the list segues off the previous section. Don’t sell to be an overly salesy seller; sell to serve people in some way. That means caring about your leads as if they were real people. It means taking the time treat them as if they’re not just another number.
They’re a friend, and you’re here to help them in some way.
(What a concept!)
Capitalize on that and you will feel better about selling, better about who you are as a network marketer, and better about your improved success.
Which brings us right into the next section…
Build Relationships, Not Lead Sheets
Network marketing is all about advertising through word of mouth. That can lead to the misconception that marketing is all about how many leads you can gather on a spreadsheet.
Have 1,000 leads?
Great! Now, go out and get 10,000.
With any luck, if they sit there long enough, 10 of them actually follow through.
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
What a boring concept!
Leads are great, but they’re no good to you if they just sit there. You need to communicate with them, draw them in, and get to know them in order to match them with the right opportunities.
If you gather contacts and leave them sit, you aren’t giving them a reason to stick around. In fact, you’re giving them a GREAT reason to move on because you seem like just another unsuccessful online marketer.
That’s not why you’re here, is it?
Here’s the biggest secret successful network marketers haven’t told you yet: It isn’t about building massive lead databases. It’s about cultivating relationships instead of pushing for larger databases with salesy tactics.
Sure, sometimes that’s relationships between you and 10,000 other people and you will develop a massive lead database in the meantime anyway, but the differences lies in how you look at those leads and how they look at you.
“Alright, alright,” you’re thinking. “I get it! Now tell me how…”
Step one: get involved with social media if you haven’t already. Create a page for your opportunity. Then, create a professional business page. After all, it’s you that’s the real opportunity, anyway.
Step two: Share useful content through social media every single day. As you begin to gather an audience, keep that content consistent.
Step three: Interact with your audience directly. Ask them questions, answer their questions, get their input, and make it a social hub as well as your professional social media site.
As you get to know people, draw them further into the conversation. Ask questions about who they are, where they come from, and how it all relates back to your opportunity. And (here’s the real critical part) share information about yourself in return.
Be Contactable
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to appear virtually uncontactable, yet somehow always online selling your opportunity. This makes it appear as if you only care about one thing (getting the sale).
Finally, make yourself (or even just your virtual assistant) available for contact on social media every single day. Someone who contacts you with questions shouldn’t wait more than a few hours for a response, if even a few minutes.
Furthermore, be willing to call with people in a non salesy way, not just text with them over social media. Although social media is fantastic for getting the party started, it’s telephone and in-person communication that really solidifies the ideal that you’re a real human.
Be Thankful
Think about the last few months of your experience as a network marketer.
When was the last time you thanked someone publicly for:
[if !supportLists]● [endif]Supporting your business
[if !supportLists]● [endif]Promoting your opportunity
[if !supportLists]● [endif]Sharing your posts
[if !supportLists]● [endif]Buying your product
[if !supportLists]● [endif]Contributing valuable content
[if !supportLists]● [endif]Praising you for your efforts
The simple act of being thankful can go a long way to making you appear less “salesy,” both in the moment and when you’re actively selling.
Take the time to (publicly and genuinely) thank people who take these actions whenever you can. A little bit of recognition goes a long way to making you appear more human, more grateful, and even more relatable.
