The most important thing to know as you run is your business is why you’re not selling.
Even when you ARE selling, some things will not sell as well as others, or some times you’ll find selling more challenging than others. And knowing the ‘why’ behind that is critical.
I’ve noticed some themes around why people aren’t selling. They all tie back to one key theme.
You’re not comfortable with who you are and what you have to offer.
I’ll share 5 ways that this shows up regularly for the entrepreneurs I encounter. (Even ones who have made good money run into these).
1. You’re self-conscious about your offer.
Maybe deep down you feel your offer is the best thing since sliced bread. You’ve spent weeks and weeks mapping it out. You have studied 18 certifications and you know what you’re doing. You can’t wait to do this work with more clients.
Yet something is making you uncomfortable. You’ve never done it in just this way. You love the work so much and it’s so easy that you are uncomfortable asking people to pay you for it. In the moment when you’re talking with people you hold back your enthusiasm because putting it out there feels raw, and risky. People sense this and respond to that energy.
One retreat participant had a binder full of content – and it was all really good – and she was so afraid her stuff wasn’t enough that she was still picking up other work just in case it wouldn’t sell!
2. You’re afraid to go deep and speak Truth.
I watched this happen several times this weekend with retreat participants who were practicing leading the room – they tended to stay in their head and ‘talk about’ the solution for their ‘clients’ rather than dive deep and walk hand in hand with the client to find the solution. Why? Because it is so much safer to talk about action plans, than to dive deep into the truth of your client or prospect’s motivations.
Yet, you’re likely an intuitive entrepreneur, and you can sense what’s really going on. If you see it and sense it and don’t say it, now your client is running the show, and you’ve lost credibility – with them and with yourself.
3. You hold back your love.
When you are sharing yourself and your story, or your motivation for why you do what you do, do you hold back? Do you tend to stifle your emotions, or keep your communication in your head rather than allow your love to come through? Do you hold back that energetic connection with the audience for fear of being truly seen? It’s easy to be seen when you’ve ‘got it all together.’ What if you’re seen with your motivation on your sleeve?
Sometimes how you really feel or what is truth won’t be pretty or feel loving. But sometimes the most loving thing you can do is to share what’s true for you, even if your client or prospect may not like it. (We’ve all heard of tough love). That’s also love, and it’s also a piece of what people hold back.
4. You’re underpriced or undervalued.
If you’re not comfortable with who you are and what you have to offer, one of the biggest risks is that you will underprice or undervalue yourself. It may seem like lower prices will be easier to sell, but when you are UNDERVALUED, they won’t. People sense alignment, and any pricing misalignment plants a seed of doubt about what you offer.
If your pricing is higher, or on target, but you’re not claiming and sharing all the juicy benefits you offer, you’ll be out of alignment. If your pricing is lower than it should be, you’ll also be out of alignment.
5. You’re not offering what you love.
If you’re offering something because you think you ‘should,’ or because you think it’s the only thing people will want to by from you, rather than it being bold enough to offer what you love, people won’t buy it. If your offering is coming from a place of fear, it won’t sell.
OK, so here’s the great news. If you are struggling to sell, you can use this guide to figure out why. There is a source to every result. Period.
When you get at the source, you can change it.
At my upcoming CAPTIVATE retreat, you’ll align the pieces of your business to help you sell exactly what you want, when you want, every time. You’ll develop the inner and outer skills to help you inspire your right people to buy.
Here’s the link to my upcoming CAPTIVATE retreat: https://retreatandgrowrich.com/captivate