THE COURAGE TO PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE

Hello there,

Are you into business or do you sell products and services? This blog post is for you. Get a cup of coffee and relax while I entice you to put yourself out there.

A few days ago, I took an Uber. As usual, I sat in the back seat. I was about to get some work done when the driver said ‘I didn’t realise there was a hotel here. I would love to recommend it to my passengers’ And so we started having a conversation. Apparently, he thought I owned it when I walked out of the reception (it’s likely a sign that I’ll own a hotel soon). I told him to totally check the place out and speak to the owner about bringing them customers. I mean for a hotel that used to be buzzing some months ago, coronavirus had really done them in. You never know, they may be willing to share profits in exchange for customers.

In the past, I have encountered many uber drivers who are either full time employees for others or own other businesses. And so I asked him what else he did for a living apart from uber which led to more discussions about business. He was such a great conversationalist; he shared what he had tried already and what he wanted to.

20 minutes into the trip, he hesitated a bit. Then he said ‘did you notice the bag I put in the booth? I also sell blouses. Ladies tops’. In my head I was like, wow! My admiration for him shot up instantly. When I asked why it took him so long to tell me about it, he just mumbled something. Well, he hesitated because he was not sure of how I would respond.

Long story short, I bought all but 4 of the blouses for myself, my daughter, my mother and my cousin. Why? Because I actually needed blouses, was familiar with the brand he was selling and his pricing was perfect for me! I was literally his ideal customer! Now imagine if he had not put himself out there. He would have kept his beautiful blouses and I would still be in need of blouses. Do you get what I mean? Anytime we chicken out when we attempt to sell, we ALSO deny our potential customer of something they need.

This little episode also led to a conversation about the courage to put ourselves out there as salespersons. Look, we gotta do what we gotta do OK? All these excuses about:

• Oh I don’t know how she will respond
• What if he gets upset?
• What if she laughs at me, says it’s too cheap, too expensive?
• What if he says no… And blah blah blah are just plain blah blah blah.

You will never know until you gather courage to tell the potential customer what you’ve got in your bag. No one can ever tell how a prospect will react to a sales attempt until the die is cast. This is why we must simply give it a shot when we smell an opportunity.

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Seriously, has anyone ever been given a dirty slap because they attempted to sell? The worst ‘slap’ you can receive is a ‘No’. Yes, I know a ‘NO’ hurts like ouch but have you died though? Now this reminds me of a recent conversation during a Facebook live video. I asked my audience for their experience if they had ever done a Facebook live video. A few said they had because I encouraged them to. Fantastic! One lady said, it was scary and my response was ‘have you died?’ Haha Ohhhh the fear and self-doubt will be there alright, BUT we gotta do what we gotta do. You feel me?

One of my coaching clients recently said ‘anytime I put myself out there, I get clients’. When I heard those words, I wanted to engrave them on a plaque. How right she was! So many of us have wonderful products and services that ‘people’ need. However, ‘people’ have a problem; they cannot find our products and services because we are obscure. This is why we need to put ourselves out there, so that we can find the ‘people’ who need us.

One main benefit of consistently putting yourself out there, is that you get brand awareness. For many of us starters, we do not have thousands of $$$ to create sophisticated ads. Well, what else do we have? Blogs, vlog, live videos, Instagram reels, fliers, etc. (I actually created a free pdf to get you started with where and how to advertise for free online.) But you still have to do the work yourself.

Dear Reader, tell me in the comment please; are you putting yourself out there?

Ama xx

Photo Credit: Vera Obeng Photography

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