Overcome Your Fear of Sales with Good FORM
Look, money is a means to get things done. It is the lifeblood of your business. However, it cannot be the sole purpose of the business. The majority of people are uncomfortable with unabashed greed.
One of the most frequent challenges I encounter while working with new and established entrepreneurs alike is overcoming insipid or fearful feelings toward sales. Entrepreneurs may dismiss this necessary but often misunderstood element of business ownership. But you’ll soon find yourself dead in the water if you are unwilling or unable to communicate your value proposition.
You must be willing to communicate your unabashed belief in why your services and products are worthy of people parting with their hard-earned money to patronize you. You can pack your bags if you haven’t developed the alligator skin required to overcome rejection, fears, and anxieties about whether your value proposition is superior to the competition. There is no room for any consternation you may be experiencing in articulating how you can meet the needs of another party.
If you are struggling with these anxieties, the simple and curt response is that you need to get over it. And fast. Know that these feelings are natural, and there is a solution.
What I’d submit to you is that if you’re dealing with any of these obstacles, it may be a simple matter of improving your FORM.
Why Is Improving Your FORM Necessary?
First, we must all acknowledge that people ultimately won’t conduct business with you unless they like, know, and trust you. Gone are the days when sales professionals succeeded with a shotgun approach of overwhelming people with a laundry list of features and benefits, and expecting them to succumb to glossy PowerPoints, esoteric overviews, and Machiavellian sales pitches.
Primarily due to the advent of the internet, people can retrieve, price, and feature shop hundreds of alternatives to whatever you’re selling. Never mind that you may actually have the most unique, cost-effective, and beneficial offering available. In today’s world, people frequently win not because of their deliverables but because of their veneer and marketing. What they’re willing to promise may be more attractive than whatever you’re prepared to deliver.
People don’t want to be sold, they want to buy. Despite the growing dominance of online marketing and purchasing options, people still desire to spend or invest their money in places where they have developed a relationship of trust.
What is Good FORM?
I submit that the best way to adapt to this current sales dynamic is to adopt good FORM. What does good FORM look like?
FORM is an acronym for Family, Occupation, Recreation, & Motivation. Here’s the thing: If you can extract information about a person’s family, their occupational interests, their recreational habits, and the things that motivate them within the first 5 minutes of your interactions with them, they’re going to start developing warm fuzzy feelings for you.
As you begin doing this, remember that people aren’t stupid. Intention matters. When you’re being nosy, you need to be genuinely interested in them and how you can help them to gain maximum results. In other words, rather than being focused on being interesting, turn your attention toward being interested in them.
What are the Benefits of Good FORM?
Quicker Qualifying: FORM allows you to qualify individuals, ascertain whether they are your ideal client or target market, and determine whether they have challenges that you’re best suited to solve.
Building Trust: Because you’re being genuinely inquisitive and helpful, the individual is developing feelings of “I like you. I trust you. I know you’re here to help me.”
Identifying Objections: Taking this approach also allows you to learn about any emotional dissonance, potential objections, or negative exposure to your industry that someone may have experienced in the past, allowing you to respond to them more proactively.
Acquiring Referrals: People will refer you to others when they like, know, and trust you. Remember that when people are speaking to you, they are unconsciously processing in their minds: Am I enjoying this encounter? Am I comfortable with this person? Am I OK with this person being introduced to other people who I know? The quickest route to a destination is a straight line, and it doesn’t get any more straight (and profitable!) than using good FORM to produce large numbers of referrals.
BONUS: Knowing Your Reason Why
One other area where entrepreneurs drop the ball time and again is not knowing their WHY when speaking with prospects. Why is this important? Look, money is a means to get things done. It is the lifeblood of your business. However, it cannot be the sole purpose of the business. The majority of people are uncomfortable with unabashed greed, meaning that they will not like or trust you if your sole motivation is money.
I lead with my WHY, end with my WHY, and lightly sprinkle in my WHY throughout my interactions and presentations with people. Here are some examples of how I might explain my WHY:
“I ardently believe that entrepreneurship is empowerment. If you’re tired of being last hired or first fired, become the employer.”
“Entrepreneurs see things first. We live on the fringes and seek solutions to pressing problems. We introduce valuable solutions into the ecosystem. While not everyone is ready to be a full-fledged entrepreneur, everyone can benefit from adopting a more entrepreneurial mindset.”
Take the first step towards elevated performance by scheduling your consultation with JSB Business Solutions. Click this link and schedule a day and time that works best for you.
The world around us wasn’t built by the exceptional. It was built by everyday people who were willing to do exceptional things. Go build something.
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