In order to grow your business, any business, you must be able to successfully sell yourself, your company, your products and/or services. How do you do that you ask? Well, herein lies some key tips to successfully selling your wonderful self: Increase your likeability.
People want to and enjoy doing business with people they like. This is something my dad, Bob Milner, a veteran entrepreneur, small business owner for the past 40 years, and most popular guy in the town of Lake City, Florida, always told me and demonstrates on a daily basis. This is an adage my mother, Natalie Clawson, a working mother of five, life-time entrepreneur and the best sales woman on earth if you ask me – also taught me at a very young age. Here it goes: If you can sell them on you, you can sell them on just about anything else, provided it makes sense and it’s something they can justify.
Below are a few tips (some obvious) to get you started on up-ing your likeability factor and growing your business alongside.
1. Be attentive. Listen to your potential and current clients wants, needs, and issues. Summarize them back. Be sure to acknowledged and address key points. People love it when you listen to them and even more, they love it when you can prove you were listening by your verbal acknowledgment and summation thereafter. Not only do you learn more about your potential or current client by listening, but also you show them that you care right off the bat. People love it when you care.
2. Be honest. People appreciate honesty above all else. Be honest about your strengths. Be very honest about your weaknesses. Tell them they’re strengths and weaknesses. People like the truth and appreciate being advised of risks – in most, if not all situations. No one likes being blind-sided. Because weaknesses are essentially ‘risks’ you are asking them to take, you’ll want them to be aware of any potential risks beforehand. Also be sure to address each point as it may come up as a hurdle in the future.
3. Be authentic. Authenticity and likeability go hand in hand. People are keen to like/friend/partner with, and give business to, people who are authentic and transparent to a certain degree. Leave the elitist jargon at home and talk to your potential client as you would talk to a close friend. Being authentic adds another layer of trust between you and them – which could be exactly what it takes to turn that relationship into a mutual beneficially one.
4. Be generous. How does the saying go? Give and thou shall receive? People love getting things for free. Perhaps it’s a critique, business advice, discount on a product, free service, etc. Give something away that has NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Being generous up-front and for no reason at all – like you would for a friend – and people will want to do business with you.
5. Care. Heart goes a long way. Show people you care about them and in turn (hopefully) they will care about you – both in business and in life. I would 100% rather do business with someone who is not only effective but a real person who cares to ask about my week/weekend/family than a dull, monotone business bot. Again, it’s about connection. Show people you care about them by asking questions, remembering their answers and in turn, they will be more likely to offer you and your business the same courtesy.
What do you think about these? What do you think I scored on? What do you think I missed?
