Is it time to Commit to Sales Mastery?

Those of you who know me well will know that I have my “soapbox” moments! And there’s something in particular that I find myself getting into a bit of a rant about every now and again.

So, if you don’t like getting ranted at, look away now!

But if you are open to some straight talking about what might not be working in your business then this might be just what you need.  I know that I talk about heart-centred sales.  But what I mean by that is selling with integrity and without leaving your client battered and bruised by the experience. What I’m not talking about is sales that is “soft and fluffy”, that feels good but basically doesn’t work – my approach is very practical and is all about results.

So let me say this clearly and unequivocally:

Learning how to sell is one of THE most important skills you can ever learn for your business.

It never fails to amaze me how easily people will invest in learning how to market to attract new clients – days spent at marketing workshops, hours spent networking or on social media, thousands (or tens of thousands!) spent with marketing mentors.  All this effort, time and money pouring into attracting a flow of interested clients – and wasted because they don’t how to have an effective sales process to convert those clients into a clear and excited “Yes please!”.

There is a huge difference between knowing how to attract potentially interested clients into your “orbit” (marketing) and actually getting them to commit to pay money to work with you (sales).

And it constantly surprises me how few people seem to realise this and understand the importance of mastering the sales process (I warned you it was a rant!)

Sales and Marketing are the Yin and Yang of business. One simply doesn’t work without the other.

Last week I was in conversation with a business owner I know. She has a built a thriving community and works really hard to keep fresh people constantly joining. But for the business to be viable financially she has to sell a certain number of places on her advanced programme each month. She has no shortage of people who love what she does but she confided in me that not enough of her sales conversations lead to people joining and she struggles financially (though if you attended one of her live events and saw her in action you would never guess). She also told me that she’s been working with a sales coach and is feeling more comfortable and enjoying sales much more.

My message to you is the same as I told her:

It is simply not enough to feel “comfortable” with your sales conversations. It is not enough to love sales when you used to hate it. It is not enough to do training that you “like” or that “feels good”, or work with a coach whose advice seems to “make sense”. This alone won’t change your business.

The only thing that will change your business is if you actually get more clients.

If you are serious about making a success of your business and you are not converting at least 1 in 4 of the clients that you speak to into paying clients then I encourage you – in fact I implore you – for the sake of your business, for the sake of your clients, and ultimately for the sake of your own sense of fulfilment and happiness…

… Commit to Sales Mastery

This means that you don’t do a sales course once and never revisit it. Or read a sales book once. Or work with a sales coach and if you don’t get the results shrug and say “oh, well at least I don’t hate it any more”. Mastery means that you keep revisiting your process, reflecting on what you do well and what you don’t do so well, and where you’ve let your client down by not guiding them and communicating with them effectively.  It means you continually aim to improve with each conversation by learning from the last (and this doesn’t have to take up a lot extra of time).

I recently encouraged a group of mentoring clients to commit to Mastery of their sales process. They were all doing well and had respectable conversion rates. But they all still reported situations where potential clients needed to think about it, couldn’t afford it or were saying yes on a call but were then disappearing without actually paying. In these situations they weren’t sure where they were going wrong and the process suddenly felt outside their control.

I encouraged them to revisit the “Get More Clients Saying Yes!” course and watch certain key modules as a refresher.

They did. And each got a major “Aha!”, made a few tweaks to their process and here’s what they reported back:

 “Just had another successful sales call for my VIP Days! That’s 4 out of 5 this week!!!! Woohoo!” – Cathy

“ I’ve done 6 Strategy sessions since I posted last and have had success with 3 of them – 2 VIP days and 1 coaching programme sold” – Siobhan

“I now have an 80% conversion rate! And I’m fully booked!” – Denise (she then went on to open a waiting list).

Just think: How would it transform your life and business if you knew that you could consistently convert 2-4 out of 5 of your sales conversations, week in, week out?

If this message is hitting a chord with you and you are ready to Commit to Mastery then I encourage you to make a commitment to yourself – right now – to Mastering the sales piece. Not just being “good” at sales, not just being “comfortable” with it. But Mastering it.

Do this by finding the right course or teacher for you. That might be me, it might be someone else. What matters is that you commit to starting on the journey of mastering this essential skill for once and for all – and watch how it transforms your life and business.

Are YOU ready to Commit to Sales Mastery?

If you’re feeling convinced by my rant, and would like to take the next step to mastering the important skill of heart-centred sales, the Get More Clients Saying Yes! course will be opening for enrolment next week for the only time this year.

And if you’d like to learn more from me to help you know if it’s right for you, you can join one of these two free events:

Fall in Love with Sales week
12th – 16th May
www.catherinewatkin.com/lovesales

Heart-Centred Sales Masterclass
Monday 19th May, 7.00pm
www.catherinewatkin.com/masterclass