Learn how to Sell Without Feeling Salesy

Selling your services can be awkward and feel like it’s impossible to learn how to sell without feeling salesy.

Maybe you associate any kind of selling with grasping or greediness. Maybe you feel shy or uneasy about discussing your services and products. Or, maybe you’ve had experience dealing with a sleazy salesperson.

But the thing is- without selling, you don’t have a business.

So how do you love to sell without feeling awkward?

Read all about this post to learn how to sell without feeling salesy!

#1 Build a connection

When you take the time to connect with someone before you share your offers, you have a much higher chance of converting them into a customer.

Nothing feels worse than when it seems as if someone only cares about money, so make sure you don’t make your potential customers feel that way!

You must first build a relationship in order to learn how to sell and without feeling salesy, so you come across as trusting and genuinely caring. And for it to feel natural for you!

You shouldn’t feel like a stranger to them when you’re on a sales call. It should feel like they already know you.

You can establish this by sending out weekly emails, going Live, writing valuable posts in order to MAKE YOUR PRESENCE KNOWN!

Another great way to build a connection with your audience is to ask them questions. This shows you have an interest in how they feel and that you have their best interest at heart.

Nothing makes a person feel more validated than when they feel HEARD!

#2 Sell the transformation

The service, that’s just a means to an end.

People care about what the service can do for THEM.

In order to learn how to sell without feeling salesy, is by keeping in mind how this will benefit them and how you hold the key to attaining what they desire. Sell without pitching. If you are getting to the end of a conversation and you still feel you need to have a sales pitch, you want to circle back to the beginning of your conversation and make it more about them than what you will get out of it.

Here are a few examples in selling the transformation:

You don’t sell a mattress, you sell better sleep.
You don’t sell sales coaching services, you sell a portal to financial freedom.
You don’t sell weight-loss products, you sell confidence.
You don’t sell VA services, you sell stress relief and a way to gain back time.

Then go on to create stories around this transformation by sharing testimonials or by talking about your own experience (We’ll go over more on storytelling in sales in the next few steps!)

You want your audience to have a hunger to taste that same transformation.

Entrepreneur that needs to learn how to sell

#3 Believe in what you’re selling

And you’ll ALWAYS know how to sell without feeling salesy!

Heck, if you don’t believe in what you’re selling, why should they?!

Those with belief in their product or service don’t need to hard-sell or be pushy. Selling with confidence is crucial to the success of your business. Essentially you are learning how to sell confidence. To sell confidence, you are selling yourself. You must believe in your product or service first, to passionately sell without coming across as ungenuine.

When you believe in your product or service, you can sell without selling because it will feel like you are simply sharing the value you know within your heart you can provide.

Here are some ways to test your belief in what you’re selling:

Do you feel that your product or service is “best in class?”
Would you buy your own product or service? Why?
Do you feel your product or service sets you apart from the competition?

I’ll even throw in a curveball:

Let’s say you believe in what you’re selling but are not sure if anyone else does.

A great solution to the question, “What can I sell to make money?” Is to ask for feedback or offer a “beta” version for free to your most loyal followers. You can even create a flyer on Canva of your offer!

Ask for feedback, different points of view, if they felt like they were being sold to or if the service provided value and made them want to buy. This will help you sell with confidence and how to feel like you can sell without selling because you are not trying to persuade.

How to make money selling and without feeling salesy about it, comes by listening to what others are directly telling you what they want.

Don’t get me wrong, part of how to easily sell and how to make money will stem from your attitude.

People do not buy boredom but enthusiasm sells.

So get excited about what you’re selling!

#4 Use storytelling for sales

A secret to blowing your selling skills out of the water! Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to connect with your potential customer. But what does it mean to use storytelling in sales? It means you are not giving a sales pitch- the story will sell itself. Storytelling is an actual sales strategy. Now when you are considering what to sell online, you have to be able to create a story behind it.

Here’s how to do this:

To use storytelling effectively you need to know who you’re speaking to. Understand the buyer’s persona.

Key elements to consider are:

The pain points your buyers experience
The language they use to communicate these challenges (as well as other issues they’re facing)
How they see themselves

The more the story resonates with them it is not going to come across as feeling salesy, for you or your potential buyer.

Once you know who you’re speaking to, you can begin constructing a story that’s custom-tailored to their needs. To do that, you need to understand the principles that underlie all great stories:

Character: In a sales context, your character is your customer. Depending on the specific type of story you decide to tell, your character might be an actual customer you’ve served in the past.

Conflict: Even in the context of a sales presentation, your story will fall flat if there isn’t some conflict your main character must overcome. For your prospective customer to get invested, your character must face relatable risks and tangible potential for loss.

Creation: When it comes to sales presentations, storytelling can’t just be telling — it needs to be visual as well. That’s why it’s important to plan for a visual delivery from the start.

#5 Hire a sales and confidence coach

In many ways, building sales confidence is about expanding belief boundaries, addressing some underlying perceptions, and providing the type of sales training and coaching that maximizes strengths, encourages risk-taking, and helps your customers think differently.

Confident salespeople believe in themselves. They’re secure in the knowledge that they have what it takes to deal with whatever challenges or setbacks come their way—and they behave accordingly.

You can learn these skills from a sales and confidence coach!

Check out my video: 4 Quick + Easy Self Confidence Boosters | Master Your Mindset!

When working with a coach, they will also practice with you and expand skills for handling difficult conversations, increasing both your confidence and capability.

Hire a coach and learn directly how they sell without feeling salesy.

Before you walk in or make the call, you need to be able to think of a compelling reason why that person would want to use your products or services.

And it has to be an emotional why, like saving time or money or leading to better outcomes for your clients or customers.

Shift the sales approach to a place where it’s no longer about selling anything. Sell without selling.

Instead, make it about relationships. Sell without selling by building genuine and authentic relationships with prospective clients.

Make it about getting to know your potential customers, about providing them value (whether they buy from you or not),

About giving them information and knowledge about what you’re selling and making it about giving people an overall positive experience when they interact with you.

Practice spicing the sales process with storytelling. It is a great way to connect with your potential customers and how to sell with confidence and have them craving the transformation your product or service provides.

Implement these five ways to learn how to sell without feeling salesy and be sure to let us know how it goes!

(With over 10 years of corporate sales management and overseeing $80 million+ in revenue under her belt, it’s safe to say that sales is Katrina Summer’s true passion!)