The psychological reasons why you aren't selling enough

Do you feel uncomfortable selling? Do you squirm when you think about promoting yourself or being visible on your marketing channels? 

Despite being an experienced digital marketer, I feel like I'm learning more about digital marketing and social media management every day. It's ever-evolving and changing; there are new features and new tools you can add all the time to show off your skills. 

It's exciting and creative, but it can be pretty overwhelming for businesses out there, how do you make time and know what to do when it comes to your marketing?

Some of the big things my customers say to me are either, "I can learn the platforms - I just don't know what to say" or "I'm a marketer, but I'm too close to my own business to promote myself and do my marketing".

It's a massive block for many, so what do you say and how do you stand out? 

Many online are either:

• Selling all the time and talking about themselves all the time (or that might be how it seems).

or

• They're not selling at all.

You might feel like you are seeing a lot of promotional messages all the time, so that might be stopping you from promoting yourself.  

I used to feel annoyed by others being visible and promoting themselves, and then I realised I was annoyed with myself because I wasn't taking enough action and I was avoiding being visible. Remember you control what you see, unfollow or set your preferences if there's content that isn't helpful to you or doesn't resonate with you.

Most of my customers aren't selling enough.

The psychological reasons why you aren't selling enough:

• You don't feel comfortable.
• You compare yourself to others that are selling and think that's not something you can do.
• You don't want to be turned down.
• You think you don't know how to sell.
• You have a business, but you're not clear on what your niche is or what you're selling (this is more common than you think).

Does this resonate with you?

If you're not clear or if you don't believe in yourself or your product, how can you sell it? Also, you need to be aligned and passionate about your business, and what you are selling, otherwise people won't think that you can solve their problem.

There are other reasons why we don't sell:

• We're scared of the success that comes with selling, that post or that email that could create more business? Have you been there?
• A lack of focus or strategy, what comes next after those sales? 
• What happens when you're full? Which you will be. It will happen if you want more clients. If you're going to build your business and you're clear on what you're offering, then the next step to growing your business is coming!
• The belief that we need to do something else first before we make a sale.

So, when imposter syndrome kicks in, how do we overcome it? 

• Reframe and think about who you are serving.
• When I felt impostor syndrome when I was selling and creating my training programme, I kept thinking about the people who had signed up, why they'd signed up and what they wanted to get out of the programme. It wasn't about me; it was about them.  
• It sounds cheesy, but please try it. Think about your customer and what outcome they want. Take the focus off you.

In the past, I limited my potential by not promoting my own business or applying the successful marketing strategies I used with my clients to my own business. I realised it doesn't matter if you're amazing at your job or get incredible results for your customers - if no one knows about you, your business and your results, it won't lead to more business. 

It was a struggle until I finally learnt how to show up and make it about what my customers needed and created content that's helpful to them. I realised I'd been institutionalised to work for other people and that I measured my success by my customer's achievements. 

When I realised they didn't need to be mutually exclusive, things started to change.

Permit yourself to help your customers. People relate to you, not your expertise. Where you are in your journey could be more useful to your customers than the person you see as an expert.  

If you are passionate and clear on what your business is and the problem you solve it won't feel like selling. Show up and be helpful and create content that helps solve your customer's problems.