“I don’t want to come across as salesy.” One of the biggest fears women in business have is coming across as too salesy… they just want their work to speak for itself.

I KNOW this fear kept me from posting certain captions on my photos and putting certain information on my website for this very reason. But rest assured you’re not alone. 99.9% of female entrepreneurs that I meet feel this exact same way. To quote Glengarry Glen Ross it’s important to “ABC. “A”, always. “B”, be. “C”, closing. ALWAYS BE CLOSING. Always be closing.”

TRUST ME… I am not a sales girl so ABC doesn’t come naturally to me but I have a very high close rate just because I show up and I’m here to serve. If you’re feeling imposter syndrome about selling your services, here are some tips that will help you close.

Essential Step #1: Always Be Selling

At least one of your posts online should be you selling what you offer. The majority of women who post about their business describe it but don’t actually try to sell. They’re giving things away (which is one engagement strategy that works), but really are those their ideal customers? Yes, they’re engaged but you want people who are engaged AND buy. Idk about you, but most of my client’s ideal customers have DEEP pockets and aren’t looking for freebies.

Essential Step #2 — Mix in Sales Posts With Engagement Posts

If you post online 5 times a week, 3 of the 5 times you should have something about what you’re selling at that point in time. So, the other two are engagement but related to what you’re selling that week. So, if you’re trying to recruit people to attend your 5-day challenge about making an extra $3k then three of the posts are direct about that offering and the other two are engagement posts trying to get them to comment or DM you about some of the struggles that they’re facing by not being able to increase their salary but $3k in the month.

Essential Step #3: It’s not about you

Do you want to know the secret to almost EVERY successful business? It’s serving. There’s a reason why people enjoy going to sit-down restaurants and relaxing as the food appears and disappears from the table as you laugh with your friends and family. It’s nice to be served. Even if that’s not your love language I’m sure you get it. If the first thing that a potential customer sees on your website is about you, PLEASE change that. You should be on there but not the first thing. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Customers will get confused if they come to your website looking for a service and you talk about how you always loved to do this filled and you started when your kids were little. They have like .5 seconds of time online before the online vortex pulls them into another dimension, you have to hook them in the beginning.

Essential Step #4 — It’s not what you say it’s how you say it

Say it over and over and over again until your employee or your followers could legit repeat back what it is that you offer. Keep saying it in different ways. For instance, I tell my kids to pick up their toys what feels like 5 million times a day. I try different tones, I try using the words in different places within the sentence but the one thing that remains the same is the message. PICK UP YOUR TOYS. I can say that my 4-year-old will repeat back in the tone and words but has yet to just do it before being told. That goes for adults too, sometimes we just need to be told what to do. So when speaking to your potential customers online be direct such as “Comment Below”, “Direct Message me”, “Hit reply and lmk what you think about x.” Sometimes just directing them what to do next is hindering you from making a sale.

Essential Step #5 — Tune into your empathy

Remember what it was like to struggle with something? Remember how hard it felt like it was going to be to lose the baby weight? Get rid of the acne? What about when you learned a new job? What about trying to figure out social media? Whatever it is that you sell remember what comes easy to you now may not have been easy in the past, or moreover what has always come easy to you may not come easy to your client. Be empathic, remind them that you care and understand, because you do! Don’t get sucked into the vortex of the blinking cursor and not sure what to say. You know what to say, you just have to remember what it was like or what it can feel like to struggle with them. Remind them we’re in this together.

Conclusion:

To sum up, the key to not sounding salesy is to first make sure you’re selling and secondly remove yourself from the equation. The more people feel that they can connect with you, the more they will connect with your brand. Figure out the gap that you have in your business. Is it that you’re not selling? Are you talking about yourself too much? Do you not feel like you know what to say? It’s time to find the right message so that your dream customers actually buy. You deserve to have confidence that your brand message will grow your business. A lack of a clear one may be costing you a lot.