Many people I speak to – especially the owners of small service businesses – tell me that they don’t like doing sales. They don’t feel comfortable selling their services. They don’t consider themselves a ‘salesperson’. Is this you too?

When you run your own coaching, consulting or training business, you have to sell your services. Read on to find out how to make it much easier – by getting emotional!

Make Selling Easier – Get Emotional!

When I spoke in April at a conference in South Africa, one of the other speakers, Ray Patterson, really spoke my language. And the language of emotions. I’ve written a whole book about how to use emotional language in your marketing. Ray emphasised the importance of building emotional connections in sales. In fact, Ray says that if there’s no emotional connection, your prospect won’t buy from you. I agree with him!

Let me share with you Ray’s simple yet powerful sales process. Use these steps every time you meet with a prospective client – whether it’s a face to face meeting, online or on the phone.

The Introduction. Make it clear to your prospect that the reason for the meeting or call is for you to help them with a particular challenge. “We’re talking today so I can help you find new clients.” Explain that you’ll ask them lots of questions about their business and their issues.

The Needs Analysis. This is where you ask them “What’s your biggest challenge right now?” Whatever their answer, your next question MUST follow on from their answer. You might have a number of questions you’d like to ask; but first you must find out more about what they’ve told you. This is a conversation – not a sales pitch. This is the first place that you can start building an emotional connection. Encourage them to tell you about their problem (even if you already know what it is!) Ask them how they feel when they think about this challenge. Listen to the emotional language they use, to describe their issue.

The Solution. Ray’s favourite line is “Based on what you’ve told me, let me show you how I can help.” It’s not a question; it’s a statement. This is the next stage of building emotional connection, where you show them that you’ve really listened to what they said and that you’ve thought about it. You’re not just presenting an ‘off the shelf’ solution.

The Close. You can’t close if you haven’t opened! Steps 1-3 above are about generating interest in what you do and how you can help your prospective client. The Close converts all that interest into action. You can ask “Are you happy with what I’ve recommended to you?” followed by “Is there any reason we shouldn’t proceed?”

If you follow all these steps, hopefully the answers to these last two questions will be “Yes” and “No” respectively. All that’s left is for you to ask, “When shall we start?”

You can increase your chances of making a sale, by doing as much as you can to build emotional connection with your prospect. Let’s look in more detail at how to do this.

How Do They Want to Feel?

How does your prospective client want to feel, when they work with you? Do they want to feel safe and secure? Inspired and motivated? Connected? Heard and respected? Everyone is different and your job, as the ‘salesperson’, is to understand how your ideal clients want to feel, when they work with you.

How do you do this? If you haven’t already been to my website to Take the Test – do it now! It’s free and only takes a few minutes. Follow the instructions on the page and I’ll send you results that show exactly how your clients want to feel when they work with you. I’ll also tell you the best language to use, when speaking to your potential clients, to help you build those emotional connections.

I know that my clients want to feel clarity and confidence when they work with me. They want to develop clarity in their marketing messages; they want to build confidence in delivering those messages. That’s what I talk about in my sales conversations with prospects – clarity and confidence. As well as being safe pair of hands for them.

Use the right language in your sales conversations (when you follow Ray’s process) and you’ll build the essential emotional connection that your prospects are craving.

Take the Test here to take the next step!

If you’ve already been to my website to Take the Test and you’re ready to buy the book, StandOut Strategies, and put plenty of emotion into your marketing, as well as your sales, you can order your copy here.