Squeamish About Selling? How to Fall in Love with Sales & Marketing

In this episode of MarieTV, we do have some adult language. So if you do have little ones around, grab your headphones now.

Marie Forleo:

I want you to embrace making money. I want you to embrace making a difference. And not be timid about it and hold back on your heels but like come for it and own it.

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo, and welcome to another episode of MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. And we are back with another video Q&A Tuesday. And today’s question comes from Bettina.

Bettina:

Hey, Marie. It’s me, Bettina. I’m talking to you all the way from Julong, Australia. My number one question would be, how do you find the perfect balance of getting your audience or community to understand the mission behind it? Because I have a social enterprise, and how do you get them to also understand the value and the content you give away and how your social enterprise will bring them so much value and at the same time be able to help a whole different community? So, I’m trying to battle, you know, how to not be too salesy and not… and at the same time be firm enough about my price and about my mission and my, my message.

Marie Forleo:

Bettina, thank you so much for this question. I want to acknowledge and appreciate you for your big heart. It is so clear to all of us how committed you are to make a difference. Now, I’m going to put on business-hat Marie, because I want to get down to some brass tacks.

Number one, here’s what I need you to focus on. I want you to choose the right customers. What do I mean by that? So many business owners forget the basic fact that you get to choose who your customers are. And for you, my love, I want you to make sure that you are targeting customers who can actually pay the kind of prices that you need to charge to not only pay yourself well, but to pay your team well, to be able to deliver outstanding services, and then, of course, to take care of the social side of your mission too. So price is really important. Target effectively.

The second component to this is really making sure that you’re targeting customers who actually care about the social side of your business. I’m not sure exactly what that is, but here’s what I know about business as it is today. You can target very specifically. You can aim your efforts at the exact kind of people who have the interests and the income that’s going to align best with your business. So if you haven’t spent enough time deciding precisely who your ideal customers are and really selectively choosing them and aiming your efforts directly at them and them only, that is step one.

Step number two, Bettina, you need to focus on what matters to them, not what matters to you. So when I was listening to your question, I kept having this impulse that it was like, how do I get people to care about our mission? How do I get them to care about our content and really value it? It’s a wrong way to think about it, woman. Here’s what you got to understand. Every single human on the planet, when they are about to buy a product or a service, they’re listening to a little silent radio station in their head called WIIFM, What’s In It For Me. I don’t care how big-hearted they are. They might want to save the whole entire planet. When you’re about to buy something, each of us are thinking about that. What is in it for me? And you have got to take on that perspective if you’re going to be a successful business owner.

Now look, we’ve talked about this on MarieTV before. It’s about shifting the spotlight away from you and shifting it onto your customers. If you want to watch that episode, which I suggest you do, all you need to do is Google “Marie Forleo, the Spotlight Method” and watch that episode and actually do the exercises that I tell you about.

My third tip for you, Bettina, is this. Remember that facts tell and stories sell. So once you understand and choose your ideal customers, and once you really put the spotlight on them, not you, you want to start to tell stories about how you’ve taken customers or clients just like them and gotten them from where they started to where they want to be.

There’s a whole art and science around using stories to sell, and it never feels salesy. And it always inspires people to act. If you want me to teach you step-by-step how to do this and so much more around messaging and making things really influential and persuasive in a way that’s true to your heart, you need to get your butt in The Copy Cure. It’s our flagship writing program, and it will totally not only blow your mind, but help you skyrocket your sales and your profits. You can go to getthecopycure.com to go check it out. Really, it’s amazing.

One more thing I want to say, Bettina. When I was listening to your question, I got the feeling that there’s some type of hesitation around sales and marketing. You don’t want to come across too salesy. You’re a little bit timid in that regard. And I will say you this, soul to soul, business person to business person, you need to drop that. If you want your business, your social enterprise, to thrive, I need you to fall in love with sales and marketing. It is the lifeblood of every business. I want you to embrace making money. I want you to embrace making a difference and not be timid about it and hold back on your heels, but like come for it and own it. I promise you that’s possible.

There’s been so many negative messages in our society and in our culture around money and making business. And they’ve especially been directed, not exclusively, but particularly at women. And if you want to just annihilate all of those limiting beliefs, if you want to stand in your power and really be the most incredibly effective, prosperity-minded, abundance-generating business owner that you can possibly be, man, get your butt in our programs, because I do this stuff morning, day, and night. I’ve been doing it for 20 years, and I take people who’ve been a little bit timid about the pricing or what they should do and help them fly. And if you don’t like my style, that’s cool. But man, get that training somewhere because it will change your life.

Bettina, that was my A to your Q, and I really do hope it helps. And if you can make it happen, get your butt in The Copy Cure. It’s still open right now when we are publishing this. The program is amazing. It’s backed by a money-back guarantee, so you got nothing to lose and everything to gain. And I promise you, it will help you transform your business. You will not regret it.

Now, for all the rest of you, I’m so curious. Was there anything we talked about today that really sent off a spark or an aha for your business? If so, let me know in the comments below. Now as always the best conversations happen over at the magical land of marieforleo.com. So head on over there and leave me a comment now. And while you’re there, if you’re not yet subscribed to our email list, what are you thinking? Get on the email list and become an MF Insider. We send amazing, inspiring, action-oriented emails every single Tuesday, and I don’t want you to miss out.

[singing] But that’s what I got for you Bettina, giving you a real big hug. Yes.

Until next time, stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world really does need that very special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time.