How can you tell the difference between someone selling for the sake of making money or selling authentically, and with integrity? 

I know there are so many different opinions out there about what is good sales, what is not good sales? How should you be selling? How shouldn't you be selling? 

Now when I think of sales and doing it the right way versus the wrong way. Some people like to think of bro marketing. And to me, bro marketing basically means that you are kind of twisting someone's arm and just kind of forcing them to do something without really making it about them in their best interest or really empowering them to make the best decision to purchase. 

When it comes to thinking about writing sales, and how to differentiate yourself, if you're worried that you're coming across as inauthentic or sleazy with your selling, this is one of the most important things that you want to think about. In my opinion, selling inauthentically basically means that you are trying to make a sale for your own benefit by any means necessary from any individual necessary.

Authentic sales, on the other hand, would be only selling someone a solution for a known problem in which that individual is making an informed and empowered purchasing decision. 

So those seem like two entirely different things by definition. 

However, sometimes that line can get blurred based on our activities. So how I like to kind of make that line more defined and more clear, is when you go into a sales conversation with the intention or the thought of I need to make the sale. If these are your thoughts, 

“If I don't make the sale, I don't know what I'm going to do”

 “If I miss this goal, if I miss this marker, I don't know what I'm going to do.”

That, in my opinion, is inauthentic sales. That's inauthentic sales, right? Because you're only thinking about yourself, And that's the only outcome that matters to you. Nothing else matters. 

so, when you’re in a sales conversation with that mindset, they're likely going to say no, even if they want it. But it's also doing a disservice to yourself. Because when you go into a sales interaction, thinking only about yourself, and you're so hung up on the outcome, you're missing out on the opportunity to really communicate your solution and your message, which is why you're in business anyway, right? It's for the message, the core, meaning behind why you're here and why you're showing up. 

Detach yourself from the outcome when going into a sales conversation. 

So when you go into the sales interaction, one of the biggest tips I have for you is to detach from the outcome. Do not let the outcome mean anything about you, or mean anything about anybody else. 

When you go into sales interaction, whether they say yes or no, I just want it to be either a heck, yes, or a heck no because when they make an empowered decision about, either way, it's what's best for them. And when you detach from the outcome, you just hit the reset button, and you continue on. When you get so hung up on a sale, or someone's saying no you’ll notice that it will start to negatively impact other areas of your business or other areas of your day. 

Are you listening or talking more in a sales conversation? 

Are you doing more listening? Or are you doing more talking? Because active listening is such a key component in selling and in selling with integrity. When you're asking the right questions to pull things out from the person who's making a decision, it's their talking that helps them make a decision. 

When you go into the sales conversation, your job is not to convince or beg or try to get them to say, yes. Your goal is to help them make an empowered decision, either way. 

So what does that mean? The reason why you want to be an active listener is to take notes and help come up with the best solution that you have to offer that solves their problems. But you also want to paraphrase back what they said to you and say, 

“just to make sure I am on the same page as you, so basically, what you're telling me is you want bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, is that correct?” 

You're going to say it differently than they said it to you. And what's really powerful is when you actively listen and paraphrase back, they're often going to say “Wow, you can communicate my problem better than I can”. And that is one of the first stages to trust. 

Are you communicating the right solution? 

Someone comes to you with a problem, and they likely have an idea about a potential solution. So, one of the most powerful things in a sales process you can ask someone is, “what type of support do you feel would best help you with this?” 

“If you and I were to work together, what would you anticipate?” 

“What would you like to see from me in order to help you that way?”

They tell you exactly what they want. We're actively listening. We're paraphrasing back something like this. So “if I were to put together a package that would give you this and this, you'd be ready to get going right away” 

That's confirming interest. And it's not just confirming interest in purchasing from you. It's confirming interest in the solution that you're presenting to them, which is again, insanely powerful. 

Remember to offer what’s in their best interest 

Make sure that what you are offering is what is in their best interest, not what's necessary on promo or on sale, or that gives you a better bonus in so many industries. There will be people telling you to push this item or only sign someone up with this. But again, that's making a purchasing decision for them and your job is helping them make the best most empowered decision for themselves. That is good sales. So when you offer something that doesn't necessarily fit their needs best, but maybe it fits your own, that is not selling from a place of integrity, because you're thinking, only about yourself, and not them. 

I hope that these tips on really differentiating yourself from selling just to make money and selling authentically were helpful. 

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