One Reason You're Having Trouble Selling Booklets

T'is the season. No, not the December holidays season. It's the season for kids to be selling things for their scout troops and their school fundraisers. Among the many things kids are not typically taught in school are sales skills. It is never more apparent to me than when an annual gaggle of girls outside the local grocery store (which is never how we did it when I was one of them a zillion years ago) ask "would you like to buy some cookies?" Or when a well-meaning kid comes to my door and asks if I want to buy some magazine subscriptions. It's an obvious set-up for a "no" answer from most who are asked. There is no suggestion about what these cookies or magazines will do to enhance my life experience (i.e. benefits).

One high school age young woman did ring my doorbell around dinnertime last night with a totally different approach that was lovely, in spite of the fact that I sent her on her way because I was eating dinner. She said she knew she was an uninvited guest intruding on me at that moment, extended her hand to say something about her providing the opportunity to make a new friend, and then I told her it was not the time for me to talk with her. Someone had at least given her some training about how to do it differently. And I have no idea what it was she was selling.

Why does any of this matter? Well, think about your own attitudes and self-perception of your selling skills. More booklet authors than not tell me that they cannot sell anything, don't like selling, and would do almost anything to avoid it. They hear it as brand new information when I suggest the idea of presenting multiple products to a potential buyer, with the conversation being "which of these is our starting point?" or starting with "these products will help your company sell more of your own product." This is all basic sales stuff, yet new for more people than not.

As soon as you go to anything like "do you want to buy some booklets," you are in the same arena as the gaggle of girls outside the grocery store. The odds are very high that your prospective buyer will just keep walking.

Until next time,
Paulette - which of the products and services at my site is you next step in your journey?
www.tipsbooklets.com