You need to first sell yourself before you can even think about selling products or services. When you think about it, if you cannot sell yourself as a person to others, you are going to have a difficult time selling them your ideas, your wishes, your needs, your ambitions, your skills, your experience and inevitably, your products and services.
Here are some suggestions on how you can sell yourself better:
Have Confidence In Your Abilities
This is possibly the most important and hardest aspect to successfully selling yourself to others. You can't effectively sell yourself if you don't value who you are. If you struggle with your confidence, here are some steps you can take:
Step 1: Build the knowledge you need to succeed
Looking at your goals, identify the skills you'll need to achieve them. And then look at how you can acquire these skills confidently and well. Look for a solution, a programme or a course that fully equips you to achieve what you want to achieve and, ideally, gives you a certificate or qualification you can be proud of.
Step 2: Set small goals, and achieve them
Starting with the very small goals you identified in step 1, get in the habit of setting them, achieving them, and celebrating that achievement. Don't make goals particularly challenging at this stage.
Step 3: Keep managing your mind
Stay positive, keep celebrating and enjoying success. On the other side, learn to handle failure. Accept that mistakes happen when you're trying something new and treat them as learning experiences.
Present Yourself Professionally
Everything you do and say creates an image. You always want to present yourself with professionalism. This includes everything from your appearance to how you speak and how you shake hands. It's always best to play it safe and follow formal business etiquette.
Pay attention to how you present yourself. What image do you project? What kind of presence do you have? Over three-quarters of the messages we send are communicated via body language. How we look and how we speak create impressions. So knowing how to hold yourself and how to communicate can be more important than what you say.
We also project ourselves by the way in which you share information with people. What do your e-mails look like? Do you give an impression of being articulate and intelligent or lazy and careless? What does the other written information that you create look like? Does it reflect a thoughtful, cogent person who knows how to make succinct points with clear rationales? Is It formatted in ways that match the needs, communication styles and attention span of your audiences? Again, pay attention to the needs of others and you'll find yourself developing a package that works.
Be Positive end Enthusiastic
Constantly being around positive and enthusiastic people will also have a positive effect on you. Their enthusiasm for life becomes contagious and you can't help but feel excited yourself.
Enthusiasm creates confidence. Your sales prospect can see it in your eyes and feel it in your handshake. Enthusiasm is the advance man that paves the way and sets the stage for your ideas. It is the way you squeeze the trigger on other people's emotions.
Show positivity in your interactions with others. Smile, show interest and be enthusiastic. Don't complain, but engage in gossip or negative conversation. Keeping yourself upbeat will draw people to you.
Be Truthful
Trust is a critical part of selling yourself. No one values dishonesty. Be genuine in your interactions with others and work to develop honest communication. The truth will earn respect and trust which, in turn, will help you build a great reputation. Not only that, it will make you feel good about yourself.
Share Your Knowledge and Experiences
Knowledge is a valuable resource and it can make anyone took more attractive. Sell your skills by sharing your knowledge. Be willing to teach others what you know. This will not only help them, it will demonstrate your abilities at the same time. A win-win!
People are drawn to those who are willing to open up and share their expenences. It will help you build strong connections with others. Remember that you are unique and there is value to be shared.
Be a Great Connector
If you have the opportunity, introduce people you have met to others. Ideally, the best introductions to be made are between people who can be of mutual benefit to each other. This is a very simple way you can value-add to your customers and prospects.
Your two contacts are going to realise that you cared enough about them and you really listened to what their needs were. This will in turn make these people more likely to help you in return. In other words, if you can help two other people make money then eventually, good things will happen to you.
The first time I ever did this, I told some friends, "I just helped two people make money. And one of them said, "yeah, but what did you get?" I got nothing. But I felt like I had done good in the world and that if I kept doing it, eventually it would return to me. I've never kept score of the things I do for others but I'm rarely short of people who are willing to do me favours when I need them.
Don't be Invisible Online but Manage Your Online Profile
One's online presence is an essential part of your existence today. Recruiters, employers, co-workers, potential clients, and friends may head to the internet to find out more about you. What will they find? With a few clicks of the mouse, they can find any number of things about you. Your goal is to make sure that what they discover is the information that brands you the way you desire to be seen on the Internet. You control your brand, good or bad.
Are you invisible as far as the internet searcher is concerned? Do you exist? If you are one of those people whose name does not appear when typed into the Google search bar, then you have some work to do.
However, inappropriate content circulating around the internet has been the reason of many missed opportunities and the ruin of many opportunities. Many stories are told of consumers doing a Google search before purchasing a product or service, only to find bad product reviews or customer service and even broken promises by salespeople found on Social Media sites or Blogs. Such cases seemed harmless at that time but if not responded to appropriately and in a timely fashion, can quickly become the end to so many opportunities.
Think before you post something on Facebook. Be sure and set your privacy setting properly to protect your very personal life from the eyes of potential customers. Better yet, if you wouldn't show it to your customer, don't post it. Consider carefully if that picture is worth a lifetime of worry?
It might sound conceited (and yet we've all done it!), but the best way to clean up any inappropriate content you've posted online is to search for yourself on Google. Who knows what could be lurking on your old MySpace page? Try Googling your full name alone, then add your current or previous employers to the search, where you live, etc. for a more thorough search. This way, you can see through the eyes of clients who may be searching for you online. With more awareness, you can anticipate their potential concerns.
Selling yourself is about putting your best face forward all the time. Every introduction, every social situation is an opportunity to build your business. While you might not feel like you need constant selling, the truth is that everything you do helps to build your reputation. Selling yourself is all about showing others who you are, and the trick is to present yourself in the best possible light. Prioritise the selling of yourself and you'll soon find it easier to sell your products and services. To find out more, you can check out How To Sell Yourself Online.
