One of the most important decisions I made for my business was to start selling products (“Wow what a revelation Chris. Create a business that sells products – you’re a genius” is what you are probably thinking).
Sarcasm aside, this decision applies to all aspects of my business from the Kindle books I write about marketing, to the software products I spend tens of thousands of dollars developing and the products I’ve created in other non marketing niches.
I wasn’t always comfortable selling and most certainly not in the beginning.
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Why are you too afraid to sell?
There are a number of reasons that might prevent you from creating and then selling your first product – in whatever niche – and from my experience almost every reason for inaction is internal and thus more easily changed.
When I started…
1. I was afraid that the first version of my product wasn’t perfect
2. I was afraid that people wouldn’t want to pay for what I created
3. I was afraid that once people bought the product they may not like it or me
4. I was afraid that people would be upset when I tried to sell what I created
Rejection – that’s what we all fear. From our friends, our family, our customers.
The reality that will set you free
1. The product doesn’t have to be perfect with 100% of every feature you ever wanted. You can always improve it later.
2. You’re right, some people won’t buy what you’ve created. Focus on the people that do buy.
3. Yes a small group of the people that do buy won’t like your product. Take any feedback they provide then give them a refund and wish them luck.
4. Yes a small but sometimes very vocal minority of people will be annoyed when you try to sell them something – regardless of how you approach your sales process.
These freebie seekers believe that you should work for free but simultaneously believe that the work that they put in at their 9 – 5 is worth being paid for.
Should you inform these people that your work wasn’t created by unicorn farts* and pixie dust? No. Instead, simply ignore them.
They aren’t your customers and they never will be your customers. Who cares.
Haters always gonna hate
I love this meme because it’s so applicable for so many situations in life, but that’s really what it boils down to.
No matter what you create, you can’t please everyone.
No matter how you approach your sales process someone will hate it.
Then down the road when some people see your success (no matter how big or how small the success) they may hate you.
Spoiler alert: They just hate themselves
It doesn’t matter.
When you create your first product just focus on pleasing the customers that do buy your products while providing them as much value as possible.
What can happen if you do decide to start selling
Or
Just sell.
*My good friend Nick introduced me to “Unicorn Farts” he knows who he is hah hah…
I’m guilty has charged. I’m afraid to sell. I guess I’m mostly afraid to fail which is stupid I know. But still scary as hell.
Duno if it’s just an excuse, but in time I’ll have to do it otherwise the dollar bills will keep passing me by and not sticking in my pocket.
Cheers
I think deciding what you want to sell is the first step and then going from there. Ideally what to sell is a natural progression of your existing websites. i.e. I built Easy Azon as a result of being annoyed with how long it takes to make manual affiliate links and I had my website where I talked a lot about Amazon affiliate marketing so I had an early customer base.
Solving a problem that you’re annoyed with is a great way to start.
I’m extremely amateur. I would feel scared selling because I feel stupid compared to the pro’s out there. Outsourcing an ebook sounds perfect. I’d feel confident selling since it wasn’t stupid me Lol. I’m not actually stupid but feel it when it comes to ecommerce
Ultimately everyone starts somewhere and you’ve gotta make a decision to put yourself out there eventually 🙂
I love your stuff. You are always frank and motivate us to move on.
However, your blog posts are thinner nowadays. Can write more and guide us along the way?
I’m waiting for your paid surveys experience. Any other fast way to make money?
I’m just trying to write more and on whatever topics I feel are based on what I’m personally learning and what others can learn from as well. I mean I’ve written less than 10 posts in the entire 2013 year. I am working on more blog posts and I do already have the results from the survey website. I’ll update that soon…
This is mind blowing. Yes I certainly have second thoughts on selling. But with your point of view I guess that you have to turn the picture on the brighter side of selling!
LOL! Thanks for this encouraging thoughts on selling! A little push and I think I would try one!
I found and “kingged” this on the Internet marketing social site – Kingged.com
Do you have full time VAs? Or do you put up fixed price jobs on VA sites?
Not right now. I have a part time support staff but I pay him much more than a typical VA as he is customer facing and has a lot of skill in software testing, QA and analysis.
Hi Chris,
It would be very cool to hear about your process into outsourcing your ebook. How you choose a writer, price ranges, times lines, hiring a graphic designer for the cover and pros and cons you experienced.
I have a site and wish to provide my audience with a companion ebook but will do research first into the costs of outsourcing it versus completing the project myself.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Sarah
Hey Sarah,
I thought about doing something like that. I want to get my Kindle income (from outsourced books) up to like $5k a month then I may do a full on course showing every single thing that I learned start to finish. I’ll probably do a blog post about it as well.
Chris
excellent article Chris! As a salesman all my life… I know very well that most people fail at sales because of fear of rejection. If you can just look at sales as a numbers game… and expect to fail much more than you succeed, you will find that you can still have a ton of success.
I always try to look at my closing ratio like baseball. If I can close 35% (or bat .350) then I can be in the hall of fame!
Good point Adam thanks for commenting 😀
Being afraid of something means being not prepared or unsure of what you’re going to do. Preparation and extensive planning is the key to selling. Another is planning your strategies for a sure win result.
This is a very great article. You’re right about why so many people are afraid to sell, including myself.
I like this line in particular: “No matter what you create, you can�t please everyone.”
Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Hey Chris!
You hit the spot buddy. Almost everyone is afraid to sell and of course– of rejection too! This post of yours contain information that would certainly motivate people to let go of their fears and start selling. If the content does not do it, your Paypal screenshots definitely will!
This is a post to be shared!
Good job!
Rob