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Sell Yourself First

Guest post by: Terri Levine

Article Overview: People do judge books by their cover and people by their appearance and first impressions. If you want to sell anything, first you need to sell yourself.

Sell Yourself First

People judge the message by the messenger. It doesn't matter if the service or product is the best on the market... if the person "selling" it doesn't measure up...

Here are some tips to help you sell yourself successfully.

* Remain positive. Tell yourself you can do it and keep reminding yourself that you can until it becomes second nature. Your self-confidence shows itself in your bearing, your expressions, the words you say. People have more faith in confident salespeople - it reflects on the product or service they represent. Take deep breaths and just have faith that it will go well.

* Be yourself! Okay, not everyone is going to love you - that's the way things are, but nobody likes a phony. People trust and respect honesty and integrity... regardless of the type of personality behind it. You don't have to be Miss Popularity - you just have to be sincere.

* Dress the part. People DO judge you by your appearance. You don't have to overdo and look like a Vogue model - if you try too hard, you risk being suspected as phony. You need to be clean, neat and professional - that's all.

* Don't hard sell - putting the hard sell on people often comes across as desperation, and to many people it's annoying and off-putting. If the product/service is that good, it will sell itself, and it isn't realistic to think that every person you meet is ready to buy when you want them to.

* Be careful with small talk - or avoid it. Busy people don't have time for it and will find it annoying. Let your customer be the guide, and by all means, if they wish to exchange in some light banter, join in - but keep your opinions to yourself. Don't make assumptions about your prospect's tastes or beliefs and this way you'll not say anything wrong or clash with them.

* Look and listen - what are your gut feelings about this client? Don't be so busy talking that you miss all the important signals.

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Article Tags: appearances, first impressions, marketing, sales, sales person, selling



Related Forum Posts
Your advantage over others - Sell using your USP - unique selling proposition. Why should people buy from you, instead of your competitors? Think about it, why are you so great? It may be a hard question, but finding the answer can multiply the effectiveness of any advertising or marketing activities you undertake.
Re: When do entrepreneurs retire, if ever? - Why would you ever retire when you love what you are doing? Sell the business and start another one maybe - but retire - NEVER! You should all read, The 4 Hour Work Week - By Timothy Ferris. He talks about building your business so that you can take mini 'retirement's throughout your life, instead of saving it all up for when you are old. Great concept - what do you think??
Re: SES Toronto - Day 1! - ...oh and even though it's 21 secrets, why do you have [quote:1gz722fe]Tip #22: Use Your Thank You Page to Sell[/quote:1gz722fe] on your blog? Are you holding out on secrets or are you adding your own? Hope to see you at the next conference!
Re: Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must; - Thanks Jason I was overseas during the Hippie Generation (but i understand according to you, we have not completed that generation) I just don't see the long hair, bare breasted flower children and open drugs as I understand was so prevalent then or I haven't been looking in the right places. OFF THE CHAIN got me? As to sex and age, I always prefer to see a warning to others, especially minors A question for you, "With so much FREE sex, videos, pictures, stories as such available on the interest, readily accessible to all - Why does SEX still Sell online?
Some online business suggstions debunked - 2. Sell photos on stock photography sites --- I tried this, couldn't even get in the front door. But then, I'm apparently a lousy photographer... However, if you do get in, I think you only get something like 25 cents a download... 8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services ---I've been an Amazon associate for a loooong time, selling books, and business has been lousy since the beginning. Nobody reads anymore...I do get a few DVD sales every now and again... but frankly I make much more money though Google Ads on my site. It took several months for that to build up, but now as my website has more readers those ads are starting to pay off, whereas there's been no corresponding jump from Amazon ads on the same pages...


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