How to sell services without being pushy
In my practice as an award-winning business coach, I’ve worked with many entrepreneurs over many years. A recurring worry I hear from them is the fear of being too pushy when selling their products or services. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of aggressive or insincere sales tactics, then you’ll know that it’s an unpleasant experience. Of course, you need to promote yourself to secure new business, but you don’t want to do so in a way that seems too ‘salesy’. It is a balancing act, but the good news is that your sales technique doesn’t have to be aggressive to be effective! Learning how to sell services without being pushy is entirely achievable with the right mindset.
Here are my top tips to make a sale without being pushy:
Build a Rapport
Selling ultimately revolves around the ability to build genuine relationships. One of the main reasons your potential customer has come to you, a small business owner, over a large faceless corporation, is that they value the understanding and level of care you can give them once you’ve built that personal relationship.
Taking the time to establish a connection with someone before presenting your offers demonstrates authenticity, which customers appreciate. It’s off-putting when it feels like someone is only interested in your money, so it’s important to make sure your potential clients never have reason to feel that way.
If you try to proceed with a sale without first building a rapport, many customers will be sceptical of you and whatever you’re selling. After all, how can they be assured you have any understanding of how they work and what they need? Even if you make a sale, the likelihood is that they won’t become a repeat customer, because loyalty is something that grows out of the trust built by having a rapport with one another. Customers are more likely to buy from someone they trust and feel understands their unique circumstances.
Here are some simple ways to build rapport:
Be Yourself
Building trust with customers starts with being genuine. While maintaining professionalism, let your personality shine through when interacting with customers. Your customers will never trust you if you seem disingenuous with them. It is always better to be yourself than to try to create a false persona when building rapport. Authenticity breeds trust, and people are more likely to connect with you on a personal level.
Make a Good First Impression
Starting with a friendly and interested attitude sets the stage for building a rapport with customers. The best way to establish trust and empathy with someone is when they can see that you are friendly and genuinely interested in them. If you come across as cold, distant, or irritated by them, it will be impossible to build a meaningful connection.
Remember Their Name
This may seem basic, but remembering a client’s name, and pronouncing it correctly, shows that they matter to you and helps build trust and effective communication. Ditto for knowing and respecting their pronouns.
Selling services without being pushy is an art that revolves around establishing genuine relationships. Building rapport is the most crucial part of the sales process, so don’t overlook it.
Actively Listen
Everybody likes to feel heard. Listen carefully to your potential clients. What do they need? What unique challenges do they face? Can you identify their current pain points? They have a problem, and you have a solution. But it is only when you’ve fully listened to and understood their concerns that they’ll feel assured that your solution is right for them.
Active listening means giving your full attention. Use non-verbal cues to show that you’re listening, for example by angling your body toward them, maintaining good eye contact, and nodding when they speak.
Ask questions that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” This shows that you’re interested in what they have to say, and it helps you fully understand their specific needs. For instance, instead of asking “So, you’re looking for a new [insert whatever service you provide]?” you could ask “What has brought you to me today?” Open-ended questions like this encourage your clients to open up, build a connection with you, and it makes them feel that you genuinely want to understand their needs, not just make a quick sale.
While potential clients need to know about the services you offer, make sure you don’t talk more than you listen. This is because listening is a great way to connect with clients and shows them that you’re focused on helping them, not just making a sale. Bombarding a potential client with your full sales pitch before listening to what they want is overly pushy and makes you seem insincere.
An added bonus to this approach is that when you focus on asking open-ended questions and then listening to their responses, you may often find that they realise they need or want what you’re offering, without you having to do the hard sell.
Know your Superpower
By superpower, I mean what is your unique selling point? What is it about your business, or your specific product or service, that differentiates you from your competitors? Why should this potential client choose you over them? If you are unsure about this, it will make selling your services without being pushy infinitely harder! When you know your value and are confident in what you are selling, there is no need for aggressive sales tactics to close the deal. You position yourself as the expert in your field, so why wouldn’t potential clients choose you?
The best way to figure out what makes your business stand out is by being clear on what niche you serve and what problems they are likely to face. Ask yourself these questions to begin the process of finding or creating your unique selling point:
- What do you do that’s different to your competitors? Be specific.
- What unique benefit do you bring to your target market?
- How can you niche your target market in a way nobody else can or will?
- How does what you do solve the problems your target client has?
Figuring out, and being able to explain, what your unique selling point is to potential clients will be the reason they choose you over your competitors. No pushy sales pitch is necessary!
Offer Value First
Before asking for a sale, offer something of value first. This approach creates goodwill and will show your dedication to helping your prospects.
Free Consultations: Always strive to offer a no-obligation consultation to truly understand your potential client’s needs and provide them with tailored advice.
E-books and Guides: Create downloadable resources that address the common challenges your prospects face.
Harness the power of social media
There are many great benefits of social media for business, and the ability to sell services without being pushy is one of them. Think about it: you have a platform where you can explain exactly what you do, how you can solve your target client’s problems, and an easy way to get in touch with you, all without being at all pushy.
The beauty of social media is that you can deliver your sales pitch to a captive audience, and nobody feels pressured. If they aren’t interested, they can scroll on. It is far less intrusive than other forms of marketing, such as cold calling.
Social media offers a unique platform for selling services without being pushy due to its ability to foster direct connections with users and engage them in a more personal and interactive way. Stay consistent and purposeful with your posts. Be sure to engage with your audience, provide value, and build relationships. You will find that this naturally leads to sales with no need for coercion.
Use Soft Selling Techniques
Soft selling is about guiding the client towards making their own decision rather than pushing them towards a sale. Here are some of my favourite techniques:
Ask Questions: Instead of making direct statements, ask questions to guide prospects to consider the benefits of your services. Focus on how your services solve problems and improve situations, rather than just listing features.
Know When to walk away
If you’ve taken the time to build a rapport with potential clients and actively listened to them, you’ll likely have a pretty good idea of whether they are genuinely interested in what you offer. If the person isn’t interested, it’s okay to move on. You don’t need to sell to everyone to be successful. Knowing when to walk away will free up your time to work with someone else who will use and benefit from your solution.
When you allow yourself to move on from that relationship respectfully and professionally without being at all pushy, both parties can walk away feeling positive about the interaction. You might not have made this sale, but there’s a much higher chance that they might end up referring other people to you in the future.
Finally
Learning how to sell services without being pushy is an art that revolves around establishing genuine relationships, building rapport and providing value to potential clients.
By implementing the strategies in this blog, you can build strong, lasting relationships with your clients while effectively showcasing the benefits of your services. Also, you’ll create a positive, respectful sales process that resonates with potential clients and fosters long-term business relationships.
I’m confident that you can start selling in a way that feels good to both you and your customers. So, get out there, and start selling!
If you would like to discover more effective strategies for selling your services without being pushy, BOOK A FREE 30-minute CONSULTATION with me and schedule a time that suits you directly in my calendar.
