Since I’ve kept myself company for 4 months (along with all my phone and zoom friends), I’ve become acutely aware of the conversations that are going on in my head.
If I’m visiting my community garden spot, I’m thinking:
We don’t often notice that what we’re thinking impacts not only our mood but our actions (or lack of action). We do this in business and in our personal lives. We make up stuff about other people and their intentions. One book I read years ago called it “intention invention”. We invent other people’s intention and it’s usually a negative intention we make up. Not only that, we are highly inaccurate when we do it. We can even think it’s true, but it’s just something we created in our heads. I find this to be very true for people selling their services. We make stuff up when we don’t hear back from someone. Usually, what we make up is negative in some way and takes us out of action (ie we don't call them again). With clients, I’ve found that a lot of what they make up is not accurate (and negative). When someone doesn’t call us back, usually all it means is that they have a lot on their plate and they’re busy. The one project you’re trying to forward with them is just one of a 25 flying at them on a daily basis. It could actually serve them if you followed up, see if they’re interested or not, or if they need more information. It’s important to stay in action and notice what takes us out of action in order to create what we want in our lives. For more about how we stop ourselves from taking action, check out my latest video here on LinkedIn (Please comment or share if you find it useful) or on my website here. This time with ourselves and life in a more isolated way can reap many benefits, even though it’s not what we had planned for our summer. I’m offering a course Selling Your Services through Authentic Connection beginning September 8th. Find out more details here. Please share this information with those wanting to grow their business in this new world we’re in. How I’ve spent the last 90 days:
Looking at the prospect of 8 weeks in my house by myself (which I thought sounded like a very long time way back then!), I offered a course to the Maine Coaches Connection on Selling Your Services through Authentic Connection. I know how I learned to sell my services. It took lots and lots of practice. It was also sitting around a table with my colleagues and learning with and from each other. I saw a lot of coaches and consultants struggling because they avoided sales, but they were good coaches or highly effective at whatever service they provided. I could see a need there. I want to support people to sell services aligned with their gifts and talents so that the delivery of those services is completely fulfilling to them. I offered the course for 8 weeks. Ten people showed up and generously engaged with me in my inquiry of how to not suffer in sales, but serve others, and learn to be natural promoting your services. The experience has been not only healing (having come from an organizational environment where sales targets involved a lot of pressure and fear), but it helped me design a course to address where people get stopped in sales. Here is what participants have said: “Today was especially powerful for me. I really like the call to action…to put it out there and hear your experience sprinkled in! Thank you, Kerry. Your class may just be the lifeboat I need.” “Kerry Walls is a master at helping people transform their often unconscious and unhelpful interpretations around sales. She has personally contributed deeply to my understanding of what service oriented sales really is and how to challenge my old thinking around it. I highly recommend working with Kerry to anyone who struggles with feeing authentic and being able to effectively sell your services.” I’m exploring how to promote this course in an authentic way. I’m not a fan of how I see courses promoted on line: "earn oodles of money", "build a 7 figure income in two weeks", etc. These offerings set unrealistic expectations and maybe a limited number succeed. Many coaches and consultants, however, just want to get in the 6 figure range, contribute to others and build a successful business. I’m offering this course beginning September 8th. Find out more details here. Please share this information with those wanting to grow their business in this new world we’re in. Stay well and stretch yourself into what calls you. Your contribution and gifts are needed now more than ever. |