Selling is the most important element of any business and ranges from selling online products to selling groceries. The success of any business depends on a strong, unique selling point and the correct attitude to sell. You might be a freelancer or a salaried employee; you cannot avoid selling, as it is the most important aspect of your business. While writers need to sell their work through their writing, designers need to sell their work through their designs. Therefore, everyone involved in a business is directly or indirectly a sales person.

People sell not only in their professional life but also in their personal life, although they might not be aware of this fact. And the one who sells better and sells efficiently wins the race.

The correct attitude towards selling is very important in the whole process. People fail due to their wrong approach towards selling. There are many examples where people of high caliber fail because their ability to sell is not good enough. On the other hand, there are people with little talent who reach the heights of the business world with the correct selling technique. Thus, selling is an important part of any business and cannot be avoided by anyone in the professional world. The idea of selling one’s work seems scary to everyone but it is not that hard. There are many books and articles in which techniques and ideas are given to capture the idea of selling. There are a few basic and simple protocols a person can follow to achieve success in the selling field. This article will cover them in detail.

Before going deeply into the steps to be taken to improve your selling ability, one important aspect that should be understood is your clients. In fact, what your client requires from you is more important than what you want to sell. If you pitch for unwanted or unnecessary things, your pitching will be meaningless. Therefore, the first step to be taken before selling is to understand your clients’ requirements and offer them what they need. For example: You write articles based on film making and photography, and you try to sell those articles to medical personalities. There are absolute rare chances for you to sell, even if you are a perfect salesperson. This is because your clients’ demands and your offer do not match up with each other. In one sentence, you are pitching to the wrong clients. On the other hand, if you are addressing selected medical personalities whose hobby is photography and film making, your selling might work. Thus, it is very important to understand your clients’ demands or you might spoil the chances of future success with those particular clients. Pitching without understanding your clients might lead to failure. Therefore, it is always beneficial to research your clients before jumping into any sales.

Many high-profile jobholders are scared of being a sales person because of the insecurity they have about their selling abilities. However, one can handle the prospect of selling very easily with some simple protocols. First, be responsible about your selling and be confident about it. When you are working as a freelancer from your comfortable space, the responsibility is even greater because as a freelancer you will be handling things alone and without much guidance. As you are a freelancer, you will be expected to be experienced at selling. Also, selling is the only way you can win a project rather than letting it go to someone else; therefore, it is a vital part of your job. Here are a few simple protocols to sell your work. These will be helpful for both freelancers and salaried employees. Before getting to know the dos for improving your selling pitch, let’s look through the don’ts of the subject.

Rise above the stereotypical ideas of selling. You don’t have to be over friendly and maintain your hair too much to impress your clients. Be gentle yet smart, and be friendly but not cozy. Avoid using any rapid-fire talk and an unusual accent because that might make your clients regard you as just another sales person. Also, your clients might fail to grab what you are trying to offer and reject you straight out. Therefore, understand the clients and try to impress them by using simple language that is comfortable but not too rapid. These are the don’ts for selling, and they should be avoided. People are aware of and meet sales people every day; therefore, a regular and typical way of talking and addressing them might not work. On the contrary, you might adversely affect your sales. Therefore, be innovative while selling your work. Now, let’s move on to the dos of the selling prospects.

Communication skills

The most important part of your selling is communication. Even if your work is very good but your communication skills are not excellent, you might fail to grab your clients’ attention. In the world of business, you can sell your work only when you are able to communicate well. Unless you speak up and speak well about your work, it will not reach your clients. People judge a book by its cover and in your sales your communication skills work like the cover. Until your cover (communication skills) is great, your clients will fail to read the entire book that is your work. Therefore, improving your communication skills is the most important part of your sales.

Communication skills include many factors such as your language, your style of addressing people, and your etiquette. You should have good control over the language you use in your business. Try to understand and get familiar with the dialect and accent of your clients. Talking in the same language and using the same dialect, along with a similar accent, will help your clients understand you better. However, do not overdo it, as this might look cheesy at times. Your way of addressing your clients should be friendly and not over friendly as mentioned earlier. You should offer your selling prospects with warmth and a frank attitude. Etiquette and table manners are very important and should be maintained. You need to be professional in your way of addressing people and presenting yourself. You should maintain the basic etiquette of wishing and talking while meeting any client. Also, your gestures and body language say a lot about your personality. Thus, communication skills are very important aspects of your sales persona.

Self-Confidence

Self-belief or confidence is another important factor for improving your sales. Unless you are sure of yourself, you cannot present yourself well in front of your clients. When you are selling a product, be confident about that product; then go and sell it to others. If you fail to convince yourself about your work, there is no way you can convince your clients. Also, if you are unsure about yourself even for one percent of the time, that one percent will be reflected in front of your clients. Therefore, it is very important to be confident.

When you are a freelancer it might be assumed you are already sure about your work and therefore you need to let your confidence shine through your work and what you say and do every time. Remove all doubt and fear about yourself and present yourself confidently. Accept your faults and work on them, but have absolute faith in yourself or else you will face trouble selling. When you are selling your work, have faith in your work and be proud of your accomplishments. And do not hesitate to let your confidence flow. The surer you are about your work, the better you will be able to convince your clients about it. If you are unsure about your work, you will never make your clients sure about it. You have quality work, be proud and confident about it, and go and prove it. This is the only way you can present your work.

Faith in the work

Aside from having faith in yourself, it is important to have faith in the work you are selling. You have to believe your work; then only can you sell it to your clients. If you are unsure about something, admit it but do not fake it because this is the only way you can be straight with your clients. You need to know your work in detail and understand it; only then can you make your client understand it. In this case, the work is harder when you are selling someone else’s product, especially if you are freelancing.

Suppose you need to sell a solution, you have to believe that solution before selling it to your client. You need to use it and see for yourself if it works and convince yourself before convincing your client. If you don’t use your solution, you cannot offer it to someone else confidently. You need to use it and build up your confidence in order to show that confidence in front of your clients. If you don’t use the solution, it will show in your body language. Therefore, first use the solution yourself and understand it in detail; then present it to your clients. If you don’t understand something, try to use it again and understand it because your lack of understanding will be visible in front of your clients. Below are the points you should follow while using a product before selling it.

• Treat yourself as a customer: While using a product, treat yourself as a customer and think from the customer’s point of view. Look at the product as per the customer’s requirements and use it that way. This will help you to understand how well the product serves the customer’s needs.
• Ask yourself questions: While using the product, ask yourself how the product is better than others, and what its benefits and defects are. If the product doesn’t serve a particular thing, ask yourself if that need is manageable or whether it is a necessity.
• Judge the product: After using the product, acknowledge its advantages and disadvantages and judge it from a customer’s point of view. If necessary, try to rank it out of some points.

All these will help you understand the product well and help you know it better from the customer’s point of view, and therefore you can market it well. It is important for you to understand the benefits of the product and make your clients understand those benefits. To sell your work you have to promote the benefits of your product confidently and convince your clients. Tell them about the benefits in a simple way. Don’t exaggerate and make up things. Present the benefits simply and realistically. If you are not sure about something, accept it. Do not make fake promises because that might create problems for you in future. It will get back to you, which will also spoil your relationship with the client and remove future prospects of sales. Therefore, promise only what you can offer and avoid fake promises. If you know about any disadvantages don’t make any fake promises to hide them because that will bring adverse results. Thus, try to present your product as you perceive it because your belief will be tested in front of the clients.

Research your clients

Researching clients is very important in sales. Unless you realize what your clients’ demands are, you won’t be able to address them. You have to research your clients’ needs and understand their demands to fulfill their expectations. Make a list of your clients, determine their demands, and evaluate them along with your work. Then present yourself for selling. The whole process depends on the clients’ demands. Your selling pitch will count only when your client needs your work and is satisfied with it. Thus, researching clients’ demands is very necessary to sell your work to them.

Accept Rejections

One of the most important facts to be accepted in the professional world is rejection. Accept your rejections and overcome them because rejections are just pebbles on the way and you can reach the destination only by crossing them. At first, it will be very disheartening to hear rejections. But you have to become strong enough to overcome such rejections. Sometimes there will be situations where you are very sure about your work or any product but you will still face rejection. You will be disheartened at such times but you need to understand that it is a rule of the professional world and there is nothing personal about it. During the initial stages especially, it might be more difficult but you will have to overcome rejections to succeed. You have to understand that acceptance and rejection are different sides of the same coin and you cannot avoid either of them in business. You will face both sides, so accept the fact that everything you sell will not be sold. It is said failure is the pillar of success, and in the sales world, this phrase is true.

Accepting rejection is the only way you can overcome it. Handle rejections professionally; do not be rude. Whenever you face rejection, accept it graciously and be polite even if you are turned down. This is the professional way of handling rejections. You should not forget your etiquette, even if you are turned down and are upset. This not just helps you feel better but also build a good relationship with your client. When you handle rejections professionally, it keeps your prospects open for future sales. You should never forget you might fail at pitching for a product but succeed with the same client for some other product. Therefore, be it sour or sweet, maintain a friendly and courteous relationship with your clients.

Good listener

While selling a particular product, you need to communicate well with your client. You have to understand your product first and then make your client understand that. But in this whole process, one of the important factors is listening. You have to be a good listener to be a good sales person. To sell something you need to first understand your clients’ needs and likes. And for this you have to listen to your clients. Listening to your clients will help you understand them better and help you pitch better. Communication should not be one way, therefore you should give your client equal opportunity to speak.

Be a good, active listener to your clients. Take time to listen to them. Try to understand their points of view and then make them understand yours. Try to propose work or products for them and don’t pitch much into selling or else you might sound too pitchy or cheesy. Therefore, be a good listener so you can offer what your client wants and succeed in selling your work.

Be innovative

There is no hard-and-fast rule to succeed in selling. You should follow the above-mentioned factors and try to be innovative in your way of selling. Every client is a different human being and the same regular way will not work for everyone. You have to be innovative in your ways of approaching and presenting to achieve success. If you are not succeeding with your ways, do more research on selling and selling prospects and try to implement different methods.

Try to read and research articles and Web sites and find out unique and better ways to sell your work. You might fail at times but, as mentioned above, accept it professionally and move on. Believe in yourself and try out ways to experiment in the process of sales.

These are the basic and simple protocols to sell your work. You can improve your selling prospects by following the basic points mentioned above, which can be summarized as: communication, self-belief, belief in the product, determining clients’ demands, handling rejections, listening well, and being innovative. These points will help you to deal with your sales professionally and help you improve your selling capabilities.

Selling is a conversation and you can succeed with it only when you make it a two-way process. It is like your client has a problem, which you discuss jointly, and finally you offer a solution. If your pitching is appropriate and your client accepts your solution, your work is sold and your selling has succeeded. Beyond all the simple ways, the major factor required to sell a product is its Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your work should have its own USP because you will sell your work or any product based on it. Your selling pitch depends on your USP. Therefore, try to identify the uniqueness of your work. There will be thousand similar works like yours, so you will only sell your work if it is unique in some way. Therefore, bring out your unique selling proposition, follow all the basic protocols, and you will be all set to sell your work.