Sometimes when people ask me to explain how it works, that ‘helping nice people sell more’ thing, I tell them that I help people sell more because of their values, and not despite them.
By itself a simple enough statement, but it’s layered and it goes deeper than you might think. Here’s what it means – and if you are nice people, you might find it helpful.
People with high integrity, entrepreneurs who live and work by their values, are often the ones who most struggle to get their work sold.
Because you don’t want to be pushy, you don’t want to be salesy, or greedy, you don’t want to bother people, and you certainly don’t want to be scuzzy or manipulative.
In other words: your values come first, and they are not negotiable.
Well done, you’re officially a person of integrity, and I can get you the badge.
But. If you’re like that, you might be living with what I call the 'good-egg problem'.
Meaning: because your values matter so much, you actually make it less likely that people will say yes and give you money.
In such a case, your values become the actual reason that you don’t sell more, because while you do want to sell more, you don’t want to sell more in spit of your values. You don’t want to compromise on them.
Clearly a huge problem, because it’s exactly those values of yours that are the reason people ought to buy from you and not from somebody else, except now they’ve become the reason people don’t.
This is why Sales for Nice People exists, and why I write every day:
To show good-egg entrepreneurs that you can sell more, and earn more, without ever having to compromise on your values, so long as you serve more and make your very sales process and act of service.
So then how does that work – how do you sell more because of your values?
The answer is surprisingly simple:
You lead with values. You let them be your compass, you build them into your USP, you demonstrate them implicitly and explicitly, and, very importantly:
You seek to appeal to, and engage with, only those buyers who have values in common with you.
Do that, and you’ll instantly see selling get easier, and more fun.
If you make selling an act of service, you’ll sell more and earn more because of your values, not despite them.