Most freelancers hate sales.

It’s not the part you pictured when you were daydreaming about sitting at the beach with your laptop on a Monday morning.

When I first tried pitching my services…

I. sucked.

Imagine cringe, then 10x that.

I was super nervous. I had no idea what I was trying to say. My confidence was in the toilet.

One call was so bad I literally hung up halfway because I was shaking so much.

That was my intro to sales.

Every cell in my body wanted me to give up and walk away from this torture.

This is not for me.

And guess what? I almost did.

Who knows where I’d be today if I had. Probably still working on someone else’s dream.

Thankfully, I realized I had to suck it up.

Getting better at sales was the only way I was going to grow my business.

I had to improve. Simple as that.

But how?

What can you do to improve your approach to sales, and your success rate?

I’ll share 3 fundamental mindset shifts that will make it much easier.

Mindset Shift #1: Believe In What You’re Selling

Sales 101: you can’t sell something you don’t believe in.

People can sniff doubt or BS a mile away.

So start with the question: WHAT am I actually selling?

Here’s the thing: if you believe a website, or marketing services, or whatever you have to offer clients, is just a commodity - something they could pick off the shelf anywhere - then that’s what you’ll be putting out there.

But, if you believe your services can really help a business grow, then you’ll believe you have real value to offer your clients.

When you believe in the value you’re offering - a solution to someone’s specific problem - it won’t feel like you’re trying to ‘sell’ them something.

Rather, you’re doing them a favour by offering a solution to their problem.

Mindset Shift #2: Be Prepared For Rejection

Next, you need to manage your expectations.

To succeed in sales you need some scales. As in tough skin 😛

Most clients will say no.

They’ll reject you.

Some may swear at you.

That’s people.

(Unfortunately they’re your only customer base).

So, are you going to give up?

No.

Just keep telling yourself this is normal.

It happens to every single business selling something.

Most interactions are going to be negative.

Just accept it and keep going. At some point you’ll strike gold. But not if you give up at the first (or second, or fiftieth) sign of resistance.

Mindset Shift #3: Don’t see every lead interaction as a pitch

If you treat every interaction with a lead as an opportunity to pitch them, you’re setting yourself up for failure (and annoying the heck out of them).

You just need to treat it as a conversation.

There are 2 things you need to know:

1 - how their business is performing (current goals and struggles/pain points).

2 - if your services can provide a solution to improve things.

If yes, then send a proposal.

If no, then move on.

These 3 simple shifts have helped me massivley improve my sales mindset and success rates.

I hope this helps.

If you want more advice with sales and setting yourself up for success, this book by Rob O’Rourke is good:

$1,000,000 Web Designer Guide

That’s it from me this week.

Cheers!