As a coach, you often have to don several hats to perform multiple, sometimes disparate roles in order to bring about the results that your clients want to achieve.
But one role that many coaches often forget about is the role of a salesperson. Quite simply, you need to be good at selling, but not in the common notion of the word.
A coach must be good at “selling,” because they need it — to build their business, to deliver tools that help clients attain goals, to increase awareness on coaching, and so on.
Take away all its negative connotations, and selling will come out as a critical skill set if your goal is to create meaningful connections and help other people achieve their personal and professional goals.
As author Daniel Pink says in his book “To Sell Is Human”: This is what it means to serve: improving another’s life and, in turn, improving the world.
In defense of selling
It is no understatement to say that consumers have grown wary and weary of different forms of advertising. Online or offline, consumers are simply not interacting with advertisements in a meaningful manner. Online, consumers do not click on ads. Some even install ad blockers.
Right or wrong, people have associated sales and marketing with deception and double-talk, with companies pushing for products or services that people do not really need. In short, marketing professionals are often viewed as people who will do anything to earn money.
But that is an impartial view of what sales and marketing are. In an ideal scenario, marketing and sales are all about making genuine connections with people. And that genuine connection can only be established if you are willing to listen and talk.
Sound familiar?
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