If you have a business and expect it to succeed, you have to learn to promote yourself. But that age-old stereotype of the pushy salesperson gets in the way for a lot of people, me included.
What do you think of when I say “pushy salesperson?” If you’re like most of the people I know, it’s the stereotype of the use car salesman. That guy on late night tv yelling at the camera about all the great deals he has for you. No one wants to be that salesperson, and it’s a big reason why selling gets a bad rap.
But here’s the thing…
You’re not that person. And if we’re being honest here, most used car salespeople aren’t that person either. There are ways to promote yourself and your products without having to resort to being a pushy salesperson.
Here are 6 ways to promote yourself without being pushy:
1. Deliver what you promise
If you’re going to provide a product or service that you’ve described fully (and you should always describe everything fully), then it’s on you to deliver what you promise to your customers.
This is where knowing your audience can be a huge advantage. When you know the intent your customer and what they are expecting you can make sure you’re delivering what they expect. When they read your sales page, and hit the buy button, they should get exactly what they expect and more once get to the download page.
2. Create quality products
The products you create or the ones you promote as an affiliate have to be of top quality. When you know your products and services are what you say they are, it should be easy to promote yourself because you know you’re telling the truth.
The same goes for affiliate products you promote. If you take the time to review the products and develop a relationship with the product creator, it’s a lot easier to promote without feeling pushy because you can share your own experiences with the products.
3. Emulate a salesperson you respect
If you’re not sure how to promote yourself without being pushy, it’s a good idea to find a mentor that you can look up to. Choose someone in your niche that’s not a direct competitor, and follow them, taking note of what they do, how they structure their sales letters, etc.
4. Share quality content with your community
You can promote yourself and your products without being pushy by focusing on sharing quality, relevant content with your community. Informing them of issues and problems that your products and services provide solutions for is a great way to sell without really selling.
When you prioritize providing value, selling becomes a natural extension of the process. (But don’t provide so much value that you leave yourself nothing to sell!)
5. Focus on funnels
One way to ensure your sales process is not pushy is to build your sales and marketing funnels with the right balance of content and information at the right time. Again, this is where knowing your audience can have a huge impact, because you will understand your customers’ intent and where they are in their buying journey.
When you stop and think about it, the buying journey really is self-guided. It’s your job to put the right information in front of them at the right time, to aid them in choosing your products to provide the solutions they need.
6. Control what you can control
If, as we just mentioned, the buying journey is self-guided by the customer, then you really have no control over what they decide. The only thing you can control is how you create your marketing flow and funnels, and the attitude with which you present the information to them.
Using ethical, well-written content, providing products and services you know can help, and just being yourself in your interactions with customers will all help you to promote yourself without being pushy about it.
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to become the stereotypical used car salesperson or use pushy sales strategies to be successful in business and with self-promotion. Self-promotion is more about getting the word out about what you do and have done than anything else. Share great content, do good work, and above all be yourself! You’ve got this!
