Compassionate Sales – An Oxymoron Or Perfect Marriage?

 

I wonder if like me you’ve ever struggled with the idea of selling?

I used to be someone who avoided ‘sales’ at all cost and so I originally built up my business by working as a training consultant through organisations who ‘sold’ what I offered to their audience. It was great – all I needed to do was turn up and deliver. And once I’d worked with enough clients, I found my diary filled through referrals.

However when I chose to give up most of my training consultancy, it was like starting a new business – and my uneasiness around sales came up again. Only this time, having far more experience and knowledge about business, human psychology and how to overcome emotional and mindset blocks, it wasn’t long before I discovered how to love marketing and ‘sales.’

It was while writing the chapter on Compassion in my forthcoming book Heartatude – The 9 Principles Of Heart-Centered Success that I realised ‘selling’ is just another way to be compassionate:

  • You see being compassionate is about taking action to ease someone else’s suffering.
  • The purpose of marketing is to provide solutions to other people’s problems – and letting them know how you can help.
  • Sales is simply about helping others work out whether what you’ve got to offer is a good fit for them – and if so, to invite them to buy from you!

When you think about sales in this way, not letting people how you can help them seems selfish!

So while your intention may be to be kind or to make a difference to others, giving in to your ego and negative programming around sales could be having the opposite affect – at a cost to you and them.

Why lose out to love when you could be enjoying the perfect marriage?

Because as soon as you decide to embrace the possibility that ‘selling’ could be a way to help others, and that you can do this AUTHENTICALLY and in a way that FEELS GOOD, you will find it easier to sign up more clients – once of course you’ve mastered the skills to do this!

People have been asking me to share how to do this and so my latest training course – The Compassionate Sales Formula was born in 2014.

If you’d like to find out more, I invite you to sign up to my free report 25 Ways To Sign Up Clients Without ‘Selling’ – this is packed with tips on this topic. You can sign up HERE.

I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts – please do share your comments below.

Alisoun signature

Alisoun Mackenzie is The Compassionate Business Mentor, Author, and Speaker who inspires business owners and social entrepreneurs to turn their passions into profits and make a difference in the world. 

She is also the author of two Amazon Best Selling books Heartatude, The 9 Principles of Heart-Centered Success and Give to Profit: How to Grow Your Business by Supporting Charities Social Causes.

Alisoun is also the founder of The Heartabiz Hub a business network and training academy and has written the following free ebooks:

  • The 9 Secrets to Signing Up Clients Without Selling (click here)
  • 101 Ways To Attract Great Clients, With Heart, Integrity & Social Impact (click here)
  • 52 Ways to Raise Funds for Charities and Social Causes Through Your Business  (click here)

You can connect with Alisoun here:

  • Alisoun Mackenzie Facebook Fanpage (for tips on authentic living and business mastery) – click HERE
  • The Heartabiz Hub Facebook Fanpage (for details about our courses and events) – click HERE
  • Give To Profit Facebook Fanpage (tips on supporting charities and social causes) – click HERE

The Power Of Exciting Goals

It’s really exciting to have a dream or an idea – but how do you turn this into reality?

Setting and embracing heart driven goals is a great starting point. And there are two ways to do this – one is to set yourself a ‘realistic’ goal that you are confident about achieving. Or you can set yourself a humungous goal that seems mad or scary yet excites you. There is no right or wrong. What’s more important is that you set yourself goals aligned to your vision and that tap into what motivates you and energises you, so you feel compelled to act.

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It’s Good To Put Yourself First Sometimes…

I wonder if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, lacking energy or unhappy about the results you’re getting?

Over the last six weeks I’ve been suffering from a virus that has resulted in me spending a lot of time sleeping. As someone who is active and always doing things, giving in to my body has been a challenge. But eventually I recognized this as a nudge to stop and make some changes.

As a consequence I’ve committed to myself to re-establish daily habits in 2014 that will put me in the best place to feel good, be happy and healthy. One of these is to exercise in a way I love each day and last week I decided to watch the film Choice Point while on my running machine – I am so glad I did!

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Could detoxing your business help?

One of my favourite times of the year is the first day I see lambs playing in the fields. But I also love the colours and feelings of letting go in the autumn. It’s a great time to prune away the old so you can flourish and grow more radiantly when spring arrives again. Detoxing your business to get it more aligned to the life you’d like to enjoy every day, and your business goals, is something you can do any time of year.

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What’s Love Got To Do With Business?

For too long the focus of many businesses has been about survival of the fittest; trying to out-smart the competition as though there is not enough business or money to go around; measuring success only in terms of profit with little consideration for social impact; and trying to convince consumers that they have a ‘need’ for what the business wants to sell rather than creating products and services that are in the best interest of the customer.

Thankfully however, times are changing and there are an increasing number of heart-centered visionaries who are leading the way with more authentic, generous and socially sustainable ways of doing business. In his book Screw Business As Usual, Richard Branson talks about his philosophy of ‘Do good, have fun and the money will come’. This is certainly the approach I strive to adopt and I encourage others to do the same.

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Overcome Your Doubts & Fears To Transform Your Business!

I love how we have this amazing feedback mechanism in our own bodies, to help guide us through life – letting us know what’s good for us, what’s working and what’s not. And that’s is your feelings.

Because your feelings are a reflection of what’s going on in the power house of your unconscious mind – the part of you that is driving what you do and how you do it. So if you’re feeling any resistance, fear, worry, anxiety or doubt in relation to your business, this is simply your body letting you know that there is a belief you have that is hindering your success. And the good news is that your can chose to think and feel differently – if you want to…
 

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Are You Wasting Time And Money?

I wonder if you ever ask yourself any of the following questions:

  • How do I find more clients?
  • What’s the right price (for my services)?
  • Which social media platform should I focus on first?
  • How long should an ebook/newsletter/book be?
  • Which product should I develop first?

These are just some of the questions I’ve been asked by clients this week and there is one answer that I say again and again as a starting point for all of these – quite simply, it depends who your ideal paying clients are.

There are many people who can give you their opinions (and some very valuable tips on what to check out) but the best people to get to know well, before you make these decisions, are those that you’re looking to help or serve with your products/services.

Because being clear on who your ideal clients are has an impact on the answer  to all these questions. Only once you’ve defined (and researched your ideal clients) will you know where they are (so you can ‘find’ more of them more quickly); what price they are willing to pay; which social media platform they are on; what content to include in ebooks / newsletters / books and which products or services they want, need and are willing to pay for.

So please, please, please if you haven’t defined your ideal PAYING clients yet, make this a priority. Because if you don’t, you’re likely to be wasting lots of your time and money – developing products and services that won’t generate the cash to provide your ideal life.

Matching your passions and skill sets to what lots of your ideal clients want, is one of the core foundations for earning good money doing what you love and making more of a difference to others.

If you’d like help with this, check out my Jumpstart Your Business Programme – there are two modules that specifically covers this. Click here to find out more.

I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts – please do share your comments below.

Alisoun signature

Alisoun Mackenzie is The Compassionate Business Mentor, Author, and Speaker who inspires business owners and social entrepreneurs to turn their passions into profits and make a difference in the world. 

She is also the author of two Amazon Best Selling books Heartatude, The 9 Principles of Heart-Centered Success and Give to Profit: How to Grow Your Business by Supporting Charities Social Causes.

Alisoun is also the founder of The Heartabiz Hub a business network and training academy and has written the following free ebooks:

  • The 9 Secrets to Signing Up Clients Without Selling (click here)
  • 101 Ways To Attract Great Clients, With Heart, Integrity & Social Impact (click here)
  • 52 Ways to Raise Funds for Charities and Social Causes Through Your Business  (click here)

You can connect with Alisoun here:

  • Alisoun Mackenzie Facebook Fanpage (for tips on authentic living and business mastery) – click HERE
  • The Heartabiz Hub Facebook Fanpage (for details about our courses and events) – click HERE
  • Give To Profit Facebook Fanpage (tips on supporting charities and social causes) – click HERE

5 Reasons Why Businesses Fail

Having helped many business owners set up in business over the years, I’m always saddened by all the talented and well intended people I meet who are frustrated, disappointed or stressed that their business isn’t working out as they’d hoped – whether this be that they’re not earning enough money, don’t have enough business or are doing things they don’t enjoy. And it’s often easy to identify the key mistakes many of these business owners are making – I wonder if any of these apply to you?

  • Not having and following a business plan – if you don’t have a vision for your business or action plan you’re following each day/week, it’s likely that you’re wasting time and money doing and you’re less likely to create the lifestyle you want. By simply taking a couple of days out to do this, you could significantly transform your success.
  • A lack of focus and action on what will generate cash – unless you’ve another source of income, it’s important to focus on activities (in terms of product/service development and marketing) that will have the greatest positive impact for you and the people you want to serve.
  • Not being clear on who your ideal clients are – one the most critical factors that determines how long quickly you could build a successful business. Only when you’re clear on your ideal clients can you develop products/services that provide solutions to their problems and use the ‘right’ words in your marketing. It’s much easier to help a defined market than try to help everyone.
  • Avoiding sales – giving in to the fear of not wanting to come across as a pushy sales person. The reality is that unless you learn to embrace and enjoy sales or work collaboratively with others who will refer a good stream of business to you – your business is not likely to succeed. There are so many ways to do this, there’s bound to be something that will work for you.
  • Giving in to negative thoughts and emotions – it’s your emotions that drive what you do, how you do it, how others perceive you and ultimately whether people will buy from you. So it’s critical to learn to manage your emotions so you can embrace a calm confidence in all you do.
And another one…
 
  • Not learning how to succeed at business – I really do meet so many kind-hearted and passionate people who want to make a difference to others, but the reality is that they are not making the difference they’d like to make because they don’t know how to succeed at business. And yet it’s just another set of skills to learn.

So if any of these apply to you what can you do?

If you’re ready to take action to turn your business around, why not sign up to my Jumpstart Your Business Programme – that is available as an on-line Webinar Programme or 2 day workshop. Click here to find out more.

I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts – please do share your comments below.

Alisoun signature

Alisoun Mackenzie is The Compassionate Business Mentor, Author, and Speaker who inspires business owners and social entrepreneurs to turn their passions into profits and make a difference in the world. 

She is also the author of two Amazon Best Selling books Heartatude, The 9 Principles of Heart-Centered Success and Give to Profit: How to Grow Your Business by Supporting Charities Social Causes.

Alisoun is also the founder of The Heartabiz Hub a business network and training academy and has written the following free ebooks:

  • The 9 Secrets to Signing Up Clients Without Selling (click here)
  • 101 Ways To Attract Great Clients, With Heart, Integrity & Social Impact (click here)
  • 52 Ways to Raise Funds for Charities and Social Causes Through Your Business  (click here)

You can connect with Alisoun here:

  • Alisoun Mackenzie Facebook Fanpage (for tips on authentic living and business mastery) – click HERE
  • The Heartabiz Hub Facebook Fanpage (for details about our courses and events) – click HERE
  • Give To Profit Facebook Fanpage (tips on supporting charities and social causes) – click HERE
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