Easing the Pain of Selling

One of the most difficult concepts for health and fitness professionals is to consider themselves as ‘sales people’.  Their training and predisposition to help people achieve recovery, health or new goals is an overwhelming drive.  Selling is completely underwhelming and often seems at odds with the notion of ‘helping people’. 

After struggling with this conflict for most of my physiotherapy career I came up with a strategy that gives an opportunity for the client to initiate the enquiry.  Once over this hump the whole process simply becomes another way to help them. 

Those of you who have attended my Biz Fizz workshop will know the secret already, and I know from your feedback that it is working for you.  For the rest of you: if I could tell you a way to overcome your discomfort with selling, would you want to know it?

There you go.  You now know the secret.  It is the sentence in purple!  Simply adapt it for the situation, for example:

  • If I knew of a product that might improve your recovery would you like to know about it?
  • If I could show you a program that would allow you to achieve your fitness goals more quickly/conveniently/fun would you be interested?
  • If I could show you how the benefits of a higher membership level would improve your outcomes, would you like to know?
  • If I knew of a nutritional supplement that brings more bang for your dollar would you like to hear about it?

So there it is: a simple strategy that invites the client to seek your professional opinion on a product or service that they have given you permission to tell them about.  All you do now is tell them, answer their questions and let them make a purchasing decision based on their perception of  benefits vs costs – also known as VALUE.

One of the most difficult concepts for health and fitness professionals is to consider themselves as ‘sales people’.  Their training and predisposition to help people achieve recovery, health or new goals is an overwhelming drive.  Selling is completely underwhelming and often seems at odds with the notion of ‘helping people’. 

After struggling with this conflict for most of my physiotherapy career I came up with a strategy that gives an opportunity for the client to initiate the enquiry.  Once over this hump the whole process simply becomes another way to help them. 

Those of you who have attended my Biz Fizz workshop will know the secret already, and I know from your feedback that it is working for you.  For the rest of you: if I could tell you a way to overcome your discomfort of selling, would you want to know about it?

There you go.  You now know the secret.  It is the sentence in purple!  Simply adapt it for the situation, for example:

  • If I knew of a product that might improve your recovery would you like to know about it?
  • If I could show you a program that would allow you to achieve your fitness goals more quickly/conveniently/fun would you be interested?
  • If I could show you how the benefits of a higher membership level would improve your outcomes, would you like to know?
  • If I knew of a nutritional supplement that brings more bang for your dollar would you llike to hear about it?

So there it is: a simple strategy that invites the client to seek your professional opinion on a product or service that they have given you permission to tell them about.  All you do now is tell them, answer their questions and let them make a purchasing decision based on their perception of  benefits vs costs – also known as VALUE.