Sales Challenges: When You Don't Feel Like Selling

I hear it more than you’d think: “I can’t sell. I don’t want to sell. I hate sales …” followed by the inevitable kicker. “… but I need to grow my sales. What do I do?” So, just so I understand this: You need to grow your business. You need more sales. However, you don’t want to have to sell. OK, after a deep, cleansing breath and a serious eye-roll, let’s talk about how to thread that needle.

Though we say we might love the job of sales as a whole, that does not mean we love the act of selling specifically. It is confrontational. We are, more often than not, interrupting people when we call. Not every customer is nice to us. Not every deal goes our way. There is no shortage of frustration and anxiety. And you’d better not be into instant gratification, because that’s not going to happen, Skippy.

While the job of a salesperson provides freedom to run your day, income in proportion to one’s success, and the chance to solve a problem with a creative solution, there is still a seemingly endless amount of rubber-meets-the-road work required to get to the top of the mountain; work which is less than fun.