I had a really great conversation with someone last week about the challenges of selling yourself to another person. For a lot of us, it’s not a comfortable thing to do. People can come to us. That’s fine. We can audition. That’s ok. But to actually tell someone about our voice over services… or offer them… well, many of us struggle.
We don’t want to annoy people.
We don’t want to bother anyone.
It’s Not Negative
For some reason the idea of selling has such a negative connotation to it. Just hearing the word makes some people cringe. And therein, I suppose, lies the problem. We’ve distorted what selling really is.
In it’s most basic and purest form, selling something is about meeting a need.
- When you need food, you go to the grocery store. They sell it to you.
- When you need clothes, you go to Walmart (or wherever). They sell them to you.
- When you need a car, you visit the dealer. They sell one to you.
Buying and selling is one of the most basic acts of daily human life, and in most contexts, we don’t see it as bad. We like our cable and mobile phones and big screen TV’s and fancy computers and Neumann microphones (not that I have one or would know, but people that have them sure do seem to like them!)
All of those things were sold to us. And we didn’t mind. So why do we struggle so much with selling ourselves?
Why Hide What You Do?
When we’re having lunch with someone, chatting with someone we’ve met somewhere, or are introduced to a business owner, we hesitate to tell them what we do. Sometimes, even if we know they could use our services, we’re still slow to speak up.
Why?
We have no problem buying products, services and brands on a daily basis. All of which are sold to us. But we can’t seem to champion our own product, service and brand the same way!
You Meet A Need!
People have a problem. They need a voice over.
You have the solution. You provide voice overs.
It’s a win, win situation. So why hide from it? Why hesitate? Wave that flag high and proud! You’re a voice talent and you provide voice overs and you want to meet needs. You want to solve problems.
Whenever you can solve someone’s problem you’re not going to annoy them. You’re not likely even going to have to “sell” to them, because they already want what you’ve got!
So get those business cards out there. Drive those people to your web site. Click “send” on those emails. Stopping seeing selling as a bad thing and start seeing it for what it is… solving people’s problems. Meeting people’s needs!
QUESTION: Do you struggle to sell yourself? Or is it easy for you? What’s your secret?
