How To Sell Yourself? | Consultative Selling Skills

Everybody has heard, more than likely at an induction course, that what you have to do is go out and sell yourself. But very few people are actually taught how to sell themselves. We all agree that it is very important, but how is it done?

The answer, of course, is to be interested in other people. Ask questions and get people to talk about themselves. People quite naturally are interested in themselves. In all reality, it is their biggest interest of all! If you don’t believe me, imagine a family wedding or a Christmas gathering. All the family are together, somebody produces a camera, and the family group photograph is taken. Two weeks later you get your print. Who do you look for first? Grandma? Auntie Mabel? No, you don’t! You look for you; and you look terrible! To be interesting you must first be interested.

In getting other people to talk about themselves, notice their environment, pictures on the walls, any indication of hobbies, sports and so on. Now I am not suggesting that one should be smarmy, but I am suggesting that people are truly fascinating and that if you approach every meeting thinking, ‘I am going to like you, and you are going to like me’, the right chemistry can be engineered. It is also quite extraordinary how much you can find in common with the most unlikely people. You meet somebody for the first time at a party, and you discover that at one stage you both lived in the same town or even the same street. A bond is created which can develop into a relationship.

The simplest things can act as a glue. So do attempt to find some common ground and remember another great principle of selling, people buy people. None of us does business with a person we don’t like if we have a choice. If there is no choice then of course you have to complete your transaction, but we all prefer to do business with people we like.

So sell yourself. Be interested in people and find the common ground, and you will build a fantastically loyal customer base that will enable you to achieve a profit and your customers to achieve value for money.