How to Overcome Your Fear Of Selling

Hesitant to sell products in your online business? Selling can be scary, but it can also transform your business! Check out these tips to overcome the fear of selling and turn your online business into a money-making machine!

In my experience, if there’s one thing bloggers are most afraid of, it’s selling.

I can totally relate! Selling is hard. And it can be scary! There are so many fears that come along with sales.

There’s the fear that if we start selling on our blog, all of a sudden we will transform into a pushy, slimy used-car salesman.

Or the fear that asking our readers to buy something from us will cause a full-on revolt.

Or the fear that what we’re selling isn’t good enough, or the fear that we’re not good enough to sell it.

And if we buy into all of those fears, then yes — sales is terrifying. Those limiting thoughts and beliefs will play over and over in a loop in our heads, telling us we can’t do it.

But here’s the thing — all of those fears? Those limiting thoughts and beliefs?

They’re not true.

And if we can change the script in our heads — and overcome the fear — all of a sudden, selling on our blogs isn’t so scary anymore. In fact, it’s pretty darn exciting.

But how, exactly, do we go from “scared” to “excited?” How do we overcome the fear of selling on our blogs?

How to Overcome Your Fear Of Selling

Only Sell What You Believe In

The first step to overcoming our fear of selling on our blog is to only sell things we truly believe in. Click to Tweet

The first step to overcoming our fear of selling on our blog is to only sell things we truly believe in. That means only creating or promoting products we truly believe can and will bring real value to our avatar.

Sales gets a bad rap because of the “used-car salesman” persona; the salesperson who will do or say anything just to make a sale. So naturally, we’re afraid that we’ll be perceived the same way.

But if we make a commitment to only sell things we believe in — things we use ourselves, things we’re passionate about, and things we know will truly help our audience — then we’ll never give off the used-car salesman vibe. When we believe in what we’re selling, that genuineness will come across to our potential customers — and make the entire process feel much less pushy or sales-y.

Whether we’re creating our own products or promoting affiliate products, it’s important that we believe in what we’re selling 100%; that way, when the time comes to ask for the sale, we feel confident the value we’re adding to our customer is equal to (or even more than!) the investment we’re asking them to make. That confidence of knowing we’re selling something amazing can make the sales process a lot less scary.

Don’t Sell a Product, Sell a Transformation

The next way to help us move through our fear of selling on our blog is realizing that we’re not selling a product. We’re selling a transformation. And when we focus on the transformation instead of the product, selling becomes a lot easier — and a lot less terrifying.

When we’re selling a product, a lot of times we get caught up in the features. Look at all these bells and whistles! There’s five modules, and 26 videos, and 10 worksheets, and a community, and OHMYGOSH LOOK AT ALL THESE THINGS YOU GET!!

And I totally get it. We spend so much time creating these products, of course we want to shout everything our customers are getting from the rooftops!

But the reality is, our customers don’t really care if there’s five videos or fifty videos. They don’t care about the product. They care about what will happen as a result of using the product.

And when we focus on the transformation — how the product will take them from where they are to where they want to be? It completely changes the game. When we truly believe in our product (like we discussed earlier), we also believe in the transformation — all we need to do is get our customers to believe in it too.

When we sell a transformation, selling isn’t so scary anymore. We’re not selling a product. We’re selling a way to change our customers’ lives for the better. And what’s so scary about that?

Reframe From “Selling” to “Serving”

So much of our fear comes from the way we look at selling. So, if we can change the way we look at selling, we can change the fear that comes along with it.

Instead of thinking of what we’re doing as selling, why not think of it as serving? Because when we sell products we believe in, that’s what we’re doing. We’re serving our readers by introducing them to a product that will help them or make their lives better in some way.

What if we don’t believe our product serves our readers? If it’s not something we truly believe in? Then it’s not something we should be selling. But if we’re passionate and excited about how what we’re selling will completely change our readers’ lives? Then it would be a disservice not to tell them about it.

If we can make the shift from “selling” to “serving,” letting go of our fears around sales will be much easier.

Don’t Make Assumptions About Your Audience

“This product is really expensive… I can’t ask my audience to pay this much! They can’t afford it!”

Sound familiar?

I think we’ve all wrestled with this fear at one time or another. We worry that whatever we’re selling — whether it’s five dollars or 50 dollars or 500 dollars — is too much of an investment for our audience. And that by asking them to make that investment, we’ll make them feel bad, turn them off, or push them away.

But here’s the thing: we have no idea what kind of financial situation our audience is in. Maybe they can afford it; maybe they can’t. But either way, we have to remember: all we’re doing is presenting them with the choice to buy. We’re not saying, “You HAVE to buy this.” We’re saying, “If you WANT to buy this, here’s your opportunity.” We’re not forcing their hand in any way.

When we stop making assumptions about our audience and what they can and can’t afford — and remember that we’re not forcing them to do anything — it becomes easier to present them with a sales opportunity.

Remember: People Value What They Pay For

Another helpful tip for overcoming the fear of selling?

Remember that people place more value on what they pay for.

So many of us think, “I just want to help people! I should give everything away for free.” And while I totally understand that line of thinking, it’s just not true.

If we really want to help people, they need to value what we’re giving them. And if they pay for it, they’ll get more out of it — and we have the opportunity to make an even bigger impact.

Sell With Pride

It takes a lot to move through the fear of selling on our blogs. And it’s a process! It’s not like we throw up one affiliate link and watch the sales come rolling in.

Most people need to be exposed to a sales message a few times before they’re ready to make a purchase. Maybe they missed the first blog post we wrote about our new product. Or maybe they think to themselves, “This sounds great! I want to buy this,” but then get distracted and forget.

The point is, if we want to be successful with selling on our blog, we need to be clear, and we need to be persistent. Click to Tweet

The point is, if we want to be successful with selling on our blog, we need to be clear, and we need to be persistent. We need to keep on selling. The good news is, the more we sell? The less scary it becomes. Often, the best thing you can do is just get out there and start selling. You’ve got this!

Are you struggling to overcome the fear of selling on your blog? Or have you been able to conquer those limiting beliefs? If you have any other tips on how to get comfortable selling on your blog, share them with us in the comments!