Ladies, It Is Time To Know Your Worth!
In this article, I want to address the most common challenge I hear from my female clients around the sales process, asking for the business, aka, the CLOSE…
Does this sound familiar?
You are a female entrepreneur, a creative, and you have built a business, serving a particular niche. You feel good about your products and you have even gained some traction on social media. BUT when it comes time to close a customer or ask for the business, you freeze. Your mind goes blank, you begin to get really nervous, and the confidence you had moments before, goes out the window.
If you can relate, you are not alone…
When you look at the very recent history of women in business, it is clear that it is a man’s world. Until recently women have had to “act like a man” in order to be successful. I felt that pull during my 20 year sales career. The difference is I found the courage to stand up, ask for what I wanted, and most importantly, I did it my way…
I am not sure why. Maybe it was being raised by a single mom telling me, “Jana, you don’t need a man to do anything,” or her personal favorite, “Jana, it takes an incredible man to be better than no man at all”…ughh, eyeroll…
Now, let me be clear, I do not identify as a feminist, and I don’t even necessarily believe these ideas I was raised on, BUT it did help me embrace my femininity in the business world, and it gave me the courage to ask for what I wanted.
Whatever the reason, female entrepreneurs struggle to ask for what they want. We must overcome this in order to achieve success in the business they desire.
Why do women (female entrepreneurs) do this?
From hundreds, if not thousands of years of putting ourselves last. It stems from being the family martyr, slaving over housework and dinner, making sure the kids were taken care of, AND more recently, working a full-time job. At the end of the day, there has been nothing left for us, we have sacrificed our own self-love, self-care, in the name of trying to do it all.
We now have entered an age where we are beginning to know better. We hear many successful women say, “Put on your oxygen mask first!”
Many of us know things are changing, but we still have some deep-seated beliefs that hold us back from asking for what we want. This mindset is what will ultimately make or break your business.
What is holding you back?
Do you feel guilty asking for what you want, does it seem selfish to put yourself first? Take some time with these questions, really think about this…
As female entrepreneurs, it is time to give yourself permission to put yourself first. The more you value yourself, the more you will feel this value in your business.
Once you reach this inner state of self-worth, asking for business becomes very natural. Stand in your own truth knowing that what you have to offer another can truly help them.
When you know this deep down, there is no reason to get hung up on asking whether or not they want your services.
Can you begin to see how these two ideas are connected?
I like to think of it as the self-care upward spiral, the more we take care of our inner self, the more we value our outer self, the more we value our outer self, the more others will as well.
Success is an inside job…
If you want to be better at asking for the business and closing a potential client, you have to start with what you believe about yourself on the inside. The only way to know what that is is to prioritize the time you spend with yourself, aka, self-care.
Over time in practicing this self-care routine, you will value yourself more.
Reprogram yourself to see the necessity in asking for what you want and also believe that you deserve it. This will transform your business persona as well.
Become the confident female entrepreneur that your business needs, and you will not hesitate to ask clients if they want to work with you. It will feel natural, like the next logical step.
When you begin to truly value yourself from the inside out, even when a potential client says no, you are no longer afraid of this response. Your self-worth is no longer tied to the outside world and that mindset shift is priceless.
If you would like more help making these types of internal shifts, come over to jananiksa.com and check out my online course: “The Connection to Close”. This is a step-by-step process of both inner self-discovery, applicable sales fundamentals and finding the balance between the two. Become your butterfly!