In our last post and video, we talked about how we just got back from 2 weeks of flying Atmospheric Rivers with the Air Force out in Reno, NV. We made a few sales while we were gone during that time, but we still had a couple more sales to lock down and finish up once we got back!
One of our sales was a work from home desk that we delivered right after we got back and the other sale was supposed to be just a single coffee table! BUT - it turned into an entire living room full of custom furniture!! We're talking custom coffee table and multiple end-tables. The whole process ended up being a GREAT experience for us...but our eyes were really opened this week on why we hate sales.
Because even though we do sales....it doesn't mean we're pros at it....or that we even enjoy all aspects of it.
The desk we delivered was one of a few different designs we want to offer on our website. It's one of our "built to order", "customizable" pieces. We're so happy we finally got around to building it, because a lot of people are still working from home and may continue to work from home in the foreseeable future! Sounds like a great time to sell desks!
The delivery was so much fun, too! It's always so satisfying to see your piece of furniture go into somebody's room and really "make" the whole space! Also, any day I (Jennie) get to stage a room is a good day for me - I LOVE staging rooms and furniture.
We were definitely excited about this desk, but we were even MORE excited about the full living room's worth of furniture that we had just closed the deal on! We actually did our very first live stream on our YouTube channel this week as we designed all of this furniture in Sketchup. We plan on doing more live streams in the future, so make sure you have the notification bell turned on for our channel on YouTube so you can join us! This first live stream was a BLAST!!! Everyone hanging out in the chat/comments really makes it a fun time - we'd love to see you in there!
Closing the deal on this set of furniture was SO exciting - but it required me to do something that I fear. A sales call.
A few videos ago, we talked about how Davis and I were getting so busy that we had to formally separate our roles within the business - so now my focus is on sales and marketing. I (Jennie) still really DO NOT like sales. I also know I'm not alone in that. Lots of people dislike sales - even those who are good at it. There are very few people that thrive off of the sales process and convincing strangers to buy things.
So why is sales so hard?
Well, sales forces you to outsmart your own brain. It's not just you "outsmarting" the customer. Any weaknesses, fears, and insecurities you have (public speaking, talking on the phone, thinking on the spot, nervousness) are all dragged into the spotlight! They're now obstacles that you need to overcome!
And let's be honest, nobody likes seeing their own insecurities manifested in the outside world - so your brain is going to try to hide them from you.
For example, sometimes before I make a sales call, I get nervous and think of 1,000 what if questions...
- What if they don't want to talk to me?
- What if they ask a question I can't think of a good answer to?
- What if they don't like me?
- What if they sense that I'm nervous?
- What if I trip over my words?
The worst part of it is, I start to hesitate after thinking of all these questions...I procrastinate on hitting "call". My brain is trying to "protect" me from the fear of being shut down by a client. Unfortunately, hesitating is the worst thing I could do.
Doing SOMETHING is always better than doing NOTHING. Making an average sales call is SO much better than making no sales call at all. At least you get practice by making mediocre sales calls! You put in the reps! You LEARN from each call....eventually leading you to GOOD calls. Your business is not going to fail because you don't have a home run sales call every time. A Hall of Fame baseball player only has a .300 batting average. It only requires hitting the ball 30% of the time. Not 100% of the time....30%.
So, closing the deal on this living room set was actually pretty easy...the client was like the BEST customer ever! He knew exactly what he wanted, he gave us some creative freedom, and didn't try to nickel and dime us on the budget. It wasn't so much selling him on the phone as it was guiding him to his final decision on the pieces (which....is still a form of sales, actually).
But before I made this call...I told myself it wasn't a sales call. I told myself I was just having a conversation with somebody who was interested in our furniture. And even though he was a perfect client - this was still a nice easy base hit for me to grow my confidence in sales! I learned so much from it and walked away with a good experience.
Now I can take this confidence and the lessons I learned from this call into my NEXT few calls! The more reps I get in, the less scary sales will start to become.
Step up to the plate and just start swinging!
#woodworking #woodworkingbusiness #entrepreneur #farmhouse #farmhousemodern #design #Ash #furniture #furniture business #charcuterie #charcuterieboard #cuttingboard #realtor #closinggift #sales #marketing
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