The age of the sole trader

It seems that the UK is fast becoming a nation of sole traders.

At a time of cut backs, redundancies and limited options, more and more people are deciding to use their skills to go it alone.

Being self employed can be very liberating, but at the same time the associated ‘Jack of all trades’ approach isn’t easy, with a wide range of tasks such as book keeping, marketing and administration to name just a few. Luckily, we now we have many options of out sourcing, from social media consultants, web designers and even someone to answer your phone! I certainly encourage people to work to their skills, and outsource the rest- if we all work to our strengths we become more time efficient and there will be plenty of work for everyone.

But the one thing you can’t outsource as a sole trader is your sales process. If you have a passion for your product it is you that has to get out there and sell it.

“But I’m not a sales person!” Many sole traders put out an ad’ or two, maybe set up a facebook page and then sit and wait for their customers to come to them… When that doesn’t happen despondency sets in.

Time and time again I see businesses failing to get the trade because they don’t want to ‘sell’. Of course most sole traders don’t have a sales background and ‘Selling’ is often seen as a dirty word- being called a good salesman is no compliment!

However, you do have to get people to ‘buy’ your product if you want to make a living. That doesn’t mean you have to be pushy, you may just need to develop your skills. So what can non sales people do to generate more sales?

As a starting point, here are just 6 of my top tips:

Make a list. Who do you want as your clients or customers? As the saying goes; you will never have more customers than names on your list.

Prepare. When organising a meeting with a potential client, find out exactly who you need to meet with. It sounds obvious but when you have just spent an hour telling someone about your product, only to find out they are not the decision maker- you will wish you had taken the time to find out!

Build engagement. People buy from people they know, like and trust. Social media is fantastic for enabling this; building relationships and letting people know who you are.

Shut up!! And listen to what your customer needs. Help people towards a decision by asking good questions about what they want. You won’t get repeat customer by selling people the wrong thing.

“No” is just “not today- thank you.” 65% of customers say No before they say Yes. People’s circumstances change so keep the door open.

And finally… remember what your mom told you; If you don’t ask…

What very exciting times!