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Signs your sales skills need a little bit of polish and shine are:

• You talk with prospects about your offer, yet, many don’t buy (leaving you frustrated)
• Prospects don’t get excited or motivated to buy what you’re selling (causing your self-confidence to slip away)
• Anytime you must talk with a prospect in a “sales conversation” setting, butterflies seem to take flight in your stomach

If you experience any of these frustrating symptoms, I have three strategies to help you:

1. Increase your confidence selling

2. Become more successful communicating with prospects why they should invest in your products and services

3. Gain commitment and close more sales, thereby increasing sales and income

Sales Skill #1: Qualify Prospects Fast to Avoid Wasting Time

One resource that is not renewable is time.  Therefore, you want to make sure you’re not wasting time meeting…talking with…emailing…and creating proposals for unqualified prospects.

To quickly qualify prospects, you must create a list of criteria describing whom you will, and will not sell to.  Think about your target market’s demographics, such as age, gender, education, income level, etc. If you’re selling B2B, think about company size (revenue and employees), age of business, industry, etc.

Also, consider such criteria as:

• How they make buying decisions (fast, slow, who all is involved)
• Is there a budget (to solve the problem you have the solution for)
• Is there a sense of urgency to solve the problem

This may sound simple to do.

The truth is a lot of homework goes into creating your ‘Ideal Prospect Criteria.’  Creating this criteria allows you to size up a prospect fast, and help you make a decision quickly if this prospect is one you’re willing to invest time with, or refer elsewhere.

Sales Skill #2: Motivate Prospects to Buy

If you have a qualified prospect to sell to, now, you have to motivate them to want to buy from you.

Prospects don’t need your services until they discover they have a problem.  The timeframe from first discovering a problem, to seeking a solution, can take seconds, or years.  Once a prospect gets motivated enough to seek your help, it’s up to you to help them discover you can solve their problem better than anyone else can.

You accomplish this by asking them thoughtful questions that “bring their pain to light,” and having them voice to you in their own words how this problem is affecting them personally, and in their business.  Also, revealing how their problem affects them emotionally—how they feel— is a powerful and necessary step to motivate a prospect to say “yes” to your offer.

Sales Skill #3: Build Rapport

Having rapport with your prospect is an essential ingredient in a successful sales process.  Being in rapport with someone makes them feel comfortable to be with you, which makes them more open to sharing their problems, and what type of help they are seeking.

To build rapport you can mirror the other person’s behavior.  This includes matching:

• Speech patterns and rhythm
• Body position and movements
• Personality style, and current mood

For example, if you are having a sales conversation with a person with a direct, “get-to-the-point” personality, you will want to be the same way—direct—and not dilly-dally with lots of small talk, risking making them impatient, frustrated, and disinterested in what you have to say.

BONUS Sales Skill: Gain Incremental Commitments

Eliminate “cheesy” sales closing vocabulary from your repertoire.  What I’m talking about is “going in for the close” by asking questions such as, “Would you like that in purple or pink?” or “If I can show you how this will help you will you buy today?”

Lines like these are outdated, and are what make many people feel they’re being sold to, which is a turn-off, and a sure-fire way to lose a sale.

Learn how to ask for incremental commitments from the beginning of the sales cycle.  Always be asking your prospect during contacts with them if what you’re talking about interests them, and if they want to continue the conversation.  By doing so, you are continually asking your prospect’s permission to continue the conversation.  If you’ve ever been victim of enduring a sales conversation that was beginning to sour, you’ll understand how respectful of a behavior this is to do.

Constantly seek permission to continue a sales conversation, and get your prospects saying “Yes” to you incrementally along the way.  Then, when you ask if they’d like to invest in working with you and your services, they’ve already been primed to say, “Yes.”

Remember, prospects only care about how you can eliminate a problem they have, and help make their business or lives better.  Using these sales strategies will build your confidence, and improve your sales skills so you close more sales, increase your income, and become a sales star!

To learn how to increase your sales skills, how to raise your fees 20-40%, and get more clients to say “Yes” to your offers (as well as gain access to word-for-word templates, scripts, worksheets and tools) visit http://bonitarichter.com/raiseyourfees/

As women entrepreneurs, it is naturally in our hearts to want to help others. That is why many of us start businesses, so we can help others be successful by offering the knowledge, skills and experience we’ve gained.

Unfortunately, as women, we may also have been told while growing up that money isn’t something women or “good girls” talk about, and it is a masculine trait to desire money. This upbringing is part of the money story that many women grew up with, and then subconsciously women push money away, by not allowing it to flow into their life. Examples of how this may show up in our life are by:

• Not charging enough for our services (or giving away too many of our services away for free)
• Harboring feelings of lack of self worth
• Having a fear of alienating someone by earning more money or facing disapproval

By brushing money away, you diminish your power and your ability to help others. An important point to note is you can keep pushing money away, be less successful (or poor) and help a few people. Or, be more successful, richer, and have the power to serve many more people. Which would you like to choose? Helping a few people, or helping many?

Remember, money only amplifies who you are.  It doesn’t take anything away.

Another way to think about how money helps you, help others, is to imagine four concentric circles; one small circle nestled in the middle of three larger circles:

• In the very center circle, or the core, is YOU

• The next largest circle is your FAMILY (whether it bY ’blood’ Or another group of people you consider family)

•  The next largest circle is COMMUNITY

• The next largest circle is the WORLD

You have to earn enough money to take care of yourself, before you can have enough money to begin helping your family, then your community, and then the world. This goes back to my earlier comment that you can either help a few, or help many people. The only way you can help many people is by making sure you are taking care of you, first. Money helps build your power and strength so you may help others with your special gifts and talents.

Having money isn’t being selfish, greedy, or masculine. It is the medium women will use to leverage their feminine power to infuse a loving and graceful spirit into the universe, and help others.

My challenge for you this week is to draw those four concentric circles, which include you, family, community, and the world, and write down how you will help each of those groups when you step into your power of bringing more money into your life.

To learn how to price your services, raise your fees up to 40% or more, gain confidence, and improve your sales skills to increase your income check out my new workshop, okay?

You may not have thought about this before, but the truth is you are programmed to earn a certain amount of money. And, you won’t earn more unless you consciously break through this money barrier.

Many influences have made us this way, the main influences being our family, and society. Most of these influences are born out holding a traditional JOB, and what a person will earn doing a particular job.

The problem is this mindset doesn’t take into consideration the opportunities and rewards that are present for entrepreneurs. The result is many entrepreneurs, subconsciously, are programmed to earn a certain amount of money, and have a hard time rising above this amount.

For example, say you had a job, and the most you ever earned working at this job was $60,000. Once you hit an income level of $60,000 in your own business, most likely you magically become stuck, and can’t seem to get your income to rise higher. This phenomenon occurs because $60,000 is your comfort level, and what you are programmed to earn from previous experience.

It’s important to adopt the mindset of an entrepreneur who is seeking opportunity by investing in a business and planning to create additional income for the risks by being in business. The reason an entrepreneur does this is to create wealth. Otherwise, why be an entrepreneur to earn the same amount of income as when you had a job? The risks aren’t worth it.

So, it’s up to you to consciously reprogram you subconscious, and adopt a mindset to earn more money and become wealthy, which is your birthright by taking the risks of being an entrepreneur.

Following are 3 powerful tips for creating a money mindset to break through into your next level of money and income potential:

Tip #1: Hang around people who make more money than you do

We tend to be like the people we hang around with, so make it a point to spend time with people who are successful, and reaping financial rewards. By spending time with successful people and achievers, you will learn their attitudes and behaviors that contribute to their success, and adopt them for yourself. Pay attention to what they think, read, what organizations they belong to, be introduced to individuals in their network, discuss money with them, learn how they do business, and even consider joining a high-level mastermind group. Get used to hearing “big money numbers” talked about, and you’ll find you’ll become more comfortable with these larger numbers. If you hang around people who cry the financial blues all the time, their influence will only bring you down, and not help you rise. So, think about the type of person you want to connect with, and where you can find them.

Tip #2: Play with larger dollar amounts

What I mean by this is practice saying aloud the dollar amount of the income you want to earn in your business. To start, say aloud the dollar amount you are earning now. How do you feel about this number? Does it make you feel excited, or doesn’t it have any effect on you? Now, double the amount you are earning now. How does this number make you feel? If it has no effect on you, double that number and say it aloud. Keep practicing and playing with saying money amounts aloud until you reach a point where you begin to feel a bit excited, and maybe even uncomfortable with the dollar amount; this is a stretch income level you want to strive to achieve. Any discomfort you feel signals you’ve reached a dollar amount that is outside your comfort zone, and you’re probably pre-programmed to earn an income less than this amount. Your income level will stay stuck here unless you consciously break through this money glass ceiling. So, become aware of this amount, and challenge it frequently, say every 90 days, to keep upward pressure on your income amount.

Tip #3: Break limiting money beliefs

We are a product of our parents, and most likely have inherited their money beliefs—both supporting and limiting. In my work as a coach, I have been surprised at the number of people I’ve worked with who’ve expressed to me feelings that earning more money means they will become greedy, are a “bad person,” or are not worthy of earning more money. Some people have told me they just “want to earn enough to get by.” This is very sad, because their parents didn’t realize they were establishing a money legacy that was limiting their family’s future financial success. Give yourself permission to earn money, create wealth, and be financially successful. Know that by earning more money, this gives you the power to care for yourself, your family, clients, community, and an ever-expanding circle of people who are influenced by your gifts and power. Making more money is easy if you consciously adopt a belief that you are capable, and worthy. The only amount of money you’re limited to making is the amount you decide upon yourself. Follow my money tips, and you’ll find your self-worth and net worth increase!

Watch for details about a workshop I’m leading to help you raise your fees up to 40% AND how to convert 80% of prospects into clients, watch for details soon!