It’s common to experience in life and in business that you’ll always encounter three types of people when selling yourself as a brand – your personal brand. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a coach, speaker, freelance, or consultant, we face various buyer personalities. First, those who trust you at first sight or at first meet. Second, those who take a bit longer to believe in you but in the end they do it on their own terms. Last but not least, those who are skeptical in almost anything you say, offer or no matter what you do. The latter type is the hardest to convince, but as a seller of your own brand, your goal is to know and learn how to navigate around these skeptics and even get them on your side. So, how do you sell your personal brand to doubters and skeptics? Consider the following tips.  

When selling to a skeptic you must cultivate and nurture a relationship between selling your product, creating sincere credibility, demonstrating what you offer, and showing that you know what you do. Let’s look at the following aspects.

Position Yourself as the Expert

One of the main reasons a person may be doubtful about doing any kind of business is because they believe that the person is not professional, doesn’t know about what they’re doing, or is an amateur. Not everyone wants to spend their time and money on someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, so it’s important to study and know the many aspects of your personal brand. Knowing your product or service’s main core, strengths, weaknesses and what makes you unique are essential in creating even more success with your personal brand.

In some instances, the lack of knowledge and preparation when you sell your personal brand to a skeptic who knows a bit more about your area of expertise can backfire. It can lead to some mistrust. Now, I’m not saying that you must know everything perfectly and 100 percent; however, having a deeper understanding and knowledge of the area of what you’re an expert on as well as what you offer – your products and services can position you as the expert in your market or niche. Often, it’s also about how you provide value as opposed to a hard sell in trying to convince a skeptic to purchase your program. Again, it’s about showing them that you are an expert in your field. And this leads me to the next point – selling with confidence.

Confidence Sells

It’s sort of pointless in knowing what you’re doing if you don’t have enthusiasm and trust in what you’re saying. In other words, when you try to sell your product or service and you don’t have the confidence, the passion and even adequate knowledge about the product, people may not take your word for it. They will see right through you. The same goes with a skeptic! 

For instance, if he notices a lack of attention or knowledge about the product the moment of conversing with you, he will take it as a lack of experience and will become less likely motivated to continue with the sale. It is necessary that you are sure in what you say, that you express yourself with passion and confidence, without falling into arrogance. It also doesn’t hurt to know your prospect as well as it will help you in the long run. If people notice that you know what you’re talking about, that you believe in your own words as well as you know your product/service, then there’s no reason to think you’re not an expert.

Be Honest

A skeptic will always believe that there is some negative aspect that sellers are not saying. You can use that to your advantage by being transparent with the details of your personal brand. It’s important to give the information regarding your brand, product or service because the skeptic will want to know everything as much as possible to be able to make the right decision to purchase whatever you’re selling. The idea is not to expose your brand as something deficient, but rather to mention some things that you could improve upon among all the benefits that you bring to the table and can deliver what you promised.  

Sincerity is appreciated by everyone. It shows that you are someone transparent and a person they can know, like and trust.

Know Your Client

The best way to know how to sell yourself to a person who has doubts about your personal brand is to know your prospect and to know their needs. However, try to limit talking about yourself and let the other person talk while you listen to their needs and desires. Ask about their interests, their challenges and think of solutions to help them.  In doing so, this will make the process of gaining their trust a bit easier.

The idea is to know your target audience, and this implies knowing what people are looking for or what they need. With that in mind, you strengthen your sales pitch and increase your chances of success.

Good Reviews

When someone is interested in a product, one of the first things they do is to verify the opinion of others, particularly online, about that product. And having reviews about you and the customer’s experience are beneficial for your personal brand. The more and better reviews you have, the more likely a skeptic will be sold. Or at least you’ve helped changed their mind about you.

If you have a blog or website, add a reviews section. If you have a Facebook business page – add this section to encourage engagement with your customers. If you have other social media profiles like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram, spark a conversation with your followers as well.  This builds the KLT factor – know, like and trust factor.

If you don’t have a website or blog (honestly, you should reconsider this as both are essential when it comes to growing your personal brand), you can ask your satisfied customers to speak well of you. Unfortunately, this effective strategy to improve a business owner’s brand is underutilized. It takes little effort to ask current and former happy clients to write a recommendation or review about their experience from working with you. Sharing these glowing reviews on your website, blog page or on your social media profiles speak volume!

Don’t be too Eager to Sell  

One of the fastest ways to annoy your potential customers and drive them further away from you is to constantly bother them with your sales pitch daily. Same goes with skeptics. If you have reached this point and the customer still has doubts about your personal brand, you can talk about how your product or service stands out from the rest. Investigate your competition, study what they offer and not offer and figure out solutions to improve where others are deficient. Essentially, you start thinking more about how you can provide even more value to your customers.  

Also, an honest comparison that shows why working with you or buying your product brings benefit that others don’t offer. Or at the very least, it explains how your product performs in comparison to the rest of the market, can change the opinion of even the most skeptical customer. But, again, don’t look desperate or don’t speak badly of the competition. Too much desperation can translate into lack of sales and customers may look at this as a bad sign for the business.

Prove Your Efficiency

Your personal brand has to deliver what you offer and demonstrate the benefits and results of your product or service well. Offering a free trial, offering guarantees and allowing the potential customer to relate with the benefits that can be achieved with your brand will make the sell smoothly.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, there is no magic recipe on how to sell your personal brand to a skeptic, but by following the tips listed here, your chances of conviction will be very high. In the world of personal branding, you are the voice of your brand and an innovator.  Continue to invest in bettering yourself, educating yourself and staying true to your vision, mission, and purpose of your personal brand. And dealing with skeptics will come easily. Good luck!

Hope you found this article helpful. Make sure to follow me under my name, Ires Alliston and spark a conversation on any of my social media profiles, website and/or podcast. Talk soon!