Soul Proprietor - Hustle hard but don’t be desperate

I was at an event a few years back when I observed a woman “working the room.” She was approaching strangers with a trained smile and hungry look in her eyes. There was little time for small talk. Once the introductions were made, she launched into her sales pitch.

The faces on the other people were telling. Smiles quickly dropped as eyes darted around the room for a reason to exit the conversation. She didn’t seem to notice. Or, if she did, she didn’t care – and only came in harder.

I watched her anxiously shove her business card into their hands while also taking theirs. Later on, I heard through the grapevine that she added these people to her mailing list without permission and began emailing them to hard sell her latest program.

UGH.

While I have to commend her hustle, the energy was every shade of wrong.

She came off as pushy and, judging from the looks of the people she cornered, unpleasant. This may be a “sales technique” but frankly, it’s old skool and not elegant. It’s desperate.

Here’s a better way of thinking: instead of leading with your sales schtick, why not form genuine relationships? How about actually being interested in the other person for a change? Why not view them as people first instead of a potential sale? What might it look like if you asked them questions and were truly engaged instead of instantly launching into talking about whatever it is you’re selling?

Look, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to promote the heck out of your class/service/book/tarot deck/new product/coaching program/etc. You need to get people interested enough to buy. It’s expected that you’re going to want to let people know what you’re selling.

But you can hustle hard without being desperate. And that begins by genuinely putting relationships before the sale.

Blessings,
Theresa

PS I wrote about another event where I watched a dude do this same thing – my advice comes straight out of Magic Mike! Ha ha!