As it's Sales & Marketing month in The Connection Exchange, I was thrilled to have Ashleigh Hoult, Founder and Director of the PromoDonna as a special guest on eXchanger TV this month sharing 5 Tips to help you sell with Confidence in your Business. The PromoDonna is a Melbourne-based sales and marketing firm that creates high-quality B2B sales leads and meetings through cold calling and prequalification for their clients.  Ashleigh has a passion for training both individuals and organisations, showing them just how to optimise their success during their business development and selling time.

As you can imagine, finding a woman that LOVES to sell can be a tall order but Ash is one such woman and therefore an awesome person to talk about this topic in-depth! If you're ready to sell with confidence in your business then here are 5 key tips to help you along the way! One that I'll be implementing is visualising the outcome of when it comes to my sales!! Nothing like building on the law of attraction when it comes to sales!

Enjoy the interview and I'd love to know in the comments below what you're major sales or selling barriers are and if you have any questions then leave them below and we'll be sure to answer them!

1// Identify who your target market it

We hear it all the time but many business owners find this a really hard question to answer.  Knowing who your product or service is focused at and what problem you are trying to solve will help you to find the RIGHT clients who want what you have and it will make it much easier to do business with them.  By knowing who you're speaking to or what types of businesses or people will also help you to know who the decision-maker is and be able to ensure you're prepared for objection handling along the way.   Questions like which locations you will service also means you can be prepared for any additional costs, time zone requirements etc as you continue to grow your business.  Identifying your target audience will really allow you to focus and not try and be everything to everyone which can confuse your audience.

2// Master your Mindset

When it comes to confident selling in your business, you have to be aware of your mindset and your mood when you're engaging with your audience, customers and clients.  It does affect their perception of you and your product and service.  When you're about to spend time creating sales funnels in your business or engaging with people then think about how you can get yourself in the best mind frame to deal with them in a positive and energised way. If you need to get some music on or go for a run or walk or do whatever it is that really gets you going, then try and take some time to do that, it will make all the difference to that person's experience of you.

Having clear goals of what you want out the conversations that you're having with prospective clients is important as well.  Write down what you want to achieve and then put it in the past tense so that you're stating what you think will happen by the end of the day.  Visualization is one of the most powerful things we can use when it comes to creating change and action for ourselves and in our business. You can check out the great interview I had with Stephanie Demetrious on How to Change your Thinking to Achieve Great Things in your Life & Business  or seem my earlier post of The Practical Girls Guide to The Law of Attraction, both great for getting your head around the power of your own mind and filtering out all the noise to achieve what you want!

3// Perfect your Elevator Pitch

Now whilst many people hate the ‘elevator pitch' it's really about being able to succinctly describe your business and what you offer.  Just have a couple of sentences on who you are and what you do but it needs to be interesting and engaging.  Think about what makes you different from your competitors.  In order to be able to do this, you actually need to know who your competitors are and what they do.  Hopefully, you feel that there is differentiation in your business and you know what that is so that you can talk about it with ease and conviction.

4// Ask Key Questions

“The person who talks the most in a sale is the one who looses”.  At the end of the day, people want to know what's in it for them, but you can't understand what the issues are if you don't ask key questions and then listen intently to their answer.  Also, don't ask the question ” Is this something that you would be interested in?” as it's just an opportunity for someone to say no.  Saying that you're not always going to get a yes.  There will be people who say no and it may be because your offering is not right for them which is a good thing.  You need to work with people who you can help and who ‘get' what you do.

5// Get your Pricing Right

Come up with pricing that works for your business. Once you know where you want to sit with the rest of your competitors, you can then also price at the right level to attract the right people to your business.  If you focus on building an audience of people who don't want to pay the price for your goods and services then it's not going to be a sustainable business model for your business. Don't undersell yourself and what you do.   Price is also a perception of quality so ensure your pricing reflects the quality of your products.  If I see that you're offering the same thing as 2 other people in the market but your price is 1/10 of the price; the first thing I may think is “what's wrong with this product”, “what am I not getting that I'll get from the other person”.  The fear that you're buying something 2nd best because the price is too low can mean people decide not to buy from you as well.

Ashleigh Hoult is the Founder and Director of Melbourne-based sales and marketing firm The PromoDonna. The business creates high-quality B2B sales leads and meetings through cold calling and prequalification for their clients. Ashleigh has a passion for training both individuals and organisations, showing them just how to optimise their success during their business development and selling time.

In 2014, three and a half years into running her sales and marketing firm The PromoDonna, Ashleigh was also inspired to create the SaleSistas program. Finding that she was regularly coming into contact with women who were passionate and great at what they did, but who were also looking for guidance when it came to sales and marketing, Ashleigh was inspired to create a support program where women could learn not only how to grow their business, but how to sell themselves and their brand successfully.

 To find out more head to www.thepromodonna.com