How to Stop Hard Selling and Start Building Real Connections

Selling is not the only to interact with your customers, in fact businesses that build genuine connections win in the modern marketplace. Here’s a quick summary of how to change your approach:

• Deeply understand your audience. Research their passions, problems, and buying process to ensure your content is relevant.
• Prioritise a diverse network. Connecting outside your immediate industry stimulates new ideas and opportunities beyond just sales.
• Engage without selling. Offer value (e.g., introductions, sharing articles) and build goodwill without expecting an immediate return.
• Educate and use storytelling. Create valuable content that uses real examples of how you help, avoiding sales pitches.

Ready to stop hard selling and start cultivating a long-lasting, successful network? Read the full article for practical advice.

By Tracey Hughes

Tracey Hughes, Durham Startups Solutions Advisor East Durham from the North East Business & Innovation Centre, helping entrepreneurs in County Durham launch and grow their businesses.

All posts by Tracey

When you first start out in business, it can be easy to slip into constant selling mode. You’re enthusiastic, you want to gain traction quickly, and you may feel pressure to turn every interaction into a sale.

But customers are increasingly drawn to businesses that feel helpful, relevant and human. If the sales approach feels too obvious or too aggressive, it can push people away rather than bring them closer.

How to Keep Sales Coming in

Firstly, do your homework. Listen to your potential markets and ask them questions. What are they passionate about? What problems are they facing? What’s their buying process? How are they consuming content?

Consumers have a lot of content to wade through in the modern marketplace, so understanding them and how best to connect with them will give you the upper hand in converting them into your customers.

Next look at your network. Networking experts NetKno have identified that we often network with people from our own worlds and there can be segregation between industry, education and technology. You can read more in this article about building a powerful network.

NetKno go on to explain that you will have a more active network in whichever industry your business is part of. However, they recommend growing a more diverse network to stimulate innovative ideas and expand your knowledge outside your immediate area of expertise. This will help you see the bigger picture of how your products and services can help.

Jeni Smith, founder of NetKno, says: “Building a diverse network isn’t just a nice to have; it can directly impact your business’s bottom line. There’s some fantastic research in the Harvard Business Review that shows just how much of an impact!

“Although we network to meet new clients and to raise our profiles, there’s so much more to it. Networking isn’t just about sales, it’s about building real connections with other people, accessing knowledge and support, and stimulating exciting new ideas and opportunities.”

How to Grow Your Network

If you need to grow and diversify your network, invest time in attending physical and online events in the areas you want to cultivate – and participate, don’t be a wall flower.

Nurture your existing contacts with the aim of getting to know their connections – if they’re relevant to you. Gracefully ask for contacts or suggestions for events or groups where you can find new people. Try to return the favour if or when you can.

Dedicate time each day or week to grow your social network by finding and following those that fit your target personas and engage with them (don’t sell). Putting yourself on their radar without selling is more likely to lead to a mutual follow and engagement than if you just try to sell them something as a stranger.

If you’re in the hard sell rut and don’t quite know what to say if you’re not selling, refer back to our first point of doing your homework and bring value to your connections.

Make introductions, share interesting articles on topics relevant to them, or even show appreciation or interest in what they’re sharing. Be nice and help people without expecting something in return. It’s such a simple concept but it works.

People are more likely to do business with people they like. Plus they will be more likely to return the favour and you’ll remain positive in their minds for when they’re ready to buy.

To help maintain this relevancy, turn your hand at creating your own content. Write blogs on relevant topics (and share them), contribute to others content or host a webinar or presentation on your area of expertise.

Educate on what you know, or where you see gaps, but with humility; don’t come across as a know-it-all. And avoid integrating a sales pitch into your content, as your audience will soon lose interest and switch off. Instead, try to use real examples of how something has helped an individual. This is known as storytelling.

How to Make Time for Connection Building

You might wonder how you’re going to fit all of this in your everyday life. But consider the time you spend cold-calling, emailing prospects without getting a response, or marketing to an audience that doesn’t buy.

If you use your time developing relationships instead, you cultivate a long-lasting network of connections warmed to you and your brand.

It’s important to note that this is not a quick process, but it IS one that’s worth the effort. Because as well as finding new customers, you’ll also find suppliers and future collaborators at networking events. And more importantly, you’ll find supporters, mentors and friends.

Looking to grow your business through stronger connections? Durham Startups can help. Call us on 03000 261261 to speak with one of our startup solutions advisors and find out how we can support your journey in County Durham.