Selling yourself for the first time – 4 tips

You have a plan, your ambitions. You are very good at something and you can deliver a great product or service. But how are you going to sell that? How do you sell yourself? How nice and good can you think of yourself?

Trinity Sales is a few days old, but we have already sold ourselves several times as a company with decades of experience. Sounds crazy, but when three experienced sales people start a new company together, it is true. Selling yourself can be quite difficult, but fortunately we have some clear facts with Trinity. After all, we have built up a considerable track record and within our networks we are generally known as people who know what they are talking about. But still… how far can you go in this? Does it work to make yourself look a little nicer, or is false modesty appropriate?

Below are four guidelines that we adhere to and that in our experience work best when you try to sell yourself and your company to a potential customer or client.

1. Honesty lasts the longest
It is a cliché and this should not even be a consideration. If you want to have or be a nice and good company, you always choose open and honest communication as the basis for every collaboration, right? There are enough scammers, but no normal person wants to be counted among them? Certainly not when you start a new adventure full of courage.

If you are transparent and honest in your story to your customers and network, you can never be caught in a lie. After all; you always tell the same story. People know where they stand with you and know what to expect. Does this mean that you also have to be very explicit about your weaknesses? Well, not really. But if you cannot deliver something, it is no shame to simply state that in advance. Only if everyone is open, honest and clear in a collaboration can you really achieve success together.

2. False modesty is not a business approach
It is tempting to show modesty or perhaps even feign it. After all, that looks honest and many customers will respond better if you know your limitations than if you shout from the rooftop that you are the god of sales. In addition, it is easy to exceed expectations when people underestimate you. But is that a smart approach?

Some modesty is allowed, of course, but don't be too modest. We want to make it clear to a potential customer that he can trust us, that we know what we do, and what he can, may and should expect from us in a collaboration. To do this, it is important that we also explain as clearly as possible what we have to offer. Are we the god of sales? No. But do we sell ourselves for less than what we are and can deliver? No, because even then you create noise in the collaboration in advance. Clarity, honesty, completeness.

3. You will have to make exaggerations come true
"We'll fix that," I said. And then I have to fix it too. Sounds simple, but if you promise something in a business agreement, you will have to deliver. And if you attribute more qualities to yourself than you have, customers will expect you to display them. Difficult, if this is made up. And when you can't keep your promises, when you don't deliver what you said you would deliver, there comes a time when you will be held accountable for that.

4. You must want to do business with people
This is not an absolute requirement for success, but it does ensure that you quickly feel comfortable in your new role as a business owner. It is fine to earn your money by entering into transactions with other companies as a company. But it is even more fun to do that from person to person. If you have a click or if it is fun to work together with a customer or client towards certain goals. Then it is also more fun to go through such a process together and celebrate the successes together at the end. And you only get such a personal bond if you open up and represent your company yourself. You may get a slap in the face for that sometimes, but in most cases people respond well to that. Also in business relationships. And what is also important; just being yourself also feels comfortable to you.

Are these rules that you have to adhere to? No, there aren't. If there was a step-by-step plan to guaranteed success, we would have sold it to you and we would have been multi-billionaires by now. But if there is one thing that we at Trinity Sales hold as an ironclad principle, it is that we want to stay close to ourselves with our company.

(Bonus quote to conclude:) "We are not what the company is, the company is who we are."