Let's be real: Selling is hard.

No one wants to be sold anything...not you, not me, not anyone.

And yet, we all buy stuff, literally every day. In fact, people are creatures of habit, so once we sell something it works in our favor that our customers get into the habit of paying us money for our products or services.

The real challenge is what comes before that...the dreaded first sale.

Here's the funny thing: We're experts at buying. We know exactly what makes for a good sales conversation and a bad one. And yet, when we flip to the other side and try to sell something, we go BIG ... and end up scaring off our customers!

I made this mistake once at a specialty care hospital. They asked for an agency of record with a high six-figure budget, so we went in and showed them all the stuff we could do for that budget. It was fantastic! Except they didn't buy it.

Instead, they went with a firm who came in and said, "let's start with $5,000 and see if we like working together." And they beat the pants off of us.

I only needed to learn that lesson once; now, I've adopted a "bite-sized sales" strategy, where I ask a very simple question: "What is the smallest unit of my product or service I can possibly sell, to get people comfortably into my system?"

For you, that could be anything - an introductory call, a discounted product, and more. Be creative, or find a coach to help you craft your own bite-sized sale.

Even when you figure out what the bite-sized sale is, try to break it apart even further. For instance, last week I was coaching a gym owner who offers a $40 first-time session. That's great - but picture a sales session and me asking you one of two things:

1. Do you want to spend $40 on a first-time session? or...
2. Do you have 2 $20 bills to start getting results immediately?

You and I both know it adds up to the same amount. But everyone has 2 $20 bills in their wallet to get immediate results. Do you have $40 to test a "session" where you're unsure about what that session will give you?

The smaller you can break down your offering, the easier it is for a prospect to overcome their doubt and fear and say yes to you. It may seem like a small thing...but that's exactly the point.