Do you struggle with shyness and find it difficult to speak to differebt people? A reader asked this question:

I am terribly shy and find it very difficult to speak to someone I do not know. Being in sales, this is not a good thing.  I am very confident in my business knowledge, but sometimes come off as abrupt.  How may I soften my delivery and give a warm fuzzy feeling to people I speak with and still get the message across?

I too struggled with shyness early in sales. Actually, I still am tempted to be shy, but I have learned to deal with it. There are two issues:

First, how to overcome the shyness and talk to people.

Second, how to have a warm presence so people like you and feel comfortable in your presence.

How to Overcome Shyness

A quick way to help with shyness is to ignore the feeling, and just go talk with the person. What helps is to have a few good conversation starters. Then it is just a matter of getting in the habit of walking up to a person and asking the question. OVer time your shyness will get less and less.

Don’t forget that many times others are just as shy as we are!

How to have a Magnetic Personality

Softening delivery is pretty simple with two techniques. First, you want to smile. Smiling makes your voice sound friendly. Second, think of a mental image where you would be talking softly/warmly to a person. It could be a child, a best friend, etc. This mental image will help put you in the right frame of mind to talk in a warm way.

These two ideas will get you started. I talk more on this in my Conversation Success System

 As for improving in sales. This is a very motivating book and one of the best:

Have a great day,

Austin