I was at a popular eatery in Lagos and the waiter said to me, “What will you like us to offer you?”, noticing I was there to at least take something rather than just wait there and pass time like many other people often do. The frankness of his question put me off at first, but the urgency in his voice prompted me to act. I placed the order for rice and chicken.

Was he rude or was it simply a sales tactic? Whatever it was, I have no means of knowing, but it worked. This got me thinking about my own approach to marketing my PR services. Could I get away with saying something similar to a prospect? I can imagine some of them getting turned off, while I can picture others saying “yes.” I wouldn’t dare try it, of course. The sales process is my least favorite part of online media campaign.

Now, let us look at the concept of Hard Selling. These are aggressive strategies that usually put a high amount of pressure on the client. The waiter who sold me the food is an excellent example. Other tactics include cold calls, forceful sales letters, and unsolicited pitches. You are there to sell, they know it, and you know it.

The main advantage of hard selling is that it gets straight to the point. It works in a no-holds-bared manner. This is especially important for clients who are ready to buy and aren’t looking around to do a few more meetings. The decision should be made now, and you want to step up and offer yourself as a part of their team.

As good as it sounds, hard selling comes with some disadvantages. When it’s done too aggressively, your attempt to help will be seen as an annoyance. This plays a big role, especially if you’re working with small businesses that are savvy of such sales techniques. No matter how genuine your offer is, it might come off sounding like a fraud or too-good-to-be-true!

On the other hand, Soft Selling is more creative, and innovative. It focuses on the relationships not just sales. You are not under pressure, so is your prospect. Instead, you find passive ways to show them that you have the solutions they need.

You may spend so much energy on updating your personal blog and forget to use it as a platform for selling your services. You can also spend so much time tweeting with your potential clients that you don’t make firm, actionable proposals that will bring one recurring revenue in exchange for your efforts. Being too gentle with your sales approach might also give clients the impression that you are not too confident about your services, or that you are just not interested in working with them.

This is the reason we are in business, at TRW Consult we offer you more options and time to do more…