If you are a business-owner, selling is an essential part of your job. But if you’re like me, you find it uncomfortable to tout your virtues or to ask others to buy from you. As a somewhat shy, self-conscious introvert, here are five things I do to get the sale… without actually selling.
Don’t sell: market.
Selling doesn’t come easy to introverts, but marketing usually does: hiding behind a computer or a piece of paper makes it easier for us to be persuasive. So first make sure you’re working on marketing: put together a great website and sales materials, start a blog, and go build your presence on social media. Contribute to online conversations (you don’t even have to put on your pants!) and share your expertise, especially where prospects are likely to read what you’ve written.
But that won’t usually be enough: many clients will want a meeting before they decide to hire you. That’s the one we non-sales-people are scared of – the sales meeting.
We’ve been feeling like imposters for the last few weeks. You see, whenever we talk to a small-business owner or startup founder, 
Are you ready to start your weekend? Are you taking a long weekend with Gudi Padwa or Bihu or whatever it is you celebrate? (We are, though the holiday is a coincidence — we had planned for a three-day weekend weeks ago, and had been drooling when we thought of it.)
This weekend’s links are all about starting startups and working in startups.
On a broad level, marketing is mostly common sense. You figure out who are the best people to buy what you’re selling, try to catch their attention, and persuade them to buy from you. It’s when you get to the details that it becomes tricky.