Sales is nothing more than problem-solving. Some say you ought to create the problem. Either way, I got contacted with a BIG problem recently. A small business had been tearing out its hair in frustration with no solution in sight. I somehow found myself in the middle of their mess. I’m happy I did.

This particular company ran its business through an online e-commerce platform, Shopify. If you’ve shopped online recently, chances are, you’ve visited an online Shopify store. If you’ve started an online marketplace recently, you’ve probably looked into Shopify as your e-commerce provider. 

This particular business’s online customer payment ability was promptly redacted one day by Shopify based on some detected risk factors. Anyone shopping online at this site wouldn’t have been able to put through an order. I personally received an error recently when checking out online for a couple of shirts and just went on to the next thing in my life. So, this company was pulling out their hair, and warranted. 

While I got their business back up and running with Shopify through another integrated checkout method, I’d like to discuss how I became a successful solution for them in the first place. 

I said “boo” to them a few months back. Really. I created a small introduction six months prior and let them know what I was about. My value likely wasn’t appreciated. Yes, we had a polite correspondence over WhatsApp, but so what? There had been no need on their end for me. I didn’t push anything further on my end either. Maybe I should have? Maybe I shouldn’t have? However, I still made myself available for any pro bono consultations should the need arise. 

Now, let’s assume I called them one day out of the blue to follow up. Say it was a day prior to their Shopify issue. It was a simple call to actively put myself in front of them again. I’m going to bashfully assume that we would have chatted for a few minutes but not much more. And totally warranted. There was no problem yet.

To be good at sales is to problem-solve. Selling is just that. No gimmicks. Our mindset is crucial for staying in the game and being that individual at the right moment. It might be a long-term relationship before we get to offer our value on that rainy day.

This frantic call begging for my assistance to help get their payments back online, was because I had taken step number one. The onus was on me. I had said, “boo”. Keeping the relationship alive if they hadn’t reached out would have been just as important. It takes a lot of work and patience. With the proper work ethic, however, you’ll be inundated with opportunities to help problem solve. It starts with appreciating your solution and then getting in front of people even more than once.