Are You Seriously Under Selling Yourself?

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You’re one in a million and you’re worth every penny!

There I was speaking for the first time at a conference.  ‘The Girls Mean Business’ Conference (http://thegirlsmeanbusiness.com/)

You can see a clip of it here 

I wasn’t bad, the audience was laughing, I'm surprisingly funny. 

"Wow" I thought "I CAN do this!"

But I committed a crime that I've learnt to avoid these days.

The crime?

Under selling Myself

As I came off the stage she said it, 'she', the vision of red hair, high heels, leather jacket and effortless confidence...said in her Canadian accent....

"Esther – you’re majorly underselling yourself"

At that moment I knew my life was about to change ….this was big…it was officially a light bulb moment.  

I looked at her with slight embarrassment and thought….

"Yes, you are right!"

This uber woman with a transatlantic accent is now my business coach, mentor and guru- of-combatting-self-doubt.  Kim Duke is the founder of www.salesdivas.com who teaches entrepreneurs “How to Sell When You Hate Selling”

She has coached me for many years now - the best business decision I’ve made since leaving the BBC in 2011 (OMG – has it been that long???? We started in Jan 2014….have I mentioned how much I love you??!!) GRIN

I know now that she was right.
I know now that I was committing the huge crime of under selling myself.  

The question is…are you?

  • Underselling yourself and thinking “I'm not good enough”

  • Thinking secretly that “I'll be found out”.

  • Not having faith in yourself.

  • Telling yourself “I'm a novice and not experienced enough to be taken seriously”

( I was doing this too, even though I'd racked up more than 20 years of international live broadcasting experience, interviewed the likes of Madonna, George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger & The Beckhams and spent 10 years as a Senior Producer at the BBC)

I can now spot the “under sellers” immediately when I’m with my clients in global banks, law firms, creative agencies, the government and FTSE top 100 businesses. 

When I coach you how to pitch and speak with confidence and influence, I can pretty much tell within the first minute if there’s an underlying lack of self-belief going on.  Which puts you in the ‘under selling’ category.

Are you committing any of these crimes at work I wonder......?

  • Surprised when people want to work with ‘little old you’

  • Overly thankful when clients want more ... "What, you actually LIKE me?"

  • Doubt your ability to stand up and speak in front of audiences of any size

  • Avoid "tooting your own horn"

  • Think other people are better than you

Well I now know the truth.... if you‘re in the "majorly underselling yourself" category

You’re in danger of LOSING out on...

  • Business opportunities

  • Getting promoted

  • Feeling great about yourself

  • Winning pitches

  • Progressing in your career

  • Enjoying it!

So here's what I've learnt (yes I do human experiments on myself so I can share this with you)

  • Stop it, stop it now, stop underselling yourself

  • Stop worrying that if you sell yourself you may come across as arrogant! YOU ARE NOT ARROGANT!

  • Stop trying to be perfect

  • Start focusing on your strengths

  • Start enjoying being YOU, accept your weaknesses and go with the flow

  • Start telling stories about your successes and what you've learnt from your failures (Clients love to know the truth about you)

Big tip ... It works for me and it can work for you...

If you want to master the art of “self promotion” without feeling embarrassed, and get really good at it....do what I did...

Get help!

Get me to help you!

If you want you & your team to be better at “tooting your own horn” let me give you more confidence in your communication, let me guide you and boost your team's "self-selling" skills.  Go on, you've got nothing to lose.  You might even get that big promotion! Drop me a line esther@estherstanhope.com

“Esther has a great presence which brought out the best in me and the others in her Impact session”

“Brilliant, I feel a lot more confidence in meetings now, I can be myself”

“The one-to-one sessions gave us all the opportunity to focus on our own areas for development, it was hugely enjoyable, and the time flew by”

Societe Generale, London delegates

Esther Stanhope