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350. Why You're Afraid to Sell — with Nikki Rausch

The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

Release Date: 09/15/2026

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If you run a business, you have to know how to sell — and yet so many of us do this thing I call the mom voice the second it’s time to say a price out loud. Something like, “It’s $300,” in this careful, coaxing tone, like we’re convincing a kid to tie their shoes. Meanwhile we’re talking to a fully capable adult who actually wants to work with us. This week I’m joined by Nikki Rausch, a sales strategist, speaker, and the founder of Sales Maven. Nikki spent 17 years in corporate sales, mostly in a male-dominated, technology-driven world, before she started coaching women...

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If you run a business, you have to know how to sell — and yet so many of us do this thing I call the mom voice the second it’s time to say a price out loud. Something like, “It’s $300,” in this careful, coaxing tone, like we’re convincing a kid to tie their shoes. Meanwhile we’re talking to a fully capable adult who actually wants to work with us.

This week I’m joined by Nikki Rausch, a sales strategist, speaker, and the founder of Sales Maven. Nikki spent 17 years in corporate sales, mostly in a male-dominated, technology-driven world, before she started coaching women entrepreneurs on exactly what she’d learned along the way. Now, with more than 25 years of sales experience and a background as a Master Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, she teaches service-based entrepreneurs how to have sales conversations that lead to yeses, without feeling pushy or fake.

Nikki and I get into why so many of us freeze up, get weird, or avoid the conversation altogether the moment sales comes up, and what actually shifts once you stop treating selling as something you do to a person and start treating it as something you do with them. I loved hearing her real client examples throughout this one, including a story about a client who pictured her ideal buyer as a polished, highly paid professional, while the people actually showing up to hire her were moms in hoodies with their hair in a bun — herself included. If you’ve ever felt weird about naming your price, or wondered why some sales conversations feel so much harder than others, this episode is for you.

 

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

  • The one condition that has to be in place before you ever try to sell to someone, and why most people skip it entirely
  • The two habits Nikki sees that quietly sabotage sales conversations, including one she calls “hallucinating” what the other person is thinking
  • How a simple “softening phrase” makes it so much easier to ask the budget question everyone’s afraid to ask
  • What a “rapport bank account” is, and why every early interaction is either a deposit or a withdrawal
  • Nikki’s “cat calling versus dog calling” framework for creating curiosity without coming on too strong
  • Why your first 10 seconds, and the next two minutes, decide whether someone trusts you, and what that means for how you show up

 

NIKKI’S GIFT TO YOU

As her gift to Girlfriends, Nikki is sharing her Sales Follow-Up Made Easy Guide — proven follow-up strategies, ready-to-use scripts, and techniques to build trust and stay top-of-mind with your leads, so you’re never stuck wondering what to say or when to send it. Get it → https://yoursalesmaven.com/easyfollowup



CONNECT WITH NIKKI RAUSCH:

 

ABOUT NIKKI RAUSCH

Nikki Rausch is a sales strategist, speaker, and founder of Sales Maven. With more than 25 years of sales experience and over a decade as a business owner, she teaches service-based entrepreneurs how to have confident sales conversations that lead to yeses, without feeling pushy or fake.

As a Master Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Nikki focuses on the language and communication behind selling. Her approach is rooted in building rapport, recognizing buying signals, and guiding conversations in a way that feels natural for both you and the client.

She is the author of three books, including The Selling Staircase, and host of the Sales Maven Podcast, ranked in the top 1% globally.

Through her coaching, programs, and speaking, Nikki supports women entrepreneurs in turning sales into a skill they can rely on, so they can grow their business with clarity and confidence.



READY TO STOP GUESSING IN YOUR SALES CONVERSATIONS?

This episode might have you thinking about where you’ve been going quiet in your own sales conversations, or where you’ve been guessing instead of asking. If so, let’s talk about it. As my gift to Girlfriends, I offer a 30-minute discovery call. We’ll talk about where you are right now and what might be getting in the way.

Book here: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13047670&appointmentType=2244195

 

FREE GIFT FROM SARAH

Get Sarah's Freedom Calculator and discover how much your business needs to make to finally be free. Download at https://sarahwalton.com/freedom

 

LEARN FROM SARAH

Explore Sarah's online courses and free resources to start building your business with confidence.

 

CONNECT WITH SARAH:

 

ABOUT SARAH WALTON

Sarah Walton is a wealth consciousness coach, strategic advisor, podcast host, and mentor who helps women entrepreneurs build businesses they love.

Her mission is simple: to put more money in the hands of more women.

She's the creator of the Abundance Academy, The Art of Receiving, and the Game On Girlfriend® podcast.

Sarah teaches authentic, heart-centered business strategies because when women have more financial power, they don't just keep it — they use it to take care of their families, support their communities, and build something bigger than themselves.

 

RELATED GAME ON GIRLFRIEND® EPISODES YOU'LL LOVE:

  • Episode 211: 3 Easy Tips for Your Sales Conversations, with Jamie Gulino Davis — Jamie’s tips on building rapport and asking better questions in a sales conversation are the tactical follow-up to the “with” versus “to” framework Nikki lays out in this episode — https://sarahwalton.com/sales-conversations/
  • Episode 336: How to Sell Without Feeling Slimy — Sales Tools That Actually Work — This solo episode on using sales tools ethically, supporting people who already want what you’re offering instead of pushing reluctant prospects, is the same “with, not to” distinction Nikki draws in this episode — https://sarahwalton.com/how-to-sell-without-feeling-slimy/
  • Episode 216: How I Made $1 Million in a Year, with Kendall SummerHawk — Kendall’s own journey through fear and tears around money is the deeper dive into the complicated relationship with money that Nikki and I talk about in this episode — https://sarahwalton.com/make-one-million-a-year/

 

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