To Sell Is Human*

A little invitation to find confidence, joy and success in selling.

1 You are not important.

People care what they're buying, not what you’re selling. It's not about you, it's about them. As the mighty Zig Ziglar taught: Who benefits when you sell something? You? Them? Both equally? Nope. You benefit once but they benefit over and over, again and again. That's the inherent goodness in the thing you produce.

We too often lose sight of this. We get all wrapped up in the process, too stuck in the ‘will they like me’ debate rattling around between your ears. It's not about you buddy, back off.

2 Most people don't give a shit about your stuff.

And never will. Imagine a pie chart. Now carve out two quite small slithers. One of these - the bigger of the two - represents people who might theoretically like you. The other represents the people who genuinely care. By way of return, these are the people you should care about too. Care about them to the moon and back, as the saying goes. And remember: everybody else on the pie chart - and that's almost everybody - gives no toots about you. So worry not and walk on.

3 Polarise. it’s your friend.

In the same vein as above, to be a liked a little by everyone is to be liked by no one. Whether it’s in how you work, your perspective, the terms you work to or who you work with, polarise, it’s your friend.

4 You can't persuade people to buy who haven't already decided to.

So don't waste your time or resources trying. This turns up most when we're selling something new-ish. Creating a market among the newly interested is a long and arduous process. It is the fruit of an entire industry’s endeavour. It’s not your job. People follow markets, not you.

5 Your best advocate is my competitor.

We used to work with Nike and Sony and those kind of chaps. Always struck me as curious that they'd spend a good chunk of their time obsessing about Adidas and Samsung etc, their competitors. Whether this is a good use of their energy and time I'll leave to another day. Irrespective, it is good for you. Means that each time you do a piece of work for a company, the people likely paying the most attention are their competitors. And if you've worked with my competitors you come pre loaded with trust. And this, as you know, is a precursor for action. No trust, no action.

Share your work liberally and religiously with your client’s competitors. They are looking. And interested. And pre-loaded to trust you.

*6 To Sell Is Human is a great book, by psychologist Dan Pink. I stole his title, ‘cos it’s excellent.

PS if you’re atop a reluctant sales team and want help helping more people to love you (selling by another name) email me with the subject line ‘I want to be loved!’ (who doesn’t, eh?) and let’s add a little more loving to your life and work.