Get on the road to recovery!

“I hate sales! I’m no good at sales!”

     In just a couple of weeks,  I’ve heard “sales hater” exclamations like these  from a doctor, a new college grad looking for a job, a retailer, an accountant, a business owner, and (of course) a shrink! Each really believed in achieving success without ever having to sell!

     Well, I suppose anything’s possible,  especially with a little help from Tinker Bell!

     Consider this  (Yes it’s based on years of communications research, but it IS just my opinion):

EVERY TIME YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH

(AND MOST TIMES WHEN YOU DON’T),

YOU ARE ENGAGED IN THE ACT OF SELLING! 

     Okay, you’re running for the phone to call that shrink  I mentioned. Well, before you dial 911, think about this statement…

Sorry to disrupt the fantasyland balance of your life in denial,  but reality is that we wouldn’t be able to survive as human beings very long if we weren’t actively PERSUADING or trying to PERSUADE others, or someone… or some creature.

     What’s all this persuasion about?  It’s called living life. We do it every minute of every day in one form or another. How many times today would you guess you already persuaded someone to do something (including watching, listening, touching, tasting, smelling)?

     Did you convince someone else  to say something today (including verbally, nonverbally, with music… ah, or flowers!)? 

     Because of you, was someone today persuaded to believe, think, consider, evaluate, choose, or respond to something? Of course the answer is “YES” to all of these questions. If it’s not, re-think this, and be honest with yourself. I mean no one would serve you or even sell you food if you were one of Steven King’s zombies.

     So we are constantly engaged in sales  all day every day whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we think we’re good at it or not. It’s here. It’s now. And we’re doing it.

     Sooooo… how about  accepting it and accepting the value of actively choosing to make ourselves better at it? If we have to live with it, maybe it would make life easier if we strive to master it?

     You know the best part?  It IS a choice, and it’s really a lot of fun to figure out what others want and help them to get it (a key attitude of successful selling that spins around “listening to the customer”!). Sales professionals listen 80% of the time and talk 20%. Do you?                                                                                                                                   

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