Selling is the most important job in the world.
No matter what you do, you cannot succeed without selling.
There are many great products that no one ever gets to use because they were not sold well.
There are many talented singers whose voices are never heard because they didn’t sell themselves.
There are many smart A-plus students who are working for D-minus students because they didn’t sell themselves well.
There are many great stories that are never read by many people because they weren’t sold well.
Do you think that the current heavy-weight champion of the world is really the strongest man in the world?
Do you think that the current president of the United States is the most capable U.S. citizen for the job?
Do you think the current leader of any country is the most capable citizen who could rule that country right now?
Think of any product or service you’ve used. Think of the top companies. Think of the people who are successful, the stars. Think of everything the world knows as the best.
Chances are, they are the best that we know, not the best that exist.
There is a better tasting wine than the one you and I are drinking somewhere in the world. We can’t drink it, we can’t enjoy it because it wasn’t advertised and sold as it should have been.
Selling is everything!
I’m not saying sales is the only important thing.
I know the trinity of all successful business and people: The Product, The Sales, and The Management.
But the greatest of all those three is Sales.
Sales, you are the greatest!
Think about this: if you are a doctor, you are always selling your ideas to your patients so you can get them to buy in and effect life change in them. If you are an ambassador you are selling your country. If you are a politician you are selling a policy or agenda. If you are a non-profit director you are selling the work of your organization to potential donors and volunteers.
We are always selling ourselves.
Do you have a job? If so, you sold yourself to the employer. They had to choose you. Not only so, you continue to sell yourself every week.
Why else did you think they were paying you every month? They are paying for you, your time.
But why should they pay for your time instead of the time of your neighbor who is unemployed? Because you sold yourself well and are still selling yourself.
Did you get that admission into the school you wanted? You sold yourself and they bought what you sold to admit you into the program.
Are you married or considering marriage? You sold yourself or will be selling yourself. Your spouse must be willing to buy you to marry you.
Do you have friends? Well, you sold yourself because those people could choose to spend their time with someone else.
Here is something else that is true.
People don’t quit companies. People quit people.
People don’t give to nonprofit organizations. People give to people.
Before someone buys your message or whatever you are selling, they must first buy you. If they don’t buy you, they don’t even look at your product.
Yet, sales is not difficult. It’s very simple. Sales is about serving the other person. It’s about building a relationship with them so that you can help them with something you genuinely believe will help them. Sales is about being a good human being. It’s about knowing a solution to a problem someone has and helping provide it to them.
It’s that simple. Obviously, we have to get ourselves out of the way. We have to remove our egos and stop making ourselves think that the world revolves around us. We need to stop thinking that if someone doesn’t buy what we are selling–initially–that they hate us or there is something wrong with us. We need to focus on learning from our mistakes, striving to become better sales people every day and never giving up because selling is how we impact lives.
Saying you are not gifted to sell is locking yourself up in a corner. We become what we believe we are. Selling is a skill we all must learn. Now, there isn’t just one way to sell. We all have different gifts, different exposures, different connections. It doesn’t matter how we sell, we just have to sell.
Selling is how the world is influenced and saved!
