Sales and selling have earned a pretty bad rap in our collective conscience. The reason is not actually the practice of sales, but we’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater so to speak. We don’t like that sometimes people will go to any length to make a sale, so we’ve distanced ourselves. The problem with this, is that we all sell things almost daily; And because this is true, it would behoove us to learn a bit about how to do it effectively.
Trying to get a new job? You need to at some level sell yourself (it sounds worse then it is, but it’s true). Trying to get a date? Again, yourself. Trying to implement change in the workplace? You need to sell your ideas. Trying to teach me a principle? You need to sell me on why it’s important.
Even though it feels slimy to say you’re selling something, a little training in marketing and sales can go a long way. It’s not the practice of selling that’s corrupt, it’s the people doing the practice. Just don’t be that guy or gal.
