Welcome to Sales, You Are One Whether You Like It or Not

It is time to finally share the worst hidden secret in your life with you—everyone is a salesperson, and everyone works every day to sell something. Yep, that includes you. 

The faster you understand that you are a salesperson in every aspect of your daily life, the faster you will find a way to dial in that skill and utilize yourself better through every presentation you make. 

Think about every job interview you ever had. You sold yourself as an expert or great fit for the role you were seeking. Look at the kid in the candy aisle negotiating at six years old with their parents over their need for the gummy bears. What about the first date, when you put on your best show to the possible future significant other by proudly presenting your painting of life to them like Bob Ross—fast, beautifully designed, and full of charisma. 

Now think of the car dealership or interaction between an industrial bearings salesman and their future heavy hitting account or fleet car deal. All sales. 

You will always be selling yourself or something as a means to an end to get what you want in life or career. This is bigger than products pushing as the usual concept of sales goes, and is beyond what most understand the role to be. 

Most professional salespeople don’t even understand or recognize the simple concept of the ABC’s of life—Always Be Closing. 

Countless books are written on strategies and sales concepts for the profession of selling that speaks to sentence structure, product over price, process oriented presentations and the like. 

After spending nearly two decades of my life in professional sales of some sort, I am here to tell you it is way simpler than all of that. In addition, most of that is garbage that can be thrown out your proverbial life window as you finish this sentence. 

I have told my teams countless times that the best sales presentation I have ever seen is the petulant child in the grocery store begging for the new toy or candy for the next kick of sugar they don’t need. I told them to find that inner child and be that often. 

Why? Isn’t that a bad thing to be? Yes and no. The key to that concept is the never-ending focus and desire. The drive and lack of understanding the no and seeking the yes beyond the first, second, fifth shutdown. How often have you pacified someone because they simply wore you down? 

Now take that attitude and sprinkle in kindness and a genuine desire to listen. When you listen you begin to understand the reason behind the no and can begin focusing on building the value of the how and why. 

That is where most often we run the train off the rails. We hear a no, face a no in life, a roadblock of any kind and turn to find the path of least resistance. Call the next client, move on to an easier date prospect, decide that the original want and need wasn’t actually what you wanted so I’ll just settle. 

That is a common theme today and has been for centuries. Shit gets hard—most people quit. 

So don’t be most people. Be the winner you want to be and set your goals for achievement higher. Failing to recognize your life is full of lost sales opportunities will lead to a very unfulfilled and baseless existence. 

Sounds harsh and heavy, but it is as true as the air we breathe having oxygen in it. 

So how do you turn that page and live a full life of gains? One where you know you have done and achieved your best, and along the way left your mark on the community around you in the greatest way possible?

In “If You’re Not First, You’re Last: Sales Strategies to Dominate Your Market and Beat Your Competition” by Grant Cardone he speaks to the consistency of follow up past a no. 

He focuses on a study by Thomas Publishing Company that states “most salespeople, regardless of the industry, give up too early. According to the study, 80 percent of sales to businesses are made on the fifth sales call, but only 10 percent…call beyond three times.” 

I would argue most people approach life the same way. Likely with less attempts at the object of their desire or need. If trained salespeople give in that soon, imagine what the untrained and unsure person will accomplish. 

There is another book that’s pretty famous that provides similar insight. It's The Bible. In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

This isn’t a new found concept. It is simply one where most of us will choose to ignore the facts laid out before us because the thought of selling comes with bad connotations. You know the phrase “just like a used car salesman.” 

I have heard it a ton and have actually been a used car salesman. Imagine that. But that phrase is a reference to how it is assumed a used car can be a bad purchase that is pushed on someone despite the right “fit” they may want or need. 

To be a good salesperson, to be a good human for that matter, you don’t hock bad products or services. You shouldn’t want or need to seek bad results for others. The residual gain from future buys or referrals is the lifeblood of any sales business and in life you may get the one sale you want right then, but with ill-intentions or a failure to follow through as promised it will lead to ultimate demise of character and extreme lack of success. 

You must first acknowledge that everything we want isn’t what we need. It also may not be what is wanted or needed for those around us. To go from bad to good and then good to great you have to bring great intentions. 

Recently in a sales forum on LinkedIn I said the following about price or product:

“If you think price drives a sale, you unfortunately are an order taker and not a salesman. Always find and demonstrate value. As well, acknowledge you or your product may not fit—if not help create a solution plan. Some of the best referrals aren’t (from) sales made, they are the ones you helped find solutions and created everlasting value for.”

Now think of yourself as that product. Sometimes recognizing we aren’t the right fit is the best thing for us. Understanding that what we may seek isn’t the best fit for us is a part of that as well. 

Be righteous in your pursuits and do the best you can to provide value at all times. That is how you become the best version of yourself. The best salesperson for your “product” of life. 

One of the best in-action salesmen I have ever been around is a guy named Blake Levison. When I met Blake in a Home2Suites lobby in Orlando, Fla. for his job interview years back, he was my best option for a new role in an expansion city for our beer company. He was my only option to be frank. 

Blake had been in the hospitality business previously and had amazing connections—still does. I saw that, recognized that and swung for the fences on a guy that didn’t recognize his ability to sell just yet. 

The first rule I taught my guy was Jameson Irish Whiskey helps calm the nerves before big presentations. The second rule I taught him was be yourself, care for people and build relationships. Never be an asshole, be “the guy” for everything they need and not just your products and the rest will fall into place. 

It’s the under promise, over deliver mantra. 

After two week runs at a time over a period of about three months Blake went from being a serviceable guy to the one that owns the Central Florida market in the beverage industry today. I didn’t build some crazy machine, I simply helped him find the understanding that in life we aren’t a product of our environment—we can create and build the environment we seek. 

It takes honesty, great communication and consistency. It takes analyzing the “no” and finding the “yes” whether it's his products for the fit or not. It is all about providing the right solution. 

The instant you begin to see yourself as a salesperson in life you will begin to sell and not be sold. You will achieve what you heart wants but along the way you will fulfill others as well. We are all in sales whether you like it or not, the quicker you find that determination the faster your cup will overflow.