Everyone needs sales. Sales is not a dirty word. I used to think it was so I lied about my first sales job at Ikon Office Solutions (see my first business card). I said I “was a consultant” which I was but it was all sales, all the time.
We need to remove the stigma from sales!
Sales people are not liars.
Sales people are not schmucks.
Sales people are not bullshitters or used car sales people.
I get so aggravated when people say these things because they are saying it about me, a career sales person, and most of my friends who I have known for 20+ years and I consider family.
A good sales person is an educator, a listener, a problem solver and yes, a consultant. This is one of the reasons I am writing a book about sales. This book is not just for sales and business people. This book is for that mother of 4 that needs to persuade her kids to get up, eat breakfast and negotiate with them to make the bus or get into the car by 8 am every day--like my mom did for so many years in Cleveland Ohio. This book is for the engineer that has an amazing idea and technical skills but needs to learn how to pitch it to investors.
This book is for all of us. We need sales in our life. We need to learn how to sell earlier than in our 20’s and 30’s. It always blows my mind that some of the smartest people I know with their MBA can not master the simplest of sales tasks whether it be negotiation, finding new customers or asking for the business. It’s because we don’t teach deep levels of sales at an early age. Most people get their sales pedigree “on the job” and become quasi experts in their late 30’s to early 40’s.
Whether you’re in business or a teacher or a doctor or a pet groomer—you need sales. Learning it earlier in life would benefit all of us. We need to be teaching this to our kids along with math and science in elementary school and adding on the deeper concepts of it as people progress through school. We use sales in every aspect of our lives.
The book I am writing is a passionately funny collection of stories over the past 20 plus years of bosses I’ve had, sales people I’ve worked with and interactions on transactions across the globe. This book is mostly entertaining, but I bet you find a nugget or two you can apply to your daily life that will make you a better person. You don’t have to put this book down and go join a sales team. You can still be a dentist or a hairdresser or a lawyer. Having these skills will make you better in the world and in the workforce. Sit back, relax and enjoy the melody. These are my SalesTales.