To some, sales is something you do. To me, sales is something I live. It’s so ingrained in my brain, in fact, that I often don’t even realize than I am selling while I’m doing it. Here’s a few examples:
One: I distinctly remember the long process of when a family I was very close to was trying to buy a new house. I was often along for the ride when they would venture out to check out the latest home on the market, and the mother and children were always very critical of the houses and their features. That’s where my natural selling instincts kicked in, as I would find myself describing to them all the things they could do with the house. Knock out a wall here, spruce up the kitchen. Finish the basement to give them more square feet of living space. I have no vested interest in the selling or buying of the home, but I couldn’t help but try and make a sale every time we went to a new house.
Two: A friend of mine was buying a new car, so we went to a pretty extensive car lot. Every car we got in was very nice, but for whatever reason he was not feeling the sales process. That’s when my instincts kicked in. I started raving about the gas mileage of one of the vehicles and how stylish another one was. After a few more attempts I had him convinced that a particular car was right for him, and he ended up buying it.
Three: I often try to convince my dad that using more technology would be a huge benefit for his company and would make his work a lot easier. He’s a tough customer, but every time he complains about some aspect of his work life I try to explain to him how technology could make it better. He’s a tougher sell than a lot of clients would be in a real sales situation, but I’ve been persistent in my prying. One day he’s going to have to buy into the idea that using technology can be a good thing, but until that day I’ll continue to silently sell him on the idea.
BoweryJE22
It’s very true that basically any time we try to persuade people to do something, we can classify that as selling. After reading this article, I began to think of all the times we as people start to sell without really having anything to gain. Trying to convince someone to buy a particular car, or product, simply because we are there and we are convinced.