Love this. I’ve found that many people are allergic to the word “sales,” which I always find so interesting. Call it whatever you want but that’s what it is at the end of the day!!!!
I was spending my morning trying to craft value propositions for my new consultancy website. I was stuck and procrastinating by scrolling Substack when I came across your post. This is exactly the motivation I needed! Thank you!
Just discovered you today, amazing!!!! I’ve always been the “I hate sales” person but I’m realizing that I actually sell pretty well and I want to learn how to do that better. Also, I actually like selling myself lol
As someone who within five minutes of meeting people gets told that I would be good at “sales” but haaate it, thanks for the reframe! It helps to think about it as a skillset towards a goal
This post reminds me of "To Sell is Human" by Daniel Pink, which I read when I first stepped into a business development role several years ago. It's a great read for anyone who is scared of selling or gets the ick from it! The book expands on the point that all of us are selling, all the time, in our work, and being effective sellers helps us be effective humans.
Spot on! I got into sells because a friend/mentor sold me that I was already doing sales in my previous roles. For me it’s been important to believe in what I sell; that also allows me to have a deeper level of empathy for those I’m selling to.
Once you embrace selling is in everything, it’s funny how your view of selling changes.
My way around this fear of making people feel sold to is realizing that someone’s gonna do it and if I’m not the one doing it for myself, my business, products, or my team, either: 1) someone else will do it at some point and that’s a missed opportunity OR 2) no one will step up, no one will do it and for those who are trying to tell the story will get burnt out.
Enabling people to story tell (i.e., providing them with data, scenarios, context, etc…) is also an underdeveloped skill that I think need is often not addressed.
you’re not wrong! and ultimately whatever makes you feel most confident and comfortable is the right narrative. BUT if you can try to push past the block around ‘sales’ you might unlock a whole new level of outcomes
True! you’re right that I need to push past the mental block. I think as fellow introverts we have to go through the full cycle first - feel the cringe, do it anyway, then eventually come out the other side when it hopefully starts to feel natural. I’m somewhere in the middle of that loop right now so the storytelling frame definitely helps!
i test like 87% introvert - it absolutely just takes reps of realizing the upside far outweighs the downside and that you’re capable of anything you want to be
MORE OF THIS PLEASE. You are doing incredible.
omg thank you
+1!!!!
Love this. I’ve found that many people are allergic to the word “sales,” which I always find so interesting. Call it whatever you want but that’s what it is at the end of the day!!!!
i think we’ve all had a few too many bad experiences being sold too
I really like your perspective on this and it’s so true, we don’t realize we are always selling but we really are!
Really enjoyed this!
I was spending my morning trying to craft value propositions for my new consultancy website. I was stuck and procrastinating by scrolling Substack when I came across your post. This is exactly the motivation I needed! Thank you!
My mom always told me that everyone was in sales. No matter what you’re doing, you’re selling something 👏🏻👏🏻
loved this piece and particularly the breakdown of examples to implement this methodology
Just discovered you today, amazing!!!! I’ve always been the “I hate sales” person but I’m realizing that I actually sell pretty well and I want to learn how to do that better. Also, I actually like selling myself lol
As someone who within five minutes of meeting people gets told that I would be good at “sales” but haaate it, thanks for the reframe! It helps to think about it as a skillset towards a goal
This is so timely for me. I just told a friend that I hate “selling” but you put it into perspective perfectly. Thank you 🤗
This was fantastic!!
This post reminds me of "To Sell is Human" by Daniel Pink, which I read when I first stepped into a business development role several years ago. It's a great read for anyone who is scared of selling or gets the ick from it! The book expands on the point that all of us are selling, all the time, in our work, and being effective sellers helps us be effective humans.
Absolutely love this reframe!!
Spot on! I got into sells because a friend/mentor sold me that I was already doing sales in my previous roles. For me it’s been important to believe in what I sell; that also allows me to have a deeper level of empathy for those I’m selling to.
this is so meta i love it
Once you embrace selling is in everything, it’s funny how your view of selling changes.
My way around this fear of making people feel sold to is realizing that someone’s gonna do it and if I’m not the one doing it for myself, my business, products, or my team, either: 1) someone else will do it at some point and that’s a missed opportunity OR 2) no one will step up, no one will do it and for those who are trying to tell the story will get burnt out.
Enabling people to story tell (i.e., providing them with data, scenarios, context, etc…) is also an underdeveloped skill that I think need is often not addressed.
yes!!! also you’re putting way more thought and care into it than the other people are ♥
I’d much rather think of it as “sales is just storytelling” lol but lots of good thinking here as usual!
you’re not wrong! and ultimately whatever makes you feel most confident and comfortable is the right narrative. BUT if you can try to push past the block around ‘sales’ you might unlock a whole new level of outcomes
True! you’re right that I need to push past the mental block. I think as fellow introverts we have to go through the full cycle first - feel the cringe, do it anyway, then eventually come out the other side when it hopefully starts to feel natural. I’m somewhere in the middle of that loop right now so the storytelling frame definitely helps!
i test like 87% introvert - it absolutely just takes reps of realizing the upside far outweighs the downside and that you’re capable of anything you want to be