Find the common element in the following scenarios.
– Attending an interview
– Deciding what new place to eat out at, with friends
– Presenting your school, college, university or work project
While the audience for each scenario is unique and the activities different, the aim across all is the same. To convince stakeholders!
– These are the reasons why I am the best candidate for the job
– That is why, the newly opened cafe serving Italian cuisine should be our go to spot tonight
– Here is why my project should get the desired outcome (the best grade in class, implemented at work etc)
Focus on every day scenarios and quickly a pattern emerges – we all are trying to sell something or the other. Humans are sales people by nature and holding a sales job should be second nature to us.
To explore human nature, observe children at different ages and their habits.
– When hungry – they cry. In other words they communicate and don’t stop until they get what they want.
– When they want a new toy – they make certain expressions, throw a fit or follow instructions. In other words, they observe and adapt until they get what they want.
Applying the above to sales results in concepts like, communication, understanding target audience, learning and adapting. Above all, the relentless focus on the goal is something that children and sales people share the most.
Sales is second nature to us since we are born, yet it is one of the most dreaded careers out there. I believe all job roles involve element of sales to a degree. So why not spend a portion of your day explicitly trying to convince an audience? Better yet, hold a sales job for sometime and see if it is as dreaded as you made it out to be.