Yet this guy and you have something in common. Although your motives and methods are different (and you probably dress better), there is something that he is trying to do that you do every day. And if you don’t realize that you do it or try to get better at it, there could be significant financial consequences.
Lessons from Rich Dad, Poor Dad:
One of my favorite takeaways from the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki is a somewhat-obscure story in Chapter 7 where he talks about giving some advice to a young woman.
After completing her Masters Degree, Kiyoskai recommends that she now concentrate on learning the arts of selling and marketing. The woman was offended at this suggestion! She did not work so hard to earn this degree so that she could be a “salesperson”! Her reaction clearly indicated that felt “sales” were beneath her.
However, she was missing the point to Kiyosaki’s advice …
Unfortunately, this reaction is all too common. The image above is one obvious example. There are also the images of the “fast-talker” or the “snake-oil salesmen”. All of these are our gross exaggerations of people trying to swindle us out of money. But becoming one of these stereotypes was not what he was suggesting.
Selling Yourself is the Key to Riches:
What does it mean to “sell”? Is it always about forcing someone to buy something? Absolutely not!
• Selling is about developing an influence upon others and winning them over to your way of thinking.
If you think about, aren’t you doing this all the time? It doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor, teacher, engineer, stock-boy, husband, father, etc. There are literally thousands of situations where you need to “sell” someone on your idea. Consider how many times you:
• Get your co-workers to agree with you.
• Steer the team for the project to go with your idea.
• Convince your boss to not go ahead with his terrible idea.
• Win over a potential client.
• Defend yourself when you’re “in trouble” at work.
• Deflect against others who aggressively are trying to force a sale upon you. (Have you ever been to a Time-Share presentation?)
• Argue with your spouse.
• Motivate your kids to do what they’re supposed to.
• Charm someone we’ve never met before and making a new friend.
Whether you believe you are or not, in each of these situations you’re selling yourself! You’re trying to use your powers of reasoning and persuasion to tilt the balances as you feel they should be.
What Does This Have to Do With Money?
Suppose you didn’t sell yourself in these situations, or argue your point effectively. Do you think that will cost you? You bet! Your inability to exert yourself can cause you to:
• Be passed up for promotions, raises, bonuses, etc.
• To not receive the recognition you deserve for your hard work.
• To get backed into decisions that have significant financial consequences.
• To be walked all over in ways that foster unhealthy relationships.
• To go virtually unnoticed and unable to have access to valuable opportunities.
Make no mistake – Your skills in communication and the ability to win people over will go far in your pursuit of financial freedom.
Lessons from a Classic:
Sales and marketing is more about psychology than anything else. Knowing which buttons in the human mind to push is essential to getting what you want out of people.
If you want to know more, the 1936 self-improvement classic “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie is a great place to start learning the fundamentals of sales and persuasion. The lessons he teaches are not high-pressure sales tactics. Rather, they are simple, easy to use principles that we can practice in both sales as well as everyday conversation. Click here to read my comprehensive review of “How To Win Friends and Influence People”.
Readers: Are you a salesman (either directly or indirectly)? How do you exert your influence over others and get them to go with your ideas? Do you find that this has unexpected (or perhaps expected) benefits for you financially?
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2) Don’t Quit Your Day Job Yet
During my business degree I’ve heard this numerous times, and it’s always true. It can help you get a job, leave a job, get a promotion, and many other things.
Getting to Yes is also a book that deserves a mention – I’ve been told many times to read it and I’ve read a few bits and pieces but never all the way through. Seems like a favorite.
I believe I’ve heard that book title before. I’ll have to add it to the list.
Bloggers are salespeople because we try to get others to take action based on what we write about in our blogs. Right now, you’re a salesperson trying to get us to believe we’re all salespeople!
We’re also in the business of selling ourselves during job interviews to potential employers. They aren’t going to buy if our sales pitch is lacking!
We are all salespeople, aren’t we? If we don’t convince you to do something, it would be pretty boring 🙂
Everybody is a sales person to some extent as you eluded to. I found it most helpful in interviews, because that is what you’re doing: selling yourself to the company.
Even in my current job as an advisor, I view myself as an educator first-and-foremost, but at the end of the day I’m still a salesperson.
The interview is a very critical place to have this skill. The interviewer is thinking “what is this person going to do for me (i.e. how much money are they going to make me)?”
Embracing the “sales” aspect is definitely a mindset thing and depends a lot on your upbringing. I know I wasn’t really raised to question authority, but instead with more of a “just do what you’re told” mentality. It was a struggle to change that mindset to one where I actively ask and negotiate for things, but it really makes a big difference. Like you mentioned, this can have a big impact at work with raises, promotions, etc.
Negotiation is a very unique skill. Once finely sharpened, this will prove to be an asset!
I’m both an indirect and direct sales person. I “do the work” for my company, so I need to sell the higher-ups on my abilities and our customers on the product they’re receiving. But I also have a profit sharing system for customers I introduce to the company. It’s a pretty interesting way to work. I enjoy the sales part of it but it’s pretty tough to balance the sales with the “do the work” requirements…
I also work on a profit sharing program. Once I got acquainted with making sales, I saw a dramatic increase in my cut of the pie. Companies like to make money, and they have no problem rewarding you.
The late Earl Nightingale once said: “Selling is the highest paid profession that the world has ever known.” Former boxing great George Foreman said that everyone needs to learn how to sell, or they will always be broke.
Becoming great at selling is not an option. It’s a must, and we all have to learn how to sell. This is even true for all of us bloggers. Bloggers have to know how to sell. That’s the truth.
The sooner people realize this, the better. As a blogger I wouldn’t expect much income unless you can work on evolving your skills of sales.
Haha I love this. Before I got my current job in sales, I definitely had it in my mind that all sales people were slimy used car salesmen. Some of them are mind you, but for the most part, not at all. I’ve definitely learned a lot of working in sales, and the importance of personal branding.
I think everyone should work in sales once or twice to really understand this perspective. Like most things, you learn there’s a right and a wrong way to do things. I pick up on this with sales people all the time now.
I’ve been having to think about this a lot lately as I look for a new job. I need to figure out the best way to sell myself to potential employers. It’s not just a matter of presenting some facts and expecting a job offer. It comes down to so much more than that. I need to focus on exactly what they want to hear and what is going to impress them the most.
It comes down to how you “make that person feel”. Facts are cold. Talk is cheap. But when you can approach someone and make them feel like you’ve been friends forever, then you’ve got the job! Keep up the hope with the job hunt!
I think I only think about being a salesperson in certain situations. When I last put in an application for a new job I did tons of research so that I could “sell” myself to the company. It must have worked because I did get the job.
Nice work! One basic aspect to marketing and human nature is that people like to hear about themselves. When you know something about a company or even the person you’re interviewing with, it can go a long ways.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. Everyone should learn how to sell as we are all actors on this stage called ‘Life’; those who understand and embrace that fact are repeating benefit while countless others — despite working hard — still can’t understand that sales skill is as essential to their success as breathing is to life.
Thanks! And you’re absolutely right. The sooner you learn how to play the game, the sooner you can start beating it.
I think it’s all in the name. My goal is to be an effective communicator. If people understand my point of view, I’ve sold it effectively. Whenever someone tells me they don’t like sales, I’ll ask if they like effective communicators. Great salespeople are sublime. You don’t even know they’re selling.
Well said! There is quite an art and skill to being able to sell in a way that most people don’t even realize they are being sold to.
I am just terrible at selling things.. Other than myself. But I do sell myself, both at my website, and at my day job… Because I believe in myself and what I can do.
However, when it comes to selling other things. It just isn’t for me. My wife on the other hand could sell anything to anybody. It takes all kinds..
It’s a good thing you have each other then – husbands and wives are supposed to balance each other out!
Some people are born sellers, and they will succeed. I’m not a huge fan of it but I know I’m good at it. I haven’t ever worked a pure sales job before, but would be interested in the right industry.
I’ve never been much of a fan either. But knowing what rewards there are, I’m willing to play the game!
I am comfortable with the fact that I am in sales. I think that if you work with a good salesperson, you don’t leave feeling like you need to take a shower, but you leave satisfied. Relating this to finances, I feel that making purchases from a great salesperson is a pleasant experience for both parties. You both have needs and can help each other. A great salesperson will work with you to meet your needs and you gladly hand over your money to pay for that service/product. On the other hand, I do believe that if a sale is not mutually beneficial then it is usually not a pleasant experience.
Welcome to the site!
Agreed. A real salesperson will simply just encourage you to buy the thing you already wanted, not force you.
To get a head in life we all need to be constantly selling whether it is direct or indirect. Having said that, it isn’t easy for many people to sell themselves or promote themselves. Sometimes people do not understand the difference between selling yourself and coming across as arrogant.
There’s a fine line between the two. A lot of people get their confidence mistaken for cockiness.
I worked in sales when I was 15 until college. It’s always fun talking to people and knowing that you are annoying people, but I learned valuable skills. I knew how to counter different responses and I have learned how to read people (body language, tone of voice, what they are saying). I work with sales executives in the healthcare industry and they are the driving force behind our business.
You probably got more experience than most people do within the first five years of their career. There’s a lot of art to knowing what do when any of those variables comes up!
So true! I never realized this as much as I did after working in sales. And Carnegie’s book is one of my favorites.
It’s funny how anyone who’s ever worked sales knows this. Carnegie is timeless.
There is no such thing as a successful salesperson that doesn’t stretch the truth. If you are out there, I would love to meet you. Every day I get multiple emails telling me how to make $1000 a day on the Internet. Well, if this system that is being sold is so successful, why can’t the seller of the system simply do the system over and over and over and make millions per day? I spent 10 years selling investments and I hated it so much I had to quit.
I think salesmen are also great story-tellers; perhaps the truth may get exaggerated, but everyone has their own limits to ethics and morals. It’s obvious by your posts that you have a great deal of knowledge about investments. I’m sorry to hear that the industry ruined the experience somewhat.
james,
i disagree. a great salesperson listens and creates a relationship for long term benefit.
I witiness time and again how folks forget, or worse never connect to the simple idea about where the money actualy come from. From sales! If you don’t sell, no [literlly and figuratively] soup for you. It’s amazing to see how folks especially in big companies assume things for granted. My dad started at the plant and moved to HQ many years later, he told me ton of such stories too. I started at the “plant” then became front line consultant customer facing guy. Now i am in HQ. Gee… folks get confused when i try to remind them that they must thank those sales folks in the field for having a job. I made my daily mantra “our field is my best and the first customer” and surely this pays off, trust me. Ironically I read a book first 90 days, a very good book. One of the themes is just about that – spending some time with front line folks to understand better the issues that need to be fixed in the org.
Good points! In large companies, those that deal with customers and make the sales are on the front lines of making the magic for the company. They are the reason we have jobs!