By the Ocean
A Few Clouds 73 Degrees
5:36 a.m.
I don’t really have sales calls. I don’t believe in them. Because I don’t want to work with someone I had to SELL on being there.
If I end up talking on the phone with a prospect, I ask them what’s going on, I follow that with a bunch of questions, I paint a picture of what I see as a possibility for the way forward for their business, and then I stop talking.
It’s at that point where the right people say, “how can we work together,” or “can you do that for me,” and the WRONG people say, “thank you” and hang-up.
I’m OK with either outcome. This is business heresy, but I really don’t care. I don’t “make the sale” because I don’t want the sale. I want a prospect who wants the sale.
What I do is who I am and I can’t really open my mouth without demonstrating that. I’m not selling it, I’m just being it. And I never want to have someone around who doesn’t appreciate who I’m being, because that’s me, and it’s not going to change. Why would you spend time with someone who doesn’t like you?
Sell if you want. I don’t care. But your prospects do.
Everyone else is selling. Just look around. You can’t go anywhere online without someone shoving something in your face. Does this seem like a smart way to begin a relationship? Do you want to show up in front of your prospects in this way? When has doing what everyone else is doing EVER led to anything great?
That’s why I’m grateful that I was made with a natural interest for marketing. Marketing makes selling irrelevant.
Sometimes, it can make selling COMPLETELY unnecessary. Sometimes it can’t. Every business is different. The goal is to figure out what the optimal balance is for YOU between marketing and selling.
The reason the world of business online is harder is because the masses showed up. 20 years ago, they weren’t here. 10 years ago, they weren’t here. Today, THEY ARE HERE.
So go the other way. Do something different. Be more strategic than the blob. They’re running a rat race because they see other people running a rat race. That’s what blobs do. They blob.
Chasing attention is the new ditch digging. It’s hard work, with minimal returns that often come at a hefty price. It’s the most powerless way to live: “I need you to pay attention to me so I can be OK” said NO successful person ever.
So stop pushing, start pulling. Build leverage by increasing your attractive power, not by investing more effort in convincing someone to buy.
It’s time to be smarter.