I don’t know what it is about the word “selling” that causes people to freeze up like a deer caught in the headlights. It seems that people will go to almost any length to avoid talking about the importance of selling. Yet the bottom line is that selling is a way of life!

We sell ourselves to get accepted into college. We sell our kids on doing chores around the house. We sell our bosses on why “we” deserve the promotion versus someone else. We sell our significant other on that piece of jewelry we are dying to own. We sell our friends on what movie to go see. We sell our colleagues on supporting our projects. We sell others on our charity causes. In short – we sell every minute of every single day of our lives.

Soooo…what is the problem with selling the products or services that we have to offer? Maybe something in the collective psyche that says “selling is bad”? All I know is that if you want people to buy your products or your services then you must master the art of selling what you have to offer. Granted, some of us – yes, that’s me! – enjoy it more than others. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to love it also.

What it comes down to is this…if you believe that what you offer has value to someone one else or to a particular company then it should be pretty easy to sell. If you love what you do and remember that sales is simply about helping to solve problems for others then it’s pretty easy. Except…most people end up focused on what “they want” not what is good for their potential customer. I’ll talk more about that later.

Here’s the deal. Right now, people are constantly focusing on what they perceive to be the negatives  out there. That’s not helpful. Yes, I realize that the financial problems being played out on the national stage are a problem. Yes, I realize that people are out of work. But that doesn’t have to be your world. Focusing on the negative or using the economy as an excuse is NOT the way to attract new clients and close business each day.

In subsequent posts, I’m going to talk about the Top 10 Sales Blunders People Make and HOW YOU can avoid them. I love to help people sell more, more often so read on!