Learn To Sell: Ethical Sales As An Extension Of Yourself
“Learn to sell, learn to build, if you can do both, you will be unstoppable.”
Take a moment and think about the last three products (or services) you bought that you were really pleased with - either physical or digital. For me, this includes a digital marketing course ($20), an editing software called Final Cut Pro X ($299), and a design course ($99).
Now, think of all the pleasure and joy you’ve gotten out of your products. Ask yourself: would you have paid 5% more for any of these products you’ve enjoyed? How about 10% more? For me, the answer is yes.
If the answer is yes for you, then you, the customer, is the winner of all these sales transactions!
This simple thought experiment has transformed how I think about sales.
In Ethical Sales, The Customer Wins.
This is one of the first principles in Zig Ziglar’s (excellent) book, Secrets of Closing The Sale. In ethical selling, the customer is the biggest winner.
For most of my life, “sales” was a dirty word... even though I’ve sold and produced millions of dollars of video content over the last six years.
Growing up, no one in my family relied on sales to make a living. So I was only ever “sold to” - I never saw the other side.
But the simple thought experiment above has transformed the way I think about selling. I think of all the great products I’ve enjoyed throughout my life and the fact that someone, somewhere, sold them to me and made my life better! I was the biggest winner in these transactions!
And I think of all the satisfied clients I’ve created content for, who have been very happy with the results of our service. They were the biggest winner in all those sales transactions!
“Sales” isn’t a dirty word. With a great product at the right price, a “sale” is just a great win for the customer where they get something they want.
And as Ziglar writes:
You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
Everything Is Selling.
The other core principle from the book that changed my perspective on the sales process is that everything is selling.
Every job application, every interview, every resume draft, every email, every idea you’ve explained to a co-worker, every tweet you’ve ever sent, every article you’ve ever written - it’s all selling!
No matter what your goals are in life, chances are you have to sell someone on something to make it happen. As entrepreneur Kevin Harrington says in the first chapter, “selling is the prerequisite to success.”
In that light, it makes perfect sense to learn how to sell ethically.
Sales Is An Extension of Yourself.
What and how you sell is an extension of yourself.
For a long time, I thought you had to be “slimy” to sell. But you’re only a slimy salesperson if you’re a slimy person, to begin with!
Ziglar writes:
You cannot be one kind of person and another kind of salesperson. You must be consistent in all areas of life if you are going to achieve maximum results in building your sales career… [customers know] you can’t make a good deal with a bad guy.
This is encouraging to hear! I build my life on the ideas of integrity, honesty, and discipline. I don’t have to change who I am to start selling. I only need to put who I am into what I sell.
To Sell Is To Serve.
The idea of selling has always felt selfish. Like one could only make a sale at the expense of someone else.
But ethical selling as framed in Secrets of Closing The Sale is really about serving other people. Again, from Kevin Harrington:
To sell is to serve. It’s about giving value and helping people find solutions to problems, so they can live more fulfilling lives.
With this simple reframing, selling becomes a goal worth pursuing because it’s really about what you can do to help other people by delivering them value.
Build A Skill Stack First, Then Add Sales.
I’m coming to the world of sales relatively late in the game. I’ve spent the last ten years or so building a skill stack in producing, editing, and writing. Now, I’m learning to sell.
Naval Ravikant, on his podcast, How To Get Rich, talks about the advantage of learning to build first, then tacking on sales afterward.
Often, it’s too difficult and time-consuming to learn to build later in life. Learning skills in technology like coding, software engineering, programming, etc. or skills in my field like physical production, editing, animation, or motion graphics, takes a lot of energy and time you probably won’t have in your 40s.
But learning to sell, with your hard skills as your backbone, is far easier. You have more knowledge about the product and process in your area of expertise and can break that down for the prospect. As Bill Gates famously said:
I’d much rather teach a technician marketing than teach a marketer the technology.
Learn hard skills first, then learn to sell.
Here’s The One Thing You Need To Know To Make Your First Sale.
Ethical selling is about providing value to the prospect. That means that if you’re going to make your first sale, the value of the product must be equal to or greater than the price of the product in the prospect’s mind.
When the value equals the price, you have what Ziglar calls “a prospect.” If the value exceeds the price - you have a “hot” prospect.
The goal of the salesperson is to ensure the prospect understands the value of the product. If the person wants the product more than they want to hold onto the money it costs, you’ll make a sale.
So do anything you can to illustrate value. Use social proof, use illustrations, use demonstrations - whatever it takes to show the prospect they are paying less for the product than what it’s worth.
If you focus on value first, you’ll be well on your way to closing your first ethical sales deal.
Start now.
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Ziglar, Zig. Secrets of Closing the Sale. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
You can find Naval Ravikant’s How To Get Rich podcast / blog here.