WAY back when I was young and RTM had just one black-and-white television channel — this was in the late 1960s and early 1970s — I would watch with my mother and older sister, Viji, an American action series called Run for Your Life starring Ben Gazzara.
He played a lawyer in his prime with a just-diagnosed disease that conveniently — for episodic storytelling — left him in good health for a year or two before the expected terminal decline. Even as a child I thought the idea of cramming two or three decades of high-quality life into just a couple of years intriguing (You may watch the grainy episodes of this series today on YouTube).
It struck me recently that our economic reality — for students or retirees, employees, professionals or entrepreneurs — as we journey from womb to tomb might be described as a variation of that classic TV series: Sell for Your Life.
Why? Motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar once wrote: "I happen to believe that everything is selling."
I suspect Ziglar was 100 per cent correct, especially since effective "selling" in various facets and phases of life does not always require a monetary pay off. Obviously, though, when it comes to financial planning, we need to learn how to manage our money wisely. Towards that end, having a written budget is effective because it tells our money where to go, and why.
But before we can budget, we need money to flow into our lives. Well, the volume of cash that comes to us is a direct function of our capacity to sell our talent, energy, time, goods and services to the world at large.
Another author cum international speaker, Brian Tracy, makes this compelling point in his book No Excuses — The Power of Self-Discipline: "The most important element in business success is selling. Nothing happens until a sale takes place." Remember: The very first line of any business' profit and loss account is its revenue or turnover, or SALES.
OF INFLUENCE AND PERSUASION
Also, even conventional employees who rely on internal promotions or external moves to make more money need to convince their existing or future bosses of their value to the current or next organisation. That capacity to convince others is a key element of sales.
So, if we take a step back for a broader, better view of all human interactions, we'll recognise the core traits of exerting positive influence and verbal persuasiveness that are vital to high-quality selling are also of central importance to high quality living.
Consider this simple algebraic relationship: a = b. Obviously, then, b = a.
Logically, if we equate "a" to high-quality living, which we all aspire to, and if we equate effective selling to "b", it isn't difficult to accept the premise that a superior ability to "sell" ourselves, our services, and our products correlates to a successful life.
Nowadays when I attend personal development seminars or business conferences, I instantly raise my hand if the speaker or moderator asks this common question: How many of you are in sales?
That realisation and acceptance came slowly to me. As a teenager and all the way into my early 20s, I was certain that I did not have "a business-bone in my body". And since sales is the lifeblood of business, I knew I wasn't wired to be a salesman.
Plus, it didn't help that I had been exposed to far too many old-style salespeople who saw the sales process as a battle of wills against reluctant, gullible buyers who needed to be coerced into saying "yes", regardless of what was in their best interests. I found that flawed Jurassic model of selling ethically and morally repugnant.
LEARNING TO SELL
Over time, though, I grew to understand that my perception of sales was incomplete. Just as there are good and bad politicians, policemen, judges and teachers because there are good and bad people, there are also good and bad practitioners of the sales process.
But as sales, in its broadest sense, is essential to successful living, it makes sense for us to learn how to sell — ethically, kindly, effectively and profitably. Even if we know nothing about sales today, that is no excuse for us to dig in our heels and refuse to learn about selling, particularly selling correctly.
To my mind, ethical selling requires four non-negotiable traits: influence, persuasiveness, trustworthiness and genuine care. All of us need to work hard and work smart on enhancing our capacity to naturally and truly exude those four traits. They can't be faked and nor should we try to fake them. (Confession: I am distrustful of the ubiquitous mantra "fake it till you make it").
Instead, I urge you to boost your effectiveness, lifetime income and value to humanity by learning to sell yourself and your "products" caringly, honestly, earnestly. It might help you to remember that when done correctly, selling isn't something you do TO someone else, but rather something you do FOR someone you care about. That minor change of wording grants us a gargantuan shift in intent.
So, learn to sell... for your life.
© 2023 Rajen Devadason
Rajen Devadason, CFP, is a securities commission-licensed Financial Planner, professional speaker and author. Read his free articles at www.FreeCoolArticles.com; he may be connected with on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/rajendevadason, or via [email protected]. You may also follow him on Twitter @Rajen Devadason and on YouTube (Rajen Devadason).
