The Blog Nobody Dreams Of

I have been fortunate to be a guest on numerous podcasts evangelizing about sales careers and careers in general. I also often get to speak about my other project on homeless initiatives. This post hosts the links to each of those podcast recordings. I know I make an amazing guest and offer life altering advice, just don't make a big deal about it, OK?

You'll see dozens of threads on LinkedIn about the importance of finding a prospect's pain. Pain Pain Pain! They aren't wrong but that thinking is missing a huge opportunity for salespeople. Instead of just focusing on, "Is there a problem or challenge that my product or service can help with?" keep an eye and ear out for, "Is there an opportunity where my product or service can help capitalize on?"

As my fans (both of them) know, I am a big believer in the ability of creating your own sales job. I did it a couple times in my career and have a course that will teach you how to do it yourself...guaranteed! So it goes without saying that I am always looking for stories about others who have created their own sales job. 

One of the reasons I chose to evangelize about sales careers when I retired is the wonderful life a career in sales gave me. When I was at the lowest point of my life, a new sales job allowed me to rebuild my life, and go on to help others.  A job in sales is the one job that you can land, even if a company isn’t hiring!

In my last post I talked about the importance of writing, this time I am going to talk about a vastly underutilized technique to be a great salesperson. Interviewing. No, not that interviewing, the one where you ask the questions!

There are so many hacks and frameworks and "tips & tricks" for salespeople, sometimes the obvious gets overlooked. In today's digitally-driven world, writing is an indispensable skill for salespeople. It is not just about pitching a product or service; it's about crafting compelling messages that resonate with potential customers and drive them to take action. Here's why writing is so important in sales: 1. First Impressions Matter

I saw a question posed, “What is a healthy unemployment rate?” The answer was between 3 and 5%. Today (July 9. 2024) it stands at 4.1%, which is allegedly healthy, but tell that to the 6 million adults who can’t find a job.  You might have also heard about all the jobs that go unfilled, that “Nobody wants to work anymore.” That’s such BS, nobody wants to work at crappy low paying jobs.

It's always been about me! As I have spent that past year-and-a-half evangelizing about sales careers, I get to share my motto, I didn't selling anything, I figured shit out. Sometimes, depending on the audience, I would have to clean it and substitute "stuff" for "shit" but everyone got the idea. I would go on and say that I never convinced anyone that they needed my service to deliver hands-on labs for software training. Instead, I found those who were already in the market and convinced them I was the best option.

I have always been a proponent of never applying online, talking to a recruiter or HR. All those routes are just ways to weed people out, in essence all they can say is, "No." Applying online (AI bots), Recruiters, Hiring Managers, etc. don't know anything about how sales works, why would you leave your future in their hands?!? I also talk a lot about being unemployed and underemployed, even making a case that being unemployed is better mentally. If you don't have a job, at least you have hope that once you do land a job, everything will be OK. If you are underemployed, busting your ass for 40 hours a week and still not getting by, you might not have hope.

Sahil Bloom recently had a Twitter post (see below) that spoke volumes to me...it was about things he wished he knew about sooner concerning work. Each of those 9 points were brilliant, but I want to focus on #6...cause that was literally my motto. I always said, I don't sell anything, I figure shit out.  I didn't try to convince anyone they needed my service, instead I found prospects who were already in the market and showed them why I was the best option...even more so than the company I worked for...by figuring shit out.  That's what a lot of sales is about, especially Enterprise sales.

There's this guy I know, Todd Brison who is Tim Denning's partner. Todd writes a lot about writing. Yeah that sounds redundant but Todd is great at writing about writing. I've bought several of his courses. Todd recently wrote about guru's and failure and had a great point. Everyone wants to teach you all the tricks to success so you won't fail...but that's just not realistic. Here's Todd's take...

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." The implication is clear...if you do not try...you will not succeed This is true in sales where if you don't ask for the sale you can't get the sale. It's also true in everyday life.There have been instances in my life where I wanted to meet someone but it seemed far-fetched that they would would make time for someone they didn't know. So I asked.