Do you suck at sales? You can fix that.
You’re no different than the rest of the world in that you want people to recognize you for what you do. You may not want to be the center of attention, but you do want people to listen to you, hear your ideas, and hopefully agree with you. That requires a skill that most people suck at: selling.
We all have the inherent ability to sell. After all, you learned to sell as a child when you wanted the sugary goodness of Lucky Charms but your mom said you could only have Shredded Wheat. You would point out the toy that was included in your cereal of choice, and how marshmallows tasted better than dried wheat. You offered to clean your room extra good or to be nice to your sister for a whole week. If those didn’t work, you would just keep saying “please, please, please!”. If you were really clever, you may even hold on to the box or put it in the cart and say “I’ll put it back before we check out”, knowing you could distract your mom and you’d end up watching Saturday morning cartoons while eating a bowl full of marshmallow ecstasy.
But around the time you were 10 years old, you were told to stop asking for things. Why would any parent tell their kids to stop asking for things, when we all know that you can’t get anything in this world unless you ask for it? If we are taught to not ask for things, why are we surprised when we don’t get them?
Learn to ask for things and be able to help people see your point of view. In other words, learn to sell. Read sales books, go to a sales training class, subscribe to this blog. At least be aware of sales and don’t shy away from it, because to make a great idea successful, you’ll have to sell it.
One Moore Thing: You may not collect commissions or have the title of salesperson, but learning to sell may be the most important skill you can learn to accomplish your goals.