Every productive job is connected to sales. Before trade can happen, some kind of selling has to take place. Selling is nothing more than making people want to exchange what they have for something else. It is perhaps the oldest job in the world and definitely the most lucrative. But if you sell what you hate, your life sucks.

You Are Always Selling

Have you ever heard people say, “I am not good at sales”? And then those people convince you to go watch a movie on a day you have decided you weren’t going out?

But they don’t think anything of that. They don’t think that had anything to do with sales. But it does. Your life is surrounded by sales pitches.

When you get your kids to do their homework or chores instead of playing around, that is selling. You got them to trade their time for a task that they likely don’t find enjoyable. But you think nothing of it.

When you get someone to change their mind on something, that is selling. And we do this all day. When you suggest something and someone goes along with your suggestion, that is selling.

In fact, if you tell most people to sell an idea without using the word “sell” or any variant of it, they would do a good job at it. The only condition is if they don’t believe something that negates it.

And if they believe something that negates, they can bring it up in everyday life situations. But when it comes to work or business, people seem to try to ignore what they believe. Then, they try to sell and struggle.

How Come Most People Sell What They Hate?

The short answer is money. Most people believe that they have to do something that is not enjoyable to make money. And this stems from their childhood. They got rewarded in financial terms for doing things they don’t like doing.

Therefore, most people grow up with the subconscious programming that they have to do something they don’t enjoy to make money. If they start enjoying what they do to make money, they subconsciously sabotage themselves.

So, people naturally feel comfortable to go sell something they don’t deeply agree with. They believe that is an intricate part of adulthood. And very few people do something about their beliefs as adults. They think adulthood is just all about work, work, work.

Most people would even get resentful when they see someone who truly enjoys their work. That is because they hate theirs. And they don’t know why they keep attracting that. They change jobs and still end up in the same situation.

Also, when they do something they really enjoy, they feel guilty for receiving payment for it, even though value was exchanged. Yes, most people don’t find work where they are paid for what they enjoy doing. But the bigger issue is that most people don’t work on their beliefs.

It is what they were fed as a child that they carry into adulthood. In many cases, that doesn’t change throughout their entire lifespan. Hence, most people condition themselves to sell what they don’t believe in.

Why Do People Fail At Selling?

People fail at selling because they have a belief that negates what they are doing. And they don’t confront that belief or live in accordance with that belief.

If you think social media is a playground and nothing serious happens there. When you put your business on social media, it is going to be very hard to find sales. And this is not because social media isn’t a place where sales happen. Your belief will create your custom experience.

Your belief will affect your actions in some way. And you will not get meaningful business traction from social media. But if you go spend time with people getting the results you desire, your belief changes as you associate with them.

But it isn’t that simple for most people. Most people feed their minds with possibilities and impossibilities at the same time. In trying to understand both sides, the side you have an underlying original belief about keeps growing. As it is important to get in new information to change your belief, it is also important to starve the original belief you have that is not serving you.

For example, a lady can totally suck at selling software. But completely ace it at selling bras. She has all kinds of resistance against software (that she might not even realize). But with bras, she has no resistance. This is why she would recommend a good bra to her friend and feel guilty if they try to pay her for the recommendation. But that is selling!

So, the question to you is this — are you selling what you ought to be selling?

The #1 Problem of Sales Training

I have been involved in a number of sales training. And one thing I find common to them is that a sales guru is trying to teach a technique to everybody. And everybody is coming with their internal resistance and baggage. Each person is different.

The lack of technique is not the primary problem of salespeople that are underperforming. The primary problem is resistance. And technique cannot remove their internal resistance.

Don’t get me wrong, it is good to learn techniques. People just need to be aware of techniques to see which one works for them. But with resistance, nothing works.

And you cannot wipe out resistance in a 1-week sales training. Many people talk about belief but they don’t say how to get rid of wrong beliefs and flow with the right beliefs. It takes months, at the very minimum.

The older you are, the longer it is to root out old beliefs that are not serving you. You cannot carry a belief for 40 years and think it will be gone because you heard some good stuff for 4 days. That is impractical.

It takes consistent input over several months and starving the beliefs that form your resistance. Uncovering those beliefs is first.

What you need is not a training. What you need is a personal coach. A coach that will be there for 11 months minimum. (Yes, it takes that long for most people)

If you have done sales training for your team over the years and you haven’t seen improvements in some people (that you believe in), hire a coach for them. It will be your best decision this year.

Conclusion

Everybody is good at sales. If you are having trouble selling you need to ask yourself — are my beliefs in line with my desire?

If your beliefs contradict your desire, you will not get anywhere. It is like desiring to be a millionaire and then believing that money turns good people into bad people. (And you want to be a good person).

You can get rich doing what you enjoy. Never feel guilty for getting paid for what you enjoy doing. Life is supposed to be that way.

If after several sales training you (or someone on your team) have not improved significantly, what you need is a coach (not another sales training).

But if you feel the way you think about money is the thing holding you back, then you should listen every day to an audio course I created called; Money Mastery

Click here to get Money Mastery: The Audio Experience

Cheers!

David O.

1 comment

The First Step in Building a Profitable Online Brand

Your First 100k

Finding Your Magnetic Likable Style

See all posts from Bank of David