Your Next Career Step? Learn How to Sell Yourself.

We hear it almost too often:

“If you’d have told me three years ago I’d be in sales I would have laughed in your face, but now I love it.”

Often the reason for this is because by getting into sales, we start to learn a crucial aspect of human interconnectedness that is highly indicative of the way we operate in the 21st Century:

The whole world runs on sales, and we are always selling in one form or another.

Selling a product, a service, an idea, an opinion or even just selling ourselves the fact that we are worthy of our next form of growth.

We are continuously convincing and persuading ourselves and those around us of what we should do next, what we should have, or simply just how life should be. This is why those that find themselves loving their sales role will all agree that although it seemed difficult at first, selling is the ultimate skill for success in life.

That and perhaps a really good golf swing. But even then it turns out Tiger must have had good persuasive skills all this time…

If you have just graduated from college, are in your own business, or are looking for that next promotion, then your next step is not necessarily to get better and better at your craft or profession, but to know how those that are making the decisions surrounding your success are actually thinking. You need to know what is going to cause them to buy into the worth you already know is there.

You need to think like a businessperson first, worker second.

I’ve spoken with countless individuals looking to forge their own path because they have realised they have a significant gift to give to the world.

Along with them there are also the individuals looking to get ahead at their place of work, a promotion seeming much more exhilarating than an entrepreneurial venture.

In 95% of cases, the area that their thinking needs challenging is the way they prioritise the importance of their competency in their job over the overall business system in which it sits.

Musicians, photographers, coaches, bookkeepers, lawyers – the content of the job isn’t important here. What is important is the realisation that you can be the best anything in the world but without the ability to sell it, it remains unseen and unused.

If you have a passion that you want to be more than just a hobby, and want to be considered a notable name in that industry then remember this:

We are only as good at something as our ability to sell it to others.

So with that in mind, what are the fundamental keys to selling ourselves to the decision makers that matter the most?

Fundamental Key #1: Everyone is asking themselves “what’s in it for me?’
It may seem a bit selfish, but it should be seen as more of an evolutionary bias that has lead us to look out for our own survival. It’s only natural to seek a secondary gain out of any behaviour we partake in, however much it may have climbed up the scale of altruism.

These secondary gains may be physical, emotional, or monetary in nature and the best way to utilise this from a selling perspective is to remember that the more a positive gain can be reached for both parties involved, the more likely the sale is to go through.

Remind the person you are selling yourself to what is in it for them. It’s likely to be all that is on their mind regardless.

Fundamental Key #2: We are our own walking marketing plan

If you think your potential employers, promoters, or clients-to-be aren’t checking out your social media and online presence at the click of a button you are kidding yourself.

It is essential in the modern business landscape to be portraying (marketing) ourselves in a way that suggests we are a person of value and are willing to give that value to others.

We are constantly teaching others how we want to be treated and in a world where online relationships are dominating the way we connect with each other we need to ensure that we are putting out the right message.

Fundamental Key #3: Get clear on the problem you are solving for others
The best salespeople and marketers know that the power of value is finding a problem that needs solving, and solving it better than anyone else. That is how value is created.

If looking for your ideal job, don’t just think in terms of what you’d like to do, think in terms of what problem you could solve better than anyone else and thoroughly enjoy yourself in the process.

After that next promotion or wanting to sign two extra clients? Find the gap that needs filling, and be passionate about your ability to fill it. How could anyone not be attracted to that? It is these types of sales that make the world go round.