Our CFO once told me he has a simple framework for handling company parties when he’s new to the company and doesn’t know yet who the partygoers are. He locates the sales team assuming they have the best social skills and therefore attract a lot of fun people. The CFO is very accomplished and has been in business for several years, so he can be trusted with his heuristics. This one stuck with me.
I started thinking about what other skills can we acquire in sales, that are applicable in everyday life. And I found some. Each of these skills can be learned. Each makes other things easier. And you can practice them all during your sales hours.
Making and handling money
We’ve all heard it – you can’t buy happiness. But there’s no denying life’s easier with money than without it. I’ve tried it both – trust me on this one. It’s been scientifically proven that eating chocolate and donating to charities increases short-term happiness. Therefore, if you have money, you can buy some temporary happiness indeed.
Correct me if I’m wrong but being able to afford a bottle of wine and rent after being fired also helps. Money allows us to do things that we couldn’t do without it. In fact, thanks to it, we can avoid doing certain things too. I’m telling you, it’s a funny device, those dollar bills. They will not change you. They will amplify whoever you already were.
So if you’re an asshole, the worst thing that can happen to you is getting a lot of money. It would probably make you unbearable. That said, the ability to make and manage money is not enough. Which brings us to our next meta-skills.
Being fit and healthy
You can’t change your face without a surgical intervention. But just as it’s better to be attractive than not, everything is easier when you’re not overweight. As you get older, physical agility becomes something that grows in importance every year. And since building a habit of eating right and moving regularly is harder the older we get, it would be best if you’d start right away.
I think that the only reason I was able to run a half marathon and lift weights on the level I’m able to, is because the mindset behind developing your sales skills is the same as the one behind developing your sports excellence. That’s why people good at sports tend to be good at sales. So put that pizza slice down.
By the way – remember that guy who’s way obese and still able to maintain high energy levels during the day? Yeah, me neither. Being energetic is part of the job. Being healthy is part of being energetic. Get to the gym – pronto.
Being interesting
Oscar Wilde once said that having a steady income is better than being fascinating. Honestly, the notion that we might be forced to choose one or the other freezes the blood in my veins. People who have any interests outside of work are way more interesting than people who don’t. Even famous workaholics like Gary Vaynerchuk, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk have their hobbies. It’s the New York Jets, calligraphy, and books respectively.
Spending 16 hours a day at the office is not the best way to be interesting. It might help you make money, but over time, being interesting and good at what you do will get you further. Fortunately, we tend to hang out with dozens of different clients who have interesting stories to tell – we just need to ask the right questions.
Demonstrating grit
Routine is a sign of ambition in an intelligent man – WH Auden once said. I completely agree with him. Nothing really worth doing takes one day. It’s usually years. An overnight success is backed up by a decade of hard work. If you will look close enough, you will notice that every remarkable achievement was a sum of many small components, which in themselves weren’t anything remarkable.
Say, how do you become an erudite? You put in long hours into reading and poof! At some point, everyone accepts the fact that you are really well read. Or exercise. No one ever went to bed overweight and woke up with a six-pack. It takes months or even years to get from point A to point B. Luckily, the same skillset we employ to stay persistent in closing deals can be used for other purposes as well.
Playing unfair games
A friend of mine, let’s call her Donna, once said that she is competing to be the best looking Donna in the company we both worked at. I knew a thing or two about her so I asked if she’s told any other Donnas that the game’s on. She said “No. And let’s keep it that way. They will not know what hit them”.
Most people don’t have the traits that are essential to salespeople and they are unaware of it. Studies show that an average Joe is more scared of public speaking than death. He’d literally be less scared to be dead in the coffin than give a speech at the funeral. The same goes for meeting new people.
Yet, most of your potential professional competition doesn’t think they’re involved in playing the game of meeting the most interesting people or winning by delivering great public speeches. Good. Let’s keep it that way.
