First, let us agree on what is “selling”. The classic definition is – “transacting goods or services for money”. Okay. But for the sake of this blog, let us twist it a bit. Take another universal truth – “time is money”. So a modified definition of selling is now - “transacting goods or services for money or time”. Let us move on now.
So I have been in a sales career for over a decade now. Often, we (including myself) perceive a “salesperson” as someone who over-promises and under-delivers. The moment we walk in to a store the first thing that irks us is the approaching salesperson. Infact, I too run away from them and try to find a corner of the store where I can be myself and shop with peace. Ofcourse, if you are a business owner yourself, you know how important it is to have a strong sales team, doesn’t matter what business you run, you eventually need to make sales (aka income).
But here is another aspect of this. This is far more important.
In a way we are all selling something to someone. All our life. Every day. Sometime we are selling ourself as a good when we visit websites and (un)knowingly agree to sell our cookies for time we spend on the website. But the worst is when we are selling ourself for cheap, often free, for a zero value product called ego.
Though we label it in many ways – learning, motivating, pep talk, explanation, argument, dialogue, convincing etc etc.
Let us take a few examples and I would love for you to honestly acknowledge whether these example echo with you. Think about what goods/service are we buying/selling into.
- Posting on social media
- Talking yourself into “I will do this tomorrow, pinky promise”
- Arguing with others, trying to prove your point, often aggressively
- Telling yourself how stupid/smart you are
- Buying that stock/investment thinking it will be life changing
- etc
Most of us spend a lot more time in our heads and what happens there is often some kind of “selling”. We are constantly trying to “sell” something to ourself or to someone else.
And more annoying than the salesperson trying to convince you to buy the fancier item in that store is the voice inside you trying to sell you garbage 24/7, non stop. You can walk out of that store, but not out of your mind.
On life and time 