Clickincome Success Secret - Guess what? You're a Salesperson
Believe it or not, you're a salesperson. Whether you're an entrepreneur with a Clickincome website or you're using some other hosting service, you're a salesperson. Even if you've never opened a business in your life, and never plan to, you're still a salesperson.
That's right. At some point in your life, like it or not, you will have to act like a salesperson. Oh, I know. Some of you are saying, "Are you kidding? I hate salespeople. They drive me nuts. I'll never work as a salesperson. I just can't do it. I can't lie. I don't have enough bull-* in me."
Maybe, but guess what? You're still a salesperson. The moment you submitted a resume to a company to get a job, you became a salesperson. No, you weren't trying to hock brushes or trying to sell cleaning products door to door, you were trying to sell yourself. That's right. You were selling yourself to that HR director in order to get the job.
This is a critical epiphany for many Clickincome clients, and other web entrepreneurs. There are so many times, Clickincome client or not, that we act as a salesperson. Because of that simple fact, if you want to be successful, you must develop the mindset of a marketer.
The problem many of us face is that we think of a salesperson as slimy, greedy, money grubbing lowlife willing to sell his Grandmother into slavery for a buck. Granted, I've met a few people like that. They do well in the beginning but, once the lies are revealed, they don't last much longer on the sales floor.
Real sales, and I'm talking sales that create the longest lasting customer loyalty, isn't like that. It still deals with convincing a client that your product is so good they want to buy it, but it doesn't have to involve slimy, black hat, tactics.
My first sales job was a joke. I worked in a call center selling season tickets for the local symphony orchestra. I stank at it. I was so bad that, after three months with only one sale, I was fired. I can't blame them. I didn't have the sales mentality.
My next sales job was still a joke, I just quit being quite so funny. I learned a few things about people. I learned how to push through excuses NOT to buy. But I didn't believe in the product. I had some other problems with the company, as well. This time, instead of getting fired, I quit. Working there just wasn't working for me.
Even though that experience was, ultimately, a negative one, I learned a lot. I'm actually grateful to the people I worked with, and the company itself, for that. Even though I just felt like I couldn't stay there, the experience helped me grow.
Over the years I've learned a few more things about sales. Interestingly enough, I still don't think I'd make a good sales-floor type salesperson. I just don't enjoy that kind of work enough to really be good at it. But I've learned to respect those folks who do. A good salesperson is really worth their weight in gold.
Instead, I've developed into a special class of salesperson knows as a "marketer." Being a marketer, I've learned to develop a "marketing mindset" that has helped me with my own businesses, as well as in my work teaching Clickincome clients. Here are some of the things I've learned:
Advertising is not dishonest. The act of selling a product is not a dishonest act. Yes, some ad copy can exaggerate things a bit, but I try not to. At the same time, I don't step away from the truth. Too many people, in attempts of mock humility, forget that the products they sell actually add value to people's lives. I'm not lying if I tell people that.
Preach to the converted. If you're not preaching to the converted, you're targeting the wrong people. Another aspect of sales, that many people hate, is the idea of it being pushy. I've met pushy salespeople, believe me. I've also learned why some of them act that way. The idea of pushy sales is in trying to convince someone that doesn't want your product that they actually want it. Inexperienced salespeople will sometimes do that. Experienced salespeople know it's a waste of time and effort. The right audience is the people who need your product, and are used to spending money for it.
Writing ad copy is just writing. I used to think there was some special trick to writing ad copy. I thought there must be some formula for success that was only talked about in the inner circles of the Secret Brotherhood of Marketers. It turned out not to be true, of course. Yes, there are certainly principles that can help you. It turns out that those principles apply to all good writing, though, not just ad copy.
By letting potential customers know about your products, you're doing them a favor. If you don't advertise, how will they know about it in the first place? Do you honestly think your clients will spontaneously come to know that if they use Product X they'll get Y result in their lives? It just doesn't happen that way in real life. You're advertising actually helps people by educating them about the potential positive impact your products will have on their lives.