Everything is Sales

For years I denied the fact that sales are all that matters.

Call it naive. Call it being a millennial. I don't care.

I've finally come around to the fact that everything we do is selling something. The difference between those who succeed and those who fail at sales comes down to awareness, talent, and skill.

The first step is recognizing that everything is sales. You have to be aware before you can leverage it successfully.

Dating is sales.
Customer service is sales.
Marketing is sales. 
Religion is sales (that'll rub some of you the wrong way).

It's true. Christians are always trying to sell other people on becoming a Christian because it's how you get to heaven and because Jesus loves you an all that. They call it conversion. Does it get anymore obvious?

Name something and I'll show you how it all comes back to sales. Sales is how we justify ANYTHING. Without sales, a business has to shut down.

Therefore, the ultimate skill is being able to sell.

If you're able to sell, then you can find success no matter where you go or what you do. If you can generate revenue for yourself or a business then you will always have work.

But getting there takes more than awareness.

It takes talent and skill.
Talents are natural aptitudes and skills.

Some people are just more talented at basketball than others. I have some friends who are naturally talented at baseball and they are terribly awkward on a basketball court.

Sales is the exact same way. Some people are naturals. It comes easy. For them, making a sale is as simple as having a casual conversation over a beer. Snap their fingers like Thanos and it's done.

For others, it's going to take some time and development.

I grew up playing baseball for 14+ years. But when I got to college it was much easier to put together a pickup basketball game than a baseball game. As the years went by I began to enjoy basketball more than baseball and have continued to play almost weekly for the last 9-10 years.

As a direct result, I am now significantly better at basketball today than I was 10 years ago. I'm never going to make the NBA (On a good week, I make 50% of my layups and probably 40% of my jumpshots), but I've gotten better and, now, basketball is my favorite sport.

10 years ago those shooting percentages were probably a third of what they are today. It took time and intentional development on my part to get better. My enjoyment of it has come through the process of playing and getting better.

For most people that's how you've got to approach sales (if it's a skill you want to develop). You have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations (A LOT) and learn from each experience. You have to learn how to relate, how to sympathize, how to offer and how to close. There's so much that goes into developing you sales skills.

I'm still new to sales, but I'm working hard to develop that skill. I recognize that if I can put in the sweat now to become good at sales then I'll be able to continue to improve and reap the benefits for years to come.

Here's the secret most people don't know.

I'm going to end up being better than 95% of the world at selling when it's all said and done because most people just don't care enough to do anything about it. They might know that being able to sell is the ultimate skill, but they've never done ANYTHING about it and they never will.

They shrugged their shoulders and moved on.

"It's not their passion," or whatever other excuse they give.

I've actually thought about this a lot recently and seen some good conversations about it on Twitter. The main idea here is that sometimes passion comes AFTER skill. You get better at something so you start to like it more.

Kind of like me and basketball. I used to not care about basketball. Then I started getting better at it and I started liking it more.

I never saw myself in marketing, but I started to do it...got better at it and started to like it more.

The whole, "do what you love," or, "follow your passion," stuff is BS. It's not good advice. It leads you to pursue one thing and discourages us from further exploration. Our passion isn't waiting to be discovered, it's something we build, develop, and cultivate.

I'm exploring sales. It's going to reap the benefits for me. And perhaps in the process I'll become more passionate about it, but right now I don't need much convincing. 

tl;dr (too long; didn’t read)
Sales > Everything
Don't pursue your passions. Build them