Everything I thought I knew about sales and business was wrong.
[You weren’t quite expecting that, and you pause to sip your tea.]
When I was younger, so much younger than today…
When I formed opinions about sales and business, it wasn’t positive: Sales is manipulative, bad, creepy, and annoying. Business is boring. Despite a lifetime of experience, I still believed that technology work is about following the right rules for any given project.
What I know now: Every single thing humans do is about humans.
Now I find I’ve changed my mind…
Where I tended to think of “business” as a Thing, it is actually about people: what we want, what we do, how we feel about it, and so on. Humans, human emotions, and human interaction.
Why isn’t history taught this way? Why isn’t everything?
Earlier this year, I had a trial session with a mindset coach to address some hang-ups about sales and leadership. The conversation rocketed from “What’s holding you back from success?” to a deep emotional conversation.
I’d assumed the coach would discover my procedural flaws and bad assumptions. Instead, she went straight to the heart of the feelings, which fed the ideas, which held me back.
Oh, right. Anything involving humans will absolutely be about emotions. (And psychology, and social interactions, and on and on.)
…and opened up the doors.
Uplifting idea? Maybe yes, maybe no. My own feeling is one of clarity, because I deeply understand:
- You, fellow human, are reading this right now.
- You and I are connected by these words, and by much more.
- Every single person out there is a fellow human and is more like me than any other creature on this planet, or in all existence.
There’s a lot of freedom in understanding these things, especially as I am in the business of selling software to businesses. Which, it turns out, are just collections of humans.
“Everyone is a potential sale,” salespeople say.
No. Everyone is a fellow human. Some of them will need what I sell. My job is to find the folks who need us, and connect with them.
—
Lyrics, “Help”, the Beatles:
When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now these days are gone (these days are gone)
I’m not so self-assured
Now I find I’ve changed my mind
And opened up the doors