Does life and sales meet at a junction?

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.
 Thomas Szasz

So here is the thing. Sitting in office post lunch. Looking forward to Rohan chaiwallah's chai. I am drifting in my thoughts. A question popped in my mind how sales and life are interconnected. Life is so much like sales. You must convince your close relatives, your colleagues and even your kids to listen and respond as you want. One common thing which I see in successful people is that they are good in sales. I feel around 80% of your success depends upon who you are and rest 20% on what you know. 

What are typically the ways in which one can put the right messages across while selling?

Here are certain ways which does this exactly without fail.

First, you need to sell your idea to your buyer…. So, with broadcasting your advantage you need to tell your audience what makes you different. You need to provide hidden messages to which directly attack the competitor’s product and showing what your product is not. This gives a positive reinforcement to your buyer psychic.
You need to give an out of box idea and your idea should work in a real-life scenario. I would always want to buy a product which would solve my problem, which I desperately looking to resolve. Needless to say, that product should solve that problem every time spotlessly without effort.You know time is of the great essence here. I cannot expect a busy mom trying to figure out a solution to a problem every time her kid pisses. She needs to have a diaper in place and diaper should be leak free. It's that simple. So, you see problem and solution…

Now the question emerges 'What the hell, I have so many diaper brands in the market.' Why would I buy XYZ? Make benefits of your product easy to spot. The perceived value of your product should be far more than anything. I would say think of it this way. If you have a bottle of glass cleaner and the cap of the bottle is attached, then you don’t have an option as what you will be doing when the bottle gets empty. If I say to the customer that the bottle is reusable and can be used to spray plants after washing. Won’t that be nice? So you are getting more for less. Just a simple tweak here and there.

Another best part of convincing a customer about the product is without attempting to do so is by building a relationship and nurturing the customer to make him buying ready. You need not have sales in the first attempt. It would be foolish. Every customer is at a different stage of buying. Understanding where the customer is coming from will always make things easier for you both.

Lastly, why would anyone buy from you without even trying? The whole idea of a sachet of shampoo in countries like us is making consumer try the product. Sample product, a live demonstration is some of the options which make the customer believe in your product. Let me walk you through one incident.The other day I went to the supermarket and got a sample of rice bran oil. I never even tried it at home. The only idea the brand was proposing that it doesn’t get absorbed too much. Here is the best part, next time I went to supermart I thought let me try out rice bran instead of olive oil. The idea is maybe the customer is not ready to buy now but putting your message across in the customer subconscious will give you an advantage over the next buy.

Convincing people around you is the same strategy but worked out little differently. When you want things to go your way, think people may not be ready right now but give them an idea, hope, and solution to their problem. Once they trust you start putting your ideas in their head with perceived advantages. People would agree with you.

Lastly, before I sign off today by thinking over this idea. Never leave without pushing for more. Because people don’t buy on a bleak hope rather they buy because they have fear. Once you know when and what to push you are on your way to becoming the most sought after sales guy ;) For that matter, why only a sales guy, why not someone who can influence others… Think of this thought until the next time I come back with more such similarities with life and my perspective on them.