My most basic philosophy regarding selling is that selling (or, the ability to sell) is instinctive to every human being. I say this because I believe that selling goes deep into our innermost being as the need to survive and the will to thrive. Therefore, the ability to sell is, in fact, at the core
of human nature for each of us.
To understand this philosophy one needs to fully comprehend that selling is nothing more than persuading. As such, it is fundamentally the ability to 1) draw attention and 2) incite to action. In other words, at its very essence selling is the ability to persuade others to get what you need.
To make my point here, let’s consider how each human being begins life persuading others. We do so by examining how a newborn baby persuades to get what it needs. Consider the following statement:
As you know and perhaps have experienced directly, every newborn baby has needs, and the most fundamental of these are love, nourishment and comfort. However, with one exception the newborn is virtually a helpless human being when it comes to meeting its own needs.
This exception is that all babies have a built-in mechanism, and in fact, for the first few months of life the only mechanism – to let a parent, guardian or caretaker know that it needs to be loved, nourished and comforted. Therefore, it instinctively knows how to 1) draw attention to itself and 2) incite its parent, guardian or caretaker to give it what it needs.
To fully demonstrate this, I’ll ask you a series of questions. And unless you’ve spent your entire life up to now in a vacuum or on some remote and desolate island, you already know the answers to these questions.
When a newborn baby needs to be held what does it do? Or, what about when the newborn needs to be fed? What does it also do? And, what is it that the newborn does when it needs a diaper change?
I am sure that you answered, “it cries” in each case. Isn’t that right? Has your attention been captured in this way before?
Okay, here is my next set of questions for you.
That same baby who started crying to get its parent, guardian or caretaker’s attention to be held, fed and/or changed somehow realized that no one’s 1) picked it up yet, 2) fed it yet and/or 3) changed its diaper yet. So, what does it do next?
How about, “it cries louder?” Have you ever experienced this? Has it caused you to take action?
Okay, here is my final question for you.
Our baby still hasn’t captured the attention that it needs and somehow it knows just what to do next. So, what is that?
Well it’s been my experience, and most likely yours as well, that it cries even louder, even to the point where it turns red and its veins pop up on its head, and it kicks and whales about until someone finally comes to its attention.
Can you relate to this?
Bobby Butler is president and founder of Sales Mentoring Solutions. His firm provides training and development as well as organization development support to sales organizations and professional association memberships. The above article is just an opening. Every month CDN This Week will feature a article from Bulter’s The Sales Mentor series.
