Marketing vs. Sales Pt. 2
What is sales in real life?
Read Part 1 here.
We previously explored the difference between marketing and sales. We defined them as such:
Marketing is the things you can do to get people to convert without talking to your customer (e.g. landing pages, social media, etc.) whereas sales are the activities that require you to talk with your customer to get them to convert (e.g. having sales call, running a demo, etc.).
This is a framework that can be used to frame how to get people to “convert” in real life.
Sales then, in real life, is the art of conversation. It is how you gain influence when people meet you. It involves four components:
- Your look
- How you say what you say
- What you say
- Your ask
Your Look
Vanity aside, looks are important to sales in real life. Your appearance is often the first thing someone will notice about you. I’ll leave the conversation about it being right or wrong that someone may judge you based on your appearance but I will say that it is a fact that people do.
I do not think there is a proper way to look, but I will say that it helps to have a look and to be intentional about it.
Figure out what look works for you given what you want to convey and what makes you feel confident being yourself.
If you aren’t confident being yourself just yet, find a looks that projects who you aspire to be and build from there.
When I was in graduate school, I would often wear non-prescription glasses when I would give an important presentation. They were non-prescription because I didn’t need them, but they made me feel like I was a big-time designer when I presented (hey, it worked for Steve Jobs). I used them to project the type of presenter I wanted to be and that gave me confidence when I was in front of others.
Always remember that your unique value proposition is that you are you so find a look (or grow into one) that showcases that.
How You Say What You Say
Tone, inflection, body language all play a role in your ability to sell yourself. Your delivery has to showcase that you, yourself actually care about what you are saying. [Deliberate] practice makes perfect. Listen to recordings of yourself (painful) and practice aloud in a mirror to really hone in your delivery.
Trust me, it gets better over time.
Look at Jay-Z. He was not born with the ideal voice for hip-hop (that would be Chuck D). But with deliberate practice, he grew into the voice of a generation.
It is all about control. You use your delivery to control the flow of conversation. The old adage that it is not what you say, but how you say it rings true here when thinking about sales in real life.
What You Say
Note that you have to do a little prep work first to even get people to focus on the content of what you are selling. But when you finally get to it, what you say becomes the most important.
Gaining influence is about having something to say. Having something to say usually involves having specific knowledge, a unique angle, and a sense of urgency.
For example, my goal right now is to help six Black-controlled companies become publically traded in the next 15 years.
Why is this important to me? Because median wealth of a Black household in America is $17,150. For reference, the 2020 poverty line for a four-person household in the US is $26,200. I want to have these companies create more wealth for the black community.
The key to the statement above is that I’m showing specific knowledge with data (median household income numbers), a unique angle (why six?), and a sense urgency (in the next 15 years).
All of these points make for a more interesting conversation with others and it becomes easier for them to see how they might fit into what you are selling.
Your Ask
Lastly, give people an option to buy into you. I have found that most people want to be helpful to interesting people in some way. You build in mechanisms for people to actually buy what you are selling.
This could be in the form of supporting your business, buying your book, asking you to speak at a conference, making an intro, sharing information, or just staying connected.
Transparently, my ask is what I am working on most personally.
Right now, it’s just to stay connected on my newsletter or make a relevant intro on my behalf but I want a more tangible way for others to buy into my vision. That’s what I’ll be working on for the rest of 2020.
Challenge: Work on your ask.
In summary, this is how you can apply the Marketing vs. Sales framework to your everyday life. If you are like me, then it’s probably time to work on your ask.
This post was inspired by the work of Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund via her explainer series on how to look at a sales funnel.