If You Are Living, You Are Selling!

If you are living, you are selling!" When reading that, you might say to yourself ... wait a minute I am not in sales, so therefore this does apply to me. Yes it does; in fact, it applies to all of us. Here's why?

Whether you are obtaining a dinner reservation at a popular restaurant, returning merchandise at a store, dealing with a difficult person, seeking advice, attempting to get your point across, applying for a new position at work, or literally involved with the selling of a product or service for a living, navigating your way through life requires an ability to promote yourself and persuade others of your point of view. And, if you think about it, that's what sales is all about.

Because sales skills can be applied to so many facets in our life, the more you develop them, the more you will be able to get what you want and deserve out of life. Each of us is always selling in one way or another. Everyone you interact with, everyone who opinions and actions you affect, is a customer in your life. Since none of us live our lives in total isolation - and who would want to even if we could - we all have a vested interest in trying to get better at selling. Once you know how to sell yourself, you can do anything! The rewards can be awesome.

Marketing versus Selling

If selling is so important to each of us in our lives, are you at times a bit confused about the differences between marketing and selling? Simply put, marketing is the act of "bringing the product or service to market". Selling on the other hand is the process, the steps you take to "close a sale", to convert a prospective buyer into a customer, or "making a conversion".

At its core marketing is essentially nothing more than research. That is to say it's about identifying groups of potential buyers (your target market) and then finding the best way of bringing your product or service to their attention, generally through some form of advertising, online/offline campaigns or through some other outreach activities. Once your potential customers have been identified, you will try to reach them by developing what is called your "Marketing Message". The more closely your message resonates with the wants, needs or desires of your prospective customers the better the odds of making a conversion, aka, closing sales.

Marketing on-line has some distinctive advantages to off-line marketing methods. The Internet makes it much easier to conduct market research using search engines or keyword searches using specialized programs as well as various other methods.

In minutes, you can accumulate highly accurate real time data on what people are looking at, or looking for on-line. Not to mention finding out crucial information about your competitors as well. The value of this powerful research capability can not be understated. It is priceless!

On-line or off-line, marketing and sales seem sometime to overlap in the development of what is commonly known as the "pitch". The pitch, of course, is how the marketing message is delivered. It's where the marketing "rubber" meets the road so to speak.