3 Things in Life Are Certain: Death, Taxes and Sales

There is a trend away from using the term sales. We find the term unsavory. So, we instead want to call it “business development” or “marketing” or really anything to avoid that horrible feeling of offering goods or services in exchange for money or something else of value.

The fact is, from the time we are conceived until after we are dead something is being sold to or for us. When your mother first learned that she was pregnant with you, she began buying booties and blankets and memento books and whatnot. After you die, someone is going to buy you a coffin and a plot then hire a lawyer to probate your estate. The reason they are buying these things is because someone is selling them. (I mean, but for the existence of cemeteries and caskets, your loved ones might just wrap you in heavy duty plastic and bury you in the backyard. Now that’s unsavory!)

And you’re guilty too. Even if you have a 9 to 5, every day of your life, you are selling something. Every time you send out a resume, you are marketing yourself to potential employers. When one of them says yes and you negotiate your compensation, that is your sales price—at least the sales price for your services. And if you want to keep that job, you sell your services to that employer every single day by carrying out your job description to their satisfaction. When you apply to colleges, you are selling what you can bring to the university community—your point of view, your life’s experiences to date, what you intend to do with the education once you have attained it (i.e., what additional communities the university and its stakeholders can reach through you), potential financial gifts after you’re gainfully employed, and, of course, your tuition (whether paid by you or by a third party).

Instead of trying to obscure the fact that life is a series of purchases and sales, we, as a society, might benefit more from being honest about it. Then we would create better offerings so that discerning shoppers would happily buy our wares and we wouldn’t need to seek out clueless people who are oblivious to the fact that a sales transaction is contemplated.

So, rather than avoiding the term sales whilst continuously looking for ways to get people to buy our goods and services—how surreptitious is that—why not just be clear about it? “Hi. I understand that you are interested in [insert whatever you’re selling]. I offer something that may meet your needs. Can we spend a few minutes exchanging information to see if there’s a fit?”

Well look at that, you’ve just set a sales appointment, and you didn’t lie about anything. Your prospect knows that you want to sell something, but there’s no pressure to buy as he or she is free to conclude that your offering is not a fit. Therefore, if they do decide to buy, they won’t feel dirty afterwards—like some unscrupulous salesperson sold them some snake oil while pretending to be their friend. This type of honest selling is a good way for salespeople to become comfortable with selling.

A cadre of undercover salespeople have turned the buying public into skeptics clutching our pocketbooks in fear of falling into a trap for the unwary. We’re all afraid of being had. The way for salespeople to combat the misinformation and opaqueness that surrounds us isn’t to look for more subtle ways to sell but rather to just come clean about the fact that while we wear the hat of a purchaser every day, in this particular instance, we have our sales hat on, and we want to know if the prospect is in the market for our offering.