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And how do the people you do this to feel about it? The idea of enthusiastically applying sales techniques to interactions with one’s coworkers feels appalling

by edw 8y ago

And how do the people you do this to feel about it? The idea of enthusiastically applying sales techniques to interactions with one’s coworkers feels appalling. A group of colleagues is ideally a marketplace of ideas and, yes, one needs to sell ideas from time to time, but who wants to be sold to? People often oppose something but raise (being uncharitable here) spurious objections, either because they don’t want to share their true feelings — or don’t even know what their true feelings are. It’s worth getting to the bottom of these issues, and worth doing with a great deal of respect for other people’s feelings. If you’re dealing with an issue that is not emotionally contentious, if you’re trying together with a group to achieve a common goal, using this “objections are goals” approach can help bring a team together and encourage positivity in the face of obstacles. When applied where there is disagreement about the goal, people will feel bulldozed.

beat 8y ago
Who wants to be sold to? Everyone. Everyone wants to be sold something. Because when someone sells you something, it means they have listened to your problem (and maybe helped you discover/understand it), and offered you a solution using resources you already have. Sales, done right, is one of the best parts of human social behavior. It's mutually beneficial, a win-win. Sales has a bad reputation due to bad actors, not due to sales itself. Smarmy behavior, dishonesty, and taking advantage of others is not inherently part of sales, and it's definitely not part of good sales. "Objections are goals" is a sales technique. Overcoming objections is Sales 101, and a big part of that is turning negatives into positives.
- cirgue 8y ago
  No one wants to be sold to. Not a single person in the world. There's a reason used car salespeople are the universal object of derision: no one wants to interact with someone that wants something from them and is willing to obfuscate, misdirect, and even lie to get it. That is a fundamental to sales: the sales person is trying to maximize their returns, and in most cases there is zero structural incentive for them to take the interests of the other party into account. This isn't something that you can imagine away any more than you can imagine away incentives in other areas of human interaction. People recognize that immediately, even if they can't put their finger on why.
  - beat 8y ago
    No one wants to be cheated. Everyone wants to be sold to. That's because everyone has problems they can't solve on their own. "I don't want to be sold to, because I think I'm being cheated" becomes "If I'm not being cheated, then selling to me is okay". Or to put it more abstractly, "Selling bad because yuck" becomes "If yum, then selling good". It comes back to the win-win, to mutually beneficial relationships. I disagree that there is "zero structural incentive" to consider the needs of the customer. In most cases, there's plenty of structural incentive. If your business depends on repeat customers, not considering their needs costs you their business. If your business depends on references and reputation, then not considering your customer's needs costs both the current customer and future customers.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >Everyone. Everyone wants to be sold something. Well, count me off that list.
  - Noumenon72 8y ago
    Can I interest you in subscribing to my no-sales-allowed list?
coldtea 8y ago
>And how do the people you do this to feel about it? The idea of enthusiastically applying sales techniques to interactions with one’s coworkers feels appalling. A group of colleagues is ideally a marketplace of ideas and, yes, one needs to sell ideas from time to time, but who wants to be sold to? I'd expand this to "if those colleagues work for a company that uses sales techniques to the public" that's appalling too -- why constrain it to using them between colleagues? Because the public is the out-group, and it doesn't matter if they are sold-to?

by edw 8y ago

beat 8y ago

Who wants to be sold to? Everyone. Everyone wants to be sold something. Because when someone sells you something, it means they have listened to your problem (and maybe helped you discover/understand it), and offered you a solution using resources you already have. Sales, done right, is one of the best parts of human social behavior. It's mutually beneficial, a win-win. Sales has a bad reputation due to bad actors, not due to sales itself. Smarmy behavior, dishonesty, and taking advantage of others is not inherently part of sales, and it's definitely not part of good sales. "Objections are goals" is a sales technique. Overcoming objections is Sales 101, and a big part of that is turning negatives into positives.

cirgue 8y ago
No one wants to be sold to. Not a single person in the world. There's a reason used car salespeople are the universal object of derision: no one wants to interact with someone that wants something from them and is willing to obfuscate, misdirect, and even lie to get it. That is a fundamental to sales: the sales person is trying to maximize their returns, and in most cases there is zero structural incentive for them to take the interests of the other party into account. This isn't something that you can imagine away any more than you can imagine away incentives in other areas of human interaction. People recognize that immediately, even if they can't put their finger on why.
- beat 8y ago
  No one wants to be cheated. Everyone wants to be sold to. That's because everyone has problems they can't solve on their own. "I don't want to be sold to, because I think I'm being cheated" becomes "If I'm not being cheated, then selling to me is okay". Or to put it more abstractly, "Selling bad because yuck" becomes "If yum, then selling good". It comes back to the win-win, to mutually beneficial relationships. I disagree that there is "zero structural incentive" to consider the needs of the customer. In most cases, there's plenty of structural incentive. If your business depends on repeat customers, not considering their needs costs you their business. If your business depends on references and reputation, then not considering your customer's needs costs both the current customer and future customers.
coldtea 8y ago
>Everyone. Everyone wants to be sold something. Well, count me off that list.
- Noumenon72 8y ago
  Can I interest you in subscribing to my no-sales-allowed list?

coldtea 8y ago

>And how do the people you do this to feel about it? The idea of enthusiastically applying sales techniques to interactions with one’s coworkers feels appalling. A group of colleagues is ideally a marketplace of ideas and, yes, one needs to sell ideas from time to time, but who wants to be sold to? I'd expand this to "if those colleagues work for a company that uses sales techniques to the public" that's appalling too -- why constrain it to using them between colleagues? Because the public is the out-group, and it doesn't matter if they are sold-to?