Every entrepreneur knows that Sales = Income™. 95% of most businesses fail not because of bad ideas, products or services, but because the business or people in it either can’t sell, don’t know how to, don’t want to or refuse to learn how to sell or their sales skills just don’t measure up.

It’s also why more than 95% of most people never become rich. It’s because they don’t have the sales skills and ability or confidence to sell their ideas, their dreams, their plans or even their brilliance. Many think that “Sales” is a dirty word. Something reserved for a used car lot.

You may claim, “I’m not a salesperson.” or “That’s not me.” But I will tell you if Sales = Income. Life = Sales: physically, mentally emotionally and financially. I defy you to find any arena in your life where some sort of sales skill, a high stakes (in their own mind) pitch to gain influence, favor, or action; sales skills are required life skills.

The thought “I don’t sell.’” Is not only inaccurate, it is downright debilitating. The more you can instill confidence in others and get them to take action on your notions, the better you sell, the better you lead and the more income you create. And that’s all kinds of income: wealth, money, trust, companionship and even love is where sales skills come into play.

This is true in business, with your kids, with your significant other and with everyone you associate with. Politicians are constantly pitching you. Doctors are pitching their prognosis, attorneys are pitching to their clients and for their clients. In pubs, taverns, casinos, sporting arenas, locker rooms, conference rooms, lunch rooms, restaurants, in nurseries, and particularly out of the mouths of kids from the moment they are born until they leave the house….. everyone is selling and everyone require some sort of sales skills to get by and thrive.

Once you come to grips with the fact that your success in life requires your ability to master sales, communication, persuasion and influence, only then will the world beat the proverbial path to your door.

The biggest reason that Life = Sales is because the toughest and most pivotal sale of all, is you selling to yourself. Selling the “little voice” in your head to either take action or not….to persevere or not…to overcome doubt or not. Ultimately the game of life is won or lost in your own head. We call that “Little Voice Management™”.

Think about it for a minute……You’ve got to know how to attract interest, to turn “No’s” into “Yes’s”, to pitch, to close and to follow up. It never ends. Those who do it well not only make a lot of money, but have lots of great friends, awesome teams, great and loving relationships, and happy and healthy bodies. They have the skills to sell themselves on the reasons to take action…the ability to overcome the negative ‘little voices in their brains. That is the ultimate sale. If you are still uncertain about all this, think about sales for a minute. What is the purpose for a sale? Is it to win the battle of persuasion? Is it to get someone else to surrender to your will? Maybe. But for me, it’s much bigger than that.

The purpose of a sale is to get an AGREEMENT, to get that other someone to agree on a mutual point. To agree to listen. To agree to stop fighting. To agree to take another look. To agree to pause for a breath. To agree to take whatever the next step might be.

The reason for the agreement is to gain COOPERATION. To actually get the other party to walk side by side with you in ‘active agreement.’ To co-create a better conversation, to take on a bigger task together, to discover more about each other and our needs…to at least look at a journey toward a common goal.

And the ultimate purpose for cooperation is to create a thing called SYNERGY. That is where the whole, is unpredictably greater than the sum of its individual parts or components. It’s where we expand the resources before dividing them. Where we co-create a solution that is greater than anything we individually brought to the table.

It’s where magic has a chance to happen. Where each person’s individual game gets elevated to level bigger than either expected. It’s where the culmination of coming together results in solutions, artifacts and resources than could only be imagined before. It’s called abundance. So you see that I hold sales to be not only important, but the source of true creation, evolution and innovation. It’s called creating the future. Yet, it starts with you. If you can sell to you, to get agreement with yourself, to cooperate with your own best laid plans, you too can create results beyond the ordinary, sales skills are life skills.

Blair Singer, author of the book SalesDogs® in the Rich Dad Advisors series, is one of the premier trainers in sales today. International clients report unparalleled sales successes using his unique SalesDogs® methodology. http://www.salesdogs.com/pages/products/lvms.html

According to a popular saying, 'first impression is the last impression'.
 This has been proved a number of times and applied to
 anything and everything under the sun.
Reception Desks: Creating First Impressions