What do you have to sell?

A little while ago I spent a few days in a meeting room with several other strangers, taking in wisdom about ‘Effective Executive Presentations’.

A few of the attendees were from Operations, one from Sales, myself from Marketing, one from Finance, and one from I’m not exactly sure where, perhaps Project Management (he worked for a large consulting outfit).

Again and again, as we prepared our short talks and gave them in front of the group, the question arose: what is the Purpose Statement? What is the Main Point? Or as one of my children describes it, what is the Thesis Statement?

Many purpose statements use the passive voice, and meander around. The instructor forced the question again and again: what in the world is The Goal, what is The Point? Out of everything you are going to say, what is the one thing you want everyone to remember? One thing I learned was that speaking faster doesn’t mean more information is communicated; oftentimes it is less as the audience struggles to understand.

And the difficulty of composing this Main Point is knowing and comprehending and communicating the value of what you are offering in the first place.

This might sound so elementary so as to seem insulting, but everyone has something of value to offer. And everyone has someone to persuade. Whether a proposal for the investment into offering a new financial product, the preservation of a call-center division to insure high productivity metrics, or selling a network to a distribution channel (these were some of the topics that the attendees brought up in their talks), everyone there had something to sell. Of course only one person in this class was a salesperson by official title, but everyone there used the basics of selling as a vital skill to persuade and influence.

Selling is a vital skill, no matter what your title or function might be.

Why are selling skills so rare? And why are they so highly valued?

Everyone lives within their own worldview. Everyone has their own experience and knowledge to draw upon that reinforce their opinions. And without any additional information, they will continue on that path.

That is, until a person in the meeting speaks up: presenting new information, sharing a new perspective, convincing you to do something. And that act of creating a new thought and impulse in the mind of the recipient is the amazing effect of a successful sales effort.

With this goal in mind – to create a convincing impulse to action in the mind of the recipient – what is the path to that goal?

It comes down to a value proposition. What do you have to offer, and perhaps more importantly, why should I care? It has been well said before, everyone is ‘tuned in’ to their favorite radio station, WIIFM. (“What’s In It For Me”.) It is here that many a proposal falters. It is here that a raise is not granted. It is here that a great idea doesn’t get implemented. It wasn’t sold properly.

So whatever you do, whatever your job, think about your selling skills, what essential value you offer, and try to think from the outside-in (as I wrote before about here).

Your audience will thank you, and you will get a lot more done.