Selling Your Ideas

Have you ever wondered why so many people achieved great things despite their complete incompetency? How comes there are so many dull managers or owners of small businesses who have sucessfull teams or projects?  I always keep wondering why those with great ideas, approaches and skills always stay on inferior positions in the companies or why so rarely they have their own business.

I got some introduction to answers for these questions in my previous job.

Imagine the first meeting: rather elegant man in his 30’s, smart, well dressed. He was able to describe his company in the brightest colours. He described the two divisions within the company, wide range of clients and importance of any single movement in the company. He drew a picture of the firm in the future, aiming for expansion, using many scientific concepts. I ate it totally. What a disappointment it was, when I first entered the rather dark office with two full time employees and one part timer!!

After few months, I found out that the elegant man turned out to be a total mess, his concepts became more and more wage and it was more and more obvious that all he told me he read in some school book and learned by heart, not understanding a single thing.

So I got a big lesson! I learned that I was naïve, but also that he achieved what he wanted. He had a team of well organised, responsible and hard working people who did the work for him. And he also managed to get me on board. It was clear that if ever I want to achieve my goals, I shall be able to describe them attracively in order to get the right people for the right thing.

It is never about the real picture. It is always about the picture someone puts in your head.

My boss didn’t lie, he just called things kind of noble names. The two guys were really responsible for two very different segments, but would you ever imagine a department consisting of one person? Someone who is able to present his ideas and concepts in a nice way can always win over someone who is too much down to earth.

Let’s have two situations, two shop assistants trying to sell the very same apple. One says: “Buy this fine apple from my garden.” But the other one proclaims: “Tasting this special, home grown apple with no chemicals, carefully planted by people who care, juicy and sweet, you’ll feel the taste of your grandma’s apple pie in a second.” Both are right, but which would you choose?

I may exaggerate in the example, but people who know what to say and how to say it always beat those who just say right things without the sparkling things around.

Those with skills to sell themselves or their ideas manage to grip others and they are also quite creative in what and how they say something. They have the guts to call one man a department; they have the guts to let you do all the dirty and hard work for them. They can manipulate the others in a very unnoticeable way. They are sure about themselves and their ideas, even though they don’t make much sense.

The wise people do not use such techniques to get their goal. They always work harder, and often better. We can’t have it all, but next time when you have an interview and you want to reach something, try to think about what the other person may like to hear and try to put it nice way. You may notice the difference. And let me know!