If you, dear subscriber, promote a product or service, then you are, essentially, a salesperson.
And if you want to become a wildly successful business owner, you must learn, no… not learn…you must master sales. If not you, then some dude or dudette in your business must be that master salesperson.
So far, most of you (if thou art indeed learned and wise) will be nodding along in agreement to what I’ve just said.
Let’s see if that continues, shall we?
Onward.
If one must master sales to succeed in business, then who should one study?
Zig Ziglar? Brian Tracy? Tom Hopkins? Grant Cardone? Kelvin Dorsey? (Hey! I heard that)
Yes, you should study all the usual suspects.
But don’t stop there, Bubba.
Stopping there is like an oil man drilling down two-foot and then quitting.
You’re just scratching the surface.
No, if you truly want to master something, you can’t just scratch around on the surface. You must dig down deep, and then KEEP ON digging. You know, when it comes to mastery, you actually never arrive. You can always go deeper. Kinda sucks really. But let’s not dwell on the fact that you never really arrive at full knowledge or mastery.
What you should dwell on is the fact that if you’re continually digging down deep, then you will be continually getting better.
Ah, see, you’re feeling better already.
Alright, let’s get down to cases.
So, if studying just the world’s great salespeople is just scratching the surface…
…Who Else Should You Be Learning Sales From?
That’s easy.
Anyone and everyone who shows evidence of great persuasion skills.
It could be a toddler, a scientist, a musician, a politician, an actress, or a teacher. You see, it’s not about what they do, it’s about how persuasive they are.
The point is this: the world’s great salespeople don’t have a patent or a monopoly on persuasion.
You can learn it from anyone.
You just need to be able to identify a persuasive individual when one crosses your path.
Is there an earmark, a characteristic or telltale sign of a persuasive person?
Sure there is.
They are the people who effortlessly gain people’s confidence. In other words, people who come in contact with a highly persuasive individual, readily and willingly give that person their confidence the way a mother gives her child her affection.
Hey, wanna know about a certain group of people who do this (gain people’s confidence) better than almost anyone?
It’s the world’s most notorious con artists.
I’m serious.
These guys (and gals) are supreme at gaining someone’s confidence (trust)
What is my opinion of con artists?
Well, I’ll answer that question with a question:
Q: What is the difference between a con artist and a catfish?
A: One is an ugly, scum sucking bottom-feeder and the other is a fish.
Yup, con artists are scumbags who deserve to rot in jail.
However, there’s no denying that when it comes to gain someone’s confidence, they have serious game. And if you want to up your persuasion game, you would be wise to seek out the world’s most notorious con artists and study their game.
Now, let me be clear about something:
A great salesperson and a great con artist are basically doing the same thing. They are both trying to gain their prospect/mark’s confidence.
Where they differ is in their motive.
One is trying to solve their prospect’s problem, and the other is trying to rob their prospect blind!
However, everything else in the sales process is the same.
So don’t get nervous about studying con artists, ok? You’re not trying to rip anyone off, are you? Good. And you sell a product or service that helps people, right? Well, if you get better at sales by studying con artists, then you can sell more of your product or services, and thus help more people!
Amen.
Michael Jordan plays basketball, Steven Spielberg makes movies, Kelvin Dorsey writes emails.
Everyone has a talent.
If you're looking for someone to teach you sales, copywriting, or email marketing, Kelvin's your Huckleberry.
Kelvin is the author of six books. His most notable is titled 81 Days To Becoming an Online Sales Machine.