What does it take to be good at sales?
Mostly it’s about understanding human psychology, as Chuck Palahniuk writes in Choke (also available on Audible):
If you can change the way people think – the way they see themselves, the way they see the world – you can change the way people live their lives. And that’s the only lasting thing you can create.
For more advice, here are some of my favourite Seth Godin quotes from his 2024 blog posts, together with a recommended title from Blinkist.
A brand is not a logo. A brand is a promise, a story and a shorthand. A brand tells us what to expect the next time we engage with you. ~ A branding exercise
Learn more: The Brand Benefits Playbook
A story fits into (and changes) our understanding of the world. Good teachers are storytellers, and storytellers are teachers. ~ Take good notes
Learn more: How to Tell a Story
Don’t send a poorly-written mail merge to your best prospects. Send them a handwritten note. ~ Bottom of the funnel
Learn more: Get to the Point
Empathy in communication requires you to repeat the stuff that works as you continue to explore the next layer of what might work even better. ~ Boring to who?
Learn more: Conversational Intelligence
If attention is what you seek and attention is what you measure, it’s likely you’ll create drama. And drama is inherently short-lived. ~ The problem with shock design
Learn more: Sell Like a Spy
If the wood is wet, it actually doesn’t matter how many matches you have. But when we do the hard work to create the conditions for an idea to spread, one spark might be enough. ~ How many sparks?
Learn more: Ideas Are Your Only Currency
In a free market for attention, someone is always racing to the bottom. ~ Redundancy has a half-life
Learn more: How to Master the Art of Selling
Modern marketing culture is designed to amplify our desires. To turn faint wants into desperate needs. ~ Wanting and getting
Learn more: Subtract
Name the people you’re writing for. Ignore everyone else. ~ Write for someone
Learn more: Say What They Can’t Unhear
Our words tell a story. Even when they’re lazy. ~ The problem with ‘very’
Learn more: Stories for Work
Sometimes, when we push very hard for a commitment, we break the trust we’ve earned. ~ Bye now
Learn more: Building Trust
The market might be wrong, it might be callous or it might be stupid, but there it is, right in front of you. ~ Market insulation
Learn more: Winning at Sales
The most direct way to improve your writing is to make your sentences shorter. ~ The run-on sentence
Learn more: Smart Brevity
Trust is what’s in short supply, not attention. ~ How, why and hyperbole
Learn more: Trust Works
When you talk about a non-profit, introduce a new sort of behavior or invite someone to follow along, you’re actually selling. Finding the empathy to treat it like a purchase is worth the effort. ~ Purchase decisions
Learn more: Loved
You can always create a short-term commotion to get a bit of attention. But you can’t possibly hype your way into being trusted. ~ How, why and hyperbole
Learn more: Trust Agents
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