I think we are all proud of our fathers at some point in our lives. Especially when you’re hanging out with your third grade pals comparing notes on what kind of job your Dad has.
I’ll never forget asking my father what kind of work he did when I was just a tyke. I knew he went to work everyday but I didn’t have a clue (or a concern for that matter) what in the heck he did there. Not at least until my friends started telling me what their Dads did.
I found out that my friend Nick’s Dad drove a truck. Pretty cool job I thought. My friend Ricky’s Dad was a cop. Even cooler! You can’t imagine the disappointment when I asked my father what he did for a living.
Dear old Dad casually told me, “I’M A PEDDLER”.Now I had visions of my Dad walking down the street with a pushcart yelling: “Get your rags. Fresh rags. Deo Rags here.”
How could this be? What would I say to my friends? I wanted to hide in the closet and never come out. (People wonder why I have “issues” even today.)
Luckily, Dad noticed my ashen face, slackened jaw, and watery eyes as a sure signs that I was on the verge of breaking into tears. He sat me down and actually explained what it was that he peddled.
You see it turned out that my Dad was one of the founders of what turned out to be a $200 million conglomerate! Yet he saw himself as a peddler.
I’ll never forget what he told me on that day too many years ago. He said, “Mark, no matter what you do in life you will need to get people behind you. A peddler is a very noble thing. They are anyone who peddles their ideas. They are people with vision and passion.” That message was never far from my mind as I went through life. I have found that regardless of the role that I am playing, peddling or “selling skills” are critical to success.
I have been fortunate to have the greatest minds in management and marketing as guests on my radio show. People like Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jay Abraham, Jack Canfield, and Seth Godin. All of these gurus agree that selling skills are not just for salespeople.
Tom Peters said, “to put it bluntly: If you can’t sell, you’re dead. Yes, selling is essential – whether it’s your newest consumer product or an idea to increase internal productivity.”
Phil Guarascio, GM’s vice-president for advertising and corporate marketing said, “I sell ideas and visions. The challenge is to help people see things that they may not be able to see for themselves. Now, I’m not a visionary from the blinding-flash-of-light school. Instead, I base my ideas on intuition, on facts, and on specific opportunities. The greatest resistance that I encounter from people whom I’m trying to sell to is grounded in discomfort — which really comes from a lack of understanding. So a great salesperson, in effect, knows how to sell understanding.”
David M. Ogilvy, founder, Ogilvy & Mather advertising said, “In the modern world of business it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them using good salesmanship.”
Regardless of the type of work that you do: management, administrative, clerical, production, quality control, finance, you name it; the most important thing is winning people to your way of thinking. I want to encourage you to find a way to sharpen your selling skills. Get tapes or CDs, attend a class or seminar, read books or magazines on the subject.
I would also like to invite anyone reading this to attend my upcoming Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage Class in Long Beach, California every Monday night. This class will give you an advantage in your career regardless of whether you are in sales or not. To enroll please contact Dale Carnegie at 562-427-1040.
And remember, if you ARE a salesperson, you’re in good company. As my Dad said, “there ain’t nothing wrong with being a peddler!”