Why You are a Salesperson Whether You Think So or Not

Everyone is a salesperson. Just like everyone is an actor. This is a responsibility that most of us do not want to undertake, because it means extra work. It means paying attention to every detail. But even though it’s extra work, it’s worth it. The fact is, we cannot decide how things are; we can only decide whether or not we are going to be effective and successful, given the circumstances.

Running a blog is hard work, and if you’re reading this you are someone who wants to learn to do it effectively. This is a theme that comes up many times in my writing, and I think it’s important to cover it regularly, because there is SO much information steering us down the wrong path…a path that will waste our time. This is information that caters to the little voice inside all of us that is always seeking a shortcut. We need to destroy that voice and get to work!

Why to be a Salesperson

Being an effective salesperson means that you will be effective in getting the results you want out of your readers. It means you will present yourself deliberately and professionally. It doesn’t mean your blog needs to be prim and proper…it means you need to present yourself in a manner consistent with getting the results you want and need to run your business effectively.

Being an effective salesperson means you will not be afraid to ask for the order. Maybe this means you will ask people to comment your posts, maybe it means you will ask them to buy your product or services…but it means you WILL ask for what you want. This is something most bloggers fail to do.

Not only will you ask for the order, but you will study and perfect the craft of asking for the order daily…constantly seeking better and more effective ways to improve what you do. Maybe you need to phrase your requests differently. Maybe you need to use a pop up window. Maybe you need to frame your request in red and put it in the upper right hand corner of the page (the statistically most effective placement for an opt-in box). Details matter. As an effective salesperson, you will care about these details, and you will attend to them daily.

What Happens When You’re NOT a Salesperson

If you’re NOT a salesperson, you will have a much easier time of it. You will simply write what you want, post when you feel like it, and you will expect your readers to do what you want them to do. Some of them will, but most will not. Success will remain a nebulous and mystical phenomenon to you, because you’ll see a lot of other websites and blogs that seem to you to be very similar to what you’re doing. Yet some of them will have vastly more traffic and make a lot more money than you, and you will always wonder why. After all, you will think to yourself, you’re blogging. You’re working every day, so why aren’t you getting the results?

At some point you will decide that it just isn’t for you, and you will quit…not ever having realized that you were a salesperson. You thought you were a blogger. You thought wrong.

Success is in the Details

You are a salesperson, whether you think you are or not. That is the business we’re all in. If we do this for money, then we need to get results…it’s just how it is. A lot of what I write about will be conceptual stuff like this, but it all leads into a detailed analysis of the mundane details. Details which will make many of your eyes glaze over. If you’re one of the ones who glazes over, it will be because you will not want to do the work I’m describing. That is the moat which separates the successful and unsuccessful…in blogging, internet marketing or any business endeavor. Big success is made up of millions of tiny, seemingly insignificant successes. Success is in the details.

Does it matter whether you use Verdana or Times New Roman on your sales page? Yes, it matters. A true salesperson knows this and is EXCITED to determine which one to use. Why? Because choosing the right mundane details is what will create tiny, incremental improvements. And those tiny improvements, done consistently over time…THAT’S what makes you a huge success. A salesperson knows this.

Those of us who are successful at making money online have embraced this fact. And we’ve embraced the work that comes with it. We do what it takes. Are you a salesperson? You better believe it!