Those of you who’ve read this blog for a while know that I originally started my career in door to door sales. Yeah, it’s not for everyone 🙂 But of course…neither is lifting weights or playing in a band, which are other activities I’ve grown fond of. But here’s something you can take to the bank…these things definitely force you to find something within yourself that you might not ever know was there otherwise. And that can be pretty beautiful.
It’s one of the reasons I love blogging and marketing my business in a public forum like this. I know the content here goes out to thousands of people; it’s kind of hard to not do your best. Let’s be real. You’d have to be a pretty big loser to be cool with having a sucky blog.
Push, Learn, Grow
So bottom line, I’m a fan of anything that pushes you to learn and grow. Love it or hate it, working in direct sales gets the job done. And for the record, I know for a fact it can be done ethically and for mutual benefit. It just happens to be the case that, unfortunately, many people are lazy bastards and willing to take their sales skills and use them unethically. It’s a shame, but it’s not a reflection on sales. It’s a reflection on the human race. Sorry, but sometimes people can suck. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch for me to say this. It’s not news. I think we can agree?
One of the situations that I learned from in sales was having guns pointed at me. I live in Indiana, folks. When you randomly knock on doors trying to sell stuff, some people don’t dig it. I know, big surprise, right? Well, a small percentage of people out there are aggressive, and a certain percentage of those people own guns. It didn’t happen often, but it happened more than once.
Instant Significance
As you might expect, wielding a gun makes you instantly significant. Trust me, having a gun pointed at you changes the situation pretty quickly. It’s a horrible approach of course, but I have to admit, it’s an effective way to get a result.
It’s occured to me that if everyone was packing heat, then guns would be a lot less significant. If we lived in a world where we were regularly prepared for that type of confrontation, then pointing a gun at someone wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal. If someone pointed one at you, you could simply point one right back. You’d be ready for that shit. As it turns out, this isn’t the world we live in. Very few people carry guns these days, and I’m cool with that. But this does create an opportunity for someone who is willing to use a gun. If you’re willing to cross that line, then instant power and significance are yours for the taking.
In business, we all seek these exact things. Every business wants to be different, powerful and significant. In fact, the information product industry is full of products which promise instant power and significance. And buy them by the millions. Be honest. You want to standout. You want to be significant. You want to affect a large change in the world. You want everything that a gun would provide you. But you’re just not willing to cross that line. Kudos, you’re not a redneck 🙂
Just remember what we’ve learned here. A gun is only significant when no one is ready for it. It’s only truly powerful when it’s rare. And it’s only powerful when you’re willing to cross the line and actually use one. Thankfully, there’s not just one line. There are millions of them.
Crossing Lines
Every day you can look out at your marketplace. Observe what people are complaining about. Take note of the problems your customers are having. These are lines you can cross anytime you’re ready. They are the lines that no one else has crossed. They are the lines that no one else, until now, has been willing to cross. They are your golden opportunity to obtain instant significance and power in your market.
You don’t need an expensive information products to teach you this. And you sure as hell don’t need a gun. You just need to listen and create solutions. Look at your systems. What can you do now, today, that your competition simply isn’t willing to do? What line can you cross today? These are the small, rare and beautiful opportunities that create powerful relationships with your customers. They are the little details that make all the difference.
Good business is about crossing those lines and doing what others aren’t willing to do. A business that crosses lines is the one that commands attention and becomes irreplaceable to the customer. If you want that type of loyalty from your customers, you need to break rules. Thankfully, there are always a lot of rules begging to be broken.