Will said, “They won’t do it! Have you read Sven’s email. He said ‘No.'” I asked Will, “Have you spoken to them?” “No.”
I Instant Message Sven. I bring up the situation, apologize for any way we miscommunicated in the past, and ask when there’d be a good time to chat. Sven sent his phone number. We had a quick conversation and set up a meeting with a couple of other folks from his team.
Sven’s “No” turned to “Maybe.” Two more conversations and we got to “Yes.”
We got the support we needed to roll out a product that could be a huge win for our company and our customers.
First we have to believe we can move Sven to “Yes.” Then we had to take action.
We don’t live in a vacuum. Anything we do derives its value from us selling it to somebody else.
Selling means to influence, persuade, gain agreement. It means moving people from no to yes (or yes to no). It means giving someone else the chance to put their head down tonight knowing they did the right thing instead of just following the right procedure. It means creating wins for them and for you.
We contribute our value when we move others to do something today that’s different than what they may have done yesterday.
You can write code, do bookkeeping, tell stories, lead people, build better processes, brew overpriced coffee, etc. Until you get someone to buy what you do, you are enjoying a hobby.
Ideas happen when others are sold on how great they are. Problems are solved when we sell others on the possibility of a solution.
Success often means money, status, meaning, or purpose. Most of us want to move towards have more of some or all of these things.
If you don’t move others, you don’t move either. Solve more problems. Move towards what you want.
You can want success – the money, the status or the prize of purpose and meaning.
But you’re going to have to sell somebody.
