To get ahead in life, you need to be in the business of selling. If this statement makes you cringe, it is probably because the word “sales” evokes images of annoying telemarketers and pushy car dealers. Relax, though, as this article is about a product so wonderful and special you should have no qualms in selling it. The product? You.
There are endless situations in life where the key to success is the ability to sell yourself to others. In your career, the ability to convince an interviewer that you are the best person for the job is critical. When it comes to relationships, your ability to show your best qualities can be the crucial factor in clinching a date with the girl or guy you want. When you think about it, if you cannot sell yourself as a person to others, you are going to have a difficult time selling them your ideas, your wishes, your needs, your ambitions, your skills, and your experience.
Despite the necessity of being able to sell yourself to others, for many people like myself it does not come naturally. Introversion, shyness, and lack of self-worth are just a few of the obstacles that can potentially get in the way. To overcome such obstacles, I suggest focusing on the following:
Be Sold on Yourself
This is the first, and perhaps most important, aspect to successfully selling yourself to others. Unless it comes naturally, this is probably also the hardest. Being sold on yourself comes down to this: you must be aware of your own self-worth. This means you believe in yourself, have faith in yourself, and have confidence in yourself.
Being sold on yourself is not something that usually happens overnight. For many years, I did not like myself. I can, however, personally attest that it is possible to change your life and gain a sense of self-worth when there was once none. If you struggle with your sense of self-worth, here are just 3 ideas that may help:
- Live in such a way that you would want to be friends with yourself
- Find some time to reflect on what you like about yourself. If this seems hard, start with the smallest of attributes.
- Don’t do anything that will give you cause to feel ashamed later.
Have a Saleable Package
This article is predominately about letting others know about the inner contents of your package. That being said, there is no getting around the fact that people judge others based on their appearance. Some questions you may consider asking yourself are: am I looking after my appearance to the best of my ability? Are my clothes appropriate for the image I wish to project?
Be Positive and Enthusiastic
Can you remember the last time you received poor customer service? Did the person look bored, disinterested, and as if they wanted to be anywhere but that place? Don’t be that person. Positivity and enthusiasm can both be developed, but once again it takes work. Here are a few tips to help you:
- Look for the best in people
- Associate with positive people
- Care deeply about something
- See life as an adventure
- Smile
Be Real and Authentic
Rather than being about who you appear to be, selling yourself is about letting others know who you are as a person. For this reason, lies and half-truths are a recipe for disaster later down the line. By telling the truth, you will earn both trust and respect which, in turn, will help you build a great reputation. Not only that, it will make you feel good about yourself. The last thing you want to do is sell yourself out by compromising your values and principles.
Peter writes about personal growth and self awareness at The Change Blog. If you enjoyed this article, you may wish to download his free e-book, A Year of Change.
Hey Peter– thanks for the great article. This is a topic very close to my heart, and something I talk about all the time. No matter what you are “selling”, it all boils down to how much you believe in yourself. The greatest salespeople can sell ice to eskimos because of their belief in themselves and charisma!!
I agree — most people look at selling as conniving and deceitful, but the truth is that selling is involved in everything you do. If you can’t sell and idea to people you’ll never get anywhere.
Thanks Todd.
This topic is also very close to my heart as I have been to a few job interviews lately. As I wrote in the article, selling myself does not always come naturally. That said, I know how important it is so I try to suck it up and just go for it
.
I have a very strong aversion to being “sold” something. Whether it is telemarketers or pushy retail sales people, the whole experience often just rubs me the wrong way.
That’s why when it comes to “selling” myself as a life coach for personal development, or “selling” someone on the value of attending one of my seminars or keynotes or even purchasing my book, I think of it as “attracting”.
I know that if I let my passion, excitement and commitment shine through – then the right people will be attracted to me and to what I am “selling”. (And by right people, I mean those that will get real value from the deal.)
Patrick,
You make a great point. When you can create a great product or offer, there is no need for manipulation in selling. If what you are offering a great value to the buyer, than selling is really helping everyone.
Patrick,
I understand what you are saying but I still like the word “sell”. The reason for this is that, in my opinion, it is important to step up and let others know exactly who you are. As someone who is often reserved and shy, I feel I have “shared” myself in plenty of interview to no avail. When I have been more assertive in letting the interviewer know why I am the person for the job, I have had far more success.
Thanks for using self-worth instead of self-esteem… the difference is important!
Another tip for increasing self-worth, by the way, is to write a description of yourself the way someone else would see you. In other words, forget about your past and your thoughts, and describe yourself from the attitude you project, your recent actions, etc… It can help you to give up, at least a little bit, judging yourself so much more harshly than you do others.
Therefore a caring and loving family is at the heart of who we will become. ,
[...] see my article How to Sell Yourself at [...]
I think the most important point here is that you need to love yourself first. It took me a long time (and a lot of writing) to finally realize that. If you can’t love yourself, you can’t sell yourself. Faking it is not an option because everyone can see right through that!
Fantastic post. The first thing in advertising you are taught is to be able to do an ad on YOURSELF.
If you can’t sell you to yourself, why would anyone else buy you?
“Don’t do anything that will give you cause to feel ashamed later”
That implies an objective moral code (dare I say it – a “moral” code). Very politically incorrect these days ! Don’t you realize there is no “right” or “wrong” – there just “is” – and as one famous former President pointed out – it all depends what on the meaning of “is” is.
I believe much of what you said is really an outward manifestation of an interior condition. Yes – I’m talking about (gasp) the spiritual life.
Read Anneli Rufus’ “Party of One: The Loners’ Manifesto”. This truth to this article is obnoxious
[...] Pickthebrain has a post on selling yourself. [...]
How to Sell Your Soul…. Oops I meant Yourself…
[...]"To get ahead in life, you need to be in the business of selling." What do you think?[...]…
Here’s how to really sell yourself:
http://thesevenyearplan.com/viewarticle.php?id=235
[...] How to Sell Yourself | PickTheBrain (tags: career lifehacks self-improvement howto) [...]
Great post. Will share this with people that I know of that have this problem. Low self esteem is another key factor in the equation and you can actually perceive this in people that sell somebody else and not themselves.
[...] do you expect your future clients to have the confidence in you? Peter on Pick The Brain tells you how to sell yourself in order to promote your business or [...]
I don’t like words like “sell” and “product” related to human beeings. May be you lack some critical distance to modern categories like property, ware, money -> labour etc.
I believe within the work environment you are on ’show’ but you shouldn’t have to ’sell’ to have a successful career. As an individual everything you do makes up your personal brand and it is your personal brand that makes you a success or not. Very simply put, if you go the extra mile, deliver high quality work, exceed customers expectations, build great relationships, volunteer for extra tasks, etc, etc, 9 times out of 10, you will be ’seen’ and have a great prosperous career. You don’t have to sell yourself, but you have to be seen by doing some of the things I mention.
Andrew
Consider, you had told a slave: “Today, you have to know how to sell yourself!”
I don’t think it requires an objective moral code, Jim, a subjective one will do just fine.
And what you said, GreatManagement, essentially IS selling… if you go the extra mile, deliver high quality work, build great relationships, etc… those are the key elements of selling.
How to Sell Yourself | PickTheBrain…
[...][...]…
I think this one has potential to bring more stress in our already stressful lives… there are some people who are simply introvert and shy and putting themselves out is not what they are… (and people should be themselves, no?)
Ciao from Oici
[...] How to Sell Yourself | PickTheBrain (tags: career self-improvement interview business job) [...]
Hi Jason,
Maybe my definition of ’selling’ and yours is different. I see ‘going the extra mile, deliver high quality work, build great relationships, etc’ help your get noticed within the working environment.
I suppose I saw the word ’selling’ and automatically thought about boasting, shouting from the rooftops, telling everyone how good you are. You don’t have to do that.
Andrew
[...] Pick the Brain, Peter explains how to sell yourself (and why your career depends on it). This is a topic I’ve been reading about a lot lately, and one I’ll write on in the [...]
[...] Pick the Brain, Peter explains how to sell yourself (and why your career depends on it). This is a topic I’ve been reading about a lot lately, and one I’ll write on in the [...]
“Be Sold on Yourself”. Selling can be seen as a dirty word. People get put off. Maybe using a softer word like ‘chat’. It’s a softer approach and lowers the level of anxiety.
Ultimately it comes down to level of belief and your attitude. If you believe you will succeed.
[...] 1. PickTheBrain – How to Sell Yourself (and Why Your Career Depends On It) [...]
[...] hard truth is that much of the “techniques” used to try and sell products and services today achieve limited success or outright failure. They lack gravity. They [...]
Not a bad article, but too simple of advice. I’d like to see more.
[...] on Noviembre 11th, 2007. October 18th, 2007 by Peter Print This Post To get ahead in life, you need to be in the business of selling. If this statement makes you [...]
[...] El artículo en cuestion [...]
[...] How to Sell Yourself (and Why Your Career Depends On It) – it’s true, no matter how great you are at your job. Nobody’s going to know about it until you do a little self-marketing. Here’s some tips to do it correctly. [...]
[...] has a post on selling yourself.I can personally attest that, after getting the qualifications and knowledge you need to succeed in [...]
i need money in exchang for my soul
wow, wonderful and inspiring as ever on my journey.
many thanks
[...] How to sell yourself. [PickTheBrain] Why selling yourself is vital to your career. A complete framework for financial planning. [World of Wealth] If you’re just beginning a journey towards financial freedom, here’s an interesting summary of personal finance milestones to help you create a battle plan. [...]
[...] as a person. If the idea of “selling yourself” makes you cringe, read my article How to Sell Yourself for a better idea of what I [...]
thank you for your advice. I have a job interview tomorrow a group one speaking infront of others which is the worst scenario for me but i wil continue reading ur article in the morning before i leave to reinforce these ideas thank u for the article
Great advice here.
remember selling superstars have a great mix of ego and empathy so when they (we) get knocked down we just bounce straight back up again and get stuck in.
A great saying to remember is this:-
“it’s not how hard you fall, but how high you bounce”
William….
The Strategic Sales Trainer
http://www.strategicsellingsystem.com/NewRules
i really love this article. I will not remain the same in my ability to sell my ideas. the sky is our stepping stone.
thank u
it’s a must 2 known about this things if u want a scsses
I got the job everyone!! Good luck to all! Just believe in yourself even if u feel less than anyone else sometimes.Thanks
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This is great, and if you have ever been involved in sales or selling then you may well relate to some of these – and hey please grow the list, I am sure there are a lot more out there that I have not even heard of!
So check it out here: http://digg.com/comedy/11_reasons_selling_sucks
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[...] came accross this article with a few tips on selling yourself. Granted, it’s more for those looking for a job, but [...]
Hi Guys,
I’ve been in the personal development game for a very long time…and one thing I’ve learned that makes a huge difference is: Act as if your success is already certain
Simply the fake it till you make rule!
AJ Kumar
GREAT!!! – I DO LOVE YOUR POSITIVE THINKING – I AM IN A SITUATION WHERE THIS IS PROBABLY A HUNDRED YEARS IN THE FUTURE — I HAVE ALWAYS HAD A PROBLEM IN EXACTLY HOW TO BUILD BELIEF IN MYSELF – I OFTEN TAKE ON JOBS I DIDNT DARE BELIEVE I COULD FINISH-AND I WAS SUCCESSFUL AND I EARNED MORE RESPECT AND ADMIRATION THAN I EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE-BUT THIS DOES NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION – HOW DO YOU BUILD BELIEF IN YOURSELF FROM THE SOCIAL ANGLE-TO GO OUT AND SAY I CAN INDEED DO THIS NEEDS YOUR(AMERICAN) SOCIAL STRUCTURE WHERE EVERYBODY IS VERY POSITIVE -EVERYONE SURROUNDING ME IS VERY “SELF IMPOSSIBLE” SO…
[...] in my career, despite relocating overseas and taking a 4 month mini-retirement. Consider reading How to Sell Yourself – your career may depend on [...]
Peter, your articles are really practical, straightforward and in a language that promises results but does not overpromise. I stumbled upon your e-book and it was so smooth to read in one go. Particularly many practical resources for bloggers. Thumbs up and keep your good work making a better world.
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[...] as a person. If the idea of “selling yourself” makes you cringe, read my article How to Sell Yourself for a better idea of what I [...]