The best salespeople are creatives
Salespeople, commerciaux in France, carried a heavily negative connotation when I grew up, and it took me years to shed that prejudice as I accepted that I was actually pretty good at it.
- stop calling it sales
- telling the truth is a relief
Little I knew that the most successful salespeople were the most creative.
Selling is deciding what is true about the work you are selling, and saying it before the client has to ask. The skill is listening, then explaining that truth in the customer's own context, which is exactly what you do when you talk someone through your thinking on a design. Creative people are good at this the moment they stop calling it sales and start believing the truth they are telling.
Refining your stories, adjusting and creating on the flight an adjusted narrative or argument to maintain the conversation and the interest of your audience.
As a creative, telling the truth is a relief. The time our work takes, and the testing and care behind it, are precisely where its value comes from. So be honest about the process, about the experience it rests on, and about the hours it takes to manage ideas and output, especially a client's.
Little I knew that the most successful salespeople were the most creative