"The Art of Influence: The Hidden Sales in Daily Interactions”

Since I started my entrepreneurial journey, my growth curve has gone through the roof.

I read more than I ever did, reflect and learn more than I ever did, and listen much better now.

Combined with doing what I love and earning money, has brought me so many things that have changed the way I think and do.

It is and I am by far not where I want to be, but by striving to do better every day, I get closer every day.

Starting in sales has taught me much about advanced communication combined with authenticity.

Everyone and everything communicates something in their own way.

If you are conscious of that, everything can be associated with sales.

There is an intention and thought behind everything, consciously or subconsciously.

The cause of that intention is filled up by your authenticity, your morals, your principles, your values, and the things you stand for.

Just like in sales, you need to have an intention behind everything you say, to say it in your authentic way.

Otherwise, what you're saying are shallow words.

In theater, it is the same.

There, it is called sub-lines, "the things you say but don't say".

After reading this article, you will understand:

• Why everything is selling or being sold

• How people buy

• The importance of your personality

Everything is sales

Sell or be sold.

You are always in one of the two: traditional sales or non-selling sales.

Traditional sales: In traditional sales, you are selling something that you can buy.

It could come in different forms, such as:

• A video

• A newsletter

• A conversation

Its purpose is to engage you to buy a product or service.

Non-selling sales: Persuading, influencing, and convincing others in ways that don't involve anyone making a purchase.

You are selling them on an idea or a certain perspective you want them to believe in the story you tell.

• Teaching is non-selling sales.

• A nurse is a non-selling salesperson.

• A police officer is a non-selling salesperson.

If you work with people or need to communicate information in some way, but don't directly sell anything, you are in a non-selling sales role.

The rules you have to follow in your function are sold to you when you signed an agreement.

The knowledge or service you share is, in that way, something you need to communicate.

So, you are a person who is bound to a function where you need to communicate…

Sounds like communicating + authenticity to me!

You can also be sold by the way things work.

For example:

A table is sold to you as something to lay things on, a bed is sold to you for sleeping or having sex in, and a plate is sold to you as something to use for your food.

Get the idea?

Non-selling and direct sales are, in that way, always a transfer of energy between things that are trying to connect.

How People Buy

People have three reasons for buying a product, service, or story in direct and non-selling sales:

• Confidence in the person they buy from

• Interest: it must speak to their imagination and interest

• Motive: the buyer must have a logical motive to buy

How you trigger those three reasons is by creating a gap - a gap between the situation of where they are now and where they want to be.

The bigger that gap, the easier they will buy.

If you let them see the gap and how your product, service, or story can be a bridge between where they are and what their perfect situation would look like, their interest will be triggered.

You create that gap by asking specific questions.

The trick is to do this in the most natural way possible.

If you sound too much like a salesperson, people don't trust you and you miss the key point of confidence.

You are your best compass.

The big question you should ask is: would you buy your own story, product, or service?

If you would buy it yourself, congratulations, then it is easier to sell.

Sell with kindness.

Kindness is more powerful than compulsion, so be kind and genuinely interested.

Make your interest about them.

Most people are only interested in themselves, so you should be interested in them too.

Selling is not hard; you need to use your heart.

You always want what is best for them, but they often don't know what is best for themselves most of the time, so it is up to you to figure out what is and make it logical for them to buy.

You are helping no matter what you sell do it for the better!

Who You Need to Be

If you want to sell your way through life to live and communicate more effectively, you need to know yourself.

You get to know yourself by reflecting on the things you experience.

Not by looking at others or comparing and complaining about what could be or how it should be, look at yourself first.

You are responsible for the life you live.

You want to be able to negotiate your way through life with a minimum of friction between yourself and others, so take your responsibilities.

Based on my current experiences, you can achieve that by focusing on yourself.

Then, you can give from within through your gained knowledge and experiences.

Clear your judgment:

"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving."

Create showmanship to gain more control over your voice, its tonality possibilities, your body language, and how you present yourself in a room.

I gained more control over my voice because of the singing classes I had in my first theater school - the one I finished.

I also had a lot of dance classes and did a lot of yoga, which helped me gain more control over my body and posture.

55 percent of communication consists of facial and body expressions, 38 percent consists of intonation and tonality, and only 7 percent consists of the actual words.

So when you create showmanship, you learn how to control 93 percent more of communication than most people.

Know that it is a process over time.

I am still working on all of this, and will always be working on all of this.

Making mistakes is part of that journey, just as getting rejected is.

It is not personal, so don't take it that way.

Get used to being uncomfortable and make being uncomfortable seem effortless.

During my first sales call, I was shaking, sweaty, and stumbling over my words.

Now, I laugh and value that moment of how incompetent I was.

If you want to become more competent as a person, subscribe to the article to gain more knowledge and grow.

Click here.

If you want more!!

• To connect with me for any type of questions or a quick chat, follow me on Instagram and send me a DM. Click here

• If you want to see more content and learn, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel. Click here

• Follow me on twitter/X if you wnat some daily knowledge to consume. Click here

• Same here for tik-tok. Click here

That's it for now. I wish you a good day - Job Baltes.