So, you have a product and you want to start selling it. Where do you start? How do you sell it to people? You don’t want to end up sounding like a second hand car salesman and you don’t want to pressure people into buying your product because you don’t want the rest of your life to be about that. So how do you go about selling your product?

In all the personal development seminars I’ve been to, with the biggest speakers, there have a been a few common elements, of which one important one is, cultivating the skill of selling. There has always been something about the selling principles that didn’t sit well with me. Coercing people that they would fail without my product or that my product would change their life just didn’t seem right to me. Who am I, afterall, to prejudge that my product will change someone’s life to that extent?

Compliment? Sure! Aide? Maybe, but change for good? I don’t believe I have the right to say that.

Life Changing Products

I understand the concept of believing in my own product but trying to say that it will transform a persons life just feels arrogant to me. I don’t have the appropriate foresight to know how someone else will respond to my product. In my opinion the best kind of product I can create is one which I do not need to sell. There have been plenty of products that have been recommended to me by people because they would swear by them, and so naturally, it aroused my curiosity enough for me to want to acquire it too.

So the general ethos suggests that we need to become good at selling. I have a problem with the way that information is presented. Here’s why:

Let The Product Speak For Itself

I believe that the best kinds of products are the ones that you don’t need to sell. I would like my products, whether that be my non-tangible services in the form of my persona for speaking, comedy, coaching or radio, or, my tangible products like ebooks, to be in demand simply because people can see from the offset that they provide value.

Selling by trying to convince people my products work is a method which I’m not fan of, and in all honesty, something I’m not comfortable with it at all. I have often wondered why I’ve been told that I need to become good at selling; shouldn’t I be taught instead how to make a good product to begin with? That seems more important to me. Then I can focus on creating new openings and using a confident, not arrogant, approach to selling.

Good Things Go Viral Themselves

In the past, if I’ve seen something good, I’ve naturally had a tendency to do the word of mouth thing and share that discovery with others. If I see a youtube video that I thought was funny, I’ll send it to people who might appreciate it. I read the book Shantaram based on recommendations from a few friends and then someone brought it for my birthday. I loved it and have since been telling everyone I know to buy and read it! Not once have I seen any marketing around that book. I even heard on the grapevine that they’re turning that book into a movie and I’ve since been telling everyone.

Peer To Peer Selling

When the iPhone was first launched I wasn’t convinced at all and I didn’t like the fact that simple features like copy & paste were missing. So I waited until I received enough recommendations from people and that more basic features were installed and then I bought the phone. Apple didn’t sell it to me, it was my peers who sold it to me.

Recommendations

Those products didn’t need to be sold to me, they were recommended by others who liked them and then the spreading began. In the same way, with my work, I want the work that I do to speak for itself. When it comes to the selling part the only thing I believe I need to do is tell people what I do (or tell them about my product) and let them judge for themselves whether they think it gives them value or not. I believe they will decide that for themselves. I don’t need to convince them of that value. I’m sure if they think it’s good they will want to tell others about it just like my friends did with me about Shantaram and how I’ve been doing ever since i’ve read it.

A Better Way

Here are my tips on what I feel is a better approach getting your product out there and selling:

1. Learn how to create a product. Start the process of creation and follow through until completion.

2. Create a good product. If it isn’t selling, that isn’t a reason to sell it harder. Maybe the product just needs tweaking. Maybe it’s crap! Either way, try a new approach.

3. Ask people to be brutally honest. Would they naturally spread the word of your product? If not, why? Listen and learn from what they’ve got to say.

4. Create new openings and opportunities. That, I believe is more important than the skill of selling.

5. Let your product do the selling.

In the famous words of Apu from The Simpsons: ‘Thank you, come again!’

This idea just came to me today out of the blue. There I was sitting at my desk at work when I got a Facebook message about applying to become a model. Now I may not have a six pack or a square jaw, but I do have a 36 pack and a chin that resembles a jello mould! However, I do believe that I am a good looking and an attractive guy.

Because of the media portrayal of size-zero models, there’s been a surge, of woman of all shapes and sizes, now joining up the new agencies that have been formed to help women get into modelling. Personally, I haven’t seen many, if any at all, that give men of all types of physique the opportunity to also do some modelling.

So then it occurred to me to set up an agency for gents of all shapes, sizes and looks so that they can model a whole range of items. I have no idea if this model would work or not and there would need to be a way to create a demand by running some sort of media campaign. Once the demand has been created it would be the agencies job to provide the supply.

There we have it – A simple idea for any budding entrepreneurs out there looking to break into the business world. Alan Sugar eat your heart out!

As I promised two weeks ago, I wanted to use this blog to dish out some of my business Ideas. I have too many ideas, more than I can personally handle, and so my goal is for someone, to take away these ideas and make something of them. Obviously, I hold no obligation to you, if the idea comes to fruition, to give me anything, but any contributions voluntarily thrown my way will be greatfully received!

As you probably guessed from the title, I’m a vegetarian. Over time, being a vegetarian, you can get a little fed up with the lack of options there are available to vegetarians when eating out. Especially recently, I’ve noticed this more as I’ve decided to try and eliminate dairy from my diet. Just last night I gave in and decided to have a cheese pizza!!

So this is my idea:

I think it’s high time someone created a pure vegetarian restaurant that offers varieties of VEGGIE BURGERS. You go to a Mcdonalds, they used to have two and now they only have one! (Not that I go there often or eat their food often) One type of veggie burger when there are about 15 different types of meat burgers you can get….pfffft! Someone please tell me if I’m wrong, but I don’t know a single vegetarian restaurant within the U.K. that combines: Healthy Eating + Vegetarian/Vegan + Variety!! If someone reading this, if you have the resources, please please open up a vegetarian restaurant that has not only a variety of veggie burgers and other dishes, but also focuses on health! Most people are vegetarian because they understand the health benefits of being a vegetarian and yet very few places promote the two things together. I know it’s a huge challenge catering just for vegetarians but I know of one vegetarian restaurant near me, in Harrow, called: Veggie Inn. They do superb food and not to mention the owners are lovely people. Whenever I go in there, they are always busy and the dishes the serve are soooooo tasty! (when you go, I highly recommend the Veggie Duck as a starter!) There is a place in Wembley called: Wembley Diner. I went in there recently and saw that they did a Vegetarian Kebab. I tried it, it was a mix of gently grilled veggies, salad and humous! It was the best veggie dish I’ve had in ages! It was simple, free from dairy and had very little oil!

So there we have it! A vision for someone to create, not only the best, most delicious, healthy Veggie Burgers in the world! Also a veggie restaurant that has variety, including dairy free alternatives and focuses on the health aspect as much as taste and variety!

Vegetarians are people too you know!