Successful Selling: Opportunism with a Good Name

"If someone needs it, I can sell it" might have been the slogan of a good salesperson in years gone by. Today, it would be something more honestly like, " If I can persuade somebody they need one of what I have to sell, I can sell them one!" Opportunism as the middle swinging door between those ever-rotating ones of coveting and greed.

When you walk into a car dealership, the salesperson has you, immediately, at an advantage. He/she knows - simply by virtue of the fact that you are standing there, that you have some interest in considering the purchase of a car. The salesperson's primary job is to, by hook or by crook, to help you come to the conclusion that a car he or she can make available to you is precisely the one you were hoping to find when you walked in. Is this opportunism? It certainly is!

When you enter the grocery store, a hard sell is not necessary. You are there because you need to buy some groceries. The job of the retailer is to present their wares in such a way as to increase the chances that you will buy more than is on your list! And ordinarily, many of us do just that. Opportunism at work? Most assuredly.

The analogy cuts across every area of retail activity and is the foundation upon which Capitalism has grown and developed into, while admittedly imperfect, one of the most reliable systems of economy ever known to humankind. I am not here to defend it, but to explain one of it's seminal elements. The opportunistic taking advantage of each others' needs.

By contrast, some of you may recall the Fuller Brush Man who went door to door making 'cold' calls. That is, he rang the bells of people who had not invited him and had, so far as he could know, never expressed any interest in buying a Fuller Brush. His job was to persuade the person at the door that they really did need one (or more) and just didn't know it! Those who succeeded, did well. Kirby Vacuum cleaners, various home cleaning products, etc. operated much in the same way. Charm your way in enough to get the ear of the person for a few seconds. In that money, persuade them that it is worth their time to listen to you try to explain to them why they really need that which you have to sell.

Now THIS was a tough way to make a living.

Tougher than selling new homes to people who have driven into a new development to take a look around. Tougher than standing at a cash register to simply ring up the customer's choices. It must have been a helluva way to make a living!

Opportunity. Find it or create it - them exploit it. It makes the world go 'round.