I’ve never been great at sales. That might strike you as odd, being that my line of work is advertising-adjacent. I overlap with the world of marketing pretty much every day.
So when I say, “I’m not great at sales,” I’m most certainly not saying that I don’t understand sealing the deal, or that I don’t have an eye for a sharp ad or an ear for crisp copy. What I’m saying is that I find it utterly dispiriting to hawk something I can’t fully believe in.
And what solution is ever 100%?
I can never forget the pitfalls, the ever-present problems with the product. Everything’s a trade off, and there’s always a downside, no matter how much enthusiasm your account rep can muster. Now, when it comes to actually taking care of clients this reticence is a good thing, not a liability. Put the facts on the table and let’s make an informed decision.
As with everything, Covid’s added a new twist to all of this. Guys like me are supposed to leverage our platforms — our personal hype machines — to stay in the public eye. In theory, I can command the world from my home-based HQ, crank out self-aggrandizing content every day ’til dawn, overwhelm the internets with my brilliance. But without the possibility of flesh to press, without a real-life meeting to take, or a presentation to slay, what’s the point?
Music-business blogger Bob Lefsetz summed it up with an offhand comment: “Quite quickly the Covid-19 era devolved into self-promotion. I’m doing a livestream, pay attention to me!“
Pretty on point. During the first few weeks I tuned into a few of these living-room broadcasts, even by some random folks on Facebook, friends of friends who were trying out going “live” for the first time. It was cool! For a few days. I even gave it half-a-shot myself, but my laptop’s mic wasn’t sounding so hot, so I pulled the plug before the deluge of Likes rolled in.
I thought about buying some more gear, but it wasn’t the time to find a good buy on a web-conferencing gadgets. Shipping was slow and prices were up. I might check back for open-box specials sometime. I guarantee there will be a lot of gently used returns in the coming months. The blush is well off the rose on this one.
Yeah, so I didn’t get around to it, lost the urge to sell my self — my soul! — one of the few products I believe in. (Now is that really true? -ed.)
Hopefully, this will be the last Covid-related post I ever make to my work blog. Novel as this virus may be, the novelty’s worn off. The first weeks — heck the first months — of rolling lock-downs were a cool opportunity to toss the agenda out the window, improvise, try out new things. But now it’s grown stale, tiring like that fifth Zoom call of the day. Virtual happy hours are fun the first time, but soon it’s just another version of drinking alone.
Self-promotion might be a necessary evil. I accept that. But let’s find a way to get together (IRL, as the kids say) even if we’ve got to keep it six feet apart We’ll talk business if we must. The first one’s on me.
