Learn to sell the following:

Your skills

Your beliefs

Your actions

Your words

Your body language

Your dreams

Failure to do any of these means a life that will never reach it’s full potential. You cannot get anywhere in life without others. Sure, you will be the ultimate warrior who dives into battle and emerges victorious, but no general stood alive at the end of battle without troops by his side.

It’s the cold, hard truth. You must have other people with you. In order to get them there, you must win them over. How do you do this?

Sales.

My first job, in the middle of my weight loss, was working as a computer tech in a small shop when I was about 14 years old. Occasionally, though, I had to get out on the floor and help customers with new purchases as opposed to just doing my own thing behind the counter. Truthfully, it terrified me a little bit. It took time to bring myself out of this comfort zone.

I remember when I made my first big sale – a $2,500 custom laptop. Granted, today you can get a smoking fast laptop for under a grand, but keep in mind this was 2006-2007, and higher end technologically wasn’t as easily available. That was my first realization about sales, which I later began realize applied to all of life.

My next job was working at the corporate behemoth that was Best Buy. I was easily the top salesman in the computer department during my time there. I just became naturally good at selling as I shed the excess weight on my body and became more confident in myself. It was around this time, I realized that confidence was the key to everything. People would buy the most overpriced warranties and unnecessary accessories if I just sold it the right way. Most people are sheep. They will do whatever the position of authority says – unable to draw their own conclusions. Perhaps this is more of a modern day sales epidemic than in the past, because men used to be able to make decisions, but there’s nothing wrong with playing the hand you’ve been given.

My experience showed me that confidence could overcome many other shortcomings. Looking at other real life examples I’ve accumulated over the years, I can say that this fully rings true.

Who gets hired – the awkward nerd with excellent credentials, or the charismatic candidate with slightly less on the resume?

Who gets the girl – the awkward nice guy or the confidence guy?

Who gets the belief of others – the guy with poor body language or the guy with the dominant posture?

In all of these cases, your ability to sell yourself will dictate how your life shapes out. So, how do you sell yourself?

1.) Speak From Authority

Even if you don’t know something, whatever you decide to answer, you MUST own it. No apologies can be made at any point. If you are proven wrong, accept it, but do not back down as to WHY you thought your beliefs were correct. This generates respect, especially amongst other men.

However, confidence, therefore your ability to sell, can also be derived by knowing you have the correct knowledge. So, educate yourself beforehand if needed.

2.) Understand What They Want

This is probably the most important part of sales. You must have a thorough understanding of what your client, interviewer, or hell, even a girl you’re picking up on the street, WANTS. You then sell yourself by being the object of desire.

Exhibit A: You know that your client needs a computer infrastructure to be the back-end of his growing company. However, he is unsure of what he needs. So you sell him the products that will scale with his business, to cater to his worries about his company’s growth. If you are a particular kind of bastard, you may also promise to help in the future with his scaling – even if there is a hefty fee you fail to mention at the time.

Nobody likes the salesman that claims the computer will fly you to work, but yet they still get paid.

Exhibit B: You know that women in general like confident, masculine men. So, you sell yourself as that man – even if you don’t feel that way. Yes, I am encouraging all men who lack confidence to fake it til you make it. Eventually, this confidence will internalize and become a part of you. For example, if she asks you where you’d like to eat, don’t hem and haw and say, “Anywhere you want, babe.”

Instead, say you want to eat at Taco Bell and own it (see point #1).

3.) Make Them Feel Good About Their Purchase

Making the purchaser feel good post-purchase is a critical aspect. You don’t want a consumer returning a product to the store. An employer ultimately deciding to fire you. A girl claiming rape after you blew the doors off her last minute resistance.

However, there’s a trick to this. You’d think that not having a consumer return a product would depend on, well, the product. An employer’s decision to fire you would depend on your work ethic. A girl claiming rape would depend on whether she thought you “tricked” her into bed.

But, if you sell the products well enough, the consumer will simply have no remorse. A consumer will rationalize their poor purchase because you made them feel a certain way during that purchase. An employee will hold off on firing you because he’ll recall the potential in your interview. A girl will justify sex because you were a charismatic fucker who it just “happened with”.

It all goes back to being a good salesman.

4.) Finally, Internalize It

Like I said before, eventually this confidence will internalize and become a part of you. This is the critical aspect.

You will become accustomed to success. Figure out what is making you successful. As your confidence grows, your sales skills will continue to increase in correlation. You will reach a point where the confidence you formerly faked will be a part of you. This is when you know you are in an elite class.

So get out there, start selling.

Do we have a deal?