Sales in everything

A couple weeks ago, I was talking to some friends who work in different industries. Think physical therapy, conservation, science, etc. Naturally, they had asked what I do for work at Secfi and without diving into boring details, I summarized that my role like every other role is mainly just a form of sales.

They were a bit surprised and I got the usual response I normally get. “But you aren’t like a typical sales guy?”

There’s always this interesting perception that the Sales guy is that guy who can sell his shirt off his back. Smooth talker. Well dressed. You know the stereotypes. In reality, I think sales is far from that - more on that on a different post.

More importantly, sales is in every single thing you do in business. Let’s use a few examples:

Business development / Partnerships - you’re selling an agreement

Marketing - you’re selling the company or a product

CEO - you’re selling the company to investors and prospective employees

If you work at a business or startup, whether you know it or not, you’re in a sales role. It’s unfortunate that a lot of people don’t understand this. They think pedigree and resume alone will get you to where you want to be. But at the end of the day, you need to be able to sell yourself and/or your company/product to get somewhere if you’re going to move up the chain.