I should announce right here that I don’t think sales is a real career and I have serious doubts about the effectiveness of brand advertising. With those in mind:

If you are offering a worthwhile product and you know it, and if you have communication skills and don’t dislike people, your product will sell. You don’t have to engage in quack behavior or harness jingles or wear certain colors; those activities will not promote the sale of enduring products of value and when it comes to the truth of the matter, none of us needs to buy a pet rock.

I’ve tested this theory. I’ve never taken a sales or business or economics class or read or listened on the subject. But as a young person I was stuck in some retail jobs, and I never had a problem selling what I liked. The best example I can cite were the several 13-volume sets of the Oxford English Dictionary I sold at Lucas College Book Company, across from Cal, around 1970. I sold them well because I lusted to own the volumes myself.

Even now, 32 years after I set out my shingle in my accidental career, I don’t “sell” retirement plans; I just answer the phone and the questions. I strive to demystify my field, to explain the organics of what we do, and there’s never too few clients.

Here are my general shopping ideas. When we need a new copier or other item of office equipment, we ignore everything the salesperson tells us (especially if the salesperson uses “you” instead of the definite or indefinite article: “this unit has your sorter and your stapler built right in.”) Instead we have a conversation with a person whose job it is to fix or tune the item. We want to know how it works after the factory warranty expires. We want to know its weak links.

And when choosing a consultant or professional to provide services, I go for motivation over reputation. For example, the only time I had a house built for me, I choose architects who were energetic and brimming with ideas, folks who weren’t too busy or popular yet to work with me. If I’d picked the architect at the top of the field, I probably would have worked with one of his/her associates, at best, and expensive egotistical attitude, at worst.