The secret to selling is that people shop with people.

What? Did you think I would say something surprising?

I’m sitting here typing this, my first blog post, at 10:30pm on a Friday night because I had an epiphany.

Let’s take a step back. Two days ago I posted a photo on my Instagram story of how I slice my mangoes with a poll seeing if other people slice their mangoes the same way. Maybe not the most interesting content, but it was a very divisive poll and I had quite a few responses. Any time people see me eating a mango IRL they always ask about the way I cut it. ANYWAY… my boyfriend watched my story and texted me asking why mangoes are business content. I was annoyed that he was asking me this, because he tends to troll my business Instagram account on a regular basis, but I responded with “Sometimes people just want to see content about you as a person.”

I’ve been thinking about this for the past two days.

I’ve been thinking about it to the point where I posted a story the next day asking if other people’s significant others sometimes just don’t “get it.” This also garnered a lot of responses. Because, again, it was something relatable that people have also experienced.

I’ve been thinking about this ridiculous mango so much it’s brought me to writing this post. Which brings us full circle.

It finally dawned on me why I’ve been thinking about this so much… I teach selling. Or rather, I taught selling. I’ve taught people how to sell for the past seven years. It was ingrained in me how to sell effectively for the previous 3 before that. It’s in my brain, it’s in every nerve of my body and it’s in my blood. I’ve been paid A LOT of money to teach people how to sell. I grew up at Nordstrom, arguably the big box retailer with the best selling program there is. I taught million dollar sellers how to sell even more — how to retain clients and how to make room for new ones so they were always giving themselves a raise. I taught shiny new sales people to come into a business and talk to people in a relatable way so they were outpacing their peers who had been established with the brand for years.

That’s me all the way to the right, pretending to bite my gold medal.

I was awarded “Cash Call” 10 out of 12 eligible quarters, I won “Department of the Quarter” 6 of them. I got these awards for building the best team of people who were able to help me drive increases year over year. One of my teams I built from the ground up, opening a new store in a new market. I would say that was arguably easier than going into an established team. Entering teams of veteran employees was a challenge because they thought they knew best. In reality, once they implemented the practices and techniques I taught them, they made SO MUCH MORE MONEY!

I’m sharing this with you to establish credibility. I was constantly being recruited by other companies, I was poached by other Store Managers within my same company. There were times when I hated my job, sure, but there were also times when I absolutely loved it. Either way, I knew two things: 1. I was good at my job and 2. I wasn’t a manager, I was a leader.

What does this have to do with anything?

I’ve decided I’m going to create some content and blog posts around selling. I was the absolute expert at selling products, be them $5 camis or $5,000 swarovski embellished trench coats. I am also an expert at selling services and selling myself. How do I know this? Because. It’s the same thing. People shop with people. (See what I did there?)

If you are currently offering a service or a product out there, whether or not you are driving sales is on you. People buy from people they can relate to or resonate with. It’s that simple. If you’re offering the same exact (or close to) package as Sally over there, your ideal clients have the choice. Price may be a factor, but I assure you, if a customer wants something from you they are going to find a way to afford it. The content you are putting out, even if it’s as silly as the way you cut a mango, is going to attract some potential clients and repel others. People want to get to know who you are as the face behind the brand and as a service provider so they can make an informed decision as to whether they want to work with YOU.

All of that being said, I’m planning to continue to share content based around teaching selling. Why? Because I’m good at it and I want you to be good at it too. If you’re interested in hearing more, learning more, or just watching me make a fool of myself doing it… press the subscribe button at the bottom of my page 🙂 Maybe you’ll learn something.

If you have any ideas on things you want to learn about, shoot me a message. I’m open to any and all suggestions!