“If I Had to Sell Something”

I had a Dr’s appointment a couple of weeks ago, and you know the routine.  With the fear of over divulging, I was allowed to keep my pants on, so I had that going for me, but as we were making small talk the Doc asked what I do for a living.  I told him I work for myself as a financial planner, to which he asked how it was going.  I told him it was good, and after 15 years it was pretty steady. He replied with, “I told my wife when we first met that if I had to sell anything for a living we would be broke.”  

It was an interesting comment with no malintent behind it, I’m sure, but it was still interesting.  I surely don’t fancy myself much of a salesman.  I am missing the height, the smooth demeanor, the fancy car, the wardrobe and I’ll just put a pin in it right there.  I don’t consider myself a salesman, but I don’t disagree that every person, regardless of job or employment needs to “sell” (for lack of a better word) each and every day.  To get my kids in the car, I need to hard sell them or bring in the heavy threats.  To help clients change their behavior or buy into a new idea that betters their finances, I need to sell them enough to get their approval or peak their interest to want to hear more.  I need to sell the cable provider on why our office should get a reduced rate.  The Doctor, ironically, in a relatively pressure free pitch, and also being unaware of it, needed to sell me on why I should continue to see him.

I would now like to sell you on having a fantastic weekend, Happy Friday!

(Update – next week there will one additional post as a follow up to our January Challenge post)