Don't go to college! Get into sales instead. | S.5 Ep. 4

today on a sales life. I can't tell you how many people I work with they're buying a vehicle and almost finished in college. And I say, well, what are you going to do? And they say, I have no idea. They don't know. They don't know because they just follow the herd. They got into it with everyone else. I want you to try sales instead because sales is a transferable skill. So many people that say marsh, I could never be a salesperson. Yes you can. You're selling your way through life. This is the sales Life. I'm your host, Marsh B and I created the sales life because I believe sales is the best profession in life, is the greatest gift, and both require better skills of selling to embrace uncertainty, handle the adversity, and never settle again. My mission is simple. Create the best possible you both in sales and in life by eliminating all of the self-limiting beliefs because what is is not all there. Start your coaching today by heading over to marsh b.com So let's talk about going to college. And you're talking to a guy who went to college, had 18 hours left, had a full ride, and I still racked up student loans when I didn't need. And I never did finish. So when I say college isn't for everyone, this is what I mean is because if you're not going for a specialized skill, I have a friend that his daughter is going for nursing. She has been annealed and on that she knew exactly what she was getting into. And she's going to see that all the way through. But if you're like me, You probably don't know what you want to do. In many times we just enroll in college because that's what everyone else is doing. And we felt like this is what I'm supposed to do, but you're going to cause yourself massive debt and still not know what you're going to do in life. I can't tell you how many people I work with they're buying a vehicle and almost finished in college. And I say, well, what are you going to do? And they say, I have no idea. They don't know. They don't know because they just follow the herd. They got into it with everyone else. I want you to try sales instead because sales is a transferable skill. And I have so many people that say marsh, I could never be a salesperson. Yes, you can. You're selling your way through life. There are five skills. Even if you don't make this a lifetime profession, you can take these skills into any area of your life. I want to break these five skills down that instead of getting into college and enrolling, get into sales, be flexible in your mind here. I know when I told my mom I was quitting, my sure. Paying job and getting into sales. She held the phone. She was like, what? Because sales has such a stigma you gotta be sleazy. You gotta lie to people. It's not what it is at all. If you're representing correctly. And I said, if I'm going to get into sales, people are going to have a totally different view once they're done with me. So I got into sales and I think you should write. So let's break these down because you can take these skills into any area of your life. Number one is sales. will teach you how to communicate . And communication is key. You can't connect to a customer unless you communicate. You can't get a job unless you learn how to communicate. You can't get anywhere in life unless you learn how to communicate. What's beautiful about sales is sales will teach you how to get there. Will teach you how to communicate and communication by. People are phobic about the phone. So you'll learn how to push past your fears and get people on the phone. You'll also learn how to communicate by email and then also communicating in person as well. That's so key. A lot of times when we're working with customers, they have that natural hesitation. I don't want to be sold anything. Learning how to break past those barriers is so key, man. And I can't tell you how it's helped me in being able to communicate further in life. I had nothing to do with sales, but because I developed these skills in 24 years, I could take these into any area of your life. Now. The communication part works three different ways. You got to communicate with the customer, what I just talked about, but you also learn how to communicate with yourself as well, because sales is not a profession that you can just go in there and you can wing it and you can say, oh, well, I hope I do well. No, you got to communicate. This is the end goal that I want. This is where I want to be. This is what I want to make and then you'll work it backwards. And that causes you to have to communicate working backwards. This is what I have to do. Communication also roles hand-in-hand with, you got to learn how to communicate with your sales manager. So a customer, our situation, this is what's going on. And then you got to take that to your sales manager and your sales manager leverages his many, many years of experience and says, this is how the think this is the direction that we're going to go try this instead. That's the communication. And then rolls all back in one. Then you learn how to communicate again. With the customer second core skill that you will develop in sales is curiosity. So much upselling is being able to take things and turning it into something else. It's not taking things at face value. It's finding conclusions, how your product. Serve their needs. That means that you've, got to constantly ask questions. You can't take things at face value. If customers come in and say, I'm just looking. Well, if you take that at face value, you're not going to have a paycheck. This is where you've got to find the little threads. The customer may be saying something. But their body is saying something totally different. You got to ask those questions. This is where you've got to constantly be, be curious also. You gotta be curious about what's working. What's not working for yourself it's being able to take that curiosity bug that you start developing, and then you start saying, okay, what is working? What's not working. And then you tweak it from. So you got communication, you got curiosity. The third skill that you can learn in sales that cost nothing to do that you can take into any area of your life is creativity. Selling is not ideal. It's taking a bunch of ideas and you take these ideas collectively, and then you package these things up. So what is it? That you have that you can make the customer want. Because many times you're not going to have the exact options that a customer wants. There are customers that come in and won't read truck. And if I don't have to read. Then you've got to get creative and you've got to sell your customer. Why something is a little bit better? Why is that different color better to consider because you don't actually have it. It's getting resourceful. When you lack the resources. Think about, think about this. When you grew up, you may have had a oh, basketball rim that was there in the shed. But you didn't have. What did you do as a kid? You took the rim, you found an old piece of plywood. You nailed it to a tree. And lo and behold, now you all of a sudden got a basketball goal. And then you walked off the three point line, and then in your backyard, you're shooting and so many times, man, people. The sure thing, and sales will force you to be creative. And that way, when you're in a jam in life, when you lack the resources, because you develop these skills, you'll be able to take these anywhere and say, okay, I've been in similar situations like this before, and I know what to do. This is why sales is so key for you, so you got communication. Yeah, creativity. You got curiosity before thing that sales will teach you for absolutely free before you get into college and spending massive amounts of money. Is it forces you to be a continuous learner? Learners are earners. You've heard that. And if you're going to earn more than you gotta learn more. In, say. The technology changes your product changes. The economy changes. Customer's buying habits change. I've been selling since 1998. I can't take the same skills that I've learned in 1998 and use those exact skills today. It was very combative. But I can take similar traits. And I've had to evolve and learn the new habits, learn the new patterns, learn the different ways that customers are buying. That's what sales does, man. It forces you to continue to learn. Now the last thing. Let's recap it. Communication, creativity. Curiosity, continuous learning and the last skill it's probably one of the most important is confrontation, productive confrontation. Sales requires you to confront some things, not only about yourself, but also with the customers. Well, they gotta be confrontational. Because you work in a rejection based business, customers are going to tell you no, all the time customers are going to. No, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go with your product. And if you're not curious, if you're not creative, if you don't confront it, you're not going to get very far, not only in sales, but you're not going to get very far in life as well. So it's productive confrontation. Now this takes time, this takes skill. So there are going to be times that you create a mess maybe you confronted it the wrong way. You'll learn the better you do this, like courage, man, you gotta lean into it. The more you take on instances where that fear pulls you back and you push forward and you confront some things you'll learn to weather, those storms, you'll get what sailors call the sea legs. And the sea legs are being able to get into those rough waters and being able to. Handle these rough waters. There is nothing that I've talked about that you can't take in to your life. A lot of times people say, I don't want to get into sales, or I don't want to be pushy. You must be pushy. You got to push yourself to be persistent with the customer. I don't want you to be pushy with the customer, I do want you to push yourself and push past those fears. Pick up the phone and make the call getting in front of a customer. Getting in front of another customer. Customer tells you, no customer says, do not sell me anything. Do not even try them buy it's pushing past those things. And when you learn to do these things and confront these things, you can handle other confrontations in your personal life as well. All right now look, sales isn't for everyone, but selling is. I would challenge you to. Put your ego aside, many times people don't want to get into sales because they're like, well, man, I'm, I should be getting a degree or I got a degree. Get into sales. If you don't know what you want to do, if you're not specialized, even if you gotten a little ways into it and you just, you're not feeling it, man, guess what? You can go back to school anytime that you want, but college isn't for everyone, but selling is. And so these skills communication. Curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and confrontation. You can take these skills into every area of your life. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. Head over to marsh vice.com. That's M A R S H B U I C E for thousands of free resources and to start your coaching today.