Defining Selling
by Alan J. Zell

SELLING = asking someone to buy what is being offered in return for time, effort and/or money. ( “Someone” aka one's FFAACCC -- Family, Friends, Associates, Acquaintances, Customers/clients or one's own Conscience as well as teachers, prospective and current employers, subordinates, other businesses, etc).

“Selling” is part of a 4 step process in the decision-making process

Buying -- accepting and adopting what is being offered - ideas, information, policies, procedures, attitudes, skills, knowledge, changes, products, and services.

Marketing -- determining to whom (plural) and how what is being offered is presented.

Presenting -- giving customers information in oral, written and/or physical format.

Selling -- helping people buy what is being offered by teaching them how to sell (justifying a decision/action to or getting confirmation from someone about a decision/action) what is being offered.

Who goes through these steps? Isn't the customer the only one having to make a decision? No, there are many people who come into the decision making even though they are not the customer:

* First, by the customer

* Next, by the customer's FFAACCCs (Family, Friends, Associates, Acquaintances,
Customers/Clients or their own Conscience)

* Who, in turn, presents the results of going through the steps to their FFAACCCs

* And on to their FFAACCCs who go through the same 4 steps, etc.

What makes selling so interesting is that one never knows where the information will go after contact with the customer is over. At each passing of information from the first person doing the selling/telling to the last person in the chain is that they all share the same three fears as it relates to the information and to who was offering it.

Customers' and their FFAACCCs' 3 fears:

* Their fear of their own lack of knowledge about what is being offered

* Their fear of the presenters' lack of knowledge about what is being offered

* Their fear of being criticized for buying/buying into what is being offered

Usually, but not always, overcoming any two of the three fears will help overcome the third fear.

Successful selling happens at each transfer of information when the customer and their FFAACCCs' fears have been overcome and each believes that they will be a better person in their own and/or others' eyes for buying/buying into what is under consideration or has been accepted and put to use.

Alan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling, offers consulting (on site and on-line), seminars and workshops on all aspects of business that affect sales. You are invited to learn more about his programs and services and read other articles on his web site – www.sellingselling.com. He can be reached at azell@aol.com