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Writing Lessons from a Salesperson: Part 2


Writers and entrepreneurs have a lot in common. If you are a writer who plans to achieve any kind of financial success from your talent, you have to play the business game. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to get people excited about your product or service, you have to play the sales game. If you are like a huge majority of people, this may make you cringe.

Watch a few minutes of “Shark Tank” on TV and you will see true rejection in action. Inventors, business owners and dreamers have put their sweat, tears, and often a whole lot of money into an idea they believe will both change the world and make them rich. Usually, someone tells them how wrong they are. It doesn't help that one of the guys is sarcastically called “Mr. Wonderful.”

As a writer, you are standing in front of that panel of critics every time you submit new work for consideration. No matter how great your product is, it is not for everyone. You could have the most amazing slant on zombie-aliens from Krypton, but that probably won’t do anything for the romance reader.
“But,” you may argue, “My story says something about the human condition that is truly important.”
The fact is, not every human cares.

Defining and focusing your audience/potential customer is important for both writers and sales people. It will reduce the number of doors slammed in your face, but not much. Be prepared. And continue to love what you do anyway.

When I started sharing Pangea Organics skincare, I assumed my audience WOULD be everyone. Everyone needs to cleanse their faces, take showers, and wash their hands, right? True, but not everyone understands why they should be avoiding chemicals from laboratories in order to do that, for one, and also: Not everybody cares.

When I wrote a personal essay about how a song my dad wrote helped to mend our relationship, I thought that I had a pretty good chance to get it published in a certain anthology. I submitted, and was rejected. That particular group had no use for it at that time. Later, however, the same essay (edited a bit) was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Dad.


Today's Excuse Editor's Lesson:
 Allow rejection to lead you to perseverance; perseverance encompasses every success.


Happy Writing (and selling, especially if you are doing so to support your writing)!

Tina
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Comments

  1. Monica CastelloNovember 13, 2014 at 7:19 AM

    In consultative advertising, the qualifying step, Salesperson Jobs so that the salesman knows the right information about the possible customer is completely necessary.

    ReplyDelete

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