How to Sell Without Selling Your Soul | Steve Harrison | TEDxWilmingtonSalon

TEDx Talks13 minutes read

The speaker shares his journey from doubts to success in door-to-door book sales, emphasizing the importance of loving and serving customers. He redefines selling as "Sincerely Encourage by Listening and Loving" to highlight the power of love in achieving success and encourages listeners to focus on being the right person to make the world right.

Insights

  • The speaker's transformative experience in door-to-door sales underscores the significance of focusing on loving and serving customers rather than just making sales, highlighting the value of genuine connections in business interactions.
  • The anecdote about the son fixing the torn Earth picture by focusing on being the right person conveys a powerful message about the impact of personal growth and positive intentions in influencing the world around us, inspiring listeners to prioritize empathy and understanding in their interactions to foster meaningful relationships and drive positive change.

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Recent questions

  • What did the speaker learn from his summer job?

    The speaker learned the importance of loving and serving customers.

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Summary

00:00

"Lessons in Sales: Love and Success"

  • The speaker recalls being invited by his college resident adviser, Rob, to a marketing job interview for a publishing company.
  • Despite initial doubts, the speaker signs up to sell children's books door-to-door for 80 hours a week.
  • The speaker's parents were concerned due to his lack of sales experience and charisma.
  • On the first day of work, the speaker is nervous but follows Rob to a neighborhood in Lincoln, Nebraska.
  • The speaker emphasizes the importance of knowing whose door to knock on and the concept of everyone being in sales.
  • The speaker shares his experience of selling books, highlighting the importance of focusing on loving and serving customers.
  • Despite initial struggles, the speaker makes his first sale by engaging creatively with a customer.
  • The speaker reflects on the lessons learned from his summer job and how it led him to start a business with his brother.
  • The speaker redefines selling as "Sincerely Encourage by Listening and Loving" and shares examples of how these principles have led to success for others.
  • The speaker emphasizes the power of love in sales and how focusing on loving people can lead to better serving them and achieving success.

15:02

"Fixing the World by Being Right Person"

  • A father kept his son busy by tearing up a picture of the planet Earth from a National Geographic magazine, giving it to his son to put back together with Scotch Tape. The son quickly completed the task by realizing that getting the person picture on the other side right would automatically fix the world picture, emphasizing the importance of focusing on being the right person to make the world right. This story encourages listeners to focus on encouraging others through listening and loving, prompting them to take action by reaching out to people they wish would say yes to them, initiating conversations that could lead to life-changing experiences.
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