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One thing I’ve discovered in several years of online activity is that selling is not one of my strengths. I’ve known this for a long time, of course. One of my first jobs as a high school student was working in a local stereo shop trying to sell Commodore computers (this was in the early 80s). People would come in and say they wanted to buy a computer to store their recipes and such. I’d tell them to get a set of index cards, it would be a lot less hassle and take up a lot less space. Didn’t take long for the store owners to give me the boot! I ended up working at a grocery store packing bags and stocking shelves. All because I wasn’t able to sell.

Selling is an art. I’m not sure it’s something you can teach. Either you have it — the ability to persuade someone to buy — or you don’t. A good salesperson is a good salesperson, it doesn’t really matter what they’re selling.

Most geeks are not good salespeople. Something about telling it like it is, being focused on features, and generally not being deceptive about things. (Am I being cynical here?) As many of us discovered during our early dating years, there is such a thing as too much honesty, especially too quickly. Selling is lot like dating, I think: you want to attract the other party’s interest without revealing too much of yourself too early. There’s a real balancing act there.

That’s why finding a partner who can sell is something you’ll want to do if you really want to succeed. Because the people who really succeed have the human angle figured out.

That’s what I think, anyhow….