How to achieve anything in life by learning how to sell. | Rana Kordahi | TEDxCQU

Summary

The speaker recounts personal stories from war-torn Beirut to illustrate the power of sales and negotiation skills, emphasizing their life-saving potential. They differentiate between pushy and consultative salespeople, advocating for the latter's approach. The talk highlights how sales skills can boost confidence, build rapport, persuade, and align with others' values. The speaker shares a transformative sales technique involving visualization and concludes with three keys to sales success: courage, patience, and relentless work ethic.

Takeaways

• 🚸 The importance of rapport building and listening skills in high-pressure situations was highlighted, as they can be crucial for survival and success.
• 🎯 The speaker emphasizes that selling and negotiation skills are vital in various aspects of life, not just in business.
• 🏆 The speaker distinguishes between 'pushy salespeople' who focus on closing deals at all costs and 'consultative salespeople' who prioritize building relationships and solving customers' problems.
• 🌟 Personal stories are used to illustrate the power of sales skills, demonstrating how they can influence outcomes in both life-and-death situations and everyday scenarios.
• 🌱 The transformational impact of learning sales is underscored, as it has helped the speaker become more confident, build rapport, and persuade others.
• 🌐 The concept of building rapport is extended to the digital world, where online interactions also require the ability to connect with and influence others.
• 🤝 The speaker shares insights on how to persuade and influence people by asking smart questions and making them feel that the decision is their own.
• 💡 The necessity of understanding and communicating with people based on their values, rather than our own, is highlighted as a key to successful sales and communication.
• 🧘‍♂️ A personal development story is shared, where visualization and a positive mindset were key to overcoming objections and achieving sales success.
• 🏋️‍♀️ The importance of courage, patience, and a relentless work ethic in sales and business is emphasized, as there are no shortcuts to success.

Q & A

What was the speaker's experience during the war in Beirut?

The speaker's family escaped by boat to Cyprus during the war in Beirut. They faced a challenging situation with the Border Patrol, which led to them being sent back into the war zone.

What skills did the speaker's father lack during their escape attempt?

The speaker's father lacked rapport-building skills, listening skills, and the right mindset to stay calm under pressure, which contributed to their initial failure to cross the border.

How did the speaker's father handle a different situation involving a road rage incident?

In a road rage incident, the speaker's father remained calm, built rapport, and negotiated with an armed man, successfully de-escalating the situation and preventing violence.

Why does the speaker believe that everyone is a salesperson?

The speaker believes that everyone is a salesperson because we all need to sell ourselves in various situations, such as job interviews or when starting a business, to get ahead in life.

What are the two types of salespeople the speaker describes?

The speaker describes two types of salespeople: the pushy salesperson who focuses on closing deals quickly and the consultative salesperson who focuses on building relationships and solving customers' problems.

How did the speaker's experience in Mexico influence their sales approach?

The speaker learned the importance of confidence in sales from their experience in Mexico, where they observed a less polished but highly confident salesperson outperform a more knowledgeable but less confident one.

What is the significance of building rapport in sales according to the speaker?

Building rapport is significant in sales because people are more likely to buy from someone they like and trust. The speaker emphasizes that rapport-building is crucial both in person and in the digital world.

How did the speaker's approach to spreading the vegan message change after learning about rapport-building?

The speaker initially spread the vegan message aggressively, but after understanding the importance of rapport, they changed their approach to be more positive and engaging, which led to a more receptive audience.

What are the three key principles the speaker suggests to improve sales interactions?

The speaker suggests that people are more likely to buy when they are talking, when it's their idea, and when you don't pitch solutions before understanding their needs.

How does the speaker recommend understanding and communicating with people's values?

The speaker recommends understanding people's values by doing a discovery through smart questions and then communicating in a way that resonates with their interests and needs rather than your own.

What personal development technique did the speaker adopt from their sales mentor?

The speaker adopted a visualization technique from their sales mentor, where they imagine building rapport, solving the customer's problems, and closing the sale successfully, which they also applied to other areas of their life.