(Part 1 of 5):
The Genesis Of Headaches
How A "Product Obsessed" Educational System Prepares Brilliant People For Business Failure.
The university educational system was created in 1088 AD, starting with the University of Bologna - that's 936 years ago (from the time I'm writing this - Feb. 7th, 2024)!!
The sad story of your poor sales results began with the creation of the university system.
Before I go into details about what I mean, let me tell you what I DON'T mean.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS
I don't support those shortsighted, ignorant, stupid "school is scam" noise you read on social media.
My now mature self has a solid understanding of the "secondary" benefits of university education to the human brain, so I'm in support of University education.
The problem however is with what the educational system is structured to focus on.
Mind you, when I say "educational system", I'm also including all forms of non university educational outfits like: vocational training, empowerment programmes, entrepreneurship development courses, skill acquisition centres, etc.
That would include fashion school, makeup school, film school, catering school, bead making school, "errrm" school etc.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS (2)
You probably already know that university education usually trains people to have "employee mentality".
Just to be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being or wanting to be an employee, but there is everything wrong when you permanently expect someone else to create the job opportunity for you - "employee mentality".
With that said, what are the real problems with the education you received? There are 2:
Problem 1: Conventional education trains you to be "product obsessed"
What that means is that you are only taught skills that are needed to make products or services. e.g.
caterer learns how to make delicious food. baker learns how make great tasty cakes. fashion designer makes awesomely designed fashion items. Doctor is taught how to diagnose and treat many many diseases with accuracy. Engineer is taught how to design great structures. Makeup artist is taught how to make Madam Cruella look like Cinderella!!
Many of us even become legendary at doing them BUT do you know what NO ONE EVER teaches us in those classes?
"No one ever told us how to find the people who are passionately interested in what we create, show them How we are the right ones for them and, make them an offer they can't refuse."
I mean, we spend between 1-6 years learning all the different skills to make a product or offer a service and not one class is taught on how to market and sell it!!!
It's almost like everyone thinks that the ability to effectively market and sell is something comes with us from the womb. No wonder some people think printing and distributing flyers alone is all they need to get customers.
Since all you are REPEATEDLY taught is how to create, your mind becomes "tricked" into thinking that the creative process is the only important part of the business!
You are erroneously led to believe that the other things (like marketing and sales skills) are easy to figure out, because no one mentions it to you in class.
As if that's not bad enough already, the next problem shows up.
Problem 2: Conventional Education Trains You to Hate "Selling"!
When you tell most educated people that you are in sales, they look at you like you are a the world greatest loser at life!
Most well read people do not regard sales skills to be anything worth going by.
Are you aware that in many companies, the sales staff are amongst the lowest paid?
The sheer irony of this is apparent when you realise that:
"Every company wants sales but most company executives don't want to be associated with selling!"
This negative attitude towards selling is in part caused by the image that pops up in people's head when they hear the word "salesperson".
They automatically imagine this annoying, loud, sweet tongued, dusty looking, sweaty low lifer (with dusty shoes that are bent to one side) telling you your life can be better.
REALITY CHECK: If you are gonna become an online sales producing machine, you are gonna have to change this negative perception of selling and salespeople in your head.
Unfortunately this negative image is partly true because for a long time, this is how many companies have presented their sales representatives to be.
With these two poisonous biases firmly planted in your mind, what happens next?
You eventually graduate from school as an intelligent, dedicated graduate brimming with great knowledge on how to make cool stuff or how to offer complex services.
The (silent) problem now is that you have absolute zero knowledge of how to create a proven, battle tested SYSTEMATIC PROCESS for finding your ideal clients/customers and convincing them to do business with you.
Unfortunately, because the human mind does not readily admit ignorance, it will suggest different "creative" ideas that sound good on paper but get killed off when you apply them on the fierce battlefield of capitalism.
So here you are probably barely making enough money to pay rent, while some of those who were less brilliant than you in school have gone on to build wildly profitable businesses, because they luckily found out early that:
"People don't buy the best product that they don't know, people only buy the product that they know best. The Best known will always beat best made!!"
So while you were busy working hard to be the "best graduating student", they were already gathering sales , marketing, persuasion and negotiations skills.
Unfortunately, this is only just the beginning of your problems...
NEXT UP: Grandpa's 30 year's old "Microwave"
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