Wednesday, July 2, 2014

You Sell Yourself!

Many years ago (somewhere when I was working at ABC - American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. back in the 1970's) - when I was first creating my photography business (it all was starting in my mind back then) I began asking any and all of the salespeople that I could find - get a hold of or grab off the streets of Manhattan or wherever I had to be -
what is the secret to selling?
Time after time - no matter who it was that I asked and no matter what business they were in that they were a salesperson for the answer came back to precisely - exactly and always without change - the same exact three words -
You Sell Yourself!
After many many many many hours of thinking about these three words placed in that one unforgettable statement it hit me that after many years of thinking about what image I might place on a picture business card (I actually came from an era where plain words printed on a white card was the standard accepted business card) I made the bold choice to create a "Self Portrait" - (perhaps now one of the most widely personally distributed "selfies" in the world - and go for it - printing an entire batch of the minimum at the time of 3,000 full color business cards with my "Self Portrait" picture on the entire one side of a 2 1/4" X 3 1/2" picture business card which I immediately (but admittedly shyly) began one at a time to hand out in the streets of New York (Manhattan mostly) and to date I have now given out over 3.8 million of these business cards and I am certainly never ever ever going to stop doing this -
because do you know what?
these business cards are not only my main source of contacting and obtaining people who are interested in my work and who call me for what they want - when they wanted no matter how much time has passed from when I first gave them the card to that first point in time when they do call -
but these business cards with my "Self Portrait" on them - literally expressing those three words that I heard so many great sales people pass on to me when I asked the question of what is the secret to selling -
but each and every one of those cards - now sometimes post cards as well - and whatever sites that have this image on them now - each one is one of my salespeople doing what it use that they are supposed to be doing for me -
Selling me to everyone that see them!
So now I would like to take a moment to remember each and every one of those individuals who shared this knowledge powerfully packed in that most short - concise and unchanging statement with its greatest of all knowledge - to thank them from the bottom of my heart with the greatest of intensity and to pass on this greatest of all sales secrets to you right now -
You Sell Yourself!
take that and run with it for the rest of your life - no matter what job - work - business - position - non-profit - anything and everything that you are doing in life - apply this to whatever it is that you are doing in life - and you will never go wrong - you will never ever be without work -
just remember -
You Sell Yourself!
thank you!
Walter