Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Anyone want a million dollars?

I know I do.

That one simple question is a fun parlor trick to get someone's attention. The real trick is keeping it after you get it. There are many ways to do that, and no two processes are the same.

Not sure why those thoughts were on my mind this afternoon, maybe because work has been on my mind. I had an interview today and I have another tomorrow, after all but giving up on looking for jobs last week. But a rare fleeting glimpse of brilliance hit me Sunday, and by ten o'clock in the morning Monday, I had applied to three jobs and received a response to two of them by noon. All this after receiving five of those, "Thank you for your interest in our company, but we've decided to go a different way..." emails the week previous. The quick turnaround in responses can only be attributed to my (in my mind) brilliant idea which I turned into something similar to the quick-draw attention-grabber title of this post. All I need to do now is keep their attention.

Sales tactics, marketing schemes, open-ended questions... I've been fascinated with all of those for years. But aside from their use in traditional selling roles, I've seen all three used in the most peculiar ways and most unusual surroundings. I've witnessed -firsthand- a friend of mine share the gospel of Jesus to a guy using basic salesman maneuvers. I've seen a girl use marketing strategies to get a guy to go out with her. And I've seen a hostile estate negotiation settled using the same kind of open-ended questions I've used in the past to sell mortgages. Crazy stuff.

Is the success of the world around us wrapped up in little less than slick salesmanship? Looking at those examples, the case could definitely be argued. And talking to my future missus, who holds Bachelors degrees in Public Relations and Communications, everything in life is wrapped up in how things are presented to us versus how they actually are. All very intriguing to me.

Politics, 24 hour News programs, church sermons, advice from doctors... I bet you can think of other examples. All things sheeple take at face value but which are actually driven by whatever the person delivering the message is trying to sell. Never thought about that? And I thought I was a good salesman. (Where's that eye-rolling emoticon when you need it?) I don't know if I'm happy about all this or frustrated.

So, anyone want a million dollars?

1 Comments:

Blogger Kimmy said...

Very interesting thoughts. I think there is much truth to this argument.

Absolutely love your use of the word sheeple.

I'll take my million in small bills, please.

10:48 AM  

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