We are salesmen. All of us.
I have worked with colleagues who view people in sales and marketing departments with disdain, and I used to share such sentiments. They’re not creative, they’re just selling something other people did. They just manipulate customers!
Then, as I presented designs to stakeholders more and more, I realized that… You know, I was using the same “tricks” that my peers were criticizing. I’m pitching. I was Don Draper, Jr.
But at the same time, I’m also selling something of value. Most of the time that’s my own work. If what I have created is perceived to be of sufficient quality and value then the “pitching” is easier. I need not use “tricks” to sell what I have created, the value is self-evident.
I read a fantastic article in Forbes a few months back about how Apple store employees “sell” to customers. To summarize the article: They don’t. They find out about what the customers needs are, and then present the products that may… MAY… Fill these needs. If they don’t sell a thing, fine. They have presented a potential solution in a way that is helpful and (hopefully) useful to the customer. Taking that to heart, when I “sell” my designs I talk about how customers will use what I have created, and how they work organically into the process they already have. I’m “selling” a solution to their problems.
A marketing “trick”? Maybe. But the key is that I have to understand the problem I am solving in order to properly solve it in the first place. I need to know the problem space to design in it.
And then, to sell my solutions.
Sometimes, if I’m trying to get more work, I’m selling… Well, myself. The same approach applies. What is the problem I can help solve for the user/buyer? How can I add value to the company I’m “pitching” to? And these days, when jobs are scarce, looking at things from the perspective of a salesman allows us to objectively evaluate ourselves and gauge what we are offering.
As was stated quite directly in Glengarry Glen Ross: ABC. Always. Be. Closing.
Especially when you are selling yourself.