It is supposed to be a buyers’ world but out of excitement or over assumption, salesmen sometimes usurp the place of buyers by selling to them what they think they need as against what the buyer truly wants. A few times the seller wins when he gets the buyer to buy more than he needs but sometimes the seller loses everything including what he has gained. It sounds confusing but I will explain.

Selling yourself is as important as selling your product. Most buyers buy into you before they buy into your product. Except when your product is already a sought after in the market, you have the responsibility to make yourself heard before potential buyers take a second glance at your product which can also be you. Be mindful not to be too aggressive while selling yourself, to the extent that you claim what you are not, particularly when you are meeting with a potential buyer for the first time.

I love to share stories, it helps to convey my message faster. Years back, I used to visit the barbing salon once in every week to have my hair cut and I had a particular place that I became accustomed to. I became so used to the barber and I would tip him handsomely on every visit because he’s a good guy.

The guy enjoyed high customer patronage because he’s also charismatic and industrious. On one of my visits I discovered that he had started selling clipper. He convinced me to buy a clipper different from the one I had. He called a price double the normal price of the clipper, probably because he knew that I could afford it. I didn’t question him even though I knew he lied.

Some thoughts ran through my mind and I quickly processed it without him knowing. I had been seeing the clipper before then but until my friend sold it to me, it didn’t occur to me that I could do for myself what he was doing for me without having to visit his shop every week, paying more than the official price for his service. Sometimes you have to think of the possible effect of your intended action over existing conditions.

I was glad to pay a premium for his free consultancy that tasked my brain to think. I gladly paid him for the clipper without negotiating the price but that was my last visit to his salon or any other salon ever since. This was over five years ago and since then I have been doing for myself what my friend would do for me every week at a cost to me.

My barber oversold his product to a loyal client and lost my patronage forever. Less than six months after, he closed shop, both the salon and the clipper business. He most probably had sold clipper double the price to all his loyal customers and he had consumed his profit upfront, including the capital. He outwitted himself and played himself out of a thriving business.

The scenario I just described also applies when you are selling yourself to a would-be client or employer. Sometimes, job or contract seekers talk too much and oversell themselves in a bid to get the job. It could work for you sometimes but it could also work against you most times.

If you are very knowledgeable in the task in question, the urge is likely to be more for you to say more than is required. However, there are times when it is advised for you to answer questions than to talk like a parrot until you give yourself out when you supply information that can work against you to your would-be employer.

Sometimes, what you consider your strength may end up being a weakness when your would-be contract or job employer begins to see you more like a competitor. Human beings don’t like competition. You are in a position of strength when you get the job before you begin to show off your skills. You need to belong to be heard. Some opportunity seekers blow chances away because they have said more than is necessary. You don’t have to say everything you know the first time. Reserve some information until you are asked. That may not be the only thing you need to get the offer but that is wisdom.

In the contemporary world, many sellers overrate their product more than its worth. Another name for it is packaging but be mindful how you overrate yourself. Overrating your capability limits your capacity for growth. You can outsmart others and get away with it but when you outsmart yourself, you will be your own victim. Do not outwit yourself.

©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr
13 September 2021