I'm selling...is anyone buying?

Selling it.

"A politician should have three hats:

--one for throwing in the ring;

--one for talking through;

--one for pulling rabbits out of, if elected." (Pulitzer Poet, Carl Sandburg.)

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"A writer should have three hats:

--one for creativity

--one for craftsmanship

--one for salesmanship." (David Smith, writer.)


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   Creativity: I cannot speak for most writers...but the creativity thing is usually not my problem. Focusing, fleshing out, persevering in the pursuit of the creative vision...ach, there's the rub!

   Craftmanship: hmm, this involves not only quality of craft but quantity...gotta have enough output to be visible, sellable, and intriguing. Whether it's writing or cooking, attention to detail and expertise, applied consistently and persistently--that is craftsmanship.

   Salesmanship: interesting thought...I discovered that a lot of what I did as a family doc was truly salesmanship! Not the oily used-car-salesman stereotype, but the friendly salesman who has an outstanding product and wants you to fully understand how wonderful it is--you'll want to buy once you're aware of the life-changing value of the product! If I didn't adequately sell my expertise in diagnostics and therapeutics, it wouldn't make any diff--the patient wasn't buying. My job was to change lives, true, but getting my "clients" to really buy into my ideas, my plans, to embrace them as their own--now THAT was my job as salesman. (And, as a teacher of young docs...I had to sell to them, too. Too much of passes for "education" is  equivalent to laying a stack of brochures out, reading them aloud, and thinking that's the end--I've delivered my product. But w/o getting my students to actually "buy" into my product...the brochures are just gonna sit there in the lecture room.)

   Met any true salespeople lately? Tell me about it.