Page 179 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

170 SELLING CREATIVE IDEAS REQUIRES ITS OWN CREATIVITY

Now you might be asking what all this talk of selling ideas has to do
with creativeness. Well, actually, it has a great deal to do with cre-
ativeness. As we illustrated early on in this book, creativity is problem
solving. Ask anyone who is in sales for a living and they’ll tell you that
selling is problem solving as well. So you shouldn’t have to get an Ein-
steinian haircut to deduce that selling requires creativity.
In my role as a creative thinking coach I am often brought in to
work with sales forces. I must tell you, the best of their ranks are as
brilliant creatively as are any people I encounter in the business
world—and that includes the self-proclaimed ground zero of creativ-
ity, ad agency creative departments. The best salespeople have curious
minds, they have active minds, they seek fresh perspectives. This
sounds a lot like the “dreamer” personality type from Chapter 18,
“Mind Farming.” Read on, read on.

ANOTHER LEVEL OF CREATIVITY

To anyone reading this book who has ever wished more of their ideas
would be embraced by those around them, I challenge you:

Use these concepts, wisdom, and practices not just to come up with
great ideas, but also to sell them.

Asking better questions is a great place to start. Even before you
start thinking of the problem, think about the people you need to sell
the solution to. And don’t guess what’s on their mind—ask them.
As for applying 100 MPH Thinking to selling, when you’ve worked
very hard to conceive and develop an idea, you don’t consider only one
way to get it across to others, do you? Using the law of large numbers,
if you think of just two ways to sell your ideas, you’ll be giving yourself
twice the chance of finding a successful way to sell. A full 100 percent
increase, all for thinking of only one additional way to sell. How about
three ideas for a 200 percent increase? Or five ideas? Or 25 ideas?
With many sales strategies or tactics, it may not boil down to an either-
or situation. If selling the idea one way doesn’t work, then you have
other plans to fall back on.
As for 180° Thinking, well, you’ve heard of reverse psychology,
haven’t you? My wife and I have been selling antiques for years. We