I was never a natural at selling, but over the years I got quite good at it. It was very hard work, but I learned how to do it in a way that felt comfortable to me.

Fast forward a decade and frankly, I'm back to being pretty hopeless.

It's been so long since I've had a proper sales meeting that although I know what to do, it would all be very stilted. And honestly, I'd rather not have a sales meeting if I can avoid one.

What I'd much rather have is a meeting with someone who already wants to work with me, just to confirm what we'll be doing together.

Peter Drucker famously said “the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.”

I always kinda doubted it. When I worked for big firms we always had to pitch to win things. Same when I first started out.

But over time, something changed.

Turns out Drucker was right. If your marketing is really working. 

Not the kind of marketing I did in the corporate world that's all about telling people how great you are.

But when you do marketing that adds value to potential clients and helps them before they ever pay you a penny, something different happens.

And when you do it week in, week out you build the kind of relationship that means you don't need to sell to people. They come to you wanting to work with you.

So you can be rubbish at selling and still get sales :)