Chapter 7

Sell your idea

There are three keys to selling your idea:

  1. Listen.
  2. Prepare and question.
  3. Know your idea.

Listen

We all have great ideas, especially after a few drinks with our friends. In the cold light of day, most ideas vanish as fast as a vampire fleeing the dawn. The first test of any idea is whether anyone else believes in it and is ready to back it. So how do you build your coalition of support?

First, you need the secret of all great leaders and great sales people: you need two ears and one mouth. And you need to use them in that proportion. Listen at least twice as much as you talk. Persuasion is not about having a great pitch, it is about knowing what other people want and what they think. If you don’t know what they ...

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