Does your job involve "selling"?

[Martinus]

Just curious - because at least in legal profession (which is probably something they don't tell many law students), once you get to a certain point, you are expected to be involved more and more in promoting, marketing, developing business and, ultimately, selling services of yours and your colleagues to clients.

I would be interested if all other lawyers in private practice feel this way and also what other jobs people here have involve this element.

[celedhring]

Pitching is an important part of my job. You have to convince this one guy that has the keys to the kingdom that your story is compelling, that you (and only you) have the tools to make it happen, and that it will make him money. That in 15 minutes or less. Most producers can only authorize a very limited amount of projects, so you have to bullshit your way into convincing him than yours is The One.

Sadly I'm pretty terrible at it; I usually turn into a confused mumbling mess when I have to do it. Most of the spec writing gigs I've got were because somebody saw past my terrible selling skills, or I was working with another writer that was great at pitching and who did all the talking. There are pitching books, courses (I have taken one), with a bunch of tricks and techniques, etc... it's an important part of the profession.

[Martinus]

I wonder if it has always been like this or is this a recent phenomenon.

[celedhring]

Well, the more competition for jobs, the more important the "marketing" part of your job becomes, I guess. Lots of people want to make movies/TV, and there's a host of lawyers out there too.

In my business, producers just don't have the time (or the inclination) to go through 457456 120-page scripts to see which one is good, so they have to filter applicants beforehand, and that's how they do it. Or slaving away a few interns.

[The Brain]

I'm not telling you about my job.

[katmai]

no.

[Liep]

no.

ditto.

[Archy]

no

[The Larch]

I'm self employed, so I have to do everything from sales to administration and passing through technical work, PR and so on. It's not for everyone, I guess.

[Caliga]

Almost every job involves 'selling' to some degree or another, whether you like it or not.

[Norgy]

I'm self employed, so I have to do everything from sales to administration and passing through technical work, PR and so on. It's not for everyone, I guess.

Same here.
I am a whore. I sell my services.

[Martinus]

Almost every job involves 'selling' to some degree or another, whether you like it or not.

That's really muddling the issue. Convincing someone inside your organisation to do something does not equal selling.

[Valmy]

I am in government regulation of public pseudo-monopolies.  So I am several degrees of separation from anybody having to market anything.

However I guess I do have to sell my skill set to my boss, my expertise to the attorneys involved, and my professional credentials to the pseudo-monopolies who may one day want to hire me so I can one day get pay raises and promotions and that sort of thing.  But not sure that counts.

[Martinus]

I am in government regulation of public pseudo-monopolies.  So I am several degrees of separation from anybody having to market anything.

However I guess I do have to sell my skill set to my boss, my expertise to the attorneys involved, and my professional credentials to the pseudo-monopolies who may one day want to hire me so I can one day get pay raises and promotions and that sort of thing.  But not sure that counts.

Well, that's not what I am asking for, despite Cal's "We are all whores, darling" attitude.

I'm talking about a situation where you have a product or a service to offer, and you are competing in the market with other people who have a similar product or service to offer, and a part of your job is to convince a customer/client that they should pick you and not someone else.

That's not the same as simply trying to convince your boss/supervisor/CFO to allocate money to your project.

[Grey Fox]

No.

I am the opposite of Marketing. I try to find what clients will do with our products & do that before we sell those products.