What is the differance between telling and selling?

I was listening to some old tapes by James Tolleson, a protege of Glenn W Turner. Could
one of you "Students of the masters" please
explain the sentence..."Don't tell...sell"???
I thought selling was telling the person why
he needs your product, the benefits to him, etc.

I too was fortunate to watch the coming and going of Glenn Turner and Wm Penn Patrick (founder of Holiday Magic Cosmetics) and Ben Gay and a couple others who were masters at "mass selling".

If Glenn Turner got up on a stage in front of a few hundred people..."told" them how they could make money with his "Mink Oil" multi-level scheme, ..."explained" how the program works..."told" them they should sign up...then walked off the stage. Maybe 2 or 3 people would sign up...BUT...

when Turner got on that stage and spoke his first words into the mike he GRABBED your attention because you INSTANTLY knew he had a "handicap" (he had a hairlip and spoke with a significant lisp)...and you FOCUSED your attention on every word.

He "told" about how he had been born into a dirt poor family where he had to help his family survive by working the land as sharecroppers. He then told about his burning desire to get out of his hole and how he "discovered" this product and how he built his group to HUGE amounts of money coming in and he "told" his story with a great amount of PASSION...and YELLING...and JUMPING up and down...and how each and every person on the audience COULD do just as much as he has because they weren't hampered with a speech impediment.

When he left the stage you were so worked up and BELIEVED "YOU" could do better than he had...you signed up with the person who brought you.

I saw him come into the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago (a smaller hotel off Michigan ave) and when he left the area in 3 weeks he was holding "opportunity" meetings in the grand ballroom of the Hilton ON Michigan.

The guy...by "telling" a PASSIONATE STORY of how he had succeeded against all odds..."SOLD" you on the belief YOU could do it too.

So...I learned a long time ago the difference between "telling" and "selling" is PASSION.

Whenever I've taken on a project I immersed myself in it...studied all aspects of it...SOLD MYSELF on it...then, when I went out to sell the program to others...I sold it with PASSION! I BELIEVED they could NOT turn me down...they HAD TO HAVE this thing.

It was my BELIEF and CONVICTION in the product "told" with PASSION that "SOLD" for me.

Don Alm

> I was listening to some old tapes by James
> Tolleson, a protege of Glenn W Turner. Could
> one of you "Students of the
> masters" please
> explain the sentence..."Don't
> tell...sell"???
> I thought selling was telling the person why
> he needs your product, the benefits to him,
> etc.

Hi Don,

I agree with you fully!

When I truly feel passionate about something.... When I start to speak, the people around me become spellbound....

Passion seems to be ADDICTIVE!

And a good way to stay passionate, is to focus on the positives....

About 10 years ago I read the book "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. I recommend it.... It made a difference to my life.... :)

Thanks Don, great post!

- Dien