

How To Sell Dirt - eykanal
http://shadyacres.tumblr.com/post/9333453657/how-to-sell-dirt

======
patio11
They're buying a story more than they're buying dirt. Even better, they're
buying a story that they'll _get to tell_ for years.

This is a distinction I wish engineers would treat as more importantly,
because _we sell stories, too_.

P.S.: If he put a wee little translation in Japanese in the box he'd sell one
to just about every Japanese tourist who passed his stall. Same dirt, same
words (modulo translation), different story.

~~~
JacobAldridge
Absolutely - the guy's skill set is not "selling dirt". It's packaging an
experience into a story into a product, and getting that package in front of
the right people at the right time so they will buy.

~~~
danvideo
Second that --- same reason a baseball that Derek Jeter hits passing a league
milestone is worth more than the one we buy for a few bucks in the store. It's
all in the story.

It's random but likely that I even know who the guy is he's referring to; he's
just stands out that much (AA initials?). He's a good storyteller but what
makes him even more successful is that he's passionate about what he's
selling--- a connection to the holyland--- not dirt.

------
zeteo
It's not like the guy grabs a handful of dirt and then sells it to the first
passing foreigner with a nice sales pitch. What people pay for is the
packaging. There are many people who would like to take back a soil sample
from places they've visited (e.g. there's a guy in Saving Private Ryan who
does that on each new battlefield), but the logistics of doing that are just
too much. (I don't even know where to get a proper vial, if I didn't plan to
bring one with me, plus I'd like some nice labeling etc.)

~~~
arethuza
I've got a stack of pebbles at home that I've picked up from round the world.

My favourites are some that I picked up walking up a mountain in Torridon -
the surrounding sandstone having been eroded away leaving these nice coloured
pebbles free after nearly a billion years of being buried.

<http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/289168>

------
ctdonath
"Growing up, my parents had a little display case on the mantel with a piece
of the Berlin wall on it."

Two decades later, I'm still kicking myself for not buying a piece when I had
the chance.

------
seagaia
Sell yourself, but be honest, in case someone calls your shit. The dirt
selling guy is pretty honest, I don't think he was yelling.

It really does help to have good communication skills for anything, be it
speaking to that interviewer, discussing costs with some sales rep, selling
your product etc...maybe even being a little bit aggressive, but not in a bad
way, you know?

------
tomjen3
Ha that is nothing. There is a turist shop in Berlin which sells, among other
things, authentic canned Berlin Air.

Yes that is right, they are selling empty (but closed and captioned) cans.

------
clueless123
IMHO, Software engineers and sales people have completely orthogonal skill
sets. As a group we are poor negotiators, be it salaries or pushing "the right
technology" to project owners.

------
hiss
I couldn't get past this line: "the ordeal of attempting to convince someone
that I have something of value, and that they should pay me to access it, was
very new to me".

I'm not trying to be mean but, how old is the author? How much work experience
does he have?

When I was 12 years old I went knocking door to door with my snowshovel in the
dead of winter, trying to convince people I had something of value to offer.
When I was 14 I convinced a local pizza parlor I had something of value to
offer and got my first "real" job.

Trying to convince others of your value and economic worth is a daily affair
for most people. It's an accurate way to look at the situation. It shouldn't
be a hardship.

~~~
dxbydt
It is cool that you snow-shoveled at 12 and held a "real" job in a pizza
parlor at 14. However, this is simply not the experience of the vast majority
of non-Americans, especially people from India, China & the like. The OP got
an engg PhD and is trying to land a gig that matches up to his narrowly
defined skillset, not just any random job. I could very much empathize with
what he's going through. I got my very first job at 29, and my wife got her
first job at 35, my best friend got his first gig at 42! So what did we all do
for 30/40 years ? Well, we just studied our asses off. That handicaps us
majorly - I don't know how to shovel snow or bake a pizza or any other random
skill that most American kids would automatically know because this country
prizes working, selling, marketing, labor, work ethic about all else. However,
there are other countries where this is not the case. Most of my close friends
and classmates are 30-40 year olds working on their vanilla-PhDs, MD-PhDs,
MBA-PhDs and other combinatorial degree seeking parasites putting off work
until the very last leg of their lives :) We do that because, well, its just
the norm in our peer group. If you look at any immigrant graduate student pool
especially in Uni towns, you'll find several 30-40 year old fuddy-duddies who
have never held a job in their life and wouldn't want to either, until they've
obtained every terminal degree possible and exhausted all other academic
options!

~~~
hiss
Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea. My comment exposes how culturally
ignorant I am, and for that I apologize.

