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Dear Annie: I just came from my year-end evaluation and, as usual, it was excellent, except for one thing, also as usual. My boss told me I often have great ideas for how to do things faster and cheaper, but I don't sell them enough. For example, I don't speak up too often in meetings and, when we were asked to do a self-evaluation as part of the review process, I listed my achievements for the year without saying what's so great about them.
亲爱的安妮： 我的年底绩效评估刚刚结束，与往常一样，评估结果依然是优秀，但有一点除外。我的上司对我说，在如何更快速、更经济地完成工作方面，我总能有一些好的点子，但我并没有努力推销自己这个特长。例如，在开会的时候我很少发言，在评估过程中，我们要求进行自我评估，可我经常只是列出当年的成绩，却从不解释其中的卓越之处。
我在之前的工作中也曾听到管理者给出同样的评价。只是，与往常一样，我确实不知道该怎么做。我天性不喜欢张扬，也不是销售员那种类型的性格。而且，从小到大我一直都认为，经常宣扬自己成就的人非常愚蠢，谦逊才是坚强个性的标志。我到底该如何才能学会在工作中推销自己？您和您的读者有什么建议吗？——B.B.
Dear B.B.: It may interest you to know that you're not the only one wondering. Almost 80% of 1, 082 employed Americans in a recent survey by sales development firm Sandler Training believe that "in today's world, people need to be better at selling themselves." Still, two-thirds (63%) say they spend less than an hour a day doing so.
亲爱的B.B.： 你可能会觉得很有意思的一件事是，跟你一样感到疑惑的人不在少数。销售培训公司Sandler Training近期对1,082名就业的美国人进行了调查。其中有80%认为，“在当今社会，人们应该更加擅长自我推销。”然而，依然有三分之二（63%）的受访者表示，他们每天在自我推销上所花的时间不到一个小时。
"Our biggest audience now is not professional salespeople, but other kinds of businesspeople who want to get attention for their ideas without seeming pushy, " says Dave Mattson, Sandler's CEO. It doesn't help, he adds, that most of us were brought up to believe that hard work alone would lead to the corner office. "We all know that the smartest people aren't always the most successful, " he notes. "It boils down to being able to sell yourself effectively.
Sandler公司CEO大卫氠禚森说：“我们最大的受众并不是专业的销售人员，而是其他商务人士。他们希望自己的创意引起关注，同时又不会给人留下爱出风头的印象。”他补充道，我们大多数人一直坚信，只要努力工作必能出人头地，这样的观点没有帮助。他说：“众所周知，最聪明的人不见得就是最成功的人。归根结底，还是要具备能力，开展有效的自我推销。”
About 45% of the people Sandler surveyed say their workplace is the hardest place to pitch a good idea. (The next largest group, 21%, said home is.) For you, and for those folks, Mattson offers 10 ways of putting an idea across so that the right people will listen.
约有45%的受访者表示，职场是推销好创意最困难的地方。（其次是家庭，比例为21%。）至于如何清楚表达自己的创意，以便让合适的人听到，马特森为你，以及和你处境相同的人提供了以下十条建议。
1. Don't take rejection personally. "One of the major stumbling blocks for people trying to sell a concept is that, if the idea is rejected, they take it as a rejection of them personally -- and they stop trying, " Mattson says. Instead, he suggests, take professional athletes as your role model, at least in this respect: "Most major-league players strike out far more than they hit. Even so, they keep trying."
1. 不要把拒绝看成是针对个人。 马特森说：“人们在推销一种观念的时候，主要的障碍在于，一旦自己的观点被拒绝，他们会把它看成对自身的一种否定，进而停止尝试。”相反，马特森建议，至少在这方面，要向专业运动员学习：“大多数一流的美国职业棒球运动员，三振出局的次数要远远多于安打的次数。但即便如此，他们也从来不会放弃努力。”
2. Use your voice, rather than email. Many of us (especially the shy) use email to put our best ideas forward, but that's not nearly as effective as doing it in person or, if necessary, on the phone. "The phone is much more effective, " Mattson says. "You have your tone of voice working for you, and you can be far more responsive to any questions the other person may have."
2. 打电话，而不是发邮件。 许多人（尤其是害羞的人）在提出自己最好的创意时，往往会使用电子邮件，但这种方式的效率却要远远低于面对面或（若有必要）打电话。马特森说：“打电话的效率更高。你可以利用自己的语调，也可以对其他人可能提出的任何问题给予更积极地回应。”
3. Listen 70% of the time, and talk 30%. "In the sales world there's a saying: Everybody hates to be sold but loves to buy, " Mattson says. "Top salespeople don't steamroll others. Instead, they listen, which forces you to focus on the other person -- what their position is, and why they're responding the way they are."
3. 70%的时间用来倾听，30%的时间用来说话。 马特森说：“销售领域有一种说法：没有人喜欢被推销，但所有人都喜欢购买。优秀的销售人员从来不会强卖。相反，他们擅长倾听，因为倾听能让你专注于别人——他们的职位以及他们做出某种反应的原因等。”
4. Practice. Find a friend or trusted colleague who will hear you out while you practice your pitch. Mattson recommends repeating your idea six times before presenting it to decision-makers. "The first one or two times, you'll still be figuring out how you want to put it, " he says. "By the sixth time, you're usually speaking with real conviction."
4. 练习。 找一位愿意听你练习推销的朋友或信得过的同事。马特森建议，在将自己的创意呈献给决策者之前，重复练习六次。他说：“前一两次的主要任务是解决陈述创意所用的方式。到第六次的时候，你就能用切实可信的言语推销自己的创意。”
5. Get others to weigh in. "Successful selling isn't 'I, ' it's 'we, '" Mattson says. "Our subconscious can tell one from the other even if our conscious mind doesn't. People want to be part of a solution. So include their suggestions in your idea." Not only will that probably make the idea even better, but you'll still get the credit for having gotten the ball rolling.
5. 融入其他人的观点。 马特森说：“成功的推销不能以‘我’为主体，而是‘我们’。即便显意识并未进行区分，但从潜意识仍能分辨出你的陈述是以‘我’还是‘我们’为主体。每个人都希望能成为解决问题的一份子。所以，在自己的创意中融入他们的建议。”这样做不仅能让自己的创意更加完善，你也会因为推动了项目而获得声誉。
6. Start with a problem statement. First, state the problem: "I've noticed there's an issue with X." Advises Mattson, "Keep it short and concise. Then suggest two or three alternative solutions and see how people respond." The end result will almost always be "some hybrid of what you've said it should be," he adds. "People love to edit what you say, so give them something to work on."
6. 从陈述问题开始。马特森建议，首先，陈述问题：“我注意到，某方面存在一个问题。”“陈述要简明扼要。然后建议两三个备选选择方案，观察一下人们的反应。”他补充道，最终的结果几乎都是：“某个根据你提出的愿景的混合方案。人们喜欢修改其他人的话，所以不妨给他们一些事情做。”
7. Point to an impartial authority. Make your case, where possible, by mentioning a survey or article by some third party who has no skin in the game. "Getting backup for your position from a trusted source gives you extra credibility," Mattson says.
7. 以公正的权威作为支持。如果可行，利用没有利益关系的第三方调查或文章来证明自己的观点。马特森说：“从可靠来源为自己的观点获得支持，能够为你带来额外的可信度。”
8. Give praise where it's due. Most people are starved for praise and recognition, Mattson notes, and making it a habit to notice a task well done will make people more likely to listen to you when it's your turn. "You have to be sincere, of course," he adds. "But most people get so little appreciation for what they do that the simple act of noticing can make them more likely to listen to you."
8. 不要吝啬自己的赞扬。马特森表示，大多数人都渴望赞扬和认可。平时多赞美其他人完成的出色任务，把它变成一种习惯。如此一来，在立场互换的时候，他们也会更愿意倾听你的陈述。他补充说：“当然，你必须要真诚。不过，大多数人的工作很少能够得到别人的赞赏，所以即便只是‘赞赏’这样一个简单的举动，也能赢得他们真诚的倾听。”
9. Take a personal interest. Mattson keeps what he calls a "fuzzy file" on people he encounters regularly, so that "if I see an article somewhere about a new kind of ski, I know to send it along to someone I know is a ski buff, for instance," he says. "Showing some interest in who people are outside of the office makes a powerful impression."
9. 了解别人的个人爱好。对于经常遇到的人，马特森有一份所谓的“模糊档案”。比如，他说：“如果我看到一篇关于新型滑雪板的文章，就会把它转发给某个人，因为我知道他是一位滑雪爱好者。对于人们在工作之外的生活表现出一定的兴趣，会给人留下深刻的印象。”
10. Repeat steps No. 1 through 9 regularly. "If you only do these little things once a year leading up to evaluation time, it'll be really hard, you'll take everything too personally, and you'll hate it," Mattson points out. "You need to get in the habit of doing them all through the year, a little bit at a time, but all the time."
10. 经常重复第1至第9步。马特森指出：“对于这些小事而言，如果你只是在每年绩效评估之前做一次而已，那将会变得很艰难——你会让所有事情都带上过多的个人色彩，进而感到厌恶。你应该一直坚持做这些事情，养成习惯，每次做一点，但不要放弃。”
Notice, if you will, that none of these requires being pushy, arrogant, or otherwise jerky -- quite the opposite, in fact -- but selling oneself does call for "reinforcement," Mattson says, "which can only come with time."
你会注意到，这些建议并不会给人留下爱出风头、自大或者愚蠢的印象，事实上，结果恰恰相反。不过，马特森认为，自我推销确实需要“强化训练”，而这需要时间。
