How Did Mark Cuban Learn to Sell?

Mark Cuban learned to sell at 12 by buying garbage bags for $3 and selling them door to door for $6. His dad's buddies were at the house when Cuban asked for a new pair of basketball shoes. His dad looked at his feet, said the shoes worked, and told him that a job would let him buy whatever he wanted. Cuban said he was 12. One of the buddies, who Cuban says had to have been drunk, offered boxes of garbage bags at $3 to resell at $6.

Cuban walked the neighborhood, introduced himself as the neighbor Mark, and asked if people used garbage bags. He calls it an easy sell, and says it probably catapulted him more than anything, because someone who can go door to door and sell can do anything. Steven Bartlett asked why selling matters for an entrepreneur. Cuban said no business has ever succeeded without sales. Helping the person you are talking to is the whole point of the sale. If you do not believe the product helps them, you should not be selling it.

A good salesperson, Cuban says, cares, knows the product, and learns what people want so the product can help them reach their goals. On Shark Tank he could tell, as soon as someone described a company, whether he knew how to sell it. Learn to handle objections until your mind is quick, he says, and the real question is what you cannot sell. Once you can sell, you can always get a job. Find a product or service you love and selling gets easy.