Before sales existed, choice was born. In fact, we can say that sales wouldn’t exist at all without choice. This isn’t just philosophy, it’s a fundamental truth that has shaped human nature since the dawn of consciousness.
Let’s go back to the first recorded decision in mythology: Adam and the Forbidden Fruit.
When Adam was faced with the choice between obedience and tasting the unknown, he wasn’t truly in need of food, nor was he desperate for immortality. He was in paradise, a place with no hunger, no suffering, and no death. Yet, what made the forbidden fruit so tempting wasn’t hunger, but the very fact that it was forbidden.
And in that moment, the first sale in history took place.
Satan wasn’t just a deceiver, he was a master salesman. But he didn’t push the product directly. Instead, he reframed the narrative:
• This isn’t just a tree… It’s the Tree of Eternal Life.
• Whoever eats from it won’t just be the same, they will be transformed, enlightened, powerful.
See the pattern? There was no hard sell, no desperate persuasion. There was something far more powerful: the ignition of desire, the spark of curiosity, the promise of the unknown.
And this is the core principle of Surreal Selling.
People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy the Feelings Those Products Give Them
In traditional sales, we’re taught to talk about features, present benefits, and convince customers to buy. But this approach is flawed, because it fails to acknowledge that human beings don’t make decisions purely with logic, they buy based on deep, subconscious desires.
Think about it:
• No one buys a Rolex because it “tells time accurately.”
• No one buys a Ferrari because it “goes from 0 to 100 km/h in seconds.”
• No one buys an iPhone because it has a “faster processor.”
So why do people spend thousands on these things?
Because they’re not buying the product; they’re buying the feeling it gives them.
• A Rolex? It’s about power, prestige, and success.
• A Ferrari? It’s about dominance, exclusivity, and adrenaline.
• An iPhone? It’s about belonging to an elite class, owning something exclusive.
And this is exactly what Satan did when he sold the forbidden fruit to Adam. He didn’t say,
“Try this, it tastes great.”
Instead, he said,
“Eat this, and you will become like the gods. You will know what they know.”
How to Apply This in Surreal Selling
In today’s world, the worst salesperson is the one who tries to “sell a product.” The best salesperson, however, is the one who sells an experience, a feeling, a vision, a transformation, something that gets inside the customer’s head and becomes irresistible.
Think about how this works in different sales settings:
• In direct sales, a customer will only buy from you if you ignite their curiosity and make them want to listen, otherwise, they’ll shut the door before you even finish your first sentence.
• In sales visits, a client will only give you an appointment if they feel there’s something valuable and intriguing in it for them.
• In retail and showroom sales, customers don’t walk in just to buy, they come to discover something new, to satisfy a deeper desire they may not even fully understand yet. And this is where the Surreal Seller steps in to shape that desire into a decision.
Surreal Selling Is About Stimulating Desire, Not Forcing a Decision
At the end of the day, sales was never about convincing people.
Real sales is about making the customer feel like they are in control of their own decision, while subtly guiding them towards it, so that they end up buying not because you sold to them, but because they now want it more than anything else.
And just like Adam had a choice… just like the decision was in his hands… so it is with your customers today.
The difference is that a true master of sales knows how to awaken that desire inside them, without ever directly asking them to buy.
This isn’t just sales. This is the eternal game of the human mind.
And that is Surreal Selling.
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Uniqueness, lies in being different despite our similarities, and similar despite our differences
Zouhair Mahmoud,
Creator of the Surreal Selling Theory
Redefining how professionals approach sales through creativity and psychology
