🗓️ Idiom: A Tough Sell (n)
💬 Meaning
- Something that is difficult to persuade others to accept or support.
- It refers to ideas, changes, or proposals that people resist or doubt.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The idea of cutting office hours was a tough sell to senior staff.
- Introducing a new system during peak season is going to be a tough sell.
- Changing the brand’s name was a tough sell, but the team finally agreed.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from sales. If a product is hard to sell, it’s called “a tough sell.” In business change, it refers to difficult ideas or decisions that need strong persuasion.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The plan to remove printed reports was __________ for many long-time employees.
Answer
a tough sell
2. Choose the correct meaning of “a tough sell”:
A) A product with high demand
B) Something that is hard to get others to agree to
C) A quick and easy deal
D) A strong marketing strategy
Answer
B) Something that is hard to get others to agree to
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“It was difficult to convince the team to adopt the new reporting system.” → Change the sentence using: a tough sell
Answer
The new reporting system was a tough sell to the team.
Leave a Reply