Back in March I answered an ad for work with a security system company. It turned out to be a sales job. I sent an email at 10:30 AM and by noon, I had a call asking if I could come in for an interview at 1:00. I was not dressed, and I needed a shower, shave, and haircut. I told him I had an appointment at 1:00 and asked if I could come in later. My interview was set for 3:00 PM. I took a quick shower and shaved. JoAnn cut my hair, and we dug out my “nice clothes.” Having been in the AC business, most of my clothes were jeans and t-shirts that had reminders of past jobs.
I felt that my interview went well. I told them up front that while I have no problem “meeting and talking with strangers” (as mentioned in their ad,) that “cold calling” was not my strong suit. I was told that would not be a problem. I was home by 4:15 and had a call that I was hired at 5:35. I was to report at 9:00 AM the next day.
I knew going into it that it was a commission only job, but with a commission of $200 per basic unit, I wouldn’t have to sell too many to pay all the bills. It would only take 4 sales per week; less than 1 per day. That was not out of the realm of possibility. There was celebration in the Armstrong house that night. I had a job. My brain went into sales mode. In trying economic times, I thought, alarm systems should be easy to sell. Crime is up because some people who would not ordinarily break the law were desperate to support their families. People that have money would want to protect what they have. You can’t imagine how happy I was the next day during our training when we were told that very same thing. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
There were 4 of us at the meeting the next morning. We spent the morning learning the basics of the company’s products and services, and how to sell them. They gave us a script and flip charts, and we practiced on each other. At 4:00, we piled into the sales manager’s van and spent the next 3 hours “cold calling” in a housing development. It was not a good neighborhood for such sales, but it was good enough for practice and the sales manager had an appointment with a homeowner so he could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Besides, since it wasn’t filled with hot prospects, we couldn’t mess up TOO bad.
The next day, was the same as the first, accept this time, the neighborhood was carefully selected. We learned that there were certain criteria to look for that would make sales more likely. But again, we all crashed and burned.
Now let me explain something about direct sales. What makes it uncomfortable for most people is that it is human nature to desire approval. The word “no” does not give that sense of approval and results in negative feelings. That was always MY problem with sales, even though I knew that you have to hear “no” 10 or more times for every “yes.” BUT… I was so tired of knocking on doors and not getting any answer at all, that I welcomed the sight of a human being, even if they DID say no. LOL
The rest of the week was the same: door knocking and working directly from our script. No one had any luck. And by the end of the week, we were down to 3.
I think I will have to do this in more than 1 installment, so that’s enough for now. More to come.
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