This may surprise you that I would disclose this here, but I have more years of experience in Restaurant and Bartending work than I do in sales and finance. You see, I love Customer Service and delivering to people something they really like, and if anything's wrong, making it right!
I simply tell you this to tell you something else you may find surprising.
I hate sales.
Let me explain why. I have had a total of four sales/financial jobs in my life. I was "let go" from my first one (telemarketing people at home for a Police "fundraising firm") and I quit the other three of my own accord.
In summary, I have found that most of sales involves deceiving prospects, and trying to get people to part with money over something they don't need or really even want.
Some examples from my life: Having a few years of restaurant work under my belt, at age 21 I moved to Daytona Beach FL in 1990 to bartend over Spring Break. That job ran out when the season was over, and I had to start hitting the want ads to find other employment.
So my first "sales job" was bugging people at home for a Police charity. Not exactly a phone call people enjoy receiving I soon found out, and I left that job (over 20 years ago) with the conviction that telemarketing people at home at dinner time should just be made illegal. I lasted I think less than a month, when the sales manager told me I should "go back to bartending," which I did.
About 3 years later I was a bit burnt out on the restaurant job tho, and hankering for a day job. I took a position calling on *businesses* this time (seemed moral enough at the time!) - selling them customized Advertising Specialties. Our lead product was caps with "fancy" laser printed artwork and the business's name and phone number. I never got to see the caps we sent out, but we were told to say "Pro Sports caps, you know, like the baseball players wear."
I'm surprised to say that I lasted over 2 years at that job, but I still didn't enjoy it - pounding away at the phone between 7am to 1pm, calling plumbers and electricians and mechanics saying "...and right now John, we're running a special!"
It was gimmicky and contrived, with "price-drops" and lower quantities built into a script flawlessly designed to keep them on the phone so long that they finally caved, gave in, and bought something. The script said "... and if you have any problems John, my card's right in that box - you just pick up the phone and give me call. God Bless."
No one ever called me to complain, sales were good, and I thought everything was okay (except that I actually didn't enjoy the work, that is). It would be a long, long time before I found this out - by randomly dialing up people a few times who had bought from us in the past it turned out - and boy, were they mad. Long story short, the caps we actually sent were crappy styrofoam "Bubba" caps (not "Pro Sports Caps") and never, ever, was my card (or any salesman's card) "in the box." The customer had no recourse to contact or to complain to me if my company didn't deliver, and we had their money.
You guessed it, I quit, and went back to waiting tables again.
Years later, I was trained and certified as a licensed stock-broker (in Tennessee). The company that paid for all this training and testing was also a telemarketing firm. Our product? Oil-drilling investments! Yes, for a full year I actually made a living calling up people, and selling them $10,000 a pop oil drilling investments right over the phone. Believe it or not, my ideal client was someone for whom LOSING $10,000 on an investment was actually GOOD for their tax situation!
And lose people's money we did. My last day there, I finally hit a moral crisis by attempting to "wrestle" a more elderly gentleman's 10 Grand out of his retirement fund, and put it into our next drilling venture, which ran about a 90% chance of not hitting anything. (I didn't know this when I took the job btw. I did 3 "campaigns" with the company and found out over time that none of them hit, and that I was not helping my clients in any meaningful way by getting them into these deals.)
But I was behind on my quota, and needed a sale because it was a commission-only job. I made a bad decision that I needed my 8% ($800) of that guy's money, more than he needed the $10,000 he'd worked for half his life, and I really, really tried to get him to part with it.
I'm glad he said no actually. I gave my two weeks' notice that day, and they told me I didn't need to work it. Just clean out my desk, and go. That was 1997, and I didn't look back.
For well over a decade, I worked as a server/bartender for my income, and otherwise gave some of my other talents away freely in the non-profit sector. As a bartender, I eventually gained a very large clientele after working M-F nights in the same location for 7 years (not a rowdy environment by the way, but a fine dining establishment that didn't even offer a "happy hour." Most of my regulars were white-collar business travelers, who were just as likely to ask me to turn the TV to Fox News for them, as they were to ask for ESPN.)
And what I learned there, I carry with me still.
I learned that I earn a lot of respect AND a loyal customer base by using my knowledge to guide people through the process of selecting and getting what they really want - even if it's not neccessarily what I want them to have. I learned that I don't have to push the most expensive option or whatever "special" my company was offering that day, when I know good and well my customer will really like something else better. Short-term thinking goes for the easy "quick buck" but long term success is found by helping people meet needs they really have, and making every decision based on what's best for the customer.
Much to my surprise, I am again in the sales and marketing realm, because a trusted friend introduced me to this company. He knew of my talents, and my concerns. I certainly didn't jump in quickly tho. I researched the company, and watched how it worked for him. Turns out this company actually DOES EXACTLY what they say they're going to do. And even better, we offer a service that people really do need and want!
The business owners want to get paid, and their customers who are cash-strapped and hurting for their product really do want to buy from them. It's win/win all around. I sleep well knowing that I actually am helping people - doing them a favor in fact - by introducing them to this opportunity. And I'm working with a service that business owners actually call me to find out more about it, rather than bugging people over something they don't want or need. Best of all, I'm not earning an income by taking people's money; I'm earning an income by making them money, and by making their customers' lives happier and more peaceful.
Oh, and I don't have a "quota" either. There's no sales manager breathing down my neck to "Produce!" I get paid well enough for introducing our service to businesses who actually do need it, and who really will benefit from it. Therefore, I don't have to talk people who don't need or won't benefit from our service, into signing up.
When I meet with you, it's okay if you review all the facts and eventually say "No." Because if in your estimation this service will help you dramatically increase your business's sales, I already know that you'll say "Yes."
If it won't, I know I'll be meeting with someone else soon who will.
Hopefully, it won't be your competitor ;)
(C) 2011 Guy Malone
90DaystoPay@Gmail.com
