Giving Myself Permission To Sell Again
When I took my recent sales position, I was not expecting, and certainly not wanting, to get back into sales. Yet, here I am, seven months later, writing a blog post about sales and more excited about sales than I have ever been. So what changed?
Looking back on the 40 plus years I've been in the workforce, I realize I've ALWAYS been in sales. My first sales gig was selling gooseberries on the side of the road after spending all morning in the woods trying to fill my bucket with enough product to sell. My only goal at that time was to sell enough so I could buy a Slurpee and a pack of Topps baseball cards.
In Jr. High, I was assigned to the duty of selling milk to the students for $.15 a carton (chocolate was $.20). That was a non-commissioned gig payable with a free lunch every day. Even at 11 years old, I could spot opportunity so I found a couple of investors and started using my position as the milk guy to take advantage of that extra nickle in change the kids were bound to have from either giving me two dimes or a quarter for their carton of milk. I soon added gum and licorice as a side hustle to my “full-time” gig. From there it was a paper route, then door to door candy and trinkets, telemarketing, and on and on. I loved the freedom of sales and the ability to earn exactly what I wanted to earn.
So why was it when asked repeatedly in that interview if I had ever thought about sales did I consistently reply “I don't want to be in sales?!”
When I "grew up" I had tried a career in sales and wasn't very successful. I hated it. I didn't like cold calling, I didn't like being told no, I didn't like forecasting every month, and I certainly didn't like seeing my draw report sending me deeper and deeper into the hole. I eventually bailed on the job without ever really being honest with myself about why I wasn't successful. The truth was, I had lost my hustle. I had never learned how to apply all the characteristics that made me successful selling gooseberries, gum, licorice, newspapers, magazines, and video store memberships as a kid to the adult world of furniture and commercial interiors. But the truth was, those same characteristics were exactly what I needed to be applying. Adding value, honesty, integrity, drive, desire to win, and being willing to work harder and longer than than the next guy were still the ingredients for success.
Looking back at the interview for my current role, the only thought I had when asked if I had thought about sales were of those days sitting in my car looking at the door of another place I had to go into that I knew didn't want me coming into it. Never once did I think about those successful days of actually talking to clients who wanted to talk to me, or of those times when I had a solution for the problem I heard my clients describing. I couldn't with any sufficient force recall the good things I loved about selling; only the hang ups, the not interested's, and the try me again laters.
Those things that made me successful selling gooseberries and bubble gum haven't changed. What has changed is my relationship with fear. I don't know if I'll ever like being told no, or if picking up the phone to interrupt a potential client will ever get easy, but the desire to be helpful and help clients be successful will not be suppressed by the fear of being told no.
So before you tell your potential next employer you're not interested, be sure to ask yourself why. You are in the door for a reason and you might not be able to see why at the time, but have some faith you are there because you are supposed to be there. What is keeping you from unlocking what other people see in you? Don't miss an opportunity because fear is whispering in your ear. Give yourself permission to say yes and go be successful.