How Sales Unleashed My Inner Grit: From Wallpaper to Warrior ????

Last week, I was interviewing for a vacant Business Development Manager position. When I asked the fresh MBA graduate if, given a chance, he would prefer a Digital Marketing job or a sales job, he said he would choose the Digital Marketing job and would not opt for the sales role.

When I asked him why, he added that the sales role is hard and has targets.

My mind wandered down memory lane to the year 2000. I still remember the day of my first job interview at an FMCG company. The interview was held at a hotel in a town called Hubli in Karnataka. I was a Kannada-speaking rural boy just out of college. I was shy and struggled to express myself in English. Fortunately, I met a kind and emphatic gentleman during the interview.

To shorten the story, I got the job. My job involved traveling across the northern part of Karnataka to meet distributors and dealers to collect purchase orders and payments.

After this short stint, I changed jobs several times. For the last ten years, I have been selling software services to enterprises. Along with software services, I have also sold tech products in India and Africa.

Looking back, I can see a complete shift in my personality. I went from a shy person who was afraid of trying new things to a confident person with grit. A big thanks to my sales career for this transformation.

Let me explain how a sales career helped me to change my personality.

1. Sales teaches discipline.

Twenty years ago, I still remember how my boss insisted that I write down a "to-do" list for the next day. Every evening, I used to write details about which dealer to meet, the amount pending from each dealer, which field sales executive needed to cover which territory, etc., in an old notebook.

Being a salesperson, the most annoying thing is losing bills related to travel, accommodation, and food. Since my salary was meager twenty years ago, I was always extra careful to note down all expense details on a day-to-day basis.

Now, we all use mobile apps and CRMs to update data. However, I am a bit old-school, and even today, I have maintained the practice of writing down what I have to do the next day.

In 2010, traveling across the country without taking care of my body resulted in health issues. I learned a lesson from this and ensured that I give time to exercise (usually a long walk early in the morning) and practice yoga wherever I travel.

Time is crucial in sales, and one has to be disciplined to achieve results.

2. Sales teaches you grit.

Rejections are an inseparable part of sales life. I spent countless hours waiting in government buildings for IAS officers. Imagine situations where you wait for the entire day and only get two minutes with potential clients. In sales, you have to be ready to accept failures and rejections. Sometimes, you meet very pleasant customers, and sometimes you meet very rude ones.

If you don't have grit, you cannot be a salesperson.

While waiting for meetings, I prefer to chat with gatekeepers or employees around me. Reading a book is also a better option when you have to wait for long hours.

I always humorously say "Nairobi airport is like my father-in-law's place" since I have spent countless hours there while traveling to different African countries.

A sales job teaches you to be patient and gritty.

3. Sales teaches you to be ego-less and take yourself lightly.

The best part of a sales job is that it constantly reminds you that you are not a very important person in the world, and no one cares.

You may have a great designation in a Fortune 500 company, but if you are at the client's place or presenting to the client, the customer is the king. Remember, you are not even royalty.

You have to control your emotions and focus on your objective of selling the product. Ego and emotions always spoil negotiations, and a good salesperson is mindful of the words they use.

4. A Sales Job teaches you to read people.

After COVID, 99% of sales meetings are online, especially in the tech world. Even though I am not against online discussions, a face-to-face sales meeting (at least once in a while) can help build rapport.

I have always felt that salespeople can read cues and observe the body language of the people around them.

The best books I have read in my life are ‘People or Human Books,’ and it is because of my sales job, I could meet so many people. People have stories and life lessons, I feel sales gives you a great opportunity to learn from people. You read a book and forget it, but if you have met a person and learned something from him/her, you never forget it.

In a sales job, you learn how a boy from a village near Bharampur Odisha lives and works in a hotel in Hyderabad for a salary of INR 25 K per month and still manages to send money to his family. In a sales job, you learn how migrant Indians from Gujarat built a business empire in South Africa.

5) A sales job teaches you to take life ‘as is’ and not ‘to be’.

When I was in the training and skill development industry working as sales head for south India, I had to go to a small town named Vikarabad near Hyderabad. Because of circumstances, I had to stay back in Vikarabad. This is a small town with only one LODGE in it. I went and booked the room and went out for dinner.

After a hot tasty meal at Vikarabad, I went back to the room and when I switched on the light, I could see the bed full of cockroaches. ??????????????. I spent the entire night sitting on the chair and I can vouch that, that night was one of the longest nights in my life.

On the other hand, in France, when I was struggling to order a veg meal, some kind woman ordered the meal in French and helped me to choose the ingredients and I must say that that was one of the best meals I ever had outside India. (Hey, I am hardcore South Indian and my dream meal is rice sambar ??????).

In sales, it is difficult to choose the situation. You have to accept the present moment and live through it.

The best books I have read in my life are ‘People or Human Books,’ and it is because of my sales job, I could meet so many people. People have stories and life lessons, I feel sales gives you a great opportunity to learn from people. You read a book and forget it, but if you have met a person and learned something from him/her, you never forget it.

In a sales job, you learn how a boy from a village near Bharampur Odisha lives and works in a hotel in Hyderabad for a salary of INR 25 K per month and still manages to send money to his family. In a sales job, you learn how migrant Indians from Gujarat built a business empire in South Africa.

5) A sales job teaches you to take life ‘as is’ and not ‘to be’.

When I was in the training and skill development industry working as sales head for south India, I had to go to a small town named Vikarabad near Hyderabad. Because of circumstances, I had to stay back in Vikarabad. This is a small town with only one LODGE in it. I went and booked the room and went out for dinner.

After a hot tasty meal at Vikarabad, I went back to the room and when I switched on the light, I could see the bed full of cockroaches. ??????????????. I spent the entire night sitting on the chair and I can vouch that, that night was one of the longest nights in my life.

On the other hand, in France, when I was struggling to order a veg meal, some kind woman ordered the meal in French and helped me to choose the ingredients and I must say that that was one of the best meals I ever had outside India. (Hey, I am hardcore South Indian and my dream meal is rice sambar ??????).

In sales, it is difficult to choose the situation. You have to accept the present moment and live through it.

The best books I have read in my life are ‘People or Human Books,’ and it is because of my sales job, I could meet so many people. People have stories and life lessons, I feel sales gives you a great opportunity to learn from people. You read a book and forget it, but if you have met a person and learned something from him/her, you never forget it.

In a sales job, you learn how a boy from a village near Bharampur Odisha lives and works in a hotel in Hyderabad for a salary of INR 25 K per month and still manages to send money to his family. In a sales job, you learn how migrant Indians from Gujarat built a business empire in South Africa.

5) A sales job teaches you to take life ‘as is’ and not ‘to be’.

When I was in the training and skill development industry working as sales head for south India, I had to go to a small town named Vikarabad near Hyderabad. Because of circumstances, I had to stay back in Vikarabad. This is a small town with only one LODGE in it. I went and booked the room and went out for dinner.

After a hot tasty meal at Vikarabad, I went back to the room and when I switched on the light, I could see the bed full of cockroaches. ??????????????. I spent the entire night sitting on the chair and I can vouch that, that night was one of the longest nights in my life.

On the other hand, in France, when I was struggling to order a veg meal, some kind woman ordered the meal in French and helped me to choose the ingredients and I must say that that was one of the best meals I ever had outside India. (Hey, I am hardcore South Indian and my dream meal is rice sambar ??????).

In sales, it is difficult to choose the situation. You have to accept the present moment and live through it.