Selling 'World's Finest Chocolate' as a Kid Taught Me All I Ever Needed to Know About Sales

Ever sell chocolate for your school or athletic org? It can be fun. It can be a pain in the rear. But it'll always teach you something about people, the power of persuasion and sales.

"...we weren't about minimum expectations in our house...we killed it."

My brother and I sold $1 or (the twice as difficult to sell) $2 World's Finest Chocolate bars to fundraise for our grade school and Little League. Each kid had to sell at least two cases of chocolate or their parents would have to fork over $120. (My parents of six weren't forking over $720.)

And we weren't about minimum expectations in our house. With prizes to top sellers at stake, competitive little Denny and Nick sprung into action. We started door to door but soon abandoned such dark age strategy for the high foot traffic "funnels" of Food Basket (pre-Lucky's, circa early-80's San Diego), Ralphs, Home Depot and, by far the most profitable--The San Diego Zoo.

As those hip millennials say, we killed it. In our best year we sold 44 cases for Blessed Sacrament Parish School. The next highest seller finished at 10. Nick (second grade) won a huge stuffed Odie (from Garfield) and I (sixth grade) won an Emerson Stereo DUAL cassette AM/FM turntable that worked through college.

Just as responsible for our winnings was mom--who drove, encouraged, and yes sometimes prodded us toward success when prospects thinned, bars remained and thoughts wandered to "Can we just go home?!"

We learned four key things about selling products and services.

1. Motivated and heavy traffic (leads) pay.

Many trips to the zoo's exit would net 4-5 cases sold in less than an hour. Driving home, we wished we brought more. These were thousands of people ending a full day of walking and, for many, a chocolate bar or three hit the spot. We found our perfect target audience in the largest pool possible, selling many times faster than anywhere else.

2. Some people always buy.

They're hungry. They love chocolate. They can't say no to cute kids selling chocolate. They feel sorry for you. They need another tax deductible gift. Whatever. It's an easy sale! As long as you genuinely smile and deliver your pitch they're going to buy. Awesome, thanks! Grab another bar and stay open.

3. Some people never buy.

They're busy. They don't like chocolate (liar). They don't like kids. They don't like Catholic schools. They don't like baseball. They don't like chocolate, kids, Catholic schools AND baseball. No problemo. Give it your all, then, as your daughter or niece might sing, "Let it go. Let it gooo." Every 'no' gets you that much closer to a 'yes'...or insert your favorite cliché, champ!

4. Some people might buy. Go to work and make, er, persuade them.

You can't live on motivated traffic, easy sales and ridiculous good looks. In our case, most sales came from being polite, speaking up, knowing our product and explaining our cause. If we impressed, we'd probably sell. If we acted detached, tired, bratty or robotic, it gave people an easy excuse to say "no thanks" and walk away. Many times there's a fine line between yes/no and you can feel what it takes to persuade someone--that magic blend of passion, care and charisma that only comes with practice.

These four very basic life lessons helped shape my perspective at home and in my career.

In short:

1. Find your niche/target audience as soon as possible.

2. Appreciate the easy sales/customers and keep them happy!

3. Quickly move on from rejection. Learn but don't dwell--that's wasted time, energy and money.

4. The heart of your earnings comes from preparation, consistent persistence and good ol' hard work.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share anywhere.

-Denny DennyWrites.com