The start of my career in sales….

I still remember my first day in sales.... 1st November 1993.

I was absolutely terrified!

I was selling dental products to dentists and dental practices. I was a former dental technician so I knew about dentistry, but I'd never been in sales. The company had hired me to cover a territory that had been vacant for some time.

I'd been told about the company, trained on the products and given all of the Yellow Pages for my territory! I'd written up the record cards for the first week of activity and plotted a route of customers I'd visit. I thought I was prepared!

I was woefully underprepared and that's why I felt so anxious. Thankfully, I didn't consciously realise it!

I remember the first practice I walked into. I must have looked like the new child on the first day at a new school.

My palms were saturated, my heart was racing, my mind was awash with all of the things I could, should and might be able to say, I'd never felt a feeling of such fear and vulnerability! I was on my own doing something that felt so unnatural to me.

I remember these three questions shouting inside my head: "Am I allowed to just walk through the door and ask to see the dentist?"

"What if they say No?"

"What if they say Yes?"

I waited outside the very first customer’s dental practice in my car, running through my head what I was going to say and how I was going to stay calm.

I must have spent 15 minutes talking to myself, then I said to myself, “You’ve just got to get on with this Justin.”

I assembled my things; my business card, the faux-leather literature folder and my promotional flier (a month out of date because the company didn’t have this month’s flier ready yet).

I walked through the door of the practice and the receptionist was booking in a patient, she looked up from the diary she was writing in to see who had walked through the door. She gave me a look that said “I’m not impressed.”

The 2 other patients sitting in the waiting room turned to look at me, then resumed reading their magazines (there were no mobile phones at that time, it was a magazine or a daily paper to read while you waited to see the dentist).

The patient turned away from the desk. It was my turn, this was my moment, I stepped up a little shaky, clearly nervous and said “Hello, I’m Justin from…” But before I could finish my sentence the receptionist said “We don’t see reps here, we’re far too busy.”

It stopped me completely in my tracks!

I said something like “Ah, but I’m new to the area, it’s my first day.” She looked at me, smiled and said “That doesn’t change anything, we don’t see reps.”

I felt so uncomfortable, all I wanted to do was turn and walk away. I was so nervous I think one of the reasons I hadn’t already left was because my legs were so wobbly!

I said “OK, would it be alright if I took one of your practice cards please?” She gave me a card and I said “Would you mind if I asked your name?” “Janet” she said, “Thank you Janet, and is there a practice manager here?” I asked. “Yes, but she’s also the head nurse so she won’t have time to see you either.” “Oh, I understand, would you mind if I asked her name please?”.

Janet rolled her eyes, then returned her gaze to me. I could sense I was on very thin ice, Janet paused, the said “Melanie”. “Thank you for your help Janet. I’ll be in the area once a month, would it be OK to come in and say hello and see if there’s anything I can help you with?”

Janet paused then finally said “I can’t stop you!”

I thanked her again and left as quickly as I could, rushing to the door to leave, I ‘pushed’ instead of ‘pulled’ and walked straight into the glass door. I stumbled backwards, pulled the door, looked back to see Janet half laughing and I left.

As I walked back to my car, I felt a surge of adrenaline. It was exhilarating, terrifying and exciting all at the same time. I sat in my car, pulled out the record card for the practice and updated my first customer record card.

Receptionist – Janet

Practice Manager – Melanie

Notes – Doesn’t see reps (yet). Missed the door (Janet laughed). I drew a little smiley face.

It would be nearly 9 months before I got my first order from Melanie, and before Janet started to offer me a seat and allow me to wait for the dentist to see me.

These early lessons were critical for me, I’m not sure I knew it at the time:

Perseverance, building relationships, maintaining a positive perspective in the face of rejection, not taking the first answer someone gave me, seeking to understand first, keeping key notes so I could refer back to them.

All were building foundations for my future success, even if I didn't realise it at the time.

Wishing you every success,

Justin

Justin is the founder Focus4growth Ltd, a Sales & Leadership Coaching company specialising in the dental market. He’s the best selling author of Inspire, Influence, Sell, he has over 25 years’ experience in sales & leadership in the dental industry and is an accredited Executive Coach. Justin runs programs for Dental Leaders and teams to develop High Performance, High Growth teams. Justin is privileged to work with market leading Dental companies including; Align Technology, Septodont, Biohorizons, W&H, SDI, MiSmile Network and many more. In 2020 Justin was invited to partner with the British Dental Industry preferred Sales Trainer and works with BDIA member sales teams using the proven INSPIRe consultative sales system. Justin speaks at many events and on behalf of leading associations, like the BACD, the Institute of Directors, the Association of Professional Sales and many more.

Justin is on a mission to show Sales Leaders & teams how they can achieve 'best in class' sales growth. At Focus4grwth our Vision is to Inspire our Dental Clients with the confidence, capability and consistency so they become the market-leaders in their field.

You can connect with Justin and learn more about how he helps clients become world class here:

https://linktr.ee/JustinLeigh

You can contact Justin directly by email here:

email: [email protected]