He Tried Selling His Heart to the Heart Girls Over on Easy Street

byzydegeaux

586 followers

Updated 4 years ago

Spanish Johnny drove in from the underworld last night
With bruised arms and broken rhythm and a beat-up old Buick but dressed just like dynamite

Has anybody been in sales? In affiliate marketing if you get a sales rate of 2% you are doing great. If your sales rate is 2% in a sales job your bonus is the unemployment line.Something somebody posted about keeping on going in the face of failure made me think of writing this post.

Sales is a numbers game. And it is filled rejection. Even on a good day you get rejected more often than not. Selling small ticket items you have to make more presentations than if you are selling a high ticket product.

Once I sold steaks door to door. It was usually in a residential neighborhood so I could knock on a lot of doors in a short period of time. Plus I learned the signs like if there were no visible vehicles it was very likely nobody was home. Knocking on that door would be a waste of time.

So even on a bad day I would usually make one or two sales. But some days just nothing goes your way. On those days its tempting to just shut it down. Sometimes I did but mostly I didn't/

The worst is when you think you have closed a deal on a high ticket item that will pay you a big commission, and then the customer backs out out the last second.

Another job I had was selling diesel generators, pumps and air compressors cold calling to businesses. If you think that's not a tough way to make a living try it.

We would travel around the country and stay in a city as long as the sales were good and then move to another city. Once, when staying in San Antonio I had driven all the way to Laredo. Lots of oil related business in that area. After making a few sales calls I got this one guy to agree to buy the truckload of equipment for the full asking price.

The full price was almost $7000, If I sold it for that I made $2400. The company would OK a sale for less if the prospect offered and wouldn't go higher. In fact the company would OK a sale for as little as $4500 and give me $100. Hardly worth it for me after paying for gas and driving a long way but the company made the same no matter what the final price was.

I had clinched a sale for $7000 and the customer and I were unloading the equipment. Then his business partner walked in and said, "Don't buy that. I can get it for cheaper."

$2400 down the drain. I should have kept on trying to sell it. It was too early to drive back to San Antonio. So I found a park with some big shady trees, parked and took a nap. I was usually sleepy anyway since we got up for a sales meeting at 6 AM. I am not a morning person.

The point is that I should have kept on working but I let the crushing defeat get to me. Some of the guys on the crew didn't let that sort of thing bother them. Some of us it bothered a lot.

A couple of days later I was in a sleepy little town down around San Antone. You may have heard of China Grove from the Doobie Brothers song. I sold the truckload. The guy made an offer of less than $7000 but it was still a good offer. The company OKed it and I made $1600. Still a good day at work.

You may have heard the saying or seen it on a T Shirt, "My worse day of fishing was better than my best day at work." Having fished in 40 mph winds when it was raining and cold I still can say that's true.

There were some guys who would keep on working no matter what had happened. Sometimes I worked alone. Sometimes with another guy. Advantage of working alone was if I made a sale I got all of the money. Working with somebody else at least you had company all day and if they made a sale you got half. Disadvantage was if I made a sale I had to split the money.

One day I was working with one of those keep on going guys. We were staying in Baltimore and had left at 4:30 AM to drive to New Jersey. This guy, his name was Tony, had a sale back out on him early in the day. I was disappointed but not like it was my own sale.

So we kept on going. Ended up in Philadelphia. I wanted to go to one of those famous Phillie cheesesteak places but he was driving. We ate at a Popeye s. Getting near dark I made a sale for the minimum. We each made $50. After paying for gas and all the tolls in New Jersey we lost money. Would have been better off shutting it down for the day early.

Another day in Boston after not coming close to a sale all day I sold a smaller deal. Made $300 which was better than nothing since it wasn't that far from the hotel and I hadn't spent a lot on gas. It was at a business that sold fire safety equipment. I remember that because the owner's name was Burns.

A lot of things I didn't get to see. I wanted to spend some time in the Smithsonian but I had a truckload of equipment and there was no place to park where it was safe to leave the equipment without fear of it being stolen. I drove past the 'White House but because of all the fences I couldn't see much. Is the White House our next national symbol to have to change its name?

Same thing with the Alamo. No place to park to go tour the Alamo. And George Washington's house in Mt Vernon. I had always thought of the Pentagon being in DC. It's not. It's in Arlington, VA. You can see across the river and see the Washington Monument from Arlington

Before I ramble on even more the point it to keep on keeping on in spite of adversity and rejection. Something I don't always do but just because I can give good advice doesn't mean I always take it.

Some weeks I write 4 for 5 posts for my blog. Some weeks I am lucky if I get one post written and published. Do as I say, not as I do.

I have been taking a protein powder I mix with milk since into the lockdown to maintain muscle mass. Too much sitting isn't good for anybody but with all the gyms closed I haven't been getting nearly enough exersize. The brand of powder I bought the other day had a can of some kind of energy drink attached. I am drinking it now. I don't think I'll finished it. It's not very tasty.