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| Everything I needed to know about selling, I learned going door to door |
By:
John D Hollingsworth |
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Everything I needed to know for selling, I learned selling door to door:
That's right! Yours truly sold educational books door to door for 4 summers to put himself through university! What a terrifying/awesome/life-changing experience that was! I highly recommend it, especially for students or people that you don't like! Either way, it will change them for the better!
So here they are, a short list of the great lessons that I learned as I sold door to door:
fatigue makes cowards of us all-Vince Lombardi said it best! Getting the proper amount of sleep makes a world of difference, from approach to close!
habits are the foundation to success 7:59am-9:30pm-Six out of seven days of the week, every week of the summer, we started knocking on doors at 7:59 am and continued until 9:30 pm. It was a numbers game where we gave ourselves ample opportunity to see as many prospects as possible! Without our commitment to doing the same thing everyday, I guarantee that few of us would have survived such a demanding job!
goal setting breaks your day into little manageable pieces-Setting goals is what separates us from everyone else. Achieving those goals is what separates the salesman from the successful salesman. Break it all down into manageable pieces and conquer those pieces one-by-one!
you just never know-Anyone who knows me will tell you that this is my credo. And I don't even know what 'credo' means. You can be talking to someone who desperately wants what you are selling and has the money to get it but never comes back. The next day, you can see someone who struggles to feed himself every day and he'll pay for what you've got IN CASH! You cannot afford to assume anything about anyone! Do your best sales presentation and your best closes EVERY TIME!
People like being entertained, even at their door-My partner and I have a theory called the E squared theory. If you want to make an impact on people, you must be Entertaining and Educational! This was a truth that I discovered waaaay back then on the bookfield and I still apply it in my new partnership today.
never go back to HQ-On the bookfield, we would never return to our HQ (our house) during the day when we should have been selling. There was always too much potential for distraction. When I sold advertising, I spent as little time in the office as possible because I wasn't paid to be in the office, I was paid to sell!
self talk increases belief -Okay, I know that this one sounds a little looney, but I have learned something incredible from my 4 years selling door to door: What your mind believes, your body achieves! In other words, every day I was out there telling myself that I was the best salesman in the city and that I was going to break records AND I DID! Try it, it can't hurt and no one will ever know!
selling is a transferance of emotion, make sure you believe in what you are selling-DANG! Talk about important things to remember! If you believe in it, others will too. If you don't, they won't. (And if you don't, why are you selling it?)
find people who are better than you and sponge them-Number one rule in the area of advancement: hang around people that you can learn from and you will. Feed your brain and it will start kicking in with what it learned automatically! It does you no good to only hang around people who can't do what you do and look up to you. It's good for your ego, but bad for your career!
never be too proud to ask advice, even from people less experienced-Everybody is good for something. Seek out people who can do what you can't and find out how they do it. It will be a boost for them and for you!
paper work is very important-Another thing that I learned in the field was that I HATE PAPERWORK! Regardless, it didn't get done if I didn't do it and no matter how I ranted and stomped about it, nothing changed. I lost over $5000 my first year of selling books merely because I was too lazy and stubborn to do things the right way. What a fool! (Well...okay, maybe 'fool' is too harsh. I was pretty silly though!)
visualizing is very important-One important exercise that we did to prepare ourselves for selling was to visualize what we were going to do with all that money that we earned. That was a great motivator! I also learned to visualize closing people and it works well also.
find people that you can share your days with (good and bad)-I call them mentors and not enough has been said about their incredible value! Find someone that you can be accountable to and meet with them regularly. You will both benefit from this!
your attitude affects you, your customers and your team-Holy Smokes! How can one guy be so incredibly profound?? Your attitude is going to be viral, whether you want it to be or not. Make sure that everything emanating from you is positive and pro-sale!
support from family is very important-I don't need the extra burden of a chaotic homelife to add to my already crazy day. I knew that as I was out there in the cold rain and blistering heat (sometimes the same day-welcome to Calgary!), my fiancee was supporting me and praying for me back home. And if I ever called her when I should have been working, she had permission to give me a blast!
work for a week before you get trained so that you will really pay attention-We were all know-it-alls before we started in our new territories. Our rigorous training ensured that we knew our product and our sales talk perfectly. But no one could tell us anything about Selling until we went out that first week and struggled in vain. Boy, were we ever attentive for that first Sunday meeting afterwards!
The best thing about making a career in the world of selling is that you never stop learning; you can always draw lessons for your career from the life that surrounds you. When you want more fuel for your sales fire, go directly to my website: www.acquireyourfire.com and sign up for my ezine Passing the Torch! |
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