So, you want to get into the handbag business, eh?
Last year I decided to jump on board with Sherry, my co-blogger, to help launch S.Stein Workbags. What I had to offer was the ability to get stuff up on the web, and at the time, I thought I might be able to do some sales work too, until I found out that I don’t have the right personality for it. I am curious what makes some people sales people and other people not sales people?
I feel really comfortable negotiating for a car, or writing a proposal for work that I want to do for a client, but picking up the phone and cold-calling is dreadful to me, and I am not a shy person. Perhaps it goes back to the six weeks after college that I spent as a phone sales person at Time-Life Libraries. Those were pretty unsettled times.
I remember going through orientation all too well. My sales manager, a middle-aged, a well-quaffed woman named Debbie stood erectly in front of the small group of that day’s inductees. We were given our sales book, which consisted of carefully scripted sales pitches for each of the collections we would be responsible for selling. During the orientation, Debbie told us that if we couldn’t keep the customer on the phone, it would be our fault; there is something in the Time-Life Library for everyone, even those who have declared bankrupcy or who are blind. Afterall, blind people might be interested in buying a book for one of their sighted friends, or grandchildren.
I took my place at my assigned calling station, and began dialing. I made a sale, and rang the service bell. Debbie posted a sale next to my name at the front of the room. I kept dialing, and kept making sales. I won a prize that day, and every day thereafter for having sold the most books. Each day I felt a heavier and heavier weight descend on me. I hated my job. I hated pushing books on people who could not really afford them, and who didn’t understand that they would be paying for these books for months to come. One day Debbie called me into her office. She told me that if I wanted it, I had a bright sales career ahead of me. After only a few weeks I was up for promotion. Not only would I get a commission on the books that I sold, but I would also get commission on the books that anyone below me sold. I felt sick. I quit the job two weeks later, opting for a research job instead.
Now I wish that I had stuck with sales. There hasn’t been a time in my adult life when selling has not been important, and I am psychologically crippled when it comes to doing it.