What You Can Learn From My Experience

[Mike Kavanagh]

In door-to-door sales.

When I was 15 I responded to a flyer on a telephone post. It was a job offer in door to door sales.
When I met the guy, he explained the process. How we'd get paid, what to expect, etc...

I was thrilled to start but then I realized how hard cold sales are.

The first day I started it was raining. Not too hard, just a drizzle.
It was a relatively low-income apartments that we were servicing that day with some decent single family homes near-by.

I'd never knocked on anyone's door before like that. I was terribly nervous.
I was given a script to memorize before I started.

It didn't matter when they answered the door. I fumbled with my words. I sucked something fierce.
Oddly I made 2 sales that day.

I didn't realize it but with each house, approaching got easier. I loosened up a bit.

I quit this job 3 months later after my team leader, another team's associate, and myself got jumped during the day, on a Saturday by 10 or so people. They took our cash, our phones, my team leaders shoes.
I was tired of getting guns pointed at me from knocking on people's doors anyway.

My takeaways were:

• Not everyone wants what you got but some do
  
• People get indignant if you interrupt 3 major things - dinner, sex and TV time(don't knock after 8:30pm)
  
• Sales are easily the hardest job if you are impatient to learning and criticism
  
• If the script isn't about the customer, ditch it - ours went something like "help us get a bond for college" no wonder we only got 10-15 sales/week (other teams using their own script were in the 100's/week)
  
• Use competition to make yourself work faster and do stuff better, the other guy might be your best friend but if he gets a sale on the same street, he stole from you
  
• Sliding scale payout formats make people work harder to get to the next tier or can work against them if they do sell good
• Burn through your early no's. Ignore them. Use that to make your next approach. Most sales came 2 hours into the night (out for 5 hours)

Thanks for reading
Mike

P.S. I was selling newspaper subscriptions for $20/3 Months

 

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[vinylawesome]

Op fuus-vu-fuus temit.

Xjip O xet 15 O sitqupfif vu e gmzis up e vimiqjupi qutv. Ov xet e kuc uggis op fuus vu fuus temit.
Xjip O niv vji haz, ji iyqmeopif vji qsuditt. Jux xi'f hiv qeof, xjev vu iyqidv, ivd...

O xet vjsommif vu tvesv cav vjip O siemobif jux jesf dumf temit esi.

Vji gostv fez O tvesvif ov xet seopoph. Puv vuu jesf, katv e fsobbmi.
Ov xet e simevowimz mux-opduni eqesvnipvt vjev xi xisi tiswodoph vjev fez xovj tuni fidipv tophmi genomz junit pies-cz.

O'f piwis lpudlif up epzupi't fuus cigusi moli vjev. O xet vissocmz piswuat.
O xet howip e tdsoqv vu ninusobi cigusi O tvesvif.

Ov fofp'v nevvis xjip vjiz eptxisif vji fuus. O gancmif xovj nz xusft. O tadlif tunivjoph goisdi.
Uffmz O nefi 2 temit vjev fez.

O fofp'v siemobi ov cav xovj iedj juati, eqqsuedjoph huv ietois. O muutipif aq e cov.

O raov vjot kuc 3 nupvjt mevis egvis nz vien miefis, epuvjis vien't ettudoevi, epf nztimg huv kanqif fasoph vji fez, up e Tevasfez cz 10 us tu qiuqmi. Vjiz vuul uas detj, uas qjupit, nz vien miefist tjuit.
O xet vosif ug hivvoph hapt quopvif ev ni gsun lpudloph up qiuqmi't fuust epzxez.

Nz veliexezt xisi:

• Puv iwiszupi xepvt xjev zua huv cav tuni fu
  
• Qiuqmi hiv opfohpepv og zua opvissaqv 3 nekus vjopht - foppis, tiy epf VW voni(fup'v lpudl egvis 8:30qn)
  
• Temit esi ietomz vji jesfitv kuc og zua esi onqevoipv vu miespoph epf dsovodotn
  
• Og vji tdsoqv otp'v ecuav vji datvunis, fovdj ov - uast xipv tunivjoph moli "jimq at hiv e cupf gus dummihi" pu xupfis xi upmz huv 10-15 temit/xiil (uvjis vient atoph vjios uxp tdsoqv xisi op vji 100't/xiil)
  
• Ati dunqivovoup vu neli zuastimg xusl getvis epf fu tvagg civvis, vji uvjis haz nohjv ci zuas citv gsoipf cav og ji hivt e temi up vji teni tvsiiv, ji tvumi gsun zua
  
• Tmofoph tdemi qezuav gusnevt neli qiuqmi xusl jesfis vu hiv vu vji piyv vois us dep xusl eheoptv vjin og vjiz fu timm huuf
• Casp vjsuahj zuas iesmz pu't. Ohpusi vjin. Ati vjev vu neli zuas piyv eqqsuedj. Nutv temit deni 2 juast opvu vji pohjv (uav gus 5 juast)

Vjeplt gus siefoph
Noli

Q.T. O xet timmoph pixtqeqis tactdsoqvoupt gus $20/3 Nupvjt

Zuas tvusz sinopfif ni ug vji pixtqeqis temit qovdj tdipi gsun Cuomis Suun..