No hugging, no learning
What I’ve learned from door-to-door sales
“You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after” (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Starting a new life in a different country is a funny yet challenging adventure. The possibilities are limitless but if you want to eat or pay rent you don’t get to be very picky or particular.
My father worked as a salesperson for many years. He always told me how hard it was for him to take a second job knocking on people’s doors everyday after leaving his daytime office — and how important it is to have decent shoes. A few years later I started to follow his steps.
It was very hard for me to understand why my old man is always so nice to salespeople. The truth is that he always knew what I would just discover now: working in sales is one of the most frustrating jobs one could ever have. It’s terrible to depend so much on people’s moods particularly when you’re doing something that so commonly triggers an agressive pavlovian response — when someone knocks on your door in the middle of the afternoon your brain automatically sends a message to your wallet warning it to not move.
Terrible as it may seem, working in sales is an exeprience that will make you learn something new every day. The best way to undestand how a business works is to experience every single aspect of it.
There are a lot of professional benefits from being a sales worker. Be that as it may, the human perks of this exeprience are also very special and are helping me to become a different person (more and more like my father).
Don’t be and idiot (never underestimate the role of luck)
“I make my own luck” is a very stupid thing to say (unless you’re Harvey Two-Face). Working hard and being good at something will make you depend less on luck — being hit by a bus will make you depend less on your great skills and hard working. We all need some good karma, blessing, serendipity…call it whatever you want. We’re very lucky to be alive (especially at the same time as Beyonce).
There are more than one billion doors in the world. Luck will always be an important factor. Just don’t use it as an excuse. One day you’ll get a sale on the first door you knock. The next day you meet a rottweiler (and a fence…if you’re lucky).
Don’t Panic!
(Knock, knock!)
— Who’s there?
— Hello, my name is Jo…
— Thanks, mate. Not interested.
It’s 5pm and you haven’t made a sale. Your paycheck depends on it. You start thinking about how mad your boss will be and stressing about letting your team down. You’re the worst excuse for a human being in the world. You are a waste of space…
Last door you knock. You get your sale. You always knew you were the most extraordinary person that ever existed.
Everything changes (in sales and in life). We spend most of our time antecipating what will only last for a second. Things aren’t usually as good, nor as bad as they seem. If you’re too happy or too sad…just wait a few seconds. You might be surprised.
Everybody is allowed to be rude…
…even you!
We all have our days under the weather. Some people are capable of hidding it better but the truth is that sometimes we all wish to hibernate in our fortress of solitude. The problem is that you don’t get paid to do that.
Knocking on different doors will make you meet different people in different moments of their lives. Be prepared for a wild range of scenarios. It goes from
Scenario #1: “I’m not interested but wish you good luck!”
to
Scenario #2: “Not interested, come back here and I’ll kill you!”
It’s important to notice that these responses don’t represent these people’s values and beliefs. I’d be scenario #1 on a monday and scenario #2 every other day of the week if it’s january. This is why coffee is so crucial for mankind.
People will always be strange
Working in sales is a great experience that I highly recommend to everyone (no matter the academic background or career orientation). It’s a fantastic way to learn some professional and human lessons that you’ll hardly receive in other fields of business.
It’s very important to get out of our comfort zone but we already knew that. The big (non-)lesson here is: Yada yada yada…Kindness won’t always generate kindness (or a sale) and that’s quite alright. There will always be another door to knock.
