Every salesperson has a story. What’s yours?

Being a sales rep is tough. Selling is tough. Not that any other job is significantly easier. It’s just that — a person crunching numbers at his desk wouldn’t face rejection from prospects almost every day. It’s also a certainty that the number of rejections exceeds the number of closures. And whatever progress a salesperson makes by closing deals, is soon forgotten as soon as the next quarter arrives. In a job where the clock resets after every quarter, a great deal of perseverance and patience is required along with the polar opposites of such qualities. It is like running from point A to point B on a treadmill that moves one inch for every million steps you take.

My biggest deal was my toughest. And sales isn’t really famous for a balanced sex ratio. It is a male-dominated field. The value of that particular deal was massive. I had to convince the prospect to move from an equally good competitor to us. The deal was estimated to take at least 6–8 months. My pre-sales person who handles the technical part of the demo was away. So, I trained a team of 30 from the customer organization. It wasn’t a part of my job description. But I did it anyway. Soon, the 30 trainees became 800. I was viewed as a very professional person who knew her ropes in the business. But, It was the most chaotic period of my sales life. I was on the verge of losing it. I persevered and the deal came through. I closed the deal, and I closed it in 3 months. After that, I started to get noticed. I was trusted with many bigger deals. It was the major milestone. There was no looking back after that. — Renuka Ramkumar, Freshdesk
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There are going to be a lot of slumps. Slumps which will almost convince you to quit and take up some other job. Slumps in which you’re going to doubt yourself and question your decision of moving to the sales department. But, there are going to be high-points or rather high periods wherein you’re going to feel like “This is it. This is why I’m in sales”.

Everybody talks about the money and the carrot-stick approach. Nobody talks about the kick you get out of closing deals or the pain from hitting rock-bottom. Nobody talks about the frustration when a prospect hangs up on you or the anger when you’re not able to close an easy deal. Nobody talks about the jealousy you feel when a newbie closes more deals than you or the elation when you’re branded the top performer for the month. There is a smile, a phrase or a routine that you perfected that wins you a prospect’s trust over and over. You wish people learn that from you.

I’ve been selling produce and other ingredients to restaurants for over 13 years now. Before this, I used to run a bar. I was a bar manager working 80 hours a week. I met our food salesman and he had a cell phone, a pager and a laptop and everything. I went up to him, and asked, “what kind of hours do you work, man?”. He was like “Oh, depends on whom I have to meet. I’m always going in and out of restaurants.” And something about making my own schedule lured me in and I talked to him and set up an interview and got myself hired. I was 23 with no sales experience. I have always struggled a bit with cold-calling. This one time, I went into a Mexican restaurant via the back door to talk to them. The employees thought I was the INS, there to deport them. The owner called the police on me for trespassing. Needless to say, I didn’t make the sale. — Matt Kevin, Gordon Food Services
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People in Sales is an interview series run by PipeCandy in which we’ll have informal talk sessions with salespeople from diverse backgrounds and share their stories with you. Stories about their roller coaster journey in sales. Because behind the people-charming, money-making, a no-bullshit-taking machine is a person — a person who has a story or two to share.

Every salesperson has a story. What’s yours?

Write to me at ashwini@pipecandy.com

PS: Watch out for more stories on our Medium publication.