How I Started In Sales

My story about how I got started in Customer Success is way more heartfelt than my introduction to sales. If I had to sum up my sales experience in one word, it would be intense. The best analogy for my path is a lumberjack using a baseball bat to chop down trees instead of an ax. It all started when I wanted to get out of working at nursing homes as a CNA into something more lucrative than $10/hr, so I started applying every place imaginable in sales. I had no desire or experience to sell, I just liked the possible income results. I wound up finding myself as a high-pressure hard-close telemarketer for the next four years.

Timeshares

The first place that offered me an interview didn't disclose what they actually sold, only that I should come to the interview and will find out all I need to know. Once I got there, I was put in a group and given a half-hour introduction to timeshares, and then they said they are going to have some of their top salesmen come and talk to us at the end. Two guys came down who had been there respectably for 20 days total and gave a seven-minute talk that said work hard and that the boss is going to tell you to call your family who owes you favors to sell stuff. Five minutes later, they asked the group to sign a paper, put us at a desk, and that was it. We had no script, no price sheet, no anything. We just had an autodialer, and if we were able to BS our way to a possible buyer, we raise our hand, and the pit boss runs over, hops on, and closes. Sure enough, I had the guy in charge asking me who was in my family and pressuring me to call them and call in any favors I had. I didn't sell anything that day, and I didn't return there again.

Construction Tools

My next call center job selling tools to construction guys. It was CRAZY. I was so excited because it was one of the first companies that didn't ask for a background check meaning they couldn't see my lack of work history. What's great about that job is they let anyone in. What's terrible about that job is they let anyone in. I believe I was one of the only workers of about 40 who hadn't been arrested yet. That's not an exaggeration. When I left, I found out the founder was arrested for a firearm incident that involved SWAT, my direct boss had recently gotten off serving a multiple-year felony charge for being in a high-speed chase then fighting the arresting officers, and the guy next to me had a weird plea deal where he could wear the police anklet to work but had to spend his nights in jail. There were so many more stories like that. I read the owner focused on hiring ex-felons so he could get them to say and do anything. Needless to say, I was desperate and I needed work so I put my head down and sold. Here are some highlights of my 20 days at that job:

• Co-worker illegal drug use was rampant.

• We only were given 20 to 30 leads to work with that day but are expected to be on the phones the whole time. This meant the prospect who told me "no, f___ you" before lunch, I needed to cold-call again after lunch, hoping that he had a change of heart. The next morning I had to trade leads with the guy next to me and go after the people he called 2-3 times the day before. Repeat process.

• The only way to get a client off our list was if they bought something. That gave them a good 7 days before we would cold-call them again. If they hung up without buying anything, they were free game for tomorrow. Someone once asked me to take me off their list, I said sure and I ripped up their info card. My boss got very upset with me for doing that.

• We weren't allowed to say anything outside of the written script, even it made no sense. For example: Me: "Hey, this is Steve with ---" Contractor: "STOP F------ CALLING ME!" Me: "That's right. If you can guess my last name, I'll give you a pink colored Cadillac (fake laugh)" Contractor: "What the f----?"

• I had no idea what I was selling. There were hundreds of tools with names I didn't understand and they all had unhelpful descriptions. Once I got to the end of my script, I just started listing off tool names from a 3-ring binder which contained 50 pages of products in hopes of saying one they needed.

• We sold refurbished tools to contractors, and the tools were extremely low quality. Remember, we recycled the contact list and people who bought were open to being called again in seven days. When I called those people back, there wasn't a single person who bought a product before that liked the product.

• The phones I used had no callback number meaning I had to close them on that call. We had to high pressure them no matter what they were doing to buy from us. A fire? A tornado? A relative in the hospital? They are in the hospital? The boss was there to make sure we didn't let them off the hook.

• If clients started yelling at us, we were trained to flip the phone upside down so we can't hear them, get louder than them and force-feed our script.

• If we couldn't close a sale, the managers would switch the call to their phones and literally threaten the prospects well being as well as their families. I'm talking screaming f-bombs, insulting manhood, insulting wife and children, jailhouse like threats of violence. I have since learned the company has multiple civil suits and was even reported to the FBI because of how many threats of bodily harm there were to prospects. Remember, we recycle leads so I ended up having to call them back the next day.

• Our company had to keep changing its name because of its awful reputation and terrible products.

• When I quit and inquired about my last paycheck, they said they'd send it to me. Four months later, I received a printed Word doc in the mail saying that I needed to sell $5,000 a week to qualify to receive my last two paychecks.
  

Of all the things I have done in my career, I am still shocked I made my quota the first two weeks I was there. I ended up quitting by week three, but if I could make it 20 days there, I could make it anywhere.

Air Conditioning

The next gig was cold calling houses from an autodialer and setting appointments for people to get their air conditioners acid washed. I don't know what that means either, but I found a way for people to agree to it. I would rate the job quality 3/10, and coming from a boiler room of convicts abusing drugs and physically threatening people over the phone to buy poor-quality tools; this felt like Heaven. It was the first time in my selling career that I didn't think I was hurting people. On this job, I made about 100 calls a day and was consistent with my numbers. I was only 19, but company leaders were talking about making me being a sales manager, and my co-workers were saying I'd be the perfect man for the job. All was great until one day they told us to get off the phone immediately and that the company is now shut down. What sucked was this was the day before payday. About four or five weeks later, I was sent a handwritten check for a portion of my base pay and none of my commissions. This was the third sales job that didn't pay me.

Industrial Label Makers

The job I had paid a $23,000 base but had extremely profitable commissions. The on-boarding and interviews were intense. I made it through and was given 30 days to prove myself and sell two new items. At this job, I cold-called and networked through some of the world's largest industrial companies like Shell, Northrop Grumman, US Steel, and sold them label maker machines and ink refills. I put in my best efforts but was only able to sell one of two items in the first thirty days. It was very unusual to not fire someone if they didn't hit the 30-day goal, but they liked my work habit; I truly left no stone unturned. They offered me a job in their warehouse so I can learn the product better and try being a phone salesman in a year.

Side note

During this time, I transitioned from sleeping on the floor (no mattress) to being able to afford a bed in a garage. There was no running water, no bathroom, no stove, just a literal bed in a garage that had carpeting. At night I could see my breath from the cold. The landlord let me use his bathroom between 8 am and 10 pm, but he wanted me to go to the 24-hour Subway or somewhere else if it was after 10 pm or before 8 am. No one told me my situation was terrible, so I assumed it was normal and I was grateful.

Digital Ads

As I was in the warehouse for the label maker job, I was applying for new sales roles and landed one for a digital ad agency. This was by far the best sales job I've had in my career to date. In this role, I was a pure hunter selling banner ads on news websites. In a nutshell, I would just go on Google, Yelp, the BBB anything, and cold call businesses. I'd make between 70 and 120 calls a day. It was stressful, but after where I had been, I was extremely grateful. It allowed me to move from the garage to a basement, and live a much more comfortable life. The company had a rapid expansion model and at its peak, was around 230 reps. They also had rapid descent and were quick to cut anyone not hitting quota. I was one of the most consistent sellers and ended up being one of the most tenured in the company.

With this particular product, the clients had to pay for a 6 or 12 months ad spot, and if they demanded back their money within three months, we lost the sale. A peculiar pattern emerged that my clients wouldn't cancel. Even though I was never the highest performing rep, my consistently hitting quota and lack of churn created in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in value for our company.

After two years on the phones there, I was starting to get burnt out and joined the retention team. That opened more doors, which paved my career to where it is today with Client Success.

Looking back at my sales journey, the fist three jobs I had we like putting me at a starting line and I sprinted the wrong way as hard as I could for about a year. At the beginning of this, I said my journey was like a lumberjack using a baseball bat instead of an ax to cut down trees. I picked up many bad habits, had a bad association and developed a totally wrong view of what sales is. I believe was able to last because my tolerance for discomfort is high from being a wrestler in my high school days. By year two, I made my way back to the starting line, started sharpening the ax and getting more effective. I learned to shadow the best sellers, learn from them but don't try and be them. The journey of sales is one where I never will feel I have "arrived" and I am very humbled by my imperfections. It's an emotional journey and one which requires continual evolution. While it's not my greatest strength, I have proved I can perform and I am dedicated to continually improving and growing my abilities in sales to further my career.