My love of Sales:

     This week, I will write a series of BEAMS related to Sales. More specifically, BEAMS related to the love of sales.  Today’s post is a personal recap of my own sales history & why sales is a love for me.

     I have been asked why do I periodically BEAM on sales? Here are a few reasons.

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• I’ve sold or been responsible for about 50 million dollars in sales, so far in my life.

• I’ve sold in retail, modular housing, furniture, kitchen & bath, cabinetry, industrial & commercial supply, direct sales, residential sales & RTO businesses.

• I’ve sold on showrooms. I’ve sold on lots. I’ve sold in offices. I’ve sold in factories. I’ve sold in the woods. I’ve sold on the water. I’ve sold on the golf courses. I’ve sold in conference rooms. I’ve sold on boats. I’ve sold in classrooms. I’ve sold in living rooms. I’ve even sold in my sleep 🙂 …

• I’ve sold in the south. I’ve sold up north. I’ve sold in the east. I’ve sold in the west. I’ve sold in the Bahama’s. I’ve sold in Germany (marketing presentations). I’ve sold in swanky cosmopolitan environments. I’ve sold in sultry, rough inner cities. I’ve sold in residential neighborhoods.

  

• I’ve sold furniture hardware, industrial supplies, outdoor recreational vehicles, hunting accessories, closet systems, consulting and independent rep. services, high pressure laminates, manufactured homes, modular homes & utility buildings..

• I’ve sold to individual consumers, furniture manufacturers, marine manufacturers, recreational vehicle manufacturers, industrial mill-workers, maintenance and service firms, outdoor supply companies, hunting outfitters, many distribution companies and …… people with hard heads who needed convincing, to include God in their life.

• I’ve worked in over a 100 trade shows in my career.

• I started 2 of my own companies in the 90’s based on my own selling & negotiating.

• I raised about a million dollars of investment & operating capital to operate my own businesses.

• I’ve taught a whole lot of people in various positions, how to sell more effectively.

• I have designed and implemented selling materials, presentations and selling systems.  

• I have conceived and implemented many successful marketing strategies, in various environments.

• Yep…………. I have spent most of my career, selling.

  

Besides all this: I just love to sell.

• I sold newspapers as a boy, door to door.

• I sold the neighbors on letting me mow their yards.

• I sold the Punt, Pass & Kick competition on letting me compete when I was a kid; even with tissue hanging out of my leg. (I won, by the way.)

• I sold the community on recognizing me, as the best young speaker in the community, before I was a teen.

• I sold my parents that I was worth a college education.

• I sold myself into a couple of store management positions.

• I sold myself into a great career path, with a German hardware producer.

• I sold myself into being able to create a new Florida market from the ground up, for this company; as a Territory Mgr.

• I sold myself into being a Regional Sales Manager for another company.

• I sold myself into being a National Product Group Sales Manager for even another company.

  — I sold 4 fantastic Shotokan Sensei’s into giving me extra-ordinary training that money could not buy.–

• I sold myself into service as a Christian Minister repeatedly. Sold myself in this capacity, even without the promise of reward. [Only thing I’ve ever had to sell my way into, that I know what I gain may not be something the eye can see.]

Things I love about sales:

• The perpetual possibility of ongoing rewards

• The joy of new accomplishments

• The challenge of communicating with many people

• The never stagnant, evolving marketplace

• The thrill of the hunt

• The necessity for ongoing improvement

• The challenge of continual learning

• The real good feeling of giving others something they want

• The blessing of income

• The fact that, You can never know it all.

• The truth that, There are lots of top-notch people to learn from.

• The reality that, Self improvement must accompany this career path, if you are to be successful in it.

     I have been told I am always selling… It’s kinda like a bird singing or a frog jumping.

It’s just what I do.  I have been told by my best and most challenging sales training coach that I am the quintessential & consummate sales professional. One thing is for sure, I can figure out how to sell in just about every situation.

  Stay tuned this week and we will dig into the topic of The Love of Sales. If you are in the sales game, you need to stay fresh not only on technique but passion for what you do. My goal is that by the end of the week;

your own sales passion:

will be clearer & improved.  We will improve your game & charge your battery.

See you tomorrow.