Best Philosophy For a Successful Sales Career

In December of 2000, I took a 4-hour flight on Qantas airlines from Darwin to Melbourne to begin a new adventure.

Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory and sits on the tip of Northern Australia.

It has a tropical climate with two seasons, wet and dry.

The Northern Territory has many elements of the American West before it was settled.

It’s filled with giant rock formations, a sprawling outback desert, and a rich history of Aboriginal culture.

I loved my time there and for an Irish guy who does not tan easily, I fitted in surprisingly well.

My Down Under adventure that year was made possible by acquiring a one-year work and travel visa.

Six months into my stay I realized if I wanted to see more of Oz I needed to pack up and head south.

Leaving the tropical comforts of Darwin for the bigger and more sophisticated Melbourne was not an easy decision.

I Needed a Job

Melbourne is in the southeastern part of Australia.

It’s the coffee capital of Oz with the most cafes per head.

I arrived in Melbourne with no job or a place to stay.

This added a sense of urgency to my plans.

At least I had a hostel to stay at for my first night and could pay per night if needed.

Those were the days when hostels were considered cool and trendy for globe-trotting nomads like myself.

My cash flow was very limited, and by my calculations, I had maybe a week before I needed to earn some Dollarydoos.

Random fact, Dollarydoos is slang for Australian dollars which was referenced in a Simpson episode in 1995.

Before I checked into the hostel I picked up the Sunday paper and found a cafe.

It might sound strange today, but the classifieds in the local paper were a goldmine for finding jobs.

Sipping coffee and plotting my next job adventure seemed like progress.

Long story short I only spent one night in that hostel.

I found a job and a room to rent within 24 hours courtesy of the classified pages in the Herald Sun.

Dollarydoos were now in my future.

The job I landed was my first outbound sales role.

Commission Only

22 years later I still remember my boss walking me to my desk on that first day.

The room was dark and filled with shadowy figures busy making outbound dials.

Everyone seemed stressed which I thought was unusual.

On top of that, no one wanted to make eye contact with me.

I chalked it down to being the new guy and maybe they saw me as competition.

My desk had a phone, a yellow legal notepad, and a large white pages residential phonebook.

I had to ask for a pencil which I found strange.

The boss gave me basic instructions.

He told me to pick up the white pages and dial every household within a specific region.

The goal was to make X amount of appointments per day and oh by the way it was commission only (not mentioned in the classifieds).

Now I knew why everyone was so stressed!

I had never worked a commission-only job and I felt like an idiot for accepting the role.

How would I pay my bills if I had a bad month?

The job was to cold call households and inquire about the condition of their exterior vinyl cladding.

If the cladding was in need of repair my value proposition was to offer a free estimate.

We would send out one of our reps to do a house call and in exchange for a cup of tea and a biscuit, they would offer a fair price for repair.

Thank God for Books

To say I was nervous on that first day is an understatement.

I had received zero training but I was expected to book appointments out of the gate.

One of the shadowy figures seated behind me tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a large colored binder.

“Don’t worry mate, just skim through the binder and memorize all the cladding options.

Tell them our premium vinyl cladding does not rot or peel, and it’s built for the Australian climate.” he said.

He sure made it sound easy so I thanked him, took a deep breath, and opened the binder to memorize.

That first week was a lot of trial and error.

I was hyper-focused on getting yes’s.

I could sense my frustration whenever a household member would turn down my free offer.

Who turns down a free estimate?

Turns out most people actually.

Fortunately, I came across a book by Frank Bettger, How I raised myself from failure to success in selling.

One line from that book changed my whole perception of sales in an instant.

“Finding out what people want, and helping them get it”

— Frank Bettger

That single line changed my whole sales philosophy.

I had been so focused on my own agenda, and hitting my goals.

The customer’s needs were secondary.

After reading this book my excitement for making outbound dials returned.

My only job was to find out what people wanted, and then go help them get it.

This was so refreshing and lifted a dead weight off my shoulders.

The stress of trying to get people to say yes to an appointment disappeared.

Now hearing a NO was equal to hearing a YES.

If someone did not need vinyl cladding then I did my job.

After all, I found out what they wanted - in this case, it was not me or new vinyl cladding.

This was the first time I learned about the importance of disqualifying in sales.

My daily outbound dials skyrocketed.

I only worked at that company for a few months.

Once I stopped trying to sell ironically I ended up selling more.

In fact, I went on to win the top-performing salesperson for one of those months.

If I could boil it down to one thing here is the strategy I used to win that award.

On each dial, I stopped trying to get a yes, and instead, I focused on getting to a NO.

That simple reframe made every dial a win-win outcome.

While my peers were becoming more and more discouraged with each no, I was energized.

Blog

Enjoy An Espresso Shot of Sales Wisdom!

Best Philosophy For a Successful Sales Career

In December of 2000, I took a 4-hour flight on Qantas airlines from Darwin to Melbourne to begin a new adventure.

Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory and sits on the tip of Northern Australia.

It has a tropical climate with two seasons, wet and dry.

The Northern Territory has many elements of the American West before it was settled.

It’s filled with giant rock formations, a sprawling outback desert, and a rich history of Aboriginal culture.

I loved my time there and for an Irish guy who does not tan easily, I fitted in surprisingly well.

My Down Under adventure that year was made possible by acquiring a one-year work and travel visa.

Six months into my stay I realized if I wanted to see more of Oz I needed to pack up and head south.

Leaving the tropical comforts of Darwin for the bigger and more sophisticated Melbourne was not an easy decision.

I Needed a Job

Melbourne is in the southeastern part of Australia.

It’s the coffee capital of Oz with the most cafes per head.

I arrived in Melbourne with no job or a place to stay.

This added a sense of urgency to my plans.

At least I had a hostel to stay at for my first night and could pay per night if needed.

Those were the days when hostels were considered cool and trendy for globe-trotting nomads like myself.

My cash flow was very limited, and by my calculations, I had maybe a week before I needed to earn some Dollarydoos.

Random fact, Dollarydoos is slang for Australian dollars which was referenced in a Simpson episode in 1995.

Before I checked into the hostel I picked up the Sunday paper and found a cafe.

It might sound strange today, but the classifieds in the local paper were a goldmine for finding jobs.

Sipping coffee and plotting my next job adventure seemed like progress.

Long story short I only spent one night in that hostel.

I found a job and a room to rent within 24 hours courtesy of the classified pages in the Herald Sun.

Dollarydoos were now in my future.

The job I landed was my first outbound sales role.

22 years later I still remember my boss walking me to my desk on that first day.

The room was dark and filled with shadowy figures busy making outbound dials.

Everyone seemed stressed which I thought was unusual.

On top of that, no one wanted to make eye contact with me.

I chalked it down to being the new guy and maybe they saw me as competition.

My desk had a phone, a yellow legal notepad, and a large white pages residential phonebook.

I had to ask for a pencil which I found strange.

The boss gave me basic instructions.

He told me to pick up the white pages and dial every household within a specific region.

The goal was to make X amount of appointments per day and oh by the way it was commission only (not mentioned in the classifieds).

Now I knew why everyone was so stressed!

I had never worked a commission-only job and I felt like an idiot for accepting the role.

How would I pay my bills if I had a bad month?

The job was to cold call households and inquire about the condition of their exterior vinyl cladding.

If the cladding was in need of repair my value proposition was to offer a free estimate.

We would send out one of our reps to do a house call and in exchange for a cup of tea and a biscuit, they would offer a fair price for repair.

To say I was nervous on that first day is an understatement.

I had received zero training but I was expected to book appointments out of the gate.

One of the shadowy figures seated behind me tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a large colored binder.

“Don’t worry mate, just skim through the binder and memorize all the cladding options.

Tell them our premium vinyl cladding does not rot or peel, and it’s built for the Australian climate.” he said.

He sure made it sound easy so I thanked him, took a deep breath, and opened the binder to memorize.

That first week was a lot of trial and error.

I was hyper-focused on getting yes’s.

I could sense my frustration whenever a household member would turn down my free offer.

Who turns down a free estimate?

Turns out most people actually.

Fortunately, I came across a book by Frank Bettger, How I raised myself from failure to success in selling.

One line from that book changed my whole perception of sales in an instant.

That single line changed my whole sales philosophy.

I had been so focused on my own agenda, and hitting my goals.

The customer’s needs were secondary.

After reading this book my excitement for making outbound dials returned.

My only job was to find out what people wanted, and then go help them get it.

This was so refreshing and lifted a dead weight off my shoulders.

The stress of trying to get people to say yes to an appointment disappeared.

Now hearing a NO was equal to hearing a YES.

If someone did not need vinyl cladding then I did my job.

After all, I found out what they wanted - in this case, it was not me or new vinyl cladding.

This was the first time I learned about the importance of disqualifying in sales.

My daily outbound dials skyrocketed.

I only worked at that company for a few months.

Once I stopped trying to sell ironically I ended up selling more.

In fact, I went on to win the top-performing salesperson for one of those months.

If I could boil it down to one thing here is the strategy I used to win that award.

On each dial, I stopped trying to get a yes, and instead, I focused on getting to a NO.

That simple reframe made every dial a win-win outcome.

While my peers were becoming more and more discouraged with each no, I was energized.

If you are new to sales or just feeling burned out remember:

A career in Sales is not about SELLING!

It’s about finding out what people want and helping them get it.

Share