My Dad and Sales: A Love/Hate Relationship

My dad is an entrepreneur, but he would never tell you that. He is also the best salesman I know. He would also never tell you that. Coincidentally, he also has a burning hatred for sales. He always would complain to me about how he was always selling for his business 15 years later and still could not find a consistent salesperson to take the burden off of him. The problem is also that my dad has high standards. He’s your typical salesman in that he loves talking to people, but he is also great at backing off people when the time fits. My first experience with what he was talking about was in high school, he would tell me that his job was basically to call someone, have them say no, swear at them under his breath, hang up, and call someone else. Quite humorous to an immature teenager, but it also scared me off of sales. It also made me question how he was able to support our family, but he never showed it. Side note: once I took my internship and realized the highs and lows of sales, I understood, but back to my father.

He would always train me without me really realizing it how people talked and how to recognize them and how they were trying to sway me. For example, throughout the recruiting process, I was enamored with Grove City but he was there to make sure that I also understood the drawbacks (even though he himself was enamored). He brought up the fact that the baseball coach at the time also coached football and how that could negatively impact my development as a baseball player. This summer, I met with one of my best friend’s dad and he was the first person to tell me that my dad is the greatest salesman he’s ever known. I was shocked because of how often my dad complained about sales. However, it helped change my viewpoint to the fact that sales is still not a bad way to make a living.