My Ups and Downs of Sales (Some)

Cold Calling… I cannot stand it. It is not that I do not like to speak on the phone, or that I am afraid to speak to someone I have never met. It is the fact that you are reaching out to someone who 1. probably is not interested in talking to a salesperson and 2. probably is not interested in your product and 3. the success rate is extremely low. Now I may be a little biased because I worked an internship that required me to make between 25 and 50 calls every single day. I was miserable and in the end I only converted one customer successfully the entire summer, through cold calls.

Golf… one of my absolute favorite things about business. I am an avid golfer, but I had a ton of success selling by working a booth on a cold course, rather than actually playing with the potential clients. You would not believe the businesses that have website or IT issues. By working a business golf outing I was able to create many contacts and get business in a very laid back and fun atmosphere. There is also new opportunities for golf and business to collide outside of the standard golf outing. The opening of TopGolf has brought a group arcade style of golf with the possibility of a night life experience. This can be a great place to take clients or just have team building activity for your company.

Patience… in sales you have to have it. When I started last summer as an outside sales intern I struggled to produce in the beginning. It is really hard to hit the ground running in sales. You are going to take your lumps and that is okay. It happens to everyone. Eventually I did have a break through and made up for my short coming in the months before. You just have to keep grinding and doing things the right way, eventually someone will notice and you too will have that breakthrough.