Throughout my sales experience which has just gotten to it’s one year anniversary, I can’t help but recall all the “fails” that have occurred throughout my experience. Listed are upon some of the worst “fails” I’ve had selling Cutco Cutlery.
- Driving to a client’s house 1 hour away and realizing I was 1 day early
- Showing up to a client’s house and realizing my knives were dirty with VARIOUS foods I had previously cut up (gross!)
- Sneezing almost every sentence because of the amount of CATS the prospect had (I’m allergic). We had to do the rest of the demo outside.
- Using the bathroom during at someone’s house that didn’t have a door
- Forgetting about demonstrations and then last minute rushing to get to them
- Cutting myself (two different times)
- Showing up at the wrong house
- Mixing up 2 client’s orders ($1,000 order vs. $60)
- Not knowing if the prospect was male or female once
- 112 demonstrations with NO SALES
Throughout every fail, there is a new opportunity to learn and recover. Thus, we should all embrace our failures and recognize that it is normal (especially in sales) and that the situation can ONLY get better.
BoweryJE22
This is so awesome! It’s easy to talk about sales successes, but it’s much harder to talk about failures in sales. Your post here is super honest and real, and I appreciate you taking the time to write about this aspect of sales—an aspect a lot of people shy away from.
I appreciate your transparency. Don’t be afraid of failing, it will allow you to grow exponentially if you let it. Continuing to approach failing with humility will continue to serve you well going forward.