Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Salesman 101

I had a small experience that happened approximately two months ago. I was actually being a door to door salesman. This was done in order to get rid of the unwanted items from my warehouse. This is due to the fact that online market has a totally different nature with offline market. Hence, not all items that sell very good in the conventional store could behave similarly in the online store. Being desperate by the condition, I decided to give it a go.

It was the first experience for me and it was very very very exciting, depressing, frustrating, and also full of fun. It was exciting and full of fun because I met a lot of people in that particular day. Of course I could understand the market condition better from the conversation with the people. However, it was depressing and frustrating since I was rejected for so many times in a very short period of time. Honestly, I have never experienced that many rejections in such short period of time in my life before.

At the end of the day, I forced myself to extract the essential lesson from that particular experience.
  • Try to study the market first before you actually become a salesman. One of the biggest reasons why I did not sell was actually my products. As Mr. Pontoh said, a product should have a unique selling point and provide reasons for customers to buy.
  • Just do it!! It was really hard for me to actually start the initial conversation in selling the products. I was worried that I would be thrown away from the stores. The fear of being rejected would always keep you under pressure and might lead to the result of not selling any of the products. But do not let this feeling overtake your guts.
  • The last lesson is: Do not think about the rejection too much =). I think being rejected is totally normal. Instead of thinking about the rejection, control your energy to speak with the people that reject you and ask them why they do not want the product. Find out the best solution from your customer in order to make your sales rolling.

In conclusion, I give all my salute to all the salesmen out there. It is not an easy task to be done. Keep your head up!!!

Please share us your unique experience as or in facing a salesman in your life.



David Herlambang

MarketingFirst

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