An Introduction

I'd like to start this blog by informing you of something: I'm probably the last person in the world you would expect to receiving advice on employment from. I'm twenty-one years old, in the last year I have held two (or so) jobs, and I am comtemplating leaving my current place of employment. This is partially the reason I wanted to start this blog.

Currently, I manage a retail store. In my previous job, I was an assistant manager at a retail store. I've been in customer service for about six years, and I'm honest when I say I enjoy almost every facet of my job. I find two reasons why I am happy in these types of positions: I like to work with people, and I like to sell. I find that I am an exceedingly good salesperson. I've been told so by former and current bosses, customers, friends, family, and countless numbers of people I have met in my personal and professional life. I could sell a pork loin to a Rabbi; I could sell salt to a snail, water to a submarine captain, so on and so forth. Don't mistake "salesperson" for "people person," because I can assure you I am not. In fact, most people that I come across in my day to day life are--at best--barely tolerable. However, I have this ability to remove myself from that in a sales situation, and concentrate solely on customers' needs in relation to the product that I am selling. This, apparently, makes me great with people.

When I say that I like working with people, I mean I like trying to figure out what makes people tick and how I can get them to do what I want. Whether this is cleaning my messes at the end of the day or selling three new cell phones for a family of two, people fascinate me, and I find that getting what I want out of them is relatively easy.

These two seemingly odd facets of my personality have made me an "in demand" person in my small circle of professional contacts. It's not that I could walk into any store around and have a job that night; rather, I know that I could walk into any store and sell myself into a position that maximizes my talents and maximizes the company's bottom line. From the basics of my resume right up to the way I address the store manager, district manager, regional vice president, or whomever I interview with, I have worked every detail into showing how great of a salesperson I am. Once I have secured a position, I utilize all of my talents to show that I am indispensable to my employer.

WAIT A MINUTE

You may find yourself asking at this moment how--if I am such an amazing sales person--I am still only a store manager and not a distict manager, regional vice president, or some other position higher on the ladder. That I can answer that simply: I'm twenty-one. What's more than that, I hold no college degree, and my performace as a store manager is still fluctuating as I acclimate to all the responsibilites that are piled on top of an already demanding sales process I have adopted. Also, I get bored--rather easily. It's a flaw, and we'll get into it later.

Six years working on sales floors selling things like cell phones, TV's, shoes, clothing, and other items have taught me that I have what it takes to succeed in a sales-based career, and it has also shown me that some people just are not suited for this type of work. With that in mind, here is what I am going to set out to show you on my blog:

How to identify whether or not you are a salesperson
How to get a sales job
How to succeed at a sales job
How to move in the industry

I will be talking a lot about "must-see behaviors," which basically means things within yourself that make you an asset to any given company. These must see behaviors (or MSB's) include things like energy, motivation, enthusiasm, and endurance. If you don't relate to any of these words, you can navigate away from this page now. Without these MSB's, you are worthless on a sales floor. Let me throw a few scenarios at you to prove my point:

You walk into a popular clothing store. For the sake of the argument (and to avoid getting a lawsuit), let's call it Soviet Turkey. The music is blasting, people are all over the place, all the new product is in your face paired with some unbeatable sales, and suddenly a person with an earpiece appears in front of you asking, "Can I help you?"

What's your first response? "No, thanks, just looking." Come on, you know I'm right.

A bad salesperson (and the type you usually find at these types of establishments) will say, "okay," and walk away. This leaves you free to amble your way through the sale racks and head on over to the shoe department, probably missing all your sizes in the stuff you liked, and you get to leave the store in five minutes, completely dissatisfied.

A mediocore sales person will try to start a converation with you. You don't exactly know how, but you quickly become immersed in a deep conversation about how this random teenager's favorite sports team absolutely blew it last night, and you find yourself nodding blindly, trying to seperate yourself from this person so you can get to your favorte cut of jeans and be done with this place.

Now, a good salesman does something very different. While it may start with something like, "Okay, well my name's Boris, and I'll be right over here if you have any questions," there is no way you are getting away that easy. Boris has his eye on you, and he's going to notice everything you pick up, or even glance at. In about a minute, Boris will be back, saying, "Hey, I know you're just looking, but I wanted to show you something you just can't pass up."

Did you see that? Boris just invested himself in you. He cares about what you want, and apparently he has something that you cannot live without. You better check this out in case oxygen is going on sale somewhere near the back. Who knows when that will be in limited supply!

You're now hopelessly following Boris around the store, his puppet as he asks you qualifiying questions. He will never ask you a yes or no question, but will instead keep his questions open ended so he can keep the conversation going. "How do you like your jeans to fit?"

"What size do you wear?"

"What is your favorite color?"

Holy crap, how did he do that? Without even realizing it, you just spent forty-five minutes in between a sales floor and a fitting room, and now you're reaching for your platinum card because nothing else in your wallet can handle the disgusting amount you are about to be paying twenty-seven-point-three annual interest on. In fact, Boris even had to recruit three lackeys to help you take all your bags to the car. Only two questions remain: what did he slip into your water bottle, and how the hell are you going to explain this to your significant other, your parents, or whomever else is checking out your cash flow?

The one question that is not on your mind: what did you miss in that store? NOTHING, because Boris made sure you saw everything, and that can be proven by the polka dot boxers that you couldn't pass up because they would, strangely, look great on your uncle Henry. He made sure you saw every department, and everything you looked at in that department was picked up and handed too you like a gift. What is truly amazing, though, is that you're not the only sucker that walked through those doors in that three quarters of an hour. While you were trying to squeeze your size eight legs through a size four skinny leg, he was out talking to four other people and loading them up with all their "must have" crap. Guess who is going to be called out on a district-wide conference call tomorrow? Yep, you guessed it, Boris' boss!


Did you notice the must-see behaviors? He was moving with you, he was always talking, and at the same time he was always listening. While it's obvious now that he was really just trying to get an amazing sale, at the time he seemed like he was only concerned with making you happy and making sure you had the "complete solution."

Do you want to be a Boris? Do you think you have what it takes? Well then, my friend, you'd better grab your favorite soda pop and keep on reading. Pop this link into your aggregator and friend me on Twitter, because if you follow this blog, I can promise you that you will pick up some very good advice on getting a job and how to become this indispensable part of a sales team.

Until next week!