The Life of A Salesman

     Being a salesman isn’t easy.  I’m sure all of you would agree with that.   We don’t have the normal sanity that comes with most nine to five jobs.  How many times has someone said something to the effect of “You’re in sales? I could never do that. How can you stand that?”.  Yet we go on and ride the rollercoaster that is the life of a salesman each and everyday.  We are a rare breed indeed.  Lets face it; we’re different.

      I often jokingly tell people that being a salesman is a lot like being an offensive lineman in football because we are both in the trenches all day , getting beat up and nobody respects what we do.   That’s a  fair comparison right? What I have found though , is that once someone gets past the initial novice phase and starts to taste sales success, the taste of sales achievement is the sweetest taste there is.   Once you’ve had times where you are  the top producer at your company and you’ve gotten to where you start making the kind of money you always wanted to make,  its hard if not impossible to do anything else but sell for a living.  There are a lot of good things about selling that make it a wonderful and fulfilling occupation. There are the adrenaline rushes you get when you are closing sales, the sense of accomplishment you get from hitting goals, the substantial paycheck that is much higher than most of us would earn doing anything else, and the service you get when you sell products that customers benefit from for a great value.

            So even though we all know that selling is a great career, we have to face the truth and acknowledge that it is also a rough ride full of challenges, and if you don’t have the right attitude  it’s easy to crumble.   Believe me, I have seen it happen . I’m sure you have too.  The turnover is always extremely high in any sales job.  Much higher than other professions.  Attitude is everything in life and if someone is going to be a successful sales pro, they must have a powerfully positive attitude.  Lets face it, sales is mentally exhausting. It’s not for people who are negative and mentally weak.  We’ve all had those times where we can’t seem to get on a roll and it’s frustrating. Those times  are going to come, and they will come at unpredictable times.   Sometimes they come at crucial times when you need some sales to hit your monthly goal.  It’s up to you if you snap out of it and make it a rough hour or couple of hours instead of a rough day or week.  It’s easy to get down. The best thing to do is to sit back and think about some positive experiences you had recently where you were selling everyone you talked to.  When you control your emotions like that and get back on a roll, you feel great and then you have those times in your memory bank for the next time you start thinking negatively.  If you are going to be successful at selling there are going to be lots of ups and downs.  You must stay positive and confident.  When you feel good, you project that positive energy to your customers and they return with a positive attitude which then leads to a sale.

            The life of a salesman really isn’t easy.   We have a lot of stress, uncertainty , challenges and rejection to put up with.  It’s a life we know though, and a life we choose.   I can’t speak for you, but it’s the only life I want to live.   When I think of this I think of a  quote from Zig Ziglar when he says that people buy “when the benefits outweigh the costs.” To me, the benefits far outweigh the costs, and I enjoy being a salesman.  Being a salesman isn’t an easy life, but nothing worthwhile is easy, and when you look around you will see that overall, being a salesman is a great life.  Zig Ziglar also challenges people to “walk away from selling......if you can.”  He means that those who have it in their blood and stick with it through all the rough times are true salesman who can handle the rollercoaster and lead a  good life.  So ,  I hope after reading this you realize more than ever that you’re cut out for sales.  I am confident that you are. After all , if you’re taking your time to read my article on this site, you’re the type that couldn’t walk away from sales.  If you could have you would have done it by now........