Ok Guys,
Not sure what to do or what's up with my manager. Or maybe i'm just not cut out for sales anymore (sigh).
I've been doing PC sales now for 2 yrs for a mid-sized independent.
Whether your argument is that sales can be a lucrative career, or that it is soul-sucking and hopeless. Not sure at this point. I sell insurance– or at least, I try– and each day, I leave my desk wondering if I should even bother coming back the next day.
Once a month, the company president asks me when my numbers will go up. Once a month, I explain to the company president that out of ten ‘prospects,’ three are out of business, four do no not speak English, one is insured by our competitor, one says he or she isn’t interested, and one will let my call go to voice mail. Each month, I out-call the other sales person with whom I was hired by 160 or more calls. Each month, two of my clients prematurely end the quoting process because they are sick of supplying more and more information to my underwriter. My underwriter tells me one figure for a premium, and my supervisor tells me another. The company president tells me I can sell a particular program in a particular state, and my supervisor tells me I cannot sell that particular program in that particular state. The company president tells me we may have to re-evaluate my employment if my sales don’t go up, and my underwriter refuses to let me issue a multi-million dollar policy at a premium that would literally secure my job for the next two months. (Uggh).
What’s really ridiculous is that the company president wasn’t even aware of a deal-breaking exclusion on the policy until I told him about it. I learned of this exclusion after four months of selling the policy. The president oversaw the company for six years before I brought the exclusion to his attention.
I love the concept of insurance. I see insurance as the US’ ultimate victory: we, as a nation, have capitalized upon the concept of communism. Premiums and claims = ‘Each gives according to his ability, and each receives according to his need.’ I love the contracts, the details, the math, the language.
Outside my sales job, I’m a painter, and a bartender. I make more money per hour at my bar job than I do at my sales job. I only took the sales job because I don’t want to be forced to keep the bar job forever, and let’s face it: there is no job security in liberal arts.
People who succeed in sales are a necessary part of the US economy. I don’t intend to bash the position. Sure, my belief is that success in sales relies on manipulation and luck. It’s a capitalist economy, so if someone can make a buck by manipulating someone else at an opportune moment, then great: have at ‘er.
I don't know...maybe i'm just having a bad couple of months. But lately, sales leaves me wondering day after day where I will be in two months, two years, two decades. Sure, like Miley Cyrus said, “It ain’t about how fast I get there; it ain’t about what’s waitin’ on the other side; it’s the climb,” but sales is a brittle, rotting branch sticking out of the side of my life’s metaphoric cliff, and I don’t know how much longer I can hang on.
Thank you, again, for everything you guys have written.
Not sure what to do or what's up with my manager. Or maybe i'm just not cut out for sales anymore (sigh).
I've been doing PC sales now for 2 yrs for a mid-sized independent.
Whether your argument is that sales can be a lucrative career, or that it is soul-sucking and hopeless. Not sure at this point. I sell insurance– or at least, I try– and each day, I leave my desk wondering if I should even bother coming back the next day.
Once a month, the company president asks me when my numbers will go up. Once a month, I explain to the company president that out of ten ‘prospects,’ three are out of business, four do no not speak English, one is insured by our competitor, one says he or she isn’t interested, and one will let my call go to voice mail. Each month, I out-call the other sales person with whom I was hired by 160 or more calls. Each month, two of my clients prematurely end the quoting process because they are sick of supplying more and more information to my underwriter. My underwriter tells me one figure for a premium, and my supervisor tells me another. The company president tells me I can sell a particular program in a particular state, and my supervisor tells me I cannot sell that particular program in that particular state. The company president tells me we may have to re-evaluate my employment if my sales don’t go up, and my underwriter refuses to let me issue a multi-million dollar policy at a premium that would literally secure my job for the next two months. (Uggh).
What’s really ridiculous is that the company president wasn’t even aware of a deal-breaking exclusion on the policy until I told him about it. I learned of this exclusion after four months of selling the policy. The president oversaw the company for six years before I brought the exclusion to his attention.
I love the concept of insurance. I see insurance as the US’ ultimate victory: we, as a nation, have capitalized upon the concept of communism. Premiums and claims = ‘Each gives according to his ability, and each receives according to his need.’ I love the contracts, the details, the math, the language.
- I do not love the constant pressure vice formed by my manager and my underwriter.
- I didn’t go to college for four years to have every Debbie, Carol, Cheryl, and Donna in the US hang up on me.
- I didn’t ace every language arts exam I ever took, or read entire books in a single day, or ‘Wow!’ my journalism professor with every piece I ever wrote just to be 2nd in sales to a colleague who misspells the words in the subject lines of the emails he sends to clients.
- I am more educated, articulate, and reasonable than most of the ‘prospects’ who reject me on a daily basis.
Outside my sales job, I’m a painter, and a bartender. I make more money per hour at my bar job than I do at my sales job. I only took the sales job because I don’t want to be forced to keep the bar job forever, and let’s face it: there is no job security in liberal arts.
People who succeed in sales are a necessary part of the US economy. I don’t intend to bash the position. Sure, my belief is that success in sales relies on manipulation and luck. It’s a capitalist economy, so if someone can make a buck by manipulating someone else at an opportune moment, then great: have at ‘er.
I don't know...maybe i'm just having a bad couple of months. But lately, sales leaves me wondering day after day where I will be in two months, two years, two decades. Sure, like Miley Cyrus said, “It ain’t about how fast I get there; it ain’t about what’s waitin’ on the other side; it’s the climb,” but sales is a brittle, rotting branch sticking out of the side of my life’s metaphoric cliff, and I don’t know how much longer I can hang on.
- What's wrong with me....am i expecting too much?
- Am i not cut out for "intangible sales"...maybe i should be selling Real Estate?
- Anyone else been at their cross-road before in PC sales?
Thank you, again, for everything you guys have written.