How Do You Do Business?

At the end of the day, I will still be a customer. 

I was told that thought process when I first started out selling advertising....it isn't easy being told no when you have a great product but I always kept it light and fluffy (does that surprise you?) when I sold. I was never really into the hard sell and the cheesy car salesman approach. I did the best I could, I made them see why they should do this...but if they said no, I moved along. And at the very least I would be a customer...sometimes I would actually spend more money in there then I would ever see in commission  even before the sale was done because I liked them and their product. 

Now, that the tables are turned slightly and I am being sold TO a little... thanks to the city posting my information online (GRRR). The pitches have been interesting...they assume that I am a new business because my license is new so they try to tell me what I need...like a credit card terminal, one young (well, I think she was older) lady argued with me that I needed to hire her because I was new and needed help...A for Tenacity...but I remained patient and kind which is tough for me, but I know what they are going through.

I try to be as humane as possible for this reason alone, it is really not ok to be nasty to someone who has a viable product. Something that gave me confidence is that I was selling radio for the biggest (only) conglomerate in town.  I wasn't terribly deflated when someone say no, because it wasn't like I was pushing the local yocal Beacon. So if you said no, the answer was no...but some horror stories still haunt me to this day like:

1. The Wine Bar. The guy that yelled and screamed at me because he ran out of money to pay me...and that was my fault. He also belittled me at every turn. By the way if a hunky dory relationship suddenly goes way South for no reason and all the sudden you are on the bum end of everything that is wrong...a small red flag that they are about to cancel due to lack of funds. This falls under the real fun type of person that makes themselves feel better by making you feel like dirt. 

Status: Out Of Business...ha ha hee hee hoo hoo

2. The Sub Shop. When I walked in to this business, I kid you not she started screaming on the top of her lungs for me to get out. Who knew Hi I'm Darlynn from Black Crow, I would like to schedule an appointment with you regarding advertising (a suggested pitch, btw) would cause such insanity.

Status: Still in Business, but I will spend my last breath telling everyone to not go there.

3. The Sports Bar. Three guys walk into a bar  start a bar business and we hit it off swimmingly. It was a $$good$$ account and I turned a blind eye on extremely late (like midnight) calls regarding their ad...and that came to a screeching halt when they went MIA and stopped paying. Couldn't get near them to save my life, they owed me 3K which I was to receive 15%.

Staus: Out of Business and sadly the owner still lives in town. Not sadly, I drink a large amount of vodka and enjoy seeing him out. Because telling people the story when he is within earshot is yes, unprofessional but makes me feel so so much better. Not $500 better but close. 

That is three...I have three hundred...but the moral is-it is nice to be nice, that still holds true. 

How do you sell? How are you sold to?? 

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