I pretty much always liked the challenge of sales but for some funny reason did better door to door with the Southwestern Co in my student days selling study guides (encyclopaedias!) than in an insurance or mobile phone office! Now, when I say I did 'better', I had about 4 weeks of 0 DAYS, out for at least 8 hours, 6 days a week, self-employed and wearing shorts. Even when I shadowed some of our selling superstars of the organisation - we both had zero days!!! Talk about cursed! Tim (Sales Team Leader); 'No Kathleen, if you think you're cursed you will be.' Nuff said. I did finally get selling 'the study guide' after weeks and weeks of selling off the nursery books we had to offer and spending several hours in interested person's homes in Rotherham, also being treated to family dinners (I am sure out of sympathy). Needless to say, I stuck with pernicious dedication to making my summer work a success and was the only student salesperson to have their sales increase at a steady and unshakeable gradient. I had also started smoking and cycling to work which for some crazy reason helped! Thus my 1998 gold certificate stands at working over 75 hours or more per week, collected profit of £2000 and some hard-won achievement. Now, despite being long-term disabled, I am entering into the world of English teaching as a non-smoking fitness freak who's will hopefully never have to cry behind a bush on a council estate again....:)
Thanks for sharing your story!
It was a fair while ago but the fact that I actually survived it has stuck with me through the 'tougher times!'.