I have been a marketer throughout my adult life. I have witnessed, experienced and practised both ethical and unethical aspects of marketing. There was a time that I under performed as a marketeer. I still remember how underachieved sales targets created a significant deficit month after month and how stress was eating me alive. In Spring 2012 (April), I was asked to leave my job. I was given various reasons, but I knew it was because I was under performing.
*Leaving this note to let you know that I am sharing my life experiences with people who have bigger dreams. I don’t have much to offer for chronic complainers and negative people in fact I stay away from them.
I was 22 in 2009. I got a job interview for a delivery boy at a furniture shop specialising in beds. I was a mediocre immigrant student who had enough issues on my plate; most — as unsurprising as it sounds — were financial issues. Yet, I always thought earning money was not the answer, instead I wanted to learn how to make money. Somehow, I was offered the job with a very low salary. I had only two days off to attend college. I knew I wouldn’t have any holidays; no time for friends; no parties; no night clubs. I wouldn’t have anything to show off, but I accepted the offer. I felt that the owner knew how to make money. So I wanted to learn it too. At the interview, I told him the exact same thing.
I was always grateful for every little thing I got in life, so I did everything I could for this company. It was 2011, and I thought this could be the biggest furniture company in London in the next 15 years, and I wanted to be a part of it. I truly loved the company, but working there wasn’t easy.
My daily tasks involved loading and unloading deliveries from supplier containers, storing goods in our warehouse, and deliveries. Delivering furniture in the cold winter was a mission. Our warehouse was a small one, so you have to make use of every space you had. My warehouse line manager was also my owner’s brother. I learnt many things by just observing how he utilised the little space we had. I always thought why we can’t utilise time the same way we utilise the little space we had.
After the deliveries, I sorted out paperwork and rearranged the stock. I wanted to use my after-delivery hours for something productive, similar to what the warehouse manager did with the limited space. At the front of the warehouse — which was once a showroom, in fact, the first showroom they operated — we displayed certain beds, but this section didn’t generate much sales.
I thought to myself: This was a money making showroom at one point. So, why can't we make money now? And after eight months of working as a delivery boy, I decided to turn our little warehouse in Wembley (North West London) into a money making showroom.
No one heeded it when I told them that I was going to make it a money making showroom.
“Son, do you know how to eat an elephant?” the owner asked me once, “bite by bite” he told me.
So I took my first bite, starting with subverting their mentality. We had a big wooden tool box, which was placed right in the middle of the warehouse. Everyone knew what it was, but the box was a total mess. To start with, I spent about 6 hours at a stretch, tidying it, and decluttering it; until it was the neatest tool box on the planet.
I knew that the owner was watching me on CCTV and he must have thought I was just killing my time. Next day, when the warehouse manager came in, he was surprised, and he told me that he had never seen that box in such a condition.
The owner told him that this boy — myself — spent the entire evening sorting out this box. He admired my work and dedication. I just wanted to fuel their brains with excitement — the feeling of newness, or the feeling that something’s brewing. Since then, I was focused on fostering the belief that we are going to sell beds here, and we are going to start making money. Eventually, it worked!
I got permission from the owner to display a couple of beds from the stock and also to keep the keys for the warehouse with me so I can work extra hours sorting out the shop floor. Owner’s brother and I used to go on deliveries, and my questions to him revolved around work; all I asked him was how did they promote beds in their first showroom (our current warehouse). So I implemented the same things they did earlier. Slowly but surprisingly, everyone started admiring my dedication, and respected my work. Everyone helped me keep the warehouse nice and organised.
I started selling beds in my tracksuit, wearing an unavoidably weary face, by which our customers knew how hard I worked. In fact I didn’t sell beds to clients; they bought beds from me. I trusted my product line, and all I did was bring clients in with my marketing tactics, so the products sold by themselves.
The owner was gifted with common sense. So he supported me. He spent money, refurbished the warehouse, and he fixed some new shelves so I can display more items. He taught me how to up-sell. In a few months, I made the warehouse a money-making showroom while carrying out our daily tasks. On many weekends, I had a higher turnover than other showrooms did. I was broke but happy and excited. These were additional tasks, so I had to do extra hours with no extra pay. My friends thought I was a slave and I thought they were lazy bastards. I knew I was learning a lifetime lesson.
Then the unfortunate happened. Following the sales I achieved, I was promoted as a salesman. I was given a bigger showroom to manage. I left from what I built and loved. This was the big mistake.
I thought becoming a store manager was something big, which brought me unnecessary pressure. At the warehouse, I was at ease, selling beds in my tracksuit. But as a store manager, wearing a full suit, I was anxious. For the first time, I had to compete with other salesmen. When I was at the warehouse, there was no one to compete with me. But now, it’s different. I forgot that I was a true performer. Instead, I wanted to change myself, so I can compete with other salesmen: improve my vocabulary; be smarter; fix my smile; crack some silly jokes; be super polite even if the clients are taking the piss.
I forgot that I was good at building a buying atmosphere. Influential or aggressive selling wasn’t for me. I was too late to realise this. Human race does not fall into silly marketing techniques, in most cases, clients just buy from you because they don’t have a choice.
Honestly, I didn’t like the new showroom. I didn’t like the existing marketing strategy. It was fuelling negative energy within me. Who was I to think that way? My primary concern should have been to achieve the given targets, and just do my job. Later, I realised that It’s fun to sell what you love to sell but if not, start loving what you sell until you find what you deserve to sell. Sometimes you have to be passionate about the art of selling, not the product or the company.
I was under performing for about six months. I made millions of complaints to the management to cover my inability. My brain got addicted to complaining. I only saw what I don’t have. I never saw what I already had. And once your brain enters the complaining mode, it’s a brutal disaster. I created a negative vibe in the showroom and within me; following that, everybody started believing that this shop was not going to perform. At the warehouse, I got everyone to believe that the warehouse was going to make money even before it made money. And here, the opposite of that.
While I was under performing and trying all the wrong ways to be a classy salesman, I was sacked with no money in my bank account, which I now believe, happened for my own luck. It was a lesson I learnt, one that I needed to learn.
One day, I was asked to come to the previous warehouse. I was told that I was no longer needed. it was painful because I was so in love with this place. I asked the owner, “don’t you count what I did for this company?,” he replied, “son it’s not what you did, it’s about what you are doing.” (I love his wisdom to date.)
He was right. The lesson was clear. You have to start utilising what you have, and build resources you want as you go. Don’t wait until resources come to you. Stop complaining and hit the targets. And most importantly, don’t lose the faith you have in you.
When I was laid off, I didn’t know what I was going to do next, but I decided that I am not going to work for anyone ever again. All I wanted was to, improve and utilise what I learnt. And I did it.
If you want to be a bad ass salesman, remember this: marketing is not selling anything to anyone at your will. It’s about selling the right thing to the right one at the right price. Remember, after all, you have to go home and have a peaceful sleep, so make sure you do the right thing.
Thanks for your time.
Hasitha Rodrigo
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