My first sales job was door-to-door selling house painting services

My first sales job was door-to-door selling house painting services.

‍

Holy sh*t, reflecting back...I learned a lot of lessons that summer that I use to this day.

‍

👇

‍

I'm 19 years old. It's 2008. I'm with my first sales manager, Barry.

‍

I sold $101k worth of house painting services that summer. Made almost $30k in profit. #1 rep in the state, top 2% nationwide.

‍

And most importantly, I learned that I love sales.

‍

Here are the lessons that have stuck:

‍

✅ Nothing good comes without rejection

‍

I ran my business in Brookings, OR. My hometown. Population: 6.7k.

‍

Must've knocked on nearly a thousand doors that summer.

‍

35 projects closed

125 sales calls completed

~1,000 doors knocked

‍

I thought I could handle rejection. But damn, this tested me.

‍

I interrupted dinner time, weekend projects, and more. Hundreds of no's and doors slammed in my face.

‍

Starting Outbound Squad wasn't any easier.

‍

Lesson: The path to everything you want in life is paved with rejection

‍

✅ Own your price

‍

The avg. paint job at the time was ~$2,500. But the largest deal I closed was around $12k.

‍

I was nervous closing that one.

‍

My sales manager gave me the best advice: "Own the price. Don't be shy about it."

‍

The homeowners didn't even hesitate. Closed it on the spot and walked away with a check (and a big sh*t eating grin on my face).

‍

This advice has helped me close multiple six-figure deals at Outbound Squad.

‍

Lesson: If you're the most expensive option, OWN it

‍

✅ The beauty of cold calling is the ***predictability***

‍

Cold outbound is hard. But it's incredibly predictable.

‍

There are only a few things that can happen during a cold call:

‍

1) You get hung up on

2) You get a brush off (not interested, send email, etc)

3) You get a legitimate objection (using a competitor, pricing, etc)

4) You book the meeting

‍

Lesson: Practice so much that you can't get it wrong

‍

✅ Don't be selfish, share what's working

‍

I was a top performer for most of that year. At first, I was reluctant to share best practices.

‍

My thinking: "If I share what's working for me, another rep could use that to beat me!"

‍

It was selfish. I learned what it meant to be a team player, a world-class competitor, and a great leader that year.

‍

Rising tides raise all ships.

Lesson: When you help elevate others, you elevate yourself

‍

~~~

‍

What lessons did you learn from your first sales job? What's stuck with you to this day?

‍

Check out the rest of my conversation with LevelUp Leads here

‍

‍

‍