Southwestern Sales Talk
I’ve heard from many of you that Matt Atchison’s material is helpful. He is doing an outstanding job as one of the Southwestern Company’s top District Sales Managers. I hope you enjoy his treatise on rejection….
Let me tell you about the worst rejection of my first summer.
I ran up to this house and there was a dad in the driveway washing his boat. I gave my approach to him and he stopped me short to let me know that I was talking to the wrong person. He said, “My wife is an educator so she deals with all that stuff. Go knock on the front door and she can help you.” So I jogged up to the door and knocked, stepped back and waited. She came to the door and she was a real cool mom. Let me right in and said she was very into education. I was hopeful. I gave my introduction and learned that she was indeed very into education. She had 2 PhD’s and she actually had started her own charter elementary school. (A school that cost over $15,000 a year for elem. kids!) So this lady was definitely an authority when it came to education. You will run into lots of these people.
I started to give my demo and after about 5 min she stopped me. She said very politely that she was not going to buy my books. I was like “ok”. This was nothing new, as I had heard ‘no’ from others before. But then she asked me if it was ok if she offered me some thoughts. I figured that wouldn’t be so bad as I packed up my sample books. She started off by saying something like this: “Matt, you are going to have a very tough summer here. You seem like a really nice kid with lots of potential. But I think you are in the wrong job. I own my own school, Matt. And I would not recommend one family in my school to buy these books from you. As an educator, that’s what I’m for. And our textbooks are good. I have a very hard time believing that I can’t find all of this somewhere on the internet. For free. Why would anyone pay for this? I would be surprised if you even have a family buy these books from you. $300 is a lot of money and people just don’t have $300 to blow on books. (She had a boat, remember.)” But I kept listening because she was being very nice about all this. She was very motherly. She continued: “And in this day and age, Matt, no one is going to let you into their door. I only let you in because you look nice. (This was right after 9/11) You should go back to Nebraska and get a job where you can actually make some money. Wait tables or something. If I were you I would get back into your little red car and go home today. This company is exploiting you. You are working these long hours out here banging on doors for them. There’s no way that your mom knows you are doing this right?! I would never let my child do this. Seriously Matt, you should go back home today.”
Ouch. I packed up my bag and thanked her tongue in cheek and ran to my car. When I got to my car I punched the steering wheel and cussed a lot. I was angry. Who was I angry at? Not her. Me. I remember feeling like I couldn’t believe that I had been duped into doing this job. What was I thinking by coming out here and doing this crazy book selling job?! I vowed to myself at that moment that there was no way that I would come back the following year. I was dead certain that she was right and that Southwestern would be out of business within a few years.
STOP.
Question: What part of the summer did this happen to me my first summer? Beginning, Middle or End?
Truth is that it happened in my last week. AFTER I had already made over $20,000 for my summer job!!!! And I believed her! That’s what is crazy about rejection. It will cause you to lose perspective and become irrational. How could I believe her that no one would buy? People had already bought that same day! It’s the “experts” that will give you this type of very logical rejection. Be careful.
The rest of the story is necessary too. After punching my steering wheel, what did I do? I went to the next door. With a crappy attitude. 2 hours passed with a bad attitude. I got in zero doors. Then I stopped for a minute and realized how poor my attitude had gotten. I decided that I was going to make a change so I threw some water on my face and said a prayer. I went to work with a new mindset. 3 doors later I got in. And guess what. The mom and her kids were totally into my books. The kids were in high school and they were in honors classes and they were definitely going to use the books to save time. Mom was pumped. She thanked me and told me how great of a job I was doing. She gave me a Coke for the road and she said, “Matt, you are going to do great here in Mendon. People are really into their kids and you’ll have a lot of families buy these. Thank you so much for stopping by and showing us these books. My kids are going to love them. Can’t wait to see you when you deliver!”
I walked out of the house and got into my car. Then it hit me. As I pulled out of her driveway, I looked down the street and saw that dad just finishing up washing his boat. I realized a very valuable lesson at that moment. Some get it. Some don’t. This lady who just bought from me totally got it. The teacher from earlier in the day did not get it. Oh well. The answer to every problem lies behind the next door. Make sure you go to it.
Do you have a similar rejection story to share? or a comment or solution that would help other readers? Be sure to comment!
great story and so very true too
thanks for sharing Matt and Lee!
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I thought of a rebuttal to this based on an “Itunes” analogy.
“You make some good points Mrs.Mom, but if you really think about it, the analogy is very similar to using iTunes. You ever buy anything off iTunes? You know there is no reason to ever buy anything off of iTunes. It’s all free somewhere else. In fact, at first glance, using the very same reasons you just pointed out, there should be no business model for iTunes. But in practice, the fact you can get everything on itunes free somewhere else has nothing to do with why people use iTunes. You use iTunes because its convenient, reliable, and you can trust the content. Do you really trust a lot of content on the internet? Is it really convenient? You see, the reason several hundred families have already bought my books this summer is not because the information in them isn’t available somewhere else, it’s because they offer convenient and quick access to concise and trustworthy content that is relevant to what the kids are doing in school.
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Good stuff Joel. Well done. Thanks for the input.
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This is a fantastic blog! What a simple, but incredibly important concept that we learn through selling with Southwestern, and then take with us off the bookfield. Gotta love those ‘experts’ too. We wouldn’t learn the same way without them. Off to the next door…
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Thanks Ryan. Keep on knockin’!
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Matt- awesome story, great lesson. This reminds me of a similar rejection story. It was my first summer and it was going well. But day to day rejections sometimes knocked my perspective off track.
One evening, mid-summer, after a zero day, I had just gotten chased onto the roof of my car by a doberman pincher. Its owner laughed at me from her porch. My sample case got peed on. When I collected it and zipped off the property I looked for the answer behind the next door. It was a nicer place and looked promising. The dad answered and stopped me mid-approach: “Kid, that was probably the worst pitch I’ve ever heard. You seriously go around spouting that stuff? I have plenty of sales guys working for me and believe me, I know what I’m talking about.” I just about lost it. “Man, I have had a lousy day, a dog just peed my bag and you’re gonna give me this?” I got in my car and peaced out.
I drove for a good 20 minutes avoiding the next house. It looked like an identical situation: nice house, know-it-all parents, another shut down. Despite the pit in my stomach and the lateness of the evening I knocked on the door. What a great family. 3 all-star athlete kids on the Honor Roll, parents well-established and well-liked in the community. And they totally loved my books. I finished the day with a burger sale from these folks and referrals. I remembered everyone loves my books, and yes the answer is behind the next door.
Rejection doesn’t go away in the real world or after college. It gets worse. It doesn’t get easier, it gets harder. But the answer to the worst of obstacles is behind the next door (or next institutional pitch), and the principles we picked up with SW propel us through life.
Who’s next?
Justin Wisz
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Thanks, Justin. Wow, you experienced some good stuff yourself on the bookfield. Thanks for sharing the story and the dose of reality.
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i really like showing my first years this story. i actually had a similar story my second summer in montgomery, nj. a mom was in a rush in the morning, told me to come back in the afternoon, sat down with me but already knew (or thought she knew) what i was doing. the books had been in the area before. after she gave me a few reasons why she wouldn’t need/use these books, she started asking me what my mother thought about what i was doing and how i wouldn’t be able to make money selling these cuz of the internet. nothing i said really changed how she viewed what i was doing, even when i told her i made $19k my first summer!
i got over it quickly b/c my mom is pretty proud of me for doing something this crazy and doing well and then also bc i have had so many great experiences already that far outweigh any others.
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I sold for 8 summers beginning in 1955. It was a great experience and provided me a foundation for a successful business career. I’ll always be grateful to Mr. Fred Landers and Mr. Spencer Hays for their influence on my life.
My best to all Southwestern people. Have a big summer one presentation at a time.
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Wow this article brings back memories of the book field my 2nd summer… I was having what I thought was a good day on the book field. It was in the afternoon and I stopped by this smaller red brick house in an older neighborhood. The mom sat with me on the front porch while I gave her my demo. She was hard to read couldn’t really tell if she was into it or not. Her kids thought the books were pretty cool. When I was finished, she said no, not for us. I thought, “no big deal, next house” to myself. I grabbed my book bag and jogged back towards my truck. Well about half way to my car I felt something and it was painful. They had a chocolate lab that chased after me when I jogged away and I hadn’t seen it before. It took a snap at my behind and took a huge chunk out of my shorts… All the mom said was ” Sorry, I still don’t want to buy any books!”
I got in my little red truck, unlike Matt, I did not punch the steering wheel, I am a girl, so I cried! I thought how am I going to sell anymore books today with a large piece of my shorts missing, and I was rather shaken up by that experiance. It took me a little bit to get going again and went to the next block and the coolest mom of the summer was at the next door. She invited me in for a sit down, I asked her for duct tape to fix my shorts, and turns out we were the same size so she let me borrow a pair of hers to get through the day. And she bought.The answer ALWAYS lies behind the next door. .Just keep knocking
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Great tale of perseverance, Janna! Thanks for sharing. The answer does lie behind the next door.
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Thats a great story, I had a mom lecture me cause she was a “teacher”, she said the School Set was not that great and so on. So when I asked her what school she taught at, she was like “oh im just a student teacher, I dont have a classroom yet” lol I wanted to bust out laughing but I just got in my car and left….Oh btw I’ve had my best day thus far after a “zero day” im in my 5th week…It sucks though cause then its just like I had two average days haha
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