Birth of a Salesman - Short story

Here's something I wrote a while back for for my old company blog... Enjoy

Becoming a salesman

We’re always closing, because if we’re not selling, we’re being sold to. This defines each part of our lives, from the deals that allow us to buy that car, or pay for that holiday, to being in a bar and trying to take that girl home. We’re constantly selling, so what makes us like this?

Everyone in the industry remembers the day, the day they went from being a “Normal” person to being a salesman. People think the change is gradual but I’m here today to tell you; it’s not, it’s immediate. It’s something that every great and true salesperson can pin point, it’s one moment, one decision, one action and one memory that shapes your destiny.

It was like every Saturday morning; my uncle woke me up at 6am and told me to get ready for work. My uncle owned a chain of ladies fashion stores throughout NYC and every weekend he’d take me to work with him “to learn about real life” we’d go from store to store checking the standards, making sure that the place looked tidy, checking the previous days takings and giving the staff their targets for the week.

First store we went to was in the Jamaica coliseum mall, which was more like a British market then a mall, this was always my uncles favourite store as this was where he started his empire. We walked in did our standard checks, my uncle made me brush the front of the store and check the stock pile in the back, but this day was different, there was something wrong, my uncle came over to me red faced and visibly irate, he said we have to stay here for a while. Apparently his competitor had poached one of his best salesman and now we were a man down on our busiest day of the week. My uncle decided that I would work there for the day selling, I knew everything about the clothes so who better. He was right I knew everything about the clothes from the designers to the fabric. He gave me $10 for lunch and left.

The store manager was a lady called Sharifa, she’d been working with my uncle for 5 years and was like family, she told me to watch her and see how she approached the customers. Our first customers were two large middle aged African American women, they looked angry and were talking loudly about their kids that they apparently hated. Sharifa approached them with a smile on her face.

Sharifa: How are you ladies today?

Lady 1: We’re good Honey, just looking!!

Sharifa: Ok, if you want me to show you this week’s new range let me know I’ll be over here and sorry if I sound a little tired, my nephew kept me up all night

Both the ladies smiled at Sharifa,

Lady 2: New range?

That was it Sharifa had turned them, now the ladies were interested, they wanted to know how long the range had been out, who the designers were, what sizes we had and HOW MUCH? This was it, we had a policy of not putting prices on our new ranges at the time and this was the first time I realised why.

Sharifa: They’re $130 each but if you’re both buying, I’ll see what I can do.

The ladies started talking, they both tried the dresses on and to be honest they both looked like Christmas trees, they asked each other how they looked, then asked Sharifa, to which she replied “You ladies look fabulous” they both brought a dress each and carried on shopping in the store, in the end they spent $400 between them, it was 9.10am and Sharifa had made $400 I was amazed.

Sharifa: Now your turn, next customer that comes in is yours. Remember what I did, listen to them, know where they’re coming from, then find a common ground

This was easy for Sharifa to do, she was a woman in her late 30’s, but for me? I was 13 year old boy

So in came a short middle aged Spanish lady with her 8/9 year old son, she started looking at some sale items, her son was restless and started tap kicking the dresses, I walked over and smiled

Me “Hi, how are you today?

Lady: Just looking

Me: Ok, well if you want to see the new range, let me know I’ll be over here

The lady carried on looking at the sales rack then walked out, without even acknowledging me or Sharifa. Sharifa then told me, some people are buyers and some people are browsers, but everyone can be sold to! Why else would they come to the mall?

This made no sense to me, if some people were browsers how could everyone be a buyer? Another lady came in also looking at the sales rack, sharifa walked over and said “You’re a size 6 right? The lady nodded her head and Sharifa immediately started looking through the rack while talking to the lady about how she loves sales and always waits until after Christmas to buy her presents, the lady seemed happy. She ended up spending around $70 and left happy.

Sharifa: you got to know what type of buyer you have, the first ladies that came in, they both had expensive hand bags, had their nails done and both seemed well turned out, they were here to shop, they’ve been working all week and now wanted some retail therapy. This lady that just left, she looked like she was just browsing, but if she saw something that she liked she would buy, why else would someone come to the mall on a Saturday. Remember we’re one of the first stores in the mall that these people will come into, so we have to sell to them before they move on and spend their money elsewhere.

I understood what she was saying, our store was right next to the entrance off Jamaica avenue, most people used this entrance to come into the mall, but how was I supposed to sell to these people if they had so many stores to explore after ours

My uncle then called the store and asked to speak to me

Uncle: How you getting on?

Me: Good

Uncle: Okay I’m not going to pay you, but if you make sales, I’ll give you 10% of anything you bring in

Sharifa had just finishing making another $500+ of sales, the store was now on $2300 for the day and it was only 11am, I looked at the clock again and then looked at the takings, $2300 if I had made all these sales I would have $230 and the midday rush hadn’t even started. $230 seemed like a fortune to me, I could buy the sneakers that I had been pestering my uncle for, a new Colombia jacket, I could even go to McDonalds after school with the rest of my friends. I was motivated

The store started getting busy and I started walking around, making eye contact with customers and asking them about their day, I was determined, I just wanted to sell them clothes, the new Jordans were in my grasp. "Size 6?" Okay I’ll be right back, I started with Sharifas patter but by 4pm I had developed my own, the women loved me because I was so young and seemed to know a lot about the designers. My first sale was for $90 a lady that didn’t really need selling to, she loved the dress and all I had to do was bag it up. Sharifa told me that I let her slip away, the dress needed a jacket, a belt and maybe a scarf, she told me to upsell, to give them the complete package. My next sale was $70 before I realised what she was saying, then $200, $130, $300 I was on heater, after each sale I added up how much I had made and by the end of the day I’d counted $190 I was ecstatic, I realised I hadn’t eaten all day and still had the $10 my uncle gave me.

My uncle came to the store at 7.45pm, we were just getting ready to close, wrapping up our last sales. He looked at me talking to some customers and smiled, he asked Sharifa for the takings and called me over, counted out $200 and handed it over to me, telling me I did well, I then told him I only made $190, he said the extra $10 was from him. I counted the money and pulled out $20 handed it back to my uncle and told him I didn’t need the extra $10 and was giving him his $10 back that he gave me for lunch because I had my own money now. My uncle smiled and said well done son, let’s go get some food.

My Aunty was at home so my uncle called her from the store and said we’re going to get take out Chinese and asked her what she wanted. We drove home stopping at the Chinese, placed the order, which came to $15, my uncle went into his pocket to pay, I quickly took out a $20 bill and handed it to the owner. Both my uncle and the owner laughed and looked at me with pride. The sense of pride that I felt at that point was overwhelming. I earned this money and now was putting food on the table for my family.

This was the point that I realised I didn’t want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer, I didn’t care much for space travel, nor did I have any aspirations of joining the NBA or NFL I was salesman and wanted to become the best salesman I could be.