Who here has (or has had) a Sales job?

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Space
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11 Jun 2006, 8:53 pm

^^topic



spacemonkey
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11 Jun 2006, 11:19 pm

I had a sort of sales job, but not anything agressive(I didn't really have to sell the products), it was unique in that I saw mostly the same customers everyday.
It was a pretty intense social environment at times with maybe twenty or more customers hanging around chatting and making jokes. I found it somewhat rewarding, just because I like challenging myself, and it forced me to become a little more outgoing. But ultimately it was not something I would want to do long-term.


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nyny
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12 Jun 2006, 6:04 am

I work as a teller which is sort of a sales job. We're pushed to push products, etc to existing customers. I'll admit i initially hated it, but its not so bad. I kind of like the challenge, and it made me want to become a banker once i get better control of my Aspergers.



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12 Jun 2006, 5:47 pm

I've worked in Sales serving customers and everything. I now work in the background, I am the backbone as it were for a financial sales company, a better role to play than dealing with people IMO.


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TheCowSays
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15 Jun 2006, 7:00 pm

I was in sales for a while, did rather well too.



MrKnowItAll
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15 Jun 2006, 10:46 pm

I took a sales job once, figuring that it would help me develop social skills.

There is a story salesmen tell, that if you tie an order blank to a dog's tail, eventually the dog will come back with an order. You know what? It's not true.



trapped
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17 Jun 2006, 1:59 am

Hey.

I worked for Staples selling electronics. I found it to be too stressful. I sometimes found myself scared to ask the customers to buy an extended warranty (which was the most important thing to sell to a customer) for fear of them getting angry, but I managed to make it past my 3 months probation.

They decided after this that they wanted me gone. They saw me as naive, so they had a security guard pose as a cop and accused me of theft and threatened to have me arrested, trying to get me to admit to something I didn't do. I almost started crying (and I don't cry often) but I managed to get through a 4 hour interrogation without admitting to stealing something I never did (it was absolute hell, I felt completely sick afterwards). I told my Uncle, who promptly phoned Staples, threatening a lawsuit. He then phoned the police and told them of the security guard posing as a cop, and then the police phoned Staples. Never heard from them again. Bastards!

Yeah, don't shop at Staples. They are an evil company, and their managers suck.



Tekneek
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17 Jun 2006, 6:30 am

trapped wrote:
Yeah, don't shop at Staples. They are an evil company, and their managers suck.


Just from my personal experience, the managers at most national chain stores are bad people. I am sure there are some good ones out there, but I've never had to deal with them. Maybe that is why I have never needed to be aware of their existence, actually.

I have worked in a couple of roles that were 'sales' based. I absolutely hated it. I really have to be sold on a product/service myself before I can try to sell it to someone else. I can't "sell" something just because I am being paid to. I have to really believe in it.



summer
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17 Jun 2006, 7:08 pm

Dear trapped,

It's very disturbing what the manager did. I feel like crying.

Did you notify corporate about this manager at that branch? It could be done by phone or in writing. I could even help you if you like by getting the phone number and address and PMing it to you. Let me know. I was a customer at a Burger King and one of the managers there yelled at me and my boyfriend for something stupid. I wrote a letter in detail to that location and to corporate. They fired a crap load of people including that manager.

Did the police do anything?



summer
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17 Jun 2006, 7:15 pm

For the thread..... I worked in telemarketing sales when I was 18. I know... everyone hates telemarketers. On the bright side, I only called businesses.

They were going to fire me 3 weeks after I started. The day they told me, I sat next to the highest seller and listened. I copied her. My sales went way high. I even matched her some days.

For me, this was monumental considering that I could not get on the phone at my own house until I was 17.



trapped
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17 Jun 2006, 7:59 pm

Hey Summer.

It was actually 2 managers, but no, I never did anything about it. I wish I had, but that was a year and a half ago now, so it would be pretty pointless to bring the subject up now.

Because the Managers denied the whole thing, and the police only had my word to go on, they couldn't take any action against the security guard....

Oh well, what goes around comes around....hopefully....



summer
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18 Jun 2006, 7:28 am

Hey trapped,

I think your right, my friend. What goes around often does come around. Plus, those 2 managers have the "crazy factor" which would increase their chances of having something backfire on them. They're insane!!

I'm sure they'll do something stupid again and it'll be on the wrong person and they'll be taken down.



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06 Jul 2006, 12:39 am

I work as a cook at a pizza place, family kinda place, so I do most of the customer relations stuff, ie answering phones, talking with customers while robbing them blind... I mean taking cash... and taking orders for walkins. I kinda like it, I get good tips, until I get to familiar wth customers and say something stupid. Allof them either never come back or just kinda avoid me....

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Jennyji
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16 Jul 2006, 3:55 pm

I used to work as a sales person for Bed, Bath and Beyond and actually did pretty well there, but I think that's because I loved all the stuff they sold there so I got so enthusiastic talking about everything there that people would buy the stuff! However, the pay and hours were really crappy and I was so poor that I could barely afford to eat so I had to quit the job.

On the other hand, the job I had immediately after that was another sales job, but it was for an advertising company that was trying to sell advertising time for radio stations - I got fired after 5 days on the job because I was completely monotone over the phone, unenthusiastic and too wordy. Basically everyone there thought I was weird too. It was a horrible horrible experience and I'm actually thankful they fired me from that.

I've also done freelance PR as well, which surprisingly wasn't that bad because that involved mostly emailing newspapers/magazines/TV stations to get them to run a story about whatever we were trying to promote, and the only phone contact or in-person contact that it required was one-on-one, which I can handle - plus, that contact is usually pre-planned so it gave me plenty of time to prepare what I was going to say before hand. The problem with that job is that the guy I was working for decided to stop paying me for the work I was doing.

So the moral of the story, sales jobs are okay if you don't work for a complete A**hole and if you really really like talking about what you are selling. Other than that, I'd stay away from them because you run into a lot of mean people in that kind of work.



Steve_Cory
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17 Jul 2006, 11:18 am

I used to go from door-to-door and sell home interior candles; the kind that let off certain scents when lit. My favorite candle was "Apple Pie". Sometimes when I was bored and walking down the street, I would open up the jar and smell it. 8)



itfits
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28 Jul 2006, 12:11 am

I have had two "sales" jobs I sold cars and I sold parfume door to door I was horrible at both and was fired from both.
In my current job I also sell, however must of my sales start on the phone so by the time the client meets me in person they know that I am knowlegable and compentent in my field ,usually my clients need my knowlege as much as my services.


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