any sales people with Aspergers, and have overcome it?

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salesrep
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10 Jan 2009, 3:48 pm

I have been in sales for over 20 years. I love the excitement. Sometimes different BAD communication has gotten me in trouble. Can anyone relate?



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10 Jan 2009, 3:58 pm

I have done various sales positions, and found that my AS qualities actually made people more likely to buy from me than if my coworkers were to try to sell to them. That isn't my analysis, that is my dad's analysis.



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10 Jan 2009, 5:00 pm

Sales is a part of my job (Personal Trainer). I'm getting better at it through practice, but a big part relies on my comfort in my surroundings, and my confidence in my own abilities (both which are doing well and gettting better). I like this kind of sales job a lot more than a regular customer service job, where you deal with a lot of people that are already planning to buy what you are selling (i.e., register at a restaurant).



BoringAl
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10 Jan 2009, 5:08 pm

I worked sales for years. It worked well for me. I sold electronics and AV equipment, and computer stuff. This is a special interest for me so I could answer customers' questions very well. The challenge was knowing when to shut up.

I was also a good fit because I can sort or alphabetize things for hours very happily. I was never caught standing around because I was always stocking or sorting stock. I could spend a slow day entirely on straightening the CDs.

My downside was that co-workers found me bossy, and I would sometimes be too honest to customers...



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10 Jan 2009, 5:23 pm

Yeah, selling your interest is definitely a huge help, not just for being willing to sell, but for making sales, as if it is an interest of an AS person, they tend to have more product knowledge than the usual salesman (or a willingness to keep on learning).



ike
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10 Jan 2009, 6:25 pm

salesrep wrote:
I have been in sales for over 20 years. I love the excitement. Sometimes different BAD communication has gotten me in trouble. Can anyone relate?


You don't by chance sell software?


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ShyGorilla
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10 Jan 2009, 7:01 pm

I've been in retail for the past 15 years or so. The company I work for now I've been with for around 10 of those years. Luckily I've been blessed with a couple of understanding who, while not knowing about my AS (which I didn't even know about till a year ago), have been pretty supportive of me. Like BoringAl, during my downtime at work I busy myself with different projects. I've heard other employees call me a "work hog" because I tend to monopolize the projects I guess. My time with this company has given a lot of knowledge on the products we carry so people (even managers) tend to ask me about stuff. I was manager myself for a few years and while the money was better all of the stresses and all of that manager b.s. burned me out pretty quickly. I don't think I'll be going that route anytime soon. I haven't told my boss or anyone I currently work with about my AS, and I am comfortable with that for now.


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kip
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10 Jan 2009, 7:41 pm

Yea, I work sales. I sell computers and do repairs. I prefer the repairing, honestly, but I'll go on the floor if needed.

My boss just promoted me to asst. manager, though not really since there's only three of us here.

Computers are really my great love, and I tend to blab a bit about them, but I've not been told yet that this was a bad thing. Though, my boss does get a little peeved when I tell customers that somewhere else has a better price than we do, and they go there. Hell, I'm not paid on commission, so what do I care.


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Puggle
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10 Jan 2009, 7:48 pm

I've worked in sales / customer service since I left uni a few years ago. I think I have AS, but haven't been formally diagnosed yet.

I need some human interaction so sales is good. There are defined boundaries in a customer-salesperson relationship. People follow scripts. They don't always make sense, but they're usually predictable:

Me: "Hi, how are you today?" :D
Them: "Just looking thanks ...."


I'm not good with improvising. I'm not good at lying to people, even though I understand it's necessary sometimes. If I've stuffed up, even though I can fix it, people still get upset. I don't always know what words to say to make them stop worrying.

The people I work with are natural extroverts. Sometimes I get so jealous when I see how easily they "click" with other people. But they're good people and support me even though I'm a nerd and they're into makeup and shoes and chick-things. Without a good work environment, I don't think I could do my job.

I do struggle with communication though. Lately I've had a few people asking my bosses for clarification on things I've told them. I don't know if I talked to much and confused them, or if I didn't use the right words to make it clear, or if they just weren't listening.

I'm lucky my bosses don't get offended too easily. They asked for our opinions on a new policy at work. I told them that I really didn't like it and it was a bad idea. One of the other girls said that she thought the old way would be more effective, but since it's their business, she'll be happy to do whatever they choose. Her words were much more diplomatic than mine.

Another problem I have is face-recognition. It's really bad when I've talked to someone for half an hour, then have to go out the back to get something and when I come back I can't recognise them in a shop full of people. Or I talk to her sister instead!

Really, I don't think I'm suited to my job. But I like it anyway.



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10 Jan 2009, 8:03 pm

tried a little over the summer...


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10 Jan 2009, 8:11 pm

Puggle wrote:
Another problem I have is face-recognition. It's really bad when I've talked to someone for half an hour, then have to go out the back to get something and when I come back I can't recognise them in a shop full of people. Or I talk to her sister instead!


You're not alone in that problem. I don't know how to improve on it either. I just can't easily recognize people, especially if I barely know them, or have just met them.



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10 Jan 2009, 9:14 pm

While I am an Autie rather than an Aspie, I worked at my local radio Shack for about 2 years and was their best salesperson. This was due mostly in part due to the fact that most customers visiting radio Shack expect a good degree of technical knowledge from the people working there.


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Coadunate
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10 Jan 2009, 9:39 pm

Selling is relatively easy for me if it’s something I understand and truly believe in, but that really isn’t “being in sales”, that’s just being honest and concerned. Please correct me if I’m wrong but what “salesrep” is refering to is “how are you at fudging the facts, as in knowing and believing in what you’re talking about in order to make a sale”. I mean, anyone can make a case for something they realy know and believe in.



BoringAl
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10 Jan 2009, 10:29 pm

Coadunate wrote:
Selling is relatively easy for me if it’s something I understand and truly believe in, but that really isn’t “being in sales”, that’s just being honest and concerned. Please correct me if I’m wrong but what “salesrep” is refering to is “how are you at fudging the facts, as in knowing and believing in what you’re talking about in order to make a sale”. I mean, anyone can make a case for something they realy know and believe in.

By the definition you described I have not been in sales even though I was in retail. I would not even try a job like you describe. I wouldn't last.

A note on being a manager. I did a short stint as management. (Actually more of a glorified supervisor) I was a great sales guy and stocker but a very bad manager. I was very glad to get demoted back down.



Doyle567432
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26 Jun 2015, 7:12 pm

I've been in a telesales job for about 4 month's now in some areas I've found things much easier than any of the other new starters. For example I had a better product knowledge than people who had been there years in my second month (I sell mobile phones) just because I found it interesting to look at phones and compare them particularly the cheaper ones against the more expensive and such (anything to kill time whilst waiting for a call). The other area that I found easy was learning how the pricing and margins and such all worked it was all pretty straightforward really. The parts that were hard was Identifying the kind of customer I was speaking to ... how to differentiate my approach between some 40something professional and a light-hearted 18 year old wanting his/her first iphone (ie some people for example aren't there to be joked with apparently..). then of course there is having to mislead people without outright lying... have not gotten on well with this.. or purposely overcharging the friendly/trusting customers in order to be able to offer the difficult and more rude customers cheaper prices... (this infuriated me)
All in all what's been said about being able to sell if I believe in the product believe its a good deal then its a walk in the park (for example I've sold my recent favourite value for money phone more than anything else even though most of the other in the building hardly know it exists)



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27 Jun 2015, 4:55 pm

BoringAl wrote:
I would sometimes be too honest to customers...

That speaks volumes :wink: