A
female
age
36-40,
anonymous
writes:I need to make a big decision.I've always worked as a personal assistant, but for the past four months, I've tried my hand at sales.I sell advertising for my city's only magazine. The distribution is a third of that of the newspaper (so it's poor) and the price is in some cases nearly double theirs.I'm selling an overpriced product with poor distribution and no matter how many hours work I put into it (I'm talking 18 hour days) I can't seem to make enough money to live on. I have given this job EVERYTHING I've got. -I always look professional-I'm confident-I'm a perfectionist when it comes to having an attention to detail-I'm a people-person -I'm the sort that goes to an interview and ALWAYS seems to get the job, so I sell myself well. These are all reasons why I thought I'd be good at selling. Turns out, I'm useless at it. No matter how much work I'm putting in, I'm getting nothing out of it.I call the client, if they want to discuss the product more, I visit them. I dress corporate and meet with them to discuss the product. I then construct a marketing plan for their business. They always come back and say "not this month, maybe next" or "no thanks". I send out 100's of emails every day following up, but 99% of them are never returned. I went into this with loads of contacts around my city and approached businesses that I'd supported as a customer for YEARS, only to find not ONE of them returned the favour, even running a small ad. They would just straight out say no!Even my friends and family who are businesses owners won't advertise, saying it's too expensive.I call my clients regularly to ask whether previous advertising in our magazine increased their businesses and the answer's always no, so I'm losing faith in the product I'm selling as well. The most common complaint is the poor distribution and high price - neither of which I have the authority to change.I've been truly motivated to make this work, because I don't want to go back to my cubicle and admit defeat, but when I tally up my sales total (as I just have) and see that with all that work, I've made nothing. I am thinking I'm wasting my time.I am not a pushy salesperson. I occasionally cold-call, but the majority of the time I make an appointment over the phone. I take no for an answer and I often send emails as a subtle way of checking my clients are interested for the next issue. I am not always in people's faces, so no one would ever accuse me of being like a bad small.. like other salespeople have been to me in the past! I made a promise to myself I wasn't going to do that to people.If any of you have worked in sales, please give me some advice on what to do. I don't want to be a quitter. The rejection daily isn't nice, but that's not why I'm considering leaving. I have to be able to make money and no matter how hard I work, how many people I approach, how many new businesses I get approval to approach, I'm not.
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (9 June 2011): Aww thanks so much for the thoughtful and well constructed advice Ampersand.VERY good advice, which I've unfortunately already followed. I've always relayed the comments and feedback I've received , "Too pricey".. "I don't get it delivered to my house so why should I advertise with you?" I've told the editor everything, but he says if he increases the distribution and lowers the price, he'll be pricing himself off the market. I contact him frequently trying to get him to give me some more competitive options to offer to get people SPENDING with us. I've also suggested things, which he's said no to. There's no budging there.It's really a lifestyle choice for HIM. The sales reps work on commission, but he's making enough money so that's all he seems concerned about.I'm also COMPETING with my editor in selling and so any client in the city that HAS money to spend during the recession, he is selling to. Anything I write for the magazine I get paid for, but as of late, he has been doing all the writing himself and giving me nothing to save on costs.I really do appreciate you taking the time to give me such wonderful advice though. Thank you so much.
A
male
reader, UKLifeCoach  +, writes (9 June 2011):
 I Happen to have done a advertising sales job that was overpriced and had poor distribution.
I sold but not as much as Id liked.
I would search for another job because you can be the best sales person in the world but if the product your selling is rubbish and not as good as someone elses you cant sell it.
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