Door-to-Door Sales Experience Impresses Me
A door-to-door salesman landed in vacuum in my home recently. He was so good I’m debating offering him a job to work for my company. Zero experience in technical computing.
Actually none of our salespeople had prior experience in technical computing before coming to work in our startup. To me, product subject matter can be learned. But good salesmanship is more nature than nurture. We hired our salespeople because they have that nature.
Here are reasons I think door-to-door sales experience is so beneficial:
- Any salesperson needs to be rejection-hardened. Door-to-door sales experience leads to frequent literal doors slammed.
- Sales is more about optimizing time management than it is about anything else. Door-to-door experiences force the salespeople to optimize for neighborhoods, speed of movement between homes, and number of doors knocked per unit time.
- Becoming a versatile people person. Door-to-door experiences force the salesperson to adapt their message to every variant of prospect: old/young, male/female, etc. In order to get in the door, they develop skills to quickly build relationships of trust.
I think door-to-door sales opportunities for young people make great summer internships. The hard-earned skills gained are so valuable in other areas of life.
Have you ever had door-to-door sales experience? What other ways have you learned to become a great salesperson?