On being a salesman

Being a salesman requires a certain sort of charisma and charm. It requires that you be good at the art of "small talk. It requires a sixth sense of being able to pick up on little bits of information unknowingly supplied to you by the people you are trying to sell to and turning that information into conversational topics that slowly earn you confidence and trust in the mind of the customer. It requires you walk a fine line between humor that puts your customer at ease and humor that makes you look pathetic. It requires that you lead the customer to a decision, rather than push them there. A good salesman should be able to anticipate the customers questions and concerns and confidently answer them without sounding like a condescending jerk know-it-all. Patience and Persistance are salesman virtues.

I'm not sure if I possess these qualities. But I'm working on it.

My sister, Ashleigh, and my friend, Tricia, went to the Phillipines last summer. This is important info because it works its way into what I call my "experiences that I can share to help build confidence and relationships to get sales repertoire."

Pictured below is Victor and Maria. I sold them a roof. Maria is a 3F person. Filipino, Fiesty and Friendly. I called her Ate Maria. She liked that. While I tried to explain the legal mumbo-jumbo of our contract to her husband, she kept bringing me magazines with Filipino male models, explaining to me how beautiful they were and pointing out the ones that she thought I resembled. Her husband told me I should take my roof earnings and move to the Philipines, where I would live like a rock star.

I used Shleigh and Tricia's experiences in Manila and Los Banos to gain her favor, which in turn encouraged her and her husband to sign my papers. I am slowly becoming a good salesman.