When I started in sales it was 1998 & I was 24 years old and had 3 very young children and only a little college education. I called on a job for a new startup internet company and sent my resume (which was practically blank) in. When I didn’t hear back right away, I called again. And again. I was thrilled to get the call back asking me to come in for an interview and even more thrilled when I was hired. That’s when the fear set in. What the heck was I thinking? I had never been in sales or had any experience with this type of job, so how was I going to be able to ask people for money over the phone?

Let me just tell you that I was petrified the first day I walked into work. But I am bull headed and stubborn, like my dad, and I wasn’t going to give up without a try. I watched the other 3 sales people cold call Realtors from the CRS directory and I planted my a$$ next to the one that made the most money and wrote down every single word she said – verbatim. And then I went home and re-wrote what she said in a way that made sense to me, printed the 2 pages out and every day for the next month I practiced that script on my drive into work. I said it out loud and I repeated it over and over and talked to myself the entire way to work. Other drivers must have thought I was crazy! I would look in my rear view mirror (if I was at a stop sign) and smile while I said my pitch so it came out enthusiastically and I repeated it over and over until it came out naturally. I can still remember most of it today, 16 years later.

“Hi, this is Char with Relocate America and I’m calling you because I found your name in the CRS directory and I am looking for an agent in the XXXX area to help us with some leads we have coming there. Have you ever heard of us? No?! Wow, well what we do is we get over a million hits a month from people relocating around the U.S. and we only allow one agent per city nationwide to represent that city and get all of the leads. I’m looking for just one TOP agent to represent XXXX and handle all of the business we have coming in. Would you be interested? Great! The way it works is….”

It may not sound pretty, but it came out naturally for me.

SO – You see what I mean? Even after 16 years I still can recall every word down to the exact tone of voice I used when I said “NO?!” Total shock and dismay! And it worked! My first sale broke their record. Dallas, Texas. It was for over $1000. And that only spurred me on to do better. I perfected my pitch, and for the next 7 years I continued to always be one of the best Closers at that company and their go-to person when it came to training new sales people.

Being new to sales was scary. That’s why I tried to give each person I trained after that tips from what I learned. Many of the new sales people we hired started out sitting next to me listening to my calls and I would tell them all the same thing: If you want to be successful, emulate someone else who is successful first. Find out what they’re doing/saying and practice it over and over until you know every objection and can handle any question they ask. There are Sales People and there are Closers. Closers aren’t afraid to ask for the sale. They are hungry. That’s how you begin.

I think its also important to note that you need motivation and you need to stay enthusiastic. That’s hard to do and I was lucky enough that I got to go to several amazing conventions and a lot of seminars with some of the best Real Estate Motivational Speakers there are. I also vividly remember our boss having us watch 2 movies. Glengarry Glen Ross & Boiler Room. Both impacted me strongly. If you are in sales I highly suggest you watch them. My favorite scene from Boiler Room is below. Strong Language warning:

They say that Real Estate is 90/10. 90% of the business is done by 10% of the Realtors. In my mind I see that 10% being the Closers. They want success and every sale makes them hungrier for more. The best Closers MAKE their success happen. They do what it takes and put in the time & effort to be the best instead of just expecting it to happen for them. The rest are just Sales People. My question for you is….what are you… a Sales person or a Closer?