Cold calling 100 people and facing 98 rejections every day of the week feels like a cakewalk to me now.
When I joined my current company as an SDR, I was told I had the “will” and the “skill” needed for the job. But in reality, it took me 5 years to reach a stage where I enjoy selling. Here’s the story ->
I’ve always known how important sales is — for any business, and life in general. (I belong to the category of people who believe you’re constantly selling something: an idea, a change, yourself in an interview, or a decision to your parents.) And yet, despite being clear that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I used to run from sales.
Sales is hard. It requires a high EQ. And the world is full of incompetent salespeople who leave a terrible impression, which made me resent it even more.
But honestly, I never had a choice. I had a business to run and numbers to hit. If I wanted to survive, I had to make those calls. With zero guidance or training, I sucked. I’d take everything prospects said at face value, not even trying to understand the underlying concerns. I was desperate to sell — and it showed. No surprise I was closing at the lowest margins.
What turned my dislike into passion was a mix of positive reinforcement, a shift in perception, and the realisation of how it intersects with my passion for psychology. I still remember when my manager at Zetwerk praised me for my sales skills while hailing a cab. Hearing those words, from a veteran like him meant a lot. It pushed me to work harder and rethink how I saw myself. Until that point, all my learnings came from subtle nuances that I’d observed during my business dealings.
The biggest shift happened when I realised how closely sales (how it’s supposed to be) aligns with my own values, & love for psychology. It’s about being the best listener, noticing subtle cues, communicating super fucking effectively, & genuinely helping someone.
It feels like I’m getting paid to do what I love: Listening to people and asking the right questions.
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