My Door-to-door sales strategy that allowed me to become the top salesman in my company… at 14
The story I’m about to share with you not only changed the game for me back then, but it’s been one of the single biggest lessons that’s allowed me to crush it in network marketing for almost 20 years now and has allowed me to become the top salesman in multiple companies.
I got my first sales job at 14 selling newspapers door-to-door.
And boy did I suck.
Jimmy was my trainer. He was 16, heavyset (which will matter here in just a moment) and this kid was so good he could sell reading glasses to the blind.
I followed him around for two nights and watched him pitch.
Smooth as silk.
He had no fear, built rapport immediately, flowed right into the presentation and seemed to be able to overcome just about every objection that came up. There was a reason they chose Jimmy to be the trainer.
Then on the 3rd night, it was my turn to go it alone.
I was incredibly nervous but felt I learned enough to become the top salesman for that night.
Door after door after door I screwed it up. I finished the night with a goose egg… that’s right – zero sales.
I remember thinking I would never have what it took to become the top salesman… or even get ONE sale. I almost quit.
But I persisted on and eventually, I got to the point where I could get through the presentations, overcome some objections and in some cases even make some sales.
There were 6-8 of us who they’d pick up in a big van, drop us off in different neighborhoods and then pick us up at the end of the night and we’d tally up everyone’s sales.
They ran a contest each night. Whoever sold the most subscriptions would win some kind of prize. It was usually something like $ 10 or a gift certificate somewhere.
Each and every night ended up with yours truly being disappointed because I literally NEVER finished #1. I got beat every night by the other kids. (Jimmy won more than anyone else by far)
Well, I may have sucked as a salesman, but I was hyper-competitive even back then. It pissed me off so bad that I got beat night after night I was thinking about how I could possibly win and become the top salesman?
Walking from door-to-door for 3-4 hours a night you have lots of time to think.
It finally hit me.
Jimmy, not being in the best shape, moved pretty slow. I was always a skinny kid and in pretty good shape.
I thought to myself, maybe if I RUN from door-to-door and just talk to more people, I can beat Jimmy.
So that’s exactly what I did. I started sprinting from door to door. Considering that half the people didn’t even answer the door, you can talk to a hell of a lot more people when you run.
And guess what started to happen?
Not every night, but every once in awhile, I would win the nightly top sales award.
I had found a way to become the top salesman for the night!
It felt so good!
Did I become the top salesperson on those nights because I was a better salesperson?
Obviously not.
Jimmy was way better of a salesman than I ever hoped to be.
I beat him, even though in comparison I sucked, simply because I talked to way more people every night.
When I got into network marketing, I sucked just as bad as I did as a newspaper salesman.
If you know my story, you know I struggled for 5 long and painful years. At one point I was homeless and sleeping in my little, red, beat up Honda Civic bathing in gas station bathrooms selling above ground swimming pools.
I may have been a little bit slow, but when I finally decided to get it through my thick skull that it’s simply a numbers game, THEN I started to win.
In the past 19 years, I’ve become the top salesman, the #1 income earner in three companies NOT because I’m the best closer, the best presenter, or the best of anything.
I became #1 because I worked the numbers MASSIVELY.
I got rejected MASSIVELY.
Sure, I’ve learned to master every major skill in our profession, but you can be the very best in the world and you’ll get beat ALL DAY LONG by the person who may have less skill, but is willing to talk to 5 times more people.
If you suck right now, remember this…
What you lack in skill, you make up for in numbers.
On a skill level from 1-10, I don’t care if you’re a 2 or a 3… You can still beat the person who is a 9 or a 10 if you’re willing to talk to 5 times more people.
And don’t worry, if you’re continuing to invest in yourself to learn the skills, you’ll get mastery fast if you’re willing to do the work.
So…
Go do the work.
If you want to discover the 7 specific strategies I’ve used to go from being a broke swimming pool salesman to creating 7-figure results in my network marketing organization…
Head over to 7strategiesbook.com. I just released my new book that acts as the starting ground…
The FOUNDATION necessary for achieving a high level of success.
If you want some advanced training on leadership
Feel free to hop over to LeadwithMatt.com. I’ve got some strategies there on becoming a powerful leader and recruiting powerful leaders.
I’d love to hear what your biggest takeaway was out of this in the comments below.
If you feel like this can add some value to some others, feel free to share it.
Take care.
If you’d like to learn how to impact others, check out this blog post.
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Matt Morris
#1 Best Selling Author of The Unemployed Millionaire
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