Always Be Closing:

Call me Christine. This isn't your typical success story. It's about how I clawed my way out of poor circumstances to become a sales powerhouse. I went from being on the verge of being fired to the highest grossing salespeople in my company, defying all odds. Sales? That was never my thing. If you told the younger me about my future, I'd have chuckled at the absurdity. But life has a funny way of pushing you into the unexpected. To be frank, desperation was my driving force, the only thing that pushed me headfirst into the cutthroat world of sales. And boy, little did I know the surprises in store for me. Let me tell you, the rewards were beyond my wildest imagination.

Let's start when I was 18. During the last half of my senior year of high school I found out I was pregnant. Having a kid blew up any plans I had at college. After jumping around low wage jobs for a few years, I kept finding myself struggling to make ends meet. A neighbor of mine at the time said that his company had an opening for an entry level sales position. The pay wasn't much higher than the jobs I had been working, but it did come with commission.

I got that job and worked there for a couple years. I had gained enough experience to eventually take a job in software sales. Moving to software sales was a huge jump. The base pay was higher and the commissions were higher. I felt like this was an opportunity to make some real money and change our station in life.

What I wasn't prepared for was how hard software sales was going to be. I had basically sold nothing my first 6 months on the job. Every morning I woke up expecting to be fired. Every day I walked in the office, every phone call I got, I expected the worst. The constant dread was really starting to take a toll on my mental health.

At this point I was 23 years old living in a cheap apartment with my son who was just about to start elementary school. My neighbors were various shades of weirdos. I was living paycheck to paycheck. I was starting to think this was going to be my life.

This story starts at my second quarterly performance review with my boss Kelsey.

Kelsey was a legend at our company. She held the company record for the most consecutive quarters as the #1 salesperson. When she walked into the room or a sales meeting everyone stopped talking and listened to what she had to say. Kelsey was so revered within the company that she basically wrote the training curriculum for new salespeople.

As you can imagine, having sold next to nothing this quarter, I was anxious about my meeting with Kelsey. I was so anxious that I even considered quitting just to spare myself the embarrassment of being fired. The only reason I hadn't was because I had no place else to go besides back to a grocery store or one of those big box stores.

I parked my older Honda Civic towards the back of the parking lot, hoping none of my colleagues would see what kind of car I drove. Sales is all about flaunting your status, and the other salespeople at my company were seasoned professionals at showing off. No one else in the group drove anything cheaper than a BMW. Yet here I was driving a beat up Civic that was on its last legs. Each time I got in and turned the ignition I hoped and prayed that the engine would turn over.

The walk from the back of the parking lot was made more excruciating by the fact that I was wearing 4" heels. I figured since I failed miserably at meeting my quarterly targets that I could at least impress in another way - my looks.

I wore a tight fitting blue dress that made me look like I was ready for the club, not a performance review. The night before I got my hair and nails done. I looked fucking amazing. Hopefully it was enough to make up for my abysmal performance the last three months.

When I reached Kelsey's office her door was open. I slowly walked up and knocked on the door frame.

"Christine! How are you doing?" Kelsey greeted me with a bubbly tone. For a moment I felt like she was actually excited to see me. Then I realized that she was either bullshitting me, or she just hadn't reviewed my numbers for the last quarter.

"I'm doing okay. Are you ready for that review?" I asked.

"Absolutely! Come have a seat and let's look at how you're doing."

I sat down in a black leather chair opposite Kelsey. She pulled a thin manila folder from a stack on her desk and reviewed the contents. My stomach was in a million knotts and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. I studied Kelsey's face, trying to get an early read on her opinion.

"Hm. I gotta say Christine, these numbers are uh... Well... Awful." Kelsey explained with a disappointed tone.

"I know, I'm really embarrassed. I feel like I'm letting the company down."

"Well, that's because you are." Kelsey quipped back. Her words were like a sharp knife, which I'm sure was her intent.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Christine," Kelsey said as she closed the folder and looked at me, "Sorry doesn't make this better."

"I know."

"How are you planning on getting these numbers up? Your first quarter was just as bad." Kelsey asked.

"I just need to work harder and pursue more leads." I explained, hoping it would be enough to pacify Kelsey for another quarter.

Kelsey opened up my folder and reviewed another sheet.

"Christine, that's not your problem. I'm looking at your travel log and you're doing just as many, if not more visits than any other salesperson. What you're proposing isn't going to magically fix these numbers." Kelsey said, her tone becoming increasingly more stern.

I was at a loss for words. Out of excuses. I didn't know what to say.

"I'll be honest with you Christine. If you're not exceeding your sales targets next quarter, I'm going to have to let you go."

Kelsey's words were like a punch in the gut. I knew this was a possibility, but hearing them made it real. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. This was supposed to be a big break for my son and I. Now it seems like I might be back to working minimum wage jobs. I tried my best to fight back the tears, but it was no use. The idea of struggling to even put food on the table was too much to think about. Tears began racing down my cheeks.

"Awww, Christine. Don't cry. This is sales, it's not that hard." Kelsey's weak attempt at comforting me only made me feel worse.

If it wasn't that hard, then why am I so bad at it?

I avoided eye contact at all costs, not wanting to see the look on Kelsey's face. She paused for a moment, then got up and slowly closed the door.

"Okay, let's talk through this." Kelsey said as she sat back down in her chair, "What happens when you visit a potential customer? What do you do? Who do you talk to? Give me all the details."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, "Well, I ask to talk to our point of contact. Then I give them our usual pitch and then they turn me down." I explained.

"Ah, I see. Have you ever offered to buy them lunch or dinner or take them out?" Kelsey asked.

I silently shook my head no.

"Mhm. I want you to try something next time." Kelsey said, clearing her throat, "Next time, forget the point of contact. You need to talk to a decision maker, someone with real authority. Oftentimes our point of contact is some low level employee that uses our software, not a manager or director. Why waste your breath on a person who doesn't make decisions?"

What she was saying made sense. She had my full attention.

"How do I find out who has decision making power?" I asked in a meek tone.

"Do your research ahead of time. Shit, call and ask the receptionist, pretend that you're looking for a job. Do whatever it takes." Kelsey explained.

She was ruthless. I now understood why she was the best salesperson in the history of the company.

"When you find out who it is, call them, set up an appointment. I prefer to schedule appointments around lunch or towards the end of the day." Kelsey continued.

"Why's that?" I asked, looking to absorb everything I possibly could from this guru of sales.

"Well, I hate doing pitches in the office. I want to get them out of the office. An appointment just before lunch gives me the excuse of taking them out to lunch. An appointment towards the end of the day allows me to take them to happy hour or dinner."

"And taking them to lunch or happy hour or dinner allows you to loosen them up." I said, connecting the dots for Kelsey.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed, "Now you're getting it. You have a company card, use it. No one asks questions if you're closing deals."

"So that's it?" I asked, surprised by how simple this seemed.

"More or less. A lot of these customers are awkward men. They're in bad marriages. They're miserable. The idea of going out with a younger woman makes them feel good. Makes them feel alive." Kelsey explained.

"What does that mean?" I asked, curious where she was going with this.

"Don't just talk shop. Get to know them. Ask about their kids. Ask about their dreams. Make them feel like they're the most interesting person in the world, even though they're probably not." Kelsey explained.

"Wow." I said, pondering what Kelsey was saying, "Anything else?"

Kelsey hesitated for a moment.

"Please, tell me. I'm desperate for any advice." I begged.

Just..." Kelsey hesitated again, "Remember.. Do whatever it takes to close a deal."

"Whatever it takes?" I asked, confused what exactly she meant by that.

"Whatever it takes."

I paused, thinking about what she must have meant by that.

"You know, wear a skimpy outfit. Make yourself eye candy so they feel on top of the world when they walk into that bar or restaurant and sit down with you." Kelsey explained.

"Is that it?" I asked, wondering if there was more to

whatever it takes

.

Kelsey hesitated again.

"Have you..." I paused for a second, considering if my question was professional enough to ask my boss.

Kelsey looked at me with her eyebrow raised, curious what I was going to ask. I think she knew what I was going to ask. Her facial expression made me consider if it was an okay question to ask. I decided that I was already on thin ice. I didn't need to make things worse by asking an inappropriate question.

"Nevermind." I said, "This has been super helpful. I appreciate your advice."

"Just remember," Kelsey said, "You have a company card, don't be afraid to use it, especially if it helps you close a deal."

I nodded, letting Kelsey know that I understood what she was saying.

"Here, I have a special customer for you." Kelsey said, opening up a draw at her desk and looking for a file.

"This is a potential customer that none of our sales people have been able to crack. They're tough, but if we can land them, it'll be huge. Like hit your yearly target in a single customer big." Kelsey said, handing me a manilla folder.

I took it and flipped it open.

Cornerstone Systems

was the name of the company.

"And you think I can get them to close?" I asked.

"We know who the VP of Engineering is, he's a unique individual." Kelsey said.

"What does that mean?" I asked nervously.

Kelsey held up her hand, "I don't want to taint your perspective. Just practice some of the things we've talked about."

I nodded as I continued to flip through the contents of the folder.

"Well, I appreciate you giving me this opportunity."

"Just remember, this is the last quarter I'm giving you. If I don't see improvement, I'll have no choice but to fire you." Kelsey said in a stern tone.

"I completely understand. Hopefully I don't let you down." I said as I got up and left Kelsey's office.

I hurried back to my desk and sat down. I immediately opened up the folder and began to consume every bit of information inside it.

Cornerstone Systems was a huge international logistics company. They were responsible for transporting more freight around the world than any other company. They were extremely successful because of how they married their Business Intelligence software with every part of their operation.

That's where our software came in. We had one of the best Business Intelligence solutions on the market. The problem was that Cornerstone had built their operation around one of our competitors Business Software Solutions.

Their VP of Engineering was a man in his 50s named Paul Rhodes. His engineering team was responsible for how the business intelligence software was integrated into the rest of the business. Paul was the one responsible for the original integration, which revolutionized the company and made them the dominant force they were. Whatever Paul wanted, Paul got. No one above him questioned his decisions.

This wasn't going to be an easy deal to close. In fact, it was going to be impossible. This wasn't just convincing some company to buy our software, this was convincing a massive company to transition a core part of their business to a completely new system.

I got up from my desk and went to the break room. I needed to cool down a bit. I felt like Kelsey had set me up for failure, and after having the heart to heart we just had, I felt betrayed.

I got a cup of coffee and took a deep breath. I thought about my son. About how much we struggled when I first had him. About the Christmases where I could barely afford to put presents under the tree.

Fuck that. I'm not going back to that. If I'm going to get fired, I'm going down swinging.

I chugged the last of my coffee and walked back to my desk to finish reading about Cornerstone Systems. I started reading about our previous attempts at swaying Cornerstone to switch to our software. Literally every salesperson had taken a crack at Cornerstone. Everyone failed... Even Kelsey. I read about the lunches, the happy hours, the dinners, the presentations. We'd spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to get these guys to switch.

I pulled out a notebook from my purse. I used the notebook to take notes about customers I was working with. I started writing.

Cornerstone Systems

followed by a line under it. Then I wrote

Paul Rhodes

and his phone number.

Let's just call and see what happens.

I picked up the phone at my desk and dialed Paul's number. The phone rang a few times and then went to his voicemail.

"Hi Mr. Rhodes, this is Christine Braxton at BizTel. I was wondering if you had a few minutes to chat about our offerings and see if there's a way our software can help Cornerstone. If you wouldn't mind, you can give me a call back on my cell phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX"

I hung up the phone and decided to go make a few more visits. I listened to Kelsey's advice. The first visit I did was around 11:30.

At my first stop I decided to try out Kelsey's advice. I walked into their office and sought out a decision maker. I then offered to take them out to lunch. At lunch I plied them with booze while I navigated a conversation that included talking business and about our personal lives. At the end of lunch I managed to close the deal. Exactly like Kelsey said. The feeling was exhilarating.

I went from that visit to my next visit. I repeated the same script, only this time I took the President and Vice President to happy hour. The result was the same. Another successful deal closed. This was like clockwork now.

After happy hour I was in a rush to pick up my son from daycare. The entire drive I was riding high. I closed two deals today, I was nowhere near my goals for the quarter, but it was a start. It was good practice for the big fish I needed to land.

The next day I walked into the office wearing what I would usually wear. Slacks, a blouse that didn't show much cleavage, with a blazer. It was stylish, but not nearly as sexy as what I was wearing yesterday.

I arrived around 9am and I had a couple of hours before I needed to leave for my first visit. I still hadn't gotten a call back from Paul Rhodes, so I decided to spend some time learning what I could about him.

Paul was in his early 50's, married with two kids. He was an intense looking man. Bald with wire rimmed glasses. I found some of his social media accounts. Lots of stuff about nerdy topics. I wasn't surprised given the type of work he did.

I found a couple videos of some talks he gave. He was very well spoken and didn't lack confidence. At times he came off as arrogant, like he was the smartest man in the room by over a mile.

I started to get a little intimidated at the prospect of having to meet Paul and try to sell him on switching our software.

It was getting close to time to leave the office, so I decided to call Paul again. I got his voicemail again, and I left a similar message to the one I left previously.

I left the office around 11am to go visit my first potential customer. I followed the same script as the day before. Took someone in management out to lunch, plied them with booze, talked for a bit, but I failed to close the deal. It was a gut punch. Suddenly my confidence had been shattered.

Deep down I wondered if it was what I was wearing. I was dressed much more conservatively than yesterday. While I'd like to think my people skills helped close those deals, I figured what I was wearing certainly didn't hurt.

I went to my next visit. I followed the script again and again and I got rejected.

On my way to pick up my son from daycare I got a call on my phone. I didn't bother to look at the number, I just answered it. My Civic is so old I can't connect my phone to it, so I had to hold the phone against my shoulder while I drove.

"Hi, this is Paul Rhodes from Cornerstone Solutions..." the voice on the other end said.

Shit. He actually called me back. Figures he would call me back when my confidence was low.

"Hi, Mr. Rhodes! How are you?" I said in a bubbly tone, trying to hide the fact that my confidence was lacking and my nerves were suddenly through the roof.

"Good. Uhm...You've called me twice and I'm just calling you back to ask you to stop calling me."

Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear.

"Well Mr. Rhodes I do apologize for bothering you, but I was wondering if maybe I could..."

He stopped me mid-sentence.

"No. Look, you must be new at BizTel, so you probably don't know that your company has tried to sell your Business Intelligence suite to Cornerstone several times. We're not interested. Please leave me alone."

Paul then hung up as I heard the phone go silent.

What an asshole.

I drove in silence, contemplating what to do next. I guess I was going to need to go to their headquarters and meet him in person. I started planning things out in my head. I knew I needed better clothes than these. I started thinking about gifts I could give Paul Rhodes to get my foot in the door.

I picked up my son, fed him dinner, and then dropped him off with my mom so I could go buy a new outfit. I must have tried on fifty different outfits before settling on one I liked. Some skin tight white pants, a black button up collared shirt, and a white blazer. I looked amazing. I typically wear bikini cut underwear and my new pants were so tight that you'd clearly see a pantyline. So I bought a new white thong to wear.

After I went shopping I picked up my son and went home. After I put my son to bed, I started researching gifts. I decided to buy two tickets to the local symphony. They were holding a concert at the end of the week where they would be performing songs from movie soundtracks. I figured Paul was enough of a nerd that he'd probably enjoy it. The concert was sold out, but I managed to buy two tickets a few rows back on the resale market. The tickets weren't cheap, but I put them on my company card.

Afterall Kelsey did say to use the card. No one really checks if you're closing deals.

I figured I was either going to close the deal, or get fired, so either way it didn't matter what I put on the card.