Some Things Are Meant to Be

INTRODUCTION

There are salesmen and then there are SALESMEN. Having been one, and a successful one at that, I have observed how other successful salesmen operate. "Success breed success," they say, but I believe that some are meant to be salesmen. They are born ready and don't have to be taught. To them it just comes naturally.

Let me make a distinction here. A salesman is not a store clerk who merely helps customers find the rack of Polo® sport shirts. A salesman is one who engages skeptical people and convinces them that they cannot live without his product. That's my take on it. I'm sure you have yours, but you get the point even if you don't agree with mine.

Before I became one, I observed salesmen from time-to-time as they worked their magic on customers. I marveled at the way they methodically disarmed prospective buyers of their defenses and seduced them into signing on the bottom line. The thought occurred to me that they were probably just as successful with women.

On the day I finally signed on to be a salesman, I thought back to the time when the seed was planted. It was sort of weird how it happened.

My wife, Colleen, and I were teaching in a school south of Chicago. I had gone to a large clothing store in the Chicago area to buy several pairs of my favorite slacks while they were on sale. As I was looking through the stacks, picking out the ones I wanted to purchase, I was approached by an attractive lady who asked, "Are these slacks really all they are cracked up to be? To me they are awfully pricey."

"In my opinion they are well worth the price," I replied, "and you won't beat this sale price anywhere." I proceeded to point out why I believed them to be a superior product.

She listened attentively and commented, "You've sold me. Now help me pick out several pairs for my husband."

I said, "Certainly. Give me an idea of what he needs." And with that we began.

Together we made several selections, but she chose the ones most suitable. She thanked me for my assistance and walked over to the pay station. The cashier took the slacks from her, rang them up and asked for the name of her sales clerk. She turned and pointed to me. The cashier smiled and said, "He doesn't work here."

She responded, "Well, he darn sure should because he sold me on these slacks."

After she left, the cashier came over to me and asked me if I wanted a job. I declined, telling him that I was happy where I was. However, the seed was planted and I knew that were I to ever need a job I would look into sales.

CHAPTER ONE

Years later, a college in which I was teaching took a financial turn for the worse. Gifts to the college in support of the arts were lagging behind the budgetary needs. As Dean of the School of Music, I had become burned out dealing with the lack of finances to support our work. I knew the department could not continue to support all its faculty members so I offered to resign and seek employment elsewhere. The President of the college was regretful that the school was in such financial straights. To let him know that I was okay with my decision, I told him what my wife has a habit of saying. I said, "Some things are meant to be, Doctor Kilgore." With that I shook his hand and left his office.

Colleen was the Assistant Dean at the time, so she became the Acting Dean in my place. The president felt that the college had enough in reserve to sustain her salary for the duration of the academic year, so she stayed on.

While considering where I might start looking for a job, it came to me that I had once considered becoming a salesman several years before. It so happened that an old friend of mine was the owner/president of a high-end electronics store in Mt Clemens, Michigan. It was only 25 miles from where we now lived, so I called his company office to set up a time to visit with him.

When he heard who was calling he got on the phone and spoke with me briefly. He gave me a time and date to drop in and I wrote it down. On the appointed day I dressed for an interview and headed for Audiomart – Men of Sound.

The president was a very busy man and, though he had promised a 10:30 AM interview, it was almost noon before he had time to see me. When I walked into his office, He smiled and rose from his chair to greet me. "Ed, sorry I took so long. What brings you here?"

I didn't tell him right away because I wanted to chat first. We talked about the past and I brought him up to date on what was happening in our lives. Then I told him why I was there and I asked him if he had any job openings in one of his seven stores. He said that he might have an opening or two but he wanted to know how much experience I had in sales before he committed himself. I told him that I really didn't have any experience, but I was willing to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"What's that," he queried?

"Let me work for you for two weeks for nothing and, if it doesn't work out, I'll walk away and you won't owe me anything," I told him. "I'm willing to work any or all hours the store is open just to learn what I need to know to sell your products to the public."

He burst out laughing and stated, "In all my years in business I've never had an offer like that. How about I just pay you minimum salary during the first two weeks?"

"If you would like to do that, it's okay by me, but you don't have to. I want to try my hand at sales and you have a product line in which I am very interested. I've always been nuts over good hi-fi gear and I think I can sell it to others," I told him.

"When do you want to start," he asked? I didn't expect him to ask so soon.

"I could start today, if you're okay with that," I responded.

"You've got yourself a deal," he said as he rose from his chair to shake my hand. "Go out front and ask for Bill. Tell him you're a new hire and that you are on the clock as of noon today."

I thanked him and reminded him, "Just remember, Chris, two weeks. If I'm no good, tell me. I don't want to infringe on our friendship if I'm no good at sales."

He looked at me through smiling eyes and replied, "You're going to do just fine, I'm sure."

I walked out front and asked the cashier for Bill. She pointed him out to me and I walked over to introduce myself. Bill looked to be about my age. He was shorter than I. I'm 6'1" and he looked to be about 5'7". He was a good-looking guy but not remarkably so. When I approached him He was standing behind his desk studying a brochure. I said to him, "My name is Ed, Bill, and I want to learn to do what you do."

He looked up at me questioningly and asked, "Why the hell would anyone want to work in a sweatshop like this? The competition is fierce, the people are obnoxious, the sales commissions are pitiful, and the hours are long and very boring at times. Can't you think of something more interesting and profitable to do?"

I didn't know whether laugh or what. I thought I had met the world's greatest pessimist and I didn't know how to respond. A moment later, he began to laugh and shook my hand. "Welcome to Audiomart, Ed. Watch closely and you can learn to do what I do."

I later learned that the pessimist act was a game with Bill. He was actually a positive guy. Why shouldn't he be? He was, after all, the yet to be challenged King of the Hill in sales at Audiomart.

That night at home I told Colleen the good news about my new job. She was still irked that I had resigned from my college post, so she was not at all impressed with what I was going to be doing or what I would be paid to do it. She questioned how we could get by even with both our salaries. I assured her that it would be okay once I became the salesman I thought I could be. She just rolled her eyes and said, "Let me get back to you on that in another month or two. I know you're a diligent worker but I cannot see us getting rich on your commissions."

CHAPTER TWO

It seemed like everything was going the way I had hoped when I signed on at Audiomart. During my first weeks there, I shadowed Bill and couple of the other salesmen to get the hang of selling. After six weeks at Audiomart, I ranked third highest in the store and tenth in the chain of 56 salesmen. On my eighth week I was the No. 2 salesman in my store and No. 3 in the chain. Finally, on my twelfth week I bumped Bill and moved up to No.1 in our store and in the chain. After that I didn't win it consistently because the competition became pretty stiff, but I was always in the top three. Other salesmen congratulated me on my success. Bill, on the other hand, didn't say much. It was obvious that Bill didn't like what was happening at all. There was quite a bit of tension between us because I was really rolling up the sales.

A good salesman will tell you that the worst thing that can happen to him is for someone to disallow him the freedom to do what he does best. That very thing was about to happen to me. When it did, it looked like a promotion on paper, but it was anything but a promotion financially.

Audiomart asked me to become the manager of another of their other stores. The rationale behind his decision was that a good salesman could become a good manager. I was about to learn that this is not always the case.

As manager I would be salaried, but I would still have to earn my commissions like everyone else selling. That was unlike some stores that give their managers a percentage of the store's total profits. I saw this as a real problem because my new salary didn't equal the commissions I was already making. Therefore, I would have to continue selling to make up for the difference. Finding the time to succeed at both jobs would become a problem.

Another thing I learned was that the store to which I was assigned was located in Livonia, and it just happened to be the worst store in the chain. When I saw the statistics I could not find anything positive among them. For the first time in a long time I became a little discouraged.

Being the type of guy I am, I threw my all into transforming the Livonia store into a profitable store. I revamped the staff scheduling, store presentations and displays, and the store cleanliness and upkeep schedules. I took charge of balancing the cashier tapes with the cash in the till, and I started making the bank deposits. This was the head cashier's job before I came but I had a feeling that someone was dipping into the cash register before the deposit clips were completed. I also took care of the in-stock and product replacement inventories. The result was that my store began to see some positive days. In my eagerness to salvage the store, however, I had been too busy to sell much equipment. Consequently, my earnings dropped drastically and my chief competitor, Bill, became No. 1 again.

One day, after he had been on top for a couple of weeks, he called and began gloating. I congratulated him, but then I told him I was too busy to talk. I hung up the telephone and put my feet up on my desk to cool off. "Damn him," I thought, "why does he always have to rub it in?"

CHAPTER THREE

Colleen met me at the door one night with some disappointing news. The college where she was teaching had to move. They could no longer pay the monthly rent on the buildings in which they were located. They were to evacuate ASAP and the move was to take place over the upcoming Christmas break. They were moving from the campus in Memphis, a small town up by Port Huron, to a vacated college campus close to Ypsilanti. That meant I would have to move my family to the Ypsilanti area, too. Thankfully, we found a nice place just a few blocks from where the college was going to be relocating. Another bright spot was that Audiomart happened to have a store in Ann Arbor, only a few miles from Ypsilanti. Consequently, I asked for a transfer to that store and it was granted.

The president immediately transferred me to manage the Ann Arbor store. It was one of the better stores in the chain, located in a beautiful mall, and there was tons of traffic every day. I know, in a college town many of those who came in were little more than "rug rakers," but the potential was there for sales. Within a week I took over and set out to make this store successful.

From the time I took over the Livonia store until now, I knew that I had been short- changing my family life. My wife had begun to complain that I was not there enough and that our children missed me. She also started to complain about our lack of intimacy. In her words, "A peck on the lips as you walk out the door does not constitute a romantic, meaningful relationship!" As anyone knows, when the wife isn't happy, nothing much goes right around home until she is.

I was getting stressed out about it, too, but I didn't know what I could do to change things at the moment. I had to succeed in my job. Colleen and I talked and I finally told her that I had to stick with it. However, I promised that things were going to change soon and I would cut my own hours back to at least a quasi-normal number somewhere below 60 per week.

Thankfully, the Ann Arbor store had a great assistant manager named Mike. He was an outgoing guy and willing to help me whenever I needed him to do so. He was savvy, too, and he said he would cover for me if I needed to take some time off. So I did take some time off for a two-hour lunch once in awhile. That rested me somewhat but it did nothing for my marriage.

Matters at home continued on the decline and it wasn't long before I realized that our sex life was pretty much nonexistent. Colleen began making comments about the "Absent Lover Syndrome," and she would remind me of my promises on a regular basis. Obviously the few and far-between quickies in the morning were not satisfying her.

You might wonder if I had stopped being attracted to my wife. I had not! Colleen is a very attractive woman. She has reddish-brown hair and a great complexion. At 5'3" and 110 pounds, she is what I lovingly call "my sexy handful." Her 36-24-34 build was still almost the same as when I married her, even after two kids. I'm not saying that my wife is perfect, just that she was certainly not the problem where sex was concerned. She is very desirable!

Having said that, however, Colleen does have a down side. She has a dynamite temper and her fuse can be lit very easily. Anyone who doesn't live up to her expectations irritates her. God forbid if anyone would ask her to find time for someone who doesn't "measure up" (to use her words). Early on I decided that her good side was the one I wanted to be on, so I had a tendency to accommodate her moods even though I disagreed with her at times.

One Monday night after I had been at the Ann Arbor store for a while, I came home at my usual time and found Colleen still awake. It was after 11:30 PM and she was normally passed out by this time since she had early classes at college. I kissed her, told her I was surprised to see her awake, and then we talked for a bit. She made comment about how my schedule never permitted us to have friends over as much as she would like.

Without thinking it through, I suggested that we invite a few of my colleagues from Audiomart to a Saturday barbeque. She wasn't at all enthused about my suggestion and asked, "Don't you get enough your friends at work? You know I don't particularly care for the type of people you work with, so why would I want them in my home? I'm talking about friends from the college or our church."

Immediately I realized I had not been sensitive to what she had in mind, so I tried to reach a compromise with her. I suggested that we only invite a few that she knew and liked from Audiomart, and she could invite a few friends from college or church. She finally agreed and we were able to go to sleep without getting into a fight.

The next day I notified those on my list to be at our home by 5:30 PM Saturday for a barbeque. I also told them that wives were welcome. The only single guy I invited was Mike, and he said he wouldn't be bringing a girl. When asked about hard liquor, I told the guys they would have to bring their own. I was going to provide beer but not the hard stuff.

The day before the barbeque my wife made out the list of things needed and I went to a local grocery store to buy them. The final bill was almost $150, which in the late '70s was close to two weeks grocery money for us. I didn't care, however, because I wanted to make an impression on the guys who worked with me. They worked hard and I wanted to make it special for them. Of course, I wanted to do the same for the ones from our church and the college.

Colleen asked a young friend named Becky to spend the afternoon helping with the final preparations. Becky was a college student of and a very attractive young lady. Colleen also invited her to stay for the party, and Becky accepted. I wasn't trying to play matchmaker but the thought crossed my mind that Mike was going to like her.

The children had been invited to stay with some of their friends for the weekend. That was good news to me because I knew I could party hardy Saturday night and sleep late on Sunday. I didn't have to open the store until noon.

All went well with the preparations and everything was set to go. Shortly after 5:00 PM I was about to go outside to prepare the barbeque grill when there was a knock at our door. Thinking it was an early arrival I opened the door. I was stunned to see a face I wasn't expecting to see.

"Bill," I exclaimed. "What's up, and what are you doing on this side of the world?"

"Hey, it's been a long time since I've seen you," he replied. "I was out this way and I thought I'd drop in to see if you wanted to get a beer and catch up."

"Man, I'd like to," I replied, "but we have company coming in about thirty minutes for a barbeque. Hey, why don't you join us! We have plenty of food and lots of beer, so we can enjoy a couple of beers together right here. What do you say?"

He paused before he finally committed himself. "Free beer. What idiot would turn down an invitation like that? Certainly not me! So get out of my way and show me to the beer!"

We laughed and I led him into the family room and told him to have a seat. I left him there while I went to the kitchen to retrieve a couple of beers. Colleen and Becky were both putting the finishing touches on everything. Colleen's back was to me as she asked who was at the door. When I told her it was Bill, she spun around with a look on her face told me that she was not happy with my response.

"Bill? Bill who?"

"Bill from Audiomart," I replied.

"What is he doing here? He's one that I specifically did NOT want to come. Someone must have told him about the party," she said through gritted teeth. "You didn't invite him to stay, did you? Well, DID YOU?"

"Colleen, do I really have a choice? C'mon, just relax and go with the flow. You know that you're always saying, 'Some things are meant to be.' Well, maybe this is one of those times," I said, trying to console her.

It was my fault that she had such a low opinion of Bill because I had mentioned that his lifestyle was rather unsavory due to his involvement with other men's wives. He often bragged of "closing the deal" with the wives of some of his married customers when he went into their homes to set up their new sound systems. That would be more than enough to cause Colleen to react as she did.

After her angry comments, Colleen returned to whatever she had been doing and I went to the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of beers. As I closed the door, Becky and I looked at each other and I rolled my eyes. She smiled and looked down. I walked over to give Colleen a kiss on the cheek. I reassured her again that all would be okay. I could tell, however, that she was livid with me.

For effect, I tip-toed out of the room and headed for the family room where I found Bill bent over admiring my sound system.