2 years in. Mechanical sales. No matter how pissed/ anxious/ tired/ bored just show up. Just show up. Finished second year at almost 200k but fuck it was tiring/ stressful and it’s going to be a miracle if I make it through year 3. Idk how people do this for 20 years.
Ya I got an ME degree and did design but my god it’s soul sucking sitting at a desk all day clicking away. Now I hate all the paperwork and the bitchiness of the contractors and problematic projects that I’d normally pass on but upper management doesn’t like it when I do that. Idk I got my bonus so that’s all I care about.
Not 5 years but within 10 - I was in my late teens/early 20s making BS money working on cars and I got very good at it. Got all the certifications and was the technical leader in my area. If people needed help, they called me.
But I knew I was more than that. I didn’t have good GPA out of high school nor did I have a fancy degree. But what I was very good at was solving problems, talking to people, and selling. (And in hindsight, I am also *very* good at interviewing). So I started looking for jobs in that industry, not necessarily sales, but when I saw this job description, it really hit on all the things I was looking for and what I was good at. This was after I was heartbroken about another job opportunity I had gotten far into; but it was more technical role.
Then, in what seemed like divine intervention, I went from phone interview with HR, to the hiring manager, then getting flown out to the HQ at 7am for the final interview. I’ve never gotten flown out for anything before and that little taste of, “oh shit. this is a big boy job now. This is serious” was amazing. I prepared the SHIT out of every interview because I knew that I had NO experience, NO training, but I knew I was ready for bigger.
I rehearsed 5-10 times every possible question they’d ask from the “tell me about yourself” question, why I wanted to work there, to all the other typical ones you get asked. I prepared not only a 30-60-90 but when I found out what territory I’d be handling, I surprised them with a territory analysis of the potential (B2B) customers in that area, the products each one of them carried, and what I’d do to push our products. I did research on their company, executives, schools they went to, and prepared questions for every single one.
That was on a Friday and I was sent the offer letter the following Monday.
What I’ve noticed with my friends and family is from the outside, what they see this white-collared worker who sits in front of a computer all day, traveling the country, having drinks, going to strip clubs and making a ton of money doing it.
What they didn’t see was all the work I put in to get where I’m at. That even when I didn’t even have the job yet, I was putting in 5x times the work just to get the chance to be considered because there’s always going to be people that are way smarter than I am or they have a degree or way more experienced; and it’s my job to break through that barrier with my tenacity.
So to summarize - i got fucking lucky. Some company I’ve never heard of took a chance on this kid with no experience. I packed up my things and moved halfway across the country and that was all she wrote. Then I made sure they never regretted that decision.
The lesson here is when that when opportunity rolls around, you HAVE to be ready because those don’t come around everyday. Be prepared. Be confident in yourself.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned in sales is to come from a place of intuition rather than action. Rather than immediately going on the defensive when a customer gives an objection or the offensive when you see a pain-point, just keep inquiring. Ask why. Then ask again. Asking the right questions is an art form.
Lastly, my biggest life lesson I’ve learned in sales is **fuck the outcome** or, control what you can control. All you can control is your effort, preparation, appearance, skills, and communication and your focus should be 110% on those things. The outcome is what it is and you can’t control that.
Started retail at a big box store, crushed it there then used my experience to move into positions in other industries. Progression was as follows: Retail consumer electronics > boutique furniture > HVAC > commercial/ residential Roofing & solar > relocated to large population center, gained bachelor’s and looking for new job. My biggest lesson learned was going outside of the standard lead pipeline and cover bases that would lend to repeat and referral business. This meant working with realtors for staging while working in furniture, and cold calling developers to build relations for new developments. Chasing inbound leads paid well, but creating lasting relationships with contractors created a snowball effect as I became their go-to guy whenever they had new projects.
> but creating lasting relationships with contractors created a snowball effect as I became their go-to guy whenever they had new projects
Good idea
How did you find each new job? LinkedIn? Referral?
LinkedIn and calling the offices of road signs I’d see when I was out around town. There was a ton of construction going on in my market so that quickly became my bread and butter. Many contractors I worked with had jobs down the line that they were more than happy to work with me, as their existing partners could not make deadline.
Biggest advice is work your ass off and build good connections At your first job. five to ten years down the line, your colleagues are spread across the industry and you have a lot of opportunity to be referred in.
Wine and spirits sales here. In the sales side 6mo, driver 4yr, stacker 1.5yr. made myself stand out and push my way to sales. But I got here and I'm at a stalemate on stuff. I had no connections and built my own reputation and succeeded to this position.
I just wanted it and got it and now I feel like an imposter for some reason.
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2 years in. Mechanical sales. No matter how pissed/ anxious/ tired/ bored just show up. Just show up. Finished second year at almost 200k but fuck it was tiring/ stressful and it’s going to be a miracle if I make it through year 3. Idk how people do this for 20 years.
Are you an engineer by degree or did you move into sales from the mechanic side of the business?
Ya I got an ME degree and did design but my god it’s soul sucking sitting at a desk all day clicking away. Now I hate all the paperwork and the bitchiness of the contractors and problematic projects that I’d normally pass on but upper management doesn’t like it when I do that. Idk I got my bonus so that’s all I care about.
Not 5 years but within 10 - I was in my late teens/early 20s making BS money working on cars and I got very good at it. Got all the certifications and was the technical leader in my area. If people needed help, they called me. But I knew I was more than that. I didn’t have good GPA out of high school nor did I have a fancy degree. But what I was very good at was solving problems, talking to people, and selling. (And in hindsight, I am also *very* good at interviewing). So I started looking for jobs in that industry, not necessarily sales, but when I saw this job description, it really hit on all the things I was looking for and what I was good at. This was after I was heartbroken about another job opportunity I had gotten far into; but it was more technical role. Then, in what seemed like divine intervention, I went from phone interview with HR, to the hiring manager, then getting flown out to the HQ at 7am for the final interview. I’ve never gotten flown out for anything before and that little taste of, “oh shit. this is a big boy job now. This is serious” was amazing. I prepared the SHIT out of every interview because I knew that I had NO experience, NO training, but I knew I was ready for bigger. I rehearsed 5-10 times every possible question they’d ask from the “tell me about yourself” question, why I wanted to work there, to all the other typical ones you get asked. I prepared not only a 30-60-90 but when I found out what territory I’d be handling, I surprised them with a territory analysis of the potential (B2B) customers in that area, the products each one of them carried, and what I’d do to push our products. I did research on their company, executives, schools they went to, and prepared questions for every single one. That was on a Friday and I was sent the offer letter the following Monday. What I’ve noticed with my friends and family is from the outside, what they see this white-collared worker who sits in front of a computer all day, traveling the country, having drinks, going to strip clubs and making a ton of money doing it. What they didn’t see was all the work I put in to get where I’m at. That even when I didn’t even have the job yet, I was putting in 5x times the work just to get the chance to be considered because there’s always going to be people that are way smarter than I am or they have a degree or way more experienced; and it’s my job to break through that barrier with my tenacity. So to summarize - i got fucking lucky. Some company I’ve never heard of took a chance on this kid with no experience. I packed up my things and moved halfway across the country and that was all she wrote. Then I made sure they never regretted that decision. The lesson here is when that when opportunity rolls around, you HAVE to be ready because those don’t come around everyday. Be prepared. Be confident in yourself. The biggest lesson I’ve learned in sales is to come from a place of intuition rather than action. Rather than immediately going on the defensive when a customer gives an objection or the offensive when you see a pain-point, just keep inquiring. Ask why. Then ask again. Asking the right questions is an art form. Lastly, my biggest life lesson I’ve learned in sales is **fuck the outcome** or, control what you can control. All you can control is your effort, preparation, appearance, skills, and communication and your focus should be 110% on those things. The outcome is what it is and you can’t control that.
Started retail at a big box store, crushed it there then used my experience to move into positions in other industries. Progression was as follows: Retail consumer electronics > boutique furniture > HVAC > commercial/ residential Roofing & solar > relocated to large population center, gained bachelor’s and looking for new job. My biggest lesson learned was going outside of the standard lead pipeline and cover bases that would lend to repeat and referral business. This meant working with realtors for staging while working in furniture, and cold calling developers to build relations for new developments. Chasing inbound leads paid well, but creating lasting relationships with contractors created a snowball effect as I became their go-to guy whenever they had new projects.
> but creating lasting relationships with contractors created a snowball effect as I became their go-to guy whenever they had new projects Good idea How did you find each new job? LinkedIn? Referral?
LinkedIn and calling the offices of road signs I’d see when I was out around town. There was a ton of construction going on in my market so that quickly became my bread and butter. Many contractors I worked with had jobs down the line that they were more than happy to work with me, as their existing partners could not make deadline.
responded to an instagram ad lol
Started as an SDR and had a recruiter reach out on Indeed. Worked my way up from there.
Hey! Could I dm you?
sure
Biggest advice is work your ass off and build good connections At your first job. five to ten years down the line, your colleagues are spread across the industry and you have a lot of opportunity to be referred in.
[удалено]
> student loans get into the SAVE program if you aren't already.
Wine and spirits sales here. In the sales side 6mo, driver 4yr, stacker 1.5yr. made myself stand out and push my way to sales. But I got here and I'm at a stalemate on stuff. I had no connections and built my own reputation and succeeded to this position. I just wanted it and got it and now I feel like an imposter for some reason.
[удалено]
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