Commissions from one day of sales led me to purchase a 57-point diamond engagement ring.
My day of transformation happened when I made enough money from commissions in one day so that I could buy a respectable 57-point diamond engagement ring for my fiancé.
It started when I graduated from UC Berkeley. I was expecting to take over the world in my new job. This was a time when Wall Street had the whole country stoked on the American dream. Michael Douglas depicted a mythic Wall Street Bonfire of the Vanities hero. He told us, “Greed is good”. Lots of economic optimism, money was flowing, and I expected to make big money in my career after my diploma from a top-notch public university.
My new boss fired me up. He stoked my dream from the interview. That’s all I had. But without skills or worldly experience, there were no employment offers forthcoming. One remaining course of action I took was to apply for self-employment with a company called Transworld Systems and my boss was a dynamic executive, Tom. He gave me a roadmap, a promise of training in sales skills, and expectations. I supplied the hope. Our agreement later became much valued motivation.
The Vision
I began with belief that I could be successful, begin work, be self-employed, and have the No-Limits mindset. That my high-income objective was possible and preferred over employment. Tom gave me a respected cohort that helped me through the darkness with this dream. They included the other TSI salespeople and management leaders, among them Floyd Watkins, the founder of the company, who was extraordinary in his ability to inspire aspiring sales professionals, generate top line revenue and be giant income generators.
There were a whole bunch of legendary sales leaders, like Bruce. Who’s placard on the wall depicted multi-million-dollar sales revenues bagged. Bruce ran his book of business on the coattails of cable TV companies like TCI telecommunications franchises all around the country. He opened offices in New York on Wall Street. Epic sales closer.
His example and others were top drawer sales inspiration for a wannabe salesperson like me, just beginning with a zero-commission check. Another luminary on par with Mr. Wall Street Bruce was a guy named ‘Cash’ like Johnny Cash the singer, and just as badass but in sales. I built my personal brand on the notion that my middle name was ‘Cashflow Skinner’ and introduced myself that way to everyone. Mr. Cash was not offended at all, but genuinely friendly, approachable, shared his knowledge, wanted others to succeed like him.
Locally, in my Redwood City office, I had sales pro examples like Geoffrey, who came to the sales meeting always wearing his sharp pinstripe suit, once celebrating three sales from TCI Communications from local franchises in the Bay Area. His earnings for those was $6,300 in commissions just in one period. For me, a college student, off the farm in Iowa making $2 per day picking, sweating, and hauling rock in the fields, it was stellar.
The Blueprint
So, my dream solidified at TSI from the beginning. My cohort of other optimistic hard working, inspirational salespeople included Mr. Hope, Phil, Rey, Chuck, Ray, Stan, Grayson, Kelly and Nelly. These professionals over two years were my competitors, and my cohort. We would meet once or twice a week in sales meetings, share success stories, figure out what’s working, share references, arrange to collaborate to prospect in the field together.
Some of my most impactful field cold calling events were with Mr. Hope. He and I would work the same industrial park from opposite sides of the street or in loops around the block and meet in the middle at lunchtime or the end of the day to compare stories and signed contracts. We started the day with no pipeline, no appointments; we had no commissions, and by the end together we’d bank $500 on a good day. We started with zero leads, only a pocket full of our business cards, some order forms, and we would take our presentation on the road, meet decision makers, and make appointments, and sometimes sales on the spot. We both got a charge. Mr. Hope was effective, holding the office record of 34 sales in a month. I made it in the top 10%, but only half his record on number of orders. There was only a couple other reps in the company of 1,000 reps who could do 30+ in a month, Rick out of New Mexico and Bob from Newport Beach. Mr. Hope led me to critical insights and my performance led to my promotion as District Manager. This may not seem extraordinary, but almost all reps in the entire company worked from appointments in a two-stage format. Having our one call close approach available in the toolbox meant we had savage advantage. From his example and others, I drew the necessary focus, confidence, and skills to emerge greater through sales challenges. I summoned the mindset of victory, very important.
Another sales master, Rey taught me the power of attentive observation, listening, patience, self-improvement. We would go out together and he reinforced for me the notion that I could be a model for others, that I wasn’t just making sales. I could also be a leader of others in the most noble of professions–sales.
Stan showed me that all types of personalities can do it. I could do it. And I was probably a nemesis for Stan, because when he sold the co-op in Palo Alto, I would go and sell the co-op in Berkeley. When he sold the Stanford Daily newspaper, I would sell the Daily Californian paper in Berkeley, and on and on. He showed me the ropes that first year.
The Collapse
During the first year it was very dispiriting, and I became frustrated because I worked very hard to make a living and my income was so small. I knew it was possible to thrive, but there was such a gap between how much I was making in year one compared to what reps around a while like Bruce or Geoff were making. Astonishing that they all could make in one day what I made all year. This amazing dichotomy forced me to wish I was better, not make excuses or complain that it was too hard.
At the time I started this new career at TSI, I lived in the Haight Ashbury district on Belvedere Street. Lucky for me, my girlfriend rides along. She is a godsend who believes in me. We were on this journey together. We needed vehicles for our California lifestyle. I drove a Toyota Tercel and had a Yamaha motorcycle for kicks, that I hadn’t yet sold. She drove an Audi Fox that saw it’s better days. The Fox was problematic because the engine would easily overheat. We constantly filled water jugs, used them to top off the low radiator water levels. Jugs of water sliding around the back seat.
Make 0r Break Moment
One day, second month on my new sales job. February. I’m heading to an appointment with a paint manufacturer south of market, San Francisco. I’m driving the Tercel on Oak Street to the freeway. It is raining. The streets are wet. A bus slams into my car at the corner of Oak and Buchanan Streets. It is a school bus sliding through the intersection. My green light doesn’t matter. The school bus can’t stop, T-bones me. My car is totaled, and I’m angry. Heading to an appointment. If I’m late, no sale, no income, more stress.
Now my shoulder is jammed up, my car front end munged, the right wheel busted at 45-degree angle. I filled out the paperwork, did the police report, and jumped into my car as it still barely rolled, on my way flashers blinking, slowing roadway traffic to make my meeting and sale. I thought ‘I must be at my appointment and make the sale’, but I missed it. On top of this, my car was totaled.
I was broke, angry, car-less. I was at my wit’s end. I was two months into a new commission situation with no money. The stress mounting on how I would make this work. I was frustrated, feelings of failure creeping close. I was thinking it can’t get worse.
Nightmare
It got worse. I had borrowed my girlfriend’s Audi Fox. She let me use her car when it was raining. On one trip home, I drove up a steep 17th Street from Market and Castro into Cole Valley, Haight Ashbury. The Audi started belching smoke again and I was fed up with it. I was done filling those jugs. I didn’t care that it was getting tighter and hotter every moment. I wanted to escape this madness. I kept pushing it out of angst. The engine seized up at the corner of Mars and 17th. I had it towed to Cole St Auto Repair, where it sat for a couple months before going to car heaven.
Now, I would have to tell her I killed her car on Mars. In one month both cars were dead. But she and I could get to work riding my motorcycle. And with rainy days in San Francisco that winter, it was ugly, uncomfortable, wet. She was brave and scared straddling the seat with me driving the streets of San Francisco on the Yamaha motorcycle. Me clutching the bike gears, she’s clutching me. Not the kind of endorphin rush everyone wants.
The next Monday, I show up at the sales office with my motorcycle helmet and rain suit. Sales manager says firmly, don’t show up here again with that. Get a car. I did. I signed my life away on little more than a faint hope it would somehow work out. I blocked out doubting voices from those in my life seeing these events unfold. This situation qualifies for fake it ’til you make it.
Road to Perdition
I heard family say, “Get a job”. “Why are you doing 100% commission?” They knew I was struggling. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t making much money. The little I made came from sheer effort of numbers, working my butt off. I lost both our cars, and we were getting around together, exposed on a motorcycle. Physically and financially we’re clinging with bare knuckles to scraps of our California dream life. I’ve got a signed lease in San Francisco. Yeah, the bad dream becoming a nightmare.
At the nadir of my initiation to the adult world, I asked my boss Tom to suggest some books I could read to get out of this SLUMP. Reading works for me. One he suggested was “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success through Selling” by Frank Bettger. It was a formative book for me. It served me as a baseline for mindset and attitude. It addressed vital issues about my mental state, my attitude, and it helped me construct my future.
“Inch by inch, it’s a synch, but by the yard it’s hard.”
Sales Manager Tom
My Pivot
My manager’s suggestion to read Frank Bettger’s story was pivotal. It chiefly revolved around a rep getting out of a slump; and his attitude improved when he compared himself to his prior personal best, using his progress as a benchmark, not comparing to other people. So I stopped comparing myself to kingpin Wall Street mythic Bruce. Things began to change. Although his influence was legendary and his performance had a gravitational pull, it was not stress inducing for me. It was simply that I just become better. I sharpened my skill. Kept my work ethic. Remained humble. One of the other books he suggested was Charles Roth, “Secrets of Closing Sales”. Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Earl Nightingale, and Tony Robbins were in my self-development mix too. And so, I continued my journey, learned the craft, became the professional salesperson that was inside me all along.
“Cream doesn’t rise to the top, it works its way up.”
Sales Manager Tom
In the following months, I knew that I was going to make it and be successful. My day of transformation happened in the second week of December of year one at TSI, I sold three 200 account sales. I made $1,350 in one day commissions. One was with Lonely Planet Publications in Oakland – Emeryville. The second was with Dick, who designed and manufactured football shoulder pads called Protection, and the third one was the Daily Californian newspaper.
Victory in Sight
I said to my boss, “I have something special to show you.” He invited me to his home in Pacific Heights, where I presented him three checks for large orders paid in full. I needed to prove it to myself and we celebrated.
The Commitment
I decided that night, I was ready to buy a big diamond. I bought one. Later, I asked my girlfriend if she’d take my hand forever. She said yes. I glowed inside because I decided that day, I could make commitments work, realize dreams of greatness, and it was going to be me and her. I could do this sales thing. This TSI thing. Cashflow Skinner on the move. It was going to work. My takeaway? Never underestimate the power of belief.