TruGreen was a fun experience. Having never really been exposed to a sales position all I had to go off of was my natural instinct and communication skills. When it comes to sales, having been new to it all, you're really skeptical about everything.

It was too cold to go out and knock on doors( I was hired as an Outside Sales Rep) so we would call people from a list that they provided us. After training for a week, we started dialing.

FIRST DAY: I got a few contacts but it was getting late. Not one of the new hires had sold anything all night and people were as new as I was in the position and sales in general so we had little luck.

I dialed another number and a man picked up the phone..

ME: "Hi, is this CUST?" CUST: "Yes, it is." ME: "Hi, my names Nick I'm calling from TruGreen, the local branch, how are you?" CUST: "Good Nick, it's that time of year already?"(Sarcasm) ME: "Yeah it is, we're getting the routes set up for the season and I wanted to call you and see what you had planned for the upcoming season for your lawn" CUST: Begins to describe state of his lawn, etc

ME: Pitches the customer the program

The room goes silent...

No one had gotten that far all night, mind you.. it was our first day on the phone, These weren't inbound calls, they were previous customers who no longer had our services for one reason or another.

It felt like that scene from wolf of wall street where Leo starts working selling those penny stocks and everyone around him kind of stops what they're doing and they begin to focus on him because he's getting closer to a deal with the person on the phone.

CUST: Quietly listening ME: Ok CUST, we're setting up the routes today, I'm gonna have one of our ladies from the office verify everything we just spoke about. You wont be charged until after we do the first treatment, but you do get a discount for paying for the whole season in advance. ME: I'm ready when you are. CUST: "Gives Credit card information" ME: Great! Our ladies are going to call you to confirm everything so expect a phone call here very shortly. Give me a call during the season if you have any questions or you can call into customer service. CUST: Ok, thanks Nick! ME: Thank you Cust, Have a good night.

Hangs up phone

The room lit up with cheers as all the reps celebrated my first sale as a rookie and it felt like something out of a movie. I did not get to sleep that night with all the excitement that I was filled with. I felt I had it, but I soon found out that sales is EASY and a numbers game but most sales reps get in their own way like I did many times. There was no secret, trick to your tone, what you said, it came down to confidence in yourself, product knowledge, and getting the customer to trust you.

We went on to do our position as Outside Sales Rep and I did sell programs and services rather effortlessly, but eventually left the company. I had a great experience with TruGreen and they did an awesome job and provided support in any way possible during my time there but that initial sale will always stick with me for the rest of my life.