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What I Learned from Door-to-Door Sales

by Matt 26 Comments

(Note: This challenge was one of 100 items on “the list”, which is now complete! I have a new, much more challenging and next to impossible list of goals to complete over the next 10 years. Check it out by clicking here.)

This past summer, I took a job as a door-to-door sales rep. After getting back from South America, I went straight to work on Canadian Free Flyers and my blogs but really wanted to get out of the house and learn something new. It had been a while since I truly challenged myself and it was time to get out of my comfort zone.

One thing I’ve been wanting to get more comfortable with is sales. As an entrepreneur, it’s a pretty important skill to have. Actually, sales is a decent skill for anyone.

Most people at this stage would buy some sales books or sign up for a course. I decided to do something different. I went out and got a job in sales. Not just any sales but the most uncomfortable sales I could think of – door-to-door. I figured that by getting a job in sales, I’d learn more than I ever could from a book or a course and I’d get paid for it. win/win!

To find a job, I started some simple research on Kijiji (similar to Craigslist in the U.S.) and some other job boards and eventually emailed a lawn care company. This company had a really good track record in the city so I knew I wouldn’t be selling garbage.

After an interview, I had the job. The first two days were simple as I was just following other sales reps around, learning from them and getting paid a flat training rate. On the third day, I was on my own and made zero sales. My spirit was crushed. I knew this was going to be one of my biggest challenges ever but making no money for a whole evening and being rejected 50+ times was really painful.

Knocking on doors to sell something out of the blue was (and still is) a big challenge for me. I would sometimes sit in my car, thinking over and over about my finger ringing the doorbell and trying to sell a stranger on our service. My chest would get tight and I’d continuously try to talk myself into it. I knew I just had to get over the first 100+ doors but part of me really wanted to just stay in my car and listen to music.

On day four (my second day alone), I bought a large Red Bull and forced myself to get out there and enthusiastically knock on more doors. I knew I didn’t have the ability to be as aggressive as some of the other reps but I did have the advantage of being kindly assertive, having a friendly look and a very tenacious spirit. I ended up selling six lawn care packages that day and being top salesman. It was a $400 day. My courage was renewed and I was ready for the following months.

As the months passed, I continued to have a few zero-sale days but I also had plenty of days when I was on fire. I did much better than I thought I would and made much more money than I imagined. When I started, I was simply hoping I could make it long enough to learn some things.

But then I started making sales and it felt good. After two months, I still occasionally felt the tight chest before knocking on the first door for the evening. After all, it isn’t something I particularly enjoy. I’m not really an extravert. At the same time, I’m super proud of myself for getting into a completely foreign and challenging situation. Not only did I break through the barrier of knocking on random doors but I actually crushed it and made a lot of money.

Leaving on a jet plane
Took this picture while knocking. Follow me on Instagram @MatthewGBailey

I don’t know how much of a “sales” guy I really am but I certainly learned some things over the summer months.

What I Learned from Door-to-Door Sales

Tenacity Pays Off

One of the last guys I sold to before the season ended complimented me on my tenacity. He was one of few people who didn’t buy directly at the door but wanted me to call him back. After a second and third phone call and a second visit to his house, he made the purchase. He was really impressed. Even with little sales skills, if you keep your head up and continue to knock on door after door, you will make sales. Most people stop knocking after too many no’s or they take too many breaks. If you knock on 50-100 doors you will make a sale. Don’t give up. Be tenacious. Keep going. you will make sales.

No’s Will Become a Yes

Rejection is a hard thing to deal with but it’s a natural part of life and business. If you can’t handle rejection, you are going to get crushed very quickly. This is another benefit of door-to-door sales. The rejection is often and you need to learn how to overcome it. Some nights were really difficult on the phsyci but I always tried to tell myself the age-old advice that every single NO is just one step closer to a YES. This is 100% true. You can’t let a NO get you down. It’s just part of life. If you never ask, you will never get a yes. If you do ask, you will get a NO – but eventually, you will also get a YES.

Appearance Matters 

When you’re selling someone face-to-face, appearance matters. If you look like a grungy kid or an untrustworthy person, people won’t buy from you. If they feel uncomfortable or see you as an amateur, it’s over. I have the benefit of looking like a good guy. People have even told me that at the door. They’ve told me that I look honest. Although I am an honest person, having that look helped me out. I always dressed nice and simple with khaki shorts, a company t-shirt and styled hair. I kept good posture at the door and acted confident. Never underestimate a good appearance.

Attitude Sells

If you try selling with a shitty attitude, you may as well go home. People sense this at the door. During the final few weeks, some of the younger sales reps stopped selling. They would literally make no sales for a whole week, which meant no paycheque. They would come in with a bad attitude and basically say that they weren’t going to make sales that day. Some of them would bring their personal lives to the job with them. If you start with a bad attitude or a bad mood, you’re finished. It radiates from you. People don’t want to buy from someone in a bad mood. You’re bad mood makes them feel bad. They get in a bad mood. Then they say NO. Even if you’re having a shitty day, you need to think happy thoughts and tell yourself to make sales. You need to be confident and positive. Otherwise, take the day off.

Keep Talking

Sometimes after I’d make the sales pitch, the customer would stand there thinking. The worst thing you can do is just let everything stay silent. Usually, they are thinking of an objection to make and silence is kind of awkward. It’s good to let them talk when they want to but when it goes silent, make conversation. Remind them of the benefits. Tell them a good story of someone else who bought the product. Repeat the sales pitch or repeat the closing line. If they seem unsure, keep talking. You need to sell them on your service and remind them why they need it. All of my top sales days were when I had the “talking spirit.” I kept making conversation and kept selling the product.

Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

After a week or two, I started pre-flling out sales sheets before the shift. I always had a minimum goal of two sales so I would fill out the date, my name and the city on two sales sheets, triggering a positive effect in my mind that  I was going to make two sales. This is when things took off for me. I don’t know how this stuff works but I almost never made less than two sales once I started doing this. Whatever little thing you need to do to give yourself a positive mindset, do it.

Kindness Pays Off

I’m certainly not an aggressive sales person but I do persist and I am very kind and polite with people. I didn’t think I was going to make it with this attitude but it turns out, people like it. I’m sure an aggressive nature can work as well but when I showed up at someones door with a smile and a friendly attitude, they dropped their barriers. Some of them told me that normally they would NEVER buy something at the door but because I was very kind and polite, they gave me the chance. I guess nice guys don’t finish last.

Don’t Take it Personally

This is one of the biggest challenges in sales – especially door-to-door. I got rejected right to my face hundreds of times each week. Some people were nice and some were rude. Rejection after rejection. It can really kill your spirit. Sometimes I would take it personally and get pissed off. Then I would get in a negative mood. Then I would make no sales. It became a vicious cycle. Other sales reps did the same thing. Some of them would get mad and get more aggressive, leading to aggressive customers and a really bad night. It can be tough but you need to realize that it’s just business. They aren’t rejecting you, they are rejecting the service. Sometimes they are simply having a bad day. Maybe they are having troubles at home or had five other sales reps from different companies knock on their door that same day. Sometimes they really don’t want the service and sometimes they just want to be left alone. Either way, they don’t know you. They don’t know who you are or what your values are. They aren’t rejecting you. They are just rejecting the sale. If you make it personal, you’re going to get down on yourself and the day is over. It’s not personal, it’s just business.

**

Do you have any experience in sales? What have you done to challenge yourself lately? Share below.

PS: I’m writing a book called Limitless Travel. It will teach you everything you need to know about booking the cheapest flights, finding the cheapest accommodation, finding unique accommodation, finding out the best things to do as well as the best travel gear, apps and websites. Sign up here to be the first to know when it’s released and to get it for free!

**

Photo of doorbell by Darwin Bell.

30 Tips from 30 Years of Life

by Matt 5 Comments

I turned 30 on July 31, 2014. Just one day ago.

Wow.

That’s really all I can say. I feel like I’m getting really old even though I’m living quite an amazing life. Much more amazing than my teenage years and most of my twenties.

As someone who has grown tremendously over the last ten years, travelled all over the world, met amazing people from all walks of life, started a blog that has introduced me to hundreds of entrepreneurs and adventures, married a sweetheart, and has started successful online business ventures…I thought it would be cool to think deep and share some advice that I wish I had when I was 20.  Actually, I wish I had someone tell me these when I was younger than that, though who’s to say I would have listened. Of course, the advice isn’t just for twenty-somethings. It can be for anyone of any age. All of us have different backgrounds and lessons we’ve learned over the years. In fact, each of us can learn something from each other and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below on a tip/lesson you’d like to share.

Before you go on, I should warn you that this post is more tun 4000 words. Oh c’mon, it’s not THAT long.

These are my 30 tips on life from 30 years of life. 

[Read more…] about 30 Tips from 30 Years of Life

How I Booked a Flight from Canada to Mexico, Colombia and back from Bolivia for $27

by Matt 8 Comments

One of the major powers of travel hacking comes from high-value redemptions and I decided to get really creative with our (my wife and I) points for our upcoming five-month trip to Mexico and South America.

After racking up a little more than 500,000 frequent flyer miles in 2013, I had to start putting them to good use. Since we were already planning to go to Mexico for our wedding, we decided to continue south and backpack through a good part of South America.

Using Aeroplan, the cost for a return-trip to Mexico City in economy class is 40,000 points. However, it’s only 50,000 points to go to Colombia, Ecuador or Bolivia. Peru is 60,000. Because the flight is international, Aeroplan allows one free stopover and one free open-jaw. Another bonus, though they won’t tell you this, is that you can have a couple of layovers in cities on route as well.

Let the travel hacking begin.

I did all the research I could do online via Aeroplan.com but because the trip involves an open-jaw, I had to call in and book through an agent, which costs $30 per person. No biggie.

I told the agent where we wanted to go and had them research the same itinerary that I had already researched online. We wanted to fly to Cartagena, Colombia with a six week stopover in Mexico City. From Cartagena, we wanted to do an open-jaw and fly back to Canada from Bolivia rather than Colombia. This would give us almost four months to backpack down through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia without the need to come all the way back to Colombia.

As I had already researched this part, I knew it was viable. We didn’t have many options for the return date from La Paz, Bolivia but we made it work. I’m not sure why Bolivia is less points than Peru but I’ll take it!

After getting the itinerary sorted out, I noticed that the return flight from Bolivia had a connection in Mexico City. Thinking it would be nice to see my family-in-law one more time before heading back to Canada, I asked for a 21-hour layover in Mexico City on the way home. When I made the request, the agent told me I would lose my stopover. Luckily I knew this wasn’t true and I was able to tell her that this wasn’t the case.

I explained that a layover is less than 24 hours and thus, not considered a stopover. I also told her that I did this before with a 23-hour 57-minute layover in Chicago on a previous trip.

Suddenly, it became possible and we had our 21-hour layover in Mexico City on the way back.

It was settled.

zihuatanejo
Looking down over Zihuatanejo, Mexico from an infinity pool

We booked the flight departing from Calgary, Alberta to Mexico City where we would stay for six weeks. During this time, we will visit family and drive to the coast to get married on the beach. We will then leave Mexico City and fly to Cartagena, Colombia where we will then spend almost four months backpacking through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia before flying back to Calgary from La Paz, Bolivia in late June. To sweeten the deal, we were also going to be taking a 21-hour layover in Mexico City on the way home, which was enough time to say hi and bye again to my family-in-law and pick up anything we left behind. We’re pretty excited about this trip. We’ll be hiking to Macchu Picchu and eating delicious Peruvian food, hiking to the lost city of Colombia, scuba diving in the Galapagos, and volunteering at an animal refuge in Bolivia. This is going to be a trip of epic properotions.

The total cost for myself was 50,000 points + $327 in taxes and fees. I used 50,000 points from my Aeroplan account and then paid the $327 with a Scotiabank American Express I received a few weeks before. What was cool about this particular American Express is that it came with a $300 statement credit after spending just $100 on a travel-related expense. It also included 15,000 “Scotia” points, which were worth another $150 in travel credit.

Since taxes and fees from a flight is travel-related, I passed the $100 threshold and then called to have the $300 statement credit used towards the bill.

$327 – $300 statement credit = $27 out of my pocket.

That same card also came with 15,000 points, which in this particular case were worth $150 in statement credit. I used this credit to help pay for my $27 and the rest towards Karla’s ticket.

All in all, I used an array of credit card bonuses and travel hacking to get this incredible trip for just $27. Actually, with the bonus points, my flight was not only 100% free but I had $123 leftover for my wife’s taxes.

I’m writing this post from Mexico City at the moment. Next weekend, we’ll take a road trip to the beautiful beach area of Ixtapa, which is where we are getting married. After that, we’ll come back to Mexico City and probably drive down to Oaxaca to see another amazing city in Mexico before heading to Colombia and continuing on our South American journey.

That’s it!

Have you ever travel hacked your way to a cool destination? Let me know about it in the comments below.

If you’re from Canada, I’ve created a membership site just for you that not only teaches you everything there is to know about travel hacking but also sends you all the deals for earning points so you don’t have to do any research whatsoever. It’s been featured in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. Check out Canadian Free Flyers by clicking here.

If you’re from the U.S.A, I’m currently working on a guide that will teach you everything there is to know about travel hacking from America. Click here to sign up so you can be notified when it’s ready and get an exclusive discount for being first in line.

***

If you liked this post, you’ll probably like:

  • 10 Tips for Traveling the World with No Money
  • How to have 1-Full Year of Travel for $1500 per month

My Annual Review and Vision for 2014

by Matt 1 Comment

I am writing this post on the last day of 2013. Wow. It’s truly hard to believe that tomorrow is the first day of 2014. In some countries, it’s already 2014. When you read this, it will be 2014.

I started writing this post in my journal, which has been with me through 13 countries. My journal has been to more countries than most people. As cool as that sounds though, it’s not the number of countries that’s important. What’s important is experiencing a country and a culture that is completely different from your own. Someone who leaves Canada to live in Indonesia or China or Nicaragua for 1 year will be transformed on a deeper level than someone who visits a new country every two weeks.

Okay, back to the post. The annual review. This is the first true annual review I’ve ever done. I’ve written versions of them before but it wasn’t what a true annual review should be. Personally, an annual review should be a deep and honest look at the last year. A compilation of what went wrong and what went right. A deep reflection into why things went right and why they went wrong. Something that allows you to learn from the mistakes made and then banish them into history. Finally, it should look ahead into the future, not necessarily with goals but with an overall vision of what you would like to see in yourself over the year ahead. It could be a vision of what you hope to achieve in business or more importantly, what you wish to see in yourself. It should be taken very seriously and not just a “dream” that gets tossed in the garbage a week later. Every day is a miracle after all. [Read more…] about My Annual Review and Vision for 2014

10 Tips for Traveling the World with No Money

by Matt 5 Comments

Okay okay, I know what you’re thinking. Bullshit.

To some degree, you might be right. You do need some money to travel. But not much. In fact, most of the people I have met seem rather broke. However, they are living an incredible life. Some are living that life for just a moment while others are doing it long-term, including families with children.

One of the most important things to remember is that you don’t need to be rich to travel. In some ways, being rich might even hinder the experience, since you’ll likely be coming at it from an angle of luxury and status. If you think travel is only about beach resorts and 3-star restaurants, this is likely NOT for you, unless you’re trying to open your mind to new possibilities.

I’ve stayed in gorgeous 4-star hotels and I’ve done the all-inclusive thing. If all you’re seeking is a one-week escape from life, then this probably does fit the bill. You’ll get to relax with ocean waves in the background and you won’t need to worry about anything except the timing of the next buffet meal. It won’t be all that different from home because you’ll still be mingling with other people just like you who may even be from the same city or the same country. It won’t be an adventure. It will simply be relaxation time, which is fine.

However, if you’re looking to experience travel from a life-changing point of view, then you’ll need to ditch the resorts and high-end hotels and opt for the more independent and adventurous route. You’ll want to meet locals and dive into the culture, not-to-mention the ocean for an up-close and personal look at life under the sea. You might be wanting to zip-line across jungles or look for wild elephants along the river bank. You might just be looking to meet very interesting people, hike to minority villages and simply expand your mind in a way that only independent travel can provide. [Read more…] about 10 Tips for Traveling the World with No Money

LL 009: A Live Limitless Interview with Srinivas Rao

by Matt 2 Comments

In the ninth episode of the Live Limitless podcast I chat with Srinivas Rao of BlogcastFM.com and theSkoolofLife.com.

When not surfing the pacific waves, Srinivas runs the incredibly successful BlogCastFM podcast. He has interviewed nearly 400 authors, entrepreneurs and change-makers, while receiving more than 170 5-star reviews. Srinivas was listed on Problogger’s annual list of top 40 bloggers to watch for in 2011 and is a two-time speaker at Blogworld Expo. You can also find his writing at the Skool of Life blog, which is about everything not learned in school. He is also working on a new project called the Art of Being Unmistakable and getting ready to launch an in-person event called the Instigator Experience.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • What made Srinivas want to take the unconventional path in life
  • Why moving to Costa Rica changed his life and his mindset
  • Turning down any kind of job that doesn’t fit our values
  • What made him start BlogCastFM and some steps he took to grow it
  • Digging into ourselves to find what we really stand for
  • Challenges of living an unconventional life
  • How social media can change our life
  • His latest projects
  • And MUCH more…

Listen below or download from iTunes by clicking here. (Please note: If you’re reading this from email, you may need to visit the site to listen)

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/livelimitlesspodcast/LL_009_-_Srinivas_Rao.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Email | RSS

If you’re running short on time;

(1:35): What made Srinivas take the unconventional path in life

(4:05): Why moving to Costa Rica changed his life and his mindset

(6:00): Why more and more people are willing to give up high paying jobs that don’t fit their values

(8:55): What made him start BlogCastFM and some of the steps he took to grow it into the 5-star podcast that it is today

(11:55): We talk about the amount of work that goes into projects like BlogCastFM

(13:27): Tips for digging into ourselves and finding out who we really are

(15:35): The challenges of living an unconventional life

(17:30): The benefits of living an unconventional life

(19:00): How social media can change our lives

(21:00): We talk about his new Facebook essays

(23:35): We talk about his latest projects

(25:30): His advice for listeners wanting to make a change in their life but are finding themselves holding back

***

Hope you enjoyed this interview with Srinivas Rao.

Please leave a review at iTunes and/or share with your friends.

Want more inspiration to live limitless? Check out this interview with John Bardos.

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