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Lost....

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm very confused,lost, totally lost,i don't know why, something must be wrong with myself, but i just can't figure it out....:(
I really really worked hard and tried hard to do my job, sales, you know, very challenging job,but I like it very much, so I always tried,tried and tried
Well, I started this job five months ago in a small start-up company dealing in lighting products. I used to want to start a new job in a smaller one where I thought one could learn more and get more valuable experience. And many people also said more free and career chances compared to bigger ones. So I was very excited and passionate at the beginning despite lower offer and severe condistions and even my boss behaviour, I did many calls and hundreds of letters every day, tried what I can do to contact customers to promote our products. However, most of customers wanted lower and lower price , which had a big gap with our own posistioning, our target is big customers, and we were given some training about how to deal with different customers. And I tried many ways, but failed, only dealt with one sampling order during this period. My boss is not very satisfactory with my sales and talked to me several times about that. In the sales meeting every week, he hinted many times that those with no good sales should consider what they had did for the company blablaaa…. I didn’t like him actually,his temper and his managerial way,many colleagues said some bad things about him and his wife which many employees couldn't stand and left ,it's a couple company,but I ignored them all. I just focused on my job. I have my own dreams, my life goals,like many other people ,and with much desire to be successful, to prove myself .With much much pressure, I held on and on till now. But finally it didn’t work,I felt very frustrated and despondent. I know it needs patience and persistence to do this job and on the way to success, but now it seems so hard to achieve and didn’t work for me .I don’t know whether I should go on now…which way I should go…five months, no orders, no feedback or some just wrote back asking me no need to reply or said maybe placed order next time,but I know it is just perfunctory reply. And this company will attend an influential tech show this month,which I placed great importance cz this is the first time I could go to a trade fair.
But possibly can’t go there in the end, I am very down..
Why,why,why, I lost confidence now, can’t see any hope for my future, wanna give up, but another man tell me not, Leaving without any achievements is not a good record,especially for a sales. I changed several jobs, but stayed on short time and ended up nothing and wasted time. It wan’t good for my career. Some friends advise me to go to bigger company like I did before for several years.Well,stable comparatively. Deep down, I don’t really wanna return to that boring life again. I’m 31 years old, but have nothing. I’ve got stuck in here, :( I feel very weary and exhausted, no mood in doing anything now, didn’t call and write, just sit there surfing the whole day,did nothing at all. That day my boss called me again, I saw his worry and discontent again,so I had to apply resignation to him ,but he asked me to think it about,and I have to make my decisions by tomorrow whether I should go or stay
Am not I strong enough? Or i am not a good sales? Anyone who can give me an answer or show me the way out?:confused:

Comments

  • Olly_BOlly_B Posts: 222 Trailblazer
    Hi Nickle,

    It sounds like you are in a pretty bad state and that your confidence has taken a real hammering. But your final sentence suggests things are not as bad as you possibly think they are: if you offered your resignation and your boss asked to you to reconsider it suggests he thinks a lot more of you than you possibly realise.

    You don’t say how big your sales team is, but presumably someone is selling the lighting products, or is the business still running on investment capital? Your boss is presumably aware that you are trying your hardest, but you are finding it difficult to make the sale. That isn’t your fault: you can’t be held responsible for selling bad products, or selling the wrong products, or selling them at the wrong price. That is your manager’s concern.

    Your boss has one priority: to make sales. And that’s what you want to be doing. So coming up with solutions that can align what you want and what your boss wants won’t be that difficult.

    You mention you had training to deal with different clients, was that a one-day course or was it ongoing mentoring? You may want to consider getting a mentor, someone from outside the company who you can meet regularly and discuss what you are doing and what strategies you are employing? This could be something you set up, or your boss may well have contacts, either through his business networks or investors. Either way, make sure that your boss recognises you are doing this for the company as much as for yourself, and he gives you the time to go and do that.

    Similarly, doing work shadowing in another company will help you pick up tips and hopefully regain the confidence you have in your own ability. Or setting up something small on your own outside of work, for example doing direct selling for a catalogue, will increase the confidence in what you can do. Again, do this with the full knowledge of your boss: you want to improve yourself so you can benefit his company.

    Also, make sure you are feeding back all the negative comments you get from would-be clients. Your boss needs that knowledge to improve what the offer is, so that it makes your job to sell easier.

    Finally, remember that your experience trying to do sales in a start-up is really valuable: far more so than walking into an established company which has a very ‘easy’ way of selling its products. Make sure you collate all that knowledge: what worked and what didn’t, what you would have done differently, and what signs there were that sales weren’t going the way your boss wanted them. What you’ve effectively got there is the elements of being a business advisor: helping other small start-up companies not make those mistakes. And that, combined with your previous sales experience, gives you lots of new directions to point your career in.

    Good luck…

    Olly
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hi Olly,
    Thanks so much for your kind advice for my problems.

    We're a small manufacturer with only 6 international sales in my team,other teams like engineers,service and workers amount to about fifty people. The training is just available sometimes, not very regulary,products training by engineers and sales training by my boss. I ever thought of getting more sales knowledge outside the company,but it would cost me too much,so i didn't do it.

    Today, my boss declared to us again that he wouldn't consider using those who are still without any sales this month. He's very serious to say that as he did before. And i can feel that our team morale is very very bad. Everybody looks depressed cz as a matter of fact, the team sales figure is not so good,and maybe i can't be held responsible for that,but for a sales in a company, top management is more likely to care about what it turns out finally than what you have done,no matter how you work hard.

    This is the business world, realistic and tough...

    But thanks for your concern anyway. I will take it into account
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