Life of a copier sales person

When I first started in the copier industry, I had no client’s database, no previous exposure to the market, no contacts or pertinent corporate circle. As part of the copier industry practice, I had to make more than 100 cold calls a day in the hope of securing an appointment.

You know 99% of the time, people are negative when picking up sales calls. I was warned for complaints lodged against harassment attempts, calls hung up in the middle of my sales pitch were just part and parcel of my daily routine. However, the most demoralizing thing was when I couldn’t even get a single appointment after busy making calls for a week!

My daily routine was not limited to cold calls. Often, I would go for door-to-door sales after lunch if I had no appointment on that day. I recall during one of the sales trips, I made a mistake entering a company not noticing the “No Sales Person” sign board. I was being shouted at and immediately chased by an admin manager when she spotted me standing outside her office. I could felt that everyone who was then present was cheesed off with me. Shocked by the event, I shy away with legs trembling.

There was another time a police report was made against me for trespassing a private warehouse when I entered the wrong building for my copier appointment. I was so pissed off with the security guard for not listening to my side of the story and I had to go through the trouble of going to a police station to make a statement report.

During those days, I couldn’t afford a car. So after each door-to-door sales trip especially after the office hour, I would quickly hire a cab and rushed home in the hope of not encountering those familiar faces whom I had pitched. Looking back, it is quite interesting to know how thin my skin was.

To be honest, I am not a person that could handle rejection well. I often find it very hard to pick myself up to work every morning while I was haunted by the fear of rejection. I had to constantly clear my mind with positive affirmation before the start of the day because I knew those negative voices inside my head was toxic to my life.

Gladly, I love reading. So whenever I am down by my sales result, I would either stay alone hugging on to those motivation books or watch motivating youtube videos to get momentarily encouragement. Anyway, not all experiences are bad after all. Along the way, Some customers do appreciate my efforts and offer some warm encouragements.

Finally, my first deal was made after a month of farming! I had successfully convinced my customer to get a used copier machine for cost saving purpose and I felt really proud about it. However, it was a disaster in the end because I paid too much attention to my sales pitch that I have forgotten other important detail that was part of the deal. Hence causing a lot of inconveniences and of course got a bad scolding. As far as I could remember now, there are no repeat sales from her again.

Having experienced so many setbacks, I felt quite amazed that I didn’t throw the towel and still continue where I have started. Just like the old saying, there are lessons to be learned if you look at your situation in the right way. Rainbow always surface after the rain. Those bad experiences had helped me understand the reality of life and know what it takes to make ends meet.

I have developed skills that were never taught in school and it keeps me staying in the game till today. To begin with, selling photocopy machines have never been my passion. But I am glad this job has offered me a lot of important life lessons I can take further with me as a valuable asset in my life. For those who have plans to enter this trade and sell photocopy machine for a living in Singapore, I hope my experience could give you some insight of what it means to be a copier sales person & hopefully you would find your rewards & write your own story.