A question for veterans: When you were brand-new to media sales, what did you do when someone gave you a new idea?

You tried it, because you didn’t know any better.

What do you do with new ideas now?

Photo by JackF

The Day I Made $3600 Because
I Didn’t Know Any Better

In 1995 I was a rookie sales rep for 1190 KEX Radio in Portland. I had no account list. I was hungry. I was willing to talk to anyone who’d talk to me.

One day I was driving through the Portland suburb of Tigard, and noticed a store on Highway 99 called The Furniture Barn. I walked in and introduced myself to the owner.

I asked him about the Oregon State University football helmet on the wall behind the counter. It turned out the owner was a huge Oregon State athletics fan…and my station carried OSU Beaver football and basketball.

The next day I came back with an OSU radio sponsorship package, and the owner signed a contract for $15,000.

When I got back to the station with my signed contract, my more-experienced co-workers greeted me with a combination of congratulations and envy.

Congratulations on a big sale. Envy because they had all passed on the opportunity to visit Furniture Barn. They all knew what I didn’t: 

It was the fifth store in seven years to move into that space. The other four had gone out of business.

Everyone knew they’d never buy…except me.

The other AE’s shook their heads. “We all drove by Furniture Barn and ignored it. Phil didn’t know any better, so he just walked in and got the money!”

Furniture Barn went out of business the following year, but not before paying for their football sponsorship in full.

My commission on this didn’t know-any-better sale: $3600.

A few years later one of those co-workers reminded me of that sale and asked me… “If you’d known about that building’s history when you drove by, would you have walked in?”

My reply: “No way.”

Experience Changes Us
And Not Always For the Better

When we were brand-new, we’d try anything somebody suggested.

If we encountered an interesting sales approach in a book or a podcast, we’d use it to see what might happen.

If we saw a store that looked interesting we’d walk in.

If a sales trainer suggested rewriting a proposal, we’d rewrite it.

We had nothing to lose.

My favorite word in the English language is YouNeverKnow.” — Former St. Louis Cardinals Pitcher Joaquin Andujar.

After a while, we gained some experience. We’re more cautious now. We’re a little cynical. We have The Curse of Knowledge:

• “I’m not calling that store. There’s no way they’ve got enough money to advertise.” 
• “That idea will never work in this market.”
• “We don’t do it that way here.”

We stop trying new things because we’re comfortable with our current approach. We skip calling on businesses because of the way their building looks from the outside. We ignore advice because we’ve heard it all before.

Then some rookie who doesn’t know any better comes along and takes our money.

You Can Think Like a Rookie

If you’ve been at this for years, and you’re not making the money you want to make, it’s time to shake things up. 

Declare yourself a Rookie for a Month. For the next four weeks:

• When you read a strange idea in a sales book, and you think it’d never work… try it at least three times. 
• If a sales trainer shows you a new approach, and it’s radically different from the way you normally do things, use it. Do it quickly, before you have time to talk yourself out of it.
• If you drive by an interesting new business, pull over and walk in. Even if it looks too small and shabby to advertise on your station.

Suspend your disbelief for just a little while, and you just might make some money.

I mean, hey…YouNeverKnow.

Question: What’s the most unusual new business client you ever called on? You can leave a comment by clicking here.