I worked for a very sketchy charity (letter 2)

Louis Crowe

Jun '23 in Letters

When I was 16, I would spend my days wandering around the streets of Dublin, approaching strangers.

Hundreds of strangers each day.

Why?

I was a scratch card salesman.

These scratch cards were supposedly raising funds to build a hospital in the West of Ireland for patients of M.E.

This is the organisation's website.

Yeah, I know... Sketchy.

But at the time, I didn't think twice about it.

I was making a 10% commission on each scratch card I sold...

€0.30 a sale.

The idea of being able to earn a commission-based payout while spending my time flirting with strangers really got me excited.

I put in some serious work (both in the flirting and the selling department).

I would sell anywhere from 50-80 scratch cards an hour (mostly to girls around my age).

I worked 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Do the math, that's pretty good money for a 16 year old.

At the end of each day, we'd all be given a wad of cash.

The field manager would get a cut of each sale and so would the unshaven man back at the "office".

I'm pretty sure that this hospital was never actually built.

But that's not the point of this story.

Honestly, I'm writing this because I feel bad.

Not because I worked for a dodgy charity (no regrets).

But because there's a universal, negative stigma around sales...

My scratch card escapades certainly added to this negative stigma.

Most people, when they think of sales, they think of dirty men with a gold tooth, a cheap suit, a smell of cigarettes and greasy hands.

Maybe not the greasy hands part, but you know what I mean.

The idea of the "sleazy car salesman" is the first thing that pops into most peoples mind.

It's become very difficult to sell anything to anyone...

Everyone just assumes they're being scammed.

(Again, my scratch card selling did NOT help reduce this stigma)

This is an awful shame because sales doesn't need to be sleazy, scammy or snakey.

Sales is beautiful.

It's nothing more than a transfer of emotion.

The salesman feels confidence for his or her product, the buyer will either take on their confidence and buy, or manifest doubt and not.

That's it.

A good salesman doesn't sell a product, they sell confidence.

They sell emotion.

* A tear drops onto my keyboard *

Sales is everything.

Learning to sell is one of the most important skills one could learn.

Having an argument with your spouse? Sales.

Negotiating the price of avocados with the locals in a Mexican market? Sales.

Writing a short essay to get the members of a community extremely excited about sales? Sales.

Trying to attract a member of the opposite sex outside an ice cream van? Sales.

Applying for a job? Sales.

That job happens to involve selling scratch cards for a "charity"? Double sales.

I want you to remove this negative stigma that you have around sales and truly understand the importance of it.

Why?

Because learning the fundamentals of sales will propel you forward in any area of your life.

Your career, your relationships, your health, your ability to earn, your confidence in yourself, your ability to get laid, your musical talent...

Every single aspect of your life will improve with a basic understanding of sales.

Say this with me:

Sales is the transfer of emotion. Sales is beautiful.

So how can you begin to learn sales?

Well, firstly you have to understand that everything is sales.

Psychology, biology, marketing, copywriting, business, human relations, communication.

These are just fancy words for sales.

(Well, really sales is a fancy word for all these things combined)

Secondly you have to start learning about these things.

Read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts. Whatever method of content consumption you prefer, go and consume it.

Having a deep understanding of human psychology is the most important thing that someone could pursue, it literally ties into everything.

At some point, I will create a course on sales and how to apply it's core principles to everyday life.

For the moment, if you're interested in learning more, let me know and I'll send you a free copy of Dale Carnegie's "How To Win Friends and Influence People".

That book is the best place to start.

I wish you all the best on your journey to becoming a greasy-handed salesperson.

If you do decide to start a career in sales, please find a company that is doing good for the world, selling a good product will make your life infinitely easier.

Good luck,

Louis

PS If you're looking to get started learning about sales and you want to learn more, you can book a free call with me here and we can talk about sales all day :)

2 comments