Staying Alive

Reflecting on the Culture of Sales

Yesterday was the opening day for the Orlando Magic. From 1989, when the team joined the NBA, until 2007, this was an exciting day for me. My favorite basketball team would take the hardwood and try to make the playoffs. From 2008-2011, it was a different kind of excitement. Having been evicted from the radio industry, I found myself a “smiler and dialer,” using whatever skill and traits I could to persuade reluctant sports fans to part with thousands of dollars for season tickets. Opening night meant 41 regular season home games at which I’d man a sales table, hoping beyond all hope that some eager fan would be caught up in the game-night excitement and decide, “Shit, my life would be so much better if I did this forty more times this year!”

It rarely happened.

I was talking to John Senning yesterday about the culture of sales.