Grant Cardone Confession: “I hated sales”

FROM THE DESK OF GRANT CARDONE:  I am a salesman because I had to be, not because I wanted to be.  Truth be told I hated sales when I got into it.  I hear people say, “you are a natural salesman.”

Wrong!

I am the most unnatural salesperson you would ever meet and hated sales for the first 8 years I was in it. At the age of 17 on my first sales job in a clothing store, my card said, “sales associate” and I hated it.

Grant Cardone Confession:

I hated talking to strangers, “is there something I can help you with?”  I was awkward, often tongue-tied, scared to approach people, hated rejection and my results relied purely on luck.  My results relied on whether I met the right customer or not — or so I thought.

I got in sales because my survival depended on it not because I wanted to.

The career that had been set for me didn’t pay any money.  Sales was the only job offered to me and I hated it. I told my uncle, “I didn’t go to college to become a salesman.” And he said, “You didn’t go to college to be out of work either.”

So, I took the sales job and for the next two years I hated it. I hated building rapport with a customer, asking probing questions, and hated asking for the sale.

Hate is not too strong of a word.

I hated the ups and downs, the commission only, the rejection, appointments not showing, customers lying to me…and the begging and follow up it seemed I was expected to do.

Fast forward 35+ years. I was doing an interview with NFL Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Fran Tarkenton who said, “You own the sales niche man. How did you do that?”

Good question, how does an average sales guy go from hating sales to being the leading authority in the industry writing a dozen bestselling sales programs and five business sales books?