Give Me That Old Time Revival Feeling!

Not!

I had decided at that point to give Tupperware the old college try. My reason for failure so far, according to my sponsor, was that I had not attended training or a rally yet. And she was going to make sure that I was there to get my training so that I would be as big a success as she!

So, excitedly the night arrived and I was full of hope and anticipation. I was positive that this was what was lacking from my success and this one singular meeting (oops training) would be the missing piece to the puzzle of my success.

I knew the second I walked into that room that I was doomed.

The room was not full of professional business women. The room was not full of seasoned sales professionals. The room was not full of successful six figure income sales representatives. Instead it was full of..............................



CHEERLEADERS!


Yes, that's right. There were over 300 Tupperware Sales Representatives jumping up and down, clapping their hands, cheering for their unit, cheering for their sales and joined in song and chorus.

I thought that I had walked in on a Moonie convention or something. They all looked alike. They all sounded alike. They all dressed alike and they all had that same "six figure grin" slapped on their faces that my sponsor had.

It was the invasion of the pod people and I was the odd one out and these pod people were hungry to transform me into a Tupperware Sales Representative with that same six figure grin.

I sat through four hours of cheering, recognition, new product raffles and demonstrations and left there the very same person as I had arrived. And much to the disappointment of my sponsor.

Now, I must admit, I used caricature in describing the enthusiastic sales representatives I encountered that evening. Not as an avenue of making fun of them, but as an avenue of illustrating just how different I was from them. And I was so very, very different from them.

I didn't see it then and its taken 20 years of failure in my direct sales career to figure out what it took for me to be successful in direct sales. What I didn't realize then and what I wish I had realized a lot earlier on in my direct sales careers is the first thing I want to really impress upon you readers: Tupperware isn't always going to be the right direct sales company to be affiliated with.

You see, it wasn't I who failed Tupperware, it was Tupperware who failed me (though it took me four different tries at being a Tupperware Representative to discover this). I'm a great sales person, I really, really am. But I'm not Tupperware. I couldn't sell Tupperware if a Corvette came attached to every $100 purchase. I couldn't sell Tupperware if I were the only Tupperware Representative in the state and I really couldn't sell Tupperware even if I worked at Target where they sell Tupperware off the rack.

But that didn't mean that I wasn't cut out for a career in direct sales. It meant that I still had a long road ahead of me and the first stop was College. Direct Sales wasn't going to bring me that six figure income I dreamed about and it certainly wasn't going to bring me some education and since I was only 18, I went to school. I studied, I learned math, budgeting, psychology and how to present myself one on one and in front of a group. I learned how to write and how to communicate. I learned how to be organized and how to sell myself. And everything I learned has served me well in the success of my direct sales career.

Next Up: Those Who Sell Crystal Shouldn't Have Cats............