Burnout is a problem in all walks of professional life.
I traveled the country doing seminars, called 11 Hard Earned Lessons--annecdotal recitations of actual experiences I had had over the years of selling audio.
What separates the good from the great, the great from the spectacular, is passion, and self awareness, and frankly, pride.
When a salesman goes home each night, (audio or otherwise) he or she must, in the quiet moments, ask the question, "What did I do right today?", then "What did I do Wrong".
Oftentimes sales people do everything wrong during a sale, but the customer buys anyway, creating a false impression for the seller--he/she makes incorrect assumptions about the efficacy of his/her work.
Conversely the same sales people do everything right, and even if the customer has the proper ingredients, "money, motivation", (book exerpts) and he/she's established 'value perception' (another exerpt) they STILL may not buy. HOW CONFUSING!
So, the sales person has to be self aware enough to know the difference between, "hey I did it right, he or she just wasn't ready, and hey I did it wrong and, they bought anyway".
Self analysis, with some very astute counseling with a professional sales manager goes a long way toward knowing what happens.
Anacrusis, is the post above, points out that people shouldn't go into a store if 'regardless of what you hear, you're not going to purchase'. That is a good point but it misses the mark slightly.
All sales people dislike having the 'tire kickers' or the customer with the 'friend/expert advisor' who knows more about audio than any 'salesman' could possibly know... but these people ironically make up a great portion of buyers if handled in the right way. (This is hard to do, because time is money, is time, is money...)
Quick story, and absolutely true.
One day a man came into an Audio Store I happend to be in--he wanted the rubber surrounds on his 20 year old woofers redone, as they had rotted, and fallen apart--a $75. item or thereabouts, they were so old as to need rework as they were no longer available. I watched as the service guy took the obligatory information for this virtually unprofitable transaction.
I looked outside and saw the white Mercedez he had driven up in, then at the man's monographed cuffs on his shirt, along with the perfect 'break' in his tailor made pants.
I walked over and said, "Hey, I'm Larry, I'm with THIEL Audio, here to do a seminar, would you like to hear something cool while he's finishing the ticket?" The man said "Sure."
Half an hour later he owned a pair of CS6's and then within two weeks, a Krell Amp and CD player, altogether more than $15/$20K, I can't remember the exact amount.
Sounds simple when I state it this way, but it's not. It's just that, 'burned out' sales people hurt everyone, especially themselves, as they run customers off, sell short of the customers buying potential, and generally wreak havoc on the sales floor. It's hard work selling--being 'up' all the time, but its no harder in a curious way, than repeating the phrase thousands of nights, (if you're playing the lead in a Broadway rendition of the play Camelot), "The rain may never fall till after sundown. By eight the morning fog must disappear. In short, there's simply notA more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot." Telling the same story thousands of different ways, and remaining excited about it is hard work!
Selling is repitition, patience, truth, establishing value, and remembering that each, 'real' customer has a desire to purchase if you do your job correctly.
Sorry this was so long, but it is something that hard working sales people can hopefully identify with.
Larry
