My #1 Career Tip

I come from a long history of salesmen in my family. My grandfather owned a successful retail clothing business in New Bedford, MA managing upwards of 50 salesmen at a time. My father was in sales beginning in his teens knocking on doors for Fuller Brush, then Electrolux and later owned a real estate brokerage. This article in the WSJ talks about how the current generation graduating from college isn’t interested in sales. They don’t want to be known as wheeler-dealers. Can you blame them? Who in the world wants to be that? But the key to sales has always been about solving someone’s problem. That’s why the best salesmen never sell a thing. WSJ reader Chris Derry sums it up best:

At Western Kentucky University, we offer a major and minor in Sales. We have quadrupled the number of students in those majors and minors over the last six years, and sales recruiters are in our classrooms regularly.

The negative stereotype firmly attached to Sales is something I confront with students on day one. I ask them if they have ever had a negative experience with a salesperson and all the hands go up. But when I ask them to relate a POSITIVE experience they have had with a salesperson, the hands disappear. Why? Because when you get what you need from a salesperson, you don’t think you have been sold. You just get what you wanted!

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.