exhausted-businessmanSales is a great training ground for overcoming adversity, because you face it every day. Early in my career, I hit a rough patch where I couldn’t sell anything. I was supposed to open two accounts a week, and I hadn’t opened any in a month.

It was the dead of winter and already dark, late one Friday afternoon. I was driving across a lonely stretch of Interstate on my way back to Des Moines, feeling sorry for myself. It had been a tough week and I had nothing to show for it – again. I was a failure. A dud. What was I doing here, anyway, selling packaging materials in the middle of Iowa? There had to be a better way for me to spend my life.

All of a sudden I saw a printing company off the side of the road. I had meant to stop there for months, but frankly, had never mustered the courage. It was one of the biggest plants in the area and I was sure they had an excellent packaging supplier. But figuring nothing could make me feel worse, I got off the Interstate and walked into the lobby. It was around 5:45 pm.

The plant was empty except for a few people. A man came out to talk to me and I gave him my pitch. He listened patiently, looking neither interested nor uninterested. When I was finished, he looked up at a clock on the wall. Great, I thought. I’ve bored him to death. Then he looked me squarely in the eyes and said, “Young man, I’m impressed that you’re working so late on a Friday.”

And then he did something that never happens. He game me an order on the spot, and a big one, too – $1000. Turns out the man was the president of the company. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.

I don’t think I stopped smiling the rest of the way home that night.

Your Turn …

Will you consider sharing your stories about overcoming adversity either in a comment or as part of Robert Hruzek’s fantastic group project, What I Learned From Adversity?