Do you know how it feels to be halfway through the month and your draw isn’t even covered? The last 3 customers yielded no sale. The first wanted to buy but couldn’t. The next one could buy but wouldn’t and the last one could, did, and ended up backing out at the last minute.

Do you know how it feels to hear the voices of negativity and cynicism grow louder-when the only remnants of your self esteem is like the thin layer of steam left on your mirror after a hot shower.

Do you know how it feels that despite the sickening feeling in your stomach and your shoulders are all knotted up with tension, you still push off to grab the next Up.

Do you know what how it feels to reach deep down to conjure up a smile and walk up to a stranger’s vehicle only to be greeted by a 1” crack in their window? They’re too reluctant to tell you their name, too scared to get out of their vehicle.

Do you know how it feels when there are only seconds separating a customer’s decision to either get out of the comfort of their car or burn off citing the old, familiar line of, “We’re just looking.”

Do you know how it feels to give an award winning walk-around worthy of an Emmy even though all of the decision makers aren’t present?

Do you know how it feels to follow up with your customer-answering all of their questions through tireless research?

Do you know how it feels to split a deal with another salesperson so you can focus all of your attention on the customer who came back? You thought today was the day, but you soon find out that they’re still not ready.

Do you know how it feels to follow up with that customer after investing hours, days-even even weeks only to be told they've bought somewhere else?

Do you know how it feels? Good, now you know the regrets, emptiness, and painful feelings your customers have when they receive your poor service. 

Now you know how it feels for a customer to think you were different than all of the other salespeople. When they were a shopper you picked up on the first ring, now that they’re an owner they have to leave a message.

Now you know how it feels to have to pick up a few extra shifts at work because their salesperson convinced them to live a little. For the next 2,190 days they’re committed to the bank-they only got 5 days of grudging commitment out of you.

Now you know how it feels for a customer to have to stand and wait in a faceless line of “service”-while they’re hustling up a ride to work, the one they decided to finally trust, walks right by them-not even a glance of familiarity shows on your face- you’re too busy wooing another customer.

The pain a salesperson feels must be temporary-blown deals, missed opportunities, and random acts of injustice and unfairness must be leveraged as growth toward a more productive future. Whereas the pain a customer feels when a salesperson fails to follow through is much different-shirks [of responsibility], shoos [of promises to call back later], and no service [ever] make the stains of hurt much more permanent. 

Now that you remember how it feels, don’t ever let your customers feel it again.