I remember my first real job. A sales job. Selling knives. CUTCO to be exact. Door-to-door as they say. It wasn’t really door-to-door. That would be pretty dangerous trying to sell weapons as a 19-year-old knocking on doors. But it felt like that.

I have finally arrived. In a big boy world with a big boy job.

I remember my first two sales calls vividly. The first was with the piano player at our church. She was very sweet. I was terrible. I made two unforgettable mistakes that I laugh about to this day. CUTCO had a pair of scissors that could cut through a penny. We learned the art of penny cutting in training, so I was ready. But when the time came I choked. I couldn’t cut it. I stood up, pushed down, and started pumping the scissors, almost breaking her table. She said, “No, really, I trust you. I’m sure it cuts pennies.” I took the hint.

Then we arrived at the finale, comparing her knife against mine. “This is where the product sells itself,” I thought. The problem is, the product had apparently already sold itself in a previous appointment with a previous sales rep. She had the exact knife I was demonstrating. That didn’t stop ole Remington from following the program. She cut through the rope with one pass. “Okay… now try mine.” She took my knife and did the exact same thing. “See, isn’t that better?” I read in triumph. Needless to say I had some skills that needed sharpening.

Nonetheless I made the sale! She bought a few knives from me to add to her collection. I drove straight home, busted down the front door and walked in the house with my chest puffed high and said, “Mom and Dad, I'm quite literally the greatest salesman in the world.” They laughed and rolled their eyes.

I couldn’t bask in my glory too long. My second appointment was a sure thing. My aunt and uncle were two doors down. I walked over to their house, still riding high on my last kill and did a much better presentation, it being my second time and all. I even managed to make a dent in the penny this time. To my surprise, when I got to the end of the presentation and was about to collect my dues as the greatest salesman in the world, they hit me with a “no sale” and no recommendations. I walked right back to the house, opened the front door and said, “I quit.”

This story is 100% factual. I really did quit that day after the first sight of rejection. It hurt. I wasn’t ready for that type of pain. So I was done. If not for a few hard conversations with my father about perseverance and overcoming obstacles, I might still be nursing my wounds. But I woke up the next day and made a sale and was back to GOAT status.

Sales are emotional. And sales are personal. No matter what anyone says.

I was speaking with a real estate agent who had broken the all-time record in Indiana for a year of sales. He had every accolade you could imagine and had been doing it for 30 years. So I was surprised when he told me that the week before, he had lost a deal. “It was a sweet older lady and she looked at me and said I’m going with the other guy because he thinks my house is worth more.” This is the interesting part. He said, “and that really hurt.” Here is someone who can lose more deals in a year than most people make and he was still emotional about the rejection.

This told me two things: First, the feelings never go away. It is normal to feel a little emotional when rejection of any kind is felt in the business world. Second, for the elite among us, the defining factor is how long we dwell on those feelings and that situation. In time I realized that it is okay to feel a little let down if you gave it your all and it didn’t pan out. However, the ability to put that behind us and strive forward is what propels us into success.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is from Paul in Philippians 3. He says, “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…. Let those who are mature think this way.”

In time, I was able to mature in the sales world. I became less emotional about each individual appointment and focused on what I could control and how hard I worked. I still bust down my parents' door from time to time in order to remind them how great of a salesman I am. They are my biggest fans. They are also my biggest customer as my mother reminds me every time I get a big head.

About the Author

Remington Ramsey is the creator of the Real Producers brand and the host of Real Producers Podcast. He is a real estate investor as well as an avid reader and writer. Remington calls Indianapolis home and enjoys life on the lake surrounded by his wife and their three girls. He is the publisher of Indy Real Producers.