Sold 3 Summers, Regrets it All
I saw the website this morning for the first time and had to respond. The only thing that I ask is that you don't use my information in my email for the website or detailed parts of this email (names, schools, states, locations, etc.)
I would first like to applaud you for creating the website. It's an excellent forum for alumni of the Southwestern Co.
I sold books for three summers. My team finished in the top ten in the company all three summers that I sold. When I got recruited I was strongly encouraged by my parents not to do this job. Promises were made to me by managers that if I tried this "experience" then great things were ahead for me. I can honestly say that the "experience" helped because I do have an awesome job that I started right out of college. However everybody that I work with got to this point without the "experience". The "experience" also nearly destroyed me. Southwestern made me believe that they were the only way to success.
My first summer I sold in a middle-eastern area. I struggled for the first 8 weeks and was ready to quit. I was ridiculed by my own student manager, other experienced student managers, and even first years salespeople. The experience was miserable. At a Sunday meeting a "B" manager named Matthew talked to me and gave me the first bit of encouragement all summer. I finished the summer with a strong 4 weeks and got a decent paycheck. As soon as I got back to Nashville I felt like I had conquered the world. My Executive Manager Josh Smith told me I had to come back for a second summer because one summer doesn't differentiate you to employers. So I signed up.
Second Summer "The beginning of Reality": When I got back to campus, classes started the next day. I was so exhausted I don't even remember how I survived that semester. Within a month I was getting emails and phone calls from managers about recruiting for the next summer. I was naive. My first thought was, “let's do this.” I had managers already disappointed because I hadn’t met their recruitment expectations and said that if I really wanted to be something I would start working harder. I should have quit right there. It was definitely a blow to my confidence. I decided not to recruit, to focus on school and the campus job that I had, and to practice my presentations for the next summer. Big Mistake. Apparently when you don't recruit they don't help you either. By the time the second summer rolled around I was told that I would be going to the mid-west to sell. The Tuesday of Sales School I got switched to Christopher Brown's organization. (Christopher was one of the top salesman). I got into the organization and it was total chaos. Everybody Christopher recruited the year before had a leadership position. If he didn't recruit you he didn't care about you (didn't make any money on you). They sent me to my sales location. The 3 rookies that I was given to live with were the cast-offs that nobody wanted. One guy was urged to go home during sales school because we knew he wouldn't make it. He quit after 4 days. The other guy's attitude was so bad during training, sales school, and in the field he only sold 400 units. Christopher refused to let me send him home. The third guy I really felt bad for. He got recruited, met with his manager once, and then she quit for another job after 3 weeks. I can't blame her. I probably would have done the same if I had the opportunity. He ended up lasting about 10 weeks. I got zero help from the organization and other managers. They wouldn't take responsibility for their rookies, and that was probably the most ridicule that I have ever received. I felt embarrassed. I had rookies from other organizations saying nasty things to me. I remember one sales meeting they asked for pony stories. I told them that my story saw me get in a car wreck and having to walk house to house. My territory only had 14,000 people in it. I was walking 15-20 minutes in between houses trying to sell. I sold 65 units to a lady and her family. They had to post date checks to pay for the books. I was told that wasn't really a pony story because 65 units wasn't a big enough sale. Christopher gave the pony award to his friend that sold when he was sick. He had 3 customers that totaled 70 units. He worked half the day and had his car with him. Sounds to me like he quit on the day (Southwestern Pun). I felt so small after that. Finally that summer ended. I got back to Nashville and got the worst ass chewing from my Executive Manager Josh Smith. That was a tough day that I will never think about again.
Summer Three: In the words of John McInroe "You can't be serious!" I got back to my home state and received the nicest gesture that has ever been made to me. It was my dad smiling and happy to see me. The first smile I had seen in about 5 months. Nobody laughing at me, nobody talking down to me, nobody disappointed in my work. I swore to myself that I would not go back. Don had gotten promoted to an Executive Manager. He told me that now I would be working with him in his own organizations. He was persistent at recruiting me back. Finally at a convention I agreed to come back. I shouldn't have gone to that convention! The last summer I went to the Southeast. I was doing really well. I told people I came back to prove my worth. I was on pace to sell over 6,000 units, however two events happened that changed the way that I looked at things. 1. At a Sunday sales boarder war every manager acted like they were my friend. Even individuals who had said some pretty obscene things to me. If someone made fun of me, they would harp "You’re not allowed to talk trash about him, he hit Presidents Club". They didn't like me as a person, for my personality, charisma, attitude.....they were only around me because I was selling. 2. I also worked pretty poor areas in the counties. Lots of trailers, unemployed people, disability checks, and to be quit frank: PEOPLE THAT HAD NO BUSINESS SPENDING WHAT LITTLE MONEY THEY HAD. I remember walking up to a house that was in bad shape. The husband was a painter. He was at work. GREEN LIGHT 1. The daughter was in 10th grade. GREEN LIGHT 2. I prospected for money. They had cash. JACKPOT!!! The mom was injured and unemployed. They had just received some tax refund money. A whopping $140! That was literally all they had. The dad was struggling to find work as a painter. I did everything that I was trained to do. I convinced the daughter that she needed the books, and I convinced the Mom to pay for them. After all, $140 dollars is a half payment on a set of 5. I told the mom she was responsible for coming up with the other half by the end of summer. I solidified the sale and the mom and daughter had a huge ray of hope when I left. I got about a half mile down the dirt before I started to feel sick. I started to feel bad for what I had done. Why were they any different than anybody else I had sold to? I realized that I wasn't helping them, just like how I really hadn't helped anybody. A salesman helps people find a solution to a need. I created a need and found them a solution out of selfishness. I had hustled them. I stopped the car and I threw up in the middle of that dirt road. I drove back to that house, gave them the cash back, and gave them volumes 1 and 2 of the set. The only thing that could ever possibly be used. I felt so guilty for what I had done that summer. It was about 4 o'clock. I drove back to our headquarters and packed up my things in my car. It was the first time I had ever quit before 9:30pm. I came back to the headquarters, spent the night, went to the breakfast spot the next morning. After the rookies left to go to their territories, I told Don (who was in the HQ with me) that I was leaving. I gave him rent money for the rest of the summer (3 weeks) and drove from the Southeast to the Midwest, nonstop. They had other managers do my deliveries. I had sold over 5000 units at that point and had a remittance rate of 91%. In October they contacted me and claimed I owed them $400. I paid it without argument and never talked to them again.
Post Southwestern: I was able to parlay the "experience" into a job as a broker in financial services. I figured out what the good values were and what the bad were too. I also found out that the only SW people that make it big are the ones that don't do well at the company. Kind of ironic.
I tried to read as much as I could about your story Kristen. My heart goes out to you. Nobody should have to experience things like that. Whoever recruited you should be shot! Ok, not shot but they should have something coming to them.
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