I started my sales career when I was 12 years old. My first sales pitch was to my neighbors trying to close them on newspaper subscriptions for the newspaper I was selling.

Now if you listen to the sales experts who tell you need a dozen books and seminars before you start selling…I was destined to fail. I didn’t have any sales training. I hadn’t read the latest book by some sales guru. I didn’t attend a three-day seminar. All I had was the audacity to believe that I couldn’t fail.

Sure I had a lot of people tell me no. My response…so what!

Some people wouldn’t let me get two words out before closing the door on me. My response…so what!

I did well persuading my neighbors. I soon had so many papers to deliver my bikes tires strained under the weight. I didn’t care because I was making more money than I ever had in my life.

Thinking back I realized why I was successful. It was as easy as ABC.

Adaptable. If something wasn’t working like I thought it should, I’d change it. I never had the feeling of being stuck without an option. There was always something else I could do when something wasn’t working.

For example: I learned my selling script needed customization depending on the reason someone would buy the paper. I didn’t use the same selling script on the same customer. If someone was a sports fan, I’d talk about the sports section and how they could get national as well as local coverage of their favorite sports. Or if they were concerned about the costs, I’d talk about how the coupons in the Sunday edition would pay for the subscription.

This sounds like basic stuff but how many sales professional actually do it?

Bounce-back. You wouldn’t think that anyone could be mean to a twelve-year-old trying to sell newspapers. But it happened…a lot. Did it get me off track? Ruin my day? Discourage me from trying? Not in the least.

The reason wasn’t because I had a bullet proof skin that rejections just bounced off like bullets off of Superman. No, I had two powerful ideas working for me.

First, I had a goal. A goal will pull you through anything, including rejections.

Second, a no is just a no. It’s just a two letter word: N + O. It means nothing unless we give it meaning. The only power it has is what we give it. We define what no means. My trick was to give NO a new empowering meaning: New Opportunity.

That’s exactly what each “no” led me to. A new opportunity to talk to someone else about subscribing.

The next time you hear “no” think “New Opportunity”!

Coach-able. My twelve-year-old mind was a sponge ready to soak up anything new or better. Including any advice on how to get more subscribers. I had one customer, a retired salesman, that was especially kind to me.

I remember knocking on his door and giving my best pitch to sell my newspaper subscription. He smiled and asked “Kid, how many people say yes to what you just said?” I admitted not many. “Would you like to know how you can sell more papers?’ he asked. That’s where he gave me my first lesson in sales. I listened and changed my pitch.

Bingo! More sales. I continued to knock on his door to get more sales education. Each time gaining new ideas that helped me get better results. I learned the power of having a coach and being coachable.

Do you have a coach? Are you coachable? Sometimes having an experienced mentor can shorten your learning curve and get results faster.

The ABC’s are the beginning of the alphabet. They were also the beginning of my career in sales. When your sales are in a rut think about the ABC’s. Sometimes it’s getting back to the basics and making those small changes of behavior that gets the big results.