A Tortuous (Sometimes Torturous)
Background
It's imperative that I tell you of my once deep suspicions about selling, and how I ultimately came
to embrace the sales and marketing professions.
Graduating from high school, I was voted "Most Likely To Succeed" (whatever that means) and was accepted
by every Ivy League college to which I applied. Unfortunately, I missed attending by one test question the
college of my real passion, West Point Military Academy. So, I attended and graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover,
NH. (The Moody Blues sing it correctly: "Isn't Life Strange..."
Had I attended The Point, my chances of being alive today would be slim, for the classes from the mid sixties forward
suffered severe casualties in Vietnam.)
Anyway, back to the story...
Graduated, engaged, and jobless, I reluctantly accepted a sales position. But having been raised
in an environment of professionals, who had professionals as friends, I hated every minute of selling.
Though I did well, I frankly found selling below the dignity of man, or woman... and clearly never
expected my success to come from it.
But, as I sold and studied the art over the years, I came to understand and appreciate the opposite:
Selling is the very dignity of men and women, for in a free society, mental persuasion is a
quality unique to humans. Affecting the perceptions of another's mind and persuading that person to act in a manner
prescribed by you is the most powerful capacity that a person can develop. Except for the uncontrollable events of nature,
nothing in this world ever happens until someone has been sold... even if it is a person selling him or herself on an idea!
Out of this tortuous (sometimes torturous) background, and honed by rugged years in sales and
marketing, I continually look for new and challenging ways to expand my craft.
