Ageism · MH Sales Mastery Network

Ageism

Ageism does it exists today??

I really thought your age today didn't matter it was about your experience or is it?

I found myself out of a job at the end of November last year after the company I was working for was bought out and I was later let go for absolutely no reason. The old owners were prepared to actually make me the General Manager at the beginning of the year and then the buy out came and well the rest is history.

I've never had a problem finding a new job, I'm well respected in my field and have many contacts, so I figured after a few calls I would be up and going. Now I sit here still making calls hitting up those contacts and more and nothing seems to be working.

A couple good friends pointed out it might be your age, and I thought surly not.

I've been in my industry for 37 years, I've been on the production side and mostly the sales side. I've interviewed several times and always get the same response, WOW you have a ton of experience and WOW you have a huge dealer network, we can definitely use you, but then I continue to follow up and no job opportunities come of it, they just basically say we don't have anything right now available, which could be true, however then I see moves being made and wonder what happened??

I've always been proud of myself for putting in the extra time and out working my peers, I put in the time and usually work at least 50 hours or more a week. I know plenty of people say work smarter not longer. Well I do work smarter, however it is about always being there for your clients, being there to answer the phone and give them the answers they need....they say time kill deals and I never want one of my clients waiting on me to get the answers they need to close the deal.

Our industry especially on the manufacturing side has always done a poor job of training sales reps before they hit the road or the phones. Which leads to poor performance and not knowing how to prospect or even work with retailers. I noticed this early on, especially when it was done to me, luckily because of my production back ground it gave me a leg up and I was able to gain some respect from my customers because I actually knew what I was talking about, so I decided I was going to work out a sales training system. I would teach the sales people to really know and understand there product, plus understand their competition which is valuable so you know how to value your product and show them why they need you. Most sales reps today may understand their product, but if they don't or don't know what they are going up against 80% of them won't pull into that unknown spot and walk in the door and say who is in charge here, let me show you why you need me. That is why product knowledge is so important to learn. You can't just throw a sales person in and say sink or swim.

Then I would teach them how to travel:

How to prepare for a road trip
What should you take
What should you do when you get to a dealer ship
What should you do when you see a prospect
How to travel smart and get the most out of your time.

I care about this industry and I'm very passionate about what I do. I believe we are making sure people can obtain the American dream of home ownership and a start of building personal wealth by owning their own home.

I still love what I do and not ready to quit doing it anytime soon. I don't want to stop working, I still have a lot of knowledge to help others learn this business and become successful sales people.

Does my age matter?? It shouldn't!! However sometime it seems like it does.

I've had friends tell me don't put so much on your resume....I tell them I want them to know my back ground where I came from and everything I can do to help be an asset to whom ever I work for.

Am I wrong?? Does ageism exist out there?? I'm curious what others have to say about it. I'm not use to posting a lot, however this has been running through my head for awhile now and I just wanted to ask the question.

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