The year is 2015 and my inbox is flooded with people wanting to come sell for me. As I check my Facebook DMs, there’s message after message that says “can I come work with you?” “hey man you should buy X from me”

I had a strategy for sorting the real opportunities from the fake. The problem is, my method really pissed off the fake. Like, we are talking steaming mad.

I’d reply to the with “I’m not hiring” or “that pitch is weak”

What I was doing, is seeing how well they handle push back, objections and criticism. They want to work with or for me, they are gonna get a lot of both. 99.9% of the people fell over on the first push. 

The following sequence really happened. It was a Porsche salesman from Arizona who actually did this. But he’s not alone, it’s happened like this or worse 1000+ times in the last few years. 

Dude: Hey man I’m a big fan, come to Arizona and buy a Porsche from me (that was literally his pitch, how fucking horrible)

Me: Man, I drive a Mclaren, I’m not interested in a Porsche. I eat Porsches for breakfast. But let’s talk about how horrible that pitch was. You want me to fly from Texas to Arizona and buy a $150k car from you then drive it home? You really need to work on your sales pitch bro

Dude: Fuck you man, I’ll fly to Texas and beat your ass you weak piece of shit douche bag.

Me: That escalated quickly (blocked)

Let’s talk about this for a second because it happens a lot. I had no idea how easily upset people are by the truth. Let’s get real here. This guy didn’t ask me if I like Porsches, didn’t ask me if I already owned one (Which I did at the time, we had a Cayenne) he came at me with a horribly selfish sales pitch. “I like you, buy my stuff” then when corrected, he exploded with roid rage and death threats. 

He didn’t explode because he’s a badass, he exploded because he’s soft. He’s prolly surrounded by some echo chamber of friends online and lives in a conflict free world. I don’t know. If you went to a basketball coach and missed all your free throw shots, the coach would tell you you sucked and help you fix it. Same goes for me, if you’re pitch sucks I can’t just sit back and let you keep pitching the way you are, I’m a coach, it’s my job not to let that happen to you.

Yet most people react all sorts of crazy if you correct their sales pitch. I’ve had more death threats and “I’ll beat your ass” moments in my DM than I could ever car to count and all I was trying to do with every single one of them, is help. A fool rejects help in order to protect his delicate ego. When really, what most of us need is rejection and improvement every day. Sadly, in modern times most people fear and run from rejection. 

Anger is a symptom of fear. Every time a person is angry they are projecting fear. When someone gets mad at me, I ask “what are they scared of?” to myself so I can maybe help them. Back in the day I just told them to “fuck off” but now I’m a lot nicer. When I correct a salesman’s pitch and he goes off on me, he’s scared that I am right, his pitch does suck and that’s why he’s not making the money he wants to make. Admitting that would take responsibility and ownership of the need for improvement and many people’s egos just won’t let them admit it. 

Social media has everyone triggered these days. Salespeople are no different. Having a bad day on the sales floor? Hop on social media and take your anger out on strangers with absolutely no consequences. Seems like a good deal, right? Let me tell you, if that’s your pattern right now, you will be running it forever if you don’t make a change. 

If you’re not making the money you want to make, don’t take it out on someone online, find a way to make more. Pick up a sales book, get a training program, learn a new way of selling. Learn how to get leads using software like phonesites.com and add a new skillset to your arsenal. Getting angry at strangers online isn’t going to make your commission check any bigger. 

You have to treat social media just like real life. There’s no way people would say to me in real life what they say online. I had a guy mad at me for no reason, told everyone he was gonna beat me up at some event, I met the guy, he was nice and polite to me. Online he’s a complete troll. I don’t see how anyone would want to live that way. Why not be nice online and off. Being an angry little troll never helped anyone make more money.

I can see it from a mile away. Guy goes to close the sale, misses the deal, gets online, sees someone post about a sale, goes off on them, runs same old anger pattern and repeats the process daily. I feel bad for the people I see doing this, but much like any other addict, you can’t change them, they must want to change themselves first. 

In real life, when a face to face customer gives you an objection, you must man up and handle it or lose the sale. On social media you can go off on a prospect and block them if they something you don’t like. The latter is making salespeople soft. 

In reality, you can use online rejections to get better at closing. Learn how to influence and persuade people online just like off. If you will drop your ego and look at the opportunities you have to actually make sales instead of make enemies, you can make good money. I used to argue with trolls, now I politely change their mind or ignore them. My ultimate close is turning a hater into a fan. 

Next time you catch yourself mad at someone online, ask yourself “what am I afraid of?” and figure out what fears you need to face in order to stop being so damn soft on social media.