I’ve Been Compared to David Letterman
The Los Angeles Times says, “Hocutt’s paying audiences...are the foot soldiers in America’s business-to-business selling game. And Hocutt is their drill sergeant. His plain-spokenness wins people over.”
But I prefer the New Brunswick (NJ) Star-Ledger’s comparison of me to David Letterman: “Okay, so he’s not David Letterman.” Not as flattering, but funnier.
I got my first taste of cold calling and selling at the age of 10 when I rode my bike through our Waco, Texas neighborhoods selling my homemade potholders door-to-door to sympathetic housewives. Two for a quarter. What a deal.
With success under the belt, I quickly became my Boy Scout troop’s top down-the-street candy salesman at the age of 11. My cold calling and sales skills grew. Pushing my dad’s first power lawnmower (made from a washing machine motor) down the summer-hot Texas streets, and knocking on hundreds of strangers’ doors, I made a good living (and employed two workers) as a sixth grader mowing down lawns.
After graduating from the University of Texas at Arlington, and giving Uncle Sam four years of saluting in the Air Force, I landed my first professional sales job in the school picture business in Dallas, in 1973. I later moved to Seattle where I, at various times, sold Sony dictation equipment, Motorola 2-way radios, and Motorola pagers and cellular phones (when no one knew what a cell phone was back then). Go figure.
While at the then Fortune 1000 McCaw Communications Telepage Northwest, I became their #1 salesman in the nation and salesman of the year – 3 times. And this was even after I told the sales manager on the first interview that “cold calling sucks!” I still got the job. Go figure, part deux.
In 1992, I started my own national speaking and sales training business. “How did you get into the business?” seminar attendees ask at every program. I have two things to thank for my career change. The first is my wife Linda. The second is because of the worst sales training experience of my life.
Arriving home after five days of training, Linda asked me why I was in such a sour mood. I blamed the poor sales training. Not more than thirty minutes into the first day, the instructor informed the salespeople that this was his first training assignment, he’d never sold anything in his life, but “This is what the book says about selling”.
My wife had no sympathy. “Look,” she said, “if you think you can do better, do your own sales training!” Over 150,000 students later I’m grateful to my wife. And to that lousy training.
All these years of cold calling, selling, and teaching has led to my book, Cold Calling for Cowards: How to Turn the Fear of Rejection into Opportunities, Sales, and Money. You saw that coming.
Why do I love selling? It’s one of the few jobs where you can take the initiative to go out and create your own opportunities.
So here’s to you. May you, too, create your own opportunities.
Some of Jerry’s thousands of clients:
Coldwell Banker · UPS · FedEx · Pepsi Cola · Verizon Wireless · Sprint Nextel · IBM · Xerox · Coca Cola · ADP · Merrill Lynch · Paine Webber · SBC Communications · Morgan Stanley · Office Depot · Dell · State Farm · Marriott · GE · Hyatt · Ritz-Carlton · Farmers Insurance · U.S. Marines · U.S. Navy · U.S. Army · Clear Channel · Blue Man Group · Bank of America · Chicago Title · MTM Recognition · University of Maryland · Los Angeles Times · Seattle Times · Dallas Morning News · The Press Enterprise · St. Petersburg Times · Key Bank · Wells Fargo · U.S. Bank · Gallup Organization · San Jose State University · Westin Hotels · Hilton Hotels · PEMCO Insurance · New York Life · Allstate · AFLAC · Avaya · First Third Bank · Pre-Paid Legal · Xpedx · Shred-It · Adecco Staffing · LaSalle Bank · Provident Bank · Boeing · Aramark · Motorola · Pfizer · CB Richard Ellis · Johnson & Johnson · Edward Jones · Kinko’s · Minolta · Time Warner · U.S. Post Office · Manpower · Staples · Safeco · Minuteman Press International · Condé Nast