THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609290045
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: SALES JOBS IN HAMPTON ROADS
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 51 lines
Ah, I see you've picked up the paper. Looking for something to read?
What would it take to get you to read stories about selling? Oh, you're not interested in sales. You mean to tell me you've never bought anything?
You don't care, you say? Your job doesn't involve sales. I'll let you in on something. All business involves sales. That's what Don Helms says.
Helms sells siding and replacement windows at Campbell Contracting in Hampton. Look around at everything you own, he says. If you own it, somebody sold it to you.
That's why Helms hates it when people call him a salesperson. Hey, everybody's selling something.
Yeah, I know it's Sunday and you've got to cut the grass or head off to church. Know what Helms says about church? He says there's a sale involved there, too. With all that money being collected, somebody must be making a pretty good pitch.
Oh, you don't think many people sell for a living anymore. That ``Death of a Salesman'' thing again? Schlepping around door-to-door like Willy Loman might be on its death bed, but only because telemarketing, another kind of sales, put it there.
Still not buying?
All right, let's talk numbers. What if I told you there are almost 80,000 salespeople right here in Hampton Roads? And that sales jobs in Hampton Roads are expected to grow by 24 percent by 2005? That's not me talking, that's the Virginia Employment Commission.
Looking for a job? The VEC says there will be 3,504 sales jobs open in Hampton Roads each year through 2005. If you don't believe me, call them and ask them yourself.
OK, no more stats. Honest. How about finding out about sales by watching five Hampton Roads residents do it? Seeing is believing. We've been following these folks around all summer, spending time with them, going on sales calls.
Don Helms is from the old school. Knock on the door. Make the pitch. Ask for the money.
Chris Doyle is a stock broker at Wheat First Butcher Singer in downtown Norfolk. People invest their future in him.
Colette Smith is one of the voices behind those annoying telemarketing phone calls that start every evening when you sit down to dinner.
Alan Peterson is an industrial salesman for General Electric. He sells everything from 50-cent lightbulbs to $150,000 switchgear.
And Michael Boston sells used cars at Charlie Falk's.
It's all here in five easy-to-read installments. And if you're not completely satisfied with each installment, you're not obligated to go on.
What do you say? Deal?
LON WAGNER by CNB