On july 18, 1972, ron johnson began selling publications door-to-door in newport ‘news, virginia. From the very beginning, each day ron had a choice to make. He could make sales or he could make excuses. When doors were slammed in his face and a rude customer here and there, it certainly was tempting to make excuses.
Ron, however always found a way to keep going and a way to make sales each day, on a “no-excuse” basis. ron learned, early on, that sales is a numbers game. He knew that, on average, he would need to knock on around 60 doors, talk to around 40 people, get rejected by 39, of those 40, and finally make his one sale for the day. He knew that if he needed 2 sales, he ‘would need to knock on 80 doors. To ron, receiving rejection, even rude rejection, was all part of the game. Part of the great game of sales, that he loved playing. He could have taken the rejection personally, got frustrated, got angry, but he never did. Usually he just chuckled at it, while walking to the next house, with a spring in his step and a sparkle in his eye.
around the dinner table he would tell his children of his work, it was like story time, “after walking through the snow, i finally made a sale — it was to the same lady, on ‘walnut street that was so angry last year. . . . ”. He taught his children that “you can have whatever you want in this world, you just have to want it bad enough” and “only the man that genuinely wishes to succeed, and is willing to pay the price, through hard work, will eventually become a star salesman”.
