Learning to Grow Thick Skin…
On June 11th when I began working as a sales intern for Cintas Corporation I had a general idea of what my roles and responsibilities would include. What I didn’t realize at that time was how much these daily duties would allow me to evolve, not only a sales intern but also as an individual. After a few weeks of sitting behind my desk and mailing out direct marketing to potential prospects for the company, I have to admit my 9 to 5 started to become a bit robotic. I was still getting paid so there wasn’t too much room for me to complain. However, I started to find myself just going through the motions and at times making multiple break room and coffee runs just to keep myself moving. After a couple weeks of going through monotonous and dull administrative duties, it all came to a close when my boss approached me with the remark, “Lets get you the phones.” I was so excited to be shaking things up that I didn’t even consider how demanding my next couple weeks on the phones would be. Although to be fair, I should of gotten an idea when my boss also suggested me to watch the movie “Boiler Room” thereafter. On the phones my goal was simple, set up appointments for the reps on my sales team. Setting the appointments however was not as easy and required me to build up a short-term memory. I had to learn to be quick on my feet, deal with objections and not to dwell on lost calls or rejections but rather learn how to handle them better on the next dial. The experience helped me learn to grow thicker skin when needed and not to waste my words. With three weeks left in my internship I’m excited to build off of my phone experiences.
