Learning the Complexities of Business Through Door-To-Door Sales #13

I just started studying for the National Bar Examination with the 2 million yen I had made from selling shares, when a friend asked me to lend him money to start a business. He even said he will return it with interest. He was a trusted friend of mine and I lent him the entire 2 million I had. But after a month went by and then 2 months, there was no sound from him. I couldn’t wait any longer, so I went to his house. And found it empty. He took off with the money. I realized that that money was never coming back. As much as I was angry, there was nothing I could do. I had to pivot and find a way to make a living.

To pass the incredibly difficult National Bar Examination, not only I needed money for tuition, I also needed money to buy specialized textbooks. I had to look for part-time work. One of which turned out to be door-to-door sales of encyclopedia. When I saw in the newspaper add that they also offer dormitory stay, I immediately applied for the job. Fixed salary was 27,000 JPY, but it was commission-based, meaning the more I sold, the more I would make. That really lit a fire in me.

The encyclopedia was expensive. At 250,000 JPY it consisted of 116 volumes, and I could also add a globe model of earth for another 70,000 JPY. This was not something that could be sold easily. At first I started rotating with 60 households in a housing complex. Next, I started visiting single-family homes, but to no avail. Later I went door-to-door at apartment complexes, increasing the visited households from 120 to 240. But again, no success. I even hitchhiked far away to save on train fees and tried to make a sale while walking back to the dorm. I ended up visiting 600 households but made absolutely nothing. I was an island in the middle of nowhere.

Every morning and evening I had instant noodles at the dorm and a roll of bread for lunch at a park somewhere. After 2 weeks my face and limbs started taking on a yellowish color probably due to either malnutrition, mental strain, or both. This would have negatively affected my chances with the National Bar Examination, so I asked around for some vegetable scraps at a market near the dorm to add to my noodles. After a month, the 20 or so fellow salesmen that started at the same time began quitting one after another, until me and just one other were left. This really hit home at how difficult sales could be.

<<I was about to quit. But then, opportunity came along>>

It must have been after around two months have passed. I was making the rounds in Kichijoji area in Tokyo, but — again — I had nothing. By then I had no money and couldn’t even afford a roll of bread. I just sat there in Inokashira Park, hungry and completely numb. I couldn’t do it anymore. I decided to quit after returning home that day. There was no chance that someone would buy something expensive like this. At this point my head was already thinking of what work I should take on next, and I was staring at the encyclopedia.

That’s when I noticed that a group of children had gathered around me. One of them asked what the book was. Obviously, this was not something they could afford. So I just simply answered whatever questions and curiosities they had. I had no intention of selling, and the questions piled on. I must have been pretty stressed out from all the salesmen talk and studying I was doing for the National Bar Examination. I was actually having fun talking to the kids after such a long while. Later, the mothers came to take their children home. They saw their children talking excitedly with some stranger over encyclopedia. When I was pointing to the pages of the encyclopedia and explaining, they were nodding along as well. When I got up to leave, something strange happened. One of the mothers said she was fascinated by the encyclopedia and asked to buy it. The turn of events was quite unbelievable. The next day when I brought the encyclopedia to their home, the other mothers were there, and they all purchased the product. From there, word of mouth spread, and I had orders coming in one after another.
Before all of this, I must have been too much of a “salesman” and made people turn away. But when I talked to the kids without any intention of selling, that in itself made the sale happen. I never knew how deep and complex sales could be until that moment.