Marketing Is My Passion

Have you ever had a sudden strong feeling about something? Well… I just had one such moment yesterday.

It was 3AM on Monday that I suddenly felt so strongly towards my career path… the realization that I should totally immerse myself in Marketing. It all happened when I was writing my resume as an assignment for a module. As I was writing my cover letter and resume, my initial thought was that since my first major is in Banking & Finance, the cover letter should be addressed to a bank. However, as I continued writing, thoughts of Marketing-related activities kept on flooding my brains and before long, I finally gave in. I just wrote everything I can think of regardless if it is related to Finance or Marketing.

When I was done with everything, I read through everything I typed.

Reading upright…
Reading upside down…
Closing my eyes and imagining…

Everything led to one conclusion. My resume looks far better if I wrote as if I am applying for a Marketing job. The most important thing is that all my achievements in life seem to be more closely related to Marketing than Finance. At this moment, I started to think logically about my options. It seems overpoweringly obvious that if I have to work for someone, my chances at a high salary are better in a Marketing field. (Of course, I still hope that I can succeed in Internet Marketing and start a company.) This made me regret applying for a major in Banking & Finance and Marketing as my second major. Never mind about that though… the choice is already made.

On the same day(in the afternoon), I got an unknown call asking me to interview for a position in Sales & Marketing. I just made up my mind to be a Marketer and here is a chance for me to further build my resume. Of course, I did not expect the position to be of managerial level… I was expecting something like telemarketer or surveyor. Anyway, the interview was fixed a day later and I turned up.

Upon entering the building, I immediately knew that it is a multi-level marketing company and wanted to leave. However, I thought that since I am already here, why not just hear the sales pitch and see if I can learn something. Indeed, the sales pitch was really good and thoughts of buying the product flashed through my mind, despite the fact that I still do not want to be a multi-level marketer. I constantly analyzed the sales pitch and acted like someone who does not know that MLM is being promoted. I had a conclusion that the person talking to me was really good at building rapport. His method was just making full use of ’small talk’, then constantly using future placing techniques(trying to get you to imagine how you will be like in future) and presuppositions(presupposing a fact).

Anyway, I was ready to leave when it sounded like the close was nearing. At this time, I heard that distributors need not buy anything and they can still sell the products. That is something new, since most MLM companies force their distributors to buy their products and ended up with many people buying for the sake of buying an opportunity rather than wanting the products. Combined with the fact that the products have gotten testimonials from customers (not distributors), the MLM opportunity seems much more legitimate than others in the Market.

Despite liking their whole system more, I am not very keen to promote the products. The main reason being the fact that most people promote to friends and relatives, which often result in a wrong reason to buy… people buying for your sake and not for the products. I asked if they do road shows and cold calling to sell the products, since a good product should sell in this way too. Their answer was that they do, but it will be difficult to sell to cold markets. Well… I cannot agree more with that, since it is always easier to sell to friends and relatives. (one of the laws of persuasion is the law of friends)

Anyway, my thoughts are that the products have a market, but it is still difficult to market, since the products cost close to $2,000 each. I totally agree that health is important and things like magnetic mattresses or water filtration may help our health. However, not everyone is willing to part with that kind of money for something quite immeasurable like health. It seems like people from the middle and high class are likely to be the ones who are most interested in these products, but I do not know many of them. Therefore, this opportunity seems quite difficult for me to tap.

Regardless, I decided to attend their trainings because it is free anyway. I thought that since I want to go into Marketing, I should definitely have a taste of the persuasion process that is closest to the customer… the actual selling. My perspective is the need to experience the actual interaction with a customer in order to improve copywriting skills for Marketing purposes. Although I did sales before, it was only for three days, not to mention that I was more ignorant then and did not bother to monitor the responses of prospects.

My final decision is to attend the training of this MLM company, but I will most likely not be selling their products. Tentatively, I am thinking of becoming an Insurance Agent for my hands-on sales experience… now I need to worry about taking the examinations to become one.

What do you think of everything I typed so far and my decision to experience a sales job? Comments please