"If you ever saw me at work, you'd see I'm the least pushy person in the world. I get my sales by being polite and by building trust with my customers," says Grace Kelly, an electronics salesperson.
Kelly says salespeople are misunderstood by the general public. She says pushy salespeople are the exception, not the rule.
"People think we're pushy or sleazy and we only recommend a product because we make money on it. I recommend something because I think it's the best item," says Kelly.
Kelly works in a competitive field and makes her living on commission, earning money only when she sells something. While she admits selling on commission can be stressful, she says it's what gives her the incentive to work hard.
"Working on commission is a motivator for me. We work really hard and it just wouldn't be worth it to me if I were making minimum wage," says Kelly.
Pressure to sell can be a big part of working in retail. Store owners and managers look for people who are able to consistently make good sales. Those who don't sell are not usually kept on, says Jeremy Collins, a retail clothing salesperson.
"The first thing my boss asked when she interviewed me was, 'Can you sell?' That is the most important thing here," says Collins.
Kelly enjoys the rush of making a good sale and likes the competition she faces at work from other salespeople. "The competition comes naturally to me. I've always competed in sports and I come from a large family, so I guess you could say I'm used to it," she says.
Like most retail salespeople, Kelly is there during the busy times, like Christmas, and during the slow times, like January and February. She says making it through the slow times means saving and planning during the good times.
When she was looking for a career, Kelly admits she never really saw herself as a salesperson. After three successful years at her job, however, she's starting to think she has a knack for this kind of work.
She wasn't so sure in the beginning, though. "When I was new, I took rejection really personally and I questioned myself all the time. But then I learned, and people helped me out," she says.
Kelly points out that her job doesn't revolve around standing on the sales floor waiting for customers to come in. She says there's a lot more to it than that.
"When it's slow, I check inventory and read up on new products." It doesn't stop there, either. Kelly's often on the phone with customers, seeing how their products are working and cooking up new sales.
"I might call a customer who was thinking about buying a VCR when they bought their TV last month, to see if they're still looking," she says.
In an area like electronics, where she sells everything from car alarms to home stereos and TVs, there's a lot to learn, says Kelly. Keeping one step ahead of the customer in product knowledge is an important part of her job.
"You're always upgrading your knowledge because new products are coming out all the time and customers are looking to you to help understand these things," she says.
If you ask Kelly what the hardest things to sell are, she'll tell you it's not the expensive big-ticket items. "It's the extended warranties, because they're intangible," she says. Kelly points out that with the new mass production of home electronics, more defective merchandise is being produced.
However, she adds, "People don't see the big picture. We see defective products all the time and we try and convince people extended warranties are a good idea. You don't see the importance of this until you see a computer repair bill."
Patience and tact are important tools for retail salespeople, says Collins.
Especially during busy times such as Christmas, salespeople are expected to serve great numbers of people while being polite and patient, even with the rudest customers, he says.
"People can be rude, but you have to just grit your teeth and bear it. It helps to remind yourself it probably doesn't have anything to do with you," says Collins.
Kelly says most of the stress in her job comes from the fact that her department can go from having one customer in it to being crowded with five or six within a matter of minutes.
"If there are five people in my department, I have to try to get to everyone, which is hard because you want to give everyone good service. People sometimes do get annoyed."
For retail salespeople like Kelly, impatient and even rude customers are just part of the territory. They say it's something you can't let get you down.
"People can be unkind," says Kelly. "They'll yell at you and all you can say is it's the store's policy. You can't let it get to you or bring it home with you at night." She believes the high turnover in retail is partly due to people not knowing how to deal with this part of the job.
Kelly says all her hard work is just part of providing good service to her customers, something she feels is becoming more important all the time. "People want to know they'll be treated well after they've bought the product. It's definitely more demanding."
In an era where stores regularly match prices, says Kelly, good service is sometimes the only difference between one store and another. Kelly isn't taking any chances here.
"People need and expect that service," she says. "And it's my job to give it to them."