I’ve had my sales programs, and my sales companies. I have personally sold over 500 million dollars in products through direct sales. Door to door. Call centers. Mailers etc. If it involved generating leads from thin air…then I’ve probably done it. I’ve done so much of it, I wrote a book about it.
During my time in business, I’ve been lucky enough to have trained nearly 10,000 sales reps in my near 17 year career in door to door sales and over 2,000 direct sales call center agents.
I remember starting my first company at age 25. I was master of the universe (in my own mind). I had just dropped out of the university I was attending, on an academic scholarship to become a big shot business owner. I had studied the hard sciences on my path to medical school and had even taken the MCAT. I was starting the interview process when an outstanding sales career took ahold of my intelligence, and tugged on my egotistical heart strings. I left my soon-to-be medical career, for a long lasting career in the world of direct sales.
After 5 years of studying sales in my spare time (without sounding too conceited) I could absolutely sell the hell out of just about any product through door to door sales. I’m happy to say that I had a great reputation for being exceptionally ethical and had very happy customers who received great value from the services I offered. But as this new thought of starting my own company came to fruition, I quickly learned that sales skills would never be enough. My pre-medical career also ensured that I had taken ZERO business classes. That’s right, nada. I hadn’t even heard of a balance sheet, let alone a profit and loss statement, before I started my first company. In fact…we had sold a few hundred grand worth of products before I realized that there is an entire accounting side of business, that turns out to be pretty important.
The one thing I did have was hard work. I learned this by fighting for my kill each day during my childhood. I grew up the youngest of 9 kids, in a blended household, because my mom had remarried when I was a little over 1 year old. I was quickly given the nickname “Babe” – as in, the baby of the family. The nickname stuck. 95% of the people I knew, or had correspondence with actually called me Babe and had no clue I was born with a different name. This went from elementary school all the way through college and into my business career. In fact, in that very first company I set up, I had my secretary order me an American Express card. Of course, the card came in the Babe Kilgore, because that is what she put on the application–which is what she thought my legal name was. At the time I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I left the card as is, used it, and as I expanded my fast-growing empire additional lines and credit were established under the name Babe. Funny enough, when I opened up my banking line of a 7 figure dollar amount…..the bank asked “Are you related to a Babe Kilgore?”. I laughed. They didn’t. They told me I had two credit profiles with large lines of credit and history under two names. I understood instantly what they were saying and that it was a big deal. Suddenly this wasn’t funny anymore. At that time I decided that since 95% of the world knows me as Babe….I’d officially change my name to Babe. As weird as it sounds…it has some pros and cons. Yes, people remember the name and my wife doesn’t have to make up gross nicknames for, but there are some downsides. About 15% of my emails go into the “Junk/Spam” inbox—you can imagine why that happens with a name like “Babe”. I think some people may actually open the email hoping to for some pics…and find nothing. Yikes! At the end of the day, I’m glad I did it.
I live by a motto I like to call “honor the client.” This goes for both my customers, and my employees. Both of which are truly my clients that I get to serve and honor each day the best that I can. At this point I’ve had the pleasure of serving over 100,000 customers, and 10,000 individuals that have been a part of my sales organizations. I truly value the relationships I create in the process and strive to serve each and every individual in the best capacity I can.
In 2015 I authored “Non-Confrontational Sales: A Modern Sales Guide To Rapidly Improving In-Home Sales”. I’m proud to say my book has become a valued resource for many companies that utilize direct selling, or employ sales teams. The book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and lays out in great detail how the old-school method of aggressive, pushy salesmanship is dead, and non-confrontational selling is in.