How I learned to love sales

As a circumspect newspaper reporter, I was wary of salespeople. They wore cologne, dressed fancy and drove nice cars.

During a downturn, The Charlotte Observer’s GM asked me to transfer three of my 28 creative employees to sales. I countered: “Just transfer me.” I wandered uptown Charlotte, talking to business owners and discovered I loved sales. Three years later, as advertising director of Fulton County Daily Report, I took a week’s vacation, selling Virginia-Highland businesses on what is now Atlanta INtown. Today, I fly the country, selling PR firms on our 100 network.

We resist change – but it’s liberating.

– Chris Schroder, The 100 Companies