Solving Problems/Improving Leadership at European Gateway

One of the most challenging aspects of my internship and I would assume most sales positions is the rejection that one faces on a daily basis. Since the majority of my day is spent cold calling – I, and many of my colleagues encounter a wide variety of individuals, some who are friendly and others who are far from it. I have learned that the only thing to do is really laugh in those situations and I truly think that it has helped to build my character. However, in the beginning of the constant rejection and rude personas, I felt very defeated. I think that one solution to this defeat would be to create a teams channel where everyone could text the funniest encounter that they had cold calling of the day. I believe that this would lighten the mood and in turn create a more positive and fun work culture. Alternatively, in the office they could have a white board where people are encouraged to write funny quotes from their interactions of the day. However, I was not in the office which was very isolating, and the rest of the office was in person with one another.

Another thing that I think could be improved is the motivation to book calls. Due to the fact that I was an unpaid intern- I think that subconsciously there was not really a big drive for me to book calls and meetings because there was an instant reward or commission of sorts. It was also a bit hard to motivate myself because of the fact that I did not necessarily have the idea of a “return offer” looming over my head as I am not planning on moving to Serbia upon graduation. While my boss was incredibly caring and helpful he did not set any goals for me so I sometimes felt as though I was aimlessly dialing the phone. I think that in the future if they are to have interns again, they should try to implement some sort of goal based program so that it pushes the interns to book as many calls as possible.