I spent all day in king soopers today, and sold a whopping 1 subscription. That should be about enough to pay for the gas I used to drive to Aurora, my lunch bill, plus a little spare change to throw around. On a day like this, I question whether quitting the deli was such a good idea.

Despite the godawful numbers for the day, I strangely feel like I am getting better at my technique. My presentation feels smoother, my assumptive close flows more naturally, and I think I'm developing a better ability to sense where the customer reaction is going. (As opposed to always worrying about whether I'm doing things right, which can make me to lose focus on the individual I'm dealing with.)

So how do I explain the crappy results? I think I just had really bad luck in a lousy store. My overall average over time should tell me whether I'm really improving the way I think I am.

There were several instances today where people were ready to buy, but couldn't. Literally. They were interested in the product, wanted to sign up, and filling out the form. But when it came time to choose a payment method, we got stuck.

Believe it or not, in this day and age, there seems to exist a significant portion of the adult population who live with NO credit cards, NO checking account (thus no checks or debit card), and only a small wad of cash on hand in their pocket. Can you fathom it?

Today, I had the misfortune of encountering several of them as hopeful clients.

My dad has told me about these sorts of stores before. (He generally hates working in them because business is so bad.) It seems to be a phenomenon which occurs in clusters around grocery stores in low income neighborhoods.

There was one woman in particular who wandered by near the end of the day. I gave her my last copy of the Rocky Mountain News, went through my usual pitch (smoother and slicker than ever, or so I like to think), and she started filling out the form eagerly, as the 5-year-old boy tagging along beside her waited.

When it came to choosing the payment method, she said, "I don't have that much money here right now." (The price we advertise in the pitch is the monthly rate. But generally by default, we give people the form to pay for the whole year, since most find it simpler to do a one-time transaction.)

My response: "That's no problem. If that's too much to pay up front, we can use this other form to bill it month-by-month to a credit or debit card."

"I don't have a credit card, or a bank account, or any checks. Do you have anything cheaper I could get with cash now, or could you send a monthly bill later?quot;

I explained that our bill-by-the-month does require a credit or debit card to autobill, so that nothing needs to be sent through the mail. But that was out of the question, since she didn't have any bank account or credit card.

So I went to the next cheaper option. Weekend subscription. Only $30 for the entire year.

She didn't have enough money for that either. But she was determined to buy something from me. "Do you have anything else cheaper that I could buy right now?"

So I went down to the 3-month, 7-day/week trial subscription.

Still a no-go.

3-month, weekend only subscription. The very cheapest thing I had for the cash up front payment method. $8.98.

She dug out her purse, rifled through it, and started counting her dollar bills. The little kid standing next to her cart was getting antsy.

At this point, I almost wanted to tell her to forget it. If this was all she had, there were better ways she could use it anyway. Go buy your kid some supper. I could make a sale another day. But I didn't have to say it.

She didn't have enough for the 3-month weekend subscription. "Do you have anything else that's less?"

"Sorry, that's the smallest one I have for cash up front payment."

Reluctantly, she told me that she wouldn't be able to buy it then.

I told her it was no problem, to enjoy the free paper, and have a good evening.

She wandered on into the store.

And that pretty much sums up my whole day.

Well at least I can count myself lucky that I managed to sell 1 subscription. I would feel really awful if I had spent the whole day down there and not gotten a cent. But them's the breaks.

We're going to pick bouncing up at the airport tonight in a few minutes. So I am out of here!