It is officially summer in Mississippi. Between the rain, humidity and heat my truck feels like it hit 101 degrees by 11 a.m. Yesterday my shirt was already done for the day before my first knock.
Nobody warns you about this part of the job when you get into this industry. They tell you about the residuals, the freedom, the “be your own boss” energy. Nobody mentions that from May through September, you are basically doing manual labor in business casual.
You step out of a freezing truck cab into a wall of heat, walk across a blacktop parking lot that feels like a stovetop, and then you are supposed to walk into a restaurant or a retail shop looking sharp, smelling fine, and sounding confident while your shirt is sticking to your back like a second skin.
I had a moment yesterday where I sat in a McDonald’s parking lot with the AC blasting on my face for a solid four minutes before I could even think about going inside for my next stop. Not because I was being lazy. Because my brain genuinely could not form a sentence while I was that overheated. You cannot sell anybody anything if you walk in looking like you just got out of a sauna and sound like you’re out of breath asking for the owner.
So here is what actually works for me out on the road when the heat is trying to take me out before lunch.
I keep a small cooler in the truck now, not just for water but for a cold towel. Two minutes with a cool towel on the back of my neck before I walk into a stop changes everything. I also stopped wearing my good dress shirts on the hottest days and switched to lighter, breathable polo’s that still looks professional but does not turn into a swamp by 10 a.m. And I have started parking for shade like it is a competitive sport. If there is a tree, a building shadow, anything, I am taking it, even if it means a slightly longer walk.
The biggest mental shift though was just accepting that I am going to sweat, and that is fine, and the merchant inside the building does not care if I look a little flushed walking in. What they care about is whether I know my numbers, whether I am listening to what their actual pain point is, and whether I show up with the same energy on stop number twelve that I had on stop number one. Heat is not the enemy. Letting the heat wreck your energy and your attitude before you even get through the door, that is the enemy.
I will say this though, and I mean it from the bottom of my sweaty heart. Whenever my truck situation gets sorted out, the next one is getting cooling seats. I do not care what it costs me in the deal. After a summer of leather seats turning into a frying pan every time I get back in the truck between stops, that feature has officially moved from “nice to have” to “non-negotiable.” Heated seats are for the rest of the country. Down here, we need the other kind.
So if you are out there grinding through stops in this heat right now, drink more water than you think you need, keep something cold for your neck, find the shade, and do not let the temperature outside change the temperature of your attitude inside the door.
The merchants cannot tell how hot you are. They can absolutely tell how hungry and how present you are.
Stay cool out there, And if your truck already has cooling seats, do not tell me. I will be jealous all day.
Happy Selling,
David
