I recommend doing political phone banking. You're selling not only a person--the candidate--but also what he or she represents. If you can sell an idea, prett

I recommend doing political phone banking. You're selling not only a person--the candidate--but also what he or she represents. If you can sell an idea, pretty much a vessel where people put their hopes, dreams and fears, then you can sell a product that actually exists and will actually fulfill some need. I typically had to about the end of my first line to judge how the call was going to go. If I was interrupted during that first line, the trick would be to get out of the call without having earned a vote for the opponent. Sometimes, I'd just bounce up against personal armor and the call would be a waste. Sometimes, you'd find a 'fellow traveler,' and the call would be easy and enjoyable, with the only limit of not talking for too long and destroying your efficiency. On the other hand, calls like that do wonders for your morale. The rare times were when someone was willing to be engaged, but only from one specific approach. Those rare calls, maybe 5% or less, would give you about 30 seconds to guess on the approach. In some cases, it's being ultra-respectful, on the other agreeing to listen for five minutes before getting a commitment. All in all, political phone banking was one of the more thoughtful job duties I've had, at least in retrospect. Like the other jobs mentioned, it's incredibly wearing with the daily grind of making quota.