What My Sex and the City Audition taught me about Sales (and Winning Competitive Deals)

It never occurred to me how much an audition and a sales call had in common, until I auditioned for one of HBO’s first mega-hits, Sex and the City.
As a single woman in New York, Sex and the City was required viewing. Your friends, your co-workers, your customers, everyone you knew would be glued to the TV on Sunday night for Carrie Bradshaw & Company’s latest adventures.  Missing an episode left you unable to participate in the week’s discourse on trends like Cosmopolitans and Manolo Blahnik’s – not to mention the show’s often provocative subject matter.
Because of Sex and the City’s popularity, getting a chance to audition for the show was akin to winning the Golden Ticket.  So when I saw they were holding an open casting call I put on my best party dress and heels and headed downtown.  Exiting the subway I stopped in my tracks.  There was