Uniform sales. Am I the problem?

Hi all, not sure if this is just more venting than anything but I feel the need to share with this community in the hopes that someone can relate.

I am a new sales rep for a uniform/facility services company. Without revealing myself, I can say that the company is not one of/owned by one of the “big three” companies (cintas, vestis, unifirst). I was hired on in October of last year. My training ended around December and I have been “on my own” since then.

For context, this is my first ever sales job. I left my previous job working in retail as a manager making ~$75,000/year. The pay was decent and I had been with the company for many years but ultimately left because I felt my career there getting stagnant. I didn’t see a lot of potential to continue moving up there and I wanted something that offered a chance to make more money as well as give me a better quality of life/work-life balance. At my previous job, I was working weekends, holidays, odd hours etc. For years I worked this schedule and I didn’t mind it for a while but I knew it wasn’t something I saw myself doing later in life. It came to a point that I felt I needed to leave now before I got too dependent on the paycheck/got stuck in my current situation.

I’ve always considered myself someone who converses well with others and someone who isn’t turned off with starting from the bottom and working hard to get where I want to be. I enjoy solving problems and believe that all my years working retail and being in management has strengthened these skills as well as honed my customer service/ability to communicate effectively with others. I decided I wanted to pursue sales because I believe a lot of my skills line up with what’s needed to be successful in this industry. I chose to apply/interview for the current company I’m at because browsing this sub, I read many peoples comments saying uniform sales would be a good entry-level role to get exposed on how to sell.

I have been learning a lot and am thankful for the opportunity I’ve been given to try something new but I’m starting to feel a bit defeated. I feel that I am not really gaining any traction in my territory and have been behind on my quota since I was released into the wild. I’m staying productive and going above the minimum KPI’s that are used to keep our productivity “in check”. I’ve sold a few accounts but they’ve been very small and have not been significant enough to really make a difference in my quota plan. The other sales reps in my office have been with the company for 15+ years and have told me they can see I’m working hard. They’ve tried to reassure me that I’m not the only one struggling as some of the other reps have said last year and this year have been some of the hardest years they’ve experienced to sell in. These other reps have been in their territory for years and have built relationships with their leads, even if they’re not current customers.

Im talking to lots of people and forming relationships but I keep running into issues where someone is either already in contract with another company for X amount of time, or they’re flat out not interested.

I know I’m new, but I can’t help to feel like I’m not doing well at my job. Are my expectations unrealistic this early on? As hard as I think I’m working, am I still not working hard enough? Is the uniform sales industry not as lucrative/fruitful as it used to be, or am I the problem?

If anyone is either in uniform/facility service sales or was in it at some point, would you share your experience?

To those that stuck around this far in my post, thanks for making it to the end.