Marketing is changing, folks...rapidly. The old school systems of generating opportunities are no longer effective. For car dealers, all they needed to do was run a full page color ad in the Sunday newspaper and people came out in droves. Home improvements guys...same thing. In fact, they'd have to hire 7 to 10 people to work the phones on Sunday evening, to handle the call volume that came in from their ads in the local newspaper.
Today, these ads don't work. Well, they don't work to the level they once did. People are hit with hundreds of thousands of marketing messages on a daily basis. We've inundated with it, so much we've grown numb. When we see a full page color ad from Johnny's Used Cars or XYZ Siding and Windows offering "The Best Selection and the Lowest Prices", our brains tell us..."yeah right". The general public sees right through that. Hell, we've seen that same stupid catch phrase for fourty years. "Best Selection/Lowest Prices". "OK hun, today's the day, I think THIS car lot IS offering the best selection and the lowest prices". It's cheesy. It's gimmicky...and everybody sees through it.
The beautiful thing is that marketing can be much less expensive today than it used to be. Those ads in the paper can cost $3,000 to $20,000 depending on the publication. We can now market our businesses on the internet for almost free, if we do it the right way.
I suggest everyone who's in business or wants to be build and cultivate a list. The best is a list of folks who've already bought from you. That person, the one who has raised their hands and said "I trust you enough to spend my hard-earned money on you and your product/service", is the most valuable person in the world to a good business. But, today most of us say "thank you", and move on to the next. We focus all of our time and resources on getting new customers. New customers are wonderful, don't misunderstand. We love new customers. But, the cost of acquiring a new customer is ten times higher than selling to somebody you've already done business with. Fact.
The answer is to give these folks who've bought a ton of love. Anybody who's bought from you in the past is priority number one. Get their email address and file it. Get every piece of information they'll give you and keep it. Add every person you've bid a job for or gave a price to. Get their email address and add it to your list. These folks are the people you need to stay in contact with.
Once you've built a list, no matter how big or small, use one of the email management groups to stay in constant contact with your list. Constantcontact.com These companies will send out, automatically, the messages or content you create. They'll manage a list of up to 1,000,000 email addresses. This is a turn-key system of staying in touch with people who can or have bought from you. Gold.
I suggest you go beyond staying in touch. I say you do everything you can to help these people, truly help them. Do research, do your homework. Become an absolute expert in your chosen field, and offer them real solutions to the problems they have. Don't just offer them products for sale, either. Give them items of value..for free. If you consistently provide value to these folks, weekly or monthly, asking nothing in return, you become credible and they trust you. Then, down the line, when you ask them to buy your product..whatever that is, they see you as something more than just a guy asking them to buy a product.
Be cool in how you communicate with them. People today hate to be sold. Cheese ball salesy language will make your list run for the hills. I would to, if some dude was trying to throw some BS at me. Take a different approach...Imagine you're talking face to face with one of your previous customers who's become a buddy of yours. When you see him after a year or so of doing biz with him, you would never come up and say something like this..."Well Hello Mr Travis, It was great doing business with you. I've been remiss in not staying in communication with you" blah blah blah. No, you'd probably say "hey Tom, how've you been man? I tell ya, I've been a bad friend. I've been out chasing and spending a bunch of money trying to find new customers, and forgot the folks who've helped me over the years. I should have been reaching out a hand to you all, instead of running all over town, trying to tell my story to whoever will listen." The same way you'd talk to a buddy. When that guy hears you speak in a cool, informal way, he instantly drops his guard and goes into relaxed, buddy mode. Dude speak instead of awkward business language. This is the way to shape and craft your content and messages to your list. They'll listen, number one, and they'll love the fact somebody is just wanting to talk instead of pitch a deal to them.
For example...A Used Car Dealer
He has a list of 5,000 previous customers and/or people they offered deals to for a used car. This owner or his sales group, should hire one of the email mgmt companies to manage this list. Then, he sends out a request to all of the people on the list, asking for permission to include them on a list for a monthly newsletter.
This newsletter is a free thing that contains free advice on proper care and maintenance of a vehicle. "Mr Jones, thanks a ton for trusting us last time you came in and bought that vehicle from us. As a thank you, I'm sending you this newsletter to keep in touch and to offer some free advice on how to do a few simple things to hopefully avoid costly repairs down the road. In trying economic times, the worst thing would be to have to dump a few thousand into a new transmission, especially if it could have been avoided". You could also highlight some cool features coming out in some of the newer models.
Your content is up to you. I'm a believer in going out and finding out what people are really worried about when it comes to vehicle maintenance, buying a vehicle, selling a vehicle, etc. When you learn what really keeps these folks up at night, you can impact them in a major way. Solving big problems for people usually ends up with significant compensation on our end.
But, you have to be genuine in wanting to truly help these people. If you're only in this to sell somebody something, they'll sniff you out in a heartbeat. People can smell a salesy rat a mile away. Give them real content, for free. Then, when you have something to sell, you have credibility.
Those of us who do these "in the trenches" sort of value-added work for our customers, are the ones who are going to prosper when times get tough instead of go out of business. This is a low-cost system of generating not only leads, but a truly loyal list of people who will buy from us for decades, if we treat them right.
If your business is new and you have no previous customers or prospects, I suggest you blog. If you blog consistently for 90 days, you'll start to show up on the search engines. Blogging does a couple of key things. It makes you go out and learn about your business, so that you have content to post. Second, it positions you as an expert. Big.
Also, you can use the social networking sites to build your list...Facebook, Twitter, etc.
This takes serious effort and commitment, but the payoff is huge.
Flip the Switch
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Day 3 Progress
Yesterday's results(Day 3)
1. Work out hard cardio and strength training -- Ran 3 miles, chest and biceps
Chest press DB 3 x 75lbs x 10 reps
Incline DB press 3 x 65 x 8 reps
Barbell curl 1 x 65lbs x 10 reps
1 x 75lbs x 8 reps
1 x 85lbs x 5 reps
DB Curls 4 x 30lbs x 10
2, Personal Development, listen to audio book/program for 30 minutes or read
I listened to Personal Power from TR for 2 hours in vehicle while traveling; listened to "New Masters of Marketing" for 1.5 hours on internet marketing/list building
3. Conduct 4 pre-scheduled sales calls
I held 3 pre-scheduled meetings - the last one was a large group presentation in which I pitched to two owners, their two sales mgrs, and 25 sales guys. I figure this is worth 4 calls total.
I think I've got the deal with my largest prospect for the year closed. I just need to follow through on some details with each location of the 3 they have and I'll get $500K in volume this year. Boo Yah!!
4. Make 10 prospecting calls
I completed 12 calls, and scheduled 4 meetings for this week and next
5. Blog daily
Did it
6. Write my book
Wrote 3 pages yesterday
7. Visualize twice daily my vision with passion and faith
Once in early morning, once in bed before I knocked out
8. Eat clean
5 egg whites scrambled with wheat toast
grilled chicken breast sand with wheat bread with lettuce and tomato
cereal for dinner
6 glasses of water
9. Build my marketing systems
Did not execute this Simple Discipline
Notes: Overall, was a fantastic day. I'm really able to see my vision, yet focus on the fundamentals I know will get me there. Becoming that guy is going to be the difference in following through and not following through.
The working out is tough right now, with a couple of banged up ribs(skiing). But, I just need to get to momentum. Momentum is where it's at, and I'm there in business, but not there in health and fitness. The only way to get to momentum is by taking massive action. So, here we are-another day. All we must do is lock in on that vision, believe in it, and get to work on the Simple Disciplines.
Flip the switch
1. Work out hard cardio and strength training -- Ran 3 miles, chest and biceps
Chest press DB 3 x 75lbs x 10 reps
Incline DB press 3 x 65 x 8 reps
Barbell curl 1 x 65lbs x 10 reps
1 x 75lbs x 8 reps
1 x 85lbs x 5 reps
DB Curls 4 x 30lbs x 10
2, Personal Development, listen to audio book/program for 30 minutes or read
I listened to Personal Power from TR for 2 hours in vehicle while traveling; listened to "New Masters of Marketing" for 1.5 hours on internet marketing/list building
3. Conduct 4 pre-scheduled sales calls
I held 3 pre-scheduled meetings - the last one was a large group presentation in which I pitched to two owners, their two sales mgrs, and 25 sales guys. I figure this is worth 4 calls total.
I think I've got the deal with my largest prospect for the year closed. I just need to follow through on some details with each location of the 3 they have and I'll get $500K in volume this year. Boo Yah!!
4. Make 10 prospecting calls
I completed 12 calls, and scheduled 4 meetings for this week and next
5. Blog daily
Did it
6. Write my book
Wrote 3 pages yesterday
7. Visualize twice daily my vision with passion and faith
Once in early morning, once in bed before I knocked out
8. Eat clean
5 egg whites scrambled with wheat toast
grilled chicken breast sand with wheat bread with lettuce and tomato
cereal for dinner
6 glasses of water
9. Build my marketing systems
Did not execute this Simple Discipline
Notes: Overall, was a fantastic day. I'm really able to see my vision, yet focus on the fundamentals I know will get me there. Becoming that guy is going to be the difference in following through and not following through.
The working out is tough right now, with a couple of banged up ribs(skiing). But, I just need to get to momentum. Momentum is where it's at, and I'm there in business, but not there in health and fitness. The only way to get to momentum is by taking massive action. So, here we are-another day. All we must do is lock in on that vision, believe in it, and get to work on the Simple Disciplines.
Flip the switch
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Is it in you?
As I drove up to our manufacturing plant this afternoon, rehearsing my presentation I had planned to give at a big meeting later on in the day, I stumbled across a concept I had to share. First, I'll remind you that I'm in day 3 of this 90 Days to Discipline campaign, so my vision/goals and my plan to achieve them are top of mind for me at most times of the day. Only when I'm with a prospect or customer am I thinking of anything other than my objectives.
During this road trip/rehearsal, I covered some personal development ideas as part of my pitch this afternoon. Almost in every sales presentation I give, I focus some amount of time on PD, because it's so critical in getting people to follow through. My main point was that we all need to make life-long learning part of us, in order to develop as human beings....to be better mates, parents, leaders, employees, owners, whatever. Suddenly, it dawned on me that some folks just aren't going to do it. But, it hit me that we all have everything we need inside of us to live at the highest of levels. Yes, we all need to plug in and learn from those who've done it before us. Intrinsically, we already have what we need inside. The challenge is that we just don't have the motivation, the skills, the strategies to do it.
That's where PD comes in. Personal Development helps us find the reasons why we want more than we currently have. Or, better stated, reasons why we want to become more than we are.
Most people don't tap into these intrinsic abilities-they use a small percentage of what's inside them. I used to think it's because they're lazy people. Now, I realize it's because they have no vision for their lives. They're just here to take whatever life decides to give them. Ultimately, I believe they don't get up and get to it because they have impotent goals.
This is the whole point of 90 Days to Discipline...to create a vision, create goals, explore within us why we want them, and focus on the few Simple Disciplines-the high value tasks that will get us there.
I can't stress enough the importance of following through on what we've committed to doing. Stay the course. If you do, you'll become one of the few who DO, versus the many who TALK.
Flip the switch
During this road trip/rehearsal, I covered some personal development ideas as part of my pitch this afternoon. Almost in every sales presentation I give, I focus some amount of time on PD, because it's so critical in getting people to follow through. My main point was that we all need to make life-long learning part of us, in order to develop as human beings....to be better mates, parents, leaders, employees, owners, whatever. Suddenly, it dawned on me that some folks just aren't going to do it. But, it hit me that we all have everything we need inside of us to live at the highest of levels. Yes, we all need to plug in and learn from those who've done it before us. Intrinsically, we already have what we need inside. The challenge is that we just don't have the motivation, the skills, the strategies to do it.
That's where PD comes in. Personal Development helps us find the reasons why we want more than we currently have. Or, better stated, reasons why we want to become more than we are.
Most people don't tap into these intrinsic abilities-they use a small percentage of what's inside them. I used to think it's because they're lazy people. Now, I realize it's because they have no vision for their lives. They're just here to take whatever life decides to give them. Ultimately, I believe they don't get up and get to it because they have impotent goals.
This is the whole point of 90 Days to Discipline...to create a vision, create goals, explore within us why we want them, and focus on the few Simple Disciplines-the high value tasks that will get us there.
I can't stress enough the importance of following through on what we've committed to doing. Stay the course. If you do, you'll become one of the few who DO, versus the many who TALK.
Flip the switch
My chin
I ran over a set of RR tracks this morning when driving to my first appointment. When I bounced over the tracks, I felt the little fat deposits under my chin jiggle. Not good. Not feeling the fitness love right now.
Here's the plan....
I've got my goals in front of me, in terms of health and fitness...165 pounds with 8% bodyfat
By.....April 2, 2010
Stay committed to my Simple Disciplines, b/c we have to remain in balance. Normally, I'd go crazy on the work out side, starve myself, and get some decent results. The problem was that I had neglected everything and everybody else in the process.
So, working out balls out on the treadmill and in the gym(strength training).
Also, eat for fuel and come in at a calorie defecit of 500.
It's what we do every day, not every once in a while.
Flip the switch
Here's the plan....
I've got my goals in front of me, in terms of health and fitness...165 pounds with 8% bodyfat
By.....April 2, 2010
Stay committed to my Simple Disciplines, b/c we have to remain in balance. Normally, I'd go crazy on the work out side, starve myself, and get some decent results. The problem was that I had neglected everything and everybody else in the process.
So, working out balls out on the treadmill and in the gym(strength training).
Also, eat for fuel and come in at a calorie defecit of 500.
It's what we do every day, not every once in a while.
Flip the switch
A less invasive approach
As I've mentioned in previous posts, I spend a good deal of time studying, so that I can make the internal changes that are critical to making the external goals happen. Again, the process is first we must BE, then we DO, finally we HAVE...in that order.
With this philosophy in mind, we must ask ourselves..."what are we putting into our minds"? Our environment plays a huge role in shaping who we are. WE BECOME THE AVERAGE OF THE FIVE PEOPLE WE ASSOCIATE WITH THE MOST. This is irrefutable.
My business environment is pretty solitary, in that I spend a ton of time in my vehicle, calling on dealers and prospects, checking jobsites, and overseeing our grass-roots marketing team. I don't have people around me I can pull from in order to learn and grow. If we're not growing, we're dying.
I've turned this disadvantage into a huge advantage. Almost every minute I spend doing windshield time I'm using to shape my mind through building positive belief systems...How? My vehicle is now a mobile learning unit. Remember, it's not what we do every once in a while that determines our outcomes, it's what we do every day. So, every day I'm listening to personal development programs, sales training, health and fitness audio books, and biographies of great men in history. For example, I've gone through the entire Get the Edge Program from Tony Robbins. Unbelievable program. I've listened to the audio version of the classic Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. This book is the foundation of all P.D.
Fourteen years of this has completely changed my life. Before I embarked on this journey, I was a negative guy-full of fear and limiting beliefs about who I was and what I could and could not do. Most of the time, in business, I was paralyzed by fear and insecurities. Meetings frightened me, any time I was asked to speak at a meeting, my heart almost jumped out of my chest.
Today, actually(I actually mean today), I present to groups of 50-60 people and love it. My confidence and belief in myself shine through when I present, and it's become a highly effective skill in closing deals and winning the hearts and minds of sales groups.
So, here's the deal...Get out and invest in yourself. Buy some programs, read a few books, do the deal. But, most importantly, make this a part of who you are. The rewards are incredible. My income has multiplied by a factor of 10 since committing to personal development. I credit this as the single biggest factor in my success. But, it doesn't stop here. I firmly believe I've only scratched the surface.
Remember, consistency is key. Make this part of your day, every day.
Simple Disciplines--these are the key to manifesting the vision we hold for our lives. Possibly the most important one is personal development. Your beliefs drive your attitude, your attitude drives what actions you take(or don't take), your actions drive your results(good or bad), and your results determine your lifestyle. So, decide right now to commit to building the right belief systems-beliefs that will empower you. The proper beliefs will drive you to get after it and fight harder when times are tough, instead of forcing you to quit and whine to your wife about how tough your market is, or how bad your company or product is. Enough. Get out and invest in you right now.
Flip the switch
With this philosophy in mind, we must ask ourselves..."what are we putting into our minds"? Our environment plays a huge role in shaping who we are. WE BECOME THE AVERAGE OF THE FIVE PEOPLE WE ASSOCIATE WITH THE MOST. This is irrefutable.
My business environment is pretty solitary, in that I spend a ton of time in my vehicle, calling on dealers and prospects, checking jobsites, and overseeing our grass-roots marketing team. I don't have people around me I can pull from in order to learn and grow. If we're not growing, we're dying.
I've turned this disadvantage into a huge advantage. Almost every minute I spend doing windshield time I'm using to shape my mind through building positive belief systems...How? My vehicle is now a mobile learning unit. Remember, it's not what we do every once in a while that determines our outcomes, it's what we do every day. So, every day I'm listening to personal development programs, sales training, health and fitness audio books, and biographies of great men in history. For example, I've gone through the entire Get the Edge Program from Tony Robbins. Unbelievable program. I've listened to the audio version of the classic Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. This book is the foundation of all P.D.
Fourteen years of this has completely changed my life. Before I embarked on this journey, I was a negative guy-full of fear and limiting beliefs about who I was and what I could and could not do. Most of the time, in business, I was paralyzed by fear and insecurities. Meetings frightened me, any time I was asked to speak at a meeting, my heart almost jumped out of my chest.
Today, actually(I actually mean today), I present to groups of 50-60 people and love it. My confidence and belief in myself shine through when I present, and it's become a highly effective skill in closing deals and winning the hearts and minds of sales groups.
So, here's the deal...Get out and invest in yourself. Buy some programs, read a few books, do the deal. But, most importantly, make this a part of who you are. The rewards are incredible. My income has multiplied by a factor of 10 since committing to personal development. I credit this as the single biggest factor in my success. But, it doesn't stop here. I firmly believe I've only scratched the surface.
Remember, consistency is key. Make this part of your day, every day.
Simple Disciplines--these are the key to manifesting the vision we hold for our lives. Possibly the most important one is personal development. Your beliefs drive your attitude, your attitude drives what actions you take(or don't take), your actions drive your results(good or bad), and your results determine your lifestyle. So, decide right now to commit to building the right belief systems-beliefs that will empower you. The proper beliefs will drive you to get after it and fight harder when times are tough, instead of forcing you to quit and whine to your wife about how tough your market is, or how bad your company or product is. Enough. Get out and invest in you right now.
Flip the switch
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Day 1 Summary
The Simple Disciplines must be executed every day, Monday-Friday, without fail. It's not what we do every once in a while that determines our results, it's what we do consistently. After seven years of personal development, I feel that I have the knowledge to design an effective strategy to manifest the vision I hold for me and my family. I've broken the vision down into a few main areas of my life....
- Personal Development(who you become)
- Health and fitness
- Business/Career/Financial
- Quality of Life/Things Goals
Balance is critical to live a good life. Too many times, I've focused all of my heart into one or two of these aspects and let others suffer. I carried laser focus into these endeavors, and I experienced a ton of success. The challenge is that while I succeeded in one or two areas, I failed miserably in the others....the richest man in the graveyard analogy. I was working my butt off, but I never got into the gym. It wasn't top of mind, it was secondary to building my business. Eventually, this caught up with me. I'll never be truly happy or free if I'm not in great physical shape, no matter how much financial abundance I've acquired. My rules, my standards tell me I must be fit as hell to be happy.
Point is, we must account for all of these areas when considering our vision. I recommend the following exercise to create your vision(I got this from a Tony Robbins program):
Write down one of the aspects I listed above. For the next five minutes, write down everything you'd like to have, do, or be in this category. Begin with the Personal Development category...
I'd like to offer a few examples, to help you get started:
- Learn a foreign language.
- Earn a master's degree in business.
- Run a marathon(could go in H&F)
- Write a book
- Become a professional writer/speaker/coach in sales & entreprenuership, h & f, etc
etc....
Write stuff for at least 5 minutes. The key is to NOT LIMIT YOURSELF. Far too many of us allow fear to creep in while doing this exercise. We don't call it fear, we call it being "realistic" or "down to earth". BS. It's fear. We don't want our friends, family, neighbors, whoever to laugh at us. Let that crap go. Dream, let your mind flow the way we used to when we were kids. Dream Big...
After the five minutes, go back and write down a number next to each dream/goal. This number represents the number of years you're willing to wait to have this particular goal. If you want to write a book in the next 10 years or so, write down a 10 next to that goal. If you want to write in now, write down a 1. Do this for every single goal. I'm hoping you get at least 15-20 goals down.
Next, take all of your goals that have a 1 next to them, and decide which two are most important. Which two of these, if accomplished this year, would make you feel like the year was well spent in this particular area of your life? Write down or circle your top two. Two is good, three is good. No more than three. It becomes too much, you'll spread yourself too thin.
Repeat this process in the remaining areas of your life...Health & Fitness, Biz/Career/Financial, Living Well/Things Goals, Contribution. Again, do not limit yourself. I'll offer a couple of examples, so we stay on the same page...
H&F
- Run a marathon
- Body to 165 pounds
- Less than 8% body fat
- Dunk a basketball
Biz/Career/Financial
- Earn $554,000 per year
- Earn $10,000,000 per year(whatever number you want to strive for, as long as it's specific)
- Lead a business with $100 Million in annual revenue
- Sell a business for $50 Million
- Take a company public
- Save $10,000 in cash or 10 million in cash
- Invest $10,000 per month
Living Well/Things
- Build a 8500 sf home in Sherwood Sub with Jim O'Neal
- Buy a house in Vale, Co
- Take whole family to Hawaii for two weeks
- Travel Europe for two months with immediate family, staying at best places
- Purchase an Astin Martin DBS with cash
Contribution Goals
- Donate $25000 per year to ISU
- Feed 1000 families every Christmas
- Give 100 people $1000 in cash at gas stations the week before Christmas.
Some of these are outrageous, I know. But the way I see it, there are thousands of individuals out there who have the resources to have, do, and be all of these things. Why not us?
Once you've done this for each area, you have all of your one year goals. These will be the driving force for your program.
This next step is the most important. Go through your list of one year goals, and articulate WHY you will have these goals, this year. Be descript. Explain why you need them, how it will feel when you've accomplished them. These emotional descriptions will provide the fuel for your fire throughout the year. If you find yourself not following through on your Simple Disciplines, then you have weak REASONS WHY. Go back and look at your reasons-they need to be strong, compelling reasons.
Next, go through the process of looking at each area and determine what activities drive the results you need in each category. Every area, every goal has a handful of activities that drive 90% of the positive results in each area. For example, working out hard with cardio and strength training, and eating right are the key fundamentals for building a good body. These few fundamentals, or Simple Disciplines, are the things we'll focus on for the next 90 days. The Simples Disciplines, when executed consistently with passion and laser focus, will launch us to our goals, this year! Cut out all of the crap we waste time on. We feel busy doing them, but they add no value toward building our vision.
Stay plugged in. Act as if this were already real. Get into peak state every day.
Flip the Switch
Immediate Results!!!
Some immediate feedback from my first day of following this plan to the letter.....
One of my Simple Disciplines is to consistently make 10 prospecting calls to potential customers throughout my day, in order to maintain a full sales pipeline. These calls open talks with new people, people who could become new customers. It's a numbers game, no doubt. A sales person must talk to x number of new targets to take it a step further and present a deal to x number of those people, and he'll end up with Y in conversion, based on how effective he's been along the way. This is sales, at the most fundamental level. Now, there are tons of nuances, strategies and other factors out there that play a role in the success or failure of this salesman. But, in the end, it's a numbers game. Anybody can make it, if he has the heart and the discipline to work the numbers, whatever those numbers may be. For a star, he may convert 3 of 10. If he's terrible, he may convert 1 of 100.
New business is the lifeblood of any business, especially for a business that has little to no marketshare. In this "time of economic challenge"(which I refuse to participate in), new biz is what keeps us all alive, since most of our current customers are sitting around whining about how nobody is buying anything. BS. SOMEBODY IS BUYING. It's up to us to find those people and tell them our story. We can't forget our current guys. "Dance with the one that brung ya". But, we must divert their attention to the positive, to the opportunities that are out there, instead of letting them spew negativity.
Anyway, I made my calls today...I actually made 11 calls. Here's what I got in return....
One of my Simple Disciplines is to consistently make 10 prospecting calls to potential customers throughout my day, in order to maintain a full sales pipeline. These calls open talks with new people, people who could become new customers. It's a numbers game, no doubt. A sales person must talk to x number of new targets to take it a step further and present a deal to x number of those people, and he'll end up with Y in conversion, based on how effective he's been along the way. This is sales, at the most fundamental level. Now, there are tons of nuances, strategies and other factors out there that play a role in the success or failure of this salesman. But, in the end, it's a numbers game. Anybody can make it, if he has the heart and the discipline to work the numbers, whatever those numbers may be. For a star, he may convert 3 of 10. If he's terrible, he may convert 1 of 100.
New business is the lifeblood of any business, especially for a business that has little to no marketshare. In this "time of economic challenge"(which I refuse to participate in), new biz is what keeps us all alive, since most of our current customers are sitting around whining about how nobody is buying anything. BS. SOMEBODY IS BUYING. It's up to us to find those people and tell them our story. We can't forget our current guys. "Dance with the one that brung ya". But, we must divert their attention to the positive, to the opportunities that are out there, instead of letting them spew negativity.
Anyway, I made my calls today...I actually made 11 calls. Here's what I got in return....
- An appointment with one of the key guys in my biggest target for 2010, which I scheduled for later in the day TODAY. We met for lunch and went through the details of what he needs versus what I/we have to offer. I'm presenting to his entire sales staff tomorrow at their annual meeting, to present our product line and outline why we'd be a great fit for one of their niche opportunities. Boo Yah! This could result in $500,000 to $1,000,000 in brand new business for one of my businesses. We are meeting after the meeting to go over the specifics with his entire ownership team.
- I followed up with a guy I quoted down in Austin for three separate projects. He gave me the contracts for all three.
- I got two meetings scheduled with the branch managers at two of the three locations I spoke of in my first bullet point. These guys are key players in converting the business. Commitment from the rep(me) is the most critical factor in us winning shelf space within this group. I've begun the dialogue before I pitch at their meeting tomorrow. I did this intentionally so that they may give us more support at the sales meeting tomorrow.
Imagine what your pipeline will look like if you bought into this and committed to it. Activity like this generates results...period. Doing this everyday will produce more opportunities than we can even handle. We may need an assistant in three months....:) Plus, now that I'm at home, I'm going to give my full attention to my family, instead of regretting how I wasted my day today. This is the only way to live!
Flip the switch
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