Hone your craft

Salesmen, just like any other professional, need to constantly stay on top of their game. Many industries call this "continuing education" so what make us any different? What can we learn that we already don't know? We have been doing this forever...

The principles of selling are true and time tested but our clients and customers continue to change. Technology is changing everyday and our clients expect us to keep up with them.

One way to keep up with the trends in your industry is to attend sales mixers and trade shows. Sitting in a few sales classes as a refresher will help immensely.

Hurry up and wait!

Like most salesmen, I am a very inpatient person. All I want to do is go out there and see people. If I don't see anyone, I can't sell anything.

Today was one of those days. My district manger was supposed to get me the new sales route information last night so I could plan my day. I woke up about 6 am so I could make my plans and get out the door in time to be in Boulder by about 8ish. I checked my e-mail and nothing.

Make coffee, get the paper and back to the computer. Nothing. No email, no updated route list, nothing.

7 turns to 8, then 8 to 9... WTF...

I send a text message to the DM and about an hour later I get a reply that he will get with me around lunch.

I heat up some leftovers, watch the news at noon and nothing...

Where the hell is my route list? If I am sitting here in my office, I DO NOT MAKE MONEY!

2, 3, 4, 5 and now it is almost 6 at night and still nothing. What did I do to deserve this? Is this my fault? Did I fail to prepare last week for this moment?

Not my fault...

So I spent my day doing research on my competitors and my territory. I am not a victim. I will not let anyone stand in my way of success! Just because I am not in the field selling doesn't mean that I cannot be productive. So when I go out tomorrow (with or without a sales list) I will do the best I can with what I have. And what do I have? I have me! I have my drive to succeed...

Today's Moral: The only one who can stop you today is you!

Helping those who help themselves

It makes me sad to see so many vacant retail and office space in Boulder and surrounding communities. Where did they all go? Why?

After a pretty good morning, I stopped by a small floral shop in a large industrial area. The shop was on the street end of the building but somewhat obscure. If I had been driving by, I would have missed it. However being on foot, I decided to stop in and talk with the owner.

As it turns out, she was packing up her vases and small decorative items because she had to be out of the building by the end of the month. She had been in business for almost three years and everything finally caught up to her. She actually looked beaten down. What could have caused this beautiful woman to look like hell frozen over.

The story begins in 2000 after a lousy relationship and bad divorce that she decided to move to Colorado for a new start. She worked at a local company for a few years and decided to take some floral design courses at the community college. She was excited in the fact that she was finally able to do something for herself, getting out from under the heavy hand of a drunkard of a husband. She was now in control of her life and her destiny.

Throughout her time in floral design classes, she had built a relationship with an older lady who owned a small specialty floral shop. After a year or so of classes she Built up the courage and funds for a down payment on this small shop because the owner was retiring.

This was it. From nothing to something, she thought. Everything was in place for her to live and work the American dream. She spent everyday, seven days a week, from about 8 in the morning til late into the night creating and selling her beautiful pieces of art. She was so talented in design of her floral arrangements...

But this is where the dream turns to nightmare. For everything that she learned in her floral classes, the one thing that she didn't learn about was how to run her business. At first it was just the small things like failure to maintain her receipts and keep track of her inventory. Then, as every business owner knows, the salesmen show up. like wolves to a new kill. They could smell the blood of a new business owner. She was vulnerable and alone. She didn't stand a chance against every advertising scheme and who knows how many credit card machine salesmen.

As the year turned into two, the city, county and state tax agencies began to eat into her piece of the pie. Here again, she was blindsided. She didn't properly prepare for these types of taxes and slowly they began to drain the resources from her business and her self worth.

Year three has been devastating. With the downturn in the economy and her failure to properly plan for the future, it was only a question of when and not if, she would have to close the doors.

For her, the American dream turned into the American nightmare. What could she have done to prevent this from happening? What resources are available for entrepreneurs like her to take advantage of to at least give her a chance of survival?

For anyone looking to start a business, it is vitally important to understand the business side of things first even before you spend a single penny of your hard earned money. Over the year, I found out that many trades people who are great at their trades typically go out of business within a few years because they do not understand the real nuts and bolts of business.

I would strongly recommend that anyone considering opening a business contact the Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov). There are some great resources available for many small businesses. I would also recommend reading a book called "The 'E' Myth" by Michael Gerber. Your local chamber of commerce and state economic agencies also have great information to get you going in the right direction

The moral today: Shop local, give great service and always ask for referrals!

Damn Cold and Snowy!

Monday morning turned out to just peachy. My alarm clock went off but the volume was so low that I didn't hear it. I am glad that I woke up at least. I was about 30 minutes late getting up so it wasn't that bad. Make coffee, turn on the news and go get the newspaper...WTF...it is snowing. Where the hell did this come from? To top it all off, it was about 7 degrees.

I had an early appointment near Golden, Colorado so as I was driving, the snow was getting heavier and heavier. By the time I got to my appointment, there was 5-6 inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. I go to my appointment and come out an hour later and there is four more inches of show on the car.

Anyway, I clear it off and drive to Boulder to start my "selling" day. Park the car and begin my "route". I am wearing a long sleeve shirt and a sport coat topped off with a scarf. What the hell am I thinking?

As I go from business to business, I was freezing my ass off but when I walked into each business, they seemed to take pity on me and I used this as my opening. This seemed to work well all day since I was able to close two sales.

The moral of today's lesson is...if you can't sell them the product then at least let them give you a hot cup of coffee;-)

Livin' large on my own!

My trainer is gone...yay!

Oh shit...I'm on my own. On my own to succeed or fail. No one to blame but myself.

Finally!!!

I spent today driving around mostly the home-based businesses in Boulder. Made a few appointments and had some presentations but no closed sales.

My friend was working in Boulder so I called him up to see if he wanted to "do lunch". "Sure" he said, "come pick me up." I drive across town, pick him up and then the age-old question arose..."Where do you want to eat?" " I don't know, what do you want?" We sound like an old married couple after 30 years.

We decided to eat at a small pita shop in town but on our way there, we smelled the sweet smell of BBQ so we turned around and stopped.

As I opened the door, I knew we were in big trouble but since the owner was standing right there, we didn't want to be rude. It still smelled great but the conditions reminded me of some backroom restaurant in lower Alabama. The grease was thick and the counter was dirty, however the old man who owns the place smiled at us through his tooth! It turned out that the owner was the son of a prominent businessman in Denver who always helped the homeless.

We ordered a "Beef brisket sandwich" and had a seat. While we were waiting, some smelly homeless guy came walking in wearing ratty clothes and just socks, no shoes. He started bitching about all the cars and how "if God wanted us to move so fast, He would have given us wheels." "They are stealing all my air. It's my AIR!" The owner offered his some bread and cheese and the guy left but as we were leaving, we saw him taking out the trash for the old man.

The BBQ brisket sandwich was not as advertised. It came out in this Styrofoam to-go box. There was about a 1/2 a pound of fatty brisket soaked in some kind of sauce, two slices of sandwich bread and some Pork and beans. Wow...

It was an experience that I won't try again. I ended up getting sick to my stomach, going home earlier than I wanted.

Moral of the story...make sure you have all your shots before eating in a place like that!

We're not in Boulder anymore!

On my final day with my trainer, he decided that we should prospect in a more rural section of my territory so it was decided to head to the small town of Berthoud, Colorado.

Berthoud is a quiet little town that is beginning to show some signs of coming into the 21st century. Main street still churns along but at each end of town there is new commercial construction beginning.

Many of the places that we call on in this part of the country are home-based businesses. So armed with a portable GPS unit, we head off into the great unknown. Against my advice, my trainer decided that we didn't need a real map. The GPS unit was going to set our route and we would just follow it. So off we go into the wild brown yonder.

We visited a couple of places pretty close to each other and then it seemed that we were being drawn into an abyss by some type of tractor beam. We drove for 15 minutes...20 minutes...thirty minutes heading west toward the great Rocky Mountains. On our way out to "Deliverance", the trainer decided that he needed to pee. He suggested that I just stop at the next gas station. Hello!!! We are in the middle of B.F.E. All I see are rocks and sage brush. No houses, no trees, just sage brush.

Finally after about 40 minutes we see signs of life. Now I had to go pee too! That damn GPS unit drove us to a state park that is really a reservoir. If I would have had a real map, I could have taken the direct route but what do I know? But Ha! I know every state park has those little toilet buildings and we finally see one way ahead. As we get to it and stop, we get out only to find that the buildings are locked for the winter. Shit! Now what?

After peeing on the side of the building, we get back in the car an finally find the "business" we were looking for. The 'owner' was an essentric scientist and inventor that had to show us every little invention that he had in progress. I was finally able to get him to sit dowm long enough to give the sales pitch only to hear why he is so broke. Something about a divorce, kids, child support, whatever. No sale and 100 miles on my tired, old van.

Back in the van and down the washboard road, we finally make it back to civilization about lunch time. I pulled into a A&W root beer stand to go pee again and get a papa burger and a root beer but as I was waiting in line, the trainer said to me, "We're not actually going to eat here, are we?". Well...that was the idea. That's why I pulled into the driveway, parked the car and got in line with the other people who apparently wanted to eat here too. "I am on a diet and don't want to eat all this greasy food" was the next thing to come out of his mouth.

Back into the car, seat belt on and now were driving again. He decides to find a resturant using his little GPS unit. "Oh, they have a chinese place around the corner". Are you kidding me? We are in the middle of meat and potatos country and he wants chinese? I knew this was going to be my last meal with his so I was a champ and went along. Into the chinese resturant we go. As I open the door, the stench of burning oil (Grease) was floating in the air. He ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken (deep fried in grease) and rice (which he drenched in soy sauce...Sodium) and was as happy as a cockroach in a chinese resurant.

After eatting the worst chinese food in my life and a trip to the bathroom, we were off and running again.

I went to a small beauty salon that was basically a converted garage and met with the owner. After I finished my pitch, she told me the saddest story I have ever heard. She had worked hard for over 30 years, got cancer and had to have her sister come help her. They have one employee that works full time and they just had to take a pay-cut for themselves. Apparently the cost of doing business was just too much and now they live on less than what social security would pay them.

We have got to do something to help the businesses on main street right now if we are going to save the businesses on main street. We don't need another lame ass $500 "stimulus check". If a $500 check is going to change your life then you really don't have a life. What we need is to allow small business to operate their businesses without all the red tape that the state and federal government ties them up with. Cut taxes for small business so they can afford to hire people. Give them the breaks they need, not some giant company who didn't and can't properly manage money.

I saw the reality of our country today and I cried.

What's a "head shop"?

Day three puts us back in Boulder but today we have the fortune to be on University Hill. Thousands of University of Colorado (CU-Boulder) students live within a mile or so of "the Hill". This hill consists a single street about five blocks long. There are quite a few restaurants, bars and student-related shops, not to mention a police substation on the far end of the block.

In the building that houses the police station also is home to a small 'gift' store. From the outside, it looks like a typical souvenir shop. My trainer insisted that we go into this place of business so, like an obedient child, I lead the way into this shop. I could see and smell from outside what I was in for.

The shop was not a gift store but a head shop. My trainer, being a Mormon and from Boise, had never seen a pipe or bong in person before in his life. But this was different, very different. There were so many pipes and bongs that the business could be reclassified as a museum. There must have been 1000 pipes of every color, shape and size. The bongs on the other hand were very impressive. The collection ranged from the very small to the extremely large. I saw one that was almost five feet tall.

As I spoke with the owner, who must be in her late 60's, it became clear to me that she really wasn't worried about anything. I mean, taxes, no problem. Insurance, no problem. Her additude was very laid back and chilled out. I knew from the time that I walked into the shop that it was a waste of time but who am I but the lowly trainee.

As we walked out, my trainer actually believed that the pipes and bongs we used to smoke tobacco.

The moral of the story is...don't go to Boise.