Skip to main content

10 Years in the Cloud

12 Days of Selling

The Quest for $200K "Luck is for Rabbits"

Go ahead, ask me what I did on Friday of last week. For the life of me, I can't remember. I know that I worked,  just can't pin point what I did. 

Wait, wait, it's coming to me.  One of my to do items was the appointment I had in Shrewsbury for the two production systems.  This was the same client that I had scheduled earlier in the week but had to reschedule.  After a few back and forth texts with the client, we finally touched base about 4PM. My client expressed that he was on it way home and needed to get ready for the impeding snow storm. Yup, calling for 4-8 inches in New Jersey.  We both agreed that we would reschedule for Monday since we both had work to do at home to be ready for the snow.

The great snow storm was a fizzle, lucky if we got two inches from snow that fell for almost twelve hours.  Saturday, snow storm, I thought wow that can be a great day to do some research with my CRM.  Putting in a few hours of research and emails can get me a head start for next week.  Alas, my plan of digging into the CRM was dashed when I received a letter from the State of New Jersey (Department of Health). 

The letter had data I had been waiting for sixty years.  There it was, hanging out in the mail box just waiting to be opened.  There was a chance that the information I was in search of could be redacted.  Frak, I need to need to open that letter and at least I can get that information that my twin brother wanted for many years. 

That letter contained my unofficial birth certificate with the names of our birth parents. My name was listed as "A", I thought what the frak is "A", it then dawned on me that I was baby "A" and my twin brother was baby "B".  Anyway, after receiving that letter I spent most of the day searching on the internet for clues to learn more about my birth parents.

Wow, kinda glad, I got that out there.  I know we want to know about copiers, right?

Today, I only had one scheduled appointment and that was for the two production units.  I was in touch with the client via text about 8AM and we scheduled to meet about 3PM today.

The earlier part of my day was spent contacting most of my open opportunities and scheduling closing appointments and visits. I was able set four appointments for Wednesday, all of them closing appointments.  In addition I created a closing visit for another opportunity that I had visited on Friday.

It's now coming to me as to what I did on Friday! 

On Friday I had schedule five stops in, but before I went to them I stopped at a local bakery and bought 5 trays of cookies. Everyone loves cookies, right! Call or stop for a reason was the name of the game.  My reason for stopping in was just to deliver cookies and nothing else.  Turns out I was able to get a few minutes with two the decision makers.  I found that I lost a deal and not to the competition, the time was just not right for the client. Another client was on the edge and that's the one client that I scheduled another stop in for Wednesday of this week.

I thought, what can I offer that to the client that would help this client order on Wednesday?  What's going to give the client the best bang for the buck?  I decided that it was going to be the "no interest lease to own", coupled with a one year maintenance agreement and the opportunity to use Section 179 before the end of the year.  After about 30 minutes I developed the program flyer with all of the value points. It's a stretch, but I need to make things happen.

Ah, the last appointment of the day. I'd love to get into the details, however I know that I have competitors that read this blog. Let's put it this way, I can write the order this month if I can get two concessions from management.  I think there's a good chance to get these, but I want to get the approval on my side first for this $45k deal.

BTW, while I was leaving the office today, one of my peeps stated "Good Luck", I replied with "Luck is for Rabbits".

Tomorrow?  Just another phone day and prepping for Wednesday's appointments.

-=Good Selling=-

The Quest for $200K "Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch"

Having a 10AM appointment allowed me to work from this morning.  Typical home work day includes coffee and a trip upstairs to the office.  First things first is to check out any overnight threads on the Print4Pay Hotel forums.  My next move is to check on my gmail for google alerts that I've set and then my work email.  Once all of that is completed, I'll go to Linkedin and view my wall for threads, always on the lookout to strike up a conversation, like a thread, comment, share or post a thread of my own.

I had one last document that I needed to create before I was off for my 10AM appointment with the seven MFP placements.  Our meeting went almost two hours, we nailed down the specifics and logistics of the order.  Doc's were left for signatures and I'm hoping to have them in a few days.  That really takes some of the pressure off, well somewhat because no deal is done unless you have the signed docs and the equipment is delivered. I learned a long time ago and got very embarrassed in front of other sales people when you count your chickens before they are hatched.  This order is close, it's not done and I'm not jinxing my self by counting it.  

Years ago on a mid-summer Friday I had booked an appointment with one of my existing accounts. The existing wide format device was at the end of the lease, we went over the specs and my client placed an order.  It's Friday, I had all of the signed docs and that was the end of the day for me.  On Monday I had a call from my lease administrator that the leasing company wanted some additional information from the DM.  I called my DM and the receptionist told me that our DM had died over the weekend!  I was like, WHAT?  I felt so bad for his family since he was in his late forties.  It was horrible. 

Nothing counts until the device is delivered, paid for or the delivery and acceptance is complete! 

My next item of business was to get back to my office so I could plan tomorrow and make additional calls.  I also needed to follow up with the client I was at yesterday,  in all of the confusion with the grand opening I did not schedule a follow up appointment. I needed to get that done asap before Holiday mode sets in. I was able to schedule that appointment for next week.

Tomorrow (30 minutes from now), is scheduled for 2 appointments and 3 stop ins. My appointment late in the day is for a $41K opportunity.  I'm hoping to drive a few smaller MFP's tomorrow with the stop in's and hungry to get to my last appointment of the day.

Right now, I pulling up a little short with the opportunities. Two of them are going to roll to January and I'm thinking a few others might go that way also.

So, when the going gets tough, the tough get going right?  I've still got more than 50% of the month left, but every day close to Christmas means those opportunities shrink. 

For next week I've got some appointments set, however on the drive home I was thinking maybe it's time to drive some cold calls.  Twenty to twenty-five ,at be the order of the day. Not sure how these old legs will hold up, but you have to try and can't give you.  You never give up!

-=Good Selling=-

The Quest for $200K "Still Time to Network"

In one of the previous Quest for $200K blogs I stated that my appointment for this AM had cancelled and was moved to Friday of this week.  That was a good thing, because tomorrow morning (Thursday) I need to present our proposal to upgrade seven devices with another client.  

I had no idea that it would take me hours to complete all of the data and the docs this morning.  In fact I was not able to finish the order doc and the lease in time. Not a problem I thought, I can create those tonight from the home office. 

After countless hours of updating this site tonight, I was able to create order doc and the lease for my client.  That's when I realized I was out of paper!  Argghh To boot there's not enough time to get paper in the AM.

My only is option is to load the files on my DropBox account and access them when I get to the clients office.  I'll then print them off on one of the Ricoh devices with Ricoh Mobile Print.  It'll be a little awkward, however I'm sure I'll manage.

Nothing really to speak about this AM. I did develop an opportunity for a 25ppm A3 black device (printing and scanning not needed). Not sure if I'll get that or not, the prospect is also looking at a re-furbished copier for $1,800.  Which got me to thinking about the word"re-furbished"  and how that word is thrown around.  

For me, re-furbished means that you strip the copier down to the mainframe and then clean and rebuild with new and used parts.  Stripping a copier down the frame can take hours and hours, then the cleaning, the replacement or worn and used parts.  This is quite a task for any technician, my best estimation ( I used to be a tech ) is that it would take at least twenty hours from start to finish for smaller A3 copier.   That's quite a bit if in house shop time right?

That sales person called that $1,800 copier "re-furbished".  I doubt that very much and conveyed that to the client.  Our prospect agreed that the system is could not be re-furbished, it's just a used copier with new PM parts (maybe).  If it sounds to good to be true it usually is.

I have nothing I could offer the prospect for under $2,000 used.  I told the prospect that maybe they are better off buying a Brother inkjet copier that can print/copy 11x17.  You can buy then for about $300 bucks or so.  Trying to dig a little deeper I asked if there as anything else that was required for the new system.   That's when the prospect told me that they also needed zoom reduction and enlargement.  I thought what?  I haven't heard that need in years. Well, I was back in the game with my A3 black device.  Just thought that was interesting today.

By 2PM I was off to my 3PM appointment with an existing account. That account was having a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4PM for their new location.  I was invited to stay for food and beverages and to hob knob with the Mayor of one town, a County Superintendent, along with the Executive Director of the local Chamber of Commerce.  Of course I brought business cards and made sure everyone got one, in addition I made mental notes of those I meet.  I'll be reaching out to them tomorrow via LinkedIn.

I did have time to meet with the DM, things were hectic because of the 4PM start, but I as able to move this opportunity to a point where I maybe able to close this late next week.

Tomorrow's a big day.  Luck is for rabbits and looking forward to making things happen.

-=Good Selling=-

The Quest for $200K "So High So Low"

Let me tell you, the highs, the lows, the ups and the downs can downright kill you in this business. 

Today was a planned day for the office to prospect and move stuff forward.  Today, was also the day that I was to get my old twenty pound notebook replaced with one of those lightweight varieties.  Needless to say I was looking forward to getting to office.  

On the way to the office I made three stops at net new businesses that were on the way.  All three stops did not have any thing to offer for immediate relief of my revenue quote for the month.  Two may be 2018 prospects and the third company was so rude that they can keep on doing business with whatever vendor.  Would never want them as a client.

Eventually,  I made it to the office, but sue to technical difficulties I was not able to access my twenty pounder notebook nor the new notebook.  I was presented with my new notebook just around lunch time. I immediately got to work to make sure I had access to DropBox, loaded up my Snag-It software and I was ready to roll.

I managed about 15 calls, 7 emails, 2 in-mails and probably answered another 15 incoming emails. Not a productive day.

My goal of seven appointments for the day didn't pan out. All I was able to get was ONE. Arrggh, but I also had to prep for my 10AM appointment tomorrow that has a revenue gauge of about $44k.  Prepping means that I not only go with all of the data that I need, but I've also prepared the closing docs.  One set of docs already filled out with highlighted areas for signatures and one blank set of documents in case there's a change.  I'm going in assuming the order and will keep moving forward unless the client stops me.

While driving home, I received a call from my 10AM, he can' meet tomorrow, but can meet on Friday AM.  Which is fine by me since Friday was kinda open anyway. In addition, I have a $48K revenue opp on Thursday AM of this week.  The extra time in the AM will get me to prep for Thursday AM.

Funny, sometimes you can just tell how things are going to go, it's that sales intuition that you acquire after many years of doing this.  Never would I have guessed that I would be doing these to appointments on back to back days.

-=Good Selling=-

The Quest for $200K Starts Tomorrow

Over the last couple of months, many of my peers asked if I would be doing another blog series about outlining my daily sales activities for the end of 2017.

I stated, "No", the other two blog series (12 Days of Selling, 57 Days of Selling) wore my sorry ass out and I'm no spring chicken anymore! 

Next year, I'll be staring my thirty-eighth year in the copier industry.  Many of you know that I started as a technician, had my ninety day review and was told, "you're doing a great job of taking these copiers apart, however you're not so good at putting them back together". 

Arrgghh!, I was toast, lost my job and it's back to living on the dole from the State of New Jersey.  As I was leaving the dealer principals office, he pulled a "Columbo" on me.  It was the "Just one last question" before you go. The dealer principal reached into to his pocket, pulled out a few Benjamin Franklins and then asked me, "What would you rather do to make this money, finish out the week as a tech or try to talk me out of it?"  Fifteen to twenty minutes later I was not able to talk him out of the cash, however he did ask me if I would like to be a copier sales rep. 

Thirty-seven years later, I can truly say that I've accomplished almost everything I've ever wanted in the copier industry.  The copier industry has been very, very good to me.  Never been laid off, never was a slacker, always set attainable goals and always willing to learn and share knowledge. Thus the P4P Hotel forums.

Starting tomorrow, my goal is to reach $200K in revenue on or before the 26th of December (those darn bean counters are always closing the month out early).  That $200K is attainable since I have almost $225K in the pipeline and will adding to it over the next twenty-two selling days. I'm sure that all of the $225K will not close, thus the need to add more opportunities to the pipeline. I would feel much more comfortable if that pipeline was $600K.  I'm a firm believer that whatever your monthly revenue number is that you need three times that to feel comfortable.  I'm starting with a bank of $20K, thus my number is down to $180k already (yay!).

The plan for tomorrow is to process an order, and put a plan together for all of those opportunities that I've got out there. In addition,  I'm planning to make at least twenty calls to start setting up next week.  I'll also probably put some time in on Saturday for a few calls and a few emails.

I'm looking forward to this new series and hope everyone enjoys.  BTW, if you know of anyone looking for a copier in NJ, please PM me! 

-=Good Selling=

Twelve Days of Selling "Day One"

I started this series of blogs off with the title, "I Want it All".  For those of you that are old enough that was the title of a splendid Queen song in 1988. 

 

I grew up with the attitude that I Want it All, and through out the years, I pretty much always got what I wanted.  Some may call it luck, some may call it fate, I say that it's the fire of desire that burns inside you that drives you to fruition.  I also believe that everyone has the fire of desire inside of them, yet most don't know they have it and most may never find it or find it when it's too late in life. In my case there was an event early in my life that trigger the desire to be GREAT at something.  It just so happened that I picked the copier industry.

 

Thus, the embedded picture on the left of this blog is another one of my favorite sales songs.  "Under Pressure", recorded in 1981 by David Bowie and Queen.  "When the going gets tough, the though get going". 

 

Sales by nature is pure pressure, and over the years I've been able to cope with it, and not let the pressure turn me into a wishy, washy, whining sales person. Yes, at times I'm know as the curmudgeon of the office, but that's because I get so upset with myself when I don't have my numbers.  You see, I know I'm better that that!

 

Alright, enough of that.  The last day of the month, and that being the 23rdof December was somewhat of a bummer.  I made the calls, but found that 95% of the people that I needed to speak to were not available or just did not have the time to speak with me (I understand payroll is important, especially in a short week).

 

I had a small A3 monochrome printer order come in, at the last hour was going back and forth with a net new customer for a wide format.  The customer threw me a curve at the last minute,  that in order for him to move forward with my system, he needed me to give him money for his old X 510 and or find a buyer for it.  It was just too late in the day to make that happen.   Guess this will be January business.

 

The end result is that I did not reach my goal of selling $185k for the month! I'm figuring I was $20-$25k short.   I did not make the club (unless one of our bean counters finds a mistake when the numbers are double and triple checked).  Hint, hint, come on bean counters help me out! 

 

However, what I did accomplish is to have the highest monthly revenue in my career, along with that I also had the highest quarter revenue in my career!  In additional, according to Art's math, I will also have the best commission check in the last 25 years!! 

 

Thus, I have a lot to hang my hat on this year. I will have top sales revenue for the year, I may have squeaked out top new business sales for the second time in a row (I'm not so sure about this, but I think it's going to come down to a few dollars if I win or lose).  I don't mind losing because the rep that would win is pretty awesome and deserves it.

 

I'm taking the next few days to wind down, not shave, not wake up, not answer the cell phone, not drive and recoup for 2015!!! For we all know that you're only as good as your last sale!!!

 

-=Good Selling=-

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 2"

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say On a bright Hawaiian Christmas day! 

 

I heard this today while traveling to the office. I love this song and every time I hear it, I'm reminded of Clark & Ellen Griswold, and Cousin Eddie!

 

Yesterday, yes it was Sunday saw me take about 4 hours to plan Monday and to send at least 25 emails to prospects.  Believe it or not I had two replies on Sunday!  Neither one was a sale, but the email served as a seed planted and some harvesting in the near future. I updated my CRM with about 25 calls for Monday. 

 

Six AM, snuck up on me so fast, guess that's what happens when you get to sleep around midnight.  I finally left for the office around 6:45AM and arrived at the office before 8AM!  When I get to the office early, that can only mean one thing,  oh geesh, no traffic, means..., well at least I was going to work!

 

I'm not sure where to start,  it's been a whirlwind the last few days, starting with the net new order I signed on Friday. I had yet another order this AM for a wide format MFP and an A4 MFP.  But, my best order of the day came as a surprise. It wasn't a large order, nor was it for hardware, but it was for 40 hours of block time for professional services.  Finally, I think I may be on the verge of something really, really big!!

 

Placing phone calls, writing orders, processing orders, following up on deliveries, emailing prospects, responding to emails, taking calls, crunching numbers, lifting a couple of machines (and at my age, glad lifted all those sacks of potato's as a young adult), and then contemplating whether or not I'll get my number. Oh bother!!

 

Early in the AM, I thought I had my number, however that elusive number slipped through my fingers when I realized I had put a $40K deal in for this month when it should have been a $19K deal! Oh the pain!!

 

Thus, with one day of selling left, I find myself about $24K short of my goal.  I just received an email while I was writing for a small $1,500 order.  While I may not hit my number for the year, I can hang my hat that this month revenue was almost 300% of Quota and I'm thinking I can get to 166% for the quarter. Not bad, but there is still one day left and that's still 5% of the month that is left!!

 

-=Good Selling=-

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 3"

Seventy Two hours until the close of the month, the quarter and the year. OH bother! 

 

My first appointment of the day was with an existing account that had placed a $50k order with me last month. Just as I arrived our company delivery truck was already there and the process of de-installation of the older units had begun.  

 

This time around I brought our "Guru of Content Management", and the reason for bringing that person is because I had embedded two licenses of NSI autostore with two of the MFP's.  Plain and simple she was there to talk about workflow and I was there to listen and learn.  Unbelievable at my advanced age, I'm still all about learning more! 

 

Our "Guru of Content Management" was awesome!!  She was able paint a picture of the future with additional workflows and allowed our customer to think aloud about pain they had in other processes.  By the time the appointment was finished they were ready to receive a SOW & PSA for at least one barcode NSI workflow and was ready to sign off on a small SOW to have NSI installed on the server.  Kudos to our "Guru of Content".

 

My next appointment brought me to an existing wide format customer.  Since I've built up a decent war chest this month, I was able to "to rob Peter to pay Paul"and hammer out a new deal for a wide format and a copier. My client had to discuss with his partner over the weekend, but it seemed pretty obvious that I should be able to pick up the order on Monday!

 

Thus, while driving back to my home office, I received an email from an net new account and they were ready to order.  No time to waste, I called and them and stated I would come right over with the document.  The order was about $10k.  But, while I was there my contact told me that their sister company also wants to buy from us and they are looking for a new wide format and copier also.  I was asked to reach out to them on Monday.

 

Well, I've got a few hours today to make a few calls and emails (Saturday), am picking up a $10 order Monday morning also, and am hoping I can get the other order I just spoke about.  At this point, if I can close the order on Monday with the sister company, I'll be about $28k about of my goal.

 

I will leave no stone unturned and Monday and Tuesday of this week will, well lets say it will be interesting!!!

 

-=Good Selling=-

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 4"

What a day!  We've all had these, and by the end of today I was mentally exhausted!!!

 

I had to pick up another order in the AM, and then arrived at the office about 11AM.  Soon after I had to give a demonstration for NSI AutoStore to our DSM.  I was surprised at how much additional information I gleaned from my DSM. 

 

Tomorrow I have two systems being installed with AutoStore, and the only workflow at least for right now is going to be browse to folder.  However, I'm also meeting with that same account to pitch them on workflows, barcodes, and creating forms from their ERP.  I'm definitely going to get them to my office so they can see a workflow demonstration that we have set up for HR & AP.

 

Later in the afternoon, I'll admit that I ..........., and got emotional about some stuff that I had no control over.  That's it on that subject.

 

Thus, with 72 hours left, I have an appointment tomorrow for a $17K opp, and then it's back to the phones for the rest of the day.  I'm picking up another order early Monday.  You bet your ass, I'll be working some on Saturday, because as each day draws closer to Christmas, I know that I'll hear ever excuse under the sun why something can't be done next week.

 

At this point I figure, I'm about $50K short of my goal. I still have $80K in opps,  We'll see!!!

 

-=Good Selling=-

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 5"

Day Five saw me running on empty, for some reason I could not get to sleep until 2AM!!!  My first appointment was at 9AM in Red Bank, and I made it on time!! 

 

The appointment was with a net new customer,  did my regular pitch and then helped my prospect with his existing wide format (which he did not get from me).  There was no opportunity for a sale now, but I planted a seed that will come to fruition sometime in the near future.

 

When I left the prospect, I realized I left my cell phone at home, so off I went back to the homestead.  By the time I arrived back at the office it was about noon time.  The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to making the calls, sending the emails, following up about deliveries and everything else that goes along with the job.

 

I had an order come in for Block IT time, that's helps because it came out of nowhere.  I made headway with a few accounts and was able to schedule one appointment for Friday AM for wide format and A4 MFP.  I also received a lead!!!  WooHoo!! Turns out this lead was from a previous customer who was sorry they moved away from us.  They needed a new color copier and may be interested in one of my pre-owned wide format systems.  It seems this has a chance of closing in a few days.

 

I also found out that one of my orders did not book last month and got rolled to this month.  WTF, when was someone going to tell me!!  The good this is that the order was almost $10K.  Okay, I making a little bit of headway and I'm starting to see a glimmer of light in the tunnel.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed with 4 days to go. Way I see it, is I still have 20% of the month left!

 

-=Good Selling=-

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 6"

Tuesday!!!  I started the day working from the home office.  Spent some time in the AM answering emails.  I had scheduled two appointments today, one at 10AM to get the paperwork signed for the small order that I got the other day and the other was scheduled for 2PM.   In between that I thought I would visit a few existing accounts and some net new.

 

After getting the paperwork signed at the one customer, I visited one of the smaller print shops in my area.  I was able to meet with the owner and we chatted for about 30 minutes or so.  The prospect is prime for a color envelope press, but, is not ready to commit to $16K.  It was interesting because this account prints NJ State prescription pads on his presses and then runs them through the color laser printer embedding the barcode and the name of the doctor.  He also told me about a neat security feature of that he prints.  I forget what he called it, but when you put your finger on the RX logo, it would fade (has something to due with heat), when you remove your finger the color would come back.

 

While I'm retreating out the door, I was approached by one of the pressman.  "Do you sell copy machines", he stated? My answer was "yes, how can I help?".  He then stated that his church is in need of a new copier and he's on the board of trustee's.  We chatting some more about pricing and stated they are looking to purchase in Jan of 2015.  WooHoo!  I got me a lead!!

 

I stopped at two other accounts, no decision makers were available, thus I traveled back to the office to process the order.  My 2PM appointment rescheduled for 3PM.  I got a call when I was 10 minutes away and he rescheduled for 9AM tomorrow. Thus, I was 3 miles from home.....let's see, go home or visit one more account.  I took the visit one more account (existing), the DM was there and I think I have a shot at upgrading his old HP MFP (11x17) before the end of my month.  He hates the system, but has been living with the pain. Hoping I can end that pain for him this week.

 

Still need a lot of dough to get my numbers, it isn't over yet!

 

-=Good Selling=-

 

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 9"

Ah, day 9!!  Last night was the Stratix Annual Holiday Open House event.  The event started at 6PM and I'm not sure when it ended. I was outta there at 11:45PM.  Even got a ride across the street to the Hotel.  Glad I got the ride because you never know what can happen in the rural parts of PA.

 

After eating breakfast at the Hotel, I made my way over the corporate office for a look see of the aftermath of the event.  Caterers were still busy cleaning up and everything that happened last night was just a memory.   With that, I left for my 3 hour trip to the New Jersey office.

 

I arrived at the NJ office about noon time, and I was still nursing a minor headache from a little too much tequila from the night before.  However, at 1PM I was back on track and working my CRM.  Seems everyday that I get closer to the Holidays, it's eve getting harder and harder to get a hold of existing account DM's.  Never the less, I did find a soft prospect and it came about in a rather odd manner.

 

One of our customers called for wide format paper, they stated they had ordered from another source and the paper was not delivered.  Thus, I was able to bring them the paper they required, it was a no brainer because they were a half a mine from my home.  I arrived just about 5PM, and had a short talk with one of the employees.  I asked when their fiscal year ended, found out it was the end of the month.  Ok, so this is promising because the account has an older Ricoh 240W and is still using a windows XP PC to scan and print.  It's a ticking time bomb, is what I stated to the customer.  You should do something now so you may be able to reduce your tax liability for 2014.

 

So, right after writing this, I'll be sending and email to the owner to state my case. Keeping my fingers crossed, new wide format is a decent amount of revenue!!

 

-=Good Selling=-

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 10"

Todays agenda was to get an oil change and two new tires on the car.  Reason being, that I was going to the Stratix Corporate Holiday event at Headquarters in Wyomissing, Pa.

 

Just about noon time I arrived the office, and went right to work on my CRM.  I was still looking to identify existing accounts that had may have a possible upgrade path before the end of the end. 

 

Three hours goes quick, right!  Before I knew it, the clock was on 3PM, and since I had a three hour ride I needed to get out of Dodge because the snow had just started to fall.  My last phone call of the day was to a net new account that I had quoted a wide format to almost a year ago.  I'm like a dog with a bone, and don't won't give up.  I scheduled an appointment for next week.  Nice way to end the short day.

 

Thirty minutes into the trip to Corp, I encountered heavy snow for the next two hours.  Which is always fun when you're driving with eighteen wheelers barreling down the interstate.  Once I was within 30 minutes of the office, the snow had stopped and is was clear cruising to the office.

 

I arrived about 6PM, checked into the Hotel, cause there was no way I was going to travel three hours home that night.  Event was awesome, got to relax, get some food, have a few drinks and talk with good people.

 

Amount Still Needed:  $74K   Amount Sold this Month $115,000

 

-=Good Selling=-

The Twelve Days of Selling "Day 11"

Another day of wind, cold and rainy weather along the coast. My first appointment was about an hour away, to present pricing for one of the new production systems. 

 

Pricing is tentative so there was not even an inkling of  securing an order.  It was the first time I've ever presented a price for more than $150K for one system!!  Everything was good,  we kicked the can down the street and will be scheduling a demonstration for the client.

 

My second appointment was another color production system, however, this one bombed out on me.  Thus, it was off to the office to do some additional hunting in my CRM.

 

Twenty some emails, twenty some phone calls and I got nothing.  I prepared the paperwork for the two orders from the previous day and then went back to my CRM to see what other candidates I could find. Also forgot about a small order that I had and updated those numbers

 

Just about 4:30PM, I was able to connect with a net new customer that balked at buying last spring.  This go around ended up a little bit better and the prospect was extremely interested in one of the systems I was offering up.  Not a sale, but, another prospect to add to the growing list.  I was ok, that I ended up with something.  I keep reminding my self that each new day brings the potential for a new dollar (year kinda corny, but something I tell my self).

 

Tomorrow, maybe a lost day, since I need to travel to corporate for our Holiday event.  But before I go for the three hour ride, I'll need to get a couple of new tires and an oil change.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone will return an email or a phone call!

 

Amount Needed $74K   Amount Sold  $111,500

 

-=Good Selling=-

The 12 Days of Selling "Day 12"

Yesterday, I blogged about the end of the year, how many selling days I have left and the need to add two additional selling days to see if I can hit my number.  I Want It All, I Want It NOW!

 

I woke up to a nasty nor'easter here along the Jersey Coast, instead of trying to get in at 8AM, I figured I would go through my emails and wait at least an hour before traveling to the office.    It DID NOT matter!  Traffic was horrible, roads flooded, accidents. I finally arrived about 10AM and it was off to the races.

 

My first order of busy was to continue to identify existing accounts that may have the potential to upgrade, and then to follow up with some additional accounts to see if they would make the move.

 

I identified at least five accounts, called all five and none were available.  My nest step was to send them an email outlining my intentions and their potential savings with hardware and or features that would save them time. 

 

All of this brought me to about 3PM in the afternoon, I was also working on pricing for a Pro C7100x and had a discussion with another account in reference to a C651.  All of this amounted to nothing.

 

However, at 3:30PM I followed up with an existing account for a wide format system. He wanted to keep his existing system, but, his existing system was a ticking time bomb because it was a W3600 with XP PC and plotbase.  I got creative and we cut a deal, total revenue about $11K. 

 

Twenty minutes later, I had an response to one of my five emails, stating "ok lets go with the new system, and get me the paperwork".  Geesh, that was nice and those two orders will help.  Tomorrow, I'm off to two appointments for two production systems, and then more phone calls and emails.

 

Amount still needed $75k, amount sold so far $110,500

 

-=Good Selling=-

Post
×
×
×
×
×