Don\'t Give Up

[Coitster]

Well I have to make a post here for some of the new people and maybe some of the veterans. I had an interesting day today. It started out with me getting a late start. 10:00 AM and then a half hour drive to the area I was working. To say that I started my morning in a bad mood was an understatement. My son was being an absolutly pain in the ass this morning. Its very important that when you go out you are in a great mood because its sales and well if you are draging and pissed things are kind of hard. Well anyway I get out into the field.... FINALY and start doing my cold calling thing. First door I walk into... NO THANK YOU (with a really snotty voice). Ok.... I will shake that one off to just plain nastyness and not worry about it. In this biz you have to have kind of a thick skin and not to worry about it.

The next 9 doors I walk into looking for owners of vehicles also tell me no. Remember I only walk in when I think the person who owns the car is going to be in that office, I just don't go into every door I see. Well needless to say after about 3 hours of getting beat up by some nasty people I was a little miffed to put it mildly. I don't have to put up with this garbage, my self worth doesn't need this.

Hell with it, I am going to go have a cigar at my favorite Cigar lounge. I am thinking a nice 858 Aurturo Fuente, they are a great cigar mind you... anyway I get in my van and start to drive out of the complex I was in. I get out onto the street and say to myself I need an attitude ajustment so I start my little self talk routing. I need to build myself up so I start in on myself.

"I can't believe what a looser you are David. What a wimp, and a worthless maggot I must be to give up so easily." Mind you I was a little more colorful then that. "What do you care what some worthless old bitty says about what I do. Well I DON'T care I talked to myself a little more."

So I turned the van around and went back to the complex I still had about half of it to go through. I also kept thinking to myself how wonderful that cigar was going to taste and it was calling me. Ok, so I dragged my happy ass out of the van and walked up to another group of cars and saw a couple vehicles with chips. I walked in the door and mind you I need to get positive with myself again. "Put a smile on your face and don't give up" I told myself.

What do you know, they want to get it done.... :::About drops dead from shock::: <--- real winner here huh

Ok so I do that job and bamb... another one, he sells his co-worker for me. BTW it was all cash. So I walk to the other side of the building and find two trucks for a construction company that have chips. OMG they want to do it too. Guess what, all cash again. So I am now starting to get in a little better mood. Well that was just the start, before I left that complex I did 4 more jobs. Again all cash., this rocks. In basicly 4 hours I did 8 jobs for $410.00 dollars all cash.

So the moral of the story boys and girls is don't stop, even when you are having a bad day, just suck it up and plow ahead. It will happen even if you have to give yourself a positive uplifting talk to yourself like I did.
David
Coitster

[magicogar]

Nice going David!!

Whatever happened to the dollar store? You're switching over to the Cigar Lounge now?

I got a question. Do you actually go into a salon or a takeout place and then asked the owner and after that, in a loud voice, tell everybody in the place who owns the car?

Joe

[Coitster]

Well for everyone that knows me I have a pretty loud voice to begin with. So people never had a problem hearing me, even the ones in the way, way, way, way back. I don't go into retail locations like salons and regular stores. Its just a very uneasy situation if you are asking and then find out its one of their customers. That doesn't fly very well with the people that work their because it is after all their company. So I stick with office parks. I also don't go into office parks were its only 1 company that has like 30 cars parked out front for just that one place. They won't have a clue who owns what car. Hope that helps some, and besides I havn't been to any dollar stores in a while. No one to go with.
David
Coitster

[maxryde]

Timely advice David, I've been getin beat up out there a bit and if all it takes is a trip to the dollar store to get a ride along with the master I'm in!!! So here's where you can send the airline tickets to 1234 Bummen out Dr. No rock chip, Washington. Attn. The guy who needs an attitude adjustment!! Scott:~)

[enkogneto]

David, you are a hurge inspiration to me. I know that sounds kinda corny, but there are alot of people who would call it a day. I'm one of them. I'm learning that you can't have that kind of attitude in this business. Like you said, you have to have thick skin. Way to tough it out.

[L8model]

Thanks for the story, David!!! As some of you may know, I am just getting my business started and just returned from the Delta Kits Orlando training last week....

Well, right now it seems that I still have so many things that I need to get done.... I printed invoices today, made an agreement with a local auto tire & service dealer ($5.00 spiff to any of the auto techs, not the store, that get me a referral), set up a referral agreement with a small auto repair gas station (let me put my business cards next to the cash register, added business insurance to my truck (raised my premium by 20%), stuck some business cards on some vehicles with chips, and ???? But I didn't repair any chips.... It started to get cloudy & cold, and I wanted to be home when my kids finished school (ages 8 & 11). My NCR paper arrived today (10 reems), so I did print some invoices with my laser printer. I worked on my website a little bit, and I still need to design graphics for my truck.

I want to go out and get business & I know that I can do it, however I almost feel as though I am finding other crap to do so I don't have to confront people for business (almost like I have been spinning my wheels). As a sales professional, I'm not afraid to confront people, however it's almost like I've been on vacation for 10-weeks & I do feel a little rusty & somewhat apprehensive. I just want everything to be perfect before I go after strangers. I've done one insurance job this week (4 chips=$85) and I have at least 4 insurance jobs lined up. Unfortunately, that does not cut it & I need to get serious about getting some business.... It won't be too long before my reserves are depleated (maybe two or three months, tops). Tomorrow, I have plans to stop at two auto repair places to make referral arrangements and I may also hit a couple fleets and business parks.

David, I really appreciate your motivating stories.... As you were explaining the bad part of your day, I felt as though I was right there with you.... I've had those days. Then you turned it into a fantastic day. Fortunately, I've had days similar to the one you described, where they started out like crap & you just want to end it & start over tomorrow, but then you force yourself to press on with a positive outlook, and get rewarded in the end. It truly is a numbers game.... I just need to keep reminding myself of that. Several years ago I sold high-end vacuum cleaners.... Trust me, that was a challange. It was very stressful, but could be very financially rewarding. I eventually got burned out and had to get out of that business; I don't think I could ever go back to it. When I was committed, I did very well. One time, I managed a 90% close ratio over an 11-day stretch and I earned $11,000 (in those 11-days). Unfortunately, it only happened that one time. It wasn't long after that before I chose to quite the business.

I think the key to this business is to just stop the car/truck, get out of it and talk to people. Sometimes it's hard to get over the idea of somebody saying "no", which makes it easier to just stay in the car/truck. Selling vacuums, I've talked myself out of visiting with people on many occations, because I felt certain that they would tell me "no" (I can only wonder how much money that cost me). I can assure you that 100% of the people that I chose not to ask for business never gave me any business. However, out of all of the people that I did ask for business, 30%-40% (average) did give me business. Yes, I did have bad days, bad weeks, even bad months, but I found that it was mostly because I had already given up and my number of calls dropped drastically. Right now I need to focus on what I already know (the basics) and just start talking to people. I am confident that I will go out and do what I do, and sell myself and WSR. I need to just get past the distractions of starting my business, quit spending money, and start earning it.

Have a GREAT week!

Joe Smejkal

[Coitster]

Joe,
Great responce, its really easy when you get started in this biz to do all the busy work like paperwork and everything else and it seems like you are working and don't get me wrong you have to do those things but you also have to do the thing thats most important. That is go find the business. Personaly I suck really bad at the actual paperwork or that end of the business. But I constantly work on my sales portion of the business. Let me tell you if I give my pitch one more time in my sleep I am going to scream! I am glad to hear that you are in the biz and all I can say is just keep going and don't ever give up. Thats why most people quit is because they just can't get biz. For some reason they think that people are going to beat down their door to do work. I doesn't happen that way. So you got the idea right, go find it.
David
Coitster

[dgarza]

hey david, I noticedin your post you said those were all cash jobs. are you pushing cash instead of insuarance or did they all just not have insurance that would cover it? just curious cause im running into more people who have insurance companies that wont cover it or they dont want to do a claim. I know in Cali the cost of living is like 10x more than Texas so did you raise your cash price or do you just negotiate? I think my main problem when walking into a business is my sales pitch. Its been a year since I rode with you and Ive gotten rusty. If you can, you should put your latest pitch in here to help us rustys and newbies out!

[Coitster]

Hey Dgarza,
Well my sales pitch is the same that its always been. I havn't changed it in almost 5 years. So its the same as it was when you rode with me. I still sell insurance jobs but I have worked a lot on selling cash jobs. I sell them for 50 bucks a pop, and if they have multiple chips I then charge 60 bucks. I discovered when I went back to Dallas for thanksgiving that I could sell cash just as easly as Insurance. It also depends on how you present it. I offer a choice, I say you can either pay 50 bucks or if you want to put it on your insurance it is free. Its up to you, lots of people go for the cash with this option. Most still go for insurance.
David
Coitster

[Jeremiahswindshieldrepair]

The year is 1941, the place is Harrow school in the UK, the man in question is Winston Churchill. Winston is to give a speech to the graduating class of his alma-ata. The legend says he stood up and gave a 10 second oration containing a derivative of this phrase. "Never give up, never never never give up!" which met an applause of hour long minutes.
In reality the speech was full and lasted close to 10 minutes but did end with an inspiring farewell of "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense.".
This was on the heals of a total UK defeat by the Nazi's in 1941 in what some would say is worse circumstances than getting the hand by a nasty old lady in an office park. If the English can turn that circumstance into a positive then we can too!

wow creative writing really hurts my head.