Some people drop out of school in high school while others go on to graduate from college and then they even pursue some postgraduate studies that leads to higher degrees. But when do we stop learning?
Here I sit some 30 years removed from college and high school and I believe that I learn something new every day. This only happens if you are receptive to new ideas and other opinions that you encounter in your daily routines.
The economic turmoil that we have all been experiencing for the past year or year and a half has brought a great deal of focus on our abilities to learn and educate ourselves. For some it is a literal thing such as...
"I lost my job and I went back to school to learn a new trade"
For others it may be a little more subtle where they realize...
"I forgot how to make cold calls, now I have to start all over again!"
There are even more extreme examples where salespeople who have worked with the same company for 20 years find themselves in a position where they have to go back out and look for a new home. Perhaps they have owned there own firms for 20 + years however they have come to the realization that they need help or that they want to get out of the rat race where they need to hire people and train and handle all the administrative duties. They see "the light" where they want to go back to what they love best selling and they are okay letting someone else run the business.
In these cases it is also important that they make educated decisions as it is all about their future!
The Vernon Company is a strong believer in education. We spend a good deal of time educating our 160 + people in the home office as to the best ways to support our account executives in the field. Out top management team spends a good deal of time on keeping up with trends in the industry on a variety of different levels. Educating our account executives is the primary goal at every meeting we have and we regularly use industry professionals and trainers to improve the skill set of our salespeople.
Over the next month we will be offering some education to those people who do not work for us today. This education is targeted towards individuals who may be looking for a new home for their promotional products business. We acknowledge that it is extremely important for any person to know what they are getting when they join a new company. We certainly do not want to paint an unrealistic picture as to what we offer. This would not be good for anyone involved.
If you or anyone that you know in this business might find themselves in the unenviable position of having to look around or if you just want to see what is out there for you if you decided to change The Vernon Company is offering a four part series of webinars over the next thirty days.
Click on this link to find out more about how you may participate. Again the goal is educating the general public about who The Vernon Company is and what we might bring to the table.
We welcome anyone to click on the link and sign up for a single webinar or for the entire series. This is up to you!
And remember you cannot go wrong if you make educated decisions regarding the future!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Signs, signs, everywhere a sign....
The signs are out there….
But the question is do you even see them? This is the critical question! Do you notice the signs and then do you act accordingly!
In this instance I am talking about the economic signs that are out there. Things like housing sales, unemployment claims and new filings, inventories and the stock market. For as much negative press as the declining stock market received in 2008 you think that more time would be spent talking about the good news, specifically the rebounding of the market this year. The Dow Jones average hit a low point on March 1, 2009 of 6470. As of this minute the Dow Jones Average is at 9852, representing an increase of 3,382 points or a 52 + % gain! I know, I know... there are other factors that affect us all that maybe a lot more pertinent in our daily lives than the averages in the stock market but I think we can all agree that a big part of this recession and our eventual recovery involves our attitudes and our state of mind.
Who likes a whiner or a complainer? No one does…right? This is true even though they might have a real good reason to complain. The fact of the matter is that most of us will try to get away from that person because of the way it affects us.
Now let’s reverse the situation. Have you ever met that person that is always positive? I have met them before. Even in situations where I might say boy this person has a lot of problems going on and they turn around and say “you know Dave, it could be a lot worse…we are just happy to have a good support system!” WOW, talk about looking at things with a different perspective.
Again, getting back to the signs of the economy how is your attitude? There is no busier time of the year in the promotional products industry and for that reason it is critical that you are upbeat and positive in all of your dealings. Remember what we said above that no one likes a whiner or a complainer. Well guess what…no one wants to buy from a whiner or a complainer!
How are you approaching your customers? Are you stopping by or calling to pick up an order or are you visiting them to find out about their needs with the ultimate goal of showing them creative ideas that will help them to grow their sales and meet their own objectives? Which is it? Are you talking about the good signs in the economy or are you stuck in the past lamenting how bad things have been?
It is important that each of us does their own self evaluation to determine what “vibes” they might be giving off when meeting with others. Ask other around you whom you trust about how you might be perceived in this regard. Do they generally view you as positive or negative or in the middle, kind of blah, not too upbeat, but not too negative either.
In a strange way I believe that most of us probably don’t want to know the real answer to this question. Perhaps we are afraid that the famous actor Jack Nicholson, in one of his famous roles, is going to show up and shout at the top of his lungs “you can’t handle the truth!” I sincerely doubt that his is going to happen to any of us. The good thing about all of this is that you control your destiny here. It can all change with the next sales call!
I see the signs of things getting better. Not only do I see these signs in the general economy but I see the signs in our business over the last six weeks. More orders are coming in. Some salespeople are selling some very large orders. Customers are asking for more quotes as they consider new projects involving promotional products.
See the note that I received yesterday from a few of our reps
– “I have been getting only one or two calls per day....left town Thurs and Fri, and there were 9 calls when I got back. I think that I need to leave town more often. Wrote several orders today, and I am making approx. 20 cold calls per week. I never thought I would have to go back out to "walking the streets!" It is what it is “
Another top rep told me that he has over 60 quotes out right now for projects and that he feels like many of these will result in orders. As we spoke he was trying to finalize a nice order for 9,000 umbrellas from HIT. When it rains it pours…this is fantastic news!
These two reps are experiencing the signs of an economic turnaround now. The fact that they are experiencing some successes should be a sign for you and me both. I would like to emphasize a point made in the first example above that many of you may have missed…
The sales rep is making 20 cold calls per week
When I began in this business I was taught that 20 cold calls per day were necessary to succeed. I understand that this number was set out there for the newcomer who was trying to get started in the business. How many cold calls are each of you making?
I think we would be ecstatic if each and every one of you were making 20 new cold contacts each and every week! Can we commit to trying this? As anyone who has committed themselves to doing this will tell you it always pays off. In some cases it may be a form of delayed gratification, meaning calls that you make today end up panning out three months down the road.
On the other side of the coin if you make no sales calls on new prospects I can tell you there is no need to wait for the results. The reward for doing absolutely nothing is nothing and it is immediate!
So today’s message is Attitude and Action…check your attitude to make sure it is positive and upbeat and once you know this to be true get up and out there meeting and greeting existing customers and prospects to find out how you can meet their needs with creative ideas and products. You can do it!
Good luck and Happy Selling!
But the question is do you even see them? This is the critical question! Do you notice the signs and then do you act accordingly!
In this instance I am talking about the economic signs that are out there. Things like housing sales, unemployment claims and new filings, inventories and the stock market. For as much negative press as the declining stock market received in 2008 you think that more time would be spent talking about the good news, specifically the rebounding of the market this year. The Dow Jones average hit a low point on March 1, 2009 of 6470. As of this minute the Dow Jones Average is at 9852, representing an increase of 3,382 points or a 52 + % gain! I know, I know... there are other factors that affect us all that maybe a lot more pertinent in our daily lives than the averages in the stock market but I think we can all agree that a big part of this recession and our eventual recovery involves our attitudes and our state of mind.
Who likes a whiner or a complainer? No one does…right? This is true even though they might have a real good reason to complain. The fact of the matter is that most of us will try to get away from that person because of the way it affects us.
Now let’s reverse the situation. Have you ever met that person that is always positive? I have met them before. Even in situations where I might say boy this person has a lot of problems going on and they turn around and say “you know Dave, it could be a lot worse…we are just happy to have a good support system!” WOW, talk about looking at things with a different perspective.
Again, getting back to the signs of the economy how is your attitude? There is no busier time of the year in the promotional products industry and for that reason it is critical that you are upbeat and positive in all of your dealings. Remember what we said above that no one likes a whiner or a complainer. Well guess what…no one wants to buy from a whiner or a complainer!
How are you approaching your customers? Are you stopping by or calling to pick up an order or are you visiting them to find out about their needs with the ultimate goal of showing them creative ideas that will help them to grow their sales and meet their own objectives? Which is it? Are you talking about the good signs in the economy or are you stuck in the past lamenting how bad things have been?
It is important that each of us does their own self evaluation to determine what “vibes” they might be giving off when meeting with others. Ask other around you whom you trust about how you might be perceived in this regard. Do they generally view you as positive or negative or in the middle, kind of blah, not too upbeat, but not too negative either.
In a strange way I believe that most of us probably don’t want to know the real answer to this question. Perhaps we are afraid that the famous actor Jack Nicholson, in one of his famous roles, is going to show up and shout at the top of his lungs “you can’t handle the truth!” I sincerely doubt that his is going to happen to any of us. The good thing about all of this is that you control your destiny here. It can all change with the next sales call!
I see the signs of things getting better. Not only do I see these signs in the general economy but I see the signs in our business over the last six weeks. More orders are coming in. Some salespeople are selling some very large orders. Customers are asking for more quotes as they consider new projects involving promotional products.
See the note that I received yesterday from a few of our reps
– “I have been getting only one or two calls per day....left town Thurs and Fri, and there were 9 calls when I got back. I think that I need to leave town more often. Wrote several orders today, and I am making approx. 20 cold calls per week. I never thought I would have to go back out to "walking the streets!" It is what it is “
Another top rep told me that he has over 60 quotes out right now for projects and that he feels like many of these will result in orders. As we spoke he was trying to finalize a nice order for 9,000 umbrellas from HIT. When it rains it pours…this is fantastic news!
These two reps are experiencing the signs of an economic turnaround now. The fact that they are experiencing some successes should be a sign for you and me both. I would like to emphasize a point made in the first example above that many of you may have missed…
The sales rep is making 20 cold calls per week
When I began in this business I was taught that 20 cold calls per day were necessary to succeed. I understand that this number was set out there for the newcomer who was trying to get started in the business. How many cold calls are each of you making?
I think we would be ecstatic if each and every one of you were making 20 new cold contacts each and every week! Can we commit to trying this? As anyone who has committed themselves to doing this will tell you it always pays off. In some cases it may be a form of delayed gratification, meaning calls that you make today end up panning out three months down the road.
On the other side of the coin if you make no sales calls on new prospects I can tell you there is no need to wait for the results. The reward for doing absolutely nothing is nothing and it is immediate!
So today’s message is Attitude and Action…check your attitude to make sure it is positive and upbeat and once you know this to be true get up and out there meeting and greeting existing customers and prospects to find out how you can meet their needs with creative ideas and products. You can do it!
Good luck and Happy Selling!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Where have I been?
Just yesterday I was participating in a sales meeting and we were talking about what our business was going to look like in five years. It was a great discussion and considering the fact that we had about a dozen different people in the room it was interesting to note that we had about a dozen different "visions" of the future.
In an effort to gather some perspective about things we began the session with a ten point quiz about the way things were five years ago in October of 2004. Did I say that this was only five years ago and there were ten questions?
I should point out right at the beginning here that I only answered two questions correctly. I got eight answers wrong and I wasn't even close on five of those answers. To make matters even worse I will embarrass myself even further by stating that I though some of the events listed took place within the last two to three years....certainly not five years ago!
Where on earth does the time go?
Yes, I realize that we are all busy, even with all the newest and latest technology at our fingertips and I will use that as part of my excuse. The sad reality is that I think that I could take a quiz with ten questions about what happened last week and I might not fare any better.
I love blogging. I really enjoy talking about some of our daily challenges, not only in business but in regular life as well. Actually I find it therapeutic to write and vent at times. Today I find myself wondering how time can pass by so fast. I have so many more things that I want to do but not enough time. I understand setting priorities but my list appears to be too long at times.
Am I the only one that feels this way?
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