Good positive stories only..Are they out there? Recently after sending out a newsletter to our sales force venting about the media focusing on the negative things in the economy I was heartened to have a number of reps send back some positive stories on things that were going on in their own business world. I am taking the liberty of showing some excerpts below. It is not likely that you will see any of these stories on your local news....
Hey Dave------My week was great! I wrote $13,000 in orders. Not bad for a down economy! Cheer up----things have to get better. Gotta go----Time for cocktails!
- Ann B. (MA)
I had been working on renewing my largest order a week before Christmas when they informed me that because of the poor economy they were not going to do anything this year!! What a jaw dropping announcement! The order would have been $60,000.00+ I needed 60,000 pts to win the Vernon Incentive Trip to the Big Sky Montana Resort . Both sale and points - gone!! Shortly after this customer revelation I had an official meeting with myself and decided NOT to let this get me down. I may have lost the order, but I did not lose my ambition or my ability to sell, and heck what a challenge! I am happy to report that as of today, after three great sales weeks, I only need about 20,000 points to win the trip. I am determined to work even harder to achieve my goals! Some thing's I have observed:
Customers still want to advertise, but they are spending less
The more I call on customers face to face, the more successful that I am.
When the phone doesn't ring I need to do something to change it. Some things might include:
Set up clothing displays and bring in to my client's office
Design some spec sample hats and present to top customers
Watch for close outs, sales, and present them to customers
Put together ideas while anticipating needs of clients- Do not wait for them to contact you.
Constantly look for new clients that could use my excellent service.
- Pat R. (WI)
I feel the same way you do... too many people are in the corner, depressed because they are listening to the media too much. Too many of us are prejudging our customers assuming they don't want to buy! Add to this the fact that a lot of reps are not interested in getting out there to try and sell because "nobody is buying anyway".
Dave, when you sent out that email asking us to forecast sales for 2009, I was depressed and in the corner. During the break for the holidays, I realized I was letting it get to me. I decided to do something about it and since then I have sold $10,000 per week for the last three weeks and am half way to $10,000 for next week already.
I received a wall sign for Christmas from a very caring person in my life. The sign says "It is what it is.." The sign is not going on my wall because in my life "It is what I make happen".
Be proactive in your sales.. Go cold call 20 new prospects a day, every day. If you gain one of them as a customer, then you have gained 20 new customers in the month! That's phenomenal growth!
- Scott W. (UT)
This is just the beginning. All I want is good news stories this week! I have told our people that I do not want to hear what happened to them.....I want to hear what they are doing to change the outcome!
What I found in this process is that hearing good stories makes me feel better. Hanging around with positive people makes me more positive. This should not be a surprise...we all know this and have known this for a long time...right?
If this is the case why doesn't the media get it? They are as much responsible for where we are as any one.
Wouldn't it be refreshing to see the 6 PM news show only good news stories for one week. Thinks about it...
5 nights, 30 minutes a night of good stories....2 1/2 hours over the course of the week....I want to hear about people volunteering, people making a difference, small businesses that are thriving, some new entrepreneur ideas....
Oh well...a man can dream...can't he?
No comments:
Post a Comment