A quick update on New Jersey for everyone. We're pretty much still locked down. Not much has changed in the last two weeks, although the Governor is giving us back some small freedoms from time to time.
Today he announced the horse racing can resume in New Jersey by next week, although none of the grandstands will be open. I'm seeing this as a Governor that is desperate for tax revenue and placing wagers on the ponies and sports betting will generate some additional cash.
Yesterday we were notified that tolls on our two major highways the NJ Turnpike will see a 37% increase along with the Garden State Parkway receiving a 27% increase. Way to go Gov, just keep making it harder and hard to stay in New Jersey.
All non-essentials stores can open but only for curbside pick-up. Hotels, motels, bars, diners, restaurants are still closed to the public. Although diners and restaurants can be open for curbside pickup.
For the most part office buildings are still a shell of what they once were in New Jersey.
Today was a decent day for prospecting since I was able to add another existing client opportunity. I wasn't able to manage many calls because of three appointments along with researching three opportunities so I could move them further along in the order process.
My earliest appointment was for a wide format net new prospect. I'm offering a pre-owned MP W6700SP and hopefully replacing an order ink-jet plotter. Initially I thought I would get some push back on my toner based wide format because my prospect is coming from ink jet. I crammed for about 45 minutes this AM listing the pro's and con's of each device. I calculated the cost difference for black ink compared to black toner. I was ready with all of my notes for the call.
As we got deeper into the call it was evident that my prospect was tired of ink-jet, the waste of ink, the small paper rolls and the constant ink head replacements, We left it with I would forward the docs asap and he would discuss with his partner. We planned a follow up call for next Wednesday. I've been after this account for 26 months with at least 6 touches or more per year. Getting this one would be nice after all this time.
My second appointment of the day resulted in a verbal order for a small A4 color device. Not a record breaker for revenue but the ice breaker I needed for June. Docs are going out Monday AM for this one.
My third appointment was unique to say the least. The suspect was new and our call lasted an agonizing 45 minutes. In baseball scouts will look at a player and they'll put an NP next to their name. The NP stands for Not A Prospect. I should have done that 10 minutes into the call but I hung on and we agreed that we would touch based in 6 weeks and exchange leads. Okay not a prospect but you never know about the leads.
I did have a great call from someone I recently met from Dove Print Solutions today. Nice call, nice person and I'm looking forward to additional calls down the road. It was also good to hear what's happening in other parts of the US.
Last part of the day ended with completing an upgrade review for an existing account. I could have stopped at 4:30, but I didn't because if I had left the rest to Monday I would have had to review the entire account again. Finished just before 5PM and sent my email off to the client. This opportunity is for about $8k.
End result of the short week saw me add four opportunities and move three of them to the point where they could close next week. Revenue wise somewhere in the $20K range for all three. Not a bad week.
-=Good Selling=-
- Always schedule the next appointment with the client
- Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
- Research and prep before every meeting
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