57 Days of Selling

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=-

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=

Traffic, what traffic?  That was the first thought that came to me once I entered the on ramp for the Garden State Parkway.  There was no traffic, which told me that Friday was going to be a get away day for most.

After arriving at the office, I downed my first cup of coffee and got to work.  Since it was the last day of the quarter, the year and the month, I knew my chances were slim to none today.  My only course of action was the follow up for the $25K net new op and the existing client that called yesterday and needed three devices.

First up was the existing client, got a hold of my prospect (gatekeeper) and I was informed that the DM did not come in the office yesterday and had not arrived at the office at this time. I asked what time the DM was expected and my prospect told me that he wasn't sure.  "Ok, I'll give you a call before the end of the day", is where I left that one.

Now for the net new $25K deal, remember this is the deal where the DM stated that he will have an decision for me on the 21st about midday.  After three phone calls and two emails on Wednesday & Thursday there was no response.  But, I still had today, maybe he was busy, maybe he needed more info, maybe they delayed the decision, all of these were possible.  However, my gut told me that something was wrong because there was were no calls or emails.  On previous attempts before presenting our proposal, there were no issues with the client responding with either a call or an email.  Thus, the call was made, and like the other calls from the last two days, I was directed to email.  The client is screening his calls, saw my number and directed it right to voice mail. 

At this point, I'm pretty sure that my aggressive proposal was probably used to whittle down the incumbents numbers.  The client just doesn't have the decency to call me or email me. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

So, the quest to hit the $200K number fell short.  It happens, sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. 

Is there anything I would have done different?  No, I prospected as best as I could, I really didn't lose much in my pipeline, just that a few of those opportunities did not pan out to be in the time frame that I needed them to.  The bases were full, I had the chance to get to the plate, but just couldn't get the run home. I could see if it was the last day of the quarter and year and I didn't have the opportunities. That would have meant that I did a piss poor job.  But, the ops were there. 

On the drive home, I felt really good about the year that I had. I had a crappy year last year and I set a goal for not having a another year like that one.  I don't have the final numbers but believe I increased last years revenue by more than 40%.   In addition, I believe this year was my highest revenue to date with my six years at Stratix.  Thus, I have much to be thankful for.

As of today, I'm on vacation for quite a few days over the Holidays.  The much needed break will give me time to recharge and plan for 2017. 

I'd like to thank everyone for following this blog, at times it was a bear to sit down and give a recap of the day.  I had fun sharing my content, my drive and my passion for the industry. I can only hope that I've been able to help or inspire some readers that selling office technology aka copiers can be an awesome career.

I have one goal for 2017, and that goal is to out perform 2016!   

-=Good Selling=-

Desire, Dedication and Determination is what drives sales people to succeed.  

Those  "3 D's of Selling"  is a feeling that comes from within, it's the special drive that propels us to succeed day in and day out.  You can't teach it, you can't sell it and you can't learn it. 

I developed that special feeling early in my life.  I was adopted at the age of four. Thus, I knew at an early age that someone had given up on me.  The question that kept rolling over and over was, "why, did someone give up on me?"  Hey, I was young and dumb, and did not realize that there are other reasons for giving up children. In most cases giving up a child can result in that child having a better chance to succeed in life. I was given that chance by a wonderful loving couple.

But, at thirteen years old, you're not thinking about the better life, you're concentrated on your life now. Thus, somewhere,  sometime,  I promised myself that I would succeed in something.  I had not clue as to what that would be, but I was determined to succeed at all costs.

Over the years, that special something was always there that urged me to be a winner. Try to come in first, if not, try harder the second time, and if it still wasn't working to figure it out on your own.  Sooner or later you're going to win!

The Last Day

So, we're down the last day after I write this.  Today was filled with processing two of the orders that I received yesterday. Following up with a handful of ops and weeding them out for January business.

I'm still short by $25K or so, the one op I have hanging out for $25K has opted not to return any emails or voice mails in the last two days. I was told by the DM a decision was being Wednesday.  It only takes 10 seconds to make a call or send an email, thus I'm thinking the DM either doesn't want to tell me I lost, or they delayed the decision.  I did put in a drop dead date on the pricing and I'm sticking to it, if the op comes to fruition after Christmas.

I did get a call from an existing client that wants equipment before the end of this month. I stated, "how about tomorrow?", it's the last day of my year.  Not a big order, two small A4 color printers and a 30ppm A4 color MFP.  I'll be calling the AM to see if I can close the order over the phone.

So, there is a chance to add $28k tomorrow.  I will not be sitting around and waiting for either one of those calls to happen.  My plan for tomorrow is to roll through my CRMK one more time and look for customers who could and might BUY NOW.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $171.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $5K

Total New Opportunities Created = $391K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $27.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

As we draw closer and closer to Christmas here in the States, each passing day has seen a downward trend in my received emails and calls.  Today, I heard of a few accounts that are going to be closed on Friday. 

One of those accounts is the account where I sold the pre-owned 80PPM Color MFP.  Thus tomorrow, I'll be taking a trek there to get the paper work signed.

You do know what this means right? 

If I sold the pre-owned 80PPM color mfp, then that means I got the deal for 80ppm devices!  I finally made the call about 4PM today, and was greeted with good news, as I received the verbal and the contracts were in legal and should be ready for tomorrow.

It's funny with these calls, quite a few times during the day, I thought about calling the three ops I have on tap.  Each time I thought, geesh if I don't call them yet, then deal still has a chance of going through! I tell ya, I can get to be a nut case with do I call, don't I call, when should I call, what's the best time to call. It could and sometime does go on an on.

Just about three PM, I followed up twice with my $25k op for a net new.  Both times, the prospects voice mail came on.  Both times, I did not leave a message, after the last call I did send an email.  As of a few minutes ago, there was no email from the prospect.  Thus, another day on this op. BTW, I'm not expecting to get this op, and it's because I've lost twice in a row to the incumbent. The expectations are set low, and just maybe I'll have a Christmas surprise.

A few minutes after call the 25K op, I received an email with order docs for the net new client for the small A4 copier with the DOSS, that I pitched the other day. Not a big deal, but it's net new and worth about $2,200 for revenue.

In additional to all of this, I had an appointment with an existing client that has an (2) 55ppm A3 color devices.  That lease is due to expire soon. 

I went through their needs for a new device along with their existing costs for the lease and maintenance.  We were going to save them oodles of dollars.  Every thing was smooth until my prospect gets up and hands me a set of brochures from a competitor.  The prospect then whispers, "I don't like this person".  I know the competition, I know the sales person, and I'm not saying anything else about this one, until it's closed.  BTW, I got a ton of dirt on this one!

Not a bad day, I got two of three, with three still hanging out there. Plus, I've got two days to see if I can find a home for the other pre-owned 80ppm color device. There is a chance!

Tomorrow?  I'll be running around picking up docs. No emailing since time is too short.

Amount Sold Today = $48K

Total Revenue to Date = $171.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $386K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $27.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

Hard to believe that in three short days this endeavor of mine to share my sales journal with everyone will expire.

Don't have much time tonight to write, so this is going to be short and sweet. After I'm finished writing this blog, I have to ready a lease, order doc and maintenance agreement for a net new account and email it out tonight.  Matter of fact, I need to do two of these since the DM isn't sure which one he will go with.  The gatekeepers last day of the year is tomorrow and she wants the DM to order before she leaves.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, not a big deal, one of those smaller A4's. 

With the above opportunity, I focused on the Disk OverWrite for the Hard Drive.  With all of the hacking, and ransomeware scares,  I thought I would focus on including this option with the two A4 devices.  I stated the advantages, the benefits and then told a story about an article I read about hard drive security in copiers.  At the end of the presentation, I asked if my competitor had included and or mentioned the benefits of having a Disk OverWrite system,  they had not. I then asked, "is this a feature you need?".  There was another yes and thus I felt like I was on the way to securing the order.

I presented three different A4's, we got it down to two, and now I need to do the paperwork and get it to them tonight, since I have a full day tomorrow.

AM Appointment

Existing account that had purchased a A3 55ppm color laser printer from me earlier this year or might have been late last year.  I was there for a walkthrough to see all of their print devices. The IT person was fed up with managing 20 plus printers, one A3 black MFP and two A4 black devices.  With my camera app enabled on my smart phone, I documented every device.

Funny story for everyone, which goes back ten years or more. My Ricoh DM contacted me and asked If I could take some Japanese Engineers to some of my duplicator accounts in NJ.  They were there to ask questions about the existing product and to ask the account what they would like to see in new products.  While at one of the print shops the Engineers asked if they could take pictures,  the owner of the shop obliged.  Three Engineers then whipped out their digital cameras and started taking pictures of everything in his shop. I looked at the owner and he looked at me, and he stated "well, they wouldn't be Japanese, if they weren't taking pictures".  I just had to laugh.

Back to the appointment.  At first I thought this might have been an op that I could close this month.  But, with all of the devices, three different floors, and four or five different workgroups made me back off.

I suggested we install Print Audit Insight and let it run for a few weeks so that we could see their print habits, and volumes.  The IT person approved and we're scheduled for next week.

Two BIG Ops

Today, was follow up day for both of the.  One for $40K and the other for $25K.  I was able to contact both IT persons and both told me that decisions are coming down tomorrow.  Combine that with the small A4 device and tomorrow could be a very good day or a very bad day!  I want all three!  There's nothing else I can do, we are the incumbent on one account (feel good about that) and the other two are net new.  Well, what's one more day.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $12K

Total New Opportunities Created = $386K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=- 

This is it, the week before Christmas!  As of this morning I still had twenty-five percent of the month left. 

After letting the "ball come to me" on Friday. Today was similar to most the other fifty three days, with one exception.  We'll get to that exception later.

Linkedin

Over the weekend I had a LinkedIn chat exchange with Bobbie Foedisch, the crux of the thread centered on LinkedIn removing some of the basic features that were free with LinkedIn.  I'm a ten year veteran of LinkedIn sharing, collaborating, commenting and posting information.  I have more than two thousand connections and have jumped on and off with the basic and the premium membership over the years.

In order to get those features back, you now have to pay. Now, I don't mind paying when there is value. However, over the years I can count the appointments on two hands that I've developed from LinkedIn with some of those basic features.  LinkedIn now wants $1,000 to get back the takeaways, plus a few additional features (with monthly billing).  I mentioned that Linkedin could convert tens of thousands of free members to premium if they made the price more palatable, like $20 bucks a month.

In the chat I was told "what you put into LinkedIn, you will get out."  That's BS!  (this will be the topic of a future blog about social selling)

The AM

I had to prepare a quote for a smaller A4 device for tomorrow. The net new prospect stated there was money still in the budget, thus I'm thinking that if I deliver the quote tomorrow, I may be able to win the deal and get a PO completed this week.

One of my existing accounts contacted via LinkedIn (lol) and gave me a lead for yet another small A4 device.  Geesh, can we stop with the small A4 systems?  Just kidding, I'll take what ever comes my way.  We spoke for about 30 minutes on the phone.  The net new wanted me to email the quote, I stated, "no can do we need to meet".  His response was I'll get back to you tomorrow.  This was actually a pretty cool chat, because I told him about a recent sale (last week), and it turns out that he knows the owner and went to High School with him. Following up on this tomorrow.

Later in the Day

I had an email from an existing client that I sold a 55PPM A3 color printer to about a year ago. Their ten year old Canon imageclass just broke again, and they are tired of fixing the system. In addition, he stated he is also tired of supporting 12-15 laser printers.  His own words, "they are killing us with consumables".  The pain was intense, and I was able to schedule an appointment for tomorrow for a walk through.  Only four days left, but you never know what tomorrow brings!  Definitely and opp, just not sure how much, gonna put this in for $10k to be conservative.

All right, the other two biggies I got hanging out. I reached out to the DM for the $25k net new opp, but could not make a connection.  The $48K opp (existing account), I let sit for another day.  Both of these will be on my agenda for tomorrow.

The rest of the week

I've got two appointments for tomorrow, two for Wednesday and one for Thursday.  One of those appointments is 2017 business, but four of them can still happen this month. It's a stretch, but I'm not counting these opps out yet. 

Those four accounts come in around $45K.  It's getting exciting!

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $12K

Total New Opportunities Created = $386K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

PS:  I had my commission report from November, all I can say is HOLY CRAP. I'm thinking that was one of my best months ever in the industry.  Pretty much made $700 per day.  I need to duplicate that every month!  Thank you Stratix for an awesome place to work!

It's Sunday night, and again I find my self trying to remember all of the activity I accomplished for Friday.

I had one webinar/telechat scheduled with an existing account that kicked off about 1PM.  This account is interested in buying Print Audit Rules software to track and bill prints from within their company. 

They do not have a server, even though they have 25 employees. Funny, their entire company is run on Google Docs and Quick Books.  Thus our telechat was too learn more about their environment and what features of Print Audit they wanted to use along with Print Rules. 

We ended out chat after forty five minutes and pretty much put an opp on the board for pricing out a server for them.  We've already scheduled the next telechat for after the Holiday where we will present our recommendations.

The rest of Friday for me was to "let the ball travel".  I did not follow up with any of the open opportunities except for one. I did send an update offering to replace the 75ppm device, I quoted with a 90ppm device.  I figured I got nothing to lose and might as well sweeten the pot and see what happens. 

I gave all of my opportunities the day off and went to work on getting ready for next week.  Yes, the last week of the month, the quarter and the year.

Short and sweet, looking forward to next week, so stay tuned!

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $10

Total New Opportunities Created = $372K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

Count em, six fracking days left in the year!  As with most of my months and quarters it seems that hitting or not hitting my numbers is going to come down to the wire. 

Why is that?

I'm thinking I can answer that.  My answer for coming down to the wire, is because I was not able to develop enough opportunities to meet my opp goal of $600K.  To date, I believe I'm somewhere around $350K in opportunities.  Having the $600K in opps around the first week of December would have given me a cake walk for the end of the year.  However, sometimes no matter how hard you work, there are some things that just won't pan out.  Been there, done that.

I had a 9:30AM appointment close to home this AM for a net new account.  The appointment went very well, in fact there were three of us and during the entire presentation and discovery none of us sat down. We gathered around the existing copier, and that's where we held our meeting.  Initially I thought this would be a January opp, however, there is some dough in the budget and this may happen in 2016, not my 2016, but the calendar year of 2016.  Nothing big here, probably a very fast A4 device with a few paper trays. 

An hour later I was on my way back to the office, where I had to finish up a few things before my 1PM appointment.  The 1PM appointment was to present our proposal for the replacement of 4 competitive devices. In addition the DM is going to make a decision on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  We went through the entire proposal, at the end I asked the DM if there were any questions.  None, nada, thus I needed to ask the questions. 

1.  Does the equipment we're proposing meet your needs?  Yes

2.  Are we competitive? Yes

3. How is the color cost per page?  That price is good

4. Ok, how about the black cost per page?  Seems you might be a little high, but not a big deal.

5. How is the overall price with the hardware and supplies?  I'm not sure, I would have to check, but it seems you are in the ball park

6.  If I could replace the 75ppm device with a 90ppm device at the same price would that cinch the order for us?  If you could do that for the same price it might just do it.

I wasn't ready to give in on six just yet. I know I have awesome pricing, I know this is a price sensitive deal, and I have some wiggle.  We agreed that we would touch base on Monday of next week.  On the way out the door, the DM asked if I could supply him with local references. I stated there were a few on the proposal, but would be happy to supply a few more. Told him, that I would send them tomorrow.

That one last question about the references told me that our quote is in contention and that I presented a great argument for change.  Walking out, I felt much better than walking in, and now it's time to work some magic to see if I can use (6.) as a close on Monday.

Afternoon

Arrived back at the office about 2PM, got some lunch and then finished up the proposal and paper work for the 80ppm color opp with an existing account.  The paperwork is going the owner on Friday or Monday.  The annual savings to the client is almost $3K, thus, I can't see any reason why this does not move forward.

Four PM came around and there was not a soul in the office.  Most of our reps left the office much earlier so they could take the 2 plus hour drive to the Corporate Holiday Party in PA.  I opted out because I would have lost 3 hours of work today and most likely would have lost another 3-4 hours tomorrow, because of travel time back to NJ. 

So, while most of the other reps were gathering for a great time, I hunkered down and set my sights on what I want.  Sometimes, I feel like a greyhound racing and racing around the track trying to get that elusive artificial lure that's pulled around the track.  If I ever get a hold of it, I'm gonna tear that thing up!

Tomorrow, one webinar with an existing client for IT services. Otherwise it's time to follow up with all of the outstanding opps and great ready for the last week of the year.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $5K

Total New Opportunities Created = $362K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

Whoa, finally hit day fifty! 

It's been a roller coaster of a ride so far, with many ups and many downs. 

I arrived at the office late today, the reason?  Well, I was exhausted and I guess my body needed the sleep.  After waking up, I spent the next thirty minutes reviewing some late emails from yesterday and sending a few emails before I needed to prepare to leave for the office.

I spent the better part of the day developing the final proposal & order docs for an appointment with a net new prospect.  This will be the second meeting in a week.  This is the prospect that I was not able to obtain an order in the last two lease renewals.  I was able to meet with my VEEP of Sales and we hammered out some numbers and incentives to bring this order to fruition.  I've got a decent shot at getting this account.  But I've got nagging feeling that no matter what the price or value is, this prospect is not going to change vendors. I guess that's what happens when you've lost twice.  Never the less I'm there tomorrow to pull out the objections.

Later in the day, another meeting with my VEEP of Sales in reference to the $48K opportunity that I've got hanging.  Earlier in the day, I had word from the account (that's the one where I told him not to the lease the pre-owned A3 color device that he leased from me the other day), he is ready to move forward with 80ppm color device that I'm getting back from the $48K opp as long as we can get the deal.  That's a great thing.  That dollar amount helps to make the numbers more palatable for the $48k opp.  Thirty minutes or so later I was able to get that DM on the phone and tell him some good news on the numbers.  We agreed that I would get the revised proposal to him ASAP so he could bring to the owner for approval.  I'm thinking the $1,500 annual savings should be the incentive to bring this order home this Friday or next Monday. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed on this one!

Between these two accounts there's about $75K hanging and almost exactly what I need to seal the end of the year.

I had a 1PM appointment for a small color scanner to an existing account.  Spent about 45 minutes with the account and walked out with a check and the order.  Mind you, it's not a big order, it's only $2K.  But, as I say,  five dollars is better than no dollars.  But, you know me by know, I pitched him on the other pre-owned color device that I've got. There is some interest, but I'm thinking it's not something that is going to happen this year.

The rest of my day was spent making a few more calls, scheduled one more appointment for next week and even had an account call me about a system that I had pitched him a few weeks ago. I just need the time to run some print samples.

Tomorrow?  Appointment with a net new in the AM for a $6 opp, this opp is something that will happen in 2017.  Then my 1PM appointment to present the net new proposal that I wrote about earlier.  If that appointment goes well, then I'm off to our Corporate Holiday event in PA.  If not, I'm heading back to the office to do more work!

Amount Sold Today = $2K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $6K

Total New Opportunities Created = $357K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

I figure by the end of this week, I'll down to counting the hours left until the end of the sales year rather than the days.  I need quite a lot of meetings and appointments to go just right, and I'm coming around the notion that I may not be able to get to where I want to be.  I've never been a quitter and at this point, I'm not going to lay down and give up.

There was not much going on today, it was my plan to be in the office all day to see if I can gather some additional appointments for later this week and next week.  I was able to schedule only one appointment, and think I moved another prospect closer to meeting next week. 

I did have a great chat with that wide format opp that I received yesterday.  During the chat, the prospect had stated that he and his brother were going to pull the trigger on a wide format a few months ago, but wanted to wait until they were closer to finishing their office.  I was in the mood to sell the system now, I created my sense of urgency which should also be their sense of urgency.  Pretty much, I gave then a kick ass price for them to lease or buy now, and that price will not be available when this week ends. We'll see, we're suppose to talk on Thursday of this week.

My 501C corp pretty much committed to the pre-owned 80ppm device today.  That's the deal where I'm pre-selling the existing leased equipment so I can cut a deal for some a couple of new 80ppm devices. 

I emailed that existing client with the 80ppm device one yesterday with a question and then emailed twice more today all with additional data that the DM requested.  Keep in mind that using the "following up" subject line is a real no no.  Make  sure you some additional data or value for them. Funny, how all of I sudden, because none of my emails were returned, the thought has crept into my mind that something happened from Friday to today?  Naw, most likely that DM is just as busy as all of us are.  Be patient Art, be patient, I keep telling my self that.

I developed another spreadsheet for an existing client that has zero months left on their 36 month lease.  I thought I might be able to save them a few bucks on the maintenance/supplies and the hardware. But, the previous sales person did not have a spine and gave the equipment away.  Thus, if the client wants to upgrade, I need to charge $30 more per month.  That becomes a tough sale when the client is also interested buying the existing unit.  I need to tackle that beast tomorrow.

Tomorrow?  Two appointments scheduled, many phone calls waiting to be dialed and a meeting with my manager to figure out a plan to bring home two of the larger opps that are hanging out there.

Well, we will see what tomorrow brings me.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $121.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $351K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $77.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

I've just gotta start writing these blogs earlier.  It's past 10PM and I'm struggling with remembering how the day went!

I just finished up the weekly email up date, along with some recent press releases.  Seems this week and probably next week will be slow for Press Releases from the manufacturers.

After that tough Friday, I was determined to change things around.  In order to get that $48K opp sold, I knew what I needed to do.  Funny, some of my peers will poke fun of me for doing what I do best.  For me, it's just another way of working a deal so I can get the order closed.

For this particular opp on Friday, once the prospect backed out the third unit, there was not enough revenue in the deal to get the client to commit.  It's an easy sale when you can show the client they will have their costs reduced. 

What I'm going to share with you is one of the tactics that I used to close an order that I need and or make some additional revenue/GP. I'm sure some of you are doing this just like me.

When I access the buyout/trade up numbers for the leasing company, I pay close attention to the Trade up to Keep. In some cases there can be a heck of buy for the existing leased equipment.  In the case of my potential order, the price for the two 80 ppm color devices was extremely low.  Thus, the plan is get one or two prospects to commit to buying or leasing these units before I cut the deal with the original order.  I had put a few feelers out a couple of weeks ago on these units, but nothing came back.

Thus, today, I had a 4:30PM appointment with an existing account (501C), who had just leased a pre-owned A3 color device a few days ago.  The equipment was not delivered yet, and one of these 80ppm color devices would be awesome for this account.  The original plan for the meeting was not to sell anything, but to gather contacts and a letters of introduction to additional CEO's that my CEO is connected to. 

Thus, first thing this morning I was crunching the numbers with the prospects existing lease, the lease we just signed, and what they price would be to make the 80ppm device the main copier and the current leased copier the back up.  By the time I was done crunching the numbers, I felt really good about presenting the 80ppm device along with the customer keeping his current device.  The numbers?  My account would only pay $46 more dollars per month!  This was awesome.

At 4:30PM we met, and after gathering the contact information for the other prospects, I explained to my DM that I'm hear to tell you not to lease the copier that you just signed the paperwork for.  I was greeting with, "why do you have a better deal for me?"  With that we went over the T's & C's and my DM was able to tell me that we're 95% that this will happen. He just needs to talk with one other person (I'm thinking it's his marketing person). In previous interactions with this DM, 95% is something I feel really good about.

Just selling this one system will give me the revenue I need to cut the other order. I need to work a few things out tomorrow, and hoping I can wrap both of these up this week.

Otherwise, I was able to schedule four appointments today, and two of them were net new. One appointment had to be scheduled in January, but the other one was for this week.  The one for this week will be at least a $5k opp.

I'm driving home, and I get an email from another existing account that I spoke to in the AM.  That account sent me the order docs for a $6k deal!  Slowly but surely!

It's late, I'm done, hope you all have a great selling day tomorrow!

Wait, wait, one more item, there was another email from a referral, they want to meet ASAP for a wide format! WooHoo! Hoping to add this op tomorrow.

Amount Sold Today = $6K

Total Revenue to Date = $121.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $5K

Total New Opportunities Created = $351K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $78.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-