Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

I have such a terrible stress headache tonight.  When I get these the only cure is to get some sleep which I will be doing shortly.

Today at sixty-six days marks a full quarter since I was optioned to working remotely.  One quarter of the year has passed, and I'm thinking we've still got a another 30 days of this.  So far working remote has been a very very good to me. No interruptions, not as many breaks, I'm more focused and spend less time chatting with others while I'm in the office.  When I do get the chance to go back I'm thinking I might be at the office one day a week.  I'll also be opting for on-line meetings and setting those chats on the phone that's been working so well the last two months.  

Yesterday is already a blur and the best I can remember about the day is that I finally received the order docs for the 8K existing account deal (this time they were signed).  The wife and I scooted out around 4PM so that we could babysit our granddaughter for a few hours.  It was more like my wife babysitting and I was put in charge of dinner and taking care of my son's dog.  In any case it was a nice evening. What dog pooh's twice when they go for a walk? I only brought one bag and felt terrible when he squatted for the second time.  Thus Rebel and I got an extended walk since I had to walk back and get another bag.  

Today I had with a net new client meeting that lasted the better part of an hour. No opportunity with this account now, however sooner or later the existing wide format copier and the regular copiers will need to be upgraded.  We both agreed that we would have a follow up meeting in four months.  This is another one of those accounts that I've been after for ten years plus.  I figure if I hang around long enough I'll have a good shot at this account also. 

Sometimes simple is better right?  I was speaking with one of my other reps today and we spoke about how many calls it's taking to just get through to someone.  I told him I focus more on emails rather than phone calls.  This appointment was set with a simple email subject line of "Hope you are well" and the content was "Hope you and family are well in these difficult times, do you have time for a short chat?".  I'm not saying that this works all of the time but I've have more success with setting appointments via email rather than phone calls.

More and more of yesterday is coming back to me. My Jersey Plotters site developed a call yesterday that I was able to turn into a lead. Pretty decent lead also since it's for one of those grand wide format printers. I'll be the first one to admit that I'm still a bit of a novice with these printers, however each opportunity is a educational experience.  I'm giving this a 50/50 shot at landing because I'm really not where I need to be with understanding the market and the devices.  

After my 9:30AM appointment I had to take a drive to our office in Bethlehem to print out some samples for that net client.  I couldn't do it local because we didn't have that device available. I finally arrived back at my home office about 3PM and that's when the stress headache developed. I know what brought it on but won't discuss it here.

Another decent day because I also received a verbal for the wide format order for the existing account I've been working.  

Tomorrow in the AM I need to process the one order for $8K, write the other order and send to the client for $14K and then a couple of meetings for the day. I'm still hoping to get the net new deal by the end of the week for the $20K. It's not guaranteed but since we've had emails everyday this week I'm optimistic for this one.  Also on track for tomorrow is to develop a side-by-side comparison for the net new I made the samples for. I'll be dropping the samples off on Friday of this week along with the side-by-side.  Keeping my fingers crossed on this one too.

-=Good Selling=-

Tonight's blog is preempted due to baby sitting our granddaughter.  She's almost six months old now!  I'll be back at it tomorrow.

-=Good Selling=-

Today was not a good day for me.

It's not because I lost an order nor is it because something unexpected happened.  Today was a day when I couldn't get out of my own way.  It was a mental block that kept me from prospecting even though I had plenty of time available to prospect I didn't make the effort.

I've been thinking about this all evening as to what was bugging me or what was stopping me.  On all thoughts I came up empty. Was it me, was it something that was bugging me or did I burn the candle down to far in the last 12 weeks.  It went so far that I walked away from the computer grabbed a quart of stain and finished a project in the back year.  Two hours later I was back in my office and managed to make a few calls and emails.

I know better,  I've been doing this for forty years.  Yes and in those forty years I have events like this before,  You just get so worn down from the day to day events at times. One minute you're up and the next minute you're down. One month every line you cast brings in a fish and the next month your casts bring back nothing. I've been here, I've done this before, but today was a deja vu day.

So what will change tomorrow? This is something I need to kick in the ass right away. Today's woo is me event can't lapse into day two. I will take the day and get back to it.  At times  I think this type of struggle happens to all of us, there's no rhyme or reason why it happens right?  Could it be that my conscious knew I needed the break and that's what lead to the shutdown? That could be the answer and that's the answer that I'll take moving forward.

I did get documents for an existing account this AM for an $8K order.  My deal with another existing account is still in the weeds after another email today.  My wide format should order should have legs tomorrow also. Moving into the last six days of the month I've got a $20K net new opp that looks decent for this week.  The rest is all a cluster **** that I need to pull together in hurry if I'm to hit my $300K for the quarter.

I almost forgot it was about 3PM when I went to process the those order docs.  I opened to review and none of them were signed......thinking the client sent me the wrong docs.  Geesh what a day, I'm sure I'll have these tomorrow.

Wednesday of this week I'm off to one of our office to prep some prints  samples for a net new client.  This is the $30K opp if you've been following. I decided that I'm going to make the print samples so I can be in control of what I want to give the client.  Color is in the eye of the beholder and I can't risk having someone else think what might be good or good enough. If I'm going to lose it because I did the work and If I'm going to win it's because I did the work.

Looking for a better day tomorrow.  I know I do all the writing but has anyone else had says like this?

-=Good Selling=-

I started the day at 7AM because I had to get a revised quote out early this is client that was in the weeds on Wednesday, out them yesterday. I sent the email off about 8:00AM prepping for a good start to the day.  That client ended up back in the weeds and never got back to me today.

From 8AM to 9:30AM I was able to finish off another blog for my Jersey Plotters site. I'm a firm believer in writing interesting content to will establish myself as the go to person for wide format printers in New Jersey.  It doesn't happen over night, but after two years of writing my site places on the first page of Google when search for wide format plotters.  In those two years I've been able to move 8 wide format MFP's and one color MFP copier.  You might say that's not a lot but it's 8 more than I had and you never know when the big one might hit.

That act of writing content is called "pull marketing", the act of sending emails, knocking on doors and making phones call is "push marketing".  Writing content on a consistent basis will grow your brand and reputation.  Eventually those leads will come to you. Much better than making 100 calls and setting one net new appointment in my book.  In addition when you have a decent book of accounts there's a lot of work that goes into supporting those accounts which limits your phone prospecting.

I wasn't able to finish out the week with any additional orders.  I had one early in the week for the pre-owned wide format and everything else stalled on me.  Of course the deal in the weeds for 8K (who knows whats going on there), the verbal I received on Tuesday produced no documents today.  After following up with that account I was promised order docs this coming Monday.

During the summer months in New Jersey, Friday is the day that many people cut out of work early and head for the beaches.  It's common to have bumper to bumper traffic by 3:30PM on the Garden State Parkway.  The nicer the day the heavier the traffic. For years I would pack it in at the office and leave by 3PM so I didn't have to fight the traffic since I live so close to the beach.  

Nowadays I'm always at the beach and the thought of leaving work early to beat the traffic is not an option.  Today I had a 4:45PM appointment scheduled with an existing client for a telechat.  Yup, 4:45PM on a beautiful Friday and I'm still grinding.  That meeting went well and it should produce an order for late Monday or Tuesday AM (14K).

I have seven days left in the selling month for June.  We close out books at end day on the 23rd. As of today I'm sitting at $25K for the month.  But I still have more than 25% of the month left.  I have a decent shot at pulling in $45K next week with $20K being net new business.  If I get all of that I'll be close to my $300K for the quarter goal.   Of course anything could falter thus I need to find a few more opps during the week and something that can close quickly.  

It's late, I'm beat, everyone have a great weekend!

-=Good Selling=-

It is better to give than to receive.  We've all heard it and many of us give in times of need or in times of emergencies.  It's just what we do.  Some even believe that it's good Karma. 

Karma: the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

I think it was the third week in April that I made a $300 donation to a non-profit group that's one of my clients.  In May of each year they have a walkathon and due to COVID19 they had to do a virtual walk and I could tell they were nervous about getting the funds they needed.  I signed up for their virtual campaign and kicked it off with three hundred dollars and then sent invitations to friends.  In total we raised $400.  Not much but it was better than nothing.

A week later is when the orders started coming in for May.  I can believe that those orders were from hard work in March and April or I could believe that it was the karma that I created with giving back.  I'm a believer in hard work but also a believer in the harder you work the luckier you get.  Indeed I thought I was really lucky with a few of those orders in May.  It seemed more like I had the Midas touch because every touch produced an order.  Strange times indeed.

On tap for today was zero appointments, it was a day that I should have been prospecting.  That full day of prospecting eluded me again today, however I was able to schedule two appointments today for today.  One was with the existing client where the deal went in the weeds when the DM thought they only had a few payments left on a lease.  After chatting for a few minutes it was time to give back.  This company was in one of the hardest hit industries that I know of, thus I added an additional incentive that came out of the GP.  I knew that the were worried about incurring any additional costs. In order to make it a no brainer I threw in two quarters of maintenance and supplies. I'll have my answer tomorrow if this will move forward.

No paper work for the verbal I received on Tuesday but a call from the client promised the docs today or tomorrow. 

Later in the day was a meeting with a net new company (major) that wants to buy local.  We had been emailing back and forth through out the day and I got to the point and asked if we could have a tele chat meeting.  That meeting went off about 4PM and lasted almost until 5PM.  In addition another mfp could get into the mix for another location. I feel good about this one since this client has been a two year project also. Thinking this has a good shot at closing next week for about $20K

Another great thing happened today.  I was finally able to secure a recent KM flat rate lease with T's & C's. I plan on reviewing this tomorrow and writing a blog about those T's & C's some time next week. I was also stunned at the price for a 30PPM color MFP.  More about this next week.

Today was the day the wife and I had been waiting for.  A new fridge was to be installed today, after 20 years it was sorely needed.  The price?  Well let's say it wasn't cheap.  We had been kicked the idea around for a couple of months. It was two weeks ago when I reached in the fridge to get a drink and everything on the top shelf came with it.  I said it's time!  We did the research which is horrible to do on-line (I can only imagine what copier buyers go through) and we finally decided on one that was more top of the line.  

Here was my thinking, the more I spend the more I'm going to want to replace those funds in a hurry.  To me it was more like losing $2,400 bucks and I needed to replace that cash.  Thus I created a "to do" on my list for "make up fridge money".  How do you make up the fridge money?  Find more opportunities!

Hoping tomorrow goes well. I could be at $8K for the week or $36K, hoping the karma stays intact for another 24 hours.

-=Good Selling=-

Special thanx to those that left replies and those that emailed me with yesterdays blog.  I decided to change the time when I writing these blogs so I'm not doing them so late at night.   Looks like I'm here for the duration!

June 17th will mark 66 business days since I've been optioned to working remote, those 66 days will represent a full quarter. Initially I thought this working remote gig would last 3-4 weeks at most.  I was way off the mark on this one.

Today was another kind of screwy day that eventual got out of hand but I was able to reel it back in by about 3:30PM.  I started off the day by finishing up two commission sheets that had to be delivered today and then found myself mired in an accounting issue for about an hour,  I don't want to go off on a tangent here but I will say that some of the things we do in our industry is complicated.  We tend to make then harder than what they should be, I'm in the camp that simple is better and providing an excellent client experience is always  front and center for any business.  In the end things worked out awesome.

Around 10AM I had to prep for my 11AM meeting with an existing account.  I was ready, had the numbers ready and the call went fantastic. It went so far as the client stating "this is a no brainer, send me everything I'll talk with my Dad later and we'll get this done".  Put another one in the books right?   

Well this did not go as well as I had hoped within an hour of sending that email I had an email back from the client stated "my Dad told me there are only two months left in the lease and we own the copier at the end, is that the case?. If so we'll just stay where we are".  I have no clue where this came from because the client will not own the copier at the end of the lease and there are many more months left in the lease. I sent a copy of the lease and explained that was not the case. I followed up an hour later with a call and did speak the client, however was told can I call you back.  The call back never came today and this deal is now in the weeds from some reason.  I need to flush this out tomorrow and see why those thoughts were there about the lease. Emailing isn't going to work this will need a phone call.

Remember that to do list with 20 items on it. I was able to complete all of those to do's from 3:30PM on.  Most of these to do's were follow ups on my funnel.  Not much of anything except for scheduling an appointment on Friday for the wide format existing account.  That's the one for 14K.

I didn't receive the docs back for the verbal I had on Monday (just sent the docs yesterday morning), hoping I'll have these sometime tomorrow.  Out of all of the calls and the emails I was able to set up two additional meetings.

I had a nice surprise today also, one of my prospects who was not in the 90 day funnel got hot. That email came right after lunch and I was able to schedule an appointment to review needs, and time frame of delivery.  Sometime after 5PM I sent some preliminary info and I'm now in waiting mode with an additional questioned I posed about a spec.  My surprise email turns about to be a $17K opportunity that could close by the end of this month. 

I'll say it again, if you're always working hard you never know what tomorrow will bring you.  Today it brought me that additional opportunity that I needed.  That one opportunity makes all the non answered calls and the non answered emails worth the effort.

Moving into Thursday I'm waiting on docs for 8K, the deal in the weeds in 9K and the wide format is $14K.  At this time I can have a great week or come up empty handed.  I'll be happy with getting one of these and then busting it for next week.

I have no idea if I have any appointments for tomorrow. I'll check when I'm finished with this blog.  I have another 12 items on my to do list and it's back to prospecting.  Never ever stop prospecting.

-=Good Selling=-

While most of the US continues to open the State of New Jersey continues to plod at a snails pace. Our Governor lifted the "stay at home" order however still instructed the masses that it's not time to go back to the office. WTF!

A report surfaced last night that stated COVID19 could have been present in China as early as the summer of 2019.  Again it's just a theory but sounds reasonable since the article spoke about satellite surveillance of hospitals and the marked increases of vehicles. If that turns out to be the case then COVID19 was here in the US prior to December 2019.  There's my two cents on COVID19 for the day.

I've been contemplating ending this series of blogs at 66 days. Those 66 days would reflect a full quarter of working remote and in the pandemic.  Send me a note if or give me a response below if you would like to see me continue.  At this point in time and in NJ I still think we're at least another 6 weeks out from getting back to some sense of normal and people getting back to the office.  Let me know!

How long does it take to send respond to 61 emails and then send another dozen or so prospecting emails?  Seems it took the better part of the day for me because not only do you need to respond but in most cases there is time spent researching or providing the answers.  It's all my fault because I let the day get away from me and this happens because I didn't follow my own rules.  Emails do not have to be answered right away and I need to set aside time in the day for just answering incoming emails.  Anyway my day went to **** pretty quickly.

I did have the chance to get out the documents for the verbal $8K order I received yesterday. I was able to finally process the order that I received on Friday of last week, it took a few extra days because I was waiting on the client to send me pictures of the stairs.  Why is that most wide format MFP's need to go up a flight of stairs?

This brings me to my next rant of the day. Ricoh helps us out with these beasts did you ever think whats it's like to move a 507lb wide format up a flight of stairs?

My list of things to do today had 20 items on the list. I was only able to complete five of those. I was able to book an appointment in the AM with an existing client (possible upgrade) and added an additional opportunity today. An opportunity a day keeps the VP of Sales away!

My $14K opportunity is still in the weeds and I've not had a response to two calls and one email over the last five days. Yesterday and today was letting the ball travel with this account.  Tomorrow is a phone call and possible email follow up.

We had our Tuesday sales meeting today and it was pretty awesome since yours truly was King for revenue and missed being King for net new by a few hundred bucks.  It was my last day of basking in the glory and I'm now back to being the peasant. No place to go but up!

One of my initiatives for this month is to get back to writing a blog a week for my Jersey Plotters site.  I've logged two already this week and I'm looking for inspiration for others.  The good thing about this industry is that you'll always have something to write because nothing stays the same.  Maybe the next blog will be "Five Tips to Move a Wide Format Up a Flight of Stairs", betting that would get quite a few reads.

Tomorrow is almost a solid prospecting day with only one appointment. 

-=Good Selling=-

One week from today New Jersey will begin Phase 2 of re-opening.  Phase 2 will be a 2-4 week process. Out door dining, out door drinking (can you believe that) and non-essential business can now have people (limited) in their stores. No word on in-door dining, gyms, salons, barbers another other personal type services. Can't imagine eating out side and you're suppose to wear a mask when you're not eating. It's gotten to the point of why bother if I can't enjoy my-self.

Rather easy day today for me.  I had three account reviews that I wanted to get done before 11:AM.  All of these are potential existing client upgrades and most are in the 10-13K range. All have a shot of closing this month and I would rate most 50/50 at best. But you've got to be in it to win it!

At 11:AM it was time for Monday mornings with Ricoh!  Interesting that I never seen anyone I know on the call, guess many don't have the appetite for learning that I have.  Knowledge of your industry and your offerings always put you in a great position to win and I like winning!

About a half hour into the call I received a call on my cell from a 610 area code.  There was no name on the phone, I thought it was a call from corp since they are in that zone. Any other area code I wouldn't have taken the call.  Turns out I did the right thing it was a call from one of the DM's from an existing client that I was looking to upgrade.  We spend somewhere in the area of 30 minutes on the call and our call ended with an order for the upgrade.  Nice little order with $8K of revenue.

Other than that I followed up on some of my funnel, sent a dozen or so email and maybe a dozen or so calls.  No appointments but one opportunity was created for $12K.

I almost forget I did have a rather lengthy email exchange with an existing client that is looking to make a move. At this point in time it's a 50/50 shot when this will come home.  I was able to to find out the competitors model numbers which set me in motion to find the good, the bad and the ugly.  Needless to say I feel better about this deal than I did last week.  I just love having the time to do all of this research for clients and myself. I feel as though it's making me even better that what I was.

Net new business is still one of those processes that I'm trying to wrap my head around.  The thought of visiting an office in New Jersey is still remote and so many of the best ideas come from being able to see a clients environment.  I guess at some point in time I need to bite the bullet on the lead service in the near future. I've been holding off because it's been busy. However I know busy will be short lived very soon.

Tomorrow will be a great day!  Teams Sales meeting at 11AM and before 11AM I need to process one order from Friday and get the docs out for the other one from today.

My goal for the quarter is $300.  Right I'm somewhere around $258, need another $42 and have a shot at getting another $14k by the end of the week.  Would be nice to end the week at $272K.

-=Good Selling=-

Sales Journal Day 58

Yay,  it's Friday and today was a good way to end the week, not the great way that I had hoped but we can't have everything our way.  Not getting those things that we want will keep us on the path to the finish line.

I had a bunch of items that needed to be completed before my 11AM appointment with a net new account. I was working by 7AM this morning working on developing a side by side comparison for the client.  I took 6 key features that the client stated they had to have, put them in the spreadsheet and low and behold my MFP is tops on the list.  My side by side would include those models of MFP's that I think the other sales people will offer.  For me it would be logical models to offer based on the clients needs.  

I learned many years ago that what I think is the right choice may not be what the competition is thinking.  I can remember losing deals because I proposed what I thought was the right device and got smoked a few times because I didn't check out what other models might meet the clients needs.  In some cases the competition went higher and some lower specs, in any event I tipped my hat because to those sales people because they did a better job.  I learned my lesson the hard way many years ago by losing those deals like those.

Today I put some feelers to our Print4Pay Hotel members and received the data I was looking for.  At this point I feel more comfortable with the device I selected even if the competition goes lower or higher.

The 11AM meeting went very well today.  I don't think it's an opportunity to close next week just because of the logistic issues with the prospect.  I'm hoping but hope can't make the funnel for next week.

I did receive another order today and that was for the pre-owned wide format for a net new client.  I've been on this trail for the better part of two years. 

I made all of my calls early in the day and by days end I did not hear back from the two other opportunities.  I'll be picking these back up on Tuesday and give it a day to let the ball travel and see if I get those calls on Monday.

Numbers for this week were $26K which is a decent week.  Going into next week I'm only seeing $22K for those two opps that I've mentioned all week.  Looks like most of next week will be spent in trying to build some additional opportunities. I've got a lot in my funnel, however most are stalled because of COVID. 

When your funnel is stalled and you find your self waiting for things to happen is when you fail.  Losers wait for things to happen, and I've learned the hard way.  After many years you just know when it's time to get to prospecting more than normal. Winners make things happen.

At this point in the month there are 12 selling days left.  I like to think of it now as I still have more than 50% of the month left to make things happen.

-=Good Selling=-

Have you ever finished a day and everything was a blur?  Kind of how I felt after I clocked out about 6PM.  I never been a big drinker and I might indulge once a month but I will be ready to tie one on after we've emerged from these uncertain times.

Yesterday I made the first contact with an existing client via email to alert them to recent research that I completed about reducing their total annual costs. 

Those costs included the lease and the maintenance & supplies. The reply was "yes, we are interested in reducing our costs and when can we talk", my response was, "do you have time at 10:AM tomorrow?". The answer was yes and we scheduled that meeting.  In order to speed things up I sent an email close about 8:30AM.  That was another simple email that outlined the current spend plus the proposed spend. We connected at 10AM and by 10:20AM I had the verbal to move ahead with the upgrade. 

I was also informed on the call that my DM will be going to the office today and then again sometime next week. That meant to drop everything else develop the docs and email them asap.  By 11AM they had the docs via email and by 1:30PM I had the docs in hand.  Nice pick up for a $14K order.  Special thanx to my buddy Lou on this one.

Today was also the day when I had to get in all of my commission sheets for May.  After finishing those it was time to process the three orders, two of those were for the 2 A4 device orders and the other was the $14K order.

I wasn't able to secure the docs for the wide format order for the net new however we did email back and forth a few times during the day.  At 5PM I received a late email that alerted me to the finance option that they picked. Thus this will be the first order of business in the AM and I'm expecting to have those docs sometime tomorrow.

I did email my other two opportunities for this week and didn't receive any replies.  Thus two phone calls will go out early in the AM and hoping that leaves enough time to get those orders in tomorrow. 

The one thing I've noticed during these 57 days is that we're no longer measured by the month but more by the week.  The question then becomes is that a good thing or a bad thing?  In my eyes it's turned out to be a good thing for right now, in the long run I do question if I could burn out sometime in the near future.  But I have a plan and the plan is for a complete shut down for one week or longer during the Fourth of July celebration.  I will no be spending my time in New Jersey either I have the perfect place pick out in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

So the attitude now until the end of the quarter is to continue at full speed and see where it lands me.  When you're on a roll you don't stop you just keep pressing forward.

Thus tomorrow I'm hoping for three additional order one for $6K, one for $8k and one for $14K. There's a good chance they could all roll to next week but there's a good chance that I won't let that happen also.

-=Good Selling=-

Short blog tonight please 

Yay I was able to knock out about 30 calls today along with maybe 20 emails.  I was able to set two appointments and added zero opportunities today.

Earlier in the AM I received the docs for the two small A4 orders I was waiting on.  Thus I'm finally on the books for June and sitting at a measly $6K.  

One of my wide format net new appointments went well this AM. This is the one where I pitched the pre-owned MP W6700.  Client told me they want it all they need to do is figure out the financing (lease or buy). He wants to discuss with his partner and is suppose to get back to me tomorrow.  

One of the options I gave them was the bakers dozen lease and the reason I included that option is because a comment was made about the interest on the lease.  Of course they would rather purchase but a bakers dozen lease is the next best thing because after 13 months they will own the wide format at the end of the term.  You could say that the 13th payment is either the interest or the cost to own the device.  

I still have two more deals on tap for this week and both are for existing clients. I left a message today for one and have an appointment with another tomorrow at 10AM.  In fact I'm going to develop the order docs in early tomorrow morning and email them.  That way when we get on the phone for the meeting I can also answer any additional questions.  I'm giving this a 75% chance of happening tomorrow. The client I left a message for I'm giving the same percentage also.

I have another follow up call with an existing wide format client that I sent the research and review email on Monday.  Thinking more about what's changed in recent months and I'm not producing as many proposals but rather laying out the process in a simple email to the client. They don't have to download anything it's straight forward in writing and it's been working.  The time saved on developing proposals has helped me also.

Thus I have an shot at adding another $29K this week and could pump in another $13K if all goes right.  How sweet it would be to pump in $48K for the first by the end of the week.

Greg & I have our lunch chat tomorrow, it's on the Print4Pay calendar on this site and we hope to see you on the call.  There's always some excellent content that I don't have the time to cover in the blogs. Greg's also awesome with his knowledge of this industry also.  Here's the link, and hope to see you on the zoom call.

Jersey moves to phase 2 on June 15th for a gradual phase in that will take 2-4 weeks.  Let's hope that all these protests don't spike the numbers and we're back to square one.  Here's my thoughts, if the numbers don't spike for all of the those major cities after two weeks.  The could all of this really be a hoax?

-=Good Selling=-

I think we're going to make to an entire quarter of working remote in New Jersey.  Phase two is schedule to start in two weeks (ten business days) and will be phased in over the next 4 weeks. As I said yesterday I don't see us opening up completely until Labor Day.

Tonight I was on the phone with my good friend Jesse Harwell, he's the owner of Pahoda Imaging along with Perfect Copier. He tells me he's outfitted a really cool van and is taking a road trip east in 30 days.  He wants to visit copier dealers and then write content about every dealership he visits along the way with his final destination as Lynchburg, Virginia.  Kind of like an Anthony Bourdain show but with copier dealers. If you're interest in visiting with Jesse and having some excellent content posted please hot the reply section and tell me.

Today was super busy with three appointments and one internal sales meeting.  It was actually four meetings but my 9:30AM bailed on me.  Still don't know what happened since they did not respond to an email. Tomorrow they will be getting a call.

I was speaking to someone in the industry today can't remember who but we got on the subject on me retiring soon.  Yikes I said "I'm having so much fun with this that I could go another ten years!".  I still can't believe I said that and it just goes to show you when you're on a roll all is well in the sales world.

My second appointment of the day secure another verbal for a small color A4 device, not a bank breaker but every little bit helps to get me to my next goal.  Yes, I set a goal for the quarter and that goal is $300K.  I've got a decent shot since I booked a mere $18K in April, $203 of course in May thus I need to reach $80K for the month.  It's out there in the funnel, I just need to continue to make **** happen and not wait for things to happen.

My verbal for the other color A4 order from yesterday produced no docs today.  I did follow up with an email but nothing yet, I'm not going to sweat it and let the ball travel for another day or so.

I finished up another closing email to the wide format client today and researched another existing client and sent an email requesting a meeting.   Thus I added one new opportunity for about $14k that could close in the next 90 days. My last appointment of the day was with another existing account that needed some TLC.  The meeting went well but not well enough to get the upgrade at this time.  They want to go back and huddle with our offer and a competitors offer, I'm thinking this deal for two A3 color mfp's is maybe 50/50 at best.

Phone calls?  How did I do today, frak maybe another 10. I don't mind the 10 calls because I was busy with research and proposals.  The last couple hours of the day was spent finishing up a proposal for a $30k net new.  A late email requesting another meeting to review went unanswered but I'm sure I'll have something back tomorrow.

Funny thing today my wife asked me to take a personal day to go to our beach in today. I'd like to go but I've for working lunch chat with Greg Walters schedule for Noon and then another appointment for 3PM.  Yes, I bugged out and told her Thursday is not going to work.

There's only 15 days left in the selling month.  It's funny how in the beginning of the month I'll use "only" 15 days left and towards the end of the month I'll use "still" have x amount of days left.  Pretty much half empty attitude to start the month and half full to end the month.

-=Good Selling=-