November 1st, 2010
Tight budget? Economy rotten? Bad time to do business? Hey, I’ve been selling
printing, lists and mailing services for over 25 years. I’ve heard it all and seen it
all. Remember the late 80’s or was it the early 90’s when all of the Chicken Little’s
were running around crying the sky is falling..the sky is falling? How about business
after the anthrax scare or 9-11?
The sky didn’t fall after any of those events. Sure sales were hard to come by and I admit that I actually packed my lunch for work and the 3 martini lunch became a bud lite and some chicken Nachos but I survived. Lean times call for a change in how we do survive the lean times but it shouldn’t change who we are or how we go about conducting our business.
Customers still want the same service that they wanted years ago. They want to be called back right away with their estimate and get a proof that they don’t have to re-proof
because we didn’t take the time to get it right the first time. Customers want a good product and good service. I am not telling you anything new or that you don’t already know.
When times get lean a lot of people forget to stay true to themselves and they forget what made them successful in the first place. After over 25 years in this industry and listening to advice from others or paying consultants to tell me what I already know one thing has remained the same – - every single time I listened and changed the way I do business I lost business.
Be ethical but practical. Be honest and not dishonest. Treat your customers the way you want to be treated and they will come back. Eventually competitors won’t survive by undercutting your prices. Cheap prices convert to lost revenue. Be true to whom you are and how you conduct business in any time fat or lean and you will come out on top.
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October 13th, 2010
TRAINING RHONDA or Do I really know everything that I think I do?
Welcome to our blog! I’m sure that you have read some of Rhonda’s blogging since she started to work with me. I thought it was about time that I added some interesting dialogue to the mix!
I have been in the direct mail business for at least 27 years and for the last 23 years I have been working hard to build our brand and take us to a new level. I am good at what I do (or at least I have been told) but to sit back and train someone to work with me in the sales force is something I haven’t done in ages.
Part of the reason I haven’t been in this position for so long is that I simply could not find someone like me that believed in honesty and integrity when dealing with clients. The other reason is that I simply could not afford the cost associated with hiring 1 or 2 of the top notch salespeople who are at the top of the heap (and both of you know who you are!)…LOL
So the journey that is now mine and Rhonda’s begins……
The last 3 weeks have gone by fast and I leave the office each day wondering if I am doing a good job of “teaching” my craft to someone else. I have no worries about Rhonda’s ability to get up to speed as she is gifted and relies on good business practices – she takes notes and ask questions which so many people do not bother to do.
Yet, sometimes I feel rather at a loss as how to explain things that I have absorbed for 27 years to someone else. At this point in business I have probably forgotten more than I remember! So we work at it slowly taking the time to get to know each other and discover where our skill levels match and as this journey goes forward I start to relearn what I have taken for granted that was planted in my brain for eons.
Do I sound a bit insecure? You bet ya because I could sell a dead horse to the Kentucky Derby but now I have to sell myself and my beliefs and transfer my knowledge to someone else. I like to get to the destination and I am not really about the journey….however as I get older I am trying to slow down and enjoy the journey more. For this I am grateful that Rhonda has come aboard because she is good for me – for once I have to take a journey and take it slow and absorb it and grow from it.
The final destination or goal is for us to work together with a real understanding of how direct mail can take a client to the next level. 3 weeks and counting…..
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October 8th, 2010
Well, I have three weeks under my belt at Anne-Tisdale … did I ever even possibly imagine what a direct mailshop could possibly consist of? Nope, not a clue! I am getting it, though … and I’m carefully scanning my mail that I receive at home now. It’s really interesting how all those bar codes and symbols that the post office puts on our mail (or requires a mailer to put on our mail) serves to deliver each little piece on time and exactly where it’s meant to go. I never really paid much attention to the mail before, let alone ponder about where it was coming from or how it got there. Yes, our post office and Anne-Tisdale really do … have their acts together!
I attended a ‘Meet & Greet’ at the Baltimore Post Office earlier this week and it was very informative. I think that I may have grasped only a tiny smidgen of the information that was topic, but like Judy and Marilyn tell me … “it’ll all come to you, you’ll understand it all, it’ll take a while!” I’m thinking that I had better free some hard drive space up in my brain to allow for the over 400 rules and regulations of the Postal Service!
I also attended a meeting with a client last week. This … I felt a little more comfortable at. This is my niche. You see, I was hired to be a Sales team member, I have a track record of 17 years as a Sales Rep. I sold Trident, Dentyne, Certs, Stride, Halls Cough Drops and Bubblicious – yup! I was ‘the candy lady’! 
All in all though, I don’t think that this Sales position is going to be that much different. Sales is Sales – the philosophy is still the same. So, I’m “digging in”, getting my presentation binder in order and preparing to hit the road next week! I’m excited! The possibilities are really, fairly endless – and this has me excited also.
Oh! … and I think I still fit in!
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