Month: August 2010

Door to Door Magic.

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Today I had the joy of going door to door with my youngest son as he tried to raise funds for his Pop Warner football program. I was very proud of him as he went through the thought process of setting a goal for the day and kept working until he achieved his goal.

When he asked me this morning if I would take him around, I was excited. I remember learning my first door to door sales pitch at about the same age of 10-12 and remembered how great it felt to make that first sale. I wanted him to share in that experience and feeling, so I took the time to do a little coaching and teaching before we left.

Door to Door short list of to dos:

  1. Set a goal
  2. Commit to a direction and time line.
  3. Practice a value pitch ( elevator speech)
  4. Stay positive
  5. Remember it is a numbers game
  6. Say hi, introduce yourself
  7. Speak up , be confident and clear about what you are doing
  8. Welcome questions and answer honestly
  9. Say thank you and be courteous
  10. Repeat often.

 

I am sure there are tons of lists and other options people could add to this list. Share yours.

My son took these lessons, practiced for about 15 minutes this morning and we hit the street for about 1 hour. He was able to have success in about 80% of his calls and hit his goal.  He was so excited and told me that that was actually fun.  

Door to Door sales might be one of the best teaching courses that anyone could experience, I hope I can get my sons out again so that they continue to build confidence in themselves and learn that in life if you set your goals, take action, and ask for what you want you can achieve your goals with a little effort and work.

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Act Now!

cpankey 5 Comments

Wow, what a day Tuesday turned out to be.

I had the privilege of meeting the company president for Metalast in Minden Nevada, Listened to a speaker on personal branding and the use of social media Bret L Simmons, and was able to help a friend start the promotion of  her new book, Janie Johnson, Don’t take my Lemonade Stand.

What do these three have to do with anything you might ask? Well as I prepared for bed last night it just caught my attention that I was in the presence of three great people who no longer live with in the boundaries of other people. There are trailblazers, and they are making their own destiny, with passion, hard work and just a little bit of crazy.

These three individuals encapsulate the very visions of what I often am seeking on days that I just want to be in control. They have had a dream and a vision which is not uncommon through out society, except that they acted on this dream and made it a reality.

Another common trait I see in these leaders is that they stepped out from the norm and did something a little different. 

At Metalast they started so far down the food chain in the competitive world of Chemical engineering and metal corrosion that most in the industry would have never given the time of day. So what did they do?  They went to the end consumer and created demand by using a 40 foot moving lab with a big dinosaur painted on the side, and went door to door sort of speak to introduce their products possibilities and solutions to the end consumer. The end consumer then demanded that their suppliers use this company… Brilliant.

Bret Simmons saw the power of such tools as Twitter and Facebook in today’s marketplace and started to envision a future of content generation and powerful networks of people which did business together and started to help others by teaching them how to brand themselves professionally and to become a content leader on the new management and marketing edge of the planet.

Janie Johnson is the mother of four awesome young men. She is a typical mom of boys and can be scene and numerous practice facilities nightly as she takes her boys to events, practices and social gatherings. AS her sons started to age and the political culture of our country continued to change Janie wondered how she was going to teach her children the choices they had in politics without forcing them to follow her own views. She realized there was a need for  a book that help parents discuss and teach their children the American ways so that we were raising the next generation of leaders based on the values of America and not just on what they heard form the media.

 I must confess my initial jealousy of each of these three leaders. They to me embody the complete American experience of Freedom and self fulfillment.

 As I consider my lessons and think of how I or other business professionals can follow their lead, I am reminded of maybe on of the simplest rules in life. ACT NOW!

In one of my favorite all time books “The greatest salesperson in the world” by OG Mandino, it is written:

“My dreams are worthless,

my plans are dust,

my goals are impossible.

All are of no value unless they are followed by action.

I will act now.”