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Stories from the Sales Frontlines

91810 messages,  Last post on May 25, 2013 at 3:34 AM

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#89670 of 91810 THOUSANDS OF SHARKS SPOTTED OFF DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA by abacomike

Mar 07, 2013 (2:04 pm)

I was just watching Shepherd Smith on Fox News Channel. The Coast Guard has spotted thousands upon thousands of sharks about 150 feet off the coast of Deerfield Beach, Florida. That would be about 3 miles just north of where I live, about a mile south of Boca Raton. The beaches are all closed for obvious reasons. Many of the sharks are great whites. When they showed aerial pictures and film of the sharks, I was amazed at how close they were to the beach.
 
It was like they were licking their chops waiting for the next person to wade out into the ocean in low tide. Very ominous and scary. I've never seen so many big sharks so close together and so close to the beach. They must be hungry!
 
Doesn't that remind you of the dealerships where the salespeople stand out front waiting for the next morsel (customer) to wade toward the showroom? That is a good analogy of some dealerships. The shark waiting for the mark to get close enough!

#89671 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [bwia] by driver100

Mar 07, 2013 (2:25 pm)

Replying to: bwia (Mar 07, 2013 1:03 pm)
luck plays an important role. American Business history has shown us that determination, hard work and a strong believe in God
 
In a way luck plays a role, but you really make your own luck. When something develops it looks like luck to outsiders, but it took will and determination and being ready when the time comes to make it work.
 
In our case, our major customer was getting out of peripheral products and wanted to concentrate on clothing only. Slowly we were sliding into oblivion. I was trying to call the divisions within the company(we were only allowed to sell to this one company because we had sold the other half of the company and we had a non-compete for 5 years in place) dot.com company, and I would try to sell our books on their site. The switchboard person didn't have a listing for the .com company, but she put me through to the much larger discount department store division to see if they could help (I had tried them in the past but they didn't want to upset their traditional suppliers).
 
I started talking to the buyer there and she was new, wanted to make a name for herself, and she said the product would be good for them, and we were in. Our sales went up 500% more with the new retailer.
We became their most profitable book supplier.
 
But, was it luck or determination that made it payoff. I think of it as luck on one hand, but, a businesses can take off when the right situation comes along....what the entreneur does is has the structure in place, and then jumps at the opportunities that come along, and hope one develops into something successful.
 
Few businesses could be successful without hard work and determination. You have to accept failure, it helps you to learn and to get it right. I was told early on you will ask yourself 100X why you ever started your stupid business in the first place. As I made mistakes I would say, great, now I only have 96 more mistakes to make...95, 94 and so on.
 
It is very rewarding running a business and making and shaping it the way you want. I often thought I would rather earn half as much running my own business as working for someone else, and for a long time I did that. I really like the fact we have given good jobs to about 15 full and partime people. We try to make our place a challenging but interesting pleasant place to work.
 
Hopefully, my SIL will make his last payment and the business will be his. Religious? Well, I will say this, I couldn't have done all that all by myself, I had to have had help along the way.

#89672 of 91810 Re: THOUSANDS OF SHARKS SPOTTED OFF DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA [abacomike] by driver100

Mar 07, 2013 (2:32 pm)

Replying to: abacomike (Mar 07, 2013 2:04 pm)
thousands upon thousands of sharks about 150 feet off the coast of Deerfield Beach, Floridaa
 
Yes, I heard 10s of 1000s of sharks on CNN at 7 a.m. this morning, Fox caught up....ha ha...just joking, nothing against Fox.
 
Now, after I buy my Florida place I find out about the sink holes and sharks! Just my luck. (Remember the shark on Saturday Night Live?)
 
I agree about trust. Like I said to the 535 salesman, after he said that was one of the easiest cars I have sold. I said, it's simple, you want to sell a car, I want to buy a car, all we have to do is agree on the price.

#89673 of 91810 Re: THOUSANDS OF SHARKS SPOTTED OFF DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA [driver100] by houdini1

Mar 07, 2013 (3:03 pm)

Replying to: driver100 (Mar 07, 2013 2:32 pm)
TELEGRAM ?

#89674 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [abacomike] by isellhondas

Mar 07, 2013 (3:03 pm)

Replying to: abacomike (Mar 07, 2013 12:18 pm)
I agree, product knowledge is important but being a "people person" is even more important. The customers have to like a salesperson before they will buy from them.
 
I once had a brilliant college professor who called it Establishing a Climate of Affection.
 
I found that hard to do with immigrants whose culture didn't allow this to happen. If we barely understood each other it was impossible for me to establish much of a rapport with them...usually.
 
Then there were the price shoppers who only cared about price. They really didn't mind being treated rudely as long as they thought they were paying the lowest price. I sold these people a lot of cars but it was never a pleasant experience for either of us. These people were rarely loyal and having a business relationship meant nothing to them.

#89675 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [isellhondas] by fezo

Mar 07, 2013 (3:07 pm)

Replying to: isellhondas (Mar 07, 2013 3:03 pm)
I don't know hot to take this one - Roy Brown Jr., Edsel Designer, Dies at 96

#89676 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [fezo] by abacomike

Mar 07, 2013 (3:29 pm)

Replying to: fezo (Mar 07, 2013 3:07 pm)
I don't know hot to take this one - Roy Brown Jr., Edsel Designer, Dies at 96
 
Some people die before their ideas catch on. Others die well after their ideas take hold - success stories! Then there are people who outlive their ideas and die in spite if their ideas. Here is an individual whose idea never quite took hold with the consumer but outlived most!

#89677 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [fezo] by isellhondas

Mar 07, 2013 (3:37 pm)

Replying to: fezo (Mar 07, 2013 3:07 pm)
Ford tried to elbow another car into an already crowded market.
 
GM had Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet.
 
Ford only had Ford, Mercury and Lincoln.
 
So, the Edsel was born! Basically a glorified Ford.
 
Looks are subjective but it was hated by the masses at the time and it's looks were the main reason.
 
Funny, isn't it...now Pontiac and Oldsmobile are gone and I believe Mercury is too if I'm not mistaken.

#89678 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [isellhondas] by abacomike

Mar 07, 2013 (4:02 pm)

Replying to: isellhondas (Mar 07, 2013 3:37 pm)
Funny, isn't it...now Pontiac and Oldsmobile are gone and I believe Mercury is too if I'm not mistaken.
 
Mercury has been gone for two or three years now. If I remember the Edsel correctly, it looked much like the Mercury Monterey which was a bit redundant. GM cars always looked like one another. When Pontiac finally stopped "looking like" the other brothers and sisters, it couldn't maintain it's niche. I owned many Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs over the years and found the Oldsmobiles to be very excellent riding cars and the Pontiacs were quite powerful like my 1966 GTO. People back in the 60's and 70's were Ford Families, Oldsmobile Families, Pontiac Families, etc. Families were very loyal to their brands.
 
Back then, brand identity was very strong. I remember my Dad always bought Oldsmobiles until he became more affluent and then bought a new Cadillac every other year, whether he needed it or not. Ahhhh, now I know where I got the car buying illness - my Dad!

#89679 of 91810 Re: Cheeca Lodge [abacomike] by fezo

Mar 07, 2013 (6:02 pm)

Replying to: abacomike (Mar 07, 2013 4:02 pm)
The lower model Edsels were basically Fords while the higher trims were Mercurys. By the second year the lower end was all that was left.
 
In addition to the looks, the Edsel suffered from early build glitches. They also got introduced at the beginning of a recession.
 
It didn't help that 1958 was the year that people basically soured on wretches excess designs - tailfins and such - and Edsel took this idea to the extreme.
 
Gee, genetics. Maybe that explains my buying used cars. Throughout my childhood my dad was the king of the $150 car. Eventually things got better and he started picking up cars coming out of the State Farm company cars and finally made it to buying new and for maybe 15 years we has leasing Caddys. His last car was a leased Buick Century which he regretted the moment he did it. He only did that because the Caddys had gotten too big for him. If one of the Caddys was the last car I'd have grabbed it when the lease ran out and run it for as long as I could. It was not to be.

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