CHARLIE HUSTLE or MARATHON MAN

Which are YOU? Actually it’s a trick question. I’ll explain in a moment.

Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a city that loved baseball but did not have their own Major League Team, created an interesting variety of fans. The Chicago Cubs I believe and the biggest following. In fourth grade my teacher was a huge Tiger fan and that was the year they were in the world series. Also high on the list was Cincinnati and “The Big Red Machine”. Which brings me to my first reference, Pete Rose who was nicknamed Charlie Hustle by his manager.

Now unlike the movie with the same name that stared Dustin Hoffman nearly 20 years ago, there is another type of Marathon Man that I am referring to and that is the person who can “go the distance”. Even though there are hundreds of people who run in the big races, it is up to each individual to train and prepare themselves for the task ahead.

Monday Morning November 21, 2005. It is announced that our company MUST generate an additional $10,000 into the month. Each person MUST bring in a minimum of $1000. If it was October 21st, or September 21st, the task would have been achievable by even the newest sales person, but no this was November 21st, and in reality the deadline for selling and getting the money on the books is TUESDAY at 5pm, or WEDNESDAY 9am at the very latest due to the Thanksgiving Day Holiday. Now is the time to do the CHARLIE HUSTLE.

When I left the building at 3pm Tuesday, I had done my part by 150% and it was time to concentrate on December. Will everyone else get their $1000 for the month in by Wednesday morning? Reality says no. But as a TEAM, we can still hit that $10,000 total.

So how do you become a CHARLIE HUSTLE when you need to be? By being a MARATHON MAN and working steady all the time. Here’s an example of how I did it.
Darlington Christmas Warehouse This once a year sale does their media buys in July. I first met them at the beginning of November. Way too late right? Well by listening to what they are doing and some creativity, they bought our Christmas Music Programming. But it wasn’t the commercials they were most interested in, it was the Shopping Bag Promotion. Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, we are going to be passing out 2000 Christmas Shopping Bags that promote our Christmas Music Programming, and inside each bag, we will place flyers or coupons from our advertisers. That’s what Darlington bought.
K-mart When I met with the store manager this summer, I was told that they were not allowed to do their own radio advertising anymore, it was all being done nationally. Today, I presented him with the Christmas Shopping Bag promotion and he gave me two boxes of flyers to stuff in the bags along with an order.
Hayden Honda They were occasional advertisers being handled by an ad agency. They actually contacted me late Monday. By negotiating with them I was able to offer them more than double the number of ads for a 33% increase of what they originally wanted to spend.
Computer Renaissance After offering them various options on our stations, they informed me Monday afternoon that they were going to go with another company for 2006. I asked them what the other station was going to do for them for their Friday Sale and was told that the other station didn’t have room for them. So, after doing a quick information gathering (5 minutes) I told the owner that I would have a commercial ready for him in the morning to consider. I wrote and produced the ad, finishing after 10pm, but they were impressed and even though I had to make a couple of changes, I GOT IT DONE.

That’s the hustle, and it was made possible by being a marathon man.

Did ya ever wonder…

I know, it sounds like Andy Rooney. But really, did you ever wonder why some people are more successful than others? Everyone of us could find someone else in our profession that is more successful than us. Did you ever wonder how they became that darn successful?

Or did you ever wonder why some people fail? Take a look around and compare those successful people with those who fail and there is one big difference. No it wasn’t a lucky break, or fate, or that they “knew somebody”, or whatever. The answer is so simple.

Either they did the work that they needed to do, or….. or…. or they didn’t. What work am I talking about? It all depends on the job. Go to most successful person in your organization and ask them how they got to be successful. Or more importantly, what habits are they following that are keeping them successful.

In my profession, it takes planning, action and follow through. Plus an honest evaluation every now and then. It all begins inside with the desire. Stephen Covey wrote a book and created an empire on habits, you can learn from him and others about habits, but be sure you take action too.

Finally I want to remind you about keeping our lives in balence. My other blog has an interesting and valuable lesson for me and you.

In a Sales Slump? Get YOURSELF Out of it!

Ever find yourself in a slump? Of course, most salespeople do. But the Question is How do you get out of it? It’s not the economy, it’s not the weather, it’s not your competitor… nope it is the person you look at in the mirror everyday. Yeah, You! Okay, but now what?

To keep yourself from getting in a slump, you need to make sure you are doing every week the activities needed to keep moving forward. Uh, did I say every week? How about Every Day!

The Buying Funnel is a tool I use to show my clients the steps their customers go through BEFORE spending their money with them. It also applies to you and your sales. Keep prospecting every day and you will be filling your funnel. Some people will move down to the bottom fast, others may take forever. It really is up to you how many people you add to your funnel every week, but if you are in a slump, My educated guess is that you have not been consistently adding more people.

Oh, one more thing. Another common problem sales people have is they give up too easy. It could take 5 or 10 meetings and ideas before a potential customer moves down to the action phase of the funnel. What happens if you stop too soon? They probably will buy from your competition. More on this in the future…