Diary of Opening A New Business

[Brootal]

One of the best threads on the forum. Many thanks JackEdwards.

 

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[theBiz]

Yes, After I would say 5 million phone calls easy. I have the best way to get through the gatekeeper and get the owner/mgr/buyer on the phone.


No, I am not going to tell you. Sorry.

fair enough..... i noticed at my old place is was a lot of lying...... i was supposed to pretend like i was a friend or some sort of work associate but even then that just pissed off the owner even more...

 

[JEdwards]

fair enough..... i noticed at my old place is was a lot of lying...... i was supposed to pretend like i was a friend or some sort of work associate but even then that just pissed off the owner even more...

That is one thing we don't do.. Don't have to again.. If you are calling/ visiting to help them, save them money, make them money then it works.. and I am not talking about saving them money on their copier needs.. That is all B.S. Create real value. no need to lie.

When you lie you get hung up on, which just creates a bad atmosphere.. and it makes it tough to retain good talent.

 

[Ambition]

Tomorrow is a big day, I have finally reached a milestone and can start concentrating on another aspect. This is going to be a great test. This can really take us to the next level in my original goal.

So how was your big day Jack? Can you share what the milestone was and what the next aspect is you are going to concentrate on?

This is a great thread, and it is changing the way I think about exploiting business ideas. In a few words, it is true commitment to your business idea, as opposed to my over cautious and therefore not fully committed approach.

 

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[JEdwards]

Big Day, maybe better if I said beginning day of a new big project day.

Time will tell. I think it looks great.

On another note. I had a famous flame out yesterday..

After days and days of taking long breaks, being seen texting, taking an extra 20 minutes for lunch, This girl was on her cell phone 3 times in her first two hours there and the took a 20 minute break. then came back and went to the bath room.

Mgr sat her down and said you need to stop it with the cell phone, getting up, etc.. She replies I get my job done, and the manager said that is not the point, it is the message it sends to other people.. She replied I have other offers and quit.. and then she went nuts, the whole Jerry Mcguire scene.. who is coming with me. (with you to where?)

It always amazes me that people think that others will quit their jobs.

It really is just like you just wait until they leave and everything goes back to normal.

 

[Dutchy]

and then she went nuts, the whole Jerry Mcguire scene.. who is coming with me. (with you to where?)

Hahaha, please tell me everyone just stared in silence and then she left and everyone was back on the phone.

 

[JEdwards]

Hahaha, please tell me everyone just stared in silence and then she left and everyone was back on the phone.

Basically..

 

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[77startup]

The google generation. Rather die then leave their phones alone.

 

[andviv]

She replies I get my job done, and the manager said that is not the point, it is the message it sends to other people..

A question for you...

If it is true she was performing (I assume this means she meets her quota) then another option would have been to have her working part time only and pay her based on performance and not by the hour. Makes sense?

Again, all of this makes sense if your compensation is based on reaching goals and not just "by the hour" work.

Sometimes an overachiever is not a good influence, but if you treat her as an "independent sales rep" and let her meet her goals and just leave, you could get better responses from certain individuals...

 

[JEdwards]

At this point I need people who want to be part of the deal. Drink the cool aide. One bad apple can ruin the whole batch. Her leaving so easily just makes the point she is too much drama and thinks she is better than the next.

Sad.

She could of made $80k this year.

I also get asked this a lot, can I work from home, can I do this or that? No... I know what I want and the last thing I need is 50 people saying can I be on my cell phone.

 

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[wade1mil]

At this point I need people who want to be part of the deal. Drink the cool aide. One bad apple can ruin the whole batch. Her leaving so easily just makes the point she is too much drama and thinks she is better than the next.

I've seen this ruin an entire team. I would have loved to be there to hear the crickets when she asked who was coming with her. She might have even been doing you a favor. Who wants to be able to Facebook and Twitter instead of work? Come with me!

 

[Rickson9]

Stop it, it is not that easy!

If you have paying customers, it's all easy.

Show me an entrepreneur that has it hard and I'll show you a business with no customers.

Very cool thread btw +speed +rep

 

[pro]

I also get asked this a lot, can I work from home, can I do this or that? No... I know what I want and the last thing I need is 50 people saying can I be on my cell phone.

QFT - Work at home deals rarely work out; the attrition and quality of work suffers. I've tested this with several unique cases and roughly ~ 25 subjects cumulatively in a few industries. Mr. Ferriss is a bad influence on employees.

 

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[JEdwards]

Work at home never works.

I had a girl that worked for me for a long time.. She was great.. really great.. She was number 1 or 2 in sales week-in, week -out.

Just awesome on the phone.. If she talked to you 25% you were buying something.

Had a baby wanted to work from home.. Could not sell anything.. Now she does inbound calls for time warner or something like that.

 

[FrankSmith]

Few quick questions:

Can you share what sort of sales numbers you are currently doing in terms of deals being closed daily/weekly?

How big is your target niche and whats your conversion rate like when selling?

Once you have called everyone in your target market, do you start all over?

Thanks

P.S. Are you selling a product or a service?

 

[theBiz]

Jack talks about a large warehouse all the time so im assuming a product...

 

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[JEdwards]

I know this is going to drive you nuts, but I am selling a product and a service...

Products and a service. Lot of different inventory.

Conversion rates.. Humm.. I am picking up repeat customers.. Not doing to bad.

 

[Ambition]

Work at home never works.

I believe you for sales roles, but this might not be the case in other roles. For example, in my slow-lane/day job I run a small team of Web site admins, content producers, etc. We all work from home. We all seem to do about 10 hours a day on average (sometimes peak at over 12 hours when something big is going on). We all love our work. We outperform comparable teams by about 50%. In fact the next nearest team (office based) were all laid off last year. Shame, but they were basically a work-shy water cooler discussion group.

Humm, having said all that, I am writing this in "work" time! I have better sign off now.

 

[JEdwards]

I believe you for sales roles, but this might not be the case in other roles. For example, in my slow-lane/day job I run a small team of Web site admins, content producers, etc. We all work from home. We all seem to do about 10 hours a day on average (sometimes peak at over 12 hours when something big is going on). We all love our work. We outperform comparable teams by about 50%. In fact the next nearest team (office based) were all laid off last year. Shame, but they were basically a work-shy water cooler discussion group.

Humm, having said all that, I am writing this in "work" time! I have better sign off now.

I should of said that working from home does not work in a telemarketing sales pitch environment.. But can work in many others.

 

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[theBiz]

Let me ask you this question... if your business is basically run off of straight cold calling businesses from a database that almost anyone can attain, and your selling a product that im sure is not that hard to get a hold of in today's open market, where are the barriers to entry?


It seems if they wanted, your best salesman could leave and go do this from home for a month, once the numbers are figured out go and hire other salesman/copy you. It seems you did all this really fast too so having someone working for you copy you seems like it could potentially be a concern. Non compete or not they could get another person to run it and be a silent partner, im just curious on your view points regarding this. Considering how fast you make money, they wont even have time to rent the damn building but still id like to hear your response.

 

[JEdwards]

I don't think most salespeople would be able to pull off the entire process. The biz has many facets.

As with every business, I bet I could give them an exact step by step book on the way out and still 99% of people wouldn't go out and create their own.. Just facts..

Franky.. Most people want to work and get a check and one day hope to win the lottery.

 

[theBiz]

That is true but im sure many people around the office say Jack doesn't do ANYTHING and he comes in with his nice cars, i can do what he does no problem. Apparently its not a problem so that is a good thing.


Do you know the sales manager as a friend or long time, i know many people in your position seem to hire someone close to them, im sure for trust issues such as this. It would seem difficult to hire some random person to hire/train/fire and run the business who isnt very competent and trustworthy.

 

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[JEdwards]

That is true but im sure many people around the office say Jack doesn't do ANYTHING and he comes in with his nice cars, i can do what he does no problem. Apparently its not a problem so that is a good thing.


Do you know the sales manager as a friend or long time, i know many people in your position seem to hire someone close to them, im sure for trust issues such as this. It would seem difficult to hire some random person to hire/train/fire and run the business who isnt very competent and trustworthy.

Actually I do a lot of things, I just make it seem easy. (which it is not) If they have a problem with my cars well sad for them. Here is a pic from outside my office window right now. My employees call it Ferrari Friday, cause I mostly bring it on Fridays.

I have two managers now, One for sales, one for all others. I think a misconception here is the mangers run the business. They do not, they are just a piece in the puzzle. As long as do their job to the best of their ability, then the other parts will fall into place.

Funny you said, did you know them before, one I have never met until she started here, the other oddly, I have had 3 jobs in my entire life, all ending in 1989. The other manager worked with me at a retail store when I was in high school. I didn't even recognize him, but he brought it up after I hired him.

 

[theBiz]

Hahahah thanx for the response that is funny. I figured most of your business is the outbound calls (or the most important at least) and your not watching those people, the sales manager is, if the manager slacks off you make less or no sales. If that statement is true, i would say the sales manager does a lot. I think its fair to say in any business, if you have sales coming in through salesman the rest is kind of just doing what you have to keep the whole show together. Im not belittling your job, i get it.

What exactly does the sales manager do, stand up and stare at them all day? When you hire the sales manager what do you tell them a normal day will be like...?

Do people have to respect the sales manager on a non friendly basis? My friend used to have a big call center and the sales manager treated salesman like machines... and the company made a ton of money.. which at the end of the day is the goal.


Hopefully when i rent my space i get my own car day also... im thinking Toyota Tuesdays..... What do you think its got a nice ring to it... ehh maybe Mazda Mondays.

 

[JEdwards]

As long as it isn't Kia Wednesday you will be ok..

 

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[77startup]

lmao kia Wednesday? I think groupon will be headed towards that direction soon enough.

 

[theBiz]

Jack i was reviewing the thread before, and i must have missed this.

Tons of infrastructure work to do, hired a college degreed in marketing guy to be my right hand man. $3,000 a month to start, Add $1,000 a month every month to 9k a month as long as sales justify. (tons of work to do)

I did not realize you hired someone for marketing. This always seems a bit confusing to me because i generally associate the term "marketing" with sales. If you have salesman and a sales manager what exactly is the marketing guy doing....? Are you doing direct mail with this guy, pretty sure you said you just have a database of leads so it seems hes not finding new sources of companies to call...

3k to start seems like a lot of money and im wondering how he is an important component right from the start, and if i read correctly he can reach 9k a month in salary?

 

[JEdwards]

Fired that guy. he had the smarts, just didn't have the work ethic.

 

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[FrankSmith]

As you mentioned you sell B2B and you sell products and services which they cannot live without and they currently buy/need, do you feel you have to undercut your competitors pricing when selling, how does this effect your profit margins?

Is pricing your main usp when talking to customers?

When you started, how much did you invest in inventory from your original $15K?

If you don't mind, can you share some sales numbers?

Thanks

 

[wade1mil]

Is pricing your main usp when talking to customers?

I seriously doubt it.